on the oregon trail: day 2

No internet access last night--we stayed in the middle of nowhere, so here's the update on yesterday's activities:

We decided to sleep in a bit, since our trip the day before took 13 hours. After a quick trip to Walmart and a drive through Starbucks, we headed out toward the Grand Tetons. The drive to the Grand Tetons was spectacular. The drive up Highway 191 from Rock Springs to the Grand Tetons was one of the prettiest drives I've ever been on.

We stopped for lunch in Jackson Hole at Jedediah's House of Sourdough (I think--the picture we took just says "Jedediah's.") We girls had breakfast food, and Nate had a massive burger that he forced himself to finish. (Nate said that burger was giving the best burger he ever ate--at a restaurant in Cannon Beach--a run for its money.) We ate out on the patio--it was a beautiful afternoon and a beautiful setting. Of course, we got coffee on our way out of town. (And I could have spent a lot more time in Jackson. Very touristy, but very cute.)

At the visitor's center at the entrance of the Grand Tetons, we heard about the Hidden Falls. Using our handy map, Nate determined that it would take us 15 minutes to hike to the falls. Nate's 30-minute round trip hike turned into 2 hours and 30 minutes! So perhaps Nate isn't so good at judging distances . . . Nevertheless, the hike was beautiful, and the falls were stunningly gorgeous! I will definitely post pictures of them later.

We got back on the road at 5:50. At that point, we thought we might go to Old Faithful before going to our hotel. A couple hours later, after going through lots of road construction, we decided just to head for the hotel. Finally, at 11 p.m., after hours of scary mountain driving (which Val handled masterfully!), we pulled in to the Super 8 at Cooke City. I was mistakenly under the impression that if a town was big enough to have a Super 8, it must also have fast food. Not so. Cooke City was TINY. It mainly consisted of motels and bars. So, we had granola bars and crackers for supper at 11:30.

Of the two parks (Grand Tetons and Yellowstone), the Grand Tetons was definitely my favorite. There's not much to do in Yellowstone other than drive and take pictures of wildlife. We did have a herd of bison cross the road right in front of us--that was pretty cool.

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coffee across the country: day 1

Val and I love coffee, and we both agree that Barista's (where she works) serves some of the best coffee we've ever tasted. One of our goals on this trip is to find truly great coffee. All the coffee we taste will be compared to Barista's--is it better, just as good, or worse?

Rating system: (devised by Val, in terms an ice cream lover can understand. Why not coffee terms? Good question!)
*****--freshly baked fudgy brownie covered in Breyer's vanilla ice cream and my great-grandma's amazing homemade fudge sauce
****--a ColdStone Creamery favorite
***--your favorite DQ Blizzard
**--an ice cream bar
*--sugar free, fat free, freezer-burned vanilla ice cream

Our first coffee stop was at Barista's, and the coffee was, of course, excellent.
Overall rating: **** (only because we can have it all the time--and we need to leave room in case something better comes along!)

Our second coffee stop was in Laramie, Wyoming, at Turtle Rock Coffee, Etc. The atmosphere was great--we loved the decor--but the coffee wasn't in the same bracket as Barista's. My Irish Cream Latte was comparable to what I can get in Central City--which is to say it's good, not great. Steph's smoothie was "pretty good," and Nate really enjoyed his Cappuccino/Espresso Bean gelato. They also have an extensive sandwich menu (and, as you can see from the picture, pasta!). It's located just off the interstate on the west side of Laramie, and while the coffee itself wasn't anything to brag about, I'd still say it's worth a stop.Overall Rating:
** (Val: "The atmosphere was cute, but the flavor was not good.")
*** (Becky: see comments above)
*** (Steph: "My smoothie was good.")
??? (Nate: he went to sleep while we were discussing this)

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on the oregon trail: day 1

This morning, my two sisters, cousin Nate, and I embarked on our great cross-country adventure. We'll be traveling to the Oregon coast to visit Nate's sister Beth.

