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!

The Cats Won

I got a belated birthday gift in the mail today!! One from Miss. (Carolyn) Rose Hayes*, otherwise known as Rose the Goat**.

Rose is a card designer/crafter extraordinaire. She is also a Thomson-whisperer because her gift was exactly what I needed. I'm not going to share pictures of everything she sent me because it's rather personal but I will post a picture of the front of the card and a bit of what she wrote me because it's too perfect.

As you can see, there are cats on the front because cats rule and Rose wrote "At first I only drew one cat peeking over the T and suddenly the next appeared followed by the paw prints and the cats won."

As it should be, Rose. As it should be, everyone.

*Rose's real name is Carolyn but no one calls her that and I recently forgot that Rose wasn't actually her first name. I think she goes by C. Rose Hayes professionally but I don't know her professionally.
**Rose is also a goat. It is a very long story but typically when I tell stories about Rose, I call her "Rose the Goat."

I went to yoga today and the instructor says "Are you a student?" And I say "No" and she says "Say that you are, I won't tell." And I saved $2 and officially no longer mind apparently looking like I'm still in high school/college.

This really isn't travel related but it was too good to keep to myself.

The Time Has Come

Today marked a turning point in my life and in the world; the time has come, I had to wear gloves this morning! Oh the pain! The agony! Ok, it wasn't like I needed to wear a coat or anything, just a sweatshirt, but being melodramatic is kind of a thing I do.

I'm enjoying my time in the "Queen City of the Rockies" (although numerous Google searches have yielded absolutely no answers as to why it's called that). I got a mani/pedi on Monday (who am I, right?!) and went to yoga on Tuesday, but did most of my exploring yesterday.

So despite the fact that people have only been out in Montana for like five minutes, there is a lot of history here! Fun fact: in 1888, Helena had more millionaires per capita than any other city in the world. That's right, in the world, thank you gold rush! It means that there are lots of pretty old houses to look at and as an added bonus, the school we're working at is right in the middle of all of these houses!

We started off our adventures in downtown Helena with a trip to the Cathedral St. Helena. We didn't pick the best time to visit, however, because we walked in on mass... so we quickly left and walked down the street where we saw the original governor's mansion.

Just like pretty much everything else in this part of the country, they do tours in the summer but not in the fall when I'm actually around to go on them! Oh well, still pretty!!!

We continued our travels downtown and I met a bird named Chuck (hey Dad!). After that, we returned to the Cathedral St. Helena and this time, were able to go in without causing an issue. It's really pretty, inside and out. It's only about 100 years old (construction was completed in 1908) but still lovely. I think my photo on the right with the lens flare helps add to the mystique!

In other news, there aren't any special geotags in Helena. Just the typical Rocky Mountain tags, which is surprising considering that Helena is the state capitol and all. You win some and you lose some, I guess. I'll let you know if I find out why they call Helena the Queen City and see you on the flip flop (actually, no flip flops, it's cold here).

Today I sent home some things -- aka I sent a package to myself. I really enjoyed going to the post office and trying to be sold one-day guaranteed delivery and then two-day guaranteed delivery until I finally got to the cheapest option -- three-day delivery. Like, isn't there a six-week option, people?!

Starbucks in Seattle

I realized that I forgot to say that I actually got Starbucks in Seattle! I stopped and picked up some at the airport before I departed just to say that I'd done it!!!

Peace and love.

Just a Couple of Unicorns

So my last few days in Seattle are being condensed into a singular post because sorry, people, I was too busy having fun to write!

I guess the last thing I wrote about happened on Thursday, but a lot has happened since then! Josh took me to South Lake Union and I saw the Slut. Yes, there is a part of Seattle where the mode of public transportation shortens down to S.L.U.T (which probably beats both Charlotte and Charlottesville’s CAT system or even Boston’s T, which is named after yours truly). S.L.U.T is short for South Lake Union Transit or something like that and it is what dreams are made of. Josh also took me to get some really good pizza at Serious Pie.

After that, Josh and I went hunting for cookies – I’d already had donuts, cupcakes and ice cream while I was there, I needed more sweet stuff. We went to the Dahlia Bakery, which I deemed a success. Josh and I have always loved going to the movies so we went to see Goosebumps and I surprised everyone by resisting temptation and staying away from the popcorn!

We made dinner for ourselves – ok, I cooked while Josh watched – I made us grilled cheese on roasted garlic artisan bread with olive oil and just in case that sounds too pretentious, just know that our side dish was Lays potato chips. Apparently Josh loves me because I love American cheese which I guess is taboo in Seattle (also because I’m a bum like he is and leave my towel on the floor… sorry!). After that, we got gussied up because we were headed out for the night! I succeeded in seeing lots of things from The List while I was in Seattle, but one thing that I really wanted to see was The Unicorn Bar. It’s a bar named after me, after all! Josh had been there before so when I mentioned it, he knew exactly where it was and was game to go. I also looked up their menu and they have a Rainbow Brite shot! So I HAD to go because I am Rainbow Brite. (Josh had never heard of Rainbow Brite which upset me greatly and I made sure he knew all about her before we went out).

