San Fran Marathon

No no we didn’t run a marathon silly! But we did a TON of stuff for our day in San Francisco. We woke up, Bri took the car for an oil change (since we’ve gone over 3,000 miles) and we all got ready to leave. When we got out the door, Aunt Paula called 511. What is 511 you ask? Oh yes it’s the most miraculous thing in the world. You call, say where you’re leaving from and where you’re going and it tells you the traffic!! NY NEEDS THIS!! So we got into San Francisco and parked the car and walked down to the pier to catch our ferry to Alcatraz! We did an audio tour so they give you a really cool necklace with headphones to wear.

The tour is really interesting! The narrator basically walks you through the place telling you where to go and where to stop then gives you some information about what you’re looking at. Also, there are some ex-inmates that are telling stories too so it’s really neat! After we finished the tour, we had some sandwiches and hopped back on the ferry. We walked over to Pier 39 and did a little shopping and Brian found another noodle!

Then we went over to look at the seals. They just hang out on the docks and lay all over each other, it looks soooo comfy! Sometimes they get nasty and start barking at each other but eventually just lay back down… what a life!

We kept on walking over to Fisherman’s Wharf where we stopped at this place that has this amazing sourdough bread. They make it into all these fun shapes and animals, I got a small turtle with raisins for the eyes.

I turned him on his back so I didn’t have to stare into his raisin eyes while I devoured him. Oh don’t worry I shared with everyone else too (a little)! We stopped at the cable car turnaround and saw the massive line of people waiting for a ride and then we just kept on walking. Why all the walking you ask? Oh well that brings me to our next stop… Ghirardelli. You can actually watch the chocolate being mixed and it is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen! I actually took a 10 second video of it on our flip and decided when I’m sad I will watch this. If anyone needs to see, let me know and I can arrange a viewing. So after watching the most beautiful thing in the world we ordered… I got the “cookie on the bottom”. So they take a half of their chocolate chip cookie, warm it up, 2 scoops of ice cream (I did cookie dough to complete the package), their ridiculously thick amazing chocolate sauce and whipped cream. When they brought it over to me, it almost brought a tear to my eye … but then it got better. I tried to get a spoonful of the ice cream and melted ice cream overflowed from the glass because of the heat from the cookie! Impressed? Wait… by the time I finished the ice cream, I was wondering how there was still so much cookie left, after all, it was only half a cookie. We went up to the front and that’s when I figured it out. This cookie was no ordinary chocolate chip cookie, it was like twice as thick as any cookie has ever tried to be! Awwwwwwesome!!

By now Aunt Susan had met up with us and we got to the car to finish our marathon San Francisco tour! Oh and I don’t think I’ve mentioned it yet that Aunt Paula is an amazing tour guide! She seems to know everything about San Francisco there is to know… and then some. So we went around the city and saw Coit Tower (which is really cool because it was on Amazing Race!), Lombard St (crookedest street) and the Painted Ladies (aka the houses from the intro of Full House).
We drove through the park and got the abbreviated tour, saw a windmill, the buffalo – that’s right, they have Buffalo in San Francisco! Real ones, not like the painted ones! Then we headed down to the beach to catch a glimpse of the sunset through the fog.

All this running around can make you hungry! So we met up with Jeannine (Brian’s other cousin) and her boyfriend Dash for dinner at Kam’s. This is a reeeeeeally good Chinese restaurant and since we had a bunch of people we just ordered a ton of dishes and tried everything (yes even me). I know, I know you’re thinking this could be messy but no no, they thought of everything at this place! A lazy susan sits right smack in the middle of the table- brilliant!!

When there was no more room for anyone to eat anymore, we went over to the Beach Chalet which has a restaurant and bar… oh and all of these mosaics and murals “depicting everyday life in San Francisco”. If anyone can tell us what is going on in this “everyday” occurrence, please, please do tell. I tried everything…

So we had a drink at the Chalet, then headed over to Aunt Susan’s house so she could show off her party hosting skills. Not only did she have last week’s episode of Jersey Shore on DVR, but she served drinks with little fun things on the straws! Mine had a pineapple, I took it home for the scrapbook!  Oh and did I mention the yummy mojitos that Uncle John made, were made using fresh squeezed lime juice?!? I tried to help… tried being the operative word, I won’t be purchasing a juicer anytime soon. We hung out at Aunt Susan’s house for a while, watched JS (I think Uncle John & Aunt Paula are addicted), watched some interesting youtube videos and eventually I was lame and fell asleep. In my defense, my watch said 3 am and it was a very busy day! It really was a great day though, we’re so glad we were able to spend time with everyone since we don’t get to see them too often. We had so much fun, we were exhausted! So back home for the night!

