I am sitting in a motel room in Boise, Idaho. I drank my first ever Five Hour Energy Drink approximately 4 hours ago, so I’m still buzzing. Is the room supposed to be spinning? Anyway, just as a list to myself, here’s what I did on my Summer Vacation:

• Drove through California’s Central Valley (never need to do that again)
• Bought roadside peaches from a religious zealot
• Had a minor accident (no damage, everyone was okay!) when traffic came to an abrupt stop on 99 and I tapped the car ahead of me
• Sped through Southern California and explored the Golden Bluffs area where I spotted my first roadkill cow
• Hung out with a truck stop station Joshua Tree at sunset
• Traveled historic Route 66 through Arizona
• Was temporarily trapped 210 feet underground with a crazy tour guide (this was my most terrifying experience of the adventure and will have its very own blog post)
• Stopped at numerous tchotchke shops and purchased: petrified wood, a dream catcher, a small Navajo basket, hat pins
• Camped in Sedona, Arizona where I hiked to several Vortexes, took hundreds of photographs and…
• …Had the MOST AMAZING psychic reading EVER!
• Explored a gigantic meteor crater that makes Mount St. Helens look tiny.
• Spent an afternoon at Petrified Forest National Park
• Stayed a few days in Albuquerque with friend Conor to attend the Tamarind 50th anniversary symposium
• Listened to Dave Hickey interview Ed Ruscha and Ruth Fine interview Jim Dine
• Ate at Frontier three times, even though my stomach objected
• Made friends with a family of feral cats… and some feral grad students at UNM
• Got lost trying to find Four Corners National Monument but finally found it and stood in four states simultaneously
• Camped in Moab, UT accidentally (I had no idea where I was until the next morning)
• Explored Arches National Park also unexpectedly (which was literally located 2 miles from my campsite)
• Marveled at Scenic Southern Idaho’s gorgeous field-lined landscapes at sunset

And now I’m in Boise after 10 hours of driving and a spectacular sunset. 10 more hours and I’ll be back in Olympia. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?