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leafsbabe · 7 years

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Nico Hischier imagine - pool party

oh another one of those “request a blurb and get an imagine” things, this took me forever, i’m probably not gonna do that again (i’m still gonna do blurbs and imagines in the future just not this combi)

2.2k words

Nico honestly was surprised it took him nearly a whole season to use his newly earned riches to buy something extremely stupid. The extremely stupid thing being a house. A house that was way too big for one person. Okay maybe it wasn't his first stupid spending considering he basically paid his best friend to live with him but it was honestly the best decision he ever made so it didn't count. When you told him that you had no idea what you were supposed to do after school he had suggested you could just move to America with him and well, that lead to the two of you sharing a small apartment in the city next door to Taylor Hall. Later after you enrolled in college he had insisted that he at least helped you out a bit which lead to tuition being split between him, you, and your parents back home.

Okay, truth be told, Nico loved every second of it. Coming home after a Roadie to see you waiting on the couch with take out and a movie cued up was the best sight in the world. He loved playing house with you and imagining how things would be if the two of you weren't just friends. Now though, playing house had a whole different meaning.

The whole thing went like this: Nico saw the house, Nico bought the house, Nico told you, you yelled at Nico, you told Nico's mom, Nico's mom yelled at Nico, Taylor who heard the yelling coming from your apartment and came over to investigate, Taylor laughed at Nico. A visit to the house and a promise to let you decorate it later you had kinda forgiven Nico for buying the house. Even later, once you actually moved in, you had forgiven him completely. The calm and quiet of the suburbs didn't compare to the city noise. It was so much better. You felt proud and mature and desperately wanted to throw a pool party.

Nico wasn't home for most of the season, always training or having a game and university wasn't as hard as you expected so you had a lot of free time. You used that time to decorate the house and make it a home. Now you wanted to show it off to Nico's friends on the team and the WAGs you had befriended.

When Nico had purchased the house he didn't really pay attention to the big pool in the backyard, too transfixed with the interior to care. Now though, it was summer and you wanted to celebrate the great season had so far. They even made the playoffs although they were kicked out in the second round. The team was a bit down so you decided to throw the party before everybody left for the summer. You wrote invites to the older couples and send text messages to the young guys. You even went so far as to go on Pinterest and search for some hockey inspired snack foods, from which you then prepared enough to feed an entire hockey team plus partners. This was going to be perfect.

When the day rolled around you got ready quickly. You had bought a new bathing suit, a cute two piece in Devil's red, and a matching sundress as a cover. A bit of light make up that wouldn't smudge in the water and you were ready.

Nico had it easier he just wore a shirt and swim shorts.

"Are you ready?" You asked him as he came down the stairs to the decorated living room.

"Yeah. When do the others get here?" He asked back. He hadn't had a haircut in a while and his floppy bangs covered part of his face; he looked really really good.

You just swallow down all thoughts of 'damn' you had gestured him to get closer. "In a bit. Can you help me take a few pictures of the decorations? I want to put them onto my blog."

He took a few of the decorations and you before lowering his phone.

"How do they look?" You asked while walking towards him.

"Absolutely beautiful." He answered, only he was looking at you and not the phone display that showed the pictures.

Soon after your, well Nico's, house was filled with people. Some of the older men on the team had fired up the big outside barbecue grill since no one trusted Nico to do the grilling.

You were sitting by the pool with some of the girls while they're boyfriends and your ... your Nico were swimming in the pool. You had your legs dangling in the water while talking to some of the WAGs.

"What should I title it?"

You had heard that question three times already. You really liked the girls but you had all taken pictures together as a group earlier and now they all wanted to post it.

"I wrote 'Did you know WAGs is actually short for wine and garden parties' and then like three heart emojis and #lovethesegirls." Will Butcher's girlfriend said.

You continued talking about the boys for a while and what it meant to be a WAG before the question turned to the one topic you really didn't want to talk about... how you technically weren't a WAG. When you told them as such you were met with resistance.

"Come on Y/N," Lauren Boyle said, "you support Nico like no other, always come to games and take care of him literally all the time. You definitely qualify to be a significant other aka WAG."

Her small speech made you incredibly emotional. Half because your couldn't help but wish her words would become true but also half because this amazing group of women thought of you as an equal. There were tiny tears pooling in your eyes, threatening to pour out, when Nico swam over and placed his arms over your knees to keep himself balanced.

"Hey, what are you guys talking about." He asked. There were small droplets of water in his hair and really wasn't fair how good he looked.

