Thompson Falls

Children all over Montana can rejoice that I've finally visited the town that is "named after me." They're so sincere about it that I don't have the heart to tell them that that isn't actually how you spell my name!

Thompson Falls lived up to my long standing joke of Thompson with a P being a wet Thomson while I'm a dry Thomson. Yes, that is some grade a bathroom humor right there. It was rainy and I got soaked. I mean so far, it's been rainy the entire time I've been here, but I can't make that joke in Trout Creek!

I went to Thompson Falls for the sole purpose of finding a postcard and this post. There wasn't really a lot to do there, especially not in the rain, when all potential hiking was out of the question. I did snap a nice pic that proves Thompson Falls and I do have one thing in common -- even when we're soaked, we're still pretty.

Also, it's that time of year where snapchat wishes people happy holidays with geotags so that you know where someone is wishing you a Merry Christmas from and this is Montana's:

Also, I got a little thank you present from Trout Creek that included a calendar so I guess I'll now know what Trout Creek looks like when it isn't all cloudy and the sun is up for more than a third of the day.

Hanukkah on the Road

So, my makeshift menorah appears to have been a success!

Made out of tin foil, hot glue and birthday candles, I have brought Judaism to Trout Creek! AND I didn't burn down the cabin we're staying in.

Trout Creek has repaid the favor with freezing rain. The roads were slightly less treacherous this morning so I felt a lot less likely to die but I'm still trudging through slush, which isn't the greatest feeling in the world.

Today, I will have eight hours and 32 minutes of "sunshine" although I'm definitely using that word ironically here. The goal is to get to Thompson Falls today if the roads aren't too gnarly when we finish up at the school. Updates to come when they can.

Eight Hours and 33 Minutes

In my last post, I talked about how the sun didn't rise until 8:17 this morning. Well, it sets at 4:50 this afternoon. That's eight hours and 33 minutes of sunlight AND it's been raining all day!!!

I can't.

The Final Fall Residency

Residency #32 begins. This is the final residency of the fall and of 2015 and I just completed my last auditions of the year.

I thought Amsterdam would be my final performance of 2015 but it looks like I'm going to be playing one of the narrators this week!

It is rainy and icy here in Trout Creek. Our drive to the school was interesting because we had to be at the school at 7:30 and this is what I woke up to on my phone this morning.To put that into perspective, auditions started at 8:30...

We've got yet another cabin in the woods and I thought that this morning would be the end of everything because cabin in the woods apparently equals no need to plow... It also equals shady internet so I'm currently blogging from the school.

Anyways, auditions were great and now we're getting ready for rehearsals and just nine days until I'm back in Boston!

Also, yesterday, on the drive, I saw a lot of big horn sheep! They were pretty cool!! I also saw a flashing sign that said "Watch for big horn sheep -- falling rocks -- 425 already killed" Ok, vague sign, What does that mean? Have 425 people been killed? Have 425 sheep already been killed? Or have 425 falling rocks been killed?! I need to know!!!

Finally, happy Hanukkah! I just purchased what I think will be the greatest makeshift menorah in the history of Missoula Children's Theatre. Tadventures indeed. Pictures to come (unless it doesn't work out, in which case I might be dealing with third degree burns and will be unable to blog).

Sir Scott's Oasis Steakhouse

Final genie-ing of the fall!

What is a vegetarian doing at a steakhouse, you might ask. Well, having the best friggin' meal of the year, that's what.

Rewind to the beginning of the day when I was preparing for my final performance of the fall tour and surfing the internet. I went onto Thrillist because that's what I do and I saw they had posted a new list of the best steakhouses in every state. Even though I no longer eat meat, I still click on their meat-themed lists because I know a lot of carnivores (plus, there may be a day when I rejoin their ranks, I haven't decided yet). When I first read these lists, I usually start by checking Massachusetts because hey, maybe I've been there! And then I'll go on to check other states that I feel some sort of attachment to -- i.e. North Carolina, where Whitney is -- and I definitely feel attached to Montana at this point, so my jaw literally hit the floor when I saw that the "best steakhouse in Montana" was in the town I was sitting in (the town in which everyone knows my name... see my previous post). I mean, seriously, when has that ever happened to anyone anywhere?! I immediately googled Sir Scott's Oasis Steakhouse ("the best steakhouse in Montana") to see if they had anything besides steak on the menu and then I immediately called them to find out what their hours were. I then hung up and immediately called back because I realized that they're a steakhouse and a reservation would probably be a smart idea (plus, it would make me feel fancy and who doesn't like that?!).

Show day is usually a 3,000-5,000 calorie day. I'm not even kidding. I'm pretty sure I once fit a week's worth of food into a singular show day but this might be a new record. I was going to post pictures of everything I ate (dinner came with a salad and a dessert) but nothing compared to the main course, so feast your eyes on the glory of my jumbo prawn lobster-style dinner!

Fatty fatty ALL the friends

In case you're wondering, that plate is loaded up with seven jumbo prawn, drawn butter, a baked potato, sour cream and two thick slices of garlic bread. I had debated getting the fried shrimp but then I thought "drawn butter" and nothing beats that. They even had a little candle underneath the drawn butter so it stayed warm and bubbly through my entire dining experience!

I like to believe that I am someone who generally makes good decisions but I know now that all of my other decisions have been nothing compared to the series of events that led my to Sir Scott's. Buy your plane tickets now, family! I know you've all been talking about coming out to Montana at some point and when you do, this is where we are going. Montana 2016!!!

Everyone in Manhattan Knows My Name

That's it. I've done it! I'm a big star!!!

I can honestly say that everyone in Manhattan knows my name. Of course, I must clarify that it's everyone in Manhattan, Montana, so it doesn't sound quite as impressive when the particulars get involved, but it is technically a fact.

