that is "home again, home again jiggidy jig". Did anyone else's mom say that when you got home?
Anyways, in case that wasn't enough of a hint - WE'RE HOME!!
I cheered when we crossed the Georgia state line. My sinuses are acting up and its so dang humid out... but those are both signs that I'm home sweet home.
The trip was an absolute blast, don't get me wrong for a second. But moving every 1 to 2 days and driving thousands and thousands of miles can get a little tiring. I wouldn't trade our month away from Atlanta for anything, but its nice to be back among friends, apartment, and church. We arrived at 5:52pm on Monday night after 27 days and 8,615.2 miles. And get this, as we rolled into the parking spot, my car's total mileage read 39,999. I backed up and tried pulling into the spot again, but it wouldn't roll over to 40k. Amazing timing, though. Another spot of good timing - we planned to listen to the entire bible while driving on this trip, but we didn't actually calculate how feasible that was. We didn't have a schedule or plan - we just listened when we could. Well, we finished everything up to Revelation (the last book) the day we drove to DC and listened to Revelation today on our drive to Georgia. Perfect. =]
Anyways, since getting home we've both been very very busy. From the moment we pulled in we were running around like crazy because we had to get the stuff out of the car before the rain quit threatening and started pouring. Holly interviewed for a great job today and starts her temporary job next week. I'm starting my job on Monday and painting my new house this weekend. I got a new cell phone since Grand Tetons NP never found mine. And today I received a much-unexpected treat. My computer!
See, what happened was*, the moose and I weren't the only ones who saw the magic from inside my computer fly. And that wasn't the only magic amidst that day. Remember that river I forded to escape the moose? Well that river had a bridge not far away and that bridge had - you guessed it - trolls. Well, technically, I'm informed by the note accompanying my package, they're not trolls at all but have been mislabeled for a long while now and are too apathetic to run a campaign of the magnitude required to change that. So, at this point you're thinking I'm flagrantly lying, right? I mean, who's ever seen a troll under a bridge like those old stories and drawings describe. Well that's just the trick. The stories are junk, the pictures are frauds. All cleverly controlled by the 'troll' population to keep their existence too ridiculous to be believed. You see, 'trolls' are actually much much smaller than commonly believed. Which means two things: 1 - you've never seen them because they're so small and 2 - they can fit inside my laptop. I've got proof! I'm typing this on my laptop right now and there's no way that would be possible without their diligent work and tiny fingers (and good technical education). The note included with the computer described their sorrow over my destroyed laptop and their next two weeks of gathering the parts and every spec of escaped magic. They toiled, they struggled, they read up on logic boards. And viola, they booted her up, found my mailing address, and sent it back. Now I know the question on all of your minds. Why would they bother? Well, the note requested one small favor in return for their labor - to help enlighten the world as to their name and tear down the long-lived misnomer of 'troll'? No, they just wanted to keep one of my memory sticks because they thought it was cool. So I'm down to 1 GB of memory but an otherwise working laptop. You can see the marks from the antlers if you come over sometime. For now, I'm off to finish posting photos. I'll be adding to this blog in the following days, but they will be backdated to the days we're missing, so this post will likely retain the appearance of "most recent". Don't be confused and read away! We had a lot of fun that you haven't read about yet.
Until then!
Ellen
* for all those who believed my last story of the moose attacking me and my computer, it should be noted that all flagrant lying of the story-making-up nature begins with "what happened was..."
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Friday, June 8, 2007
alive and kickin'
Hello, everyone!
Honestly I don't know if anyone is even going to read this. You've all probably forgotten about the two of us since its been so long since the last post. Ellen and Holly who? But, to the dedicated few who still remember our sweet faces (aka our parents) I wanted to type a quick note.
So, the last you guys heard, we were having some technical difficulties. See, what happened was I was sitting near a nice lake beneath the Tetons typing my next post when this gigantic moose came out of nowhere. Bowinkle didn't like the look of me, so arunnin' he came and although I've never read anything about moose attacks, I remembered that when attacked by a bear, dropping something can distract it. So I dropped my computer. Well, my splendid and expensive laptop distracted the moose long enough take a Babe Ruth swing at it with its antelers and watch the shrapnel fly. I always knew there was some magic in computers and the sparkly fairy dust that burst from within only dazzled the moose long enough for me to ford the river. I'm guessing thats when my phone fell out of my pocket. Dern the luck, right? But I survived and that's what counts.
Since then, we've spent 2 days at Yellowstone, yee-hawed at a rodeo, had 3 days to marvel at Glacier National Park, and driven to Chicago. We're here for a day and 2 night rest stop and a lovely visit with one of my favorite people. Jenn and I were roomies this summer in China. Its great that the two friends we've stayed with on this roadtrip were both people I didn't meet until last June in some airport on the way to China. Anyways, we leave tomorrow morning for Washington DC for Holly's cousin's wedding and then we should arrive home in good ole Atlanta on Monday evening. Fwew! Its a lot of driving, but our longest day (14 hours from West Montana to Fargo, ND) is already done.
Now, here's the important part of this post. Focus, ok? When I get home I am going to step into the past and blog about our recent adventures. I'm also going to post photos. So check back! It would be a shame for you guys to miss out on the last part of our fun.
