Lately...

There have been turnips, house shenanigans & a bit of sewing (the product of which will be shared soon).

Current works in progress

     Figured I would share some of what I am working on outside of my actual job.
     Have several dye projects soaking for patches and bandanas, two different kombuchas (black currant black & green), experimental plantain & usnea oil, a ginger bug for sodas sometime next week, as well as working on branding for the shop!

The Drive, part 3

WASHINGTON
     By this point in the drive, my dad and I were absolutely exhausted. In honor of this, there will be little writing.

The Drive, part 2

Hello Beautiful & Yellowstone National Park

            Days two and three were possibly my favorite part of this drive. About midday we finished our time in North Dakota driving through Painted Canyons park. Parts of the trip like this make my dad and I wish we had two weeks to make it so we could have time to stop and explore. It had started to sprinkle and generally be cloudy and dark kind of day, so my photos couldn’t pick out the colors as they actually were. However, we did manage to see a Dall’s (?) sheep! Going 75mph down the road allowed us only a glimpse but it was enough.

            We learned why Montana is called Big Sky Country. On top of some of the hills the horizon dips below and all you can see is sky and the ground immediately surrounding your location. Here we started seeing pronghorn antelope dotting the edges of the roads. There were some low fences put up, so they may have been farmed (do they even do that?) or were being discouraged from crossing the roads.

            Our plan was to crash in Billings for the night and after passing through one or two mountain passes- which thankfully in good shape, but I was glad I had chains in my car just in case- which were lovely. There was sage brush and yucca everywhere and the Yellowstone River would loop beside the road occasionally.

            Leaving the hotel we stayed at in Billings was… interesting. This was the worst weather of our trip at this point. It had started snowing around 5 in the morning, and there was some build up on the high way. In less than ten miles we saw two accidents and several other tire tracks going off the road. In only and hour and a half however this cleared up and we had sunshine the rest of the day.

            My dad and I wanted to have one special side-trip off the main road; either Yellowstone or Glacier National Parks, and because Yellowstone was only 30 some odd miles off our path this was the ultimate decision.

            It was a good decision.

            We hit real mountains heading into Wyoming and there were more wild bison than you could shake a stick at! Here was where we had the most traffic- and naturally not involving any other vehicles at all.

            While we were only able to take the road that drops down from 89 to Mammoth Hot Springs and then across to The Tower, only about two hours round trip, it was well worth every penny for the entrance fee. Bison ambled freely along the road ways and took their sweet time crossing (they appear to be some of the most docile creatures I have ever met), and we saw a group of bighorn sheep just outside the park who crossed the road in front of us. Here we saw more pronghorn antelope as well and the random elk; unfortunately I forgot I had my elk call in the glovebox…

            After leaving Yellowstone we headed back north to continue on into Idaho where we arrived at a friend’s house just in time for fresh sockeye salmon. Apparently the secret is curry powder! Side note- I just received an awesome fold-up camping woodstove that I cannot wait to try this on ;)

The Drive, part 1

Getting out of the East

            The first leg of the drive was from upstate New York out into Wisconsin, in total about 16 hours of driving. The roads were great, even when we left it was relatively warm (we missed this last snow they’ve has the last couple of days!), and while stopping to get drinks we met a woman who was originally from Portland, Oregon herself. The world seems very small sometimes.

            I understand to an extend when they describe going through Pennsylvania and Ohio as “driving through western-western New York. Other than a slight change in tree species composition- more oaks and willows- there are plenty of gently wooded hills and small rivers or creeks. While parts of Ohio were unusually flat for me, the landscape didn’t really start being consistenly different until we hit Indiana. Then it was really flat for long periods of time, but even that wasn’t long lasting.

            By the time we were past Chicago (never again, we drove through around 9pm I think and the traffic on I-90 was awful. We were going about 70 and people were passing us. To add insult to injury we passed a taxi driver using only one hand looking totally chill. On my way back I plan on going out of my way to avoid this city) we had entered Wisconsin and the trees and hills were back. Stopped for the morning (?) here for a few hours of shut eye.

            After what seemed like forever going through Wisconsin and Minnesota, where we were greeted by a bald eagle early in the morning after pulling back onto the high way. By the evening came we were in the very, very flat eastern North Dakota. Thankfully these gave way after a time to interestingly shaped hills.

Life from the camera phone

Assorted photos I've taken during wanderings and creative ventures.

It's the second day in a row I've woken to  views of the Olympic mountains from the living room window.

I've been working a little and planning new stuff to put in the shop includong new business cards if I can find a good rubber stamp maker.

Going to try and makeit to the library to put together some nicer posts :-) 

As always you can check out my tumblr to see what I'm up to at www.saunterling.tumblr.com