When we got there, it was everything I had dreamed it could be. I succeeded in getting my Rainbow Brite shot (watermelon schnapps, Svedka citrus vodka, sour, cranberry -- and although I don't know the exact parts, I could tell it was heavy on the watermelon) which was awesome and just like the bar itself, it was everything I ever wanted. 

One thing Josh told me before we got there was that there was a photo booth (which only increased my desire to go) and we quickly got in line. The girls ahead of us told us that the machine was broken because it didn’t taken good pictures of them (and yes, the screen was dead) but I was determined so we tried it anyways. Well, the girls ahead of us were dumb and had paid before they were ready which meant that the machine took the best photos of them that it possibly could have and our photos turned out to be absolutely amazing! Josh and I sort of accidentally crowded Anthony out of most of the photos but he actually approved

of that since Josh and I have known each other forever basically and he thought that they were all super cute. And they are the cutest! I want to cry when I think about them because I’m not sure that Josh and I have any better pictures together than these ones and they’re too perfect.

We spent the night at Anthony’s and had a very lazy morning the next day that involved a lot of college football. *Gasp*. I know, who am I? But Anthony and his roommates all went to Ole Miss so we had to watch. Josh and I eventually returned to his place where we spent my last day in Seattle being really, really lazy. We got him all caught up on How to Get Away with Murder and once we were done with that, I got him hooked on Quantico. I made dinner again – this time, I made a garlic parmesan pasta dish with crescent rolls on the side! And then we made some pull-apart cookies and ate an absolutely obscene amount to the point where we both would have thrown up if we attempted to eat anything else.

This morning, Josh saved the best for last and we went to what might be the greatest restaurant ever – Biscuit, Bitch. Yup, that’s its name. Everything in the menu has the word “bitch” in it!!! I went with the gritty, cheesy, scrambled bitch (with vegetarian gravy, of course) and it was awesome. I ate way too much, way too quickly but I have no regrets!!! I checked in on Facebook just to get a free commemorative sticker because how could I not?

Then I was dropped off at the airport and off on my merry way. I flew Alaskan Airlines back to Helena (direct flight! Whaddup!), which is where I am posting from and the location of this week’s residency. In terms of my aircraft, it is exactly what I expected, meaning teeny tiny, and I got a pretty cool picture of the propeller and the mountains because hipstah!

This week’s residency is my 26^th which means that I’ve officially been doing this job for half a year – obviously anyone who has read this blog or knows me knows that I’ve spent the greater part of the last 10 months on the road, but this means that I’ve been straight up working with the kids, putting on plays in five days, for half of a year, which I think it crazy cool. Wish me luck!!!

No Good Bookstore is Complete Without Kittens!

Josh and I had a full day yesterday! We got off to a slow start in the morning (where I taught Josh all about new Google Maps tricks and may have sent him something so that I might eventually become a guest blogger for Redfin...), but then we had a very full afternoon/evening! My favorite kind!!!

We went to lunch at Plum Bistro, which is a vegan restaurant from The List, that is known for it's mac and cheese (or mac 'n yease if we're being specific). They had really strange table settings here that included what we believed were tomatoes and we spent a good amount of our lunch speculating on them. Plum Bistro and I took Josh's verganity -- vegan virginity -- because this was the first vegan restaurant he'd ever been to! Even better, he really liked it and will probably go back. I loved the mac 'n yease, even if it did sort of look like dog food.

After that, we got ice cream at Molly Moon's! I love ice cream. I tried the Salted Caramel, which is Josh's favorite, but it was a little too salty for me (I liked the salted caramel at the Bi-Rite Creamery in San Francisco but as a general rule, I want my ice cream to be sweet). I went with "Melted Chocolate" which was really just regular chocolate -- I'd like to know why an ice cream place thinks naming any flavor "melted anything" is a good idea.

With full bellies, we marched on the the Twice Sold Tales bookstore. I'd read about it online, but I had no idea of what the future held. I don't think any good independent bookstore is complete without a cat, but this one had KITTENS! Kittens that you could carry around while you were in the store. Little, baby cats for me to play with!!! At one point, this meant chasing a kitten that got loose, but even that was fun! I was in heaven. Literally the greatest place on earth.

After that, we visited another bookstore from The List, the Elliot Bay Book Company. No kittens, but there was coffee (for Josh, not me).

Snapstickahs fah dayz

After all that walking, it seemed like a good time to finish off the second cupcake I got at Cupcake Royale on Wednesday and it was tasty. Josh and I watched an episode of How to Get Away with Murder and then we were off to hear about some real murders -- we went on the Spooked in Seattle walking ghost tour!

I thought the ghost tour was going to be more specific stories but it was a lot of history of the area and telling us about people who were murdered different places. One girl did get her hair pulled by a ghost, so that was pretty cool.