Miss you guys!
Ellen and Holly
Honestly I don't know if anyone is even going to read this. You've all probably forgotten about the two of us since its been so long since the last post. Ellen and Holly who? But, to the dedicated few who still remember our sweet faces (aka our parents) I wanted to type a quick note.
So, the last you guys heard, we were having some technical difficulties. See, what happened was I was sitting near a nice lake beneath the Tetons typing my next post when this gigantic moose came out of nowhere. Bowinkle didn't like the look of me, so arunnin' he came and although I've never read anything about moose attacks, I remembered that when attacked by a bear, dropping something can distract it. So I dropped my computer. Well, my splendid and expensive laptop distracted the moose long enough take a Babe Ruth swing at it with its antelers and watch the shrapnel fly. I always knew there was some magic in computers and the sparkly fairy dust that burst from within only dazzled the moose long enough for me to ford the river. I'm guessing thats when my phone fell out of my pocket. Dern the luck, right? But I survived and that's what counts.
Since then, we've spent 2 days at Yellowstone, yee-hawed at a rodeo, had 3 days to marvel at Glacier National Park, and driven to Chicago. We're here for a day and 2 night rest stop and a lovely visit with one of my favorite people. Jenn and I were roomies this summer in China. Its great that the two friends we've stayed with on this roadtrip were both people I didn't meet until last June in some airport on the way to China. Anyways, we leave tomorrow morning for Washington DC for Holly's cousin's wedding and then we should arrive home in good ole Atlanta on Monday evening. Fwew! Its a lot of driving, but our longest day (14 hours from West Montana to Fargo, ND) is already done.
Now, here's the important part of this post. Focus, ok? When I get home I am going to step into the past and blog about our recent adventures. I'm also going to post photos. So check back! It would be a shame for you guys to miss out on the last part of our fun.
Miss you guys!
Ellen and Holly
Friday, June 1, 2007
'Don't eat yellow snow'... but what about yellowstone?
Yellowstone has certainly been a different experience than the other parks along our path. So many people, so much more touristy, and such odd things to see. It truly is a geological marvel - and apparently the cap of a giant volcano with potential to destroy half the world! Gives a whole new thrill to the old routine of tapping in a tent stake.
Our intentions of munching pb&j's near Tower Falls were temporarily dashed by the barricades announcing that the trail had been dangerously washed out and, thus, closed to the public. Not so easily bowing to disappointment, we struck up conversation with a pair of German men who seemed to know their way down the trail. They claimed that the trail to the falls gets closed every year, and the 4 of us scoffed at the warning signs, clambered over the obstruction, and enjoyed the trail and falls as a happy respite of relative solitude. The men left us alone to lunch in the spray and teeter along the dangerously steep trail of rain-induced waning widths. Quite pleasant.
We waited and watched Old Faithful - and she was courteously punctual. The Grand Prismatic Spring was truly a spectacle - such coloring of the goopy landscape as to make us feel like mites playing in paint. From a distance, onlookers seemed to be enveloped in blue smoke rising continuously from the focal point of the spring. Look at the photos - you'll see what we mean.
We might desire less commercial activity in a park, but the car took full advantage of such a populous place as to have an oil change. Hopefully that will get us back to peach country without incident. We also took a gander 'round the Old Faithful Inn - a truly remarkable building made of sooo much unfinished wood. It comes straight from a boy's imagination - like the grandest fort of summer labor and equally enchanting.
For our last night in Wyoming, we headed East to Cody to watch the season's opening rodeo! Before we settled into the stands with sticky cotton candy and a great view of the action, we milled around town and had buffalo for dinner at Irma, Buffalo Bill's hotel.
Tomorrow we head to Montana - Big Sky here we come!
Our intentions of munching pb&j's near Tower Falls were temporarily dashed by the barricades announcing that the trail had been dangerously washed out and, thus, closed to the public. Not so easily bowing to disappointment, we struck up conversation with a pair of German men who seemed to know their way down the trail. They claimed that the trail to the falls gets closed every year, and the 4 of us scoffed at the warning signs, clambered over the obstruction, and enjoyed the trail and falls as a happy respite of relative solitude. The men left us alone to lunch in the spray and teeter along the dangerously steep trail of rain-induced waning widths. Quite pleasant.
We waited and watched Old Faithful - and she was courteously punctual. The Grand Prismatic Spring was truly a spectacle - such coloring of the goopy landscape as to make us feel like mites playing in paint. From a distance, onlookers seemed to be enveloped in blue smoke rising continuously from the focal point of the spring. Look at the photos - you'll see what we mean.
We might desire less commercial activity in a park, but the car took full advantage of such a populous place as to have an oil change. Hopefully that will get us back to peach country without incident. We also took a gander 'round the Old Faithful Inn - a truly remarkable building made of sooo much unfinished wood. It comes straight from a boy's imagination - like the grandest fort of summer labor and equally enchanting.
For our last night in Wyoming, we headed East to Cody to watch the season's opening rodeo! Before we settled into the stands with sticky cotton candy and a great view of the action, we milled around town and had buffalo for dinner at Irma, Buffalo Bill's hotel.
Tomorrow we head to Montana - Big Sky here we come!
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