This morning we woke up, packed the car and went out to breakfast with Uncle John & Aunt Paula before we hit the road. We went to this place called Brown Sugar which was a little hidden gem in this completely industrial area of Oakland. The décor was so cool and the food was amazing. Brian got the waffles & chicken and I stuck with just the waffle and of course breakfast potatoes (that were off the hoooook). Apparently I should’ve gotten the chicken though because he says it was awesome! I was happy with my decision though. The waffles are made with cornmeal and even though they’re in the shape of a Belgian waffle, they don’t taste like it at all. They have such a different texture, they’re crispy and lighter. AND they’re served with some crazy butter and apple cider syrup. You can order maple syrup for an extra $2.00 but you just shouldn’t for any reason, trust me! So we had a fabulous time in the San Francisco area, thanks so much to Uncle John & Aunt Paula for housing us for this leg of our amazing race!

And then it was back in the car. In the interest of time we decided against the coastal route and took the freeway all the way down. We hit a little traffic but nothing like NY and we made it by 8 which is about 8 ½ hours which is like nothing for us now! We stopped at a strategically placed view point to watch a gorgeous sunset. We’re staying inside the Padre’s stadium (thank you Kelly!) and they have a game tonight so hopefully we’ll get to see a little of that! Then we’re going to head to the gaslamp district to get some food and hopefully continue our streak of amazing meals!

I’m in love...

Okay so the hotel was okay. It is a green hotel which means that instead of bottles of water, they have metal bottles with a note thanking you for purchasing the bottle to reduce waste. They don’t have a giant shower head in order to conserve water. The shampoo “bottles” are like little plastic shot glasses which I’m unsure if they reuse so we didn’t steal them. The exterior and interior of the building are definitely different and do not look like an ordinary hotel, they look more earthy. Overall it was a good hotel room with a comfortable bed at a good price. I wasn’t in love with it but there’s nothing wrong with it, I mean there were no warm cookies, but it was a billion times better than Sioux Falls. Brian simply refers to it as “that hippy place”. He’s a man of few words.
So I set the alarm for 5:30 thinking I would wake up and go for a run while the sun was coming up. I got back at 6:15 and it was still dark… needless to say I was still less than impressed with the Tahoe area because I had yet to even really see it. I got back to the hotel room and got into full busy day mode. We raced to get up, get ready, get packed and get out. I had read about the Red Hut Waffle shop and decided we had to give it a whirl, only problem was we had to be back and ready for the bus tour at 8:10 and Bri was nervous that we wouldn’t make it. I said we had to try so when we got there I asked the hostess if we would have a problem and she assured me we would be fine. Good thing! I got a strawberry waffle and Brian got banana with whipped cream. The only time I’ve had fruit on my waffle is that yummy strawberry sauce, this was not that. First of all this was not your ordinary waffle, it was probably half the depth of a Belgian waffle and instead of giant waffle boxes, it had tiny ones. And there was no ooey gooey strawberry sauce, there was just strawberries and a dollop of whipped butter. So I was a little taken aback, like really? This is the waffle I HAD to come get? Well yes, it was. You see, the genius behind the tiny waffle holes is that you increase the amount of places for your waffle to hold onto the butter… grab some fresh strawberry slices on that bad boy and you’re golden! Red hut is genius. So add the Red Hut to your list of places to go.

Not only did we make it out of the Red Hut on time, but we had time to spare. We had to meet the bus about a block from our hotel so we went back and parked the car there and then made some PB&Js for the road. The tour stopped somewhere for lunch but being the savvy travelers we are, we decided to bring our own. So we walked over to the bus, got on and immediately dropped the average age of the 20 passengers down to about 65. We were officially the young whippersnappers! The driver basically takes you around the lake, up through the mountains (oh you know I loved that!) and stops at a bunch of places. I was really glad we did the tour because it was a good use of our time. Had we tried to tackle Tahoe on our own we wouldn’t have seen half the places we did or learned anything! We started at the South end of the lake which is where we stayed and worked our way around (about 70 miles). There are seriously no words to describe this place. Everywhere we stopped was better than the last. Of course it helped that there was not a cloud in the sky so the sun hit the water and was just stunning! But each place we stopped, it looked so different! We also stopped at Squaw Valley which is where the 1960 Olympics were. It was really cool there and we ran into 3 giant dogs which really helped with missing Teddy & Lincoln. They were sooo cute, I mean obviously not as cute as some Levittown puppies I know but you know, it helped! We stopped at the North end of the lake in Tahoe city for lunch and most of the bus went to a restaurant. The driver gave us a heads up that behind the stores they had picnic tables so we went over there and had a beautiful view for our PB&Js.

We stopped for 2 hours so after that we walked around the town and went into some shops. Then we went down by the water. The beach was a little rocky but I thought it was necessary to put my feet in while we were here! The water was like the perfect temperature. I didn’t get in and have to jump or do an ohmygodohmygodohmygod because it was freezing, it was just perfect! When you get closer you can see how clear the water is though, it’s pretty much the opposite of Jones Beach.