Today, we once again ventured outside of Manhattan to go to the Bozeman Hot Springs. In the spring, I went to the hot springs in Banff, Alberta and I knew it would be just about impossible to top those (sitting in 100+ degree water while surrounded by picturesque mountains and snow flurries?! Yeah...) but the hot springs here were nice too. One thing people don't tell you about natural hot springs is that they're kind of Satan's swimming pool because there is sulfur in the water, but that stuff is good for you and my skin feels great now. This hot springs were indoors, which was interesting... They had hot pools and cold ones for when you needed a break from the heat -- the craziest thing I saw all day was a woman filling her water bottle from the fountain that fed into the cold pool. Seriously? True story.

Now, while I enjoyed the hot springs and getting to swim around, what I really enjoyed more than anything was the sauna. I guess I needed to sweat out a lot of stuff -- although I also sweat out most of my fluids and now feel dehydrated and am drinking a water/Powerade blend to get some electrolytes back.

Tomorrow is show day and then it is goodbye Amsterdam and hello Trout Creek for one last week of the fall tour!

ALPACAS!

To start off this post, we shall go back a day because yesterday I went back to Bozeman and discovered that they have their own geotag. Missoula really needs to get with the times! Bozeman shows some Montana State University pride, how come Missoula can't do that (show University of Montana pride, that is)?

Bozeman only being 20 minutes away is like a God send, by the way. It's the most glorious thing in the world after not having anything very exciting around for weeks now. (No offense to the towns I've been in, but Bozeman has multiple yoga studios, shopping, hot springs that we'll hopefully be checking out on Friday and most importantly, Target!).

And on to today! When I first arrived on Sunday, I posted a picture of my view here but I didn't mention the animals. The family we're staying with has several very friendly dogs, but they also have horses and alpacas! I think that is super cool, so today, I braved the chill to get a few pics of the alpacas casually enjoying the mountain scenery (ok, the alpacas were actually enjoying the hay, but I was enjoying the scenery). They're pretty freaking cute!

No biggie.

In other news, my horoscope told me to pamper myself this week so I spent way too much money on a box of strawberries at Albertson's today. Whatever. I feel pampered now!

Out of This World Pizza

So, there are not a lot of places in Montana on my Buzzfeed/Thrillist List because, let's be honest, there aren't a ton of places in Montana in the first place... But, today I had the opportunity to visit Cosmic Pizza in Bozeman, MT, which is, according to Thrillist, the best pizza in Montana.

Thrillist boasted that if it wasn't the best, it certainly had the most options, with 55 different toppings!

Now, when I arrived, I wondered if Thrillist was full of it because Cosmic Pizza is attached to a gas station. Could the best pizza in Montana really be gas station pizza?!

I thought it was cute when I actually got in (we were their first customers of the day!) and they did have lots of options, but it wasn't until I actually got my pizza -- The Big Dipper -- that I knew I was eating the best pizza in Montana. I understand why it's Cosmic Pizza, and it's not because everything on the menu and the decor have an outer space theme, it is because this pizza is out of this world!

The Big Dipper had the following ingredients: black olives, mushrooms, artichokes, green peppers, onions and romas. The pizza also came with ranch, which I knew would make Mandy very happy. The toppings were sky high on this thing. I included a picture of not only the pizza, but also of the pizza from the side so you could see just how extreme the toppings were! I couldn't believe that there was a crust underneath all that but there was and it was amazing.

So thank you, Thrillist, for helping me find this delicious gas station pizza!

Just Another Drive Day

I returned to Montana yesterday and promptly went into shock because it was only eight stinking degrees outside. I know everyone in California was complaining about it getting close to 30 but I would gladly take that right now.

Before I say anything else, I will once again complain about how the Missoula airport needs to get with the times and get their own snapsticker! I got these holiday ones in Sacramento and Denver yesterday and would have liked see one in Missoula as well, but NOooooOOOooo. Maybe someone from Missoula will read my blog and realize the errors of their ways, but that would mean that someone actually reads my blog and I’m not sure that that is a thing.

Anyways, I got back in the little red truck today to drive to Amsterdam, MT. Before I even arrived, I knew that it was nothing like Amsterdam in the Netherlands and I can now confirm that fact. I’m actually staying in Manhattan, MT, which is also nothing like the Manhattan you’re used to hearing about.

Anyways, I decided to snap a few drive day photos because even though it’s cold and snowy, it is pretty!

DRIVE DAY

The other Manhattan.

Back in Marin

Road trip!!

Sarah and I drove to Marin, California today to see Mockingjay with her friends. Marin is outside of San Francisco so about an hour away from Davis, I guess and I realized that I was here this summer when I visited Mandy and we went on a hike!

The world just keeps getting smaller for me! Back to Missoula dark and early tomorrow morning (dark and early because I will be up before the sun is), I've had an awesome week and I can't believe that it's already over!!

Snapsticker for the win.

Four-Ingredient Protein Pancakes

So obviously, if I'm going to write about food today, I should be writing about the amazing Thanksgiving feast I partook in last night, but I'm going to write about something else.

Lies! First I'm going to write a little bit about Thanksgiving. We took a really cute photo last night that I need to get from my aunt so that I can share it with you! Thanksgiving also involved Christmas crackers and a lot of food! The turkey was very tempting, but I stayed strong!

Now, back to today. This morning, I made two-, three- and four-ingredient protein pancakes. I wrote about the monstrous pancakes I had in St. Ignatius last week and how I am basically an expert on this subject. Pancakes are definitely one of the things I miss most when I'm on the road, but I recently read about how to make pancakes with just bananas and eggs. Yes, bananas and eggs. I got conflicting reports from the internet about whether or not it was necessary to add anything else to these pancakes, so I decided to try a few variations. Now, the reason they're protein pancakes is because no matter how you do it, eggs are essentially the main ingredients, so there's your protein -- although I did read about adding vanilla protein powder to them (I only have chocolate powder on the road, so I didn't do that).

