Friday, February 27, 2009

Confessions of a Dakotaholic

This was one wedding where both the Bride & the Groom got cold feet. On Wednesday, two of our friends who have been engaged for 10 months and wondering when they were ever going to get back to Massachusetts to allow their families to watch them get married, threw in the towel and decided to have an impromptu wedding in the park. I confess that it was by far the second best wedding I have ever been to.

We found out about it two weeks ago, no invitations were ever sent, and the morning of, the bride didn't even know what she was wearing. Rumor had it that the dress code was jeans and "something warm", so I pulled on some sweatpants under my jeans, threw on a button down shirt, a fleece, my coat, hat, gloves, and my hiking boots. A little afraid that Nathan had gotten the wrong message, I felt better when we pulled up to the visitor's center and there was an elated couple - also in jeans and jackets.


Not more than 15 of us - all of us related to park employees or local law enforcement - caravaned into the park for the ceremony, which started off feeling more like a funeral procession, but ended on a cute spot overlooking the Little Missouri River. The spectators grew by double right before the ceremony when a group of bison joined us on a parallel bluff. Thank goodness the Justice of the Peace kept it short, because it was FREEZING! Really, we have evidence. It was so fitting, though - for a pair that both loved & worked for the park, it started and ended with pictures at the visitors center.



Now, you know you're in North Dakota when:
1) At least one person at your wedding is in full cowboy get-up.
2) You are presented with this - a packet of recipes from the North Dakota Beef Commission and Cattlewomen!


That pretty much puts the booklet on safe pregnancies we got from Milwaukee County to shame.

The reception was the best part. It was, of course, in the top floor of the only restaurant/bar in Medora that is regularly open - The Iron Horse. They had all of the elements of a great reception - cake, appetizers, dinner, good fun, and the groom's brother, who couldn't make it out for the wedding, called and opened up the bar. The best part was, though, it was so easy and SO fun that it made me wonder why I ever thought my wedding had to go the whole nine yards? If I could marry Nathan all over again, I would definitely be taking some pointers from Dan & Jen!


Yes, by the way, that is beer in their champagne glasses. :)

In other news, Nathan drove to Bismarck today for an Elk Management public meeting. If you read his blog, you'll have already heard about the Elk Management plan in excruciating detail, so I won't get into it here. The funny thing is, I am one of about three people left in town today...which inspired me, at about 12:30pm, to get out of town too.

I'd already worked way too long and hard this week, so I thought it might be fun to go into town and see a movie! Just in luck, the Dickinson Carmike Theater had "Confessions of a Shopaholic" playing. Just the kind of brainless, hopefully entertaining theater I needed (and the best part is, matinee prices are $4)!



So, I drive the 30 minutes to Dickinson, get money, park the car, walk into the mall and.....yes, the theater is closed. What? Did I look at the right theater, day, time? Oh Well. I hung out in the mall, got some errands done, and came home. It just goes to show you that not everything is great about North Dakota and when it comes to going to an established, public event advertised on the internet, always call.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Reliving Kilimanjaro

Nathan is currently working on a video of our Tanzania vacation and it inspired me to go back and read some of my journal entries for the first time. I'm really glad I wrote everything down because details like what we had for dinner every night in our tent take me straight back there, but are details I'd since forgotten. I thought you might be interested in reading my entry from our summit day of Kilimanjaro. While no description can really prepare you for the agony of Summit Day, it captured some of the emotions pretty well - at least from what I remember. So, here it is uncensored and uncut:

Day 6 - Kilimanjaro (Summit Day) - September 27, 2008

I didn't get any sleep before our summit attempt. Because Nathan had been feeling sick, I gave him the down sleeping bag and was cold in his, which is by far inferior.

Timo [this was our porter/waiter] got us up @ 11pm to get ready for the trek. I ate my first and probably last Cliff bar - it didn't sit in my stomach well. Then I layered on the clothes in preparation for a cold ascent.

