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Thursday, July 18, 2013

Good for the Soul.

Well hello there! This post is bound to be a long one; it's amazing what travel can do to ones soul.... goodness :) So maybe pull up a comfy chair and some popcorn ;) Here we go!

The older brother and I took a trip this month to Yellowstone and Glacier national parks. We really didn't know what to expect. Everything we'd read, heard, and seen about them had been positive, so we gave it a shot! We were a bit stressed out... Traveling to 2 places we'd never been, not really knowing what to expect... We were nervously excited.

I'm so grateful Dallan and are at a point in our lives where we have the means to take a week off and go to places we've wanted to see. We didn't really have anything planned until about 2 weeks before we left; we winged it, and we loved it :) Winging it is the way to go, because really, life can't be planned, whatever happens happens, and you just have to go with it!

 I'm so grateful how close Dal and I are. Sometimes when I tell people I'm hanging out with him, they are surprised, "You hang out with your brother?" I can't imagine not being close with him (or any of my siblings, really). Isn't that what siblings are for? To be your friend and help you through life, the happy and the hard times? He's got my back, and I have his.

I've been trying to branch out, try new things, get out of my comfort zone, all that jazz; so we camped. Yep, I, Karinne of Utah, camped. Never thought I'd do that, but I had to give it a go! It really wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. But let's just say by day 3, I was so very glad to get a shower.

...Home Sweet Home...

If you know my dad, you know he is quite the stresser, but only because he cares :) He wanted us to call him when we got to Yellowstone. But we had no service... There was a payphone, but we had no quarters, & it was late. So we decided to call him the next day. We went to bed that night saying how we knew he'd be super nervous that he didn't hear from us, probably telling my mom he was going to drive and come find us... The next day we got some quarters and called him, turns out our conversation was true ;) cute Dad. It was so nice to hear his voice :) I'd only been gone 2 days, but it's strange how reconnecting with someone, even after a short period of being without them, reminds you how much you love em.

Day 1 at Yellowstone was awesome! We started off by going to the boardwalk by the lake. We saw bunnies!
Have you ever seen a little bunny hop? Probably the cutest thing I've ever seen and I'm not exaggerating! I wanted to take one home so badly...

The lake was gorgeous; so clear & calm.
Early morning air <3

 These were the first geysers we saw and were freaking out about how cool they were. Little did we know what was in store for us the rest of the day :)

We went to Old Faithful! Dal's lifelong dream was to visit Yellowstone and see her erupt.

 Mission accomplished.

Happy campers... get it??
Even though Dal & I are super close, it was crazy how we still learned new things about each other. I didn't know how much he loves puns. He loves them. It was quite hilarious how many he came up with each day. & when he gets really hungry, he gets oooober sarcastic & it's thee most hilarious thing.

The rest of the day was geyser city!

 I could not get over these colors.

I was really hoping a mermaid would pop out of this one and wave at me...

 This one was a fave. It. was. huge!! Grand Prismatic Spring is its name.

 Sooooo coooool.

I don't even know how to describe this stuff. It's just a volcano. NBD.

Dreamy, right?

 Check that contrast!

& whatever this is ;)

That night, Dal made a fire like a champ... Eagle Scout up in here!

 So we could have delicious smores... Mmmm.

The next day we were off to the hot springs! On our way we saw 2 black bears! They were too far away to take a pic, but we saw them- nuts! When we got to the hot springs we were a wee bit disappointed. Apparently a few of them have closed off over time... Bummer.

But this one was a gem!

 So

very

neat.

The drive back to camp was the best part of the day. We saw 2 deer get chased by a cougar! They got away though, champs. It was basically as wild as the wild gets.

 I am so in love with these bison...
Don't even worry he was right next to our car. I could have reached out and pet him if I wanted to... crazy.

 I seriously felt like I was in the Lion King. I was just waiting for Simba and Nala to pop out over the hill and run around singing songs.

 These hills of flowers.... love.

We sat and watched them for a while. I loved the stillness.
(If you haven't noticed, the word 'love' is and will continue to be used quite frequently in this post. Can't help it.)

The next day we were off to Glacier.
Peace out Yellowstone. Until next time.

Our first hike in Glacier was to Iceberg Lake.
 So in love with this place...

buds :)

 Mid-hike was this waterfall we stopped at. We weren't sure if we wanted to go all the way to the lake. It was getting late and dark, but we decided to YOLO & hurry and go.