My life on the road has been changed forever! I can find bananas and eggs anywhere!!! This means I can basically have pancakes anywhere.

The first two-ingredient incarnation was one banana and two eggs. It didn't look the most appetizing, but I gave it a shot. Unsurprisingly, it cooked a lot more like an egg than like a pancake, but it did taste decent. The third ingredient I added was a dash of cinnamon (I ended up with more cinnamon than I'd intended, so like two and a half dashes). The cinnamon didn't really change the texture of the pancakes but it did add some extra flavor. Next I added a little bit of flour and this is when the pancakes ended up really looking like pancakes. They were really good! Not St. Ignatius good, but still! And like I said, this revelation means that I can have pancakes anywhere! I might even buy a few individual packets of vanilla protein powder just for the purpose of making protein pancakes!

I'll work on getting the Thanksgiving photo to share with all of you, but until then, enjoy this picture of my revolutionary breakfast.

Four-ingredient Protein Pancakes

Christmas Cats and the Blue Devils

I am very full with a belly of jalapeno popper mac and cheese and have decided to write away my food coma!

Yesterday was Aunt Eileen's birthday and I started off her day properly by making her some banana chocolate chip muffins, because who doesn't like fresh muffins on any day, much less a day dedicated to them?! It was a recipe I'd never used before (I'd actually never made banana chocolate chip muffins from scratch before) but I think they turned out quite handsomely.

After breakfast, I helped Aunt Eileen open her gifts, of which there were a lot and then I ended up with a little something -- I am currently dealing with some insanity involving a package that I was expecting to be forwarded to California but was instead forwarded to Missoula (not that anyone felt the need to tell me) and was then misplaced and now I will apparently be getting this package when I return on Saturday, but I still ended up getting something from the postman here in Davis.

Mr. Ryan Lind sent me the best sweatshirt in the history of holiday-themed cat clothing. I'm developing quite the collection of cat clothing... but I'm so excited to break this one in after Thanksgiving. It is going to make the rest of the Purrsdays and Caturdays of this tour far more special!

After the fun of the morning, it was time for my cousin, Sarah, to get here! Yay!

We went out for a very nice dinner last night because it was my aunt's birthday and I ate the best Italian food I've had since Italy! It was awesome. We capped the night off with complimentary pomegranate limoncello, which I liked a lot more than the limoncello I actually drank in Italy.

Today, I got to see some more of Davis when Sarah and I went out. We stopped at CVS, where I discovered that Davis High School's macot is the blue devil -- like Easy A. I love Easy A and Sarah told me that the Christian kids at her high school launched a campaign to change the mascot every year the same way they do in the movie, so it's pretty amazing. I took a picture as proof, but I might have to go back and buy an actual shirt because it's spectacular (although nothing beats my new cat sweatshirt).

After that, Sarah took me to visit another Davis landmark, the Toad Tunnel. From what I've heard from Sarah and Eileen, a lot of what happens in Davis sounds like an episode of Parks and Rec -- like the mayor who wanted to outlaw 4th of July fireworks because they disturbed the butterflies or the lady who thought crossing guards should be dressed as vegetables to promote a balanced diet -- and the Toad Tunnel sounds just as strange as it turned out to be.

The Toad Tunnel was built at the same time Davis got a new overpass because everyone was worried about the toads getting run over, so they built a tunnel for the toads to hop underneath the road instead. Not only did they build this tunnel for the toads, but they've also crafted Toad Hollow -- a little toad themed village -- to go along with it. Like I said, all of this sounds like it belongs in Pawnee, IN with Leslie Knope.

After that, we went to the Davis Farmer's Market to get some last minute Thanksgiving supplies and then we got some pizza for lunch. When we got back to the house, we discovered that there would be a Sister Act marathon slated for the afternoon, which we were both very excited about. (We killed some time by watching Gone With the Wind on AMC and now that Sister Act is over, we've gone back to AMC and have picked up in essentially the same spot).

I was also very excited about tonight's dinner. Aunt Eileen gave me her kitchen and I made jalapeno popper mac and cheese! We considered saving it for tomorrow but there is going to be a lot of food, so we decided that we would start celebrating a day early because if there is anything I am thankful for in this world, it is mac and cheese. It was so delicious!!! And now I've got a full belly to get me through the night before all the food tomorrow.

Happy (no) Turkey Day!

The Frog

Today, I hung around my aunt's house and caught up on my TV -- which is a good day in my book. I also met my aunt's band members (cuz my aunt is in a band, yo) when they came over for rehearsal and one of them is the secretary at the elementary school in Davis that brings in MCT! It's a small world and it literally gets smaller for me every single day.

Now, onto the frog... Tonight, Aunt Eileen cleaned out the frog's tank. The frog is my cousin, Ethan's. Ethan got the frog for his eighth birthday... Ethan turns 26 on Thursday. Yes, this frog was alive the LAST time I visited Davis (just a casual 16 years ago). I'm worried that the frog has been waiting this whole time for me to return and is going to croak (pun definitely intended) now that I have. The frog's name is Cuz -- after Ethan's cousins... I'm one of those cousins! I'm definitely going to kill the 18 year old wonder frog.

More reports on the amphibian to come. Hopefully none of them include a froggy funeral.

On the Road in the Air

Another Sunday, another travel day, except today, I didn't go by little red truck, I went by small, shiny airplane and then another larger, shinier airplane!

I have abandoned Montana for the week and replaced it with northern California. Davis, California to be specific -- home of my Aunt Eileen. Montana won't have too much time to miss me because I'll be back on Saturday, but it's nice to get a break!

