It's tough traveling and sleeping in your car. No, not the factor that i am sleeping in my car, it's because of the parking! You wouldn't guess it, but it isn't the easiest thing to find a place to park your car for the night. Yes, I know, truck stops! That is what i have been doing most nights. What you don't realize is when you go to national parks, they don't have truck stops. So, i am left to venture around at odd hours looking for a place to park. At least i am extremely comfortable in my car bed. That i will get to in another post. Today, i would love to tell you about the grandeur of the west! since my last post, i went up to apostle islands in northern Wisconsin, then made my way to Duluth in Minnesota. I was able to see lake superior and walk along it. From there, i decided to go through Minnesota and venture to Fargo, North Dakota. Now, at this point it is snowing pretty bad. Yes, i said snowing. I think it must have been 20 degrees, but with the wind much lower. I love the cold...but this was cold! Eventually i reached Fargo...which was not at all what i expected. I wasn't expecting what i had seen in the film or show, but it was just a really small city. If i had to give you a comparison, i would say it was a smaller version of Fishtown, Philadelphia. I continued onward through North Dakota. I went through the scenic view on route 22, and continued on. I went into the BEAUTIFUL Montana, and traveled down toward Yellowstone National Park. I arrived in Gardiner, and decided to go into the park, despite it being 5pm. I saw all the splendor of the park...at least what was open of it. Yeah, that's something i failed to mention. I left to travel this early in the season to avoid tourists...but 85% of things are closed. Most places don't even open their stores until late spring. I found this out with museums, antique shops, trails, and now...Yellowstone. Like i said, i went into the park at 5pm...very bad idea. It was beautiful, but i went all the way to the end, which by then it had gotten dark. So, i had to travel over an hour and a half through bison, elk, and bear territory. Sounds fun, but i can assure you, it wasn't. The next day i saw all of the hot springs (what was open anyways), and left Yellowstone to jackson. Jackson is a straight up tourist town...which is not what i like. I had been there years ago, but this time around i definitely did not enjoy it. After an extremely long night trying to find a place to sleep, i awoke at 5am the next morning to capture the beauty of the Tetons. I went straight to Mormon row, where i think i took two rolls of film of the same subject. It was so beautiful! up until i reached yellowstone i had only taken maybe 5 photos. I was just not inspired. But once i reached west...i'm going through plenty of rolls! I think that is a super important thing to mention; this whole trip i'm mostly shooting film. The only digital photos i've shot are for this blog. There is something about it, where it's just you looking through the camera, no technology, just you and the mountains. I also bought quite a bit of film, so i'm excited about using that. Also, thank you to all of the amazing people that have reached out since my last post. That Includes the great people that message me daily making sure i didn't die and asking when my next post will be. I have so much more i could talk about, but for now I am in Thermopolis, WY, and i need to go find a place to sleep.
