The Shopping Spree Continues ...

Somehow we manage to break the $200 barrier every time we go to the store.  Today we went to Target, Wholefoods, and Safeway.  We now have a propoer trash can and drain board.  Photos courtesy of the Jean ...

Raymmerman?

Here's a me and my microsoft research mentor, Tom Zimmermann, side-by-side.

Orientation

Things have been super busy, so its been hard to find time to post.  So here's an update on what we've been up to in week 1 at microsoft.

One of the first thing we did was spend an afternoon checking out the big city.  That's the back of Jean's head on the right.

Orientation consisted largely of legal information ... it was a struggle to stay awake for most of it.

Pieter and I share an office which we refer to as the "Bro-office" in building 99.  It's comfortable in size and we have been supplied with some nice machines (with all the awesome Microsoft software we can handle of course).  The office in general contains a lot of nice benefits like a large fridge stocked will all the free drinks we can consume ... even milk!  There's also a ping pong table in close proximity which is perfect for re-energizing around 2:00.

Stay tuned for some photos of the microsoft campus.

Federer would approve

Who's game?

Video Tour of the Bromansion

We think it's pretty awesome.  See if you agree:



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Done!

It's 2 PM local time, our mileage is 3002.6, and we've arrived at our apartment in Redmond. Today's drive down I90 was entirely uneventful; we saw some more mountains, some more rain, and lots of traffic. Actually that last bit was probably new. Pictures of the last leg of our trip, and of the bromansion, to follow.

Home stretch

As I write this we're well on our way through the final 300 mile
stretch from Spokane to Redmond. Total trip mileage currently stands
at 2804 ... about 93% complete.

Bob Ross' Revenge

I think Pieter said it best earlier today: "It feels like we're driving through a Bob Ross painting."  See if you agree in these select photos from today's trip through western Montana, the Idaho pan-handle, and eastern Washington.

Addendum: Pieter points out this hilarious link.  Here's a taste:

"I imagine watching Bob Ross paint is like watching John Henry plant the spikes of the railroad with a mighty swing, Bob’s brush his hammer, the canvas his road. They both have a magical, more myth than man quality about them except that Bob Ross was in fact real. Bob creates joy in all that he touches and molds beauty from nothing, like a wizard. Bob Ross is a wizard."

Closing in on Washington

We've switched over to Pacific Time (so now finally the timestamps on our posts will make sense!). We're about 15 minutes away from our hotel in Spokane, WA, with 2700 miles on the tripometer. In related news: We've received word that we can move into our apartment tomorrow. Excitement!

Lunch in Superior

Restaurants are a bit sparce in western Montana, but it looks like
we've found a good spot about 140mi east of our final destination
today (Spokane, WA). Today has provided yet another fairly
spectacular drive through various mountain passes; will upload new
photos soon.

To Butte!

Good morning! Hotel breakfast number three was a resounding success -- it was mostly identical to yesterday's. We just hit the road in Bozeman, MT, at 9:55 AM local time (11:55 AM EDT) and 2320 miles. We're headed towards Butte, MT, which is about 80 miles away. Today's plan is Spokane, which is less than 400 miles out (our shortest day thus far). We'll be on Interstate 90 for all of today's trip.

The weather looked nice and peaceful while we were having breakfast an hour ago, but has since erupted into a rather epic rain storm with a ton of wind. The radar shows a relatively large storm just north of Butte, but it's hard to predict how stuff moves around the mountains. Ray notes that we have yet to see a day without rain. On the bright side, the clouds look pretty spectacular.

Yellowstone in a day

The story goes that a visitor once asked a ranger what he should do if he had just one day to see the sights. "I’d just sit down on that rock over there and cry," the ranger said.

Despite only having half a day in Yellowstone I think we were pretty successful, even if it did mean running up and down switchbacks to get to all the overlooks.  Both the Big Horn National Forest and Yellowstone were cooler than expected.  The other thing we had going for us was some pretty dramatic weather which I hope comes out in the photos.

A few things note: we got a chance to toss the Frisbee around for a bit at frozen Lake Yellowstone, dried apricots are great road food, buffaloes have no qualms about holding up a line of cars to get to the best grass, and Yellowstone canyon is deep in more ways than one.  Who wants to buy me Ken Burns' National Parks?

Finally, this is the kind of thing we have to deal with to get internet on the road ...

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On to Montana!

Today was epic in so many ways. We travelled approximately 463 miles from Gillette, WY to Bozeman, MT, entering the Rocky Mountains near Bighorn National Forest along the way. We made frequent stops in both Bighorn and Yellowstone to admire the amazing mountain scenery, some of the geysers and mud volcanoes, and the Yellowstone Canyon. Here is a rough approximation of today's route:


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Compared to previous days, we saw an incredible variety of scenery today. I will attempt to summarize in pictures...

Leg 1: From Gillette to Bighorn




Leg 2: Crossing Bighorn National Forest







Leg 3: Pre Yellowstone








Leg 4: Yellowstone
















Leg 5: Post Yellowstone

Wyoming is Epic

Spent the last few hours driving through the mountains of Big Horn
National Forest ... geographic features included snow-capped peaksand
canyons. It was extremly impressive, will post photos when bandwidth
becomes available.

Photo dump: South Dakota - Badlands, Rushmore

It was hard selecting just a few photos to post since there are so many epic ones.  To make up for it, I'll post the others elsewhere in the not-so-distant future.