When we were so close to the lake, we turned the last corner, then bam! A male moose was down near the path, starring at us... I thought we could possibly die. Dal had informed me earlier in the trip that moose kill more people than bears. So I was officially panicked... It starred at us for what felt like an eternity. Amongst my fear, I was so sad. We came all the way and might not be able to go down to the lake... But praise the heavens, the moose ran the other way :)
This lake was the highlight of our trip! It was gorgeous!! I'd never seen anything like it...

 Is this real life??

Just chillin in Alaska ;)

 Dal made a snowball.

The water was such a deep blue, with ice all over the place! Yet, 20 feet away there was the greenest plants you'd ever see! We wanted to see some penguins out there...

We really didn't want to leave... On the way out, we turned around and soaked in one last look.

The next day was our big hike day! I wanted so badly to spend the day doing a long hike. The day before, we found out both long hikes we wanted to do were closed due to too much snow (see? life can't be planned). So lame. So sad. So bummed. We had an app that gave us a brief summary on each hike. Our third choice explained it lead up the mountain, where there was 'a kitchen with soups, sandwiches, and snacks for hungry hikers.' We thought, 'perfect! We'll have breakfast, hike, have lunch & take a break, then head back down the mountain.' So we didn't bring any food with us... Plus we might have been a wee bit paranoid of bears smelling any food we took with us, then attacking for that delicious granola bar...

So off we went! It was a gorgeous day! I was sooooo pumped to be out in the wild, on a full-day hike with my bro! Best feeling :) My energy level was a 10!

 
We'd been on the trail for probably an hour or so, when I saw this man come tumbling out of the bushes with a look of terror on his face... He got down the hill and laid there moaning, holding his arm... All I could think was, "What is chasing him?? It's a bear. We're all dead." I started shaking, maybe said a bad word or two, then saw this female moose emerge from the trees, starring at the man... Then her 2 little ones followed her out. So very luckily, the mother left the man alone, and led her babies to the lake for a drink. Dal being his composed-self, asked the man if he was okay. He claimed he was on the path when the moose charged him, but his fancy camera on the hill, in the bushes would say otherwise... So, next time you want a picture of some moose, don't go off the path to take it. Thank you, sir who almost got pummeled by an angry mama moose.

After that, I was a bit shaken up. I can't count the number of times we said, "I can't believe that just happened!" We were stunned for a while.

 Felt like a dream.

 <3

As the hike went on, we came to the mountain. It. was. steep. Like waaaaaaaaaay steep...

 yikes.

 After over an hour of pure steepness, we kept saying, 'we've got to be close', 'it has to be just around this corner'.

 Almost there...

& somehow we made it! & so happy were we! Ready to eat and enjoy the view! We walked into the tiny lodge, to find an assortment of chips and candy bars, behind a man, sitting behind a desk. He seemed a bit confused and asked, 

"Do you guys work here?" 
We replied, "No, we're tourist." 
He then asked, "Well, where did you come from?"
"Many Glacier."
"So what's the plan now?"
"Uh... Go back down the mountain..."
"Right on."

Needless to say, there were no soups, sandwiches, or snacks 'for hungry hikers'. What we found was a rundown lodge that held 30, die-hard hikers. The lodge required hikers to hike in their own food, and hike out their own garbage. We're pretty sure that lodge sees no people from the ground who are 'just out for a hike'. Basically, we were crazy :) & really hungry.

I couldn't stop taking pictures, I was so excited and so proud we'd made it to the top! I kept saying I felt like I was Maria from The Sound of Music. You know that opening scene when she's spinning on the hill? And Dal would say, "This looks nothing like Germany, they have tiny blue mountains, and these are huge!" I think his hunger was getting to him ;)

I was really excited we did it. Excuse this crazy outfit...

 I love this pic <3


 We had mixed emotions at the top ;)

Pictures can't do it justice.

The hills are alive...

 So after a filling lunch of sun chips and a hershey's bar, we were on our way!

As we hiked, and got to the real steep part, we ran into this friend. Can you see his horns behind that bush? We had no idea what to do. Are big horned sheep nice? Their horns look threatening... But ultimately, they are sheep... We didn't know. All we knew was, we were hungry, and we wanted to go down the trail. Eventually he moved, and bascially took us down the path. Dal called him our spirit guide. I believe my patronous is now a big horned sheep ;)

After 15 miles, we made it back to the beginning! We then ate our weight in pizza and ice cream. Half way through our pizza, the waiter asked if we wanted a box... No way, the two of us finished off that 'family size' pizza. Holla!

