I legit cannot believe I found these photos, but here they are! I'm going back to old pre-blog photos, digging through film prints, and working to find all the pictures from the first year we were married.
Neil and I were married over Christmas break in 2002 (and went on our honeymoon to Bear Lake/Jackson Hole; I'll dig those photos out too). When we got our very first tax return in February of 2003, we got about $300 and used all of it to buy a tent, two sleeping bags, and a Coleman stove (which is the stove we still use today 20 years later--it's going strong! We still have the tent and sleeping bags too).
We went on three camping trips that summer--we went to Arches & Canyonlands at the end of spring semester, then the Uintas one weekend in May, and then drove across the country for a family reunion with his family in Missouri and mine in Michigan. Then on the way back we stopped at Mt. Rushmore, Wind Cave, and Yellowstone.
Neil and I were married over Christmas break in 2002 (and went on our honeymoon to Bear Lake/Jackson Hole; I'll dig those photos out too). When we got our very first tax return in February of 2003, we got about $300 and used all of it to buy a tent, two sleeping bags, and a Coleman stove (which is the stove we still use today 20 years later--it's going strong! We still have the tent and sleeping bags too).
We went on three camping trips that summer--we went to Arches & Canyonlands at the end of spring semester, then the Uintas one weekend in May, and then drove across the country for a family reunion with his family in Missouri and mine in Michigan. Then on the way back we stopped at Mt. Rushmore, Wind Cave, and Yellowstone.
I had no idea that we actually had photos from Wind Cave, but WE DO!! Both of us were so surprised when we found this photo Friday night! So here is 23-year-old Neil in our third national park that we visited together (there was a photo of me too, but it was totally black behind me and you couldn't tell that we were anywhere interesting).
We did not have the money to pay the parking fee in Mt. Rushmore (I think it was like...$10? And apparently we'd really splashed out on Wind Cave tickets) so we parked at a pullout viewpoint and then walked all the way back up the road into the actual monument part. Good times. Can you see Washington's nose at the top of the picture?
Here's Neil pointing just in case you missed it.
One of the things I remember most vividly about this day is that it was the Sturgis Motor Rally that weekend and everything was booked. Just totally crazy and we couldn't find a campsite anywhere! I remember we checked sooooo many sites and everything was booked, we finally found a site around 2 am and set up our tent on the gravel right behind our car (and I remember just brushing my teeth at the campsite because I was too tired to walk to the bathroom). We had a couple of experiences with campsites that first year that stressed me out SO much and now that I'm recording this I realize that's probably why I am so obsessive now about making sure that we have a site booked months in advance and never leave anything to chance! That may be a common theme in these posts. ;-)
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