We are back for one final hurrah as promised...albiet a bit delayed :) Without delay, on with the show!
The morning after we arrived back in Denver from Vegas, we hopped in the car and drove for a total of 16 hours straight back to Mad-town, with a brief stop at a Courtyard Marriott in Omaha, Nebraska. Mostly, we reminisced and lamented the end of our road trip and we took a few final pictures, the most memorable of which we now post:
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| Our last Marriott stay in Omaha, Nebraska. We had just finished watching The Bachelorette finale and had indulged in a celebratory bottle of wine. Katie's remark after taking this self-timed picture "Well...ONE of us looks cute" clearly referencing herself since Emmie's eyes are closed and Parm has a wonk eye. Fail. |
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| Our final "take a picture of the unsuspecting person in the back seat asleep against the cooler" photo |
Debatably our favorite driving home memory, however, is on the way into Madison, when we screamed and hollered at the top of our lungs as we passed certain familiar landmarks... You had to be there, but it got pretty hilarious ;)
And now the moment you've all been waiting (and waiting) for...our closing profiles and superlative results!
Parm's personal bits:
Things you will most miss about the road trip:
Doing whatever the hell we feel like during the day – ‘hey want to go for a hike/visit that 300 ft statue of Paul Bunyon, take 376 jumping pictures in a row, do tequila shots at 2p on a Tuesday, lay out at the pool again, etc’ – for as much as we said we were neurotic about planning, everyday was a completely new adventure.
Getting to tell people what we were doing – we got every possible reaction from disbelief to ‘gnarly!’ when we told people that we’d quit our jobs and were jaunting around the Western US for two months. A small handful of folks thought we’d really been fired from our jobs and others asked if we had room for them. Surprisingly, it was our parent’s generation that seemed most excited and encouraging for us while we got some “whoa….really???” questionable responses from people our own age. Thumbs up baby boomers, thumbs up.
Things you will NOT miss about the road trip:
PACKING AND UNPACKING THE CAR. Oh my gosh, I don’t know if it’s possible to hate an activity as much as I hated shoving all our earthly belongings (ok, two month’s worth) into and out of the back of Snoop every day. I’m not exactly someone who deals with clutter well and I feel claustrophobic by the amount of stuff shoved into that car on a daily basis. I may or may not have had a breakdown or two over having to unload the car after someone (nameless!) needed to access something at the bottom of the trunk less than five minutes after loading…next time I will hire a pocket-sized porter to travel with us.
As much entertainment as I got out of this blog and for as much as I will forever cherish having the trip documented here, Blogger really sucks and has a pretty crappy user interface. That's right, I found the opportunity to use the term "user interface" in my everyday life. #there'ssomefeedbackforyougoogle
Favorite places visited on the trip:
Emmie's personal bits:
Things you will most miss about the road trip:
Ohhh this could take awhile. I'll stick with the big stuff. People's reactions when we told them what we were doing ("Wait...so you quit your jobs!!??...and you just went...for two months...?!"), not knowing what day or date it is because it simply doesn't matter, being surrounded by clean air and majestic beauty, getting into halfdome at night and seeing Katie and Parm nestled in sleeping bags reading with their headlamps on, learning new factoids everyday, getting a sweet tan, writing the blog and re-reading the blog ad nauseum because we think we're hilarious, truly seeing God in nature, playing the game "what meeting would I be in right now?" when we were somewhere awesome, meeting Katie and Parms' extended families, spending time with old friends and glimpsing their new lives, sitting and writing post cards or staring out the window, having time to feel and absorb the big picture as opposed to just thinking about it, snacks in the cooler particularly the snacks from Google, feeling legit and outdoorsy when doing things like fixing our bike rack starting fires, or cooking on our cookstove, verifying Katie Parm and I really are best friends because we did not kill each other, listening to our road trip playlist specifically TPain and IJHS, the incredible hospitality we received, having the opportunity to do an aerobic or outdoor activity everyday, taking pictures of Katie and Parm in bike shorts, the sense at all times that we are young, free, and on the adventure of a lifetime...the surreal feeling that we actually did it.
Things you will NOT miss about the road trip:
Unloading and reloading Snoop, the smell of the cooler, paying for gas in California (ohhhh wait, I'm still doing that), dealing with other project managers who don't just believe but *know* their way is the only way (oh wait, I'm still doing that too...), the toiletry bag and all the random stuff that exploded in there, being the lightest sleeper known to man and sleeping outdoors with two other people in close quarters, being too tired to function.