Rainbow sidewalks!

After the ghost tour, we went to Local 360 for dinner, which is a place I'd read about online, and is known because all of their food comes with a 360 mile radius. It was really good! I got a salad and some wood-grilled sourdough bread (no pics because the restaurant was all about the ambiance and was very dark). Josh had only been there for lunch but he approved as well (getting the meal I totally would have gotten if I wasn't a vegetarian, the steak).

We walked back to Josh's place and caught up on Empire! AKA our favorite show (Josh is all caught up which means I can actually talk to him about it as opposed to everyone else I know!!!).

We're taking things easy this morning and will head out in a little bit to do I'm not really sure what but I'm sure we'll have fun!

Starbucks: Ground Zero

No day is complete without geotags

Earlier this year, I drove through/took a selfie in Circle, MT, which is the farthest you can be from a Starbucks in the continental United States. I don't even drink coffee but I had the exact opposite problem today; I visited Starbucks Ground Zero.

The day began with me getting up before Josh, the same way I have every time we've spent the night together in our eight year relationship. We walked to his work where he showed me around (see previous blog post) and we got free breakfast (he's gone corporate in the millennial world which means that his office has lots of glass windows and free snacks). After that, I was free to explore on my own (Josh has taken the next two days off of work for me so I won't be solo after today).

Josh only works a few blocks away from Pike Place Public Market so that is where I went exploring for the day. I didn't see anyone throwing any fish which I think is like 99% of the reason people go there. I did see some giant seafood and that was pretty cool.

Across the street from the Market (although from what I could tell, it is technically a part of the Market) is the original Starbucks location. Now, Seattle is not lacking in Starbucks. Starbucks is like the Dunkin of the west coast. They have a Starbucks on every corner. Literally. But this was the original, which meant that the line was even longer than normal. I don't drink coffee so I didn't go in, but I'll probably have to stop and get Starbucks somewhere before I leave Seattle since this is the Mecca of the pumpkin spice latte.
While I was walking around the Market, I noticed an alley full of gum. This is apparently a thing; it's called the Gum Wall. It's definitely unsanitary -- in fact, a single Google search told me that it has been deemed one of the world's top five germiest tourist attractions. Germiest isn't even an actual word, but I'd believe it.

While exploring the Market, I found an interesting bookstore and probably ended up on another government list... I also found a store dedicated entirely to maps which I thought was pretty impressive considering most people don't even know how to read maps anymore. I found a book about what to do in Seattle there which gave me some ideas of what I could do next -- I went to the Waterfront. On my walk, I found the Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe which would have been interesting to me because I like random odds and ends to begin with and then I found the most glorious of all knick knacks; I found something with my name on it. Did I spent $7 on a key chain? You bet I did.

I walked on from there to Pioneer Square which was "Seattle's Original Neighborhood." I walked on to the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park which wasn't a park but a museum. I learned gold rush stuff.

Next I turned around and walked right back where I started because I was going to meet up with my friend, Blaire! Yes, I have more than one friend in Seattle! Blaire is a fellow TAD/mermaid/genie who is taking the fall off (although she's headed to Portland tomorrow to fill in for Miss. Kayla Cuthbertson, temporary tour partner extraordinaire). We walked around the Market more and went on the hunt for lunch. On that hunt, we stopped at the Daily Dozen Doughnut Co. which was on my List of what's what and where to go. I had contemplated stopping there by myself and then thought about maybe going back with Josh but Blaire made the decision for me. They were cute and delicious! I think Josh and I are going to go back because he's jealous he didn't get any!

Everyone should know that Blaire is wonderful and I love seeing TAD friends!

After I said goodbye to Blaire, I did some walking around and ended up back at Redfin. Josh had to work late since he's taking tomorrow off but after work, we went to Cupcake Royale!!! Cupcake Royale is also on the List but what I didn't know was that today is National Dessert Day and Cupcakes were buy-one-get-one-free! Josh and I both got two cupcakes -- I went with red velvet and the royale with cheese and Josh got buttered popcorn and tiramisu. We each ate one cupcake and saved one for later (perhaps breakfast tomorrow?).

After that, we walked back to Josh's apartment and made ourselves some dinner and watched How to Get Away with Murder. We still need to make plans for tomorrow but we're having lots of fun until then.

Josh's Grown Up Job

The first order of business in Seattle was to visit Josh at work and then to blog about Redfin so that it could potentially increase traffic to their site and their prevalence on Google. Can you tell that he works in social media?

Hey Mom! I'm at the Salt Lake Airport!

I was only there for a short amount of time, but still, they updated their geotags to include this charmer! I obviously kept you all updated on what was happening in the Helena airport (because what else was there to do) so no need to report on that again. My plane ride from Helena to Salt Lake was, as I expected, small but it was also fast and that was nice. I rehearsed a bit of the MCT assembly that I'm expected to perform next week but I mostly read Twilight (the gender-bent version, of course). Just as my legs touched down in Salt Lake, it was time to get on my flight to Seattle! I got a middle seat but it really wasn’t so bad because the flight was short. The highlight happened before I ever even got on the plane when I witnessed a lady get in a fight with the desk attendant because she wanted priority boarding and wanted to know why other people who didn’t look like they needed any extra time to get on the plane got priority boarding. The desk attendant let her board the flight early.