"Oh nothing." You smiled as you fought the urge to run your fingers through his hair. Ultimately you gave in and did exactly that, which turned out to be a mistake since one of the women behind you thought this was the perfect moment to give you a little shove which not only pushed you into the water but also into Nico's arms.

"Wow."

The two of you were more or less pressed together after he caught you.

"Everything okay?" He asked and you could feel his breath on your skin. You hadn't even realized how close your heads were. You could see the tiny specks of gold in his eyes before you finally tore yourself away.

You quickly stepped back from Nico and put some distance between you. Trying to play it cool you pulled your now soaked dress over your body and threw it onto the group of girls by the pool.

"Can you hang that up to dry please? I'm gonna stay in here for a bit." You asked them before turning back to Nico. "Wanna swim over to the others?"

The two of you made your way over to some guys from the team. They were all really nice and chill so you got along with them as well.

"What were you talking about before joining us. I saw you all laugh." Steve Santini asked you once you were close.

"Oh, nothing special. The girls kept insisting I'm a WAG but I kept telling them that I was neither dating one of you nor am I married so I can't be a WAG." You simply answered.

Both Nico and Brian Boyle were looking at your weirdly but you didn't really pay any attention to that.

"Aw Y/N," Taylor Hall said while he threw an arm around your shoulder and pulled you closer to him. "You know I'd wife you up in a second if Hisch would let me."

This made you laugh and playfully swat his chest. In the time you and Nico lived next door to him you had become good friends with him. Of course he flirted sometimes but that's just his personality and everything between you was purely platonic.

You were just about to reply when a pair of arms wrapped themselves around your middle and pulled you against a muscular chest. Nico hooked his chin over your shoulder, tightened his grip, and glared at Taylor.

"Mine."

The whole group, you included, began to laugh. Nico laughed too but he kept his arms wrapped around you, keeping you close.

This continued on for the entire afternoon and evening. Nico never left your side. He wrapped his arms around you constantly and even made you sit in his lap at one point.

You really liked how cuddly he was but it also made you feel sad since you were sure he only saw you as a friend.

Over the course of the evening both of you kept accepting and drinking several glasses of wine and bottles of beer that were handed to you by those teammates that were already allowed to legally drink in the states. It was a nice throwback to the years before the draft.

Eventually people started to leave until there were only Nico, you, and a passed out Taylor left. Deciding that you could postpone the cleaning until the morning you made your way upstairs to your bedroom and got ready for bed. You had just turned the lights off and slipped under the covers when your bedroom door opened and a dark figure slipped inside.

"Nico?" The soft whisper of your voice sounded in the darkness.

"Yeah, it's me. Sorry if i scared you. Taylor is passed out on my bed and i wanted to ask if i could stay with you tonight." He whispered back.

It wouldn't be the first time that you shared a bed so you just hummed and lifted your duvet a bit for him to slide in beside you. "You better not hog the blankets or I'll kick you out."

You closed your eyes again but you heard the rustling of his clothes as they hit the floor. He climbed into bed beside you and laid down. After a few seconds you slid closer and he put his arm around you, just like he had during the day. His chest was warm against your back and you could feel his breath on your neck.

"Nico?"

He hummed in response but otherwise didn't move.

"Why did you act the way you did earlier? All possessive and stuff." You tried to keep the emotions out of the question. You didn't want it to sound like you liked it or that you wanted him to act like that all the time even though you did.

"I don't..." he huffed in annoyance and tightened the grip he had on you. "They were all looking at you." He said quietly. "They kept staring and i just ... I don't want them to think of you that way."

Almost immediately you turned around to look at him. A thought dawned on you and you had to know if it was true.

"Nico Hischier, are you jealous?"

In the darkness of the room you could only make out his outline but the way his shoulders tensed up was visible even in the low light.

"No! I mean yes? Ugh. It's just ... I ... you mean a lot to me Y/N and I ... I don't want them to look at you that way. Because I should be the only one looking at you that way but even that can't happen because we're friends and I'm not supposed to look at you like that." He turned around and pressed his face into one of the pillows on your bed.

You took a minute to just lay there and think about his words. If Nico really thinks of you that way...

"What if...," you started, "what if I look at you like that too?"

Nico turned his head to look at you before you continued.

"What if you could look at me like that ... because we weren't just friends?"

"Really?" Nico's voice sounded unsure and you wanted nothing more but for him to know that you meant every little word.

