Cross-Country Fever

I'm back! I'm back in DC. Feels like an age ago that I left...and yet here I am sitting at my old desk in my old apartment and suddenly it feels as though everything in between was just a dream. I went to China and adventured all over the country and the District...stayed the same. That's comforting. And plus I missed the DC summer - score.

I arrived today from Pittsburgh, where I had a fun time catching up with my dear, dear friend Dok. Let me start from the beginning, though, that's really more interesting. My dad and I left on the 21st and spent the night in Elko, NV, then went up to Idaho to see the Craters of the Moon National Monument. My dad correctly pointed out that it's nothing we haven't seen before on the Big Island in Hawaii, but I still thought the views of the desolate, volcanic landscape were fascinating. In Jackson Hole, WY we took a day off to explore the town and go whitewater rafting on the Snake River. Tons of fun, despite the fact my dad whacked me in the head with his paddle as we thundered our way through the "Big Kahuna" rapid. Driving up along the stunning, stunning Tetons (see picture), we then ventured into Yellowstone and spent the day admiring geysers and buffalo and the Yellowstone "Grand Canyon". Yellowstone was gorgeous, but I must admit that some of the most magnificent scenery I have ever set eyes on lay between the East entrance to Yellowstone (where we exited) and Cody, WY. Just amazing. I think I want to retire there, but probably the winters suck. From Cody we went up across Montana and into North Dakota, thereby (DRUMROLL) eliminating the last two U.S. lower 48 states I haven't been to! What with having lived in Hawaii, I have only Alaska left, baby.

On the border between North Dakota and Minnesota my father and I did a bunch of amateur geneology research into his mother's family, which lived in Glyndon, Minnesota for a generation. Glyndon is just a small farming town of 1,000 residents now, but it used to be the intersection point for two major rail lines and was a good-sized town when my grandmother lived there (she was born in 1904). My great-great-grandfather, Luther Osborn, was not only a Civil War vet but the editor/publisher of the local newspaper, the Red River Valley News. Honestly I didn't know this stuff until this trip. On a lucky excursion to Moorhead, Fargo's sister-city, we came upon the Clay County Historical Society and did a bunch of research into the family with their help. The woman there even brought out Luther's Civil War saber! Amazing. Now I see why my friend Teresa is so into this geneology stuff.

I dropped my father off in Minnesota, after taking a day off of driving to spend time with the Winslows in Wayzata, and proceeded on my own to see my BFF Marjorie in Indiana. Marjorie and her husband, Jimmy, were going cross-country the other way (moving to Mountain View, CA) and so by chance we got to meet up at her home in Indiana. That was terrific. I took a day off to visit her, then continued on through Ohio on my way to Pittsburgh. Unfortunately a relatively simply and boring drive was anything but: Katrina's deformed and demented devil-spawn children harassed me all along the way; several times the rain was coming down so fiercely I was more than a little afraid to be on the highway. Strangely enough I had a very similar experience in June of 2001, when I drove through the South on another cross-country trip and had to go through the remnants of hurricane (or maybe just "tropical storm") Allison. Psycho.

Anyway, I did make it safely and I am so excited to be home again.