I spent last night in Missoula because it was only 45 minutes away from St. Ignatius and it was easier than getting up at 3am to drive Melissa to her 5am flight and I took advantage of this proximity to civilization by going to see Mockingjay: Part 2, which was awesome. I did make plans to see it with my cousin after Thanksgiving, but I just couldn't wait!!! Plus I'm still very excited to see it again.

This morning was pretty chill. I got up, ate every TAD's favorite continental breakfast (Ruby's Inn and Convention Center, people!) and then headed out to do some last minute errands before it was time to take to the skies. One of these errands was going to Barnes and Noble; I have my kindle, but I've been feeling the desire to hold a real book recently, but I've also been shopping at used bookstores for a while now and forgot how much books actually cost... You want me to pay that for wordy paper? No thank you. I did buy myself a book of sudoku because I always do them when I'm on airplanes anyways and figured it would be a good way to kill some time.

My boss dropped me off at the airport and I was on my way. I was a little nervous when I looked at my ticket and realized just how short my layover in Denver would be (my flight from Missoula wasn't even supposed to get in until after my flight to Sacramento would have started boarding) but I ended up having plenty of time (I would have had more time if they hadn't decided to switch my gate to what felt like the absolute opposite side of the airport...).

Feeling exhausted of tiny boxes and numbers, I used my Kindle's 3G to download the book I had considered buying at Barnes and Noble until I realized that I might like to be able to buy myself dinner in the near future... This would be Jack Kerouac's On The Road. I'm on the road, so it feels appropriate. It's like reading Travels with Charley except with a more heightened sense of adolescent angst. But I started reading On The Road when I was not, in fact, on the road, but instead up in the air... I feel like the irony should get Kerouac's seal of approval.

Once I was back on the ground, I found myself hunting for geotags and looking for my Aunt Eileen. I found the geotags first. The Sacramento Airport appears to have an airport geotag, but it isn't the postage stamp I'm used to. Either way, it's pretty!

I found my aunt pretty quickly after that and we went out for some Thai food and to hear her friends' band. She plays in a band and I'm apparently going to meet them when they come over to practice in the morning. 

Now, I'm going to bed because I can because it's my vacation! (Ok, I basically go to sleep/wake up whenever I like anyways, but I like saying that I'm on vacation).

Old Timer Cafe

I obviously don't post pictures of ever meal I eat on the road because that would 1) be obnoxious and 2) be a lot of pictures of Easy Mac, but I do post special meals and today's breakfast definitely qualifies.

So, I truly believe that pancakes are God's gift to breakfast, which means that I will never turn down an opportunity to get some. Today, we went to the Old Timer Cafe in St. Ignatius and I went through my usual mental pros/cons list of how many pancakes to order -- short stack? full stack? never a single pancake, although that was an option here... I went with my usual bet, go big or go home, and ordered the full stack.

Well, that was way more pancake than I ever expected. They were huge!!! Like the size of my face huge (or as the waiter said afterwards, they're not the size of your face -- more like twice the size of your face). I literally had to undo my pants after a cake and a half!

No, I did not finish. I'm not that crazy.

My First On The Road Reunion

So, MCT sends us a grid of where every team is going to be so that, hypothetically, we could meet up if we were close by. Well, I am terrible at checking this grid! There are so many teams and the font is so small and shouldn't people just come to me anyways?!

I AM putting this in my scrapbook

One thing I am good at, however, is looking at the local papers to see if anything related to me has found its way onto their pages. Yesterday, I was reading the regional paper and saw a listing for Aladdin. YES! I thought! More stuff for my scrapbook! But wait, that isn't our Aladdin. There was another tour team doing the same exact show twenty minutes south of us in a town called Arlee! I quickly logged onto Facebook and sent a plea into cyberspace! WHICH TEAM IS IN ARLEE, MT?! Maria and Charlette got back to me nearly instantaneously! They were the mystery team AND if things worked out, they'd be able to come to our Friday night show!

Anyways, I went about my life today with my fingers crossed that I would get to see some familiar faces but not totally sure that it would work out, but after the show, THERE THEY WERE! Yay friendship! We grabbed some grub after the work was done and took the obligatory reunion selfies!

So now, it's just one more show for me, a drive back to Missoula and a plane ride to Thanksgiving break. I am going to see the latest Hunger Games tomorrow and am trying to marathon the second and third movies on Hulu (the original is nowhere to be found) but the internet isn't cooperating at the moment, but not even that can kill my happy feelings!

National Bison Range

Today, we drove to the National Bison Range and I must say that I was disappointed, because, dear reader, you have probably seen the same number of bison today as I have. I drove a whopping 60 miles round trip and didn't see a single bison. 30 of those miles were on a dirt road too! Now, it was all very beautiful and I saw a few deer, but I could have seen deer without ever leaving the kitchen (seriously, I saw a few in the driveway the other day).

I guess we'll always have Yellowstone.

Where a Basin is Next to the Mountains

It appears that the winter weather advisory I received has missed us, although some ominous clouds over the mountains tell me that others haven't been as lucky. I do believe, however, that we got the insane winds they mentioned because when I went for a walk this morning, I was almost blown away.

Why did I go for a 75-minute walk when it was barely above freezing? I'm not totally sure, maybe I don't like having 10 toes (I still have all 10, but it was questionable for a while).

I believe this would be the basin that the name refers to.

One thing I did go to see was something that I noticed on my way into town -- a sign welcoming visitors into St. Ignatius that also has a Native America translation on it. I mentioned in a previous post that St. Ignatius is on the Flathead Indian Reservation and some online digging has taught me that the reservation is home to the Bitterroot Salish, Kootenai and Pend d'Oreilles Tribes, which are tribes that I have never heard of, but like I said, they have their own name for St. Ignatius and it translates to "Where a Basin is Next to the Mountains." I was very interested in this, so I went to get a picture of the sign!

