From Jackson, Wyo.

More pics!
Even though it's been snowing and cold, Jackson has been awesome. The Tetons are breath taking. Literally. My breathing stopped when I first saw them (but then again, maybe that's the altitude...) My dad and I went on the Jackson Hole Tram, which is being retired at the end of this season, to the top of Rendevous Mountain today. We were about 10,000 feet up, I think. Most of the view was in the clouds, but you could see out in certain spots. I was a little woosey on the tram ride up, but it wasn't too bad. Jackson is definitely a touristy place, but the locals seem really eccentric and interesting. Houses are extremely expensive, but given the views, I can understand.

No Dick Cheney sightings (*sigh*) He's supposedly at his Jackson-area house for the weekend. No Secret Service sightings either. Maybe he and Lynn cut their trip back to Wyoming short. Good thing he ran Haliburton for awhile--I'm not sure how many politicians could afford to live here.

Da Vinci Code comments, etc.

So I went and saw The Da Vinci Code. It was a couple days ago, but this is the first chance I’ve had to write about it. I liked it. I don’t know why all the critics seemed so turned off by it. It was slow in a couple places, but overall, I was entertained (but that doesn’t really take much these days.) It was fairly accurate to the book. There were a couple things that bothered me – like how Langdon was interrupted by police in the middle of his lecture at the beginning. In the book there was a good sequence of him sleeping at the Ritz and ignoring police calls. I liked that scene because it personalized him more. And I still don’t really like the casting of Tom Hanks as Langdon. He’s just not what I pictured Langdon would look like or act like. And, maybe my memory is just going, but I don’t remember the sequence about young Langdon falling down a well in the book. Maybe I just missed that part…

You know, the story is female empowering, I think. Maybe that’s why I liked it. Obviously it’s just fiction, but the idea of a vast conspiracy to oppress women for centuries doesn’t seem that far off base to me. It did happen, you know. Of course, I’m simplifying the story line severely.

Anywho. Good movie. Made a lot of money. It showed those critics and religious protesters what it was made of, eh?

This is my last week in Cheyenne. I’ve got to say, I’m quite happy to get out of here (you would have NEVER guessed that from my previous blog entries, right?) Getting out of the hotel will be the best part. I never realized how much I like having “my stuff.” My parents are coming on Friday and we’re going to take off for Jackson and Yellowstone on Saturday. It’s Memorial Day weekend, but I’m hoping there’s not TOO many people at the parks. I’m really excited to see the Grand Tetons and Old Faithful. I think this is the reward for coming out here – if I hadn’t come here, I probably never would have gone to see these cool places. Yes, I feel better now. After Yellowstone, we’re going to head up to Helena to do some apartment hunting. I hope I can find a good place. Since I’m going to be there a little longer than I was in Cheyenne, I’m hoping to avoid a hotel. I think I can probably get a short-term lease on an apartment, but we’ll have to see.

After Helena, I want to swing back around northeast Wyoming and go see Devil’s Tower (where Close Encounters of the Third Kind was shot.) I wanted to see it on my trip to Gillette, but the blizzard kind of ruined things. I’m also hoping we can swing over to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore. That’s something I’ve always wanted to see and we won’t be too far away.

I think we’ll leave my car in Cheyenne, so after coming back I’m going to take off for Chicago. I may stop off in Lawrence because I really want to see some friends. Oh, I’m so excited about this road trip!!! It’s so great to get away. Only three more days left!

Isn't this an awesome picture?

It was published in the Powell paper today. The photog has got to be brave getting that close to a grizzly. But the picture sure turned out cool.

I got another story on a national wire--this one went out on the financial wire and is about bentonite. It's intriguing stuff I tell you!!!

hotel... driving... me... INSANE!

OK, this hotel I’m staying at is starting to drive me crazy. For the last few weeks, there’s consistently been a car parked in the fire lane, making it extremely difficult to get out of the driveway. It seems I have to Austin Powers my way out of a parking lot just about every day. In most places, when a car is blocking the driveway by parking in a designated fire lane, they’re towed. Right? Makes sense. But no, not here. It’s Wyoming—you can park anywhere and everywhere. We don’t need no stinkin’ parking rules. If there was a fire, a fire truck couldn’t get in. Which is starting to really concern me because everywhere I turn I see someone smoking. The people next door were doing it in their room, so the smoke was escaping underneath the door between our two rooms, totally stinking up my room (which, by the way, is supposed to be non-smoking.) Hello, people, wake up. Smoking is disgusting. And it kills people. I think I’d like it here a lot more if I wasn’t staying at this place... It’s really going to make me appreciate having “a home” in the future. Every time I come back from going someplace the old men painting the building are out on the balcony blasting music ... and staring at me like I’m a foreign creature. It’s really starting to freak me out. Shouldn't they be working? Only 19 days left!!!

Denver is super cool. Plus, Cinco de Mayo fun!!!

I went to Denver today. It was sooooo cool (but, then again, I’ve been big city starved for awhile here…) I think I lucked out. I remembered hearing something on TV about how Denver has the world’s largest Cinco de Mayo celebration. Since May 5 was Friday, I thought I’d missed it. But I guess they celebrate all weekend. So I kind of stumbled upon this giant Cinco de Mayo celebration. I had some wonderful Mexican food and a great opportunity to people watch. I didn’t see any “backlash” against the immigration boycotts that I’d been hearing about on TV. One thing I thought was interesting—the Navy had a HUGE presence at this thing. Giving out all kinds of free stuff, having Navy seals sky dive in, etc. Trying to recruit some not-exactly-legal residents possibly? That’s just my cynical mind at work, I guess.

For pics of the trip, go here.

Downtown Denver (especially the 16th street mall) is SO COOL. And what kind of surprised me was how clean it was. No trash, clean air, no graffiti, etc. The city provides free public transportation up and down the mall and all the buses are hybrids. No diesel stinking the place up-—which was really nice. The weather was really great, the shops were cool and the people were fairly nice. There are some really cool condos near Coors Field. That would be such a great place to live. Right close to baseball, restaurants, bars, shops and a 30 minute drive to the mountains – what more do you need? Too bad the Denver Post is buying out its employees right now. Ironically the Denver Post-Rocky Mountain News building (I think they're owned by the same company now) is right across the street from the state Capitol, which was where all the Cinco de Mayo celebrations were taking place. The newspapers have really nice, big buildings. One was at least 20 stories high, the other was probably around 12-15. They were doing construction on part. I'm guessing the newspapers rent out a big chunk of the space, but should they really be doing all this construction on an already really nice looking building when they can’t afford to pay their employees? I’m sure there's MUCH more that goes into that – but it kind of struck me.

My friend Madinah and Dan were thinking about moving to Denver. I don’t think they are going to now, but I definitely give it two thumbs up!!