Cars, music, mountains, good friends
Click here for pictures
The summary of my Road Trip
This is the long overdue summary of my road trip to Montana. The best pictures I took are up here too.
The short summary is that I had an amazing adventure where I got to play in the mountains, water and the snow with incredible people. The trip was exactly what I needed to clear my head. I feel like I left Austin a little broken and have come home fixed with extra glue to share.
The road
* I drove 3, 881 miles there and back, through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, and New Mexico. Driving through Montana and Wyoming was spectacular. Every time I thought I saw the prettiest view of mountains, blue sky, pasture, and animals something even prettier came alone. The rolling hills made me want to stop the car and picnic, but my favorite places were the foreboding jagged cliffs.
* I was glad at least 2 dozen times that I bought a new ipod/car stereo before this trip. Music totally made the road the fun experience it was. Except when I got really tired, I really enjoyed it.
*Music that saved my numb butt and tired eyes: american analog set, the beastie boys, ellien alien, franz ferndinand, the cure, GNR, tsunami bomb, metric, yeah, yeah, yeahs.
*Music that didn't help the cause: cat power, my morning jacket, ani difranco
* I left Austin with a list of thinking topics since I had so much time in the car, and had a long list of things that needed some attention. I did much less thinking that I expected. Occasionally, I would decide I needed to think, and would ponder a specific topic until I got distracted by a pretty mountain or a good song.
* I didn’t camp nearly as much as I wanted to. I camped in Yellowstone and Amber and I both loved it. I didn’t camp any other time for a variety of half-decent reasons: didn’t make it far enough, made it too far, and the lamest, IMO, got too freaked out about staying alone, thanks to the woman who collected money at this one really pretty camp in Wyoming.
* Driving really fast on twisty mountains roads is fun. Average driving: 85-90 mph. top speed: 105 mph slowest speed: 5 mph
The mountains
* Jackson, Montana is a little town in the southwest corner of Montana. It’s in the Big Hole Valley. There are literally mountains everywhere you look. I’ve never been somewhere so remote. I found it a magical place, partially cause of the great company, but also because of the quiet and the air. The community is undeniably tied to the land and its resources, something so easy to ignore living in the city. And the land is breathtaking. Every single time I walked outside I thought that.
* I got to spend quality time with one of bestest friends and her husband. I adore Jay and spending time with the two of them together is really special. They have such a fantastic relationship and desire for each other and their life. It’s contagious. I easily consider Jay an extension of Melissa. Considering our friendship, that says a lot.
* Mel & Jay run Jackson Hot Springs Lodge. It’s this awesome little lodge with a restaurant, a bar, cool cabins, and most importantly natural hot springs. They heat the place and then feed into this big pool where the water is a toasty 105-108 degrees. There was much naked soaking with cocktails. It was amazing how the hot mineral water just grabs the stress and dirt from my body. There is no such thing as too much soaking. In fact, soaking was a good replacement for showering.
*There was lots of playing outside. Mel & Jay live on the border of a National Forest. Almost daily, we took the dogs into the forest to hike and swim.
* I did a bunch of work at the lodge with Mel. It didn’t feel like work. It was really enjoyable and relaxing. We put up an enormous tent with the help of half a dozen locals, painted signs to decorate the tent with the help of a couple local 10-year-old girls made brochures (I’m not a terrible graphic designer), and waitressed. I enjoyed working with my hands and strength, and just hanging with Melissa. All of this was for the First Annual Jackson Jam. There were bands, good food, rooms fully booked and people camping at the lodge. It was a fantastic 2-day party that the Big Hole will be talking about for a long time. I danced like an unconscious little kid to a bunch of jam band soul music. A hippie I was.
* Other out-of-state friends came to visit for the first annual Jackson Jam. Corey, JP, and Kurt to be specific. Almost all my days were spent with some collection of them, plus Jay, Mel and Clark. I never got bored or annoyed. It was just company in the best sense of the word.
* We did lots of exciting off-roading and slightly dangerous things with the trucks. I loved it. Drove down areas of crazy rock and did 360s to cover Clark and the dogs in mud. Everyone loved it (except maybe my dog and Corey and Kurt).
