Bucket list

A spontaneous trip to Washington D.C.

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I didn’t plan on crossing Washington D.C. off my bucket list but when the opportunity struck I jumped into the car. The conversation came up at the sushi bar. We met a guy from Alabama. Now before this gets a little weird, we didn’t just meet a stranger in a bar and get into his car. My husband talked to this man several times on the phone before because he was starting up a business like ours and wanted some advice. I remember one conversation quite well even though it occurred back in 2020.

We were in New Orleans when Paul was on the phone with the man from Alabama. We were thinking of visiting while we were in the area but he was out of town. I remember the conversation because some guy came up to us when Paul was on the phone with him wanting us to buy drugs. Another street over there was a pedestrian on a bike almost struck by a car fighting it out in the street exchanging a lot of f words. What must this guy think of us if he heard any of the background conversation?

This was the first time we met our friend from Alabama in person. I laughed when I told him the story of the background conversations. He offered us a tour of D.C. a few days later after dropping off his wife at the airport. He said he lived there for several years and knew his way around. I told him about my bucket list and instantly took him up on the offer. He was pretty quirky himself and said he also had all 50 states on his bucket list. He said his goal was to see all 50 states by age 50 which he did. He also said he had a goal of running a marathon, 26 miles by 26 years which he also did. I really like lists and think he had some amazing ideas by coordinating his lists to his age.

The next day at the conference we didn’t talk to our new friend much. I was a little worried the trip into DC was just bar talk. But it wasn’t. There were certain things I was expecting upon visiting the capitol of our great country and some things I was not.

We saw the Lincoln, Jefferson, and WWII Memorials. The memorials were absolutely stunning and I felt which I can only describe as wonder and patriotism upon seeing them and the words written upon the walls. The architecture was beautifully breathtaking. It was a perfect autumn day, sunny and warm to walk around. I’m not a huge history buff, but it was interesting to think about what our country and its people were like in the early years.

I was hoping to get a little closer to The White House but only saw it from the distance. There were a lot of people at the memorials. I didn’t stay long inside the Lincoln Memorial. I was feeling a little claustrophobic in the crowd. There was a steady stream of noise with planes flying over and tourists. I enjoyed my time in DC and think everyone should experience going there at least once. If we had more time it would’ve been nice to visit the museum.

Other than that, frankly I was not impressed with our capitol city. Maybe I’m just not a city girl. DC was a lot bigger than I thought it would be. We spent a lot of time sitting in traffic. Parking was limited and we had to pay for it everywhere we went. The airport was busy hustle bustle. There was A LOT of garbage on the side of the highway. I’ve never seen more litter anywhere else. My first impression of DC was that it’s an old, dirty, rundown large city. I saw the homeless. I heard a lot of sirens. There seemed to be some nice parts where the memorials and monuments are, but other than that I would never want to live there. How can you take pride in a capitol city that seems so filthy? But that’s just my opinion as an outsider looking in. And I didn’t even mention politics.

Anyway, I’m happy to have had the opportunity to check Washington D.C. off my bucket list. Here are some of the pictures I took.

The Washington Monument with a view of The White House.
The World War II Memorial
The Lincoln Memorial
The Lincoln Memorial viewed from the WWII Memorial
The Jefferson Memorial

Here and there

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We left home for a week to go to a conference. We had three free days, one which we spent in Washington D.C. and the other two in Delaware checking them both off my bucket list.

We left Sunday morning in hopes of making it to our destination in time for the opening ceremony. Everything went smoothly for our first flight, not so much for our second. Paul was the one who alerted me of the first problem. It looked like someone puked right outside of the plane as we were boarding. Everyone else seemed oblivious to it. Most rolled their carry on luggage right through it. I’m hoping maybe someone just spilled food, but that’s not what it looked like.

We got on the plane and sat for the longest time. The latching mechanism for the door was not working so mechanics were called aboard with no success. Eventually we had to deplane and wait for another plane. It took so long I think perhaps they had to build another plane. The second plane didn’t take off right away either. By the time we reached our destination, we were two and a half hours late.

Next we had to wait to take a shuttle bus to the car rental area. The driver was a kind older man. The bus was rather full but he found a spot for my luggage and a seat for me to sit in. I wanted to give the man a tip but I only had larger currency. Once the doors opened, Paul raced to the rental car area. By the time I caught up to him it was too late to give the guy a tip. I was hoping to catch him on the way back.

