Recap

It wasn't all that long ago when I complained about never writing and had to recap everything that had happened in the last month. Well, to the surprise of absolutely no one, I've done it again. Here are the highlights of the last month.

• I finished up my internship at ConAgra. I gave my presentation on the state and future of Orville Redenbacher's kernel popcorn, and left. I didn't end up getting an offer from them, but that's okay. It was a great learning experience.



• Erin and the kids flew home a week before I finished up. Holly had to start school, and we were worried that we couldn't get home fast enough by car. This turned out to be a very fortuitous decision, as you'll soon see.



• When we drove to Minnestoa, we took the route through Wyoming and South Dakota, as I have detailed earlier on this blog. So, instead of taking the same roads, I decided to drive across North Dakota and Montana, and then cut down through Yellowstone Park toward home.



• I spent the first night in Fargo, ND, and it was absolutely nothing like the movie. I mean, I haven't actually seen the movie, but unless the movie involved watching the Olympics at the Fairfield Inn and eating take-out Thai food, then they were completely different. No one was murdered.



• Whereas most of the summer I'd been surrounded by corn fields, North Dakota had big sprawling fields of sunflowers. It was awfully cheerful, and not at all like I'd pictured North Dakota. (I'd pictured a big gray void.)



• I went to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, which I'd never ever heard of until I was planning my trip. I was disappointed to discover that Theodore Roosevelt National Park is the most boring, unimpressive place on earth. I imagine that some congressman from North Dakota worked really hard to get some notoriety for his state, and made up fanciful stories for Congress, banking on the fact that none of them had ever been to North Dakota. The one saving grace is that I went to a little cowboy cafe outside the park and ordered a steak sandwich and received an actual steak! The "sandwich" referred to a large piece of Texas toast that came with it. So, North Dakota was all about expectations (good and bad) that were later determined to be false.



• I spent the night in Miles City, Montana, which is the home to Violet Beauregard.



• The next day, I went to Little Bighorn National Monument, which was absolutely fascinating. I blogged about it here.



• After a brief stop in Billings Montana, I headed south toward Yellowstone Park. I was going over the Beartooth Pass, which has been acclaimed as one of the most beautiful roads in North America. I blogged about this experience here, but suffice it to say that once I reached the very top of the pass, my lovely little car, Sussudio, with whom I had spent the last five years of my life, gave up the ghost. I didn't realize this at that time--it actually took the next two days at the dealership in Billings (and me puttering around another hotel) before the decision was made. (That decision being: put a shotgun to Sussudio's head and pull the trigger.)



• I bought a new car in Billings. It's smaller than Sue, but that's what you get when you have no income and you're living off of loans. It's also orange, but in a good way. He is named Monty, which is a first--both of my other cars have been girls (Sussudio and Beverly).



• I forgot to mention that when Erin got home, she discovered that the apartment had flooded while we were gone, and maintenance had gone in and rearranged all the furniture so they could replace the carpets. So, that was a nice welcome-home present.



• At some point on my traveling adventures (most likely while pushing the car) I managed to sprain my back. It hurts like freaking crazy, but only when I stand, sit, or lay down.



• The upside of my back injury is that it has helped me get off of Coke. Working 14 hours a day, six days a week at ConAgra had translated into a very severe caffeine habit (in those last three weeks, I was probably drinking five or six bottles of Coke a day) (seriously). And I couldn't get off of it, because I'd get horrible headaches. However, then I hurt my back and I've been on big pain meds for three weeks, and I haven't touched Coke once in that time. Hooray! (The question is: how will I get off pain meds? Heroin?)



• I'm back in school now, and very much enjoying my classes. But, I'll blog more about this later.