Now, what next?

Both Riho and I returned safely from our long trip, and I was able to fly home to my family and friends for Christmas. It took me some time to write this final blog entry, since I needed some time to 'recover' and come to terms with everything I saw, liked and disliked, and learned during this trip.

Travelling is not easy, nor is it relaxing. If you really want to see and experience something, you have to take all the time you've got and be an explorer! However, as long as you're satisfied with what you see and you think "Yes! That was worth it!", all the tiring things about travelling seem to be of no importance. You can just enjoy the opportunity you have to see the world, or just parts of it. And I really think that about our trip: it was an opportunity, a great opportunity. 

Overall, most of what we had planned worked out pretty well, and even though we had some problems on our way, I am still happy and glad I decided to go on this 'adventure'. I can not really explain what exactly I've learned - it is more of a feeling than anything else - but I found the diversity I was looking for, as well as similarities. Because people are always alike, even though they live in different states, speak with different accents, or live a totally different life. Furthermore, I could even find many things that are similar to Germany. What makes us different is what also makes us equal. 

Roosevelt Arch - Northern Entrance to Yellowstone National Park

So, what next? Well, I think there are more things to see, more countries to visit, and more opportunities out there one can not ignore. What I love about travelling is that you never know what will happen. Will you love it? Hate it? Do you want to come back? Or never ever again? I am sure I will continue exploring as many new places as I can, but I also want to come back here. Because I think that the U.S. is not a one-hit-wonder. I want more time in Yellowstone, hike through Washington State, travel around the southern area (like New Orleans and Florida), and hopefully talk to more people on my way. I don't know when, but I'm sure I will come back some day to do all those things!

My TOP 3:

1. Yellowstone National Park
2. New York City
3. Washington D.C.

01.01.2013

 

 

The Final Leap

Yellowstone Nationalpark

Rapid City -> Gardiner, MT, 487 miles (783 km), a 12 hour drive

Driving to Yellowstone from Rapid City was probably one of my favorite parts during this trip. Since I was the only driver, I had to drive the whole time. But I'm sooo glad that the landscape was beautiful, the highways empty, and not icy at all! Driving was not boring, but like an adventure on its own. We chose to take the long way, which was a very nice thing to do in the end. We drove by "Devil's Tower", a National Monument, which most people probably don't know.

Devil's Tower

After about two or three hours, we drove past a sign that said "Little Bighorn Battlefield - turn left". Being taken by curiosity, we stopped and visited this important historic place in the mid west. Now, we finally understood what happened to Crazy Horse and how he fit in this overall picture. However, the place was more of a memorial, and there was not much to see except from graveyards and the vast Great Planes. 
 

Little Bighorn

During our drive, we had been able to already some interesting animals, like bald eagles. But so much more would come.

The days in Yellowstone Nationalpark are definitely my personal highlight. I love walking through nature, watch animals, and just enjoy how quiet it can be (without a city that can consume everything!). And yes, it was very quiet. We were two of very few people in the park during that time (which has a lot of advantages, like special movies in the visitor center, extra information, non-crowded streets or picture stops, or the possibility to see wild animals up close). 
We almost saw all interesting animals: elks, deer, bison, pronghorn, bighorn sheep, and wolves! Unfortunatly, bears are already in hibernation. However, it was an amazing experience to come so close to those animals.

Elk

Also called "the wolve's buffet", we saw a lot of them. And they feel totally comfortable with ordering people around. One stood on the middle of the street and looked straight us, as if saying "'sup?". He took his time to move so far that we could drive past him. After that, he took his place again, maybe waiting for the next car (I hope it was not a suicide elk...). However, they are beautiful animals, full of elegance and even majesty. Yellowstone is truly their place to be.

Deer

They are very shy and you can be happy to even see one. As soon as you've spot them they are gone in the woods.

Bison

I would call them "cute", some other people probably not. But you have to be aware of their strength, because even though they seem to be tamed, they are not. This one nearly ran into our car! I think he just wanted to check out who we are. Don't you?

Pronghorn

The one and only picture of this rare species.

Bighorn Sheep

A huge group that searched for food near the street, right on the hillside. They were anything but interested in us gawking humans.

Wolves

We were advised to just drive around and search for the so called "wolve watchers". And we found. They were happy to share their binoculars and told us about those two wolves, that had been part of a huge pack (about 17 wolves), but lost almost all of their fellow pack members last year (because of fights? illness? starvation?).

The park is beautiful, astonishing, and frightening at the same time. It's a place where nature still is strong! People say winter in Yellowstone is one of the most beautiful seasons in the nationalpark. I understand why. But I'd also love to visit at another time. And maybe I will, because I really want to come back.

16. - 20. December

Why are you going to South Dakota?!

 A question we probably heard a dozen of times. The answer is easy.

