The fossil hunt

I've been back from India/Nepal for almost three weeks. It was a grand ol time but you know what? The need to travel can never be satisfied.

Earlier this week dad told me he was going to Salt Lake City for the weekend to meet up with some buddies and go hunt for fossils. I was invited (or I heavily hinted how I wanted to go and kinda invited myself, who knows). I applied for a job a few weeks ago and had an interview last Monday. They said I would hear back soon if I got it or not. I told myself if I got the job I wouldn't go to SLC but if I didn't get it then a trip would be a nice way to feel better about my crap life. By Thursday I still hadn't heard from the job so I decided to go anyway.

Yay! A new update to Callapillar Travels!

So Thursday night I dicked around all day until midnight then I packed some stuff. Dad and I were coming back to Helena Sunday night so I only needed 2 outfits. I brought 4. We're driving so I could have brought 8 outfits. When I fly, I pack light. when I drive, I don't give a hoot. I mostly brought loose clothing because it should be mid to high 90's all weekend. I went to sleep around 1.

And woke up Friday morning at 6. Some assholes were playing the devils music (country) outside my bedroom window. I got up and ate some breakfast, packed some snacks for the road, and killed time before going to dads at 9. At dads we hung out for another hour before officially hitting the road at 10.

It would a 6 or 7 hour drive to Salt Lake City. At first it was fun and exciting but then it got boring and there was not much to look at outside.

Mmm.

Dad and I ate power bars and grapes and talked about religion and evolution. The interstate we were driving on was closed for some dumb reason and we had to drive through town and that was a time sucker.

We stopped at an army surplus store in Idaho around 2:30. I needed to get some gloves for the dig tomorrow. I found some for like $2 that fit then dad got a helmet and some MREs.

Army swag

Then it was more driving. I fell asleep at one point. Sometime who knows when we drove into Utah! The traffic started to pick up and it was looking more like a proper city.

Mormon country

I saw a sign that said "COSMO CONTAINS PORN" and below it a website called CosmopolitanHurtsChildren.com or whatever. I thought it was funny. I'm in LDS territory now motherfuckers.

We drove through Salt Lake and into a town right next to it, about 20 minutes south. Then we drove through a very nice neighborhood. Did some more driving. Took some more turns. And we were at dad's friend Tim's place!

His house is gorgeous. He and his wife Lana are both really nice and we had a cold beer waiting for us. We all hung out and talked while they put the final touches on dinner. We were having tacos. I had 2 tacos and drank a whole beer.

Then we sat outside on the porch as the sun went down. I took a few snapchats to let people know I'm up to fun things without having to actually talk to them.

The art of humble brag

We talked about me living in Salt Lake and the job opportunities. I could dig it. From the balcony we could see fireworks going off in the valley. It was a beautiful view.

Around 10 pm dad and I gathered our luggage from the truck and Tim showed us to our rooms. My room has a king bed with 10 pillows! I counted.

I did some blogging but will combine today with tomorrow. I went to bed at midnight.

Around 3 I woke up confused, thinking I was in Montana and wondering why my bed had gotten so big. After a few minutes I remembered I was in Utah and went back to sleep-

-to wake up at 6. I took a quick shower and dad, Tim, and I were on the road by 7. Good for us.

We stopped at a place called Kneaders to get breakfast and coffee. I had an egg and cheese croissant sandwich and an iced latte. It was all very good.

Breakfast

We were going to dig fossils in Wyoming. It was about a 2 hour drive. Tim and I talked politics and he slowly chiseled away at my liberal identity. Every day I stray further and further away from the light that is Democrats. We talked about refugees, universal healthcare, racism, and the gay community. It was actually a fun conversation. We were both respectful.

So the drive to Wyoming was enjoyable. We got to the fossil site around 10:30.

The quarry

You could pay for an hour, 4 hours, or 8 hours. We paid for 4 and dad paid for mine. It was expensive, like $75 a person. The guy running the place gave us a rock hammer and chisel. I put on some sunscreen, my hat and sunglasses, and got to work.

You can pretty much wander wherever. There was maybe 10 to 20 other people there and I never felt crowded. It was spacious. I started my excavation to the far left but eventually started moving right (just like my political views hahahaha).