Once we got the rental car, we still had another 30 minutes to our hotel. It was dark outside by then and we drove quite a ways before we noticed we were driving without our headlights on. We weren’t going to make it to the opening ceremony. We were going to miss the whole thing. When we got to the hotel, there was a skeleton crew of conference goers left at the bar area. A handful were planning on getting drinks and sushi nearby. We decided to go with because we didn’t eat supper yet. We got there right before the kitchen closed.

The bus driver I was hoping to catch on the way back wasn’t there. This time there was a bus driver who stood outside the front door of the bus. The bus was full, filled to overflowing. The driver just stood there. He did not help people put luggage on the racks or even say anything. At this point, we got to the airport really early so we should have just waited for the next bus. The luggage rack was full so I just stood there holding my luggage with one hand and tried to grab onto something with my other hand. Even though there wasn’t any room, people still entered the bus.

I stood next to a seat with two elderly people in it. In the seat behind them there was a family, a man younger than me with a son of about 11. Across from them was the mom who sat on the outside seat and wouldn’t move over to let someone else sit with her. At this time I was getting irritated. Not just because I was carrying a purse, backpack, and suitcase while trying to maintain my balance on a crowded bus. I was irritated the woman did not offer to move over. I was upset that I saw several senior citizens standing while the pre-teen sat without offering a seat to an elder.

Once the bus stopped, the family wanted to get off at the first stop. The woman complained I was in her way. It’s not as if I wanted to stand in the aisle. There was nowhere else for me to go. They were complaining about me out loud to each other. I was starting to get really angry about it. They couldn’t leave fast enough but I was a little shaken by the experience. The elderly lady in the seat in front of them must have noticed because she turned to me and smiled complimenting me on my shirt diffusing some of my irritation.

The family was rude in my book, but I placed a lot of blame on the bus driver. He was not going to be getting a tip from me. He probably didn’t get a lot of tips. The rest of the trip home was relatively uneventful. The first flight we ended up getting seats in the last row and the second flight we sat very close to the front. When we left it was warm. We were coming home to the cold rain. It takes courage sometimes to come home to a place of cold when we know the days ahead will be dark ones. My flipflops no longer keeping my feet warm. Yet it is comforting because it is home to me.

Gratitude week 146

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  1. As much as I love to travel, it’s always nice to be back home.
  2. I’m grateful we got everything ready for winter before we left because it showed up while we were gone.
  3. I’m grateful to sleep in my own bed with clean sheets, an electric blanket, and a quilt on.
  4. I checked the state of Delaware off my bucket list.
  5. We made an unexpected trip into Washington D.C. so I checked that off my bucket list as well.
  6. Today I bought some light yellow paint to start turning Arabella’s old bedroom into my office. I’m excited to get started on some of my winter projects.
  7. I’m grateful for a quiet week and weekend ahead.
  8. I’m grateful for the warmish weather while we were travelling out East.

Gratitude week 145

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  1. It was a rather quiet week to rest, reflect, and recuperate from the wedding.
  2. I was finally able to find some undergarments to fit Arabella good enough.
  3. Paul and I were able to get a lot done to get ready for winter. We sailed our boat to its winter home, covered the pool, shut down the cabin, and will be getting the yard ready for winter. It always feels good to get these tasks done.
  4. The trees have reached their peak in colors.
  5. We are getting ready to fly out east tomorrow for a business trip. I will be checking another state off my bucket list. Not to worry if you don’t hear from me much this upcoming week.
  6. We had a plumber come out this week to fix a couple problems we were having.
  7. I found the key to our bedroom door so we can lock it when we are gone. It’s not a huge deal, but last time we were gone Arabella slept in our bed and used our shower. We just don’t want anyone in our room.
  8. Dan and Angel got a duplicate gift of a big mixer for their wedding which they gave to me.
  9. We made plans to go to a yurt with our friends this winter. We will have to snowshoe 4.5 miles to get to a remote location without running water or electricity. Sounds like an adventure.
  10. My brother Luke and his family are planning on coming over for the weekend next month as my niece has a swim meet in the area. I’m glad I will finally be able to watch one of her meets. I had a good conversation with my brother.

