Judy and Richard... this is for you!

Did you know that North Dakota houses the world's largest metal sculpture?  

It's 10 stories high and can be seen from the highway quite clearly.

BUT... coming up the road to it you are surrounded by...

It's truly impressive

It, and lots of  its other sculpture friends are on "The Enchanted Highway"

I like the Dakotas!

I have come to realize through this trip that I think I will be happy anywhere God puts me as long as I'm within His will.  That sounds cheesy and obvious, but let me extrapolate a wee bit.  

You see, I really like cities.  Well, I really like Minneapolis... I don't have much experience with cities outside  of that one. I like the cultures; it's a melting pot of so many different people, backgrounds, experiences, and beliefs that it's easier to get a reality check on important things such as "what is poverty?", "what is diversity?", and "what is good food?". (The latter is arguably significantly less important but still a benefit of a city.)

However, while I like cities a lot, I also like camping, living outdoors, and seeing the stars (cities don't have stars). 

Not to mention...

Sunsets over the lakes...

Random wild flowers...

 and cactus... 

and farm implements...

Pastures and grasslands so you don't see buildings for the first 150mi of your day...

Badlands and the acts of erosion... (and I thought I understood erosion living on a bank over the Puget Sound!)

Bring my heart back to the country. 

I enjoy the realization that there's no community for 80 miles... at least, I enjoy it as long as I have gas.

Wherever God eventually has me land (if I land), third world or first world, city or rural, Washington or another state, camping or mansion... I think I'll be happy.  Well, maybe not with a mansion.

Oh Minneapolis, how I love you.

I have had the privilege of spending the past 5 days in Minneapolis seeking closure from graduation, catchup online and with support thank yous, shelter from the relentless storms, and hang out time with the greatest Becca Oehrig on earth.  Suzanne headed back to WA already, so I took advantage of my time in one of my favorite cities in the world to take it all in.

Here are some things I love about Minneapolis.
* Bethel, of course.
* Today, I got to hang out with Becca at her work at Urban Ventures (http://www.urbanventures.org/).  This organization does innercity ministry in a huge way.  She teaches art at a summer/bible school camp thing and the kids are just phenomenal.  So many races and ethnicities coming together.  It's eye opening and makes me smile.  (Plus, I got to hang out with middle school and elementary school kids for a whole day... life doesn't get much better than that!).
* This town is a melting pot of African countries, Latino cultures, Mexican cultures, and so much more. It's fascinating.
* Because of the fascinating array of cultures, there is a fascinating array of food.  Take this drink, for instance. It is a Red Bean, Grass Jelly freeze served at a Malaysian restaurant.  Who wouldn't want that?

(talk about strange texture!)
* Becca Oehrig... the model of the interesting drink is also a great reason to love Minneapolis.
* Leah and other great friends and good food!
* Then, there's the biking.  The fact that I got to go on a 29mi bike ride with a professor and we rode on the road for maybe 2 miles... the rest was paved bike trails.  AND it was a loop!
* Tea and coffee shops... EVERYWHERE... and all of them are independent!
* Crazy things that give Minnesotans pride... like Lego Land in the Mall of America

*Bike traffic... like Portland :)

* An intriguing gay pride festival that we stumbled upon.  Arguably also like Portland.
*AND...at the festival, there was very little adherence to the police rules

"NO PARKING: By order of the Police"... on every parking meter along a street littered with parked cars.

Now, I'm setting out on my own... taking a scenic route back to WA.  I'm sure adventures will abound.

It's Dave!

Once there was a  guy named Dave.  He began a cross-US road trip on June 2nd.  He went to Washington and then across the NW.  He, like us, was camping.  He, like us, likes to kayak.  He, unlike us, was traveling in a Honda Element (a car that I am currently coveting in a loving-Jesus way) with a kayak on top.  He immediately was considered cool.

Also like us, Dave was on our caving trip in the Wind Caves.  We immediately bonded and talked movie references, shared adventures, and had a jolly good time a couple hundred feet underground.  When we got out, we still didn't know his name, so we introduced, said goodbye, made a joke about seeing one another in the Badlands, and went on our Merry Way.

Well, fast forward to Western Minnesota.  We are driving down the highway, Suzanne is saying something of some importance, and I yell, "It's Dave!".  We both look ahead, and there's his pastel Element cruising down the slow lane with his highly coveted kayak.  We burst into laughing, drive up next to him, and Suzanne begins an episode of persistent waving.

He finally catches on to who we are, we pull over, and he drives up next to us.  First question out of both his and Suz's mouth: "How were the Badlands?".   He had a rough night too. 

Well, to make a fun story brief, we continued along chatting on the highway until angry people came up behind us and wanted us to cease our lane blockage.  He was headed to Chicago...  we'll probably not see him again...  most likely.

We're not in Kansas anymore...

Fortunately, we never had to say that... since we purposely have avoided touching Nebraska and Kansas... those states look boring (and Becca's stories confirm my suspicions)

However, we're getting a glimpse of Toto and Dorothy's life.  Remember how I promised you a story from the Badlands?  The end of the story is that we didn't sleep there.

Now, here's the beginning.  I really wanted to go to the Badlands National Park.  I had heard they were gorgeous (and they were) and I really wanted to see them.
We drove into the park, set up camp, and saw that it was probably going to rain so we made a sweet rain shelter.  Then, we had dinner and started playing some Uno (the recipe for a great night... and spanish lessons!).  Suddenly, in the middle of Uno, I looked up from getting creamed (yes, Andrea, it is possible to beat me at 2 person Uno) and saw this MASSIVE BLACK CLOUD heading straight for us.  This cloud contained the entire horizon, ground to sky, and was coming at us.. FAST.  We quickly threw everything we had in the tent, tore off our super sweet rain shelter, and jumped in the tent to hide.

Our tent, evidently, is weak.

Hiding there did no good... the sides started caving on us from the wind and was not much of an emotional support with all the lightening, hail, and rain.  Finally, Suzanne, the one with survival instincts said, "Katharine, this really isn't safe." 
She was right.  We quickly popped the tent poles out so it lay flat, threw the cooler on top, and plopped our soaking wet bodies in the car.

And we sat.
And we sat.
And the car shook with the thunder, swayed with the wind, pounded with the hail, and was totally visible with the lightening flashes. 

We sat in the car, thankful for the dryness and shelter, a bit wary of the conditions outside, and regretting not taking a picture of the cloud.

Once the lightening was a bit further away, we decided to launch a rescue mission.  Realizing that sleeping in the car would be quite uncomfortable (have I mentioned that we have a Mazda Protege?) , something had to happen. So,we jumped in the tent where EVERYTHING we owned was wet.  Our books dripped water, there were puddles on the tent floor, our sleeping bags and pillows felt spongy, and our bags with nice, clean clothes from Crazy Woman were now quite moist. 

Coming to the realization that we had no shelter, no warmth, and no other alternatives, we turned on Harry Potter and drove East.

And found a hotel.