The Roadtrip Begins

New Beginning

It was the summer of 2015. Tyler, Cassandra, Nik, and I had just graduated high school, and decided to go on an adventure. 

We were going to travel around the country. What truly made it an adventure is that we really didn't have a plan. We only knew we wanted to go stargazing at Yellowstone National Park, and that we wanted to experience as many things as we could. 

Do stuff that we couldn't do at home. Live free and wild while we still could. 

We pooled our money, packed our suitcases so we'd be prepared wherever we went, piled into Tyler's minibus, and started down the highway.

 Tyler was in the driver seat, and Nik was controlling the music from the shotgun seat. Our suitcases were in the very back, and Cassandra and I were in the center row. 

We drove until we saw a sign for an art show. 

We grabbed our backpacks, and hopped out of the van. I walked up and paid the donation fee for all of us.

 There was a wide variety of art, some good, and some fairly disturbing. Also, lots of people had brought their dogs so of course we had to go pet them and tell them how good they were.

 The artists there were remarkable. If you stopped to look, most of them would tell you about their artistic process, which was truly fascinating.

 The art festival was parallel to a river, and right across the river was a wildlife preserve. We decided to go there after we finished with the art show and a lunch of some amazing ice cream and lemonade.

 In the lobby of the wildlife preserve, there was a ginormous stuffed crocodile named Big Joe. 

Once we got out of the lobby, we decided to go to one of the bird exhibits but, the only way you could get there was to walk on a rope bridge over the alligator exhibit. 

Other than the slight fear that one was going to fall twenty feet and be eaten by a bunch of gators, it was fun to cross the bridge and see the birds. 

Our guide informed us that the local vultures always knew when the gators were being fed and they formed a huge swarm and tried to fight them for their meal.

 There were many fascinating animals, but by the time we got out of there, it was nearly nighttime.

 We loaded up into the minivan, and drove towards the nearest hotel. 

After we checked in and grabbed dinner from the small restaurant in the building, we went into our room and spent another hour or so playing games and goofing around.

 But after I could see through my tears induced by a joke Cassandra made, I noticed that Tyler was passed out on the floor snoring. 

We all decided to go to bed after that, and rest up for the next day of our adventure.