Once in Seattle, I got my bags and then waited for Mr. Crespo to pick me up. He brought with him new (new to me anyways because they've been together for like a year) boyfriend, Anthony. I like Anthony because he didn't judge me when I joked that I was excited because in Twilight, they were just talking about Seattle and now I'm here. Apparently he and Josh almost went to Forks on Valentine's Day. 

I know my mother is going to complain, but we haven’t taken any pictures yet because we were not camera ready. They’re coming, I promise. I did get the Seattle airport geotag, obviously.

We went to Josh's apartment then out to dinner and then back to Josh's apartment and we are now getting ready for the day!! I'm going to see where Josh works and go on adventures!!!

You know you're in a small airport when they've already put up the information for flights departing tomorrow morning and it's only 2pm.

My 2:45 flight is their second to last departure for the day.

Just found out that there is a direct flight to Seattle leaving an hour after my flight to Salt Lake City (where I'll connect to Seattle). I've got a direct flight back here on Sunday so I knew that such flights were possible but since this first flight never once showed up on Expedia when I was booking things, I'm going to have to assume that the plane was so small that it was already entirely booked. Joy. This should be fun.

I'm at the Helena Airport three hours early for my flight. There is nothing to do here but there is free wifi... You win some/you lose some.

Hello from Helena

Even though I'm going to be back here in a week, I wanted to make the most of what we shall call my layover in Helena.

First off, I have managed to catch up on a frightening amount of TV. Thank you, WiFi. Next, I have also managed to map out a good chunk of what I'd like to do in Seattle. Thank you again, WiFi.

After making wonderful use of the WiFi, I went to Perkins for breakfast -- I know, it isn't the most Helena place I could have gone (there are a few diners I'll be driving to next week) but pancakes! I love pancakes!!! After that, it was time to unwind with some yoga and after yoga, it was time to explore Helena.

We stumbled across the Helena Visitor Center and pioneer house so I got to see lots of old Helena stuff and got a free booklet on all things Helena.

I don't think that it is any secret that I love wine -- my birthday was only a week ago after all -- and that I enjoy going to wine tastings when I can. I also enjoy liquor and hard cider (don't even get me started on Savanna Dry...). What I do not love is beer. For some reason, I managed to convince myself that visiting a few of Helena's breweries would be fun like a wine tasting. WHEN DID MY JUDGMENT BECOME SO HORRIBLE? I despise beer. It isn't fun. It makes my burps taste weird for like three days. In the future, I think that if I were given the choice between drinking a beer and licking a toilet seat, I'd go with the toilet seat! (But please don't hold me to that because I'm sure I'll be at another brewery in no time). So anyways, Helena's breweries.

Free coaster!

We started with Blackfoot River Brewing Co. Tap Room where I brilliantly walked up to the bar and said "I don't drink beer, what should I get?" The bartender suggested I get the Cream Ale, so I did. No. No. No. No. I. Hate. Beer. Considering that it is a beverage I hate, this beer was tolerable-ish.
There was free popcorn which made me much happier than the beer did. I enjoyed the sign that said "Blackfoot River Brewing beer on tap!" Um, why are you so excited about this? Of course Blackfoot beer is on tap, we're literally sitting in your tap room! What else would we be drinking? When we left, I took a coaster as a souvenir for enduring their poisonous barley concoction.

POINT!

The next brewery we visited was the Lewis & Clark Brewing Company. Having learned my lesson, I didn't actually get a drink here. I did enjoy watching the canning process however, which I could see from my bar stool. Spoiler alert: they spin the cans really, really fast! Side note, do you think Lewis's arm ever gets tired? Every logo/photo of them I see has one of them (I'm assuming Lewis) pointing out into the distance. He's been holding his arm up for 211 years. That's a really long time. I can barely hold my arm up for two minutes.

We also visited the Great Northern Carousel. The last carousel I went on was A Carousel for Missoula (strange name, I know) which is one of the fastest carousels in the world. This carousel wasn't one of the fastest (not even close) but it was unique in the animals one could ride. Yes, they had the traditional horses, but they also had bears, big horned sheep, mountain goats, a rhino, rabbits, a hippocampus and the animal I decided to ride, an otter. I picked the otter because I knew that my mother and sister would kill me if I went with something different and truth be told, it was one of the cutest. Riding the otter meant that I couldn't grab for the brass ring that would have given me a free ride but it was worth it -- mostly because it meant I wouldn't be murdered.

Look at that face!

In other news, Couchsurfing is going well and I just checked in for my flight tomorrow and I'm so excited!!!

Couchsurfing

Hello from Helena where I have WiFi! Another residency complete, another unbooked week!