On the left was a lot of broken rocks. I walked around not really sure what to do but having fun looking at things. Tim came over and showed me what types of rocks to look for. You want big pieces with layers to chip into. Sometimes you can see fossils from the side. He showed me what fish poop and scales look like. It was barely 15 minutes in before I found my first fossil!

OH MY GOD

I told myself if I found one fossil, just one, I would be so happy. And I found one! Only 15 minutes in! It's a beautiful fossil and I love it.

Then I found another!

And another,

Seriously I didn't realize how low I set my expectations. All we did was find fossils.

I slowly started making my way right where you could chip away at parts of the rock walls instead of going through chipped away parts like I had been. Tim would cut off big chunks the size of a torso and throw them down. Then I would start splitting them, usually down the center. then splitting those pieces down the center. Sometimes you found something interesting, sometimes there was nothing.

I found the top half of a big looking fish. It's bottom half was on another rock that broke in half. The guy running the place came over and helped me dig him out of his rocky grave. He said it was a freshwater piranha. It had a visible eye and teeth! I took a picture and put it on snapchat.

In my excitement I forgot how to spell the word split

It was hot out but not uncomfortably so. If I stood up too fast I got really lightheaded so I took a break around 11 or noon to put on more sunscreen and drink water. I've been having a lot of fun. There were a couple families there, some had really small children and some had young teens. Then there were professional diggers who had been coming to this site for a week. It was a really cool atmosphere.

BACK TO DIGGING!

Padre on the prowl

I found several fish, lots of scales, and a ton of poop. Around 2 I was starting to hit exhaustion. I took a 15 minute break then got to digging again for the last ten minutes. I found one more fish!

We were done at 2:30. We loaded up all three of our treasures into dad's truck and left.

We had lunch at a place in town called... I don't remember. I had a grilled chicken sandwich, it was good.

We got back to Tim's house at 5 I think. Everyone was filthy and caked in dust. I took a shower and noticed the back of my left kneecap got sunburnt. Dang it! It was the only part of me to get burnt so not bad for 4 hours in the sun.

I went upstairs where Lana, Tim, and Dad were. Another couple was there but I don't remember their names. Drinks were being had! Safe to say, Lana and Tim aren't mormons.

Sister wives circa renaissance

Those are cats in their pockets do you get it

Lana made me a moscow mule! We hung out for about an hour or so then the other couple left and we sat down and had steaks and vegetables for dinner. It was delicious. I didn't take a picture because that would have been so weird. We also had a mascarpone and strawberry pie for dessert.

We sat around and talked. It was really nice. Tim was telling us about an area where you can dig for geos and I thought that was dope. He showed me some of the geos he had found and they're legit. Then he gave them to me which was so sweet! I'm really excited about them.

Geo that's been open and one that has not

We were all pretty tired and went to bed at 9. I stayed up to finish this blog and went to bed around 10. But I had trouble sleeping for whatever reason. I finally crashed around 2 or 3.

I could end the blog here and I intended to last night, but dad and I did some fun things driving back so might as well make this entire trip into one post!

Up at 7. I packed up my stuff, made the bed, and hung out with everyone upstairs. We had fruit and cinnamon muffins for breakfast. then it was time to say goodbye to Lana and Tim. They're very nice people, I enjoyed my time hanging out with them.

Dad and I hit the road at 8:30. We had a long road ahead of us.

I saw my "Cosmo Contains Porn" billboard one last time on our way out. Dad and I we originally going to go to a national monument in Idaho called Craters of the Moon but it would have set us back at least 4 hours so we decided against it. Another trip, maybe.

Instead we stopped at a place called Hells Half Acre which has a lot of super old volcanic rock and a pretty hiking trail to walk around.

Dad collected some sage and I took some rocks.

We stealin'

Then back to the truck. Driving down to SLC we saw a cool bridge we wanted to check out but decided to do it on the way back. Well coming back we couldn't find the bridge! Neither of us remembered what state it was in either. We figured we had passed it a long time ago and simply missed it. Kind of a bummer. But then we saw it up ahead! Dad pulled over and we walked across the bridge and took pictures.

Can I be anymore cute?

Then we drove some more. I took a little nap once we got passed Butte Montana. FINALLY we were back in Helena. Hurray! Dad and I went to the carwash and washed off the truck. It was filthy dirty from driving to the quarry. We got home around 5. Maybe tomorrow dad and I will go through the fossils and clean them up.