Gratitude week 144

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  1. My daughter got married yesterday and it was a perfect day!!
  2. It was wonderful to see family and friends who helped celebrate our daughter’s wedding with us.
  3. They couldn’t have asked for better weather for the wedding.
  4. I’m grateful for everyone who was a part of Angel and Dan’s special day. There are so many details that go into planning the perfect wedding day.
  5. I’m grateful to have a daughter who is so organized I didn’t need to worry about all the little things.
  6. I’m grateful my daughter picked the right person to spend her life with. They are a wonderful couple and that is more important than anything else.
  7. I’m grateful the stress of the wedding is behind us now and it is time to move on.
  8. I’m grateful our friends decided to host their annual Halloween party this year. It’s a disco theme. Time to dust off that leisure suit.
  9. I’m grateful to be flying out this weekend for a business/fun getaway. I will be checking another state off my bucket list.
  10. I’m grateful to have a lot of stuff going on the next couple of weeks to ward off some of the after the wedding blues.

Travel odds and ends

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We decided to drive a couple hours to fly out of Chicago. We didn’t have a direct flight to Idaho Falls, being a very small airport, and had a layover in Salt Lake City. I wanted to fly out of our hometown airport, but with things going on in the area tickets cost an extra $800 per person.

I haven’t been down to Illinois in awhile. One thing I noticed as I was digging around in my wallet for change is that all the tolls are paid online with no collection of cash or credit anymore. It said we had 14 days to register online to pay our tolls which amounted to $9. It ended up costing us $300 to park our car at the airport for a week. It took us about an hour to find our car upon return even though I took a picture of the outdoor lot we were in. Indoor parking was more expensive. Chicago airport is huge and it is easy to get turned around.

I try to research the area I’m going to be travelling in. But it’s a fine line for me. I want to learn about where to go and what to see, but not necessarily everything there is to know about the state. I enjoy learning about the state while I am visiting and experiencing it. What I wasn’t expecting was how dry Idaho is. I think one day the humidity was 8%. Coming from Wisconsin where the average humidity is 71%, I didn’t even think that was possible. One hundred degrees in Idaho wasn’t all that bad once you got out of the sun. We would be dying here with the humidity. Thankfully it’s only been 100 degrees or more here once in my lifetime.

Everything in Idaho that wasn’t watered was dry and barren. There were a lot of wide open spaces and sparsely populated areas. I noticed the gas prices there were around $1 per gallon more expensive than at home. The speed limits were a lot higher too. A two lane highway there had a speed limit of 70 sometimes 75 mph versus 55 at home. Whereas Idaho was dry and barren, Montana was heavily wooded. The speed limit was about the same though which was a little scary because there were also signs warning us of elk, bison, and cattle.

A lot of time when we travel to other parts of the country, people can tell we are from out of the area. Not there. We didn’t talk much differently. The thing is, it seemed like no one was from around there even some of the wait staff and shopkeepers. Everyone was a tourist or came to the area to work for the summer. A large majority of the people in our West Yellowstone hotel did not speak English when we went for the continental breakfast.

Other than that, I didn’t see too many mask wearers in Yellowstone. Even though it said masks were mandatory in federal buildings, no one was enforcing it. Hardly anyone wore masks on the plane either. That part seemed back to normal. There were even people coughing and no one really seemed to pay attention to it. Although I must say, the airport in Idaho Falls was very small and they didn’t have doors to go into the bathrooms. For about 45 minutes, we could hear a woman in the bathroom coughing and throwing up. She sounded so sick I couldn’t bring myself to even use that bathroom.

The only other oddity was that there was construction at the Salt Lake City airport. We had to exit the plane down the steps onto the tarmac and take a bus to the main airport area. The strange thing was as we were exiting the plane, Paul saw his luggage fall from the top of the conveyor belt onto the ground along with another suitcase that fell behind the conveyor belt. I was thankful I put the pint glasses I bought into my backpack.

Also, I want to add that I really enjoyed Idaho. When Paul and I were visiting New Orleans we went on a tour with a woman from Idaho. I told her I’d never been to her state and asked her what the top things to visit were and she basically told me not to bother going. Idaho potatoes are a big thing in Idaho, but nothing big. I was also jokingly told not to join a militia. Other than that, I really didn’t know anything about Idaho. I honestly just wanted to check the state off my bucket list and it happened to be close to Yellowstone. It definitely would have not made the top 100 list for a place to celebrate a 25th wedding anniversary. Who knows, maybe we’ll go somewhere warm in the winter. I just wanted to say I really enjoyed it there, probably more than I enjoyed Yellowstone or Montana in all honesty. I was not expecting that.