So we got back to the bus and continued around the lake. We stopped at Cal Neva which is the oldest casino in Tahoe and was owned by Frank Sinatra for a few years before he had his gaming license revoked. When you go in you can definitely tell this is an oldie! The really cool thing about this place is that while Sinatra owned it, he would get these big names to play there and it was the hangout for the rat pack! So there’s all these pictures of Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett… just hanging out there! Also about a week before Marilyn Monroe died, she was staying there and called the front desk to report she overdosed on sleeping pills, they were obviously able to save her that time. The other cool part of the Cal Neva is that it’s ON the state line so you can be in CA and take a step and be in NV! Here’s us on the state line!

From here we went to Sandy Beach on the NV side of the lake. This is where I fell head over heels for Tahoe and decided that I should probably just stay. This was not a rocky beach like at Tahoe City but a small little sandy beach with the most beautiful blue/green water that again was crystal clear. Not too far from shore, there were giant rocks and everything was just really breathtaking. Again I had to put my feet in and the water was still perfect! We decided this is the best beach we’ve seen since our honeymoon. It was so amazing!

This unfortunately was our last stop and then we were dropped back off. Here’s why you have to go to Lake Tahoe. If you like to do a million things on your vacation, you can go on a bus tour, go on a boat tour, rent bicycles, go shopping, go horseback riding, go kayaking, etc. if you prefer to do nothing, they have a giant gorgeous lake. If you would like a mix of the two… here you go! So I officially have a favorite spot on our trip. Not that the other places weren’t fantastic but this was just unbelievable.

And then it was back in the car to head out to Uncle John & Aunt Paula’s! We hit a little traffic but Brian has decided that CA traffic is acceptable, so he does not hate CA. His justification is that there were 2 accidents. My argument was hello the Idaho Fair?!? I don’t think I will ever be able to change his mind, sorry Idaho! For the first time in a few days, we got to our destination at a reasonable hour! We went out to dinner and saw a beautiful sunset which I cannot share because I forgot to bring the cameras – boohoo! But trust me it was reeeeeally nice! We had some yummy Mexican food and a Strawberry Margarita the size of my face! Tonight will be an early night and then wake up to take on San Fran!

Truce...

So I thought and thought about it and I’ve decided that it is possible to have a love/hate relationship with the mountains. I will oooooh and ahhhh at them for the majority of the day and I will respect them since they’ve been here a lot longer than I have but when that sky goes black, I will try to completely ignore them and hopefully in return for not hating them, they will not try to kill me anymore. They really were beautiful this morning so I think I made the right decision.

Now I feel like I rushed a bit last night, so let me explain the process of this whole blog thingy. While Bri drives I type up a word document and then download all of our pictures for the day. Once we check in wherever we are I just copy, paste and upload the pictures onto our site. Last night we got to Cowboy Village around 10 and headed out for dinner and then the bar right after that. This means by the time I got home it was super late and I feel as though I rushed through Jackson Hole. Granted, we were actually only there for about 8 hours and half that time was spent sleeping but it really was such a cool town! By the time I got home, I copy pasted, uploaded and started to add but was just completely out of it so I apologize for the lack of detail. For those of you thinking ugh again with all the words – sorry!
So here goes…we went to Snake River Brewery and we walked, in, were seated right away, placed our order and got our food. It was the fastest service we’ve ever had and our waiter was really nice too (refreshing after the night before!) I got a pulled pork sandwich with some insane chipotle sauce. Now I don’t really know what chipotle sauce is but whatever it is, I’m a big fan! The pulled pork was awesome and the mystical magical sauce gave it a nice little kick! If you like spicy food, ignore that last part. I’m a big wus when it comes to spicy so anything with more kick than like a plain potato is spicy to me (but you may still enjoy, who knows, only one way to find out)! Then it was on to the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar. We were ridiculously exhausted so could have just skipped this but decided we had to go for at least one drink in a saddle, how often do you get to do that? We did and it was definitely worth it! Do you have any idea how fun it is to sit in a saddle with your feet swinging in the stirrups while drinking rum? Again, only one way to see if you’ll like it! Now when we planned this trip we knew pretty much every place we stayed would be too short but just wanted to get a taste of everywhere so we can see if we’d want to come back. So once again, we were not there long enough but it was totally worth it, even just to see the town, which is set up so cute. The center of town where all the bars, restaurants & shops are is very much like what you would picture a western town to be (minus the old school cowboys & shootouts) with all the different store fronts and everything right there. It’s super clean too and they have these arches made out of antlers scattered around. We stayed in a resort where they have individual little log cabins. I must admit this place is the one I was most worried about with bed bugs but they came up clear! It was such a cute place, small but who really needs a lot of room for 8 hours? It would have been cool to stay longer, each cabin has a “kitchenette”, and an outdoor grill & picnic table so I would definitely recommend it but keep in mind it’s a log cabin, not the Four Seasons. This is the closest I will ever come to camping and I thoroughly enjoyed it-all 8 hours!