"Yeah." You moved closer to him so your faces were nearly touching.

The two of you leaned in at the same time, softly connecting your lips in a sweet kiss.

When you pulled away you could see the smile in Nico's eyes so you quickly turned your back to him and pulled his arm over you so he was spooning you.

"We should talk about this tomorrow. Can you just hold me for now?"

Nico pressed a kiss to your shoulder before pulling you closer. And then so quietly you could barely hear him he whispered...

"Mine."

#nico hischier #nico hischier imagine #hockey imagines #nhl imagines

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timelessusagi · 7 years

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[K] Green Mist

Chapter One: Kindness (Part 1/2) because it’s so long

„Hey, what is that all about?!” He stepped back, but they sprang forward and grabbed his jacket. Junichiro shook him, but he remained silent. A loud bleep sounded, surprised raised he something what looked like her PDA. A green parrot appeared and in red letters blinked “Mission failed” over the screen

The whole story begun on the end of the summer 2013, the days became once more really hot and the beautiful weather led many students out of the school out in the city. A soft wind stroke Junichiros blue hair, bored let they pass the whole day, it was for they just a day just like any other, just a normal day in a year, just a normal day in her life. They didn’t know anything about her luck, they saw in everything just some uneventful hours which willy-nilly needed to pass. Junichiro searched deep inside for something which she didn’t know yet, they felt empty and her strength was used up. Wake up early, be attentive in the lessons, do home and go to bed early, they didn’t care about something else, okay there was this one thing. Unknowing was they directly on the way to something which would help them slowly to understand. The sun reflected on the surface of the water, small waves formed and it seemed like the light would show every different spectrum of blue. It became normal for Junichiro, they rarely showed signs of enthusiasm, more of sarcasm and boredom. They sighed and focused on the music.

„Worries slowly come and kiss Tell me what’s your name”

Together with a group of students left Junichiro the train, she heard dull how someone called their name, probably one of her classmates who would ask where they would go or what they was planning to do, but they wasn’t in the mood for company. Differently from their first thoughts were their classmate really nice, but Junichiro didn’t know them very much and preferred to be alone. They didn’t make any plans for the day; probably would they just walk around and visit some shops.

The sun shown hot down on the city and Junichiro wished they didn’t take their jacket along. They turn into a small side street where, thanks to the building, was some shadow and the heat was more bearable. A green lightning flame up on the square in front of her, they blinked and covered their eyes with their hands. More lightning’s appeared, screaming a few people run away. Curious walked Junichiro closer; they weaved their way through the crowd. A few, all dressed in blue and each one with a sword were in an intense fight with another group, which consisted of different people. They all looked like normal people, some even looked like students, and everybody of them wore a deep black helmet with a green visor.

“What the hell?” With big eyes watched Junichiro how one of the fighters formed a green ball around his fist and threw it at the direction of the blue fighters, the ground was torn open and two of the men jumped apart. Junichiro scurried to the chairs and tables of a closed restaurant to get distance between themselves and the fighters. A young man with black hair jumped a few meters away from Junichiro back and forth, the blue group slowly got the upper hand, desperate run a young man forward. Something green flew through the air fell down onto Junichiro, the black haired men jumped aside and something soft hit Junichiro over her eye und fell in their hands. It was a green stuffed animal, a loud ticking sounded from the inside. Junichiro stared on the sassy face of the little parrot before they understood. Do something! “Dammit!”, yelled Junichiro, they threw the parrot on the ground where it bounced off. Junichiro turned around, fell over a chair and landed on the hard ground. Reflexive covered Junichiro, their ears and closed their eyes. They heard a loud Explosion and felt how the shock wave hit their back. Dear God! Slowly took Junichiro their hands down and turned. A large hole was in the ground; dark smoke soared above it, a few rags of green cloth swirled through the air. A young man stood not far away from it and looked in shock to Junichiro.

“Big bang yaban na jounetsu reisei na shoutotsu chi o miru made yousha wa shinai no?”