In the end, I checked Idaho and Montana off my bucket list of visiting all 50 states. Nine more states to go…

Honorable mentions of our trip

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The big highlight of our trip was visiting Yellowstone and the sites I’ve already shared with you in Idaho. However, there were some other stops we made that are worth mentioning…

On our second day, we visited the Minidoka Historical Site where thousands of Japanese Americans were imprisoned after the attack on Pearl Harbor during WWII. The camp was located in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully we arrived at opening time because they were closing early due to a heat advisory and a broken A/C unit. We were able to visit the historical center with tons of photos and artifacts, watch a video of survivors, and take a tour of the camp. Honestly, it was hard to keep a dry eye learning about this tragic chapter in US history.

The camp was not fully preserved and intact, but we were able to tour some of the buildings. The building on the left was the cafeteria and the building on the right was where 6 families lived. They were not furnished inside, just empty buildings. There wasn’t a fee to visit the historical site and take a tour. It was a solemn adventure off the beaten path, but worth the stop if you are interested in history.

Afterwards, we decided to take a drive to Jackpot, NV to try to liven up our spirits a bit. It seemed we took a lot of back roads and even had the experience of watching a crop duster spray the field we were driving next to. I’ve only experienced seeing that a few times in my life and never so close.

Jackpot is right across the border of Nevada. It was a town created when Idaho outlawed gaming back in the 1950’s. It came up when I googled things to do around Twin Falls, ID since it was 45 minutes away. The pictures made it seem like it would be full of wild, wild west casinos but mainly it was a small area along the highway with outdated machines. Quite a different feel than Las Vegas which we visited earlier in the year. Paul and I had a set amount of money we were going to spend. I lost my allotted amount right away at Cactus Pete’s. Paul gave me some of his winnings and we walked across the street to Club 93 where we spent the rest of the afternoon and came back with most of our money.

Our last day of vacation we spent in West Yellowstone buying souvenirs for my mom, our kids, and their significant others. There were tons of shops to spend money in but after awhile everything was pretty much the same in each store. Surprisingly the stores were not a lot less expensive than the ones within Yellowstone. As far as dining on our trip, there wasn’t anything really impressive.

I felt like we had our down time days on the first day and last day of the trip. The rest of the time was run, run, run and it would’ve been nice to break it up a bit. For flying in, we spent a lot of time on the road. I’m glad I decided not to add a couple of days in Oregon and Washington to the trip, it would’ve been too much. I’ll have to check off those states some other time.

Yellowstone, day 2

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The second day at Yellowstone was our 25th wedding anniversary. I had a plan, and that plan was to see Old Faithful. Very fitting of the situation for someone who has a bad sense of humor like me. The day before we made reservations after being on hold forever and losing the call several times for the earliest opening for supper which was 9:45 PM at the Old Faithful Inn.

The second day we visited the south loop which we were told takes two and a half hours to drive without stopping. We had no idea how long it was going to take to get to Old Faithful. We did stop at several places along the way. One of the places we stopped had bison along the trail. There were signs to stay 25 feet away. At this particular location, there was a park ranger answering questions. After that stop, I decided being a park ranger was not as much fun as it was cracked up to be. When I first saw her, she was picking up garbage. Not long after that, someone came up to her and told her people went off the walkway. She found the people and told them to go back to their cars that they were in extreme and grave danger. I didn’t know if they went close to the geysers or approached the bison.

Old Faithful

This was also the only day on our trip there was a small chance of rain in the forecast. By the afternoon there was a downpour and we could hear distant thunder echoing off the canyons. Everyone ran for shelter and the idea to ever visit the park on a motorcycle was crashed. The rain pooled and flooded the roads. We couldn’t see anything. This also happened to be the place where we ran into road construction.

We were getting close to Old Faithful and decided to stop to see if they could move our dinner reservations up. It was still pouring and there was hardly any room to park at the inn. The inn itself looked like a magnificent castle. I jumped across the puddles to get inside fast. Somehow Paul was able to move up our dinner reservation. Maybe it helped to tell them it was our anniversary, I’m not sure but we were 4 hours early. The staff was very cordial and accommodating, but the meal itself was buffet style and nothing to write home about. We couldn’t even see Old Faithful from the restaurant, but it was a short walk away. It stopped raining and we called a number which gave us the estimated wait time until Old Faithful was supposed to go off again which was an hour wait. There were some people waiting because last time if went off a lot earlier than the ETA.