I took one wide shot so that you could get a feel for the area and one of just the sign so that you could fully appreciate what the Kutenai language looks like, because it definitely isn't English. If you look to the left on the second picture you can see some of the mountains that the name also refers to, I didn't get a real picture of them as the currently look like the absolute doom and gloom of a winter weather advisory.

Now, I am warming up and getting ready for another day of workshops and rehearsal!

I've Got an Itinerary!!

So, I've got an itinerary for the winter/spring! This is very exciting news. We can all say goodbye to Montana and hello to the Midwest!

I've done population counts (see below) and a travel map, but more research must happen in the near future. You'll notice from the population counts, that only one town has less than 1,000 people in it. THAT'S DEFINITELY A FIRST. I also have my first six digit population count!

I've put an asterisk by the towns with the smallest and largest populations and bolded the week that I'm the most excited for because it puts me just 30 minutes away from Chicago and my love, Mandy Belscamper.

Red Wing, MN - 16,513
Kewaskum, WI - 4,004
*Green Lake, WI - 985
*Indianapolis, IN - 852,866
St. Joseph, MO - 77,147
Oskaloosa, IA - 11,568
West Salem, WI - 4,980
Rock Rapids, IA - 2,602
Hartford, WI - 14,251
Western Springs, IL - 13,171
Oshkosh, WI - 66,778
Edgar, WI - 1,474
Luxemburg, WI - 2,515
Stratford, WI - 1,574
Brussels, WI - 1,112
Mondovi, WI - 2,713
Cavalier, ND - 1,262

Zig zagging across the Midwest

St. Ignatius Mission

So, because my last post was kind of depressing (winter storm advisory?! Really? Thank goodness I'm headed to California in a few days...), I figured I would post something happier, or at least, prettier than that neon orange screen shot I uploaded in my last post.

This morning, I visited the St. Ignatius Mission. The mission was founded in 1854 and the church was built in the 1890s and listed on the US National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Apparently the gorgeous frescoes were done by an untrained artist/brother who also served as the mission's cook. It was also, apparently, a Jesuit mission, so shout out to my boys at BC High!

Apparently, St. Ignatius is on the Flathead Indian Reservation, which I did not know, but I guess would explain the presence of a mission!

Welp. This just showed up on my phone:

More updates to come. Unless, of course, the weather is so bad that I lose internet and power... Fingers crossed that that does not happen.

A Pleasurable Existence

Earlier this week, I was complaining to my extremely patient friend, Rose Hayes, about how frustrated I was that I didn't have WiFi in Harrison and she said one of the greatest and truest things that I have ever heard: "WiFi is like chocolate - not necessary for existence but definitely necessary for a pleasurable one."

Well, now I have both!!!

First, I am blogging from St. Ignatius, MT, where I didn't think I would have WiFi this week now it doesn't appear to be the strongest where I'm staying, but it does exist. Once again, we are staying in our own cabin/guest house -- I'm in the loft above the main living space -- which seems to be a recurring theme of this tour. It appears that I cannot reliably access the world wide web from the loft --so no skyping in bed -- but I can sit at the kitchen table and catch up on my shows!

Now I must rewind and fill you in on the rest of my week in Harrison. Things were great there! We had a lot of fun with the kids, including a ninja squirrel run through of the play which I'm sure will be a highlight of my career.

And now, CHOCOLATE! They gave us a super sweet (no pun intended) thank you gift, a box of assorted chocolates from a local candy maker! I had two last night (a milk chocolate truffle and a dark chocolate raspberry truffle) and I nearly dumped the entire box into my mouth.

So, even though I don't think it was actually a question before, I can now confirm without a doubt that I lead a pleasurable existence.

The Latest in Street Rat Fashion

So, I live a strange life which means things like the following photo happen! I am modelling the latest in street rat fashion, however the socks and blue jeans are not included in the look...

In other news, I am working on contacting my contact in Amsterdam, MT, which is our first residency after Thanksgiving and I don't know much about what will be happening there but I can already assume that it will be very different than my trip to Europe!

Hell sNOw

I’m totally opposed to Christmas starting the day after Halloween but that’s how America wants it these days… And by America, I mean Mother Nature and the state of Montana.

This morning, I woke up to snow, as in new snow, as in snow that was not there when I went to bed, as in snow that was/is continuing to fall from the sky. I’m dreaming of a dry November, but no, that is not a thing here apparently.

I put on my boots to take a picture of the truck circa 8am this morning. Please note that this truck was entirely snow-free last night.

So, that all roads lead to Rome thing I was talking about strikes again. We're planning a grocery run for tomorrow (cuz the nearest store is 30 min away) when I realize that I stopped for gas in this same town in September. I feel like a roadmap of Montana has been tattooed to the inside of my brain... Send help.

Why WiFi?!

Another residency, another cabin without WiFi. This fall seems to be the season without WiFi, although now this fall is starting to look a lot like winter… Because, snow.

I posted about some flurries in Lolo, but now I’m in a part of Montana that has gotten full-blown snow. Snow that has actually accumulated on the ground. Snow that found its way into my sneakers. Cold, wet, slushy snow.

We’ve got a residency in Harrison, MT but are staying six miles away in Pony in our very own little cabin. Once again, I am staying somewhere that makes up for its lack of internet with dead animals. We aren’t really out in the wilderness here, but we are out on a dirt road!

Cabin

After arriving and drying off my socks, I put on my boots and went for a walk in Pony. I discovered that they have an actual Pony – several actually. There are the few live ones across the street and then there is this one at the top of a hill. Apparently Pony’s Pony has some sort of snow-melting powers, because the rest of town is, as I’ve reported, covered in slush.