So we woke up early, ate breakfast in our cabin and hit the road to go to Yellowstone (which mapquest told us was like an hour and a half). We turned on the navigation and it said we had to drive 260 miles… so we almost didn’t go but then realized maybe the stupid robot was thinking we were still somewhere else… phew, she was just confused! The drive was absolutely breathtaking! We were driving while the sun was coming up and we went through Grand Teton National Park and it was just beautiful!

Then we got to Yellowstone and thankfully Brian was driving because man those mountains are high!! Since we were limited on time and the park is just huge, we only checked out the southwest corner but it was still great! Of course we went to Old Faithful but we saw so many other fantastic things that we weren’t planning on. When you enter the park, you’re basically on one windy road and there’s little shoulders for you to pull off and park to go see the different waterfalls, rivers, geysers and tons of other things! Did I mention it was snowing? Yea we left the cabin and I had a tank top on. After getting out in the Tetons to take pictures I put a sweatshirt on. By the time we were at our second stop in Yellowstone I had double sweatshirts and was still FREEZING!! When we went to Old Faithful, they have a visitors center that just opened so we were in there and the little park ranger man in his short sleeve shirt starts telling everyone to go get outside so we don’t miss it! It could go any minute! Thanks guy, you enjoy your nice warm center and send us into the blistering cold! Seriously, I had my 2 sweatshirts, thankfully I didn’t wash my hair today (I know I’m filthy) so I wore a hat but my face was ridiculously cold! Like I kept having to ask Brian if I had snot on my face because I couldn’t feel it! Oh and when we went back inside after like an hour, I noticed that my gums and my eyeballs were cold! So, a word to the wise, pack a winter jacket no matter when you’re going!

So we were in the park for a few hours then headed out to tackle our longest drive yet (about 600 something miles in about 12 hours). We went through Montana for a little bit, then Idaho for a looooooong time. Brian has decided he hates Idaho and would prefer to grow his own potatoes rather than support them. A little background on his completely rational thought process – traffic. I took a little nap in the car and woke up and found out that he had been sitting in traffic for ½ hour so we took a detour on the navigation and tried to get back on track. Well if anyone’s looking to go to Southeastern Idaho and doesn’t want to deal with traffic, steer clear of Labor day weekend, this is when they have their Fair – ohhhhh that’s why! So we figured since it wasn’t really too far out of the way, we would stop at the Potato Museum in Blackfoot (the Potato capital). Take a look at this giant potato and my equally giant smile since I was so excited to be here!

Yea they were closed for Labor day so I joined Brian… we hate Idaho. Although I must say, they have so far had the best radio stations, we really didn’t have to listen to any CDs driving through AND we didn’t drive on any mountains. Okay I don’t totally hate it, but Idaho did hurt my heart a little. I’ll get over it!

So moving right along, we crossed the border to Nevada and wow. Oh and that was not a good wow. When you enter Nevada from Idaho, the first town is Jackpot. I’m convinced that this is not a real town but a front for some horribly corrupt strange terrible something. If you’re picturing Vegas, don’t because it’s nothing like that. It’s literally one road and on both sides there’s shady shady casinos and a few gas stations. We stopped for gas and I went in to use the nasty shady restroom and let me tell you if the town didn’t freak me out enough, the people there certainly did the job! So far everywhere we’ve gone, the majority of the people have been really really nice. Every person I looked at had this strange look on their face. No one smiled or really acknowledged anyone but they weren’t nasty either just some strange folk! Here are my thoughts… you know in Men in Black how the aliens were walking around as people? Yea, I’m 100% seriously convinced that this is where they live. They all had this blank look on their face and just creepy creepy! Oh and hello, all there is in the entire town is casinos and gas stations. Last time I checked, humans need groceries, maybe a post office, perhaps a mall? So if you’re looking for a Roswell experience, here’s your place. So I high-tailed it to the car and told Brian that THIS was the place that we would be kidnapped and killed, so shady. So then you drive down the one lane road about a mile and then you’re surrounded by nothing… desert, hills, eventually some baby mountains (but nothing like last night). This place also just had an eery feel to it, I couldn’t wait to get to the interstate in 70 miles!! So we made it and still every stop we made in NV just seemed shadier and shadier. Oh and my favorite sign (that we saw numerous times) was PRISON AREA, HITCH HIKING PROHIBITED. As if I needed another reason to be completely freaked out! Oh and these signs generally showed up where we were exiting for gas, of course! Needless to say, so far this is my least favorite state! Unfortunately we were in it for a long long long time and didn’t get to Lake Tahoe until about 1:15 in the morning, which if you’re doing the math, bingo is 4:15 in the morning NY time. Oh and I don’t think I’ve mentioned how messed up we are with time and eating. We keep the car clock on NY time so we don’t call home too late but we’re not really staying anywhere long enough to get adjusted to the time change so it’s so confusing! Then since we’re on the road so long, we kind of just eat when we’re hungry. So I just had a PB&J at 8:30 which is 11:30 on our clock?!? Then snacked on some pistachios at 10:30, 1:30 on the clock – weird! Oh and everywhere we go we’re like what day is it? What’s the date? We’re completely out of touch with everything, it’s so strange! I’m slightly exhausted so can’t go in to details of tonight but will report back tomorrow! Luckily tomorrow we have a bus tour around Lake Tahoe and then only a 3 hour drive to Brian’s Uncle John & Aunt Paula’s house – we cannot wait for 3 hours!! Finally a vacation!

