The Wandering Monkey

Ah, finally. I have been blog-neglectful the past several days. I have completed my 1100 mile trip, and I am now in Montana. I am at my folks' cabin on the Yellowstone River. It's a little house, but there's 11 acres around it. There's also no paved road... so my little Corolla would never make it here in the winter snows.
So far so good. I've asked my mom to stop reading my blog while I stay here, so as to prevent dinnertime arguments or comments. Instant blog feeback = bad.
When I arrived it was a touch awkward. I began unloading all of my worldy posessions into the basement, and it looked a touch like I was moving in to stay. But after a while and some discussions, everything is fine now.
So at this phase in my journey I am getting back in contact with my family. I think the most important thing I have learned so far from living with my cousin and now just starting to do the same with my mom, stepdad, and sister is this: they are different types of people than me. They do not think like I do. We are not "two peas in a pod", any of us. We are almost completely different, associated only by history and the tradition of blood relations.
Given that, its been easier hanging with them this time than many times in the past. Plus, the culture of Montana does not hurt, either. Things are very wide open here. Who else has 11 acres, really? The people are not too uptight, and there are some interesting things to do.
Today we:
Got up and went for a two-hour river-rafting ride. Our raft guide was named "Bear" on account of being a bit chubby and having a beard and all. The Yellowstone River is a class 2 rapids, meaning there's virtually no danger of death. Just a few whitecaps where you will most certainly get wet. We jumped out of the raft at one point, at the encourangement of our guide. My sister and I were first. We were just floating down the river, in front of the raft, feet first and paddling to keep lined up. Then, to my surprise my mom jumped in as well. Even futher to my surprise, my stepdad also jumped in, jeans and all.
The view in this area is majestic. Across both sides of the river are wooded mountains, some with just bare patches of snow still remaining at their peaks. There's farmland in narrow fields along the way, and in one spot there was even a hot spring alongside the river. We steered our raft there and warmed our feets in the water.
The trip ended successfully, with no conflicts and fun all around. Afterwards, we quickly checked out part of Yellowstone Park and saw an amazing (and stinky) bubbling geyeser on top a small hill. The hot sulfuric water bubbles evenly down one side of the hill, leaving multi-colored plant life everywhere it flows. The hotest water has white algae-looking plants, while cooler water has orange and even brown.
From thre, we decided to go to Chico, Montana, just up the road. It has a pool which draws its water from a hot spring as well. There's a jacuzzi-type area with really warm water, and an adjoining Olympic swimming pool with warm water. We all swam around there for several hours, got dinner, and here we are now back at the cabin.
It's been a very nice day.
-J