No WiFi but lots of dead animals

When I returned to the little cabin, I decided to treat myself to some hot chocolate, because after all, it’s decided to be winter here. While I used a traditional mix for my warm beverage, I am thinking that there might be more hot chocolate in my future, except with protein powder. They say you can add it to pancake mix, so why not warm milk? We shall see if this works or not.

The one plus about this cabin that has eluded us at others is cable. This cabin has cable! So I will be watching Food Network, rereading Twilight and typing up blog posts to publish when I eventually have WiFi for the rest of the week.

P.S. They say all roads lead to Rome and while that might be true, what they haven’t told you is that there are only like three roads and I’ve driven all of them apparently. Seriously! Last weekend’s drive was literally a backwards repeat of my first ever drive day and I just realized that I drove through Harrison in September on my way down to Lander, WY!

Vampire Time

So because I have no shame, I recently finished reading the new gender-bent version of Twilight, and throughout the whole book (and original book series) the vampires always talk about how time passes differently for them than it does for humans and I feel like I now live in the strange world where I'm on MCT Time and Montana Mileage. To explain, I was just talking to someone about how they thought a 25 minute drive was a long one but to me and the rest of Montana, that's just half of the time that it takes us to get to Walmart. My impending thousand mile drive doesn't faze me at all and this past weekend when I drove around 500 miles, I literally had to count on my fingers to figure out how long I was in the car for because it felt like we'd sped here in no time at all.

So does all of this mean I'm a vampire? Probably not. But, I should reread the original Twilight just to be sure.

Guess who is going to Minnesota?

I got the email from my boss this morning and my first residency of the winter/spring is going to be in Red Wing, MN. I don't know the rest of my itinerary, although some internet super sleuthing by Mandy and some not-so-subtle creeping around the tour office by myself suggests that I will be in Wisconsin and Illinois along with a few other states.

I shall update you when I know more myself but right now, I'm just getting ready for 1,235 miles in a little red truck with a new partner.

Snowflakes and Five Guys Shakes

Yup, there is snow in Lolo.

The tell-tale flakes started coming down this morning on our drive to the school. They then took my mental threat and ceased/desisted for a while but started back up just in time for us to head out for the day. I'm not ready for this... I mean, I know that it has already snowed in Boston this year, but I still don't like it. Can my next tour send me to Tahiti?

After school, I drove back to the home office for a quick hello and to pick up a box of t-shirts that we had delivered there and then, since I was only a block away, I went back to Five Guys. I am currently in the world's greasiest food coma and I do not care. I once again took my food to go and Marcus smells like a deep fryer but I regret nothing! (As Ryan Lind said when I told him this, "Never apologize for who you are"). As the title of this post might imply, I also got a shake! My first ever Five Guys shake. Who'd have thought the day would come? No, seriously, the owner once swore that they would never serve milkshakes. It was yummy. Vanilla, of course. Not the thickest shake in the world but very good -- it reminded me of a shake I had during the Calgary Milkshake Marathon (yes, my memory for blended dairy concoctions is that specific).

So, that's probably it for now, Five Guys. I don't think I can justify another trip there before I pack up again, unless you start serving breakfast...

Ah, the Pearly Gates

I am currently writing from Missoula, MT, also known as home base, but I'm not unbooked or checking in or training, I actually have a residency one town over in Lolo but my homestay just happens to be in Missoula.

So, in the past 24 hours, I've managed to do quite a lot... Oh, the joys of civilization.

Actually, the school I'm working at might not be a part of civilization. It is questionable, but the views are amazing. The school is actually about 20 miles away from where I'm staying and has absolutely no cell reception (you win some, you lose some).

When I arrived at the school for the first time yesterday, I heard cows. Yes, cows. They're just chilling across the street. No biggie. Ok, yes, biggie, cows are large animals. Even after all this time, that sort of stuff is still kind of surreal.

I will say that it is chilly out here and I had to break out the first thermal shirt of the season -- the thumb holes are back, people!

Good morning, Montana

It's been grey and awful these past two days though, but that didn't stop me from going out after rehearsal today. I ran a lot of errands which doesn't sound blog worthy, but it is when you consider how difficult it usually is for me to get anything anywhere. I went to CVS and then I went to visit the tour office.

We needed to get a few things from them and I also wanted to say hi. Why I need a whole bunch of clamps is a long story, but I ended up with a sort of Christmas tree, along with getting my most recent pay stub. I don't think we'll actually need all of these, but better safe than sorry!

Next, I saw the pearly gates of Heaven as I walked into Target. I luvvv Target. I might have to go back to Target before I leave because I don't know when I'll see another one! For anyone who is wondering, I bought moisturizer and concealer -- gotta keep my skin looking good!!

I headed just a few feet down the road to Sports Authority because I need new sneakers. Mine are only a few months old, but they look like I've been wearing them for years. I guess that's what you get when you only wear one pair of shoes all day every day... So, now I have a new pair of sneakers; they're like the next generation of the shoes I've been wearing and I'm excited to break them in. On a side note, I don't spend a ton of money on shoes, but walking through Sports Authority, I realized that if I'm ever going to pay $110 for running shoes, they better do the running for me!

Next, it was time for some grub and because I'm in civilization, I was able to go to Five Guys! I love Five Guys and there are only like two in the entire state of Montana and one of them is in Missoula. Even though I don't eat burgers anymore, I still love Five Guys and now I have a reason to love them even more -- apparently, in my time away from the real world, Five Guys has started selling milkshakes!!!! I didn't get one tonight but apparently they have all sorts of different flavors (and you can add bacon to all of them). I did, however, take my dinner to go so I could get home and out of the nasty weather and the truck might smell like french fries for the next few months... Sorry not sorry! It was 100% worth it.

