On the Rocks

After a leisurely breakfast of fried potatoes and eggs, we walked back over to the South Seas climbing area right next to Wrinkled Rock. Our fingers were acclimating to the crystalline crimps, only a little beaten up from the day before, so we tried a harder route that demanded a lot of trust in our feet on friction slab. We also climbed one of the area classics, Waves, which brought us to the same summit as the end of the day before (but with much more comfortable climbing). That gave us another opportunity to practice our safety systems for multipitch rappelling. Alas, we did not bring our phones up, so enjoy this pic of Cassie leading up a funky chimney thing: Having climbed enough for the day, we drove back into Keystone for a glass of wine each and a cup of grapefruit gelato to share (it was fantastic). We sat and sipped while our various devices charged, Glenn got through some work, and Cassie looked up health insurance information. Eventually, we went back to camp to cook a surp...

The next morning we were greeted by a windy sunrise. More excited to drive through Badlands National Park than we were to cook breakfast in such breezy conditions, we packed up camp and drove right over to the Pinnacles entrance station. After snapping a few selfies overlooking the rocks, we wound our way through the park, stopping to appreciate the many animals who make their home there: we saw bighorn sheep, goats, cows, prairie dogs, and a bunch of birds (including a few larger birds of prey). There were even some strange deer/antelope creatures we were unfamiliar with, and at least one jackrabbit (but no jackalopes). We pushed on to a pit-stop in Rapid City for coffee at a cat cafe, then set up at a climber campground around the corner from Mount Rushmore. Climbing in the Black Hills can be pretty challenging, since the pegmatite granite is super different from what we're used to in the midwest (and the protection can be somewhat sparse due to old-school bolting ethics). We cli...

 We kicked things off with the Lake Street Dive concert at Breese Stevens Field in Madison, Wisconsin, then went home to finish packing until the wee hours. After a little nap, we said our goodbyes to the cat and hit the road. Our first stop was a coffee shop in Mauston so Glenn could join a work meeting, after which we pushed on through to Wall, South Dakota. We bought postcards, plus a little journal for travel notes, and then drove over to the Badlands Boondocking area to camp on a ridgeline overlooking the wild landscape. After a quick dinner of pre-made stew and crackers, we enjoyed the very vivid stars and a few sips of celebratory whisky from the bottle Glenn bought after finishing his Master's. As it had been a long day of driving after not much sleep, we hit the hay pretty much right away.

Welcome to our notes from the road! (Or river, mountain, ski slope, etc. - wherever adventure takes us!) We're a pair of recent PhDs exploring the world together, currently celebrating our respective "dissertation honeymoons" (a phrase we think should be a bit more popular, frankly). Most immediately, that means a four week road trip through the American west. Follow along if it tickles your fancy, but our posts will primarily live on as a record for us!