* My last day there, we went on this big hike up into the snowline of the Bitterroot Mountains. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect end to a trip.
* I was sad to leave, but excited to continue my adventure. While I love the city, I could spend a bunch of time living up in an area like that. In fact, I think when I finish with life in cities I am off to somewhere remote and cold and woodsie, something most unexpected.
The firsts
*saw first bald eagle*danced with first real cowboy
*ate elk and buffalo and jerky (and they’re good)
*held a gun, watched friends shoot gun, passed up opportunity to shoot gun
*watch amber swim (cause she was trying to get away from the scary gun noises)
*got sunburned in the snow
*went in 109 degree hot springs pool. (109 degrees is too hot, but i stayed in anyway)
*met a couple who fit my vision of what I envision parenting to be (assuming of course, I have kids)
*camped by myself
*helped make breakfast for 15+ people. It was teamwork and friendship at its finest
*contributed in a meaningful way to the success of my friends’ business and by extension, the community they live in.
The return
I planned this road trip cause I knew I needed it. I decided to go when Mel and Jay got married in September and even though I didn’t know where I was going to be in life in May, I knew it would be good for me. Not only had work almost killed me, there were all these other things going on that I barely had time to think about with all the working.
Wanderlust has been calling me for months now. The things I loved about my job had been disappearing gradually (and got killed in one fell swoop while I was away), and I had been feeling emotionally trapped by myself with no good ideas on how to break away.
Now that I am back, unbroken, I am looking for a new job in many places including snowy cold places. I haven’t decided whether I am going to go or stay. I am tired of the heat, lots of my friends are moving or have moved recently, and the wanderlust is strongly calling me to somewhere new. But I’m not really sure that my time in Austin is quite finished. I don’t feel trapped in myself anymore, I’ve got lots of friends who aren’t leaving, and am kinda interested in more house projects. Today, I bet I go, but tomorrow, I might think I’ll stay.
Meanwhile, I am trying to find a way to be on summer vacation without losing my job, doing more naked swimming, and attempting to skateboard so I can learn to snowboard so I can go on backcountry trips with Mel and Jay.
The summary of my Road Trip
This is the long overdue summary of my road trip to Montana. The best pictures I took are up here too.
The short summary is that I had an amazing adventure where I got to play in the mountains, water and the snow with incredible people. The trip was exactly what I needed to clear my head. I feel like I left Austin a little broken and have come home fixed with extra glue to share.
The road
* I drove 3, 881 miles there and back, through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, and New Mexico. Driving through Montana and Wyoming was spectacular. Every time I thought I saw the prettiest view of mountains, blue sky, pasture, and animals something even prettier came alone. The rolling hills made me want to stop the car and picnic, but my favorite places were the foreboding jagged cliffs.
* I was glad at least 2 dozen times that I bought a new ipod/car stereo before this trip. Music totally made the road the fun experience it was. Except when I got really tired, I really enjoyed it.
*Music that saved my numb butt and tired eyes: american analog set, the beastie boys, ellien alien, franz ferndinand, the cure, GNR, tsunami bomb, metric, yeah, yeah, yeahs.
*Music that didn't help the cause: cat power, my morning jacket, ani difranco
* I left Austin with a list of thinking topics since I had so much time in the car, and had a long list of things that needed some attention. I did much less thinking that I expected. Occasionally, I would decide I needed to think, and would ponder a specific topic until I got distracted by a pretty mountain or a good song.
* I didn’t camp nearly as much as I wanted to. I camped in Yellowstone and Amber and I both loved it. I didn’t camp any other time for a variety of half-decent reasons: didn’t make it far enough, made it too far, and the lamest, IMO, got too freaked out about staying alone, thanks to the woman who collected money at this one really pretty camp in Wyoming.
* Driving really fast on twisty mountains roads is fun. Average driving: 85-90 mph. top speed: 105 mph slowest speed: 5 mph
The mountains
* Jackson, Montana is a little town in the southwest corner of Montana. It’s in the Big Hole Valley. There are literally mountains everywhere you look. I’ve never been somewhere so remote. I found it a magical place, partially cause of the great company, but also because of the quiet and the air. The community is undeniably tied to the land and its resources, something so easy to ignore living in the city. And the land is breathtaking. Every single time I walked outside I thought that.