Favorite places visited on the trip:
San Diego because it was beautiful, perfect, and origin of the road trip planning. Notable shout outs to all the national parks, because I've never seen anything as beautiful as Yellowstone, Glacier, Redwood, Crater, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon. I can't even discriminate.
Post your favorite picture from the trip (JUST ONE!)
PACKING AND UNPACKING THE CAR. Oh my gosh, I don’t know if it’s possible to hate an activity as much as I hated shoving all our earthly belongings (ok, two month’s worth) into and out of the back of Snoop every day. I’m not exactly someone who deals with clutter well and I feel claustrophobic by the amount of stuff shoved into that car on a daily basis. I may or may not have had a breakdown or two over having to unload the car after someone (nameless!) needed to access something at the bottom of the trunk less than five minutes after loading…next time I will hire a pocket-sized porter to travel with us.
As much entertainment as I got out of this blog and for as much as I will forever cherish having the trip documented here, Blogger really sucks and has a pretty crappy user interface. That's right, I found the opportunity to use the term "user interface" in my everyday life. #there'ssomefeedbackforyougoogle
Oh and if I never smell the "cooler smell" again for the rest of my life, it will be too soon.
Favorite places visited on the trip:
San Diego – gorgeous weather, beaches, awesome Mexican food, family and a rockin hangover…what’s not to love. Seriously though, I fell in love with this stunning and slightly funky city so much that I seriously considered moving here. One day San Diego, one day.
Vancouver – a longtime lover of the Pacific Northwest, I’ve had Seattle and Oregon’s Wilamette Valley on my short list of favorite places since I was a kid so it’s no surprise that I loved Vancouver as well. The city is modern, easy to access, and has a great variety of outdoor activities to be had as well. The mysterious fog that slowly rolls into the bay adds a sense of exploration and adventure to each day. Extra bonus points for having a connection to the Olympics and my new interest in hockey.
Post your favorite picture from the trip
This was tough but I think this Crater Lake picture wins out for me and here’s why: Crater Lake is stunning. The deep blue water simply takes your breath away as you peer into its mirror-like appearance surrounded by deep green evergreen trees and crisp white snow. This was the most beautiful day as well with ever-so-slight wisps of clouds in the sky as we went on a memorable snowshoe hike with Ranger Emily. I felt like the star snowshoeing pupil as I got to run to the front of the hike to talk with Ranger Emily about her career and then (tried to) laugh as she called her Ranger buddies to rescue us when we locked the keys in the car.
Three words to describe your favorite thing that happened not detailed in the blog to protect the innocent:
Felon, “those girls”, tie
What's up next?
I’ve moved to Denver! After some soul searching and career delays I realized the call of great friends and beautiful mountains was too much to deny and have joined the crew of Madison transplants here in the West. Katie and I continue to rock out together nearly every day and are blogging together as I type this. I found an awesome old Victorian house on the park here and two even more awesome roommates on craigslist and we’re having a blast together. As much as I love to travel, I am loving being in one place more than anything right now and have been able to commit to volunteer activities with Special Olympics and a homeless day shelter multiple times each week. The job hunt continues as well as the whole “what do I want to do with my life” discussion. Latest thoughts today include Social Work, Project Management and becoming an Olympian. My preferred is obviously the latter but I’m open to additional options as well – let me know your thoughts. The three of us Skype weekly, comment on our long hair growth and miss Emmie dearly.
Emmie's personal bits:
Things you will most miss about the road trip:
Ohhh this could take awhile. I'll stick with the big stuff. People's reactions when we told them what we were doing ("Wait...so you quit your jobs!!??...and you just went...for two months...?!"), not knowing what day or date it is because it simply doesn't matter, being surrounded by clean air and majestic beauty, getting into halfdome at night and seeing Katie and Parm nestled in sleeping bags reading with their headlamps on, learning new factoids everyday, getting a sweet tan, writing the blog and re-reading the blog ad nauseum because we think we're hilarious, truly seeing God in nature, playing the game "what meeting would I be in right now?" when we were somewhere awesome, meeting Katie and Parms' extended families, spending time with old friends and glimpsing their new lives, sitting and writing post cards or staring out the window, having time to feel and absorb the big picture as opposed to just thinking about it, snacks in the cooler particularly the snacks from Google, feeling legit and outdoorsy when doing things like fixing our bike rack starting fires, or cooking on our cookstove, verifying Katie Parm and I really are best friends because we did not kill each other, listening to our road trip playlist specifically TPain and IJHS, the incredible hospitality we received, having the opportunity to do an aerobic or outdoor activity everyday, taking pictures of Katie and Parm in bike shorts, the sense at all times that we are young, free, and on the adventure of a lifetime...the surreal feeling that we actually did it.