WiFi is so glorious, don't you think? I love it. It is the very best thing in the whole world (wide web).

How did I get to Helena, you may be thinking. Let me rewind and finish up the week in Bridger. In case you couldn't tell, just like there isn't a lot of wireless internet in Bridger, there isn't a lot to do there either. I realized earlier this week that my friends, family and blog followers might be missing one key fact in understanding life in Montana -- you know how on the east coast, you have the highway and then you have to get off the highway to actually do anything? This is not the case in Montana; you've got the highway, where you can cruise at a smooth 70-80mph (yes, the speed limit actually goes up to 80mph) and then you'll see a sign telling you to slow to 45, which means that there is a town ahead. The highway then passes directly through the town and exactly one blinking traffic light later, you're accelerating back to that heavenly 75 (company policy forbids going over 75mph even if the law allows it). And when you think of it like that, the average town here is what we'd think of as a glorified rest stop. Do you think you could find much to do if you had to spend a week at a rest stop? I think not (although the view is admittedly much nicer here and gas doesn't cost $4.00 like it does at the rest areas on I-95 in Connecticut).

After my birthday, the week went well. We had a few kids get sick and Melissa had to step in at the last minute. There was also an incident of me arguing with a five year old in his underwear -- I called his mom so that I didn't get arrested. Weird things happen when you work with kids...

Yesterday, we drove to Billings, MT, which is about an hour away from Bridger. It's where the people of Bridger go when they need a Walmart/Target run. We went to yoga and then a local diner for brunch -- I got pancakes, which I've been craving recently and how could I not? Pancakes are the best! I need to get some more pancakes STAT! After pancakes, we did laundry, which is always a good time and saw Pan which was fun.

Today, we packed up again and drove off. Our next residency is in Helena, MT which, like I said, is where I am now. This is why I thought Helena was the perfect place to fly out of when I was making plans -- I'm going to Seattle to see high school best friend, Joshua Taylor Crespo on Tuesday. The drive here today was interesting -- there is a warm front coming in from the west and a cold front coming in from Canada which meant we were driving against 60-70mph winds all day. That does not make for a cozy day in the little red truck!

Now in Helena, Melissa is staying at the Quality Inn and I am Couchsurfing. It's a little weird that we're staying different places but she didn't make her plans until the last minute so this is the best we could do. I'm very comfy at the place I'm now staying, even if it is a couch. I haven't met my host yet -- there is someone here who showed me around, her name is Andrea and I'm not sure if she's another surfer or if she lives here -- but I've got a solid WiFi connection (the network is NachoNetwork... gotta love it!) and a great view.

It's a little strange trying to figure out what to do in Helena for the next two days when we're also going to be here in a week, but I'm sure we'll find something. I've also got to spend some time planning my epic adventure in Seattle!!!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Hello from Bridger/happy magical birthday land! I am officially 24. Officially in both Mountain Time and Eastern Standard Time (I got a few texts at 10pm on the 5th wishing me a happy birthday – it was still yesterday here!). Alright, I've technically been 24 for two days now, but I wrote that intro when I was hoping I'd be able to post on my birthday and I liked it so I'm not changing it!

I woke up early and opened all of my gifts. Yes, I had gifts! Never doubt the US Postal Service or my loved ones. Technically one of the boxes I got wasn’t a gift, it was just stuff I’d asked my dad to send me, but it was a box that I got to open on my birthday, so it counts. I also got a nice card from my Aunt Eileen and a gift from Amanda Lauren Belscamper that officially annihilates all other candy-coated chocolate gifts. 

Mandy got me my very own box of pink, personalized M&Ms. Not only do some of the M&Ms say “Happy Birthday” and a few of our signature catch phrases, but some of them even have my face on them! Nothing says true love like getting someone a box of their favorite candy in exclusively their favorite color WITH their face on them! The M&Ms also came in a box with a ribbon which I proceeded to turn into a hair bow to wear for the rest of the day! (Mandy’s reaction: “Omg I should have guessed you’d do that.” The girl just gets me!).

 After I watched Good Morning America (Stephanie Meyer of young adult teen vampire novel fame just released a gender-bending version of Twilight with Beau and Edythe and I think I’m going to have to download it to my kindle – no shame),

I went for another walk of Bridger. Contrary to popular belief, I have not actually seen the ENTIRE town yet (most of it, undoubtedly, but not all of it) and since there is a magnet on my mini-fridge that has the hours/information for the Bridger Public Library, I decided I would go looking for that. I didn’t actually decide that until I’d left my hotel room however, so while I knew it was on Broadway, I didn’t know if that meant East Broadway or West Broadway. At Bridger’s only light, I decided on East Broadway which was not the way to get to the library. It did bring me to the town’s fishing hole (I highly doubt that they actually call it that but there was a sign with a fish and a fishing rod so that’s what I’m calling it). It was pretty even though I didn’t see any fish (the banks were muddy and I was not risking that just to get a closer look). I turned around and headed towards West Broadway where I immediately found the library. It was small – I don’t think one should expect the Library of Congress in Bridger, Montana, especially when the library is only open four days a week for an average of three hours a day – but cute. I got talking to the librarians and informed them that they were going to have to get Stephanie Meyer’s new book to complete their Twilight collection and told them about the show. They gave me a magnetic bookmark and a pamphlet to remember them by!