Word of the day… wow!

Since I have the memory of a goldfish I have to start by saying thanks for the comments and keep them coming! It’s so cool to know we have friends and family enjoying this trip with us! Next order of business, wishing Jeanine and Lois both a happy happy birthday! Okay now where were we…
Okay yes so we checked in last night and then went to grab a bite to eat. In keeping with tradition, we ordered way too much food and then were stuffed by the time we finished our appetizer. But we pushed through and had a little more… then our waitress forgot about us which was not good because we were trying to get to Mt Rushmore for the evening light show. So we then had to (stop reading Dad) race up a mountain to try and get there on time. Nah just kidding, the thing is, they make it pretty impossible to race up there. They set the speed limit at 45 but it’s so scary and windy and uphill and you just think you’re going to die the whole time so I maybe did 46… while saying ohmygodohmygodohmygod the entire 15 minutes up. Very scary. So we got there and they have an amphitheater that was packed with people, they give backgrounds of all the presidents then cue the patriotic music and slowly light it up. It was pretty cool, only problem is, our cameras are used to NY where there’s always lights all over the place so we didn’t get the best pictures so we decided we’d go back in the morning.

This morning I set the alarm to get up at 5:45 because I thought they’d probably have some pretty sunrises here and since our forgetful waitress made us miss sunset, I wanted to check it out. Well I actually got up at 5:15 which is kind of annoying because I’m on vacation –hello!?! But in my head it’s 7:15 or that’s how I justified it… sure. Anyway it was so pretty out there and remember how quiet I told you it was? Well I went down the driveway (that’s longer than my entire street) to take some pictures and all of a sudden I heard something so I went investigating (which I’m quite good at thanks to Law & Order) and found what the noise was… it was a deer walking through the grass about 150 feet away from me! I know it was about 150 feet away because it was about the size of my entire block… where we have 3 houses on one tiny street… things are a little different out here! But isn’t that crazy?!? So quiet you hear a deer walking! Insane… oh and it wasn’t like a fat deer that other deer make fun of because she’s so loud… just a normal little deer! So we packed up, had a delicious breakfast –prepared by Mark who used to be a chef… you know, before he decided to build incredible houses. Oh and neither of which he was trained for, he just picked it up! I mean I’m not saying that I’ve never ever just taught myself something because I have, I taught myself how to tie my shoes and then taught my sister, which I always thought was pretty impressive… apparently I’ve met my match! Wow…

After we stuffed our car and stuffed our faces with food, we headed out. Our first stop was Crazy Horse. This is a GIANT monument being sculpted into what we learned is Thunder Mountain (like the Thunder cats-FUN!). It is so huge, the 4 presidents from Mt Rushmore can fit into Crazy Horse’s head! Work started on this over 60 years ago and they are projecting it to take another 40-60 years! The original sculptor has passed away but his wife and some of his 10 kids (along with others obviously) are continuing the work on it until it’s complete. One of the reason’s it’s taking so long is because they’re not funded by the government or anything. They are funded completely by people’s interest (going to visit & buying souvenirs & donations). To give you an idea, we watched a video of them working on it and there was a man working on the detail of Crazy Horse’s eyeball and the eyeball was bigger than him. And no it was not a midget. It’s pretty insane that we saw something that started way before we were born and may not even be completed in our lifetime. This is a picture of the replica of what it will look like and the mountain with his face finished in the background.  Wow…

Then it was off to Mt Rushmore again. Even though we went last night we figured we should go back and get some pictures. Plus today’s weather is really great so how could we not make a quick stop? Even though it’s small compared to Crazy Horse, it’s still a pretty incredible thing to see and it’s one of those things that if you can, you should definitely add it to your list. Plus it gives you bonus Patriot points!

And then we were back on the road. So Wyoming’s a big state, huh? Yea the fun part of today is that we’re not driving on one road for like 200 miles or anything. No, no… we’re driving on little one lane roads for 20 miles here, 40 miles there...then eventually 60 miles here and 80 miles there. We passed a sign for Lost Springs – Population 1 and then passed a giant Jackalope on a mountain – oh yea did I forget to tell you? Apparently the Jackalope is the official mythical creature of WY. Do you know your state’s mythical creature??

