Seattle-Badlands

Did you miss us, America?

I am sitting in our Chicago hotel, thinking about the 7 days since we’ve posted. Larry King is on. I supposed everyday is casual Friday when you’re the King.

Seattle

After leaving our beloved Portland, we headed north to the city of grunge and coffee. From our hotel window, we could almost touch the Space Needle and Experience Music Center. I’m sure you can guess where we headed. Experience Music was amazing. We geeked out to Hendrix memorabilia and tons of other Seattle music exhibits. There was an interactive center where you could play guitar, drums and keyboard together, so we pretty much rocked until we were kicked out. We had such an great time, and then realized how we’ve been doing the same thing in my basement for the past six years…

Later, we went to see a show in the music section of Seattle. The bands were Constantine’s, Crystal Antlers and our favorite Hey Marseilles. Cool show. Great vibe… It’s like Philly without the baggage.

Next morning, we made our way to the Pike Port area. …Some photos at the first Starbucks then out to Yellowstone.

(Well, we actually slept that next night in our car about 1hr outside of Yellowstone. Nice!)

Yellowstone

I found my favorite theater is at the Madison Camp of Yellowstone. It’s just a screen in the middle of the park. On our first night, a ranger gave a lecture on the reintegration of the Wolves in Yellowstone. Did you know that there has never been a human death caused by wolves near Yellowstone? 14 deaths by Grizzly bear attack occur in Yellowstone every year!!!

We saw hundreds bison… They are the Sea Lions of Yellowstone.

Here’s what they don’t tell you… THE GEYSERS SMELL LIKE DEATH!!!

Jackson/Jenny Lake

We moved 20 miles south to set up camp next to the Grand Tetons. That night, we headed into town to go to our first rodeo. Before the show, we went to a burger joint that just so happened to be celebrating a ‘Happy Hour’. It was happy, alright. Tom (or should I say John, age 25) and I enjoyed 88-cent pints! Wowza. Great burger and cool people.

The Rodeo was like nothing else. A real American pastime. It was riveting up until the last bull ride (during which the rider was smacked in the head by the bull’s head). As the merry crowd exited, they searched for the young man’s teeth in the soil. Yee-haw!

Yellowstone/Badlands

We woke up at 4am to drive through Lamar Valley. This is the ‘Serengeti’ of Yellowstone. As we began our drive into this section of the park, we were stopped by a ranger and told to proceed with caution, as there were two black bears mating about twenty yards ahead of us. Well, he sure wasn’t lying. I had to give Tom ‘the talk’, and we continued on our way. We saw one more bear, two wolves, and hundreds of Bison.

By the time we made it to the Badlands it was dark. We set up our tent and went to sleep. Morning was amazing. It was as if we had woken up on Mars. The gang gathered for breakfast (cereal with a scoop of Peanut Butter) and then we went out to hike. Pictures to come!

There are more days that we must record, but it’s 2:08am in Chicago. That’s bedtime for me. ‘night.

http://www.myspace.com/heymarseilles

-Beck