Talked to my Grandma as well and I know she is going to catch up on my blog in the near future so hi Grandma.

I ate lunch at the school and got lots of birthday wishes and then it was time for rehearsal (more birthday wishes!). After rehearsal, I had to mentally/emotionally prepare for the CW’s birthday gift to me. Yes, the CW got me a birthday present in the return of The Flash which is my second favorite TV show (Empire is #1). Melissa and I went across the street and ordered pizza from the Buckeye Bar (I’ve officially eaten all of their vegetarian friendly items – and one of them wasn’t even really veggie-friendly, I had to order “the grilled ham and cheese sandwich without the ham”). We also found what might be the greatest souvenir I have found at a residency yet – the Buckeye Bar sells hats, TV shirts, beer cozies and underwear. 

Yes, they sell ladies’ underwear that says Bridger, MT on it. It also says some other stuff that I’m not going to say because it is unladylike but I am going to post a picture so you can see it for yourself. Now, I was sitting at the bar with Melissa, obsessing over this find and debating whether or not I should buy it for myself, when it was 6:55 and I needed to make sure I was there for the very start of The Flash! (Time difference problems – primetime starts at 7 here).

At about 7:01, Melissa knocked on my door with the pizza and the panties as a birthday present! Just so everyone knows, I never plan on wearing my Buckeye Bar underwear – it would be really weird for me to dedicate an entire paragraph of my blog to my undergarments, these are purely ceremonially and sentimental. Melissa had never watched The Flash so I briefly explained – it's about a good-looking superhero who was raised by Collins from Rent after the tragic good-looking superhero's his dad was put in jail for murdering his mom even though he’s innocent, and spoiler alert: the good-looking superhero’s mentor was the bad guy all along.

What is this?

I should now describe the pizza (which we ate with the birthday wine I bought myself last week in Cody). Actually first, I need to give myself a big pat on the bag for successfully using my new wine key because it’s the first time I’ve ever used one AND the cork in this bottle was not looking so great when I got it (I thought it was going to break before I could get the bottle open). Back to the pizza… it was a unique experience. I literally laughed out loud when Melissa opened the box to show me and things only got more ridiculous when I actually tried to pick up a slice. It was so bad that I had to take a picture. It looks like they just melted string cheese on top! That’s actually what it tasted like too.

After The Flash (which was awesome obviously), I called Ryan Lind, who was morally obligated to listen to me because it was my birthday! 

Two days later, I don't feel very different! I didn't do much yesterday (I got to watch Empire and it was awesome) and today's big revelation is that there is WiFi at the school, which is where I am blogging from now!

Updates from Bridger

My horoscope said that this week would be a good week to get some writing done which I think is ironic considering that the outlet I used most frequently (this blog) requires WiFi and I don’t have that this week unless I go across the street.

I’m still going to blog however! I actually have a word document for just these situations. It is entitled “Blog” and it lives on my desktop. To make it feel more official, I added headings and subheadings and a watermark of passport stamps because I like to overachieve even when I’m doing something that no one is ever going to see.

This morning, I went for a walk. This meant walking Bridger end-to-end in about 30 minutes (including a stop at the Family Dollar). My walk on Sunday didn’t quite take me all the way to the end of town so I needed to change that and snap a picture of the Welcome to Bridger sign. I guess the girl at the Buffalo Jump Winery and the 2010 census were both wrong about the population count!

I also realized that my mental picture of the Bridger Scouts (which I discovered was their mascot when I walked past the school on Sunday) is not the intended picture. I imagined a boy scout and a girl scout with boxes of popcorn and cookies and while that might be a little more intimidating than Chinook’s anthropomorphic vegetable (the sugar beaters) or even Cohasset’s Gordon’s Fisherman (the Skippers), I don’t think it inspires fear in the hearts of its s enemies. I now understand that they means scouts as in those people that go out and survey the land before everyone else. I’m still not sure that it’s something to be scared of. Later in the day, I commented on it and learned that they recently had to change the mascot because it used to be an Indian Scout and "political correctness and all."

In a side note, I do try to keep track of the different mascots I encounter on my travels, so far this tour, it’s been the cougars, eagles and now scouts. 

We had auditions/started rehearsal today and tomorrow is my birthday!!!

Back in Montana

I am back in Big Sky Country (although to be fair, the sky was pretty big in Wyoming too).

I am writing from Bridger, MT, although not from my hotel room because that doesn’t have wifi…

Melissa is back and we celebrated by grabbing a picture before we crossed the border.