Without thinking stopped Junichiro their music and tripped forward to him. „Hey, what is that all about?!” He stepped back, but they sprang forward and grabbed his jacket. Junichiro shook him, but he remained silent. A loud bleep sounded, surprised raised he something what looked like her PDA. A green parrot appeared and in red letters blinked “Mission failed” over the screen. Junichiro heard someone swear and watched how one man was disarrayed, his helmet was gone and around the phone in his hand crackled green lightning’s. More people in blue came and secured the place, Junichiro stepped back, they saw the head of a men turning in their direction, someone pulled on her arm and dragged Junichiro away, they hit another person but was dragged further. Their heart beat fast, still shook increased they their speed, they run forward, passed the brown haired boy and dragged him away, down the street. Full of verve did they turn in a small side road. Junichiro stopped, grabbed the boy and pushed him against the wall. “What was this all about?”, asked they angry and stepped closer to him. He raised defensively his hands between himself and Junichiro. “Clam down, please. That was an accident. It will never happen again. Well”, he cocked his head and stared at the wall behind Junichiro. “It can’t happen again because I’m not in the game anymore.” “Which game?” Junichiro let him go before they stepped back to give him some space. With a nervous smile stroke he through his hair, because he didn’t answer their question asked they brisk for his name. “Oh, my name is Yuichiro. Yuichiro Sasaki. What’s your name?” “Junichiro Gushiken.” “Cool, that means with have similar names.” Junichiro knit their brow when she heard the happiness in Yuichiros voice. “Obviously.” It was silent for a long time which made Yuichiro feel uncomfortable, (probably because Junichiro stared angry at him), before he finally embarrassed stroke through his hair. “So, what is this game about.” “Oh, that has to do with the Jungle app. It was made by the clan with the same name. I can tell you cool stuff about them and the blue clan. I know a lot.” Junichiro shrugged her shoulders, it sounded interesting, but they didn’t want to spend more time with this idiot. “Fine with me.” “Great and could we maybe-, no, no just forget it alright!” “What?” “Well, I’m a bit hungry, but I left my money at home and that’s why I wanted to ask if you could treat me something. I will pay you back of course! I sadly didn’t have lunch, that’s why.” Shy played he with his hair, his cheeks were a bit red. “Near by is a café. Be my guest.” “Oh, thank you!” The little boy jumped towards her and hugged her, surprised looked they down on him, his two braids swinging back and forth while his arms lay tight around their neck. Junichiro pat his head before they push his small body away. His big, blue eyes looked happy up to Junichiro and he looked in this moment a lot like a cute, little bunny. Junichiro smiled when they thought how it would be to ruffle his hair. “Oh, you smile. How cute!”

“Ts, let’s go.” Junichiro grabbed him by his arm and dragged him away. The sun shone towards them on the end of the side street, Junichiro stopped and looked skeptical around. “I knew it.” They turned around and walked pass Yui, his arm still in their hand. “What is it?” “Think about it. This blue clan seems to be some kind of police and want because of that provide order in such situation where your clan obviously performs some illegal stuff. They want to capture and interrogate you to find out what this all is about. And because we run away in front of their eyes are they behind us. I just saw some of the members. One of them wore black glasses and the hair of this other guy hung in long strands in his face.” “Okay, so they are behind us.” “Yes, and if they catch us can we get some serious problems.” “And what are we going to do? Uh!” Turning forward walked Yui right into Junichiro, who looked at him reproachful. They quick got a picture of the shopping street which ended on the left in the small square where they met a few minutes ago. The square in front of the restaurant was closed off and three blue vans with a white symbol parked near by. Yui peaked curious over her shoulder. Their sight was blocked by a group of curios people who gathered around the place and watched everything or took photos with their cell phones. “We better go.” Yui nodded and Junichiro left with him the side street, both a careful to not get any attention.

A bit confused watched Junichiro how Yui, they called him now that way, fast ate the pancakes which they ordered for him. That was exactly what they needed a hyperactive, hungry Baka who brought nothing more than problems. Junichiro thought, the thing with these fighters sounded really interesting, they watched Yui interested. Junichiro was a really calm and silent person, they was very intelligent and got their information’s from watching and studying people. Yui sadly didn’t reveal anything relevant with his actions what could have been a masterstroke when you forgot the aspect that it was Yui. This guy was the innocent in person and was able to drive Junichiro crazy with his happiness. With every bite pancake he took to his mouth went their right eyebrow a bit higher. They looked up to the sky, white fluffy clouds passed it and the sun shown. How boring. The chink of his cutlery told her that he finished, he leaned back and seemed to feel really good. “So, what do you want to know about the green clan.” “I’m not sure if I’m really interested in a nerd group which makes some silly role playing games with some freak peppered with plush bombs.” “They are no freaks. That’s the blue clan.” “I see.” “Alright, because you invited me, will I tell you everything about the green clan, also called jungle.” “Thanks”, said Junichiro ironic. “A long time ago did I found this page in the internet where you can create anonym an account and take part in some kind of game.” “And fight with the blue clan.” “Not always, but these guys have an eye on as since the last months.” “Oh really, what might be the reason for this.” Yui didn’t notice the sarcasm in their voice. “The administrators give you missions and when you accomplish them can you earn points. There are different ranks, it starts with a E-rank and ends with a J-rank. I was a G-rank, but that I lost all my points and my aura.” So, that how they call that thing. “Dramatic.” “But I didn’t tell you the best. If you made it to a J-rank can you met the green king and become a really member of jungle.” Without any reason started Junichiro to smile, probably because of this fascinating challenge, the story with the J-rank really sounded interesting and maybe could this also bring new ways to get information’s.

