The Klaus House Goes West: Day 1, Grand Forks to Great Falls (June 8, 2013)

                 

We (my mother, brother, and myself) were on the road around 6 A.M., and for the first hour or two it seemed like the road belonged only to us, the truck drivers, and the golden light of the rising sun. As we passed Fargo and headed west on I-94 we were gradually joined by more travelers like ourselves. 

The travel highlight of the day was stopping in the Badlands at Theodore Roosevelt National Park. As always, the Badlands are an inspiring sight. You drive across generally flat grasslands and then suddenly, without a warning, the earth opens up and the scene is dominated by jutting red rocks and stunted trees. Each layer or rock seems to be a different rosy shade, which contrasts sharply with the greenery that manages to find a foothold in the sandy soil. This trip was especially memorable because the buffalo that inhabit the park decided to come and say hello to all the visitors. My family has been visiting the Badlands for longer than I can remember, and we have never had the buffalo willingly come and graze so close to people! It was a slightly crazy but amazing moment, and one that will probably never happen to me again no matter how many more times I visit the area. :)

That dark shape sitting at the edge of the cliff in the center is a buffalo!

Family Time!

In my family the Badlands are filled with memories of happy camping trips and a reverence for the beauty held within the park. Do you remember in the Lion King when the hyenas shiver at the word "Mufasa?" Replace "Mufasa" with "Badlands" and you have our reaction in a nutshell! If there was one place I would tell everyone who passes through ND (or live there for that matter) to go, it would be Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Seriously guys, please, if you get the chance or if you have to change your schedule to make it, do yourself a favor and just go there! 

After the Badlands we headed through Dickinson (yes, that is its real name... but feel free to take a few seconds to snicker if you feel the need) and through to Montana 200. The road is a two lane highway with many hills, so keep your eyes peeled for the escaped sheep/cattle/antelope that has wandered onto the road. Other than that and the occasional hairy pass to get around a truck, this portion of the drive was uneventful. The terrain we went through was empty grassland dotted with cattle and the occasional beaten up looking ranch or town. 

TIP: Fill up in the last city in North Dakota before you continue into Montana, because there isn't another gas station until you hit Great Falls! 

We pulled into Great Falls around 6:00 P.M. and I am forever grateful to our family friend Sue- she had dinner cooked up and waiting for us. There are few things more lifting to ones mood than being surprised with delicious food after a long day in the car! During and after dinner there was happy chatter as we all caught up with one another, but by 8:00 P.M. we travelers were weary and soon found ourselves fast asleep in our beds. 

And Thus Ended Day 1 of the Klaus' Trip West.

-AK

To Brianna- A beautiful model and a dear friend

 

An oversize sweater that once belonged to someone's grandfather. A beautiful girl, a dear friend, seeming to softly glow in the fading light. A click- the shutter- and then through the silence comes another sound: laughter, laughter all around. We talked, we laughed, we drew closer together- and as I look back upon those images I see you perhaps more clearly. Mysterious, beautiful, strong, and yet still growing- you, my friend, are a constant source of inspiration.

With my thanks for sitting constantly infront of the camera and for laughing at my jokes as if they were funny,

AK

Winter Wispers

Dear reader,

In most places March is met with expectations of warmer weather and daydreams of an arriving spring. However, there is a place for which these expectations are not held. A place where the citizens trudge through March blizzards and huddle together to keep out the last bitter chill. In this place winter claims more than half the year, and the wind never stops blowing.

Those who live in this place are hardy folk. They are friendly, though somewhat wary of new people [and of change in general], and laugh often. These are the people who balance the open lonely habitat within which they live with shared meals and laughter with friends and family. These are the people who grow up listening to the constant whispers created by the wind.

 -AK

Hello

Hello my wonderful readers,

How are you? I hope that you are all doing well and that you have enjoyed your fall! I know that I most certainly did! Now the snow has fallen and stayed in my hometown and I find myself looking eagerly ahead for the joys of winter.

For those of you who don't know, winter is my favorite season! I see winter as a season to pull closer to those you care about, fortifying yourself against the cold of the season with the warmth created by close friendships. It is a season of hockey, or sledding and snowballs and skiing trips. Of hot chocolate and fresh baked cookies, of Christmas carols and twinkling lights. Winter is full of its own sort of magic, one that makes us search within ourselves as well as pull closer to others.

Bundle up lovelies,

AK

Monochrome

Hello Dear Reader,

This past summer Brianna and I did a shoot around the idea that all of the images would be black and white. While I completed the series, it appears that I neglected to share them with you all, so here you are, happy Monday a little early ;)

Hope you all have great weeks,

AK

Honesty: Self-portrait Work

Hello my lovely readers,

I hope, as always, that this post finds you happy and healthy. For today's post I am just going to keep it simple. The photos below were taken without expectations. I just needed to express what I was feeling, so I grabbed Icarus and sat in my house, in my pajamas, and took these photos. The result is, I think, a much more honest portrait of what I was feeling when these were taken. I don't particularly like doing self-portrait work, but I think, at least in this instance, it helped me understand myself a little better.

 Also, I ordered a whole ton of new books, which arrived this week! I am so beyond jazzed! I adore books, for those of you who don't know, and will most likely be spending a lot of my break devouring the written word. Below is a quote from one of my new books which I just finished this evening. I thought that it was appropriate for this set of photos.

"It may well be that we can never fully adapt to our own deformities."
-"Norwegian Wood" Haruki Murakami

 

 

Hope you all have fabulous rest of your weeks!!

-AK