Once we were checked into our hotel (and by check in, I mean we picked up an envelope address to “The Missoula Children’s Theatre” that had two keys in it) and I’d unpacked, I decided to go for a walk around the town. There isn’t a lot in Bridger but I managed to turn this walk into quite the excursion! I found out all sorts of information about Bridger (and took a picture of the sign for all you fine folks at home) and found the schools where I’ll be working this week.

The most exciting part of my walk, however, was making a new friend! Yes, I think I might have accidentally adopted a cat. I was just walking down the street when I spotted this guy. I said “kitty” like I normally do when I see a cat and expected it to run away, but instead, it ran TOWARDS me and started loving on me. I now understand how my neighbors must feel when they meet our cat, Minnie, who acts like a dog. I have been introduced to the cat-dog of Bridger and life has never been better!

Why I Love Wyoming

I’m now done with my time in Wyoming – I’ll be in Montana for the rest of the tour (minus an unbooked week in Seattle and Thanksgiving in California) – but I wanted to pay tribute to the state I’ve called home for three weeks. This state is great and now I’m going to tell you why.

The Tetons

On Friday, I drove from Jackson to Cody, WY. I had to drive through Yellowstone again (yes, had to) and I saw a whole bunch of elk!!! I might not have seen them at the Elk Refuge, but I did get to see them. I couldn’t get any pictures because I was driving, but I did pull over to get a picture of sunrise in the Tetons, which was pretty spectacular. I got to see parts of Yellowstone that I hadn’t seen before as well and even though it was rainy, it was beautiful. I listened to more of Gulliver’s Travels – if you read my blog religiously, you know that I was listening to it on my drive to Idaho but apparently the first version I downloaded only had the first two parts (there are four) so when I said got most of the way through the book on my drive to Driggs, I apparently only got through most of half of the book. After yesterday, I am much, much closer to finishing the whole book!

Yay birthday!

Once I got to Cody, I did show laundry. I know that there won’t be a lot to do in Bridger, MT (my next residency) but I wanted to get the laundry done sooner rather than later (except I still need to do the sorting… oops). Even after laundry, it was still too early to check into my hotel, so I walked down the street to the Buffalo Jump Winery. Yes, people make wine in Wyoming! I went in for a tasting and got talking with the lady behind the bar who had been to Bridger and could confirm my suspicions that there isn’t much there – not even a lot of people, 500 by her estimation (728 according to the 2010 census). I ended up buying myself a bottle to prepare for my birthday this coming week! 24 on “Thomson-Crush-Tuesday” for all you social media butterflies who need a new hashtag.

After wine, it was still too early to check into my hotel, so I decided I would walk around downtown Cody. Cody isn’t actually very big, it’s just known for Buffalo Bill, which means it’s very touristy. I didn’t go to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West but I found something even better! As I walked around downtown Cody, I found the Cody Dug Up Gun Museum. That’s right! The people of the great state of Wyoming have a museum dedicated to antique guns that people have dug up. This state has no sense of irony – it’s incredible!

Dead.

The museum was actually neat. There were also some pictures to go along with the guns and I really like this one – not the picture so much, the caption, it says he wears his belt buckle “proudly.” Ummmm… he can’t be proud, he’s dead. 

After the museum, I went looking for postcards. They weren’t hard to find – like I said, this is a tourist town. Harder to find, however, was someone to check me out of the store once I had found the perfect postcard… but while I was waiting, I witnessed a 10 year old buy his first hunting knife and heard “Wide Open Spaces”… like I said, this state has no sense of irony and doesn’t give a damn, hence my extreme love for it.

After all that, I was finally able to check into my hotel which “had wifi” but didn’t actually have wifi that worked. My dad helped me with dinner by using his perfectly good wifi in Cohasset to order me a pizza (and a surprise brownie as well!). He’s nice like that.

It’s a good thing that I did my sight-seeing on Friday because it rained on yesterday. I started the day off with yoga and it was lovely! Not only was it cheap, but it was a very simple practice and I really like going back to basics every now and then. I definitely got a work out but it didn’t feel like work (see what I did there?).

After yoga, I ate leftover pizza and sorted my personal laundry (that I did at the same time as the show laundry that I still haven’t touched). I decided I would check out the Buffalo Bill Center of the West but when I got there, I decided that I wouldn’t. Sorry Bill, but I don’t have $20 for you.

To escape the rain, I went to see The Intern. I love Anne Hathaway (maybe not as much as I love Wyoming – it’s hard to top that) but this movie was not the greatest. It was – no offense parents who wish to see it – an old person movie. I was probably the youngest person there – definitely the youngest person who went there alone.

After the movie, I went looking for a ginger ale because I wasn’t feeling great but apparently that stuff is incredibly hard to find and I never did get one. In a world where you can literally get a combination of 500 different flavors from a singular soda machine, you can’t find a can of ginger ale at a gas station, grocery store or hotel lobby… I did, however, finish off the last of the pizza for dinner!