However, we stayed almost 2 days in a bus. Was it worth it? Definitely!!!

Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse

Mount Rushmore

Crazy Horse Memorial

Well, I would say mountain carving is very popular in South Dakota. Even though the reason and the dimension can be very different. 
Mount Rushmore, which both Riho and I have only known from TV or movies, is not really a political sculpture (even though it features the four presidents G. Washington, T. Jefferson, T. Roosevelt, and A. Lincoln). It is a sculpture that represents the president's ideas, visions, and their importance in forming the United States. 

Close Up

Side View

About 17 miles (27 km) from Mount Rushmore, one of the biggest (unfinished) sculptures in the world awaits its completion. Since 1948 - over 60 years! - a non-profit organization works daily to finally finish this gigantic peace of art and history. It is so huge, that Mount Rushmore would fit in Crazy Horse's head alone!

Close Up

What It Will Look Like

I think a lot of people have at least heard about those two memorials, but most wouldn't know where to find them. On both Riho and me, especially Mount Rushmore left it's mark. Finally standing in front of something you really wanted to see some day keeps you thinking why people are so drawn to a sculpture like that. I think it is because it still represents something. It is not meaningless, but full of it's own history.

14. - 16. December

Odyssey Part I

Washington D.C. -> Rapid City, South Dakota

1856 miles - 2987 km

 42 hours in a greyhound bus, with most breaks not longer than 15 minutes . . .

First of all: we made it! 
Travelling by bus sure has its disadvantages (it takes longer, not really comfortable, you sometimes have to cope with ... strange people, and so on), but I would say - especially after this trip - it is better than I expected. All new Greyhound buses are equipped with outlets and wifi, which is more than a nice feature. However, we were only lucky for the first part (D.C. to Chicago), because after that our bus was more of the grandpa type. 
However, we wanted to see something of this country (even though money was part of the decision, too) and we definitely did. It is amazing how fast your surroundings change from hilly with trees to vast planes with (corn-) fields as far as the eye can see. This country is huge - Japan can fit 26 times and Germany even 27.5 times into the USA - and it would take about 2 days non-stop driving from the east to the west coast. The huge diversity of people living in the US is definitely as big as the diversity of landscapes: forests, grasslands, mountains, deserts, canyons, coasts, rivers, megacities, villages and so on. 
Unfortunately we couldn't see all of that during that trip, but we got a pretty good impression about what people can see when they explore this country.

13. - 14. December

M&M's – Museums and Memorials

The White House

By bus: Philadelphia –> Washington D.C., 3 hours, 139 miles (224 km)

Washington, D.C. – the center of American politics, a city without skyscrapers, and a place for knowledge. You want to know more? Well, I don't know if there is more, because those three descriptions came to my mind when I started writing this blog entry. The first one – center of American politics – is probably what most people think about D.C. I mean, sure, there are a lot of important (political) buildings around – like the White House or the Capitol – but you can also find the original Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Magna Carta in the National Archives, which are right in the city's center. 

The Capitol

There are also the Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Martin L. King Memorials: each of them tells it's own story about one man, who was able to change something, and who is still considered as being an important part of American history. 

Thomas Jefferson Memorial

Both Lincoln and Jefferson seem to watch over the city, as if their serious look at the city are still influencing the city. 

Abraham Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln's View

Martin L. King, however, is like a rock, unmovable and strong, with a firm expression and the certainty, that he will stay there as long as it might take for all people to realize that all men are created equal. 

Martin Luther Kind Memorial

The Washington Monument is Washington, D.C.'s tallest building, even though it is “only” 555 feet 5¹⁄₈ inches (169.294 m) high. In the city, no building is “allowed” to be higher. Therefore, the Washington Monument can be seen as the actual city center, because it is visibly from most places in D.C. After almost one week in the skyscraper city New York, it felt liberating to walk around without the feeling to be surrounded by walls, walls, and walls. The cityscape is totally different from what I have seen so far. It even has streets that are named after the letters of the alphabet (which is, by the way, more than convenient!). 

Washington Monument

 

Most people know that Washington, D.C. is popular for it's variety of museums, that are not only (mostly) free, but also (most of the times) very close together. I think you could try to go to all museums in two weeks, but I doubt that you would be able to really see everything. We went to three museums, the Holocaust Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Air and Space Museum. The Holocaust and the Air and Space Museum were two of the best museums I've ever been to. The richness of detail was amazing!

Library of Congress

However, Washington, D.C. is of course more than an important center for politics, museums, or memorials. It is a city for everyone, for people with different opinions, attitudes, or beliefs. For people, who are not averse to talk about politics, to advance their point of view, or just to hold onto whatever is important in their life.

Overall: a city I definitely want to visit again!

