rand creek horse ranch | cody, wyoming

After a wonderful evening touring Cody, WY, followed by a Teton Ale at the famous Irma Hotel and Buffalo Bill Bar, Dad and I needed to rest our weary legs. We planned to hit Yellowstone bright and early the next morning (REALLY bright and REALLY early if dad gets his way), so I needed my sleeep. Seriously, so hard keeping up with this guy. I love him more than words can say, and I am forever blessed to experience this leg of my journey with him, but man he does not sleep! lol He's seriously ready to go at 5am every morning and I have to beg him to go back to sleep like a little kid. :) I love you dad. xoxo

We ventured out a little past Cody, toward Yellowstone and stumbled upon the perfect dude ranch! RAND CREEK RANCH is located only 20 miles outside of Yellowstone National Park's East Entrance. Great western hospitality, clean mountain air, beautiful friendly horses, and breathtaking views! Heading back there today to pick up my camper table (we left it behind in our excited exit to Yellowstone)! Wish we could have stayed longer, but too much to see with Dad in the short time I have him.  

The breathtaking view from our cabin! The striated mountains reminded me of the Badlands!

yellowstone national park | do not feed the animals !!!

I took this pic of an actual man trying to feed the elk in Yellowstone. He literally parked his car and walked about 100 yards into the middle of their field. THIS is why there are signs all over Yellowstone pleading with folks to NOT FEED THE ANIMALS! Do you want to die? Perhaps there's a grizzly nearby and you'd like to feed him too? This guy is lucky he didn't get trampled. A handful of us watched in awe as he inched closer and closer with a piece of food in his hand like he was trying to feed a rabbit. We honestly thought we were about to witness this guy get trampled to death. I decided to make this Yellowstone PSA in his honor!! ;) 

yellowstone national park!

Yellowstone National Park, our first National Park, is located in northwest Wyoming and spans an area of 3,468 square miles. Comprised of pristine lakes, lush forest, vast grasslands and half of the world's geothermal features (including lava flows and rocks from volcanic eruptions). Yellowstone's terrain is uniquely breathtaking. 

Check out photos here!

cooking breakfast for dad | bozeman, montana! :)

cowboy bar | jackson hole wyoming

My dad. xoxo Take one guess where I get my "squinty" smile eyes!?? :)

yellowstone with my father!

As grateful as I am for my solitude, I am forever thankful I got to share this journey with my dad. I could fill this post with a bunch of platitudes: life's too short, you don't realize what you have 'til it's gone, someday all we'll have is our memories, blah, blah blah. Spoken so many times by the disingenuous, the words almost sound hallow and insincere.

Our time together was layered with love, laughter, embarrassment, stupidity and deep bonding. Whether it was swigging brandy out of the bottle in a paper bag (we did that all the time), mooning a whole family (I swear it was by accident), or dad telling random people he was a hitchhiker, I will cherish this time with my father forever.

 

No matter the age, I think deep down we all seek our parents' approval. My eyes filled with tears as I overheard my normally non-communicative father (a.k.a. Mountain Man) brag to a group of strangers at the B&B:

"my daughter is livin' the dream. She made this happen all by herself, through a lot of hard work."

We didn't come from money. Mom and dad worked hard to put food on the table and a roof over our heads. Sometimes pancakes for dinner as that's all we could afford. We never got hand outs, and learned at an early age if we wanted anything, well then we better get to work. Christmas and your birthday, those are the only times we would get presents. At age 7, I had a very lucrative lemonade stand (built by my father), followed by a stint as my brother's paper route assistant at age 8. That apprenticeship ultimately led to my own paper route empire at age 10 (three streets!). By the time I turned 15, working papers were signed and I had had my very first real job at a record store. I'll never forget the day I got my first paycheck. The feeling was intoxicating. Thank you Mom & Dad. Whether or not they knew it at the time, they instilled life's greatest lesson: work hard and never take anything for granted. Thank you. I wouldn't be "livin' the dream" if it wasn't for you. 

 

This was actually taken on the majestic Chief Joseph Byway, via Bear Tooth Highway, en route to Yellowstone!

three months on-the-road : the power of solitude

When I headed out on this journey, I quickly realized one thing: I needed to be alone. I had abosutely no idea why and I wasn't about to question the whispers of the universe or the path that was evolving. There seemed to be an almost unearlthy force guiding me and I wasn't about to stand in its way. I was starving for something, but what exactly...?