As we ate our ice cream in the car, my spoon broke, so I went back into the store to get a new one. When I got back in the car, Dal said, "Stop walking so weirdly, people think I beat you!" Haha. My muscles were so tired I was walking like a goof. I guess some people looked at me walking, then looked at him and gave him a dirty look. Sorry Dal. People, don't judge :)

We climbed into our tent right after dinner, around 9:30. We kept saying, "I can't believe we did that." & laughing. We felt so crazy. But it felt so good! I was in awe of my body. It's such an amazing thing! I was blown away at how much I could push myself. I never really knew what I could do, until I put myself into that situation. I'm strong. I'm proud :)

The next day we did a bunch of little hikes, our legs were just a wee bit sore, not nearly as bad as we were expecting though :)

 Dal found a new friend, Mr Goat.

 We drove through Logan's Pass, which was gorgeous. There were all sorts of waterfalls like this along the way. So pretty.

A favorite spot of mine was Rocky Point. There was a fire back in 2003 in that area of the park, and the forest is recovering.
 I loved this little flower growing amongst the broken trees; hope.

 Fave <3

 ...feeling free...

Check out that color.

I had an Ariel moment. (I have a slight love for mermaids.)

 Such a happy place.

 ...

.shadow.

John's Lake was creeeeepy. & that's an understatement.

 It was the swampiest, quietest place I've ever been...

 This is what it looked like, the whole trail; moss & no signs of life anywhere- not even other hikers, not even bugs or wind. So strange.

 Dal's face says it all. I was seriously waiting for Voldemort to swoop down and get us... Or Smeagol to approach us and ask if we've seen the precious... Not even kidding. The feeling there was so icky. I don't even know how to describe it. Like someone sucked the life out of anything and everything. Eww.

I didn't like it. At. All.
In fact, I went down to the water to take a glimpse at these lily pads (another one of my loves)
 & I heard something in the water. So booked it like crazy and told Dal we were getting out of there!
So we did. & I'm happy to report we made it out alive without meeting Bellatrix! Because I'm pretty sure if she was real, she'd live there.

Our last stop was Trail of the Cedars. We debated doing this one, we're so glad we did! We saw so many gems!
Cute heart-bum tree :) haha.

Check this! Rainbow spider web. I so wish I had a fancy camera to capture it. The sun was hitting it just right to somehow form colors in the web. Stellar.

 & this my friends, was a mini trip to the jungle. Breathtaking.

 The water was so clear

& gorgeous.

Dal was brave and went in this stump for a picture.
In his own words, "You only YOLO once!"
Hahaha

Last pics on the trail...
Isn't my bro handsome? Such a stud.

Our hotel was right on the lake (so fun). So we hit the shore for one last picture sesh :)
<3

 ..bffs..

  <3

 His signature pose.

 Toes.

 Selfie.

We love you Glacier, you Montanan gem.

One thing we noticed was how many older people were there. Tons & tons! The majority of the tourists were older people. This may seem strange, but it kind of made me sad. I'm sure they worked so hard their whole lives, finally retired, and now they're seeing the world... But they couldn't see much of the park. Iceberg Lake was a 10 mile hike, and no way they could climb that mountain- we barely made it. So I guess, what I'm saying is, I'm so grateful I could travel now & not have to wait until I'm retired. I've shared before how at times I long to have a little family of my own, but this trip made me realize I'm lucky in a different way.

We had lots of bumps on our trip. But everything works out. Had a lot of the hot springs in Yellowstone not been closed up, we might have not seen the bison that night (which was my fave). Had the 2 long hikes we wanted to go on not been closed, we wouldn't have gone to Iceberg Lake, (which was hands down our favorite spot). When things seem to be letting you down, perhaps they're being put together, better than you could have done yourself.

I also realized routine kills creativity; it gets us comfortable, and comfortable is a hard place to leave. Going to places you've never been, makes you do things you've never done. Isn't that how we grow? Isn't that how we progress? Isn't that why we're here? This trip helped me grow so much. & I call it a 'trip' because vacation sounds too relaxing haha. This experience wasn't relaxing at all; Navigating in the car wasn't relaxing. Sleeping in a tent wasn't relaxing. (Camping in general is not relaxing.) Hiking was not only physically, but mentally tiring; having to constantly make noise to not startle animals, and be on the lookout for them too. Perhaps watching the bison, & chillin at the lake the last night were the 2 & only relaxing moments of the trip. But that's how life is; and we only grow from things that are difficult. I learned a lot more doing all these things than I would have lying on the beach somewhere (which I do enjoy). I felt so accomplished coming home and walking through the door. We did it :) It's so nuts how excited this trip made me about life. Breathing in that new air put motivation in my soul; there's so much to see, so much to do! So many gems to experience & things to learn. We're never really done.

I'm excited for the now & I'm excited for the future.

So get out there people;
just do it.
(-nike)