Things you will NOT miss about the road trip:
Unloading and reloading Snoop, the smell of the cooler, paying for gas in California (ohhhh wait, I'm still doing that), dealing with other project managers who don't just believe but *know* their way is the only way (oh wait, I'm still doing that too...), the toiletry bag and all the random stuff that exploded in there, being the lightest sleeper known to man and sleeping outdoors with two other people in close quarters, being too tired to function.
Favorite places visited on the trip:
San Diego because it was beautiful, perfect, and origin of the road trip planning. Notable shout outs to all the national parks, because I've never seen anything as beautiful as Yellowstone, Glacier, Redwood, Crater, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon. I can't even discriminate.
Post your favorite picture from the trip (JUST ONE!)
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| This was difficult, but I have to go with our Subaru magazine picture. This captures what I'll remember most about the trip; the three of us, the wild outdoors and Snoop. We may have put some dents in Parm's hood (seriously, that may have been what did it) but this is a money shot. I can almost smell the cooler now. *Tear* |
Three words to describe your favorite thing that happened not detailed in the blog to protect the innocent:
Felon, seal, irish
Felon, seal, irish
What's up next?
I am now in LA pursuing an acting career and being professionally AWESOME. Just kidding. I am in the city of angels but I'm doing a year long service project working at St. Vincent hospital in Guest Relations and Community Outreach with the Vincentian Service Corp West. It's been enjoyable so far, and shocking to see how vast the needs are in this community. I do miss Madison and Katie and Parm and the BBRT! After this, maybe back to skewl...but who knows.
I am now in LA pursuing an acting career and being professionally AWESOME. Just kidding. I am in the city of angels but I'm doing a year long service project working at St. Vincent hospital in Guest Relations and Community Outreach with the Vincentian Service Corp West. It's been enjoyable so far, and shocking to see how vast the needs are in this community. I do miss Madison and Katie and Parm and the BBRT! After this, maybe back to skewl...but who knows.
Katie's personal bits:
Things you will most miss about the road trip: So much. Going somewhere new every day, looking out the car windows to new scenery, listening to Emmie’s sweet Road Trip playlist, being surrounded by the most beautiful nature and reminding myself of God’s presence in on a regular basis, cracking inside jokes every 15 min, watching Emmie create campfires, cooking on-the-fly camping dinners, not being hooked up to my computer for the majority of the day, calling my family from the road and telling them about our adventures, taking at least 100 pictures per day, wearing spandex pants most days, living with two best friends and creating amazing memories, sitting with my legs up against the window frame in the back of the Subaru, drinking a glass of wine together for dinner most nights, getting lots of sun, adventuring every day, spending time with old and new friends, my family and Parm’s family, reading the blog on our phones when we were on boring drives, always having a new destination to look forward to...
Things you will NOT miss about the road trip: Deciding what to do as a group (as previously stated, we’re all a bit Type A, but learned to compromise well), having a different pillow most nights, the cooler smell, all my road trip clothes, sleeping in a sleeping bag, fast food, being forced to listen to a certain music video.... oh wait, Parm still makes me watch pretty much every day here...
Favorite places visited on the trip:
EVERYWHERE! My favorite drive was probably through Big Sur for the dramatic contrast of lushly green mountains and ocean crashing into lava rocks; favorite mountain destination was Banff for the majestic and snow-capped peaks that were nestled amidst untouched and dense pine forests; favorite beach destination was San Diego for the beautiful weather, newly learned skills of surfing and sea kayaking, and wonderful and fun hosts in both Coronado and Carlsbad; favorite day was probably Parm’s b-day in San Diego.
EVERYWHERE! My favorite drive was probably through Big Sur for the dramatic contrast of lushly green mountains and ocean crashing into lava rocks; favorite mountain destination was Banff for the majestic and snow-capped peaks that were nestled amidst untouched and dense pine forests; favorite beach destination was San Diego for the beautiful weather, newly learned skills of surfing and sea kayaking, and wonderful and fun hosts in both Coronado and Carlsbad; favorite day was probably Parm’s b-day in San Diego.