* I got to spend quality time with one of bestest friends and her husband. I adore Jay and spending time with the two of them together is really special. They have such a fantastic relationship and desire for each other and their life. It’s contagious. I easily consider Jay an extension of Melissa. Considering our friendship, that says a lot.
* Mel & Jay run Jackson Hot Springs Lodge. It’s this awesome little lodge with a restaurant, a bar, cool cabins, and most importantly natural hot springs. They heat the place and then feed into this big pool where the water is a toasty 105-108 degrees. There was much naked soaking with cocktails. It was amazing how the hot mineral water just grabs the stress and dirt from my body. There is no such thing as too much soaking. In fact, soaking was a good replacement for showering.
*There was lots of playing outside. Mel & Jay live on the border of a National Forest. Almost daily, we took the dogs into the forest to hike and swim.
* I did a bunch of work at the lodge with Mel. It didn’t feel like work. It was really enjoyable and relaxing. We put up an enormous tent with the help of half a dozen locals, painted signs to decorate the tent with the help of a couple local 10-year-old girls made brochures (I’m not a terrible graphic designer), and waitressed. I enjoyed working with my hands and strength, and just hanging with Melissa. All of this was for the First Annual Jackson Jam. There were bands, good food, rooms fully booked and people camping at the lodge. It was a fantastic 2-day party that the Big Hole will be talking about for a long time. I danced like an unconscious little kid to a bunch of jam band soul music. A hippie I was.
* Other out-of-state friends came to visit for the first annual Jackson Jam. Corey, JP, and Kurt to be specific. Almost all my days were spent with some collection of them, plus Jay, Mel and Clark. I never got bored or annoyed. It was just company in the best sense of the word.
* We did lots of exciting off-roading and slightly dangerous things with the trucks. I loved it. Drove down areas of crazy rock and did 360s to cover Clark and the dogs in mud. Everyone loved it (except maybe my dog and Corey and Kurt).
* My last day there, we went on this big hike up into the snowline of the Bitterroot Mountains. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect end to a trip.
* I was sad to leave, but excited to continue my adventure. While I love the city, I could spend a bunch of time living up in an area like that. In fact, I think when I finish with life in cities I am off to somewhere remote and cold and woodsie, something most unexpected.
The firsts
*saw first bald eagle*danced with first real cowboy
*ate elk and buffalo and jerky (and they’re good)
*held a gun, watched friends shoot gun, passed up opportunity to shoot gun
*watch amber swim (cause she was trying to get away from the scary gun noises)
*got sunburned in the snow
*went in 109 degree hot springs pool. (109 degrees is too hot, but i stayed in anyway)
*met a couple who fit my vision of what I envision parenting to be (assuming of course, I have kids)
*camped by myself
*helped make breakfast for 15+ people. It was teamwork and friendship at its finest
*contributed in a meaningful way to the success of my friends’ business and by extension, the community they live in.
The return
I planned this road trip cause I knew I needed it. I decided to go when Mel and Jay got married in September and even though I didn’t know where I was going to be in life in May, I knew it would be good for me. Not only had work almost killed me, there were all these other things going on that I barely had time to think about with all the working.
Wanderlust has been calling me for months now. The things I loved about my job had been disappearing gradually (and got killed in one fell swoop while I was away), and I had been feeling emotionally trapped by myself with no good ideas on how to break away.
Now that I am back, unbroken, I am looking for a new job in many places including snowy cold places. I haven’t decided whether I am going to go or stay. I am tired of the heat, lots of my friends are moving or have moved recently, and the wanderlust is strongly calling me to somewhere new. But I’m not really sure that my time in Austin is quite finished. I don’t feel trapped in myself anymore, I’ve got lots of friends who aren’t leaving, and am kinda interested in more house projects. Today, I bet I go, but tomorrow, I might think I’ll stay.
Meanwhile, I am trying to find a way to be on summer vacation without losing my job, doing more naked swimming, and attempting to skateboard so I can learn to snowboard so I can go on backcountry trips with Mel and Jay.
posted by Kristine at
7:10 PM
|
0 Comments