REFLECTION!
This was a good trip! Fun people, fun places, fun things. Tim and Lana are great, my dad is awesome, and I liked Utah. I REALLY liked digging for fossils. That was such a fun experience. I would do this trip again. I think it would be great to come back to Utah and do some exploring in the city. I'm happy I got to do this!

Pictured: a paleontologist

7,416 miles

We woke up around 6:30. I slept alright considering this is the 5th hotel I've been to in the past 5 nights. I don't remember if I even woke up and wondered where I was in the night, which is something I do even in my apartment.

We weren't sure if we should have a complimentary breakfast at the guest house or venture off and find a restaurant to eat at. We decided to see what food was being served at the guest house first.

We found the dining area and the food was good. I had made to order scrambled eggs and toast, a slice of pound cake, yogurt, some weird cherries, and lots of cheese. We ate nearly all the cheese, it was so good. I didn't take a picture because my phone is at like 10% battery life. We don't have adapters for these British outlets so we can't charge any devices until we get out of the country.

After eating we walked around outside. It was cool outside, perfect sweater and scarf weather. Just down the road were a bunch of little shops. I stopped in a convenience store and got a Kinder Egg!

We went back to the guest house and charged our phones on the battery packs MJ and Sam had brought. When we were done using the chargers we kept them in the backpack I've been carrying. I'm the only one who has room to carry them and it makes me feel in control of the electronics so win win. I downloaded more Netflix until my phone ran out of room. Then I deleted all my social media apps (all 2 of them, Snapchat and Instagram) to make more room to download more Netflix.

The guest house took us to the airport at 10:10. It's a short drive thank god. Sam and Mary Jo got through security fine (although they made Sam check in his bag) but I got flagged for carrying too many electronics and had to have my backpack super searched. The security guy literally opened up my book and flipped through the pages like I could be hiding a bag of coke between chapters.

We were early, our gate wasn't announced for another hour. To kill time we camped out at Starbucks. I didn't have anything but it's nice to be somewhere familiar.

Our gate was announced and we, along with a thousand other British people, had to hang out in another section of the airport while we waited to board. I predicted days ago we would be on a flight with a bunch of Brits going to Disney World and I was not wrong. People were already wearing their mouse ears. There couldn't have been more than a couple other Americans onboard.

I don't know why it is but nothing makes me feel more patriotic than coming home to American after being out of the country. All these wankers going to Disney, why don't you take several seats. I'm going home.

Sam and I made jokes about being Americans and how great we are and why we should get special treatment. It was good fun. But then I was randomly selected for a security check. Coincidence? My detective skills are saying to curb my patriotism.

So I got pulled aside and Sam and Mary Jo were forced to board ahead of me. I got a thorough touching by my female security and I mean thorough. She should have bought this lady a drink first. Then I had to take out everything from my backpack and go through my electronics. One of the things Mary Jo gave me to carry for her was a brown parcel. Security asked me what was inside and I panicked because I didn't know so I just blurted out "A book." Turns out it was paper, which is what a book is but technically not the right answer so we had to go through that.

I was nearly the last person to board. Once I got seated I went right back to my Netflix. I've been watched House of Cards, The Office, and Ru Paul's Drag Race. I boarded around 1 but the flight didn't take off till 2 because of congestion on the runways.

Another 8 hour flight ahead of us. We were served a meal a couple hours in. I had pesto pasta and a salad and cheese and cracker. I was pretty hungry and ate everything and forgot to take a picture but it's airplane food so you can already imagine what it looked like.

We get free booze but I wasn't interested. I did order wine and whisky but passed it off to Mary Jo and Sam.

Around 5:30 when I was typing up the old Callapillar Travels, a flight attendant handed me an iced lolly.

It's like a popsicle with chocolate and sprinkles and some frosting. Was it good? Not particularly. Did I eat the whole thing? Yeah.

Nearing the end of the flight we were giving more food. A cheese sandwich and tomato chutney, a bag of chips-excuse my American tongue I mean crisps-and a piece of chocolate. I wasn't hungry but ate it all out of boredom. It was good. Tomato chutney was weird though.

When I wasn't watching Netflix I was playing Sudoku.

I AM THE CHAMPION

Finally we landed in Gods country around 5. I'm not technically home yet but it feels like I am! I'm so glad to be back in the states, you'd think I was away at war for years and not India for a couple weeks.