Before we could leave, though, my car needed to be fixed. On Sunday, the cable that allows my driver's side window to roll up and down broke . . . with the window completely down! My dad took my car to a body shop on Monday, and Gary (whom I would recommend!) had it fixed by 7:30 last night.

I'd told Nate that we would meet at my parents' house at 7:15 a.m. I knew that we wouldn't actually leave by 7:15, but I had no idea we wouldn't make it until 8:15!

In our quest for great coffee, we made our first stop at Barista's in Grand Island. We knew the coffee would be great, so I guess we weren't really searching for great coffee at that point!

We met up with recently married friend Sydney for lunch in Ogallala. This was hopefully one of our only fast food stops on the trip--we want to eat at local places as much as possible.

I had no idea how beautiful Wyoming is! The topography changed practically the instant we crossed the border. I won't post all the pictures here, but I'll put some up on facebook. I said, "Look at how beautiful that is!" about 25 times today.

We had supper in Rawlins, and I'll do a separate post about that later. It was amazing.

Now we're at our hotel, and I'm pretty impressed. Definitely one of the better Super 8s I've stayed in, and the front desk people are really nice. Val was thrilled to discover there's a Starbucks next door.

Tomorrow we'll head to Yellowstone!

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thoughts from a lunch break

• I left my container of applesauce at home. Grrr. Now I'm gonna be hungry. I wonder if applesauce that's been on a kitchen counter all day is still edible?
  
• I'd forgotten how much I like Nature Valley granola bars. Wishing now that I'd brought one for lunch, as well as breakfast.
  
• The Proposal opens in two days! It's ridiculous how excited I am about this movie. It's the star of my favorite movie of all time and the star of a sitcom I fondly remember, coupled with one of my favorite plot devices . . . I think we're going opening night!
  
• I leave on my Oregon trip two weeks from today!!!
  
• One of my coworkers is ridiculously dressed up. During the summer, he normally wears jeans and a polo--or even athletic shorts and a t-shirt--but today he's wearing a dress shirt and slacks. Wonder why?
• My hair looks about 1000 times better today than it did yesterday. Could be the new conditioner; could be using Val's nice ionic hair dryer instead of my old dying one. I choose to credit the new conditioner, which I paid way too much for at my hair salon. (OK, so it causes me to snicker a bit in calling it a salon--it's a small town beauty shop . . . but I love it!)
• I woke up this morning to discover that my face has forgotten it's no longer 15 years old. Hello, zits!
• I killed a jumping spider in the stairwell outside my apartment this morning. That's the third one I've killed out there this spring. I really, really, really hope I don't find any in my apartment!
• In two days, I need to have submitted pictures and an update on what I've been doing for the past 10 years to a high school classmate who is compiling a book on everyone in our class. I've really been dragging my feet on this. What pictures do I include? What do I say?
• Normally caffeine doesn't affect my ability to sleep, but perhaps a drink containing four shots of espresso and a 44 oz. Diet Pepsi (both after 8:30 p.m.) were a bit too much. I was wired!
  
• When will Jillian figure out that Wes is a publicity-seeking jerk? "They say that love, it don't come eeeee-eeeeasy . . ."
• Will my yearbook proofs ever come? What if they come while I'm on vacation?
• My cilantro is so cute! I planted the seeds in the pot that used to hold my African violet (R.I.P.). I ask Val at least once a day if she's noticed how good the cilantro looks.
• I should really blog more. I just don't know what to say half the time . . .
  

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zack attack!

Mark-Paul Gosselaar was on Jimmy Fallon's show last night . . . and he did the entire appearance as Zack Morris! Also, it seems Fallon's trying to get a Saved by the Bell reunion show put together. I would so watch that!

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what is love?

Anytime I hear that phrase, my brain immediately flashes to my college Sunday school teacher, Kondo, asking that question one Sunday morning, and then answering the question before anyone else could say anything: "Baby, don't hurt me, don't hurt me no more." Crazy as it is, that's the way we sometimes view love and relationships (romantic and otherwise)--I'll love you as long as you don't hurt me, but if you do, well, then we're through.