Post your favorite picture from the trip (JUST ONE!)
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| Chillin illegally on a dock at St. Mary's Lake in Glacier - We were actually supposed to be able to take a boat tour around the lake from this dock, but apparently those don't start until July. I can still feel our relief to finally be enjoying the mountains from the water's edge after about 4 hours of travel rife with frustrations. For me, this captures the spirit of the road trip - if there isn't a boat tour, no big deal, enjoy soaking up the sun on the dock! |
Three words to describe your favorite thing that happened not detailed in the blog to protect the innocent: Tie, Lucky Charms, Incubus
What's up next? I moved back to Denver after the road trip, where I was joined recently by Parm. It’s been so peaceful and heartening to have wonderful friends and my parents within just a few miles of me! Except Emmie, who’s coming to visit in just a few weeks. I’m looking for consulting project management jobs, and volunteering at a homeless hospitality center in the meantime. I feel like I'm really in the right place with the right people right now, and am so happy with where I'm at :)
Stats:
Total number of pictures of all three of us taken: Approximately 3,000 (seriously.)
Total mileage driven: 10,438 miles...agh! doubled Snoop's mileage - but hey, it's a car :)
Estimated number of bug deaths via Snoop windshield: 1.25 million
Total number of "gold stars" awarded (via the blog): 22
The breakdown of camping versus hotel versus friends and/or family: 7 camping, 23 hotel, 30 friends/family... it was really cold, and there was crazy wildlife, so the camping number is lower than planned.
Estimated number of hitchhikers: 20... we were counting at one point, but lost track...
Estimated number of hitchhikers: 20... we were counting at one point, but lost track...
Superlatives - OUTCOMES!!!
We each answered a few of the questions - the ones that Parm answered are in green, Emmie's are in pink, and Katie's are in blue.
We each answered a few of the questions - the ones that Parm answered are in green, Emmie's are in pink, and Katie's are in blue.
- First person to successfully change a bike/car tire (or first girl to flag down a man to help her with this task by showing skin or batting her eyes): Somehow we actually made it through the entire trip without a single flat tire on either the car or our bikes. The bikes however were a pain in the ass to me and I’ll say it again – if I did this trip over I’d just rent bikes whenever we wanted to ride instead of toting them across the entire country. Not being able to open the back of the car was a pain (as is chronicled in my “what I will NOT miss about the roadtrip” section).• First person to get pirate coded: Thankfully I’m the one writing this section or you might get the wrong answer. There was one VERY, VERY BRIEF moment when it looked as though Katie and Emmie were going to Pirate Code me. ME! The purveyor of Pirate Coding itself! Ah, blasphemy! The alleged incident occurred in Vegas when Katie and Emmie ran away from me to go see the MGM Lions. I was happily singing along to Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler” as I played the themed slot machine of the same name when I looked up to see no one in sight. Thankfully I had a 6th sense that the lions weren’t even out in the cage and the girls came back. #whopickslionsoverkennyrogers?• First person to totally freak out: Ah, such a good question - I could go through a few memorable freak outs from the trip - Katie swearing her life was in shambles when she was preoccupied on the dance floor in Vegas while Emmie and I took a mini photo shoot in the club, me dropping my bag like it was on fire when I'd had enough of loading the car, Emmie giving the mean stink eye (no, it wasn't just her face) when she was starving for food in Yosemite. I did command my alone time when needed, Katie got a few massages and Emmie ate when instructed so I'd say we managed our freak outs well. My favorite freak out of the trip must go to Miss Katie for her insane and 180 degree Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde freakout in Telluride over the missing pullout couch. Homegirl went crrrrazy!• Person most likely to suction herself like a barnacle to other campers when it gets cold at night: One of our only true cold camping experiences was in Yellowstone near the beginning of the trip with 35-40 degree temperatures overnight. If you remember, this was also the same evening where Katie’s prediction of meeting three gentlemen suitors came true and I nearly peed in my sleeping bag out of fear for the grizzly seen traipsing through the campsite. I’d say Emmie and I suctioned ourselves together when we awoke to me saying “I am paralyzed with fear” and ran like the wind to the bathroom together where we collapsed into laughter at 3am.• First person to ask for directions when we get lost: I honestly cannot remember this for the life of me however I'm going to give the award to Katie as she's always the one most likely to ask for directions, smile at a questionable man giving us the creepy eye and ask a lengthy question right when she's ready for a date to end...I'm often nearby rolling my eyes as she asks the middle-aged skate instructor for a lesson at the roller rink and then ends up holding hands with him during the couples skate as she looks bewildered that he's asked for her number. #reallykatie,really? In all honesty though, Katie's outgoing nature seriously saved us a major headache on Day #2 when she chatted up Ranger John Brooks about the drive into Yellowstone. And no, I'm not referring to her letting him know she went there once as a kid - he informed us that our planned route was closed due to snowfall and rerouted us 200 miles north.