They wouldn't let us off the plane for over 30 minutes because of congestion. Maybe they didn't realize they had Americans on the flight. We had to wait forever.

When they let us off we finally started getting some of that special treatment we'd earned this trip. All the UK people had to wait in the longest line I've ever seen in my life while us yanks got to skip to the front to an electronic check in where we scanned our passports and it took our photo. We passed that off to the passport control office and he welcomed us home. No random security searches for this girl, god bless. I'm done being treated like an ISIS sleeper agent.

By now it's like 6:30. We had to get Sam's bag for baggage claim. It took maybe an hour, it was ridiculously crowded. There are so many British people going to Disney. They're all idiots, honestly. It's 4th of July weekend this is a terrible time to go to Disney World.

Michael and Katie (Sam's girlfriend) had drove to Orlando to pick us up. That was very sweet of them! I was happy to see both their faces even if I didn't recognize Katie's.

They really lightened the mood. Things haven't been tense between Mary Jo, Sam, and I, don't get me wrong. They are both two very easy people to travel with and I owe them all the kudos and credit. It's just nice to have fresh faces into the mix and new people to talk to.

Although I didn't do much talking. I was exhausted. Michael had packed a cooler of drinks and snacks for us and I had a glass of juice and a cracker and cheese before falling asleep sitting up. It's a 4 hour drive from Orlando to Tally but it only felt like an hour. It's weird driving on the right side of the road after using the left lane for weeks. I feel uncomfortable about it.

We're all gonna die

We got to the Peltier home around 11 or midnight. I said hi to Kereyo and everything was kind of a blur. It's midnight Tally time, 5am UK time. My stomach was killing me. All that cheese has caught up to me and I'm paying for it now. As god as my witness I'm never eating dairy again.

I fell asleep with terrible cramps around 12:30.

So to wrap things up and keep this from being a short post, I'm going to continue on with the next day which is the last leg of my journey.

I woke up early around 6. I am ready to come home to Montana.

I had coffee with Mary Jo and Michael and ate an entire bowl of mangos. I freaking love mangos.

My flight left Tally at 10 so we drove to the airport at 9. We chatted in the car. When it was time to leave my big ol eyes started to water up. I want more time with Mary Jo. I didn't get sick of her, not once this entire trip. It really sucked having to say goodbye and my words just got caught in my throat and all I could do was smile and wave goodbye and thank her.

Into the airport I went, back in my natural habit. I waited around for my flight to board then I waited for it to take off then I waited for it to land. The theme of today is waiting.

I landed in Atlanta. It's Sunday. No Chik Fil A. Jesus weeps.

From Atlanta I went to Salt Lake City. I haven't been to this airport in a long time. I talked to my mom and dad on the phone, both are happy I'm back in the States. In Salt Lake I had to wait 4 hours to go to Helena. I was falling asleep in my chair waiting to board. I fell asleep on the plane.

I landed in Helena around 10. Dad and Ian picked me up at the airport. It sounds cheesey but seeing their faces made me realize I was truly home. That was when the trip officially ended, on the happiest of notes.


REFLECTION!

Here's a fun fact: this trip marked the furthest I've ever been from home. From Orchha to Helena is 7,416 miles. In Nepal I was the furthest timezone way from home, ahead by 11 hours and 45 minutes.

I didn't think this was going to be a vacation. I went to India and Nepal for the experience. I thought I would enjoy things like the food and history and learning about religion and I was wrong. I found these topics hard to embrace.

On the contrary, things I thought would scare me I ended up loving, like the people and the chaos. I really did like the chaos. There was endless traffic and blaring horns and crowded streets and people approaching you and the bright colors and it was exciting. You just go with the flow. And the people? I know I've mentioned how annoying it was with the picture taking, but that wasn't the case for most people I encountered. Most of the people I met, especially in more rural areas, were so hospitable and kind. The women of Sasane and Sheros are so beautiful and strong and brave. The children were sweet and so precocious and cute. I was honestly touched by the locals.

But the people I can't say enough about are the ones I spent so much time with in our little travel group, particularly Mary Jo. She seriously made this trip fabulous. MJ showed me a beauty to India and Nepal that I wouldn't have seen on my own. She is a very special person and I am so thankful I got to go on this trip with her. I don't know if I will be back to India or Nepal. If I do, my only requirement is that Mary Jo goes too. Maybe we will go to southern India or Tibet.

Peltier and Nelson family