“Do you want to join?” asked Yui. “What?” “Do you want to join the game? We could be a team. I can give you my PDA with my Jungle account as an excuse that I nearly killed you.” “I don’t know.” Junichiro leaned back in her chair, since they moved from the land into the city did they heard briefly of the red clan, Homra and she already saw the red sword of Damocles of the red king, but the green clan was something new. “Well, the green clan sounds interesting, but I don’t know why I should join this illegal stuff.” “Come on, we would be great together. You can fight and I can do everything that involves computers.” “Really?” In her eyes was Yui more the clumsy, cute guy and not some nerd, but when she looked at it this way was it really fitting. “Yes, I learn it. How do you think did I get all this points, I hacked everything and got this way all the information’s I needed.” “Sounds good. I will think about it.” “Awesome!” “Hey, I just said I will think about it, not that I’m going to do it.” Junichiro smiled; they both didn’t know what was coming up to them.

It’s, done.2.200 words translated. Still really weird to write with a non binary character as protagonist. It’s confusing, when you use they instead of she. Other information: Yuichiro means: gentleness, lithe, superior and also son. And Sasaki: help, aid and tree, wood. Which is why I choose these names. I don’t know what Junichiro means, but Gushiken means: strong willed and is also really fitting.

@k-project-scenarios

#kproject #fanfiction #Junichiro Gushiken #Yuichiro Sasaki #the green clan #jungle #K-Project #Translation #I'm dead now #Zombie Usagi-chan

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parkrangercirca2016 · 7 years

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North Cascades; Season Two, Episode One

The weather in Rockport, Washington is 81 degrees right now. It’s sunny with the occasional breeze to cool things off. Washington and Rainy Passes have been open for less than a week, and the Cascades received--for the first time in several years--a typical winter snowfall. The Skagit River and it’s tributaries are swollen with spring runoff, the rhododendron are in full bloom, and State Route 20 is packed with bicyclists enjoying the weather.

Tomorrow I start my second summer season at North Cascades National Park. This past winter I worked at Mount Rushmore, which was good. I was lucky to have a winter job with the Park Service, and I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to go back to South Dakota for the winter again. The winters there are much nicer than back in Illinois. Sure we had a few days of below zero temperatures compounded with frigid wind chills, but when it snowed, it didn’t stick around for long and the temperature didn’t really stay below freezing for long. There was also very little to do with my time off over the winter. The Black Hills area shuts down for the most part once the tourists leave for the year. One bar stays open in Keystone, and a Subway stays open in Hill City. Other than that, you are on your own.

Chapter One, The Surprise

On May 11th, at 5:01 PM, I left work at Mount Rushmore and started driving home. Earlier that day I had checked out of housing and turned my keys in. I had told Jillian that I would be leaving South Dakota on Friday the 12th, the same day as her Honors Convocation, and that I would try my hardest to make it back to the Quad Cities for dinner with our families that night. Unbeknownst to her I was going to surprise her at her Honors Convocation by making it to Macomb by 2:00 when the program started. It was a long drive to make, especially after having worked for 8 hours earlier that day. My plan was to drive for as long as I could (safely, mind you, I’m not a maniac) and then find a place to stay for the night.

As it turns out I made it to just about halfway to Macomb that night. I ended up getting a hotel at just a little past midnight in a town called Worthington. It’s located in Minnesota on Interstate 90 and gets most of it’s business, I’d imagine, from travelers on I-90. The hotel clerk didn’t seem too pleased to have been woken up, but I got my room and had a nice night’s sleep until 6:00 AM when I hit the road again. It’s probably good that I was tired enough to sleep so well because the smoke detector in my room needed a new battery and chirped every fifteen minutes. I slept through all of the chirps.

