It feels like so long since I have written, these days I live now seem to be so long. We pack so much into a 24 hour day. It's funny because so many people come up with excuses of why they didn't or can't so something, that they were "busy." For some reason I always saw through this. That 24 hours is a very long time. That no one person could possibly be busy all day. Trust me, I am no saint, I used this excuse all the time in high school to get out of doing homework. If we all spent half the time we did on our phones or scrolling through pointless Instagram videos, on putting ourselves to good use. We would all be very productive people, sadly that isn't the case, and most likely never will be. We will all continue to use the excuse, "I am busy," not only lying to the people around you but lying to yourself.  
I am not sure why I felt the need to share that, but it has always been in the back of my head. 

So yea, I have seen a lot since the last blog I posted, I spent 2 days in Yellowstone, which were absolutely incredible. Kember and I have been having so much fun. It has been great to share all these laughs and beautiful places with her. I want to write all about what I did while I was in Yellowstone but it seems like so long ago to be honest. We have already moved on, hiking through the Grand Tetons, camping on a lake by ourselves in the middle of nowhere Wyoming and now Denver.

Although I will spend this time to jog my memory and try my best to share with you guys the most juicy details. The family that took us in our first night in the park invited us to breakfast the next morning. It was nice to have some real food in our stomachs (we usually skip breakfast while on the road). We got to know them all very well, they are a family of 5 just like mine, they definitely reminded me of my family so it was nice to have that moment. Even though we were still pretty much all strangers. Anyway a full stomach later and a family Christmas card photo we got to be apart of... I am pretty sure they tell everyone that, just so they can feel special. But it worked! I felt very honored! We went our separate ways.

It was rainy and cold our second day in the park so we spent the day just hanging out and sneaking from fancy lodge to fancy lodge. We even snuck into a hotel to take showers. Honestly, greatest moment so far. After that we saw a little bit more the park had to offer us and headed to camp. We made chili for dinner and were crying our eyes out for the next hour due to the onion I cut. Such a great time, no pain caused at all...

Then next morning we were faced with a few inches of snow and cold feet. I experience that a lot on this trip, but I had no idea what I was in for the following night. As we headed out of Yellowstone we said our final goodbyes to all the beauty it shared with us and we were off to the Grand Tetons. I have been scared a total of 2 times in my life... 1. When my dad went missing in Norway this summer, and 2. When we went for a hike in the Tetons. I have been quite an optimist so far on this trip, that we are totally fine, nothing bad will happen. But golly have I never been so scared to be attacked by a bear. Surely enough, were faced with a bear half climbing a tree to get berries... yes it was adorable but I was not ready to be attacked by a bear so we hurried out of there. Maybe next time I will be less of an optimist and get some bear spray, like it was oh so highly recommended. 

We found ourselves a nice campsite off a very long dirt and bumpy road in Wyoming as we headed towards Denver. I brought out the axe to chop some wood for a campfire. I knew it was going to be a cold night but I had no idea how cold it was about to get. The second I finished chopping wood I was sweating so I began to think, I would have the best nights sleep of my life because I was so tired. Boy was I wrong, 10 minutes later with the sun totally set behind the mountains we huddled around the fire for warmth. We managed to make our way back the the ice box of a van and attempt to sleep. As the sun came up we were faced with every liquid in our van was frozen including the blood in my feet. I had lost feeling somewhere around 3 am yet I figured I would be fine. Mind you I had 2 pair of heavy socks on... But no, I even thought about pouring hot water onto them hoping to get a little feeling back. Kember was nice enough to help a sister out. Eventually I could walk again and we were off heading towards Colorado. Where I lay parked in a Walmart parking lot for the second time on this trip.

It's quite funny that it has been exactly 2 weeks wince we started this trip. Night 1 and night 14 have both been in Walmart parking lots... I really hope we don't keep that up. So far in Denver I have seen 5 Teslas. That lovely information is for my Father... In Norway one year we counted how many Teslas we saw and have been ever since. Another thing my sister and I have seemed to be doing even back in fairfield, whenever my sister saw a pickup truck she would say "Dad?" as it drove by. I soon got her to only say it to trucks that actually look like my dads because before she would say it to everyone that went by. That got harder as time went on, when every car we saw was a truck. So dad we are always thinking about you when a maroon truck drives on by, can't wait for the day when it actually is you in that truck...

Yesterday (not yesterday anymore... 10.4) we spent the whole day in Yellowstone National Park, it has been the first park we got to where it was still daylight so we had to pay for this one. A solid 35 bucks later we are off to explore. About 5 miles into the North entrance we are faced with a very Disney World feel. Hundreds of cars and people walking around. It was a beautiful day so more welcoming then the next few days to come. Those will be full of rain and snow. So back to Disney World, it was something we were not expecting, huge lodges and dinning halls all over the place, definitely did not feel like these people were roughing it the good old camping way. Seemed more like a family vacation to a 5 star resort. As we drive through the mountains we kept expecting someone to jump out of the trees and start sining, then it really would be Disney...

With a few photos of the wild elk and honks to fellow Westfalia owners we parked and headed up to see the Mammoth hot springs. It was a pretty crazy sight to see, all the different microorganisms that live in the water that cause it to change colors. I have never been one to take photos, I don’t really understand why people do. Since I have left Fairfield all I have seen at every park or pretty view, hundreds of people with their digital cameras taking dozens of photos. Each person that comes here takes the same exact photos, then when they go home, they sit on their camera or if they really have enough motivation they will import them to their computer. That way they can sit there and continue to look like all the other photos everyone else took. 

