One of my favorite pics...

I took this in Australia last year. I kind of forgot about it until I was going through and deleting pics... It was such a beautiful scene.

My view!!

This is the view from my apartment. Pretty, huh? I like the mountains and want to go climb Mount Helena, which is right behind my place (can't see it in this pic, sorry.) But it has been super hot here, so I think I'll wait until things cool down a bit. Being in an upstairs apartment with no a/c during 90 degree heat is no fun :-(

This place is definitely better than the transient hotel in Cheyenne. Much better. I know you all miss hearing stories about that place though :-)

Stop Signs.

What is the deal about no stop signs in residential areas? I never really experienced that in Missouri or Kansas, but out west there everywhere. So you're traveling along and then another car is coming the other way and nobody knows what to do. I'm really impressed there haven't been more wrecks. It's very strange.

Social Capital

To all you KU-ers oout there that read the “Nest,” I know we’ve all heard up to our eyeballs about social capital. Well, I’ve been thinking a lot about the subject lately. I have good news. Social capital does still exist. Not everyone is “bowling alone” in America. For example, people in Helena know their neighbors. They come over for dinner, they chat on walks. You really can’t be mean to anyone (i.e. flip someone off who cut you off) because you might work with that person. Or maybe it’s your neighbor’s sister. Living in a small town means you have to be more civil. In large cities, it’s easy to cut someone off, push them, slam a door in his/her face. The likelihood of seeing that person you did the bad deed to is very small. Of course, what goes around comes around, as they say.

But, yes, more people are out walking dogs and talking to people here than watching television or surfing the web. Or at least that is what appears to be happening. I thought that was some good news I’d share.

More pretty house photos

Here are some more pictures of mansions. Once I find out some history on them, I'll share. Wildfires are getting pretty bad out here. There more near Billings, but still pretty scary.

Mansion District

Helena was founded as a gold rush town. So there are just some amazing old mansions around here. I actually live in the "mansion district." I took a couple pictures while out on a walk the other day, but there are many, many more. I'll go out and take some more pics soon. I think some of these houses are just beautiful.









This is the view from my apartment. You can kind of see the mountains in the background. It's actually a pretty cool view. The photo doesn't do it justice.

WHO wants some spinach artichoke dip?

This entry is a shout-out to my friend Heidi. While I was in Kansas City last month, Heidi and I went to eat at an Italian restaurant in the new mammoth shopping center by the Kansas Speedway. We ordered spinach artichoke dip and when the waiter brought it to us he held it up and said, "WHO wants some spinach-artichoke dip?" Like he wouldn't give it to us unless we said "Me! Me!" Heidi and I just kind of stared at him. Uh, we do, since we ordered it and all...

He kept doing it throughout the meal. WHO wants some ice tea? WHO wants some bread? WHO wants some Diet Coke? Heidi and I were absolutely cracking up about it. I think the dude overheard us making fun of him and gave us the evil eye. But, come on, we're not five-year-olds. Oh, it was hilarious.

In Helena

I made it to Helena last week, but haven't been able to post because Bresnan is taking FOREVER to connect cable/internet at my place. Good thing Helena has a couple cool coffee shops with wireless. Without them and work, I would feel completely shut off from the world!

Helena is nice. It's surrounded by mountains and has a nice little arts scene. I'll post some pictures once I get the internet up and conencted at my apartment.

North Carolina! Go on and raise up!!!

I went last weekend to visit my friend Lisa in Raleigh, N.C. We toured Duke, UNC and took a nice trip to Wilmington to see the beach (and so I could see the hometown of my most favorite, favorite basketball player of all time -- even Dwayne Wade could not overtake him in my heart I don't think -- Michael Jordan.)

OK, quick thoughts.
*Cameron Indoor Stadium (Duke's home court) is TINY!!! It reminded me of a high school gym. But I can imagine how loud and intimidating that place can get with screaming fans right on your back. It looks much bigger on TV, I suppose. They were having a high school graduation when we were there (see pic.)