China Town Gate

 8. - 13. December

Living History

Independence Hall

 
By train: New York -> Philadelphia, 90 min, 97 miles (156 km)

I have to admit: Before this trip I hardly knew antyhing about Philadelphia. It is a historic city, so far so good. But what exactly does historic mean? Well, we had two days to find out (and Riho's guidebook, which at least told us about the most interesting places to see). 

Btw: We stayed in an amazing hostel (like 500% better than the NY one . . .), very central and near the most important historic places.

Elfreth'S Alley

Philadelphia is defintely - escept for some places - walkable. The weather could have been worse, and we shouldn't complain about that, because we have been more than lucky on that score. So, for the first evening we just walked through Elfreth's Alley (one of the oldest residential streets) accompanied by a cat, that seemed to have a lot of fun to just walk with visitors to the alley's end, return and wait for the next visitors (or it was just curious if we would have some treats). 

Liberty Bell

The historic district itself is not that big, so you can walk around and see all of the buildings (from the outside) in about 15 minutes. Most of the buildings have free admission or even free tours available (like Independence Hall), and so we just took a look at the (famous) Liberty Bell (and well, it must be important, because one whole building is devoted to it). Due to that, we expected a huge bell (Riho: "I thought it would be ... bigger?"). Still, it is interesting how important a simple thing like a bell can be for US citizens, what has happened to the bell over the past decades, and that it will never be heard again (because of the huge crack, that silenced it forever). 

Declaration of Indepence (copy)

The Independence Hall, but especially the room in which the Declaration of Indepence and the Constitution were signed, is probably the most important building in Philadelphia (maybe in the whole US, because it changed a lot!). 

Hallway (Eastern State Penitentiary)

We also had time to go to the Eastern State Penitentiary, which is now a museum, and which was the first penitentiary in the world. Even the architecture was fascinating (I haven't seen anything like that before). We had a wonderful tour guide, who explained how the penitentiary has changed over the past decades (especially until 1970, when it was shut down), how the inmates lived, and how everything was organized. 

Al Capone's Cell

 

Overall, I think it was a good decision to stay in Philadelphia for a couple of days. And I really want to come back! Not only because of the great Philly Cheesesteak, but also because of the whole atmosphere. Everything I missed in New York I found in Philadelphia. 
Philadelphia is said to be the basis for what the US is today. So I think we were able to learn something about America's roots, how it all started.
 

6. - 8. December

A blog entry by Riho about New York

New York is a special place for me. 11 years ago, I lived in New York for three years. Even I was little at that time, the three years I spent in New York changed my life a lot. If I did not lived in New York, I think I might have not think about study abroad in US.

I was very happy to go to New York again and excited to know how I see New York now.

Wall Street Bull

Our trip to New York was not just exciting. While we were in Toronto, I found reviews about the hostel which we were going to stay. The reviews were too bad...

On the first day in New York, there were 10 people staying in the same room with us. It was very inconvenient because there was only one toilet and shower for 10 people (toilet and shower is in the same room). I found some bugs in the room… I was worried about the next 5 days.

But fortunately, most of the people left the hostel from the second day. The hostel was not clean but it became much more convenient to stay there.

Top of the Rock

We also got a city pass in New York too. With 6 days, I think we went most of the sight seeing spots in New York.

Brooklyn Bridge

We’ve been a lot of high buildings during our trip but I liked the view of New York the best. The view from the Empire State Building Observatory was awesome. We went there at night and the city was shining. Thanks to the city pass, we got the audio tour for free. Looking the city by listening to audio tour was very interesting. 

 

At Night

I remember that I came to Central Park many times when I was little. At that time, it was not an interesting place for me. However, this time, I was very excited because of the movie called Enchanted. I am a big fan of Disney and I like the movie so much. In the movie, there is a musical scene in Central Park. I searched the places where movie was taken. I was very excited and the song was in my head all the time.

Central Park

9.11 memorial was the first time I visited. I remember I got very shocked when I saw the air plane crashing in the World Trade Center on TV. It happened one month after I came back to Japan from New York and it was very shocking and sad news for me. I knew that many people died in the terrorism but when I saw the each individual’s name on the monument, I felt sadder than before. I wish that innocent people will not be killed anymore.

World Trade Center Memorial

One of the most exciting things to do in New York was to see the broad way musical, Wicked. The show was awesome. I liked the songs so much and the stage was very beautiful. I got so moved after I saw the musical. I really want to see this musical again and I also want to see it in Japanese too.

Time Square

I think New York has strong image of shiny and gorgeous city with many high buildings and opportunities for entertainment. I think this is true but not always. By using the subway as transportation, I think I was able to saw people living in New York. I’m glad that I was able to see not just only sight seeing spots. New York was the city which makes me feel I want to visit again.

Statue of Liberty

Thanks a lot, Riho! :)