Now on to that “show laundry that I haven’t touched.” Well, I touched it. If someone could explain to me why I decided to sort it in my hotel room by myself, I would appreciate it. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. It’s like letting the cat out of the bag or the genie out of the bottle – it’s an all or nothing operation. I wrote most of this blog post before I had the misfortune of a thought that led me to unloading 60+ kids worth of costumes in a room meant for one and I didn’t feel like editing those other parts (especially because I felt they were well written).

To the Middle Aged Man...

I am having a very lazy time in Jackson, WY. For the record (and I might have already blogged this before so bare with me), the area is "Jackson Hole," the town itself is Jackson, so if you're confused, now you know! Also, if you want a laugh, go to Jackson Hole's official website because the first frequently asked question is "Where's the hole?"

I went to the website for you. You're welcome

 Now, part of the reason I'm having a lazy time is because there isn't a lot to do here if you're by yourself. Things are sort of expensive and I don't feel like spending the money to go out alone. Also, hiking by oneself, while pretty, isn't as much fun as going with someone else.

I started off yesterday with some yoga. It was expensive because you can get away with that type of stuff in a resort town but I enjoyed it and that's what matters.

This is where the elk would be if they were here.

After that, I walked over to the National Elk Refuge. I said in my last blog post that reports of actual elk had been varied but I'm sad to report that there weren't any elk. I think the thing people forget (I am not one of these people, I'd just been hopeful) is that these are wild animals and not zoo creatures. They migrate to the elk refuge for the winter, they don't just chill there because you're here for the weekend. Every week, there are new reports of people getting mauled by wild animals while they're trying to take selfies because everyone in the world has forgotten that these are real animals and not toys. I did get to see where the elk would be if they were here though and that was nice!

After that, I mostly hung out for the rest of the day. I did some walking around, but like I said before, there isn't too much to do by yourself here!

I did have to deal with my new middle aged roommate however. This hostel has the strangest assortment of guests I've ever seen. I've mainly seen families entering and exiting -- like 16 relatives got together and just rented a load of dorms, it's weird. As is staying in a dorm with a man who has white hair and no social graces... When I got home from town at noon yesterday, I expected to have a few hours to myself since the semi-cute guy who took fourth months off from work to do a solo roadtrip was checking out and check in wasn't until 3pm, but nope, this man is here. He had the door wide open too, which made me uncomfortable, because all of my stuff is in here. I sat back down on my bunk and watched him unpack some things while internally hoping that he would leave soon because I wanted to shower. Leave he did, but he left something behind. To my middle aged dorm mate, when you exit the shower, please take your underwear with you! He's left them on a clothes hanger in the shower! What?! So much no. All the no.

My saga with him continued later on (after I'd gingerly removed his undergarments from the shower and put them on a hanger in the room so I could clean myself). At 9:30pm, I had planned to Skype one of my favorite people, Mr. Ryan Lind. We haven't talked in a while, so I was really looking forward to it. Mr. Roommate had been out all day but comes back in around 9pm and after being rude and surly towards our third roommate, climbs into his bunk above mine. 9:30 rolls around and Ryan calls. I'm being quiet during my call and there aren't any rules that say I can't talk in the dorm, but two minutes into my call, he sticks his nose over the edge of the bunk and says "Are you going to be doing that much longer? This is a bedroom and beds are for sleeping." Yeah, well, showers are for showering and you didn't have a problem leaving your tighty whities in there, now did ya?! The third roommate then chimes in that he hopes he doesn't wake us with his 6am alarm and this guy says "No, that won't be a problem because that's when people are supposed to be awake." *Flash forward to this morning when he was the last person to get up.* He then tells me "You can go to the common room and talk all you want." Oh, I'm sorry, you mean the common room that requires me to walk OUTSIDE in the DARK? No, thank you. He then climbs down from his tower and shuts off the lights without another word to anyone (roommate #3 was still doing things!). I've stayed at quite a few hostels and while most of them have quiet hours, those hours don't typically start until 10 or 11pm. If you'd like the luxury of a private room, then go get one. Also, yes, I appreciate that I should be respectful of my roommates as well but I was trying at the very least, unlike this man who is way to old to be staying in a dorm.

Ryan and I then embarked in an elaborate Skype conversation that involved a lot of typing and mime work on my part (did I type as loudly as possible? Absolutely).

Today, I've been chilling some more. I watched last night's episode of Empire. Can I say that I really hate having to wait a whole week in between episodes? Because I do. Ryan and I are planning on Skyping again later today when we can actually talk to each other and Mr. Roommate is in the process of checking out now!

Also I am staying in Helena for a few nights next week and decided to try my luck with Couchsurfing BUT I wanted a backup plan, so I booked myself a hotel room before the rates went up as I got closer, and fifteen minutes after I made my reservation, I got a reply from Couchsurfing! Don't worry about the hotel room, I can cancel any time between now and next Sunday without an issue and I'm going to keep it until I'm 200% positive that things are squared away but it's funny how these things work out some times.