*Duke is really just a small liberal arts college that has built up a prestigious name. The campus is quite small and kind of reminded me of Drury in Springfield. It does have a giant (and gorgeous) chapel in the middle of campus and medical and law schools though.

*UNC has a really nice campus and Chapel Hill is a neat place. But KU and Lawrence are still better :-)

*It's nice to be around southern hospitality. If someone runs into you in a store, they say "excuse me." Men let women eat first and open doors. It was a little weird for me...

*Sweet tea is yummy. But too much of it can just give you a headache.

*The Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill area is much larger than I thought it would be (it's quite spread out and the population is just under a million.) I'm not sure why I thought it'd be smaller -- I guess I was just expecting small college towns or something. You don't think you're in an urban area most of the time because of all the trees that line the highways. But then you see some crazy driving and you remember you're in a place with a lot of people (some of which are absolutely NUTS and don't know how to drive.)

A few more photos

I've been having some difficulty posting multiple photos. The text isn't wrapping properly. But here are a few more photos from my trip out west.


In Teton National Park.


At the Crazy Horse memorial in South Dakota (it's close to Mt. Rushmore.) Only a little bit of the actually memorial is finished on the mountain right now, but the statue in the front is what it's supposed to look like. They started the project more than 50 years ago, but haven't gotten too far yet.


At Grand Teton National Park.


Where Custer made his last stand.

Trip continued...

I made it to Chicago today, which means I have enough bandwidth to finally post some more pics.
Old Faithful was cool, but not as tall as I thought it would be.













Mom and Dad at Devil's Tower in northeast Wyoming. Close Encounters of the Third Kind was shot at Devil's Tower. It's a natural formation and I don't think the picture does justice to how big and cool it is.









Teddy Roosevelt got gypped, I think. He's in the back of the sculpture and you don't notice him as much as the others. You can see George Washington from far away. He sticks out more than the others and his collars are included. None of the others have collars. I also thought it was funny that Lincoln had no ears. Did Borglum get tired? One thing about Mt. Rushmore I didn't know: The idea came about because a local leader wanted to bring tourists to the area. His first idea was a sculpture of western heroes, like Lewis and Clark, Buffalo Bill, etc. The idea that it came about to be a "tourist draw" kind of weakened it for me. Part of the town around the mountain reminded me of Branson.

They're partying it up in Hell

6-6-06. Oh boy.

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!!

Mountains

I went to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park with my friend Jennifer today. It was gorgeous. We went hiking for a while and then it starting looking like rain so we turned around. Colorado is really beautiful. I can’t imagine what it would be look to live in Fort Collins, Loveland, Boulder or Denver and be so close. There are such great views. I guess people probably get used to it and don’t treasure it enough. They get busy with other things. But I thought it was super cool. I may try to make it back out there again before I leave. And to top of the trip, we stopped in Fort Collins for Indian food. Yum. It’s so sad Cheyenne doesn’t have an Indian food restaurant.

To see more pictures from the trip, go here.

I had two stories published this week that I was kind of proud of. They were both interesting to report and write. Both went out on the west wire (not the national wire,) but I liked them. One is about Michigan workers coming to Wyoming because the Michigan economy is not so hot. The other one I wrote Friday. It’s about an increase in fees to film in the national parks.

I just got back from walking down to the coffee shop down the street that has wireless. I thought it would be a faster place to upload my photos from today’s trip. It was closed, but as I was walking at least five people in cars stared at me. True, I was the only one walking. But this is a downtown area – made for walking. It’s always kind of bothered me in these mid-sized towns that if you go out to walk it means either your homeless or crazy. That’s how it was in Springfield. That’s how it was in certain parts of Lawrence. It’s just expected that you drive everywhere. That’s why we have an obesity problem in this country.

I’m excited. I think Grey’s Anatomy is new tonight!!! Yeah!

The Adams Family

I went to Madinah and Dan’s wedding this weekend. It was so much fun!!! Kansas is so green. The ceremony was held at Spring Hill Suites and then the reception was at the Lawrence Arts Center. The arts center was such a cool place to have the reception. Madinah’s family is so cool. It was nice seeing them again. Dan’s family seemed super cool too. I love Lawrence. It’s one of those things you think about when you leave a place—how much you miss it. I love all the hip shops and the unusual people. College towns are the best.