This was the first time we were able to really talk to other tourists while we were waiting. There was a nice couple from Oregon who came over on a motorcycle. They told us they had to be careful of bison because sometimes they charge motorcycles because they view them as a threat. Another reason why going on a motorcycle might not be the best plan.

We ended our trip by seeing the Grand Prismatic Spring. It was steamy and nearing nightfall which was not the best time to see the brilliant kaleidoscope of colors. I’m sure it’s amazing to see on a bright sunny day. We were tempted to come back, but decided not to make the drive.

The park was beautiful and worth visiting. It’s hard to believe how massive the park is. I think two days was enough but you could probably spend a week there and still not see everything.

Gratitude week 137

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  1. Summer, even with a twinge of autumn in the air.
  2. Planning a trip this fall that would check another state off my bucket list.
  3. Going out to eat with friends.
  4. Spending the weekend with my friend Jen and our husbands at their cabin in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We haven’t been up to their cabin for 10 years. (They have a cabin journal from then so it’s verified, I updated it with a new entry of our trip adventures). Honestly, we didn’t do that much. The weather was cool and rainy so the guys went fishing while we lounged around and chatted.
  5. Our house is still standing. After we left there was a torrential downpour and flooding downstairs in our house. Thankfully my son and his girlfriend were around to clean up the mess.
  6. Sleeping in my own bed. I’m going to be home for awhile and it’s nice to be home.
  7. My daughter’s future MIL is helping me host a bridal shower for my daughter at my house this weekend. I’m grateful I don’t have to do everything by myself.
  8. My friend Jen has lived a lot longer with cancer than her doctor thought she would. I’m grateful for the time I got to spend with her, because who knows…

Yellowstone, day 1

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First of all, Yellowstone is huge. For $35 per car, we were able to get a park pass for a week. That probably would’ve been enough time to see everything, but we only stayed for 2 full days. There were 5 entrances to the park, two of which were closed due to the massive flooding earlier in the season. We came in from the west and tackled the north loop on the first day.

There were some challenges with the north loop we weren’t expecting. We decided to stop in Mammoth Hot Springs for lunch. It would’ve worked great, but the restaurant was closed there due to the earlier flooding. The only thing that was open was a general store were everyone went to buy food. They had a couple picnic tables set up outside which we ended up sharing with a random family. A lot of people were just sitting on the ground eating. Eating in the park was a big problem. But there were plenty of stores, gas stations, and restrooms. They even had an automotive garage on site for car repairs.

For the most part, parking was not a huge issue. There were little areas to get out and see the sights along the loops. We especially enjoyed the geysers and hot springs even with the whiff of sulfur in the air. If you are looking for one of the most beautiful breathtaking places on Earth, surely it is to be found here.

The trip wouldn’t have been complete without wild animals. We saw a bear, elk, and a ton of bison. There were many signs reminding tourists that these are wild animals. We decided not to go hiking on the back trails because of it. If you do, you would need to buy or rent bear spray in case of a bear attack. We decided to stay on the main walkways for the attractions which provided us with plenty of walking without having to go on the hiking trails. It also allowed us to keep within our allotted time frame of two days and still see a lot. Time management was very tricky because we never knew how long it would take to drive somewhere or how long the walkway was to get there. Plus we needed to add extra time to pull over and look at animals. Animals could be blocking the roads, there are long lines at the park entrance, and of all things we ran into road construction in the park.

We received several detailed maps of the park and talked to several park rangers for information. Cell phone coverage is spotty within the park itself so I wouldn’t rely on that totally for navigation.

The picture above and below are of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The above picture we walked down a steep descent to see a waterfall going down into the canyon. It was a challenging path. The picture below was taken from the opposite side of the picture above.

We didn’t end up getting out of the park until after 8 PM the first day. We were really tired, hungry, and worried about where we were going to eat since it was late on a Monday night. However, we found that West Yellowstone had plenty of restaurants open. We stopped at the Wild West Pizzeria and Saloon. It was really packed, but their pizza was amazing. It ended up being my favorite meal on the trip. We learned a lot on that first day and we thought we were ready for day two.