I left Salt Lake City this morning to begin my two-day, 1500 mile trek back to my hometown of Aurora, IL. What once used to be here...



...is now all here.



This has been one of my more adventure filled trips, and I'm only halfway done. It started out as a little nostalgic trip down memory lane as I said goodbye to all of my favorite SLC spots. It was quite pitiful actually. I even teared up a little filling up at the gas station around the corner from my old apartment for the last time.



And if you think it's kind of pathetic I took a picture of my neighborhood gas station, I think it's even more pathetic I documented this.



Me, returning my last item to the public library. I will spare you all of the picture I took of downtown, Temple Square, the capitol building. Of course I didn't have time to stop at any of this places, so they are all fuzzy drive-by photos. I did have my radio blaring for all of this--it was a heavy metal morning, so the soundtrack was "Ironman" by Black Sabbath, the entire Master of Puppets CD by Metallic and some Queensrÿche among others.

Right before getting to the Wyoming border, the adventures really began. As I was merging on to I-80 from I-84, I saw this kid lying off to the side of the road surrounded by his family. Because I have some first aid training, I stopped to see if I could help. The 11-year-old had a seizure as was pretty unresponsive. Thank heavens he was breathing, and though his pulse was very weak, it was there. This isn't the first time I have stopped to help offer first aid to random people. When I was 16 and my family was heading back home after dropping my sister off at BYU, I saw a woman who had passed out in her car at the gas station. I jumped out of the car, had my mom call 911, and called my dad over to help me give her rescue breathing. That was pretty intense.

By the afternoon, I moved on to some alternative music (a bunch of My Chemical Romance, Muse, Blue October and All-American Rejects) and saw some great geological sights like this one.



And of course I went over this...



...and found myself in American's Heartland. With farms everywhere and advertisements for things like Wrangler Outfitters, where real cowboys shop, and Wild Bill's Ranch, I felt like I was in a Western. So of course I had to pop in some Bon Jovi, because what else can a city girl who doesn't much care for country music listen to when she sees things like this?



Talk about Amber Waves of Grain and all that. It was beautiful, and only marred by this...



...every ten miles or so.

By that time, I had already passed my dad's favorite spot...



...so it was time to put in some folk music (thanks, Sara, for introducing me to the Walin' Jennys and Brandi Carlile) and think about stopping for the night. So after nearly 800 miles, 56 construction zones and 110 La Quinta Inns, I finally stopped for the night. Tomorrow I look forward to seeing my aunt and uncle who live in Omaha, crossing the Mississippi River, and reaching civilization. But most of all, I can't wait to see my family and home.

P.S. This post is dedicated to Yuri. She is from Japan and was excited to come on this trip with me to see America but had to cancel in order to prepare to defend her second Master's Thesis. I know this isn't the same, Yuri, but I hope this post and tomorrow's gives you a little taste of Americana.

I decided I too would take part in Laurie Halse Anderson's WFMAD challenge this month. The first few days I thought, oh, this will be no problem. I have to write so much for school (only two weeks left!) that I easily write for an hour a day. But then it didn't seem like I was pushing myself enough. So my personal challenge is to WFMAD in my WIP. I'm calling it alphabet soup month.

At the moment, I am happy to do this. It gives me an excuse to set aside a media law paper on how a local newspaper avoids possible libel charges in a special report, a reaction paper on a book of modern poetics, an analytical paper on James Joyce's "The Dead," and other homework assignments I have been distracted by. I feel such cleansing spirit settle over me by the time I've written a few pages in my novel that I am almost ready to return to math problems and geology labs by the time I'm finished Plus, I feel such a sense of accomplishment that I am working on something that means so much to me rather than writing something I feel a responsibility to finish.

We'll see how I feel about writing for fifteen minutes while I'm trying to study for finals (IN TWO WEEKS!) or when I'm packing up all of my stuff and driving to Chicago at the end of the month. But I think even then I will feel a bit of a release once I've written something down.

I'm sorry I don't have any pictures from my Menan Buttes trip yesterday evening, but I forgot to grab my camera on the way out the door. Plus, I was hiking a volcanic mountain with a bunch of active, 19-year-old kids. What ever possessed me to think I could keep up with them without getting winded let alone want to take pictures of my sweaty, dusty self along the way? So here are some stock photos of the Buttes that I didn't have to take.



Pretty, aren't they? But I only say that now that I've had a long shower and a day to rest. Last night I would have just groaned in agony from quivering thigh muscles.

The one on the left is a view from the top of the North Butte (or R Mountain) of the Snake River Flood Plain. The one on the right is the basalt flows in front of the Southern Butte. The funny thing is these are actually cinder cones and not buttes, but the pioneers who named them weren't geology majors, so they didn't know that. Silly pioneers. What were they thinking?

I had a blast at the Utah Art's Festival where I went to some amazing concerts and performances. The kids from the Wasatch Music Coaching Academy were as amazing as ever. The blew the audience away with songs like "Empire" by Queensryche and some Red Hot Chili Peppers as well.

I also found out my friends' indie/folk band The Mollies were playing, so I went to their concert. Their first CD Yours Around the Rosies comes out in August, so I'll have more details about that later. Because, you know, I have no qualms about shamelessly promoting my friends, especially if they are as talented as Becky and Vivian. For your entertainment, I have included a music video of their song "Float My Boat."


One thing I regret missing at the festival was the poetry slam. It has been years since I have been to a slam, and I was hoping to see some good performances.

In other news, my friend Brenda finally had her baby! He was 7 lbs. 13 oz. and 19 inches long, for any of you who care about that kind of stuff. I just think he's cute. Check out this Mama Sandwich little Brandon and his big brother Andrew made.

Aren't kids just the cutest thing ever? I mean, as long as I can give them back to their moms and have no responsibility for them and don't have to change diapers, pay bills or go through the teenage years, I love kids. Especially when they have huge gummy smiles like Andrew or cuddle up to sleep on your chest like Brandon.

Seriously, I don't know how Brenda does it. She and her husband build Web sites (and their pretty amazing at it--honest--I'm not bias at all), her husband goes to school full time, she is active at church and still manages to find time to be a good friend to me. There are so many super-women out there, and I'm lucky enough to know a few.

I am also relieved to announce that the temperature has now hit about 90 in Ice-burg, I mean Rexburg. I have to carry around sunscreen and wear at hat all the time, but having warm fingers and toes is well worth it. After all, I have a pink Sox ball cap I got last summer, and because the Sox swept the Cubs this past weekend, I wear it proudly.

I have a geology field trip to go on tonight, so maybe I'll get some styling pictures of me in my hat standing on R Mountain, surveying the land made of calderas, cinder cones and floodplains. You'll be able to see scoria and basalt. Maybe I'll even spot some dendritic drainage patters as well as oxbow lakes and point bars. Okay, I really need to stop now. I'm even scaring myself.