BECAUSE I KNEW YOU WANTED TO SEE MORE SCENES FROM THE CAR.

does this not look like i bob ross'd this for you?! but, snapped just outside of yellowstone.

side note: this may have been one of the numerous times i belted out "america, the beautiful". people, we SAW the purple mountain majesty. our country is truly breathtaking.

idaho. i saw no potatoes. and no mormon temples. sorry to have stereotyped you, idaho.

quick! continental divide sign! they should really spring for something more fancy, right?

white out. the road really was scary for quite a few hours and there was no one else out there.

but then it cleared out, and there were {moderately} sunny skies going into washington. {let's talk about someone else who should spend the money on a better sign.}

 

and then we drove over this mountain and THIS was the view. hello columbia river!

windmill farms just as the sun started to go down.

after this? it started to rain and we had to drive in these steep mountains and it was dark and moderately stressful. but then we made it to shelly's house and all was right with the world again. {we played hangman with betty and rhodes and betty, age SIX, was able to guess the world elephant with ONLY THE Es on the board. genius, i tell you.}

this blog post marks the end of our never ending journey to seattle photo montage. hooray!

THAT TIME I RODE 100 MILES ON THE BACK OF A SNOWMOBILE.

we divirted off our path to seattle specifically for the opportunity to tour yellowstone. now, when i called to ask if the park was open, they said that the way to see it when it is winter is by snowmobile. as in, i thought it was the only way.

so, we put on our warmest clothes and woke up early to get a quick 10-minute course in how to operate a snowmobile and we were off. i was sorely unprepared for just how cold 15 degrees would feel, especially when zipping along at 30 miles per hour.

but! within five minutes, an awesome sighting: a giant elk! photo by b, he is very proud.

my view the entire time.

being inside the park with nary another soul in sight {beyond the other couple with us and our tour guide} was pretty incredible.

and, the bison were hanging out in the street. is this big guy not totally giving us the side eye?!

by noon, we had made it to old faithful. i should mention that by this point, i had seen the "snow coaches", aka buses on monster truck wheels. i have never been given a look so sympathetic than from these folks all warm in their bus as we whizzed by, tears streaming down my face and freezing onto my cheeks.

but, we got an hour at old faithful to go inside and chug two steaming cups of the best hot chocolate i have ever have while waiting for old faithful to do his thing.

and do it he did! it was very cool to see in person. and mind blowing to think that they can time it down to a few-minute window when he will blow.

from there we stopped at paint pots and more geysers. and our tour guide remarked that in the summer you would be jam packed on the trails with other visitors and have to wait your turn to even catch a glimpse at all the things we got to stop and stare at for as long as we wanted.

so, i guess what i'm saying is even though the sub-freezing temps had me the coldest i'd ever been, and subsequently gave me the plague for two weeks, it was all worth it to see the beauty of yellowstone.

YELLOWSTONE.

after a quick day one and an easy day two, we pulled into yellowstone national park! the only place you can stay in the park is the mammoth hot springs hotel. what to say about this place?! ... i'll just let the next photo illustrate the experience:

straight from "the shining", right?! it actually wasn't that bad, although we weren't aware they didn't offer wifi OR any cell phone service, sooo.

the actual hot spring! funny story: we had super researched going to the hot springs in colorado {because it was on my summer in denver bucket list}, so i just assumed that all hot springs are the same and you can, you know, get in them. i had my bathing suit all ready and then we learned these are like sulfur lava pools. so, you don't even get close to them.

obvi these ladies did not get the memo.

i was colder than i appear.

then, we paid $12 for an hour of wifi so we could let our family and friends know that we were alive. and we had a wonderful dinner in the fancy dining house.

but, wait, there's more! here's just a preview of the ridiculousness that is to come tomorrow. i'm calling my fashion sense here "homeless chic". it's about to be all the rage, i am sure.

DEJA VU.

wasn't it just yesterday we were holding this pose before leaving our nashville home?

 

you know what we didn't have last time, though? professional movers. hallelujah - they made the whole move 100 times easier.

we waved goodbye to all our stuff on friday morning, and headed out mid-afternoon saturday. here's hoping our semi-truck driver paul arrives in seattle in a week with every single box. if you're reading this tuesday, we are probably somewhere in montana. {say a quick prayer we beat the snow that is allegedly headed our way!}

how many pounds of stuff do you think we had? here's a hint: our driver said we have way less than most people. one bed, a loveseat and enough clothes to fill up six wardrobe boxes. ready for the grand total? 3,300 pounds!!! what weighs that much?!

and one last glance at our empty home that we were so grateful to live in. a garage, two point five bathrooms, giant closets, neighbors we knew and walking distance to our favorite little spot. seattle, get ready, you've got a lot to live up to.

road trip.

i know you're wondering, how could i have any more to say after that tmi post about my keyhole?

don't you worry, i do.

one of the benefits to driving 14 or so hours around the midwest? you see a lot of scenery. here's an artsy fartsy vantage point on our way out of michigan.

hoho's are my favorite thing in the world. seriously, we're talking last-meal-on-death-row type love for these things. and i can't find them in the south. it's a little debbie conspiracy down here and i think she sucks. a "swiss roll" is a clear rip off of a hoho AND NOT THE SAME.

awe b's hometown. the only photo i took while we were there. except for of the hoho's. you're welcome. this picture sums up the cute, all-american feel of it though.

poodles = funny. poodles who act like people = adorable. poodles who act like people and love to get their photo taken = my new best friend.

and the real reason i went on this trip: the outlet malls. just kidding. but really, cincinnati outlets are the bomb. AND it was labor day. AND i opened a j.crew credit card. just kidding. {not really.}

this is the last of four of the epic recap of our michigan trip. this was your favorite, wasn't it? poodle wins it every time.