The drive to Macomb was mostly uneventful. I turned on my little GPS unit so that I could keep track of what my estimated time of arrival was, and battled it the whole way down, it seemed. First it told me that I’d be arriving at 1:40. then I stopped for gas and it said I’d be arriving at 1:47, then I’d battle it back down to 1:40, and so on and so forth. My stops for gas were a little like pit stops in an IndyCar race, although mine were considerably longer.

Cedar Falls, Iowa was my last stop at around 10:15 that morning (Jillian and her family, it turns out, had left only an hour before that.) While I was topping my tank off in Cedar Falls I grabbed a piece of pizza to tide me over until dinner. That pizza was the only thing that I’d had to eat that day because the stores in Worthington, MN aren’t open as early as I was up. Luckily I made it to Macomb with plenty of time to spare for the Honors Convocation. When I came in I didn’t see where Jillian’s family was so I grabbed a seat all to myself in the back and settled in to enjoy the convocation. It was a good convocation. Jillian was recognized for graduating Summa Cum Laude, for graduating as an Honors Scholar, for graduating as the RPTA Departmental Scholar, and for graduating as the College of Education and Human Services Scholar. She sure did make a lot of noise with all those medals around her neck as she walked off stage.

One of her sisters had noticed me sitting on the other side of Western Hall just before the ceremony began, but Jillian didn’t see me until I hunted her down after the program. The look of surprise and joy on her face was well worth the drive after work, and the hours of driving that day. (Her graduation was good, too, although she was the second to last person to receive her degree during the commencement and the audience had already lost focus by that point, so they all started standing to stretch and blocked most of our view of her receiving her degree.)

Chapter Two, The Plan

Once Jillian was a college graduate, the two of us could go ahead and celebrate with a small vacation before I started my summer season. For many weeks the two of us had planned on having her ride with me from the Midwest to Washington State, and now we could put the plan into action. The day after her graduation, May 14th (Mother’s Day), each of us were in our respective hometowns packing. Jillian had less to pack than I did because she would be flying home after I made it Washington. I spent part of my Sunday unpacking my winter stuff and packing my summer stuff, but the rest of that day was family time.

Tami, Manny, Maximus, and Hudson came to visit for the day. It was good fun, although it had been so long since Maximus had seen me that he was unsure about me. Hudson was too little to notice, and far too preoccupied with his newfound ability to pull himself into a standing position and then look around until somebody could sit him down. He hasn’t figured out that part yet.

After Tami and her boys left, I packed my car. Thank’s to Dad’s due diligence, the oil had been changed and it had received a new right side tie rod end. The trip to Washington will use most of that new oil change’s 5,000 miles. I will also need to buy new tires for the car in Washington. These are starting to wear thin.

Jillian and I’s itinerary was thus:

Monday-pick Jillian up in Cedar Falls and drive to the Black Hills, camp.

Tuesday-pick up the rest of my stuff from fellow Mount Rushmore Ranger Jeanie in Keystone, then drive to Yellowstone, camp.

Wednesday-spend the day having fun in Yellowstone, camp.

Thursday-drive to Glacier National Park, camp.

Friday-drive to Spokane, WA, find a hotel to shower.

Saturday-move in to my summer home in Rockport, WA.

Sunday-Jillian flies home. :(

Pretty much all of that worked.

Chapter Three, On the Road

I picked Jillian up in Cedar Falls just a little after 9:00 in the morning. Unfortunately no members of her family (besides her dog, Bella) were around to see that I really do know how to find their home when I drive through Cedar Falls. From Cedar Falls we set out north, towards Minnesota and I-90. I had planned on listening to several episodes of the podcast Harmontown during the drive, but as we approached Waverly some sort of poltergeist possessed my iPod and turned on the aid for the visually impaired. There was a voice reading all of the episode titles out loud to us, and in addition to that, it started to play whatever songs it felt like, and not my un-listened to podcast episodes. Jillian plugged her iPod in, and the same poltergeist took up residence there, too.

We did what any young, hip Millennial couple would do and googled the problem on a smartphone. No help was found there for our very specific problem. I took the auxiliary cable out of my car’s dash, unplugged the iPod, and flipped the cable around. Everything worked after that.

We grabbed some lunch in Sioux Falls and stretched our legs after the grueling drive across Minnesota’s stretch of I-90. (Minnesota, if you’re reading, get your act together and up your speed limit; that part of your state is no different from South Dakota and you should be able to drive more than 70.) Then we put the hammer down to get to the Black Hills before sunset.