We had biscuits and tea, then Timo brought headlamps and we set off for the trail around midnight. We were VERY excited - little did we know this would be one of the most grueling days of our lives.

The stars were out in full force and you could see the lights of Moshi dancing around on the ground below. When we started out, the temperature was fine and I even thought about taking off one of the three pairs of pants I was wearing. It was fun to look back on the trail and see a string of headlamps from the camp. Lots of people were summiting that today. So, all was fine - we made it to 4800 meters and were feeling great.

All of a sudden, our guide Alex tells us that from a little over halfway up to a place called Stella's Point (from where you can walk to Uhuru Peak - the summit) the trail gets very steep and the weather very cold. Almost on-cue the wind picked up and those three pants I was wearing wasn't enough. I'm guessing the wind chill was negative 10 and the steepness of the trail along with the altitude completely changed the trail. For about four hours we were faced with this atmosphere and all we could do was concentrate on "one more step" and "one more breath". I think getting to the top of Kilimanjaro in these conditions is honestly the hardest thing I've ever done.

Once @ Stella's Point, there was another 30-minute walk to Uhuru Peak. At this point we have no energy and the summit is so cold that you can't take your hands out of your gloves for 2 pictures before losing feeling in them. So, under these conditions, the amazing Glacier, sunrise, and crater was kind of lost in the flurry of "yay we're here, I feel like crap, let's get out of here". Of course, we thought that would be the worst of it and, for the most part it was. However, the trek down was extremely long - about half the time it took to get to the summit (6hrs to summit). So, by the time I got back I had an altitude headache, a stomach ache from the Cliff bar, had to pee (too cold to do it on the trail), and legs, knees, and toes that were completely beaten up.

As if that wasn't enough, we got an hour to rest, a warm lunch of soup, noodles, watermelon, cucumbers, and sauce, and then had to hit the trail for another 2.5 hours to Mweka Camp to spend the night.

The trail over descended into the forest, so all of the pressure put on our knees for the summit descent was amplified on a rocky trail.

The forest on this side of the park, however, is very different from that of the other side. There are short trees and lots of birds here and lichens galore! The campsite is cute with actual campsites sectioned off and surrounded by short trees. The registration desk sells all kinds of things from "Just Done It - Kilimanjaro" T-shirts to Kili Beer. Today, Nathan and I broke down and bought a "Victory Coke" @ Barafu Camp on our way in. It cost 3000Tsh (or $3) up from the 1000 Tsh in most restaurants - extra charge for shipping it to the camp on the mountain!

We are both looking forward to a hot shower tomorrow and toilets with actual seats to sit on - ahh luxuries!



So you see, I'm not sure why Nathan thought I was nuts when I mentioned we should climb Denali this summer if he got the job in Alaska - 20,300 feet - that's only 1,000 feet higher than Kili! Ha. Only.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

North Dakota Dreamin'

I'm in Rochester right now, but there's really nothing exciting to report. So instead, let me draw your attention to where Nathan and I ate last Saturday in Williston, ND: Trapper's Kettle.

You will need to watch the video on their website as the location in Belfield (15 miles from Medora) was in a show called "Extreme Truckstops" on the Travel Channel. We haven't been to that one, but I have a feeling we'll get there soon. I've actually made fun of this place before as the sign outside simply reads "Restaurant" and the usual vehicles in the parking lot indicate not only that our Alero would be out of place, but that if we didn't sport beards, cowboy boots, and a road-weary expression we wouldn't be seated. Luckily, Nathan is working on two of those and the Williston location was more family-oriented.

It was a great little place - fantastic tomato soup and my chicken fried steak came with some red thing that we still can't identify (Schrute Farms?). There weren't as many dead animals as the Belfield location too, just a nice set of traps and a cute buffet-filled canoe. All in all, I'm looking forward to visiting the location closer to home - there's really no end to the fun things you can find just around the corner in North Dakota!