I Drew a Blank and Put it in a Frame: Chicago to Nevada

Holy Moly!

I've neglected the blog as any free time I've had has been spent working and making money. Having a job can really shift priorities. Not sure why I thought it was a good idea to start working again.

I'm going to split up the last month and a half into a few different posts for your sanity as well as mine.

Allow me to be brief.

I last left you in Chicago, IL. From there we headed to Badlands National Park.

My girlfriend is as beautiful as a double rainbow.

A rare selfie moment.

We really wanted to see a herd of buffalo. Didn't happen, but we saw this lonely old guy taking a break in the distance.

Fat prairie dogs!

Then we stopped at Mount Rushmore. Last time I was here I didn't want to pay the $5 entry fee, but I'm glad Camille wanted to see it up close. If anything, just to capture this majestic moment.

A random hail storm blew through. They all look so sad now!

A perspective you don't see too often, Mount Rushmore from a distance.

Then driving around Custer State Park was really nice. It's known for having lots of wildlife, especially the kinds that have gotten used to tourists.

We also visited the Needles and did some hiking in the area.

Then off to Devil's Tower in Wyoming. Have always wanted to go there to see it in person and to climb it. This was the first night on our trip that we paid for a campground (because I had a meeting the next day and needed Wifi...). It was a great first choice for a paid campground as it was super open and quiet and provided a great view of the tower.

So the next day we decided to climb a few pitches of one of the most iconic routes on the tower. It was really cool to climb on these huge phonolite columns. We only climbed about a third of the way to the top because I had a meeting at 2, but the views from there were still spectacular.

Then we drove to Ten Sleep, WY to visit Sara. She's been living there for about a month, climbing in the canyon and working at the brewery in town. For a few bucks we were able to park and sleep at the brewery which was in a lovely location next to plenty of red sandstone. And more importantly, for a few bucks more we were able to take hot showers!

And the climbing was really fun. Endless limestone cliffs!

Then we headed towards Colorado. Found some beautiful places along the way!

And some awesome camping spots along the way.

And then Rocky Mountain National Park. There's currently an infestation of bark beetles that are killing lots of the trees which is pretty sad. But we still found some nice areas in the park.

Then we spent some time in Denver, hanging out with Sebastian and helping my old burning man camp load things onto the truck. They graciously let us load all of our water (60 gallons!) and some other camping things onto the truck. Without that I don't know how we would have gotten everything to the burn.

Then Camille and I made our way towards Sacramento to pick up Greg and Christian from the airport. We stopped for one last "bath" in Lake Tahoe.