We took a short detour through the Badlands so that we could stop looking at flat grassland out the car window’s, and so that we could get out and walk around for a little bit. During our brief stop in Badlands National Park we saw a couple of bighorn sheep, and a few bison. Then we went in to Rapid City for dinner. Dinner was at a Tex-Mex place called On the Border. The food was good, but we were also comparing it to what we had gotten at a fast food joint.

The plan we had made called for camping somewhere in the Black Hills that night. By the time we made it to Ellsworth Air Force Base we had a pretty good idea that camping wasn’t going to happen. The Black Hills are so named because, with the ponderosa pines growing on the slopes, the hills look black from a distance. That night, as we made our way towards them, they seemed blacker than usual. And that was because of the storm clouds coming in over them. Knowing South Dakota’s propensity for hail, we decided to not stay in a tent and to find a hotel instead. So we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Keystone, just a short way from Jeanie’s house. It was good that we did, because it hailed as we ate breakfast the next morning. The hail finished before we checked out, but the rain and fog stayed.

After breakfast we crammed a couple of my totes into the back seat of my car and stopped to see Jeanie at her museum in Keystone. Allow me to briefly plug it: The Keystone Historical Museum is a good museum that celebrates the rich history of the town of Keystone, and even houses a few artifacts from our favorite Little House on the Prairie. Go and visit.

It was a little after 10:00 that morning when we left Keystone and bought groceries at the Krull’s in Hill City. After that we set off through the fog and rain that still hadn’t cleared up. This was our longest day of driving, and also some of the best. The road was boring from Deadwood to Sheridan, WY. We stopped in Sheridan for lunch.

And let me say something about Sheridan. I don’t understand that town. There are 17,916 people that live there, which is less people than Macomb has when WIU is having classes. I have stopped in Sheridan a total of three times, and every time I have stopped, traffic has been nonstop, bumper to bumper. It’s a nightmare trying to get somewhere there if you can’t check all of your blindspots. What is Sheridan’s problem?

Jillian and I ate Taco Bell for lunch, but got it through the drive through so that we could keep driving. We bought one big soda to share. I spilled some of it on my pants because the lid leaked. I don’t think that I’ll ever stop in Sheridan again. I always have bad experiences there.

After Sheridan we exited the interstate for Highway 14 and started driving into the Bighorn Mountains. That was an excellent drive. As we moved up into the mountains we both saw half a dozen moose. At first, from a distance, I thought that there was a horse on the side of the road, but Jillian corrected me and said that it was a moose. And she was right. Then I saw another moose out the left side of the car, but I thought that it was dead because it’s rear was up in the air while it had both of its forelegs outstretched with it’s head down to the ground as it faced us in the car. Eventually it stopped bowing to us and stood up. In the middle of the mountains there, Jillian saw a wolf. I was not fast enough to see it too. We also saw three moose standing well of the road near some trees. Then we saw a baby moose on our way out of the mountains.

Once we were out of the Big Horns, we drove through rangeland until we got to Cody, Wyoming where we bought gas before entering Yellowstone National Park. We got through the east entrance before dark when there was just enough light to see two young men give us a heart attack. As we approached Yellowstone Lake we saw a bison on the side of the road. One of these young men was getting his picture taken with it. As we came upon them we both thought that he was too close. Once we drove past he ran right up to the bison and touched it. Thank the good Lord that he didn’t get gored. Never get close to a bison. They can out run and out turn a barrel pony. You won’t escape it.

After we both thought that we were going to witness a death, it started to rain. Then we climbed higher in the park and the rain turned to snow. Our campsite at Madison was at 6,800 feet, and it was raining there as we pulled in. We pitched the tent quickly before making some macaroni and cheese for dinner. Jillian was cold, so she got into her sleeping bag and left me to finish the big pot of mac’n’cheese, which I did not because there was a lot.

At some point in the night the rain stopped, and turned into snow. Getting ourselves up that Wednesday morning was hard. Our sleeping bags were warm, and it was cold and white outside. Eventually hunger got the best of us and we got up to make some oatmeal. Our neighbors were brushing their cars off and warming them up. It had only snowed an inch or so, but it was still coming down.

The snow kept falling all day. Unfortunately that meant that neither of us was comfortable with finding snow covered trails to hike so we spent the day driving from boardwalk to boardwalk and checking out the thermal features in the park. We also watched many bison. Even though it was May and snowing, there were dozens of tour buses in the park and all of the boardwalks were crowded. I’m glad that I don’t have to work there in the summer.

