Subaru musings: Part 1 - Where was this two months ago?; Part 2 - Inappropriate

I'm in Austin, TX, sitting in the Subaru dealership waiting while they change the oil and rotate the tires on my car.

While wasting a little time on Fark I came across a story about the world's largest ball of twine.

Oh, Wisconsin. Where were you when I needed you? Since I am 1,190 miles from your sphere of twiney goodness, there is no way I can make the detour now.

In other news, Facebook is blocked from the Subaru dealership's Wi-Fi access.

The "offender list?" That sounds pretty serious. You can tell how serious it is by the boldfaced red type. What happens now? Will someone from their IT department put a sign on my computer? Do I have to keep 100 yards away from Best Buy? Read the rest of this entry >>

Jets over Death Valley

Two flyovers: one when I was about five miles outside the park, another after I reached Father Crowley Point a few miles inside the park.

It may not appear so, but that fighter was flying REALLY low. Hence the naughty language* in the first few seconds of the video.



Yes, I took a ton of pictures today. I'm going back tomorrow to see more and take a ton more pictures. I'll put them up soon,** I promise***.

*My mom is reading this blog at school. I'm trying to avoid getting blocked by their Nanny-ware.

**Before the 2012 election.

***Maybe.
Read the rest of this entry >>

Okay, I suck...

Is anyone reading this anymore? It's been over two weeks since I updated. And my last update was about how I hadn't updated in a week. And I've been a bunch of places since then. I'm sorry.

I may not accompany every entry with the insightful and witty observations that you, dear reader, have grown so accustomed to reading, but I will at least give you a whole bunch of the pretty pictures I've been taking. Here goes, and I promise to be better.

No, this time I mean it.

No, really.

I get the impression you don't believe me.

Well, check this out. Or this if you dare.
Read the rest of this entry >>

Trees of Mystery - Klamath, CA

The sight of enormous statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox were enough to pique our interest. What we got to see once we paid our admission was spectacular.

Up the hill...



And down again.

Read the rest of this entry >>

Jackson to Boise through the Teton Pass, or Two minutes and twenty-five seconds proving I'm an idiot

I couldn't take being stuck in Jackson for another day on the off-chance the roads would clear enough for me to go to Yellowstone. It was time to go.

Maybe.

Sensitive ears be warned, I drop an f-bomb in the first six seconds of this video. You probably would have too.

Read the rest of this entry >>

Jackson, WY - Take Two

Take Two? What happened to "Take One?" I have been a lazy blogger, that's what. So lazy that between South Dakota and Jackson, I took a southern detour through Golden, CO and I didn't even tell you. I'm sorry. I've been bad. Updates are coming, I promise.

I left Colorado on Wednesday, drove up through Laramie and Rock Springs and got to Jackson, WY yesterday. This morning I left for Grand Teton National Park with the hope that I might make it as far as Yellowstone. Then, at about 3:00 this afternoon, I was up at Jackson Lake Dam when the snow started.

That little purple dot on the map? That represents an expected snowfall of 12 or more inches. That purple dot is also hovering over a large chunk of Yellowstone National Park. I decided it was better to turn back to Jackson than try to make it to Yellowstone just to get turned back up there.

The good news is that I got a ton of pictures today, including several of some of the local fauna - not just pretty pictures of rocks. In fact, since I left Colorado I have filled the memory card in my camera twice with stills and video. I'll post a nice selection of them in the next day or so.

No, really, I mean it. Read the rest of this entry >>

Grand Teton National Park

Oooh, pretty.

Apparently, you also save bears through the proper use of grammar.

The next few pictures were taken from the top of Signal Mountain, 7593 feet above sea level.


Putting the "signal" in Signal Mountain. My cell phone reception was amazing right here.
A small pond near the base of the mountain in the middle of a grove of trees. You can see the storm clouds coming in.





About ten seconds after I took the previous picture, the snow started to come down like someone flipped a switch. Jackson Lake Dam is about halfway through the park going north, and still about 70 miles from Yellowstone, where I had planned to go next. The weather report was pretty grim: roads were being closed in Yellowstone because northwest Wyoming/southwest Montana was expecting 12 - 20 inches of snow at higher elevations. I decided it was best to turn around and head back to Jackson.

If you don't feel like sitting through the snowy footage, fast forward the following video to about 7:30 for something really cool.



MOOSE!!!

Or more accurately, MOOSE!!!*


*see, 'cause "moose" is both a singular and a plural. I could have written "mooses," or "meese," or "moos-i," but that would have been ridiculous. Read the rest of this entry >>

Update to the blog

Since I've added a lot of photos, sometimes this blog takes a while to load. So you don't have to reload 1000 pictures you've already seen, now each entry just shows as a preview. Just click on the link right here ==>


and the rest of the post will be shown to you. It's not groundbreaking, but it should help you read this without tying up your computer for an eternity.

We now return you to whatever it was you were doing.
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Friday/Saturday, Part 5 - Sturgis and Deadwood

Sturgis, South Dakota is the site of an annual motorcycle rally which is held in early- to mid-August. Since I came through on October 3, there really wasn't much to see.

I had come through Deadwood a bit earlier that evening and decided to head back in search of a hotel room in the direction of Colorado, where I am planning to go tomorrow. Once I discovered that the next hotel south of Deadwood was over 100 miles away, I decided to just stop in Deadwood for the night.



Right after this video, and while I was driving around trying to find a motel, I saw some kind of mountain cat cross the road in front of me. At first, I thought, "That poor puppy must have gotten out." That thought was followed quickly by, "That looked more like a cat." My thoughts began to talk among themselves, eventually determining that if it looked like a cat but was the size of a dog, it's probably a good thing I was inside the car at the time.

I checked in to my motel on the west end of Main Street and walked back down to the casinos to walk around lose some money in the slot machines. Deadwood is very much like Las Vegas, only at about 1/100th the size. And they roll up the sidewalks at midnight. And there's no Wayne Newton. Read the rest of this entry >>

Friday, Part 4 - Mount Rushmore

Traveler's tip: If you show up at Mount Rushmore late in the day, the parking lot attendants have likely abandoned their posts, saving you $10 for a 20-minute visit*. That's like saving $.50 every minute!

Proof that I was actually here.

If you are in the neighborhood, stop by and check it out. But don't waste your fuel getting out there for a special trip.

*I would have left sooner, but it took about five minutes to walk from the car to the amphitheatre and observation area; two minutes to take a couple of pictures; three minutes to realize that this, in fact, was all there was; two minutes to stop in the restroom; at least two minutes to dry my hands with the weak air-dryers in the men's room; and five to walk back to the car. Okay, 19 minutes. Read the rest of this entry >>