Okay so the fun thing about driving west is that you’re basically chasing the sunset so it ends up lasting way longer than it ever really does. Wyoming is so far the most interesting state to drive through. It started out with nothing, literally tumbleweeds blowing across the road, then there were little shady towns here and there, then some hills, then these amazing breathtaking mountains. Luckily we got to the mountains at sunset so it was gorgeous! Then we ran into these awesome log cabins all over the place! Literally we saw shacks & trailers & nothingness for hours and hours and all of a sudden these ridiculous huge log cabins were popping up all over the place! So cool!
Okay so yesterday we did corny and now we will go into the most graphic post yet. So remember those gorgeous mountains I was just talking about (if not, go back 2 sentences)? Okay now remember back when you were a kid and in the daylight, the Teddy Bear in the corner of your room looked like your best friend but when the lights were off, little Teddy transformed into one of the scariest things in the world because it was just this crazy scary shadow? Well the “beautiful” mountains… actually are the bad guy that gave me the most terrifying hour of my life emotionally, mentally and physically. So we’ve been switching on and off driving and I was doing the second half today (after the tumbleweeds). We actually drove through the Rockies (beautiful, right? Uhm wait). So it was about 8:15 when I’m driving up this mountain and all of a sudden there’s a sign that says “Pavement Ends” so I’m thinking pavement ends what the hell does that mean?!? Oh it means that there is no longer a road. So the Mountain beast rips away the road right out from under you and decides the next 17 miles (or eternity as it seemed) will be on dirt… on a gigantic mountain… in pitch black… with barely enough width to fit 2 compact cars across. So the speed limit was 55 (since it’s a construction zone) and I maxed out at 18 after making Brian put the AC on because I’m now sweating and gripping the wheel. Bri offered to drive and in my irrational terrified brain I thought, sure let me just pull over to this cliff and we’ll switch! Eventually when I literally just wanted to stop & give up and just maybe call AAA and see if they would maybe fly a helicopter out to just pick me up I decided okay we’ll switch. So we basically stopped in the middle of the non existent road since no one else was on it and switched. Now one major difference between Brian and I is that I’m an emotional extremist whereas he’s more middle of the road. He sees something cool and goes wow that’s cool… whereas I’m like OHMYGOD DID YOU SEE THAT?!?! So he takes the wheel and starts going like 30 off the bat. I literally was gripping the door handle with one hand and my cell phone with the other, like white knuckles gripping. Then my whole happy go lucky day of “wows” slowly shifted to (pardon me) “holy shits” and then quickly progressed into way worse. The saying is a mouth like a trucker… well in my head it was like a trucker that came home from the bar one night to find his wife ran off with his best friend… and took his dog… yea those kinds of words were now racing around my brain as I started to think of how great of a trip this WAS and how lucky we WERE and how dead we were about to be. Oh so I’m just mentioning the mental/emotional effects of the most terrifying hour of my life, here are the physical signs- well my hands were sore from grabbing onto objects for an hour, I was blinking significantly less, breathing significantly less, feeling nauseous and oh yes, my eyes were full of tears for the entire time. I literally think that the only way I could feel this terrified is if I were in a plane that was going down. At one point a giant truck was coming the opposite direction. The good part of that was that it finally shed a little light on Pitch Black Hell Mountain (I believe that’s the name of it) but the bad part is that the light was just enough for me to look to my right and see what was about a foot off the “road” … which was nothing… yup… nothing- just emptiness! Oh and a giant truck was coming at us, that in itself was a bit scary. Well we finally made it up the mountain – phew! The only thing worse than going up this mountain was the next step which was going down the mountain. Why on earth would they make you go up a mountain to go down a mountain?!? Why not just stay down?? So I guess it’s not really long story short because that was pretty long but eventually the worst hour of my life ended and we got to Cowboy Village Resort where we checked into our cozy little log cabin! We went to a brewery for dinner which was awesome! We didn’t even look at the appetizers because there’s physically no more room for any more food to go in but both our dinners were fantastic! Then we headed over to Million Dollar Cowboy Bar so we could sit in saddles at the bar and have a drink! So cool! And now that it's 2:45 am but really only 12:45 am (I'm completely exhausted either way) I will go lay down and ponder how I feel about mountains… natural beauty or terrifying monster… hmmmm…

You can’t see a rainbow…

Oh a word to the wise, this will be my corniest post yet, so if you’re not in the mood, skip this one. A wise adventurer once told us “You can’t see a rainbow without a little rain” (thanks April!). So this is what I told myself last night while tossing and turning all night. On a trip like this it’s very easy to get very disappointed when something goes wrong just because of all the planning that goes into it and after driving for hours and hours, you just really want to go pass out. When something keeps you from this, it’s not so easy to shake it off. But I thought about it and decided to stop complaining and realize how lucky we are to even be doing this trip. So I stayed up to tire myself out and then prepared for bed…

Brian was afraid I would suffocate so I had to take my mask off and resort to spraying the pillow with perfume and putting lotion under my nostrils. It’s really crazy that the smell bothered me so much considering I only really have like 50% sense of smell but we decided that even a chain smoker would be offended by this room. Anywho… I repeated my new mantra until I eventually fell asleep and as soon as I woke up I ran into the bathroom to start the race. If you’re looking for a test to see if your marriage will last, here’s a fun exercise- bring 2 giant suitcases into a fairly cramped bathroom, meet your spouse in there and try to get ready for the day, then re-pack your suitcases. If you both make it out alive, I’d say you’re in pretty good shape. Good news, we’re in good shape!