At lunch time we decided that we would go and get some food at Old Faithful. Lunch was wonderful in the old lodge there, and I filled myself up at the buffet while Jillian ate a bison burger. I texted Tami during dinner and told her about the live webcam at Old Faithful. We made it from lunch to the geyser just in time to see it erupt. Unfortunately it took Jillian and I forever to figure out where the webcam was pointing so that Tami could see us online. We disappointed her by not striking a pose or waving to the camera. We also couldn’t figure out where the camera was, because the one you see online is not the camera that you see in the window of the Old Faithful Visitor Center.

There was more snow Wednesday night. We had to clear off about four inches from the car on Thursday morning and put my tent away wet. But that was okay, because Yellowstone is, I think, much prettier in the snow than it is in the green. You can pick out thermal features from a distance, because of the vast plumes of steam spewing from the ground, and the bare, snow-free patches of earth that are too warm for snow to stick to. It’s an American treasure.

Our drive out of Yellowstone and towards Glacier was dandy. The snow turned to rain, and then the rain cleared up by Bozeman, Montana. We even had good enough cell service for Jillian to watch her youngest sister run at the state track meet in Iowa. (They got third place, or so I hear.)

We had beautiful weather in Glacier National Park, and took a wonderful drive as far up Going-to-the-Sun road as we could. Both of us decided that we would plan a trip just to Glacier sometime in the future to enjoy it more. And May was a great time of year to go since there were so few people there. We got to walk down by Lake Macdonald all by ourselves.

Friday was a little sad because we wouldn’t have any more National Parks to drive though once we left Glacier. It was just the open road until we could get to Rockport, WA. The two of us decided to stick to Route 2 and cut across Idaho’s panhandle. That was a good choice, it was a scenic drive that was only broken up by a large stretch of road that the state’s Department of Transportation had torn up, left, and then posted 35 MPH speed limit signs.

Spokane later that afternoon was a wake up call. It was the biggest town we’d been in since Rapid City and had traffic that was almost as bad as Sheridan’s. We grabbed a room at a Holiday Inn Express and showered. I had been worried going into that hotel because, after we parked, I raised my arms and caught a whiff of my body odor after three days of driving and staying in parks. It was not good. Thankfully the attendant at the counter, who is my new best friend because of how nice and cheerful he was, either didn’t notice or didn’t say anything. Jillian and I felt like new people after we’d showered.

Dinner was at Chili’s down the road, and then, because we had so much time on our hands what with the time change to Pacific Time, we took a walk through one of the most beautiful parks we’d ever been to, Riverfront Park. It was within walking distance of the hotel and we spent a few hours checking out the new construction in the park, and enjoying the waterfalls that ran through it. It ended up being quite a bit of walking because we slept like the dead once we got back to the hotel after sunset.

Saturday was short. The drive from Spokane to Rockport is only five hours or so, and the scenery in eastern Washington isn’t anything to write home about. Coming over Washington Pass was incredible, though. It had only just been opened on Tuesday and the road crews had dug out 45 to 50 feet of snow from the avalanche zones. There were places were the snow had fallen as deep as my car was tall. It was just like driving through a tunnel, or between two cornfields on a narrow road.

Chapter Four, A New Home

All of the snow in my part of the valley is gone. Flowers are blooming, the trees are leafed out, and it’s almost hot. The house I’m staying in is a delightful little place. Two stories, wood floors, three couches, a wood burning stove, long dining room table, big kitchen, and a full-sized bed, unlike the little twin beds the Park Service has in their housing. Lots of windows in the house, too. And a great big porch. (Three of them, actually.) I think that this will be a nice place to live for the next few months.

Today, though, was the saddest day. Because Jillian and I had to be on the road by 6:30 in time for her to board her flight at 10:47 AM. She goes back to spend her summer at a girls’ camp in Wisconsin, and I probably won’t get to see her again until I’m home at the end of September. It would have been nice if the week had been able to stretch out just a little bit longer. But I guess that you can’t always get what you want.

I hop into training tomorrow. It’s already been going on for a week, so I suppose I’ll see what I’ve missed so far. I can’t imagine it was anything I didn’t know from last year.

Anyhow, I’ve procrastinated long enough. I’ve got to go and get my stuff together for tomorrow, and get lunch made, too. Then go to bed and rest up.

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