Little did I know my journey of solitude would be so powerful and healing. I had no idea how much I needed to be alone, until I was. There is a profound sense of freedom in the stillness of solitude. Quiet nights in nature alone with my thoughts: dreaming, reflecting, soul searching. Now, my soul is wide open. The feeling is hard to describe. I can't stop smiiling. My heart seems to dance. I breathe more deeply. I am profoundly happy, giddy almost, with the deepest sense of peace.

Click to read more ...

match mishaps

I have been pleasantly surprised by Match. Most emails I receive are incredibly sincere and genuinely nice. I think most of the yahoos are turned off by the fact I'm traveling. Fine with me! While most are nice, Match wouldn't be Match if you didn't have the occasional weirdo! This just came through (again) so I just had to share.... 

Hi Beauty 
Enjoyed your profile and would like to learn more. Also and while hoping to avoid the obvious find you quite attractive. In addition to manufacturing lubricant powders I also have a publicly visable business that breeds much gossip (a full service restaurant/banquet site). Typically I keep my profile off as I prefer a little anonimity with respect to our staff and guests although would be happy to send it if your interest is piqued. 
Enjoy the rest of your day. 

Let's dissect this... FIRST MISTAKE: do not mention you manufacture lubricant powders! What!? Are you serious? I don't care if your lubricant powder cures cancer or mixed with water can feed a village. As noble as your lubricant powder might be, it's weird and gross to put that in an email to some girl you're trying to date! SECOND MISTAKE: this is the same exact email I received from him two months ago. He's clearly a "copy and paste" bandit. I wonder how many other "Match Girls" received this email. I bet THAT'S an alarming statistic!!

Btw, I have the utmost respect for anyone on Match (heck I'm on there!). I would never be disrespectful and post anyone's name! This is just funny and harmless to share! :) 

new semi-custom yoga studio!

My new Paha Que Wilderness tent is amazing! It attaches directly to the camper easily with suction cups. The door opens right into the spacious, well made 10x10 tent with a sewn in floor. So much more living space and it's perfect for my yoga on rainy days! Most importantly, I got it up by myself in about 20 minutes! I was a bit worried this thing would end up on EBAY, but nope! I did it no problem. Phew!!! Worth every penny! It's surprisingly compact too! 

The folks that make my camper make a side tent but nothing large enough for me to do my yoga. Lucky for me the "guys" at Little Guy Teardrop Trailers do! Little Guy is another teardrop manufacturer located in Ohio. They are partnered with a tent manufacturer, Paha Que Wildnerness, that makes all of their custom tents. I had to send over a schematic of my camper (different manufacturer) but they were able to fit it perfectly!

It's good to be part of the teardrop family! For other teardrop owners that would like info on this tent, go to GoLittleGuy.com then click on Options and Accessories! This is the side tent screen room. I LOVE IT!

holy hiatus!!! i'm back!!

I have so much to catch up on I don't even know where to begin! For starters, I guess I'll show you a map of my travels over the past 10 days! Holy smokes I've been moving!! I think you'll understand why I've been the worst blogger ever. I can probably write a book on how "not" to blog at this point. :)

I am so unbelievalby bless my dad met me on my journey, but wow I need to recover! That man thinks he's in the military! 5:00 am and he's ready to go! "Where the heck you going Gustapo -- it's not even light out yet!" I convinced him that 7am was a more realistic time to start the day, although 7am is still not realistic to me, it was much better than 5:00! We saw so much and I have so many funny memories. Montana – Yellowstone – Jackson Hole. Oh yea, and he wanted to drive to Idaho too, for no real reason. So funny!!

I finally landed in Billings last night and for the first time in 11 days, I'll be sleeping in the same spot 2 nights in a row! I'll actually be in Billings all week trying to catch up on life, blogging, organizing (my camper is a mess) and there's a rodeo later this week! Yeehaw!!! Giddyup!! Ridem' Cowboy! Or whatever they say. :) 

!

BOZEMAN, MT to RED LOGE, MT over BEAR TOOTH HWY and CHIEF JOSEPH SCENIC BYWAY to CODY, WY through YELLOWSTONE, GRAND TETONS, JACKSON HOLE and IDAHO back to JACKSON then back through YELLOWSTONE. And now BILLINGS, then back through Cody to pick up the "camper" table my dad left behind in an anxious exit so we could get to Yellowstone! SO FUNNY! LOVE YOU DAD!