So we left the Hilton Smoky Inn and proceeded to Sioux Falls. It actually ended up being a gorgeous sunny day out (rainbow!) and the Falls were truly beautiful. If you’ve ever been to Niagara Falls, you really can’t compare the two. The Falls really are not that tall or wide or anything but it’s just so amazing how many different little falls there are. You can walk around on the rocks and pretty much get as close as you want and just keep finding little hidden falls. After we took about 4,000 pictures we went to the observation deck but had to wait about 20 minutes for them to open. So we sat on a bench and just looked out, which was really unbelievable, I’ve never seen anything like it. The Falls are located in Falls Park which is one of the most well manicured parks I’ve ever seen. As we sat there, it just seemed unreal because everything was just so perfect(rainbow) it looks like a painting or something! Unlike anything I’ve ever seen. This is definitely added to the list of things everyone should see at some point.

Back to the car! Now from Sioux Falls to Custer, SD is 6 hours-mostly on 90 which is the road we were on forever in Minnesota. Today we got to travel on 90 for 390 miles-fun! Here’s the difference… Driving on 90 in MN you see nothing… seriously nothing – well except exit signs (barely). Driving on 90 in SD is like the best driving experience ever! I have never seen so many billboards in my entire life and the best part is that they’re ALL for the same like 5 things! We started with signs for Wall Drug… after seeing about 15 of them Brian did some research and we learned that this is an old old store that they just advertised like crazy to get people in. The billboards started with “Free Ice Water” (which they still have on some billboards and they still offer), then they moved onto 5 cent coffee and 10 cent “pop”! But they have the most brilliant advertising minds at Wall Drug. First of all, for 300 miles (literally) the longest you go without seeing a sign is 6 miles and there were some ½ mile stretches that had 3 or 4 signs in a row. Moving on to the actual signs, besides the free water, 5 cent coffee, 10 cent pop, they have homemade ice cream, pie & donuts! Then the best ones are the slogans such as “Have you dug Wall Drug?” and my personal favorite “Wall Drug spells FUN”… I love fun too so after about 24 signs I decided we had to stop here.

But first, there were also signs for Corn Palace (not as heavily advertised but probably every 10 miles-which is pretty often considering the 75 mph speed limit). So we looked it up and Corn Palace is not just the only Corn Palace in SD but in the WORLD! They actually have murals made entirely of corn… corn husks, corn cobs, you name it! So we decided since we’re not stopping at anywhere corny (haha get it) like the biggest ball of yarn that we would have to stop at the Corn Palace. So when you walk in they have 2 people at a table that ask how many people (it’s free by the way) and then they write on a piece of paper how many people and add it by hand all day. We made this stop half mocking the Corn Palace but the joke was on us, I asked the woman how many people and at the time they were up to 694… it was only 11 am and almost 700 people had already been to the Corn Palace. The first Corn Palace was in 1892 and they change the motif every year. As corny (haha) as it is, this was really amazing how much detail was put into these things. So if you’re ever on 90 and need a break, check out the ONLY Corn Palace in the world! Oh and again, can we say rainbow!?

And we’re back on the road. Now we decided to take a detour from 90 to go through the badlands which are these crazy million year old rock formations. So we took like 2 pictures then got to the entrance where you pay admission of $15 (that we had no idea about) and decided we’re too cheap to pay to drive through rocks. Luckily the Ranger let us turn around and we headed back towards good old 90! But before we got back we made a minor detour to stop and feed the Prairie Dogs – they eat unsalted shelled peanuts! They’re so cute and even though sometimes they get a little skittish, they come right up to you and take it from your hand! One little guy that came over to me only had one eye, so I helped him de-shell his peanuts, he was soooo cute! So since we can’t see our own puppy dogs, the prairie dogs had to suffice for today!

Then it was back on 90 BUT we were only 20 miles from Wall Drug! The anticipation was killing us and when we finally made it we were so excited! It is the most random place in the world. It’s literally like 6 stores with all the walls knocked down so you can walk through and it takes up like an entire block. They have everything you could think of – souvenirs, normal pharmacy things, food (although no 10 cent pop, I was a little disappointed), random sculptures and stuff to take pictures with – it was insane. So we were glad we finally made it and then… you guessed it- back on 90!

