Up Next: Mount Rushmore and Theodore Roosevelt National Park

I have made a decision.

I'm cancelling my September camping reservation for Buffalo Pound Provincial Park in Saskatchewan, and I'm driving across the border to North Dakota, where I'll camp for the weekend in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

On Saturday, I'll drive down to South Dakota, visit Bear Country USA, Mount Rushmore, and the Crazy Horse Memorial. On the way back to camp, I'll drive through the Black Hills National Park and check out the Historic centre of Deadwood.

Within the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, there are two scenic drives and multiple easy hiking routes to be explored for the rest of the weekend. Also, Makoshika State Park is nearby, so if I get bored of the TRNP, maybe I'll wander over there.

"There are not many places where you can run the risk of being trampled by a bison and bitten by a rattlesnake at the same time."

I am inspired. Can't wait to explore!!!

Hopefully, I won't get trampled by a bison OR bitten by a rattlesnake...

Photo by North Dakota Tourism/Jim Gallop

Making no promises, but I might be turning into a backpacker...

Photo by Adarsh Thakuri

As a note, the proper reaction to a statement like that coming from me is "WHAAT!?!?! You, backpacking??? On Purpose!?!?!?!"

Seriously. That's what is going through my head right now.

Despite the fact that I am absolutely NOT a backpacker, I am planning on a 7-day trek through the mountains of Peru as a birthday present to myself the year I turn 40. I'm also planning a return visit to Paris that year, but that is completely irrelevant to this post.

So in preparation for the trek to Machu Picchu, I'm looking into what the best boots will be, what camera it makes sense to take, what backpack would work best... and then I found an article on backpacker.com that is called "The Perfect Circle: Hiking the Annapurna Circuit" and I'm reading it thinking "That would be a great follow-up to both Machu Picchu and my tour of Iceland..."

And then, it lists all these other famous backpacking treks you can go on, and how they can almost compete with the Annapurna Circuit, and lo and behold, I have a list of hiking trips and multisport vacations I want to go on! Also, now that I know that such a thing exists, I think my plan for Iceland fits the "multisport" vacation definition.

1. Machu Picchu
2. Annapurna Circuit

• New Zealand - I'm not sure that this qualifies as a trek, but at the very least, I've added it to the list of places I want to go, and I envision my trip here being a little more like the tour I have planned of Iceland, where you do a little bit of everything, including backpacking.
• Grand Canyon (low on the priority list - I was just there this summer)
• Sweden’s Sarek National Park
• Tour Du Mont Blanc
• Spain’s Valencia region - also possibly more of a regional tour than a strictly backpacking trek
• Italy’s Alta Via 1
• England’s Pennine Way

Gotta Love National Geographic!

I am a little bit obsessive-compulsive when it comes to certain things like planning my trips, eating my M&Ms, and loading a dishwasher.

Also, about what my desktop background looks like. And for that, I go to National Geographic. (www.nationalgeographic.com) They have a section called Photo of the Day, which I have mentioned previously on this blog. (Trier, Germany) The photos are generally spectacular, with a different theme each month. Much better than any stock image that comes with a computer.

This morning, on my daily check for the Photo of the Day, I noticed a couple of other sections on their website. Really, I was looking for what I have decided will be my Christmas gift to myself (after I move into my new house, which is why I don't have it already) - a set of hard-cover books called the 500 Best... Road trips, food trips, journeys, hidden journeys, etc. - I think I am going to get myself 4-5 of the series. ANYWAY, what I found were two sections that I hadn't noticed before: Adventure and Travel. And within each of them, a list of 20 must-see places this year!!! (Lists figure high on my Most Favourite Things List) :)

After a VERY brief glimpse, I decided that the Adventure section was a little to... adventurous for me, but oh, the travel section is just right!

"Bump Down" There!

Part of the series: Experiencing Saskatchewan

It was an overcast, windy Sunday, and Ben, Vinessa and I were leaving Erika and Riley's after lunch to go pick up Vinessa's car that she had loaned to a girl whose car had broken down... I'm not sure of all the details, but I did know that we were heading across country to this little town a bit further north.

We were in an extended cab pickup, Ben driving, Vinessa shotgun, and me back seat. (just to assist with the visual imagery)

I discovered during the drive that neither Ben nor Vinessa really knew the route they wanted to take, and so me and my trusty iPhone ended up guiding us out of the maze of grid roads that we ended up on.

As we were navigating, we noticed a huge flock of snow geese off to the left, and before I knew what was happening, the conversation went like this:

Ben: Check out that huge flock of geese!
Anna: What kind of geese?
Ben: Snow geese.
Anna: Cool. (losing interest and looking out across the fields at something else)
Vinessa: Ben, why don't we just bump down there and check them out?
Ben: Sure.
Anna: (attention RAPIDLY returning to the conversation AND the location of the geese, way off in the middle of a field) ... What do you mean "Bump Down There"!?!?!
Vinessa: (as Ben drives straight off the road instead of turning the corner) Oh, you know, just "bump down there."
Anna: Oh.

...Truck bumping along through the field towards the geese...

Vinessa: Ben, maybe this wasn't a good idea. What if we run into a sloo*?
Anna: What's a Sloo!?!?!?!
Vinessa: (laughing too hard to answer me...)

Saskatchewan: Land of the Living Sky Things People Only Do Here Because You Can't Do Them Anywhere Else. Or so my experience is proving to me.

Click the image for more photos

* Slough (pronounced sloo): (in the prairies) a large hole where water collects or the water in such a hole

Definition provided by Dictionary.com