My pastor is currently doing a series on family, and today's sermon was called "A Replacement for Your Love Life," based in Ephesians 4:31-5:5. If you've spent much time in an evangelical church, you've probably heard most everything he said before, but sometimes it's good to have a refresher . . . it certainly was what I needed to hear today!

Real love is very different than self love.

It starts with forgiving, rather than getting even.

It depends on my will rather than my emotions.

This point reminded me of Ken Medema's song "The Greatest Love." Some of the lyrics in the bridge say: "Most feelings change as fast as weather, but love's a matter of the mind and will, a matter of the head and heart."

It is an action, rather than a passion.

Real love is tenderhearted.
Bitterness will not only destroy the relationship, but it will eat you from the inside out. Real love does not withhold forgiveness, even though it's painful. Release the debt and forgive!

Real love is pure and unselfish.
We are constantly indoctrinated by what we see on TV and hear on the radio--when people fall in love, they fall in bed. But real love is not immoral. It is not a sexual feeling. (At this point, Pastor Mike did a hilarious rendition of The Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost that Loving Feeling," which was apparently the most-played song of the 20th century.) Love is not about me--it is about giving to others. Love is active. (In the words of dcTalk, "Love is a verb!")

Challenge: Am I ready for a new love life?
Am I ready for the purifying compulsion of a holy passion?
Am I filling my heart with what I desire to overflow?

If you're interested in hearing the whole sermon, the podcast should be up in a few days.

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two weeks later

I realized this morning that I haven't posted anything in two weeks. Here are some of the things keeping me busy, in (roughly) chronological order:

1. Working through my next Book Review Blogger book--Faith and Pop Culture (Christianity Today Study Series). This is meant to be done as a group Bible study, and I'm working my way through each chapter before writing my review. So far, I'm really enjoying it, and I'd love to do it in a small group setting.
2. Finishing the school year . . . and (sort of) completing the yearbook. I sent off the last pages, and I'll get proofs back in a few weeks. Then I'll need to make all the final corrections; I'll probably need to do a lot of work because I got so sick of staring at pages that I just quit proofing!
3. Seeing Wicked in Omaha! My mom, sisters, sister-in-law, and I all went together. It was amazing! I didn't take many pictures, but here's one of Susan, Steph, me, and Val in front of the sign (Susan and Steph didn't know they were in the pic):
   
4. Admiring the beauty around me. On the way to Lincoln to pick up SIL Susan for Wicked, we came through a crazy rain storm. Just as we got through the storm, we got our first view of the capitol building . . . and it was positively glowing! This picture doesn't quite do it justice--it was beautiful!
   
5. Cooking with my sisters. We attempted to make a "real" dinner one night last week. (By "real," I mean something that required a recipe, not one of our old standbys that we learned to make from Mom. I'm not saying her food isn't real, but it's not very adventurous.) We made Rachael Ray's Garlic & Oil Spaghetti with Greens, with a few modifications. Seems the local Hy-Vee doesn't carry swiss chard or scallions, so we substituted arugula. As I don't normally eat greens (ever), I have no idea if swiss chard and arugula are even remotely similar . . . but I know they're both green! Here are the results:
   
6. Hanging out with friends. A bunch of us got together to say farewell to Tricia, who is moving to Lincoln to go to UNL. We went to Carlos O'Kelley's (the greatest Mexican chain restaurant!), watched a movie, and just had fun being together.
7. Killing my African Violet. I'm not sure how it survived the Great Plant Holocaust of 2008, but I managed to keep it alive for over a year. Take a look at the "then" and "now" pics:
   
   I already have its replacement, a Sansevieria. Supposedly, it requires little light or water . . . so hopefully I won't kill it!
8. Taking some time off work. I realized at the end of last week that I still had five vacation days left, to be used by the end of June. So, I took last Friday and this morning off. Yay for vacation time!
   
   
   

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