And then we were in Custer… Okay so now I can safely say that I am a true believer in the power of positive thinking. All this rainbow nonsense has totally paid off =)! We arrived at Jake’s Bed & Breakfast and I must admit I was a little scared of what would be waiting for us since the debacle last night! When I found Jake’s online I looked at the pictures and it looked really nice. The only difference between the pictures online and being here is that being here is 100 times better! The pictures are beautiful and the reviews were fantastic but once we met Mar/k (and Jake-the cat) we were blown away. First off, when we got out of the car, we didn’t hear a thing and it’s not scary weird silence (because everyone knows how I feel about silence) it’s just the most peaceful, calming silence. Then, we went inside, the house is incredible, the amount of planning and detail that went into building this house is just unreal. Across the road is a pond and more mountains so you’re surrounded by natural beauty. And the best part is that Mark actually built this house! It took him 8 years to do and he did everything, the 2nd floor deck, the tile work, everything. It’s so refreshing to see someone so passionate about what he’s done and he absolutely should be, the place is amazing! Seriously, if anyone is looking to come out to SD, I would hands down recommend this place – even without cookies! Yup, that’s right, no warm cookies AND still a stellar review! =)

That’s all for now! Looking forward to lots more rainbows! (End corniness)

Wowwie Wisconsin!

Okay so Wisconsin did not disappoint in the least! The only bad thing about our stay in Milwaukee was that it was totally not long enough at all! I checked in and was asked how many people in the room… then was handed two WARM cookie pouches, I almost hugged the girl. Then we unloaded the car. The thing about an 18 day trip is that when you’re packing it’s so much easier to pack in categories, shower/hair dryer stuff in this bag, clothes in here, chargers for everything in there; this way you know you have everything. This seems like SUCH a great idea until you get to the first hotel and realize the poor concierge has to bring up 2 giant suitcases, and 3 bags… oh and did I mention to make myself feel better I packed some weights as well? Yea he might have hated us just a little… but he didn’t show it! I think he wanted to kick me in the elevator when he asked how long we were here for and I told him “oh just tonight!” =)
We made our way to the room and then put our fate in good old Marcus’ hands. We took a cab down to Rockbottom (it was still raining out) and that’s where the magic began. First of all the place was so nice. They have their own microbrewery so Brian tried their beers but since I don’t like beer I decided to try their Berry Sangria – oh my god… but wait, there’s more. I was still full from Chicago but Brian wanted a burger. They give you a choice of French fries or malt kettle chips- so we asked our waiter about these crazy chips… he explained that they’re warm kettle chips with parmesan and then all I heard was angels singing… wow! Okay moving right along, I thought we should try some appetizers so we got the pretzels (2 giant hot soft pretzels brushed with beer and magically infused with garlic) and cheese curds (I don’t even know how to begin to explain). This is us with all of our fantastic food… I think this is the happiest we’ve ever looked in a photo.

After we stopped gushing over the amazing food and beverages we were just blessed with we headed back to the hotel. We decided to walk since we’re so health conscious and then we stopped at the Miller Time Pub, since you know, I’m a Miller so I had to support the fam. Bri stuck with the special beer theme and I asked for something special for myself. The magic bartender made me some crazy Arnold palmer type thing - green tea vodka with lemonade – why not! Then the fun began! Apparently we weren’t the only celebrities in town! Lady Gaga was also in Milwaukee that night! So this gaga fan stumbled into the bar by himself and apparently had a REALLY awesome time at the concert because he was actually kicked out by the police. He said they were pretty rough with him but I was really impressed with the Milwaukee police because when his friends got there they showed me the text they got from drunk guy, it said “this is the police, come pick up your friend” lol I was pretty impressed! So I promised our new friend that he would be a part of our blog, so here is the picture of us and our Gaga fan friends!

Now that we’ve crossed into the central time zone, we’re totally messed up and can’t keep track of the time but we got back REALLY late – especially for us! So to make sure we ended the night on a good note I decided to try my luck and ask for more cookies… I got em!! Awesome, awesome night!

If you’re impressed by us staying up late, get ready to be super impressed… I woke up by 7:30 and decided to bring couch to 5k training to Milwaukee. Since it cleared up I went to the front desk to make sure it was a good area and when they assured me it was safe, I took off! It was so cool because they have a river walk too so I went all around and decided where we would have to come back later. Milwaukee is like a baby city. It’s not comparable to NYC or Chicago because there’s nowhere near the amount of buildings or anything but it’s still a city and it’s super clean and everyone is so nice! So I got back to the room and woke Brian up so we could do some of the river walk. We did the usual touristy ooohing and ahhing, and taking tons of pictures, like this one which was a sculpture made from bowling balls & pins!! For anyone that doesn’t know, we eased into dating by first becoming bowling partners so this was so fun to see!

Oh and Brian loves the weather because it was sunny but crazy breezy so he even stayed comfortable with our walking around for a few miles (shhhh don’t tell him it was a few miles). Then we went back, packed the car up and headed to the Miller Brewery Tour. The tour was really cool and it was FREE!! AND at the end you even get 3 samples of beer (real glasses not teeny tiny ones) and they have some pretty good lemonade for non beer drinkers! They try to keep the tour together so they just seat you all together. We started talking to a guy at our table from Oklahoma City, who was actually doing a trip on his own. He just came from SD and was going to Chicago which is the opposite of what we’re doing. This is the other fun part of road tripping-you get to meet so many new and interesting people! I know, I know I wasn’t supposed to talk to strangers but that’s half the