In this week's game of "Can She Finish that in a Week?!", the challenge is a bag of bagels and tub of cream cheese.

More from the Beckster

So, I finished Travels with Charley! It might be sacrilegious to call John Steinbeck the Beckster but I'm doing it (I actually did it in a post a few days ago but consistency is key). Before I go back to blogging about my own adventures and not someone else's, there were a few more quotes that I wanted to share!

The first one is "I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love, and it's difficult to analyze love when you're in it." I have spent a lot of time in Montana this year. I've spent more time here than in any other state or country (yes, my weeks in Montana now outweigh all the time I spent in Canada) and I think this quote holds true.

The next quote, I felt like I needed to share/dedicate to Amanda Belscamper. I have never been to Texas but I learned  all sorts of things about it when we were on tour together (to clarify: I definitely knew more about the history of Texas than Mandy ever has/will despite taking "Texas History" classes all through elementary school, but she taught me other things), so when I came upon the following quote, I wanted to blog about it: "Above all, Texas is a nation in every sense of the word." I'm not sure how true that is because I, unlike John Steinbeck and Amanda Belscamper, have never been to Texas, but from everything I know about Mandy, it seems like the truth.

And now it's back to me and my life, although I am looking for another book to read (once I complete gender-bent Twilight that I took a short hiatus from... sorry not sorry).

More Historic Tid Bits

Yesterday I blogged about how there are historic markers everywhere out here and you should all know that Wolf Point is home to more than the wolves.

Wolf Point is the home of Governor Ten Schwinden! I looked him up and he was the governor from 1981 to 1989 and was named one of the top 100 influential Montanians of the 20th century.

So there you have it. Wolf Point is full of history!

How Wolf Point Got Its Name

The poor kids here do not seem to get my sense of humor (ok, most people don’t understand my sense of humor but that’s never stopped me). Their mascot is, as one might expect, a wolf.

I got a lot of blank stares when I jokingly told the kids that I was surprised by this…

After we got over the fact that I’m not funny, I decided to ask the kids how Wolf Point got its name and ohmygoodness, I got quite the history lesson! So before I get to the totally true story of how Wolf Point got its name, I should say that we do an assembly about storytelling and part of it has to do with Native American folklore and we discuss how their stories not only teach values but often have to do with nature – we then go on to tell a Cherokee story called “The First Fire” which explains how man got fire and how certain animals gained certain features – and since this is a Native American reservation, part of me expected something rather poignant with a nice life lesson to neatly wrap it all up, but I got something far more straightforward and wonderful.

The order of events seemed to vary slightly from child to child but essentially one winter, a long, long time ago, it was really, really cold and a bunch of wolves died then froze solid and all of the hunters in the area just piled up the frozen carcasses along the banks of the Missouri River and people started calling it Wolf Point.

Isn’t that seriously the greatest thing you’ve ever heard?! I don’t think I’ve ever had a better mental picture of a historical event! Just a bunch of dead wolves chilling (literally!) on the side of a river.

And that is the story of how Wolf Point got its name.

The Things I Do for WiFi

Wolf Point might not have any geotags but McDonald’s does.

Oh the things I do for WiFi.

Have you heard about all day breakfast?

Thank You, John Steinbeck

I am a lover of lists. I will make a list about anything. I frequently blog about The List, which is my ultimate compilation of every Thrillist and Buzzfeed article I can get my hands on and is 23 pages long and growing. *Maybe I don’t “get my hands on” them, they are internet articles after all.

I also have a reading list; it is based off of a list of classic literature/”must-reads” that I found at Barnes and Noble and is a mere six pages long and is sometimes growing and sometimes shrinking (riveting and informative as I’m sure they are, I’m not sure I need to read The Origin of Species or The Communist Manifesto to be a successful English/theatre teacher, so they’ll probably be saying goodbye to the list sometimes soon). The reason I need to keep adding to my reading list (of 222 books) is because it is incomplete – the list I found at Barnes and Noble only had books that were in the public domain on it! This means that modern day curriculum staples are absent – no Gatsby, no The Catcher in the Rye, no To Kill a Mockingbird and no John Steinbeck.

I go through phases of what I’m interested in reading (or not interested in reading) as well. For example, I’ve sworn off all Russians for the near future after taking a Russian literature class my sophomore year of college – I’m still depressed about what I read. After completing my four year project of Jane Austen’s canon (there were several long hiatuses from that one because I’m not really a fan), I was determined to read only female authors for a while. Now I’ve moved on to books that revolve around traveling! It seems appropriate. During my break between the summer and fall tours, I completed The Grapes of Wrath and now I’ve coincidentally moved on to another Steinbeck. I typically read on my kindle – it’s so practical when you’ve got to confine yourself to two suitcases and a backpack – but last spring, I found a used copy of Travels with Charley for $4 and decided that it should be mine. Now, I’m finally getting around to actually reading it.

The great thing with a kindle is that you can highlight passages you like and digitally save them forever and I’ve grown fond of this feature but you can’t do that with a real book. When reading other hardcopy books, I’ve gotten into the habit of using sticky notes but since we just addressed the space issue, I think you can see why it wouldn’t make sense to do that. So, with my little pink pen, I am marking up my book to remember quotes that I feel a deep, spiritual connection with or just think are funny and there are definitely some good ones that I can fully relate to and can say that even after all this time, they’re true.

A few nights ago, I was reading and I found a quote that so fully relates to Montana and even Wolf Point that I had to share. The old Beckster says “that those states with the shortest histories and the least world-shaking events have the most historical markers.” YES. Montana’s highways are entirely comprised of “Historic Point” markers; sometimes it feels like there are more historic points than people out here. And yes, there is at least one Historic Point here in Wolf Point.

So, thank you, John Steinbeck, for putting my thoughts in writing for me.