So while Kember took photos of the hot springs, plants, rocks and several trees, I just stood leaning against the railing with my back to the hot springs. I know, while everyone faced one direction, I simply turned my back to it. I wanted to look around and take everything in. All the beauty that goes unnoticed. I usually take 1-2 photos of the things around me just to do it, I know I most likely will never post them or really show them to anyone, but in this day in age, it seems like the right thing to do. I respect Kembers photos 100%, that she uses film so no one person will ever have the same photo as her. It is all up to her to change the aperture or  change how she develops the film. 

Kember and I decided to go for I hike because me being the smartest sister, scheduled the wrong date for our campsite. Luckily while on this hike we met a family that came up to us because they saw us get out of Vandy. They had a fellow Wesfalia named Walter. We got lots of trips and tricks from them. We went our separate ways at the end of the hike, so Kember and I decided to keep hiking. Don’t worry, details about this family that basically took us in as their own will be coming soon. I feel like some of you out there would like to hear about this hike we took to see a breathtaking waterfall in a canyon. The funny think is that the hike was all down hill first, we had to get down into the canyon and the level of this waterfall. It was an easy way down but a b*tch on the way back. The climb back up seemed way less rewarding, that at the end of this big climb we get to jump in our smelly van. 

It was a pretty amazing hike down in this canyon, all the colorful stone, trees growing in crazy directions, several adorable chipmunks and squirrels (I hate chipmunks but Kember thinks they are cute so I put this in) and lastly the sun was setting which made it even more beautiful. My phone was dead so I couldn’t take any photos but I did not really care. Like I said before I don't really like to, just feel obligated, so I would have only taken one anyway. All that matters to me is that I know I got to see this beautiful place in nature. That I don’t need confirmation from anyone else out there in the world. 

The main goal of this trip is for myself, that I don’t need anyone else out there to support me. I support my own decisions, that going to college was not where I wanted to be. That it is not the best place for me to learn and grow, at least not yet. Of course having my parents support in everything I do and even friends and teachers seeing what I am doing and want to live through my writing, makes this dream of mine easier. That I don’t have to prove myself to anyone, but realistically I already knew that. I am not doing this to prove to the world college does not have to be the answer, if that becomes a side effect at the end of this than I would be proud. I am just a kid in a big world that just wants to find their path. So here is to me trying...

On the way to this monument we stopped at a gas station so Kember could buy some tea and get me some erectile dysfunction (only two of my friends will get that joke). But I must admit  as I told my sister I was going to put this in the blog, I giggled to myself for 10 minutes while driving though the miles of nothingness of Wyoming. I'd say a highlight to the day...

Anyway back to the story, so while I was parked out front of this gas station another Volkswagen Westfalia pulls up next to us. I reach over to roll down the window and talk to the man who got out. I learned he is traveling with his wife and their good boy golden retriever Blue. They live in California but are heading east to see family, the exact opposite route we are taking. I got out of the car when they came back out of the gas station and we talked all about our trip so far: how long we are going for, where we have been or where we are going, we even opened up the van doors and shared with each other what the insides looked like. She (I didn't get their names so you guys are stuck with he or she, but of course got the dogs name because that's the most important...) so she liked our spice rack, which is just these metal tins that have magnets on the back and we can stick them all over the van. Anyway I doubt you guys really care about our conversations with fellow van lifers. So after that we were off to discover more of Wyoming.

At about 309 miles into driving my right knee started to hurt so I do what anyone would do in this situation... I drove a solid 48 miles with my left foot. I do this quite often I must admit, it's my first time doing it so far on this trip but all my long treks to Maryland I always find myself driving with my left foot here and there, but for never this long. I kinda got into a challenge with myself, how long I could do it without my sister noticing. I even put my right foot up on the center console but no comment. When we stopped for gas I confessed what I had done and my sister just laughed it off.

Anyway as we continued through Wyoming there was just grass and cows the whole way long, if we got luck we could see sheep, horses or even a person every 30 miles. Truly an exciting time!! Although out of nowhere I found myself going 20 miles an hour up a huge mountain. Vandy doesn't like hills too much so she keeps a steady pace of 20-30 miles up one. But this was no ordinary hill... we were climbing a mountain. At the top of it we found ourselves driving through clouds and snow all over the ground. At that moment, I knew we were in for a cold cold night.

At the peak of the mountain we saw a sign showing those trucks that are going downhill and directly under it we saw 13 miles. So we knew the next 13 miles were full of praying Vandy's breaks would hold up... Every few sharp turns and steep downhills we saw these truck runways that where there incase an 18-wheeler or car was going too fast down the hill and wouldn't make the turn. Not a fun sight to see when it's 7:30 at night and the sun has already set.

We finally made it to our campsite 460 miles later and we were the only ones there! I thought we would be lucky enough to actually have some human interaction but I was wrong. Oh so very wrong… So we found ourselves making a grilled cheese and avocado dinner, reading and writing then heading off to bed.

I apologize for not posting yesterday, I know how 100% of all of you readers were just so heart broken that you couldn’t get your daily dose of a 17 year old driving around the states and her mediocre writing skills. I hope this lovely post can make it up to all you lovely folks out there:) Have a wonderful day!! I know I will!