- First person to burst into tears: You can't see this, but I'm giving myself a pat on the back. My prediction that Parm would tear up at Mt. Rushmore was dead on. As soon as they asked any veterans or active military to join the ranger on the stage during the evening display, she was toast.
- First person to find a "lovely gentleman suitor" (that's for you Mom and Dad): Well...I'll say this. We didn't meet any gentlemen. We met plenty of boys, none of whom were gentlemen **wink** Shout out to Katie McGuckin for her predictability, and you know what incident I'm talking about. Parm, it was like "a backlit canopy with holes punched in it", and I discovered they don't sell lucky charms in Ireland..so there you go.
- Person most likely to get seriously Injured: I don't even take much delight in reporting it was Katie, because I knew that would be the case before we ever left Madison. Katie, though she made it to Denver with only minor injuries, met her match on "Screaming Mimi" a.k.a. "Screaming Katie." So Parm and I were both right.
- First person to touch the Pacific Ocean: I'm glad I was assigned to this one, because Katie and Parm disagree about who was first based on technicalities. Parm may send me hate mail for about a month, but I will concede after three months of staying quiet that I agree with Katie and that touching the water in Vancouver counts. But it should be noted that it was NOT me as everyone predicted.
- Person most likely to meet a celebrity in L.A.: WELL this is pretty incredible/ridiculous. So we are driving back through Nebraska, with only a few hours left in the roadtrip and we were recounting some very amusing events in vegas, most notably when our shuttle broke down in the middle of the Vegas strip. But anyhow this reminded me that I thought I saw Linda Hogan, wife of Hulk Hogan, in our hotel lobby as we were leaving, but that I got distracted by the shuttle drama so I forgot to tell Katie and Parm. Parm immediately whips out her cell phone and confirms that while Linda Hogan lives in Florida, she was in Vegas that day hanging out with the Hoff, no less! UMMM CLUTCH! E list celebrity sighting by Emmie. So Parm's prediction was dead on, although it was in Vegas not LA.
- Person who wins the award for campfire chef du jour: This would have to be Parm. She made many a campfire creation to go with our Mountain House main dishes, such as cous-cous with stewed tomatoes and spices (although that one was a little spicey), PB&J sandwiches with marshmallows, honey and PB, Parm’s Secret Surprise #1 (consisted of toffee, cereal, and something else I can’t remember), and good pairings of random soups/stuffing with our Mountain House goods.
- First place where we consider turning around and going home: I think the only place we considered it was the night before we left, when Parm and Emmie took Snoop the Subaru out for a spin with the bike rack and it swayed back and forth quite a bit (we discovered that this was normal throughout the road trip). At our Yellowstone campsite (the third night of the trip), Emmie and Parm may have considered turning around, or at least ditching the whole camping idea, when we heard that there was a Grizzly Bear cub wandering around our campsite in the morning. I maintained that we were ok because we had bear spray.
- Person most likely to request a "gold star" anytime she wins a competition that she made up and neither Katie nor Emmie agreed to participate in in the first place: Well, we all actually ended up subscribing to the gold star way of thinking throughout the trip, as evidenced by us awarding gold stars on the blog. Although I will say that I think Parm requested the most gold stars, especially when she won Bananagrams.
- First person to inappropriately use their can of mace (thanks Mr. McGuckin!): Although we did have our can of bear mace made handy at all times while in the mountains, we were lucky enough to never have to spray either people or bear mace throughout the trip. Although there were some close calls in the tent. We did a bear mace check nearly every night we camped out to make sure that it was easily accessible and we all knew where it was. The close calls went something like this: “So… if a bear were to come, how would I spray the mace again??”
In summary, we'd like to give a major shout out and GOLD STAR to each and every one of you all, our loving readers. Your support, messages and vicarious living allowed us to have the time of our lives this summer and entertain ourselves by our own wit in the name of keeping up with friends and family. Let us know when you head out on your own roadtrips...we have a spreadsheet that might help with planning. #bbrtforever
