Our Capitol

With mid-term elections in high gear, it was only fitting to start a trip out east by visiting Washington D.C. for the weekend.

As a child, I visited D.C. a few times and did most of the touristy things: seeing the monuments, visiting all the tourist shops, seeing the cherry blossoms in bloom, etc.  This time around, Jessica and I got a more local perspective, thanks largely to wonderful friends wanting to really show us the city.  From explanations of the passive-aggressive license plates captioned "Taxation Without Representation" - a way to say that they aren't happy to not be represented at the national level - to dining at fabulous local restaurants to going to Halloween parties reminiscent of my college days, we really saw D.C. from a new, more non-touristy angle.

Oh Deer and Holy Cow are preparing for a night on the town!

Look at us, we're locals!  We're riding the Uber!

At a party in D.C.

After wandering lost, we used a Car2Go to get to party number two!

Catching up with friends is always awesome!

L'Enfant Metro Station

Touring the city at night.  It was blustery, chilly and quite quiet.

Of course, you cannot visit D.C. without being a tourist.  Thankfully, a kind friend took us around to show us what's what and allowed us to walk the monuments from the most efficient route.  Given the chilly, windy day, the efficient route was much appreciated!  

Just hanging with Teddy!

Washington Monument

Jefferson Memorial

Jefferson Memorial from a distance.

FDR Memorial

Vietnam War Memorial.

A late lunch at the farm-to-table restaurant Founding Farmers.

The architecture of the buildings is absolutely fantastic.

I'm pretty sure I saw this sweatshirt for sale 20 years ago in D.C.

The White House.  We had the opportunity to talk to one of Obama's detail people, Yapi, who informed us Wisconsin girls that the best barbecue he had was in Madison.  Woot!

North Dakota

North Dakota, it's been real, but we have to move on to Big Sky Country.  Actually, North Dakota, you are quite more than I thought you would be.

From the North Dakota Badlands to Theodore Roosevelt National Park to the wildlife, North Dakota is more than just desolate rangeland and western appeal, though there is plenty on both accounts.

We spent two days in Medora, ND, a quaint town priding itself on its old time Western appeal (they even have a Cowboy Hall of Fame--I regret not going) and the national park.  Unsuspecting as it may be on the map, this town is a mix of tourist trap and "real" town.  Though, the population certainly swells in the summer months, the number of lodging accommodations is a testament to that.



Theodore Roosevelt National Park is divided into the North Unit and the South Unit; Medora is located along the South Unit, and this is the only section we were able to visit.
The park's view gives way to breathtaking vistas of the badlands consisting of, as stated in the park's map, " buttes, tablelands, and valleys." Impressive and vast, dominating the landscape long after leaving the park.  The petrified forest is further evidence of the geologic history that took place to form the badlands.

Driving through the scenic roads of the South Unit, we saw many prairie dog "villages", wild horses, and a good number of bison, who like to roam along the roadside.  One thing I didn't expect to see was prickly pear cactus.  More on that in a bit.

Thankfully, while out on our trail run and our mountain bike ride on the Mash Daah Hey Trail, the only evidence of the bison was the piles of poop they leave behind.  It was only inevitable I'd end up some on my leg.

During our bike ride, the bison poop was not the only thing I brought back with me.  I also discovered pickers from the aptly named prickly pear cactus on my calf, presumably from a small tumble I took.

A Highway Perspective

We have crossed the Mississippi River!  This means that our 22 hour carride is now down to 17 hours.  That also means plenty of time fore to write this entry from my phone (read: expect typos).

Twenty-two hours in a car to our final destination doesnt seem daunting to me.  I love road trips.  When I was little, my parents were the the King and Queen of Road Tripping, at least in my humble opinion.  Once or twice a year, we would pile into our four door sedan, which was thankfully replaced by a minivan (while a minus for style points, it certainly was an upgrade to our comfort level), and trek to a far away destination.  The trips took us to Canada, Mexico, Washington D.C., Yellowstone, Florida, and other tremendous places throughout the U.S.

Though the trips were long, and sometimes made longer by my dad's "shortcuts", and oftentimes spent with me vomiting in the backseat, I still recall them with fondness.  Something about the latenight stops for snacks, the morning sunrises, the roadside scenery, and the creative games my brother and I devised to keep ourselves entertained--some of those games resulted in bruises--make the trip memorable and make the journey as exciting as the destination.  You stumble across great places you'd otherwise never visit, you try new things you may not have otherwise tried, and you get the see the country from state line to state line.  Also, road trips allow you to hang out with dinosaurs...

Here's hoping to another road trip with fond memories and off-the-script adventures.

Back to the Standby

Well, it must have been a while since my last blog.  The template has completely changed, and I'm feeling a little lost as to how to navigate the site.  I'll figure it out.  I hope.

The lack of blogging certainly isn't due to lack of adventures.  Since last blogging my trip to Marquette, I've been to some incredible places: revisiting Marquette in the winter, the Apostle Island ice caves, the Twin Cities, Colorado, and have traveled quite a bit throughout the state.  The biggest hindrance to writing in my blog has been dedicating time to do it.  Between training for mountain bike races, running, taking care of Guster, and working, I haven't been great about carving out time to do this.  With a trip to Glacier National Park coming up in six short weeks, I want to get back in the habit so I can do that vacation justice.

As I'm typing, I'm sitting in the comfy beige chair at my in-laws' cabin in Woodruff.  It's our standby get away destination.  Everything about being up north is perfect--the lakes, the trees, the trails, the food, the...mosquitoes (okay, almost everything is perfect).  Combine the northwoods with the summer solstice, and my inspiration to start writing has been revived.

The theme of this trip has been biking, biking, and more biking.  The singletrack up here is technical, rocky, and full of twists and turns.  Since Guster is obsessed with mountain biking, he tags along with us.  As soon as he sees our mountain bikes come down, it's persistent barking and prancing until we hit the trails.  Then, he zooms past us, taking the lead.  Obviously, we can't navigate the trails on our own.  With the trails being technical, it slows us down a bit and makes for a manageable pace for G.

In case you tire of looking at the trees and wildlife, the trails give way to scenic views of the lakes.  These are also great places to cool off on hot days, as G displays below.  Oddly enough, trading in the fatter tires for thinner tires and hitting the pavement doesn't mean a loss of scenery.  It just means different routes to take you to breath-taking views of lakes and forests.  Witches Lake Road has become one of our favorite roads for road biking.  It's hilly, windy, and leads to numerous lakes.  It's pretty obvious where the lakes are, you just have to look at the street names to determine which way to which lake.  Unfortunately, the rain picked up on our road ride, so I wasn't able to capture any pictures.