More pics from the wedding here.

www.flickr.com jennifercbyrd's Madinah and Dan's wedding photoset

Another one of my stories went on the “A” wire. Here's a link. It wasn’t picked up by as many sources as the Brokeback story, but still not bad. Pretty cool, actually.

So I went to Casper yesterday for a Wyoming Pipeline Authority meeting. The meeting was basically looking at why oil from the Rocky Mountain area is priced so much lower than the world price. They’re producing quite a bit of oil, but there’s not enough infrastructure to get it out. So after sitting through that extremely loooong meeting (full of white men--I only saw two women who were not reporters and no minorities,) I got in the car and listened to numerous public radio stories about high gas prices. It really seems like we have enough energy in this country—we just don’t know how to utilize it. There are so many possibilities – and things are starting to happen – but it’s not happening fast enough. Oh, and gas in Casper was only $2.55. Amazing. In Denver it’s over $3 a gallon. I know it’s a ton worse on the coasts.

Casper is fairly interesting. There’s a mountain range (or maybe they’re just large hills) directly to the south of town. The mountains were covered with snow and they were really pretty. And, of course, the drive was really nice. Not many people. Cool scenery. The only bad thing was all the construction. ;-(

Wide open spaces

I went to Gillette, Wyo., and Belle Fourche, S.D. on Monday and Tuesday. You know, Wyoming has some pretty cool scenery. Especially on I-25 between Gillette and Douglas. I took this picture from my rental car, so it's not too great. But I think you get the idea. The drive back was pretty rough because of all the snow. I made the mistake of thinking I could cut off some time by going through the Black Hills. Wow, big error. The road was extremely curvy. I was going up and down mountains. Mind you, this was all during blizzard-like conditions. The snow was literally blowing sideways. With 60 mph gusts. A couple times I had no visibility and thought I was going to be engulfed in a white cloud. It was pretty scary. I hit Lead, S.D., and got out to ask someone if the road was going to continue being curvy. She took one look at my rental car and said, "turn around." I guess the road ahead was even worse, so I turned around and headed back to Gillette. Good move. That drive was much better -- even if it took longer.

During the trip I interviewed these guys who just moved to Wyoming from Michigan because the economy stinks in Michigan (with all the auto layoffs and such...) I kind of felt bad for them, but most of them actually seemed to have wanted to move to Wyoming. They had different reasons -- always wanted to go west, wanted to get away from people (especially the Flint guys), etc. That's got to be a pretty tough transition though. They tried to act all tough, but I could tell the younger guys were homesick. Just like me. You live in one state your entire life and then you pack it all up and move someplace completely new. You know, this may sound conceited, but I'm really glad I went to school and have a college degree. Doing the type of work those guys do -- laying pipe, construction, working in the coal mines -- really does not sound like much fun. But they're making a good living and taking care of themselves. It's all about survival, one guy said. How true that is.

Over the weekend I went back to Springfield for Easter. It was a really short trip. I flew out of Denver on Saturday and was back Sunday. Springfield was so green. You really do start to miss trees out here. My uncle showed my brother and I all the tornado damage to his house. It was pretty bad, but did not even compare to some of the other houses. One looked completely normal from the front, but the entire back had been ripped off. It was sad because these were new, big, beautiful houses -- dream homes really -- that were just torn to shreds.

On a lighter note, Mike and I went camera shopping on Saturday and I got a new Canon SD600 elph. My old camera has been starting to die and since I was taking the trip to Gillette on Monday, I figured a new camera might be a good thing to have. The AP has no photographers for the entire state of Wyoming. So I need to take my own. A story usually does much better if it has some graphical/multimedia elements. I like the new camera. It's super quick and takes pretty good pictures for a point and click. I'm excited because I'm going to get to use it at Madinah's wedding this weekend. I can't wait. It's going to be a blast. It's really weird because I went on their first date. It was kind of double date, but things didn't work out between me and the guy I went with. But now Madinah and Dan are getting married. Amazing.