(Everyone should also know that I read “Historic Point” in the voice of Dug from Up).

Also, the no WiFi situation at the house means that I have time to write about all of this in the nauseatingly full detail that I just did, so get ready for a lot of posts about nothing!

The Numbers Game

So, after typing up my last post, I got curious about my expected mileage for the fall. Looking at my mileage sheet (yes, we have paperwork to fill out, they didn’t just give us a free truck!), I was able to see that just driving from residency to residency this fall should put 3,290 miles on MCT78. That’s before we add the residencies themselves, unbooked weeks and joy miles!

I have exactly 10 residencies this fall which means that the average drive day is 329 miles long. To put that in perspective, the drive from my house to college was 321 miles. Although, I never have to deal with the traffic in Connecticut out here…

Also, while we’re playing the numbers game, you should all know that Helena was my 26^th residency, meaning that I’ve been doing this for EXACTLY half a year – yes, I’ve been working for MCT for nearly 11 months, but it’s different when you add up the actual time you’ve spent putting plays! 

Hello from the Hi-Line

Oh the Hi-Line, how I have missed thee.

If you’re either thinking a) what is the Hi-Line or b) why is she talking funny? I have the answers! The answer to B is easier – it’s because I can. As for A, the Hi-Line is basically a line across northern Montana that runs parallel to Canada. I guess it’s a geographical term, but I know it by another name: US Highway 2.

I had some good time on the Hi-Line back in the winter/spring; Malta, Chinook, and Lambert and I got to revisit a few of them on my drive from Helena to this current residency, Wolf Point.

I literally made about 3/4^th of the drive I did today on my very first drive day way back in January when I drove from Missoula to Malta. I actually passed the place where Mandy and I got our very first ever drive day meal in Great Falls, MT this morning. It looked different with less than six feet of snow in the parking lot! Then of course, I passed the place of our second residency, Chinook, proud home of the sugarbeeters (I wore my sugarbeeters shirt just for the occasion) and then on to the place of our first residency, Malta (yes, sometimes we go east to turn right around and come back west… just wait until I tell you about what’s coming next weekend).

I stopped at Mandy’s least favorite gas station in world; everyone should know that the gas station in Chinook is still made for meat eaters (our residency in Chinook predated my switch to the herbivore lifestyle so I didn’t quite suffer like she did that week). I was going to get a F’Real at the gas station for old time sake (it was the first F’Real machine that Mandy ever used, after all!) but it was only 10am and they didn’t have smoothies and I didn’t think I could handle the pure vanilla sugar of a F’Real milkshake so early in the day.

I discovered that I have a playlist that is FIVE HOURS LONG on my iPod today. Five friggin’ hours. It almost got me through the entire trip without any skips or repeats. What was I doing that I made a five hour playlist? I just started working on my ultimate road trip playlist and I didn’t even have time for it after I got through this first one.

I also realized that definitely drove through Wolf Point in the spring, I just didn’t know it/remember it until I was sitting behind the wheel of the truck getting ready for a long day of driving.

We have a little rental house to ourselves and it has questionable wireless internet so I’ll probably be blogging from McDonald’s when I get the chance. I haven’t eaten at a Mickey D’s since I started touring (even before the switch) and have only stopped at like three to sneak into their bathroom or jack their internet but I might have to actually buy something if I’m going to mooch off of their internet for an entire week… Although the lady who owns the McDonald’s also owns the rental house, so maybe not! In the meantime, I’ve decided that my life has becoming a reality show called “Can She Eat That in a Week?” I’m the only contestant and when I’m in the grocery store, I have to determine if I can eat something in a week or if I can take it with me if I can’t, then I bring it home and the real challenge begins. The test this week is a dozen eggs and two cups of Mexican cheese.

While I’m not shoving my face with food, I will be sad because the lack of WiFi means that I cannot take advantage of my new HuluPlus account. It’s my latest obsession! What am I supposed to binge watch if I can’t watch anything?!

Oh and I promised to tell you about next weekend! So, next week, we have a residency in Lolo, MT, which is less than ten miles away from our headquarters in Missoula, so we drove all the way east to turn right back around and head home in seven days. There’s literally only one logical route we could take and it is the one we drove today, with an additional hundred miles tacked on for funzies.

Next week’s drive will, however, be the longest drive day of the tour which means it’s only down from here and going down is going up in my book plus anything is way, way down from what we did this summer (2805 miles from Maine to Montana, really?!).

I’ll let you know when I’ve succumbed to some McDonald’s fries in the name of internet access! Bye from the Hi-Line.

I've Done The Impossible

VICTORY

After nearly 11 months on tour and 24 years of life, I have done the impossible. Today, I hiked a mountain and took the trail I'd intended to take all the way to the top AND I didn't get lost along the way. This is a major victory for me! I've done something that, up to this moment, I'd never actually accomplished before! I deserve a party or at least cake.

This morning started with an assembly at the school which went really well (wayyy better than I expected actually) and then we had some time to play before going back to work!

So, hiking, man... I should change the name of my blog from "Thomson's Travel Blog" to "Seriously, That Girl Got Lost in the Woods AGAIN?!" because I feel like that is all I write about, but today, I didn't get lost!!! We hiked Mount Helena; I followed the trail I intended to and I made it to the top! The trail was the 1906 trail -- why it's called that, I do not know, I just know that it is there most popular trail and that I successfully took it. At some point, I was also supposed to see some Devil's Stairs or something named after Lucifer but I must have missed it (stop naming things in nature after Satan, world!).

Almost just as strange as me making it to the top without losing myself or getting injured, was that at over 5,000 feet on a mountain in the middle of Montana, I was able to get a WiFi signal!

The view of Helena from the top of the mountain was gorgeous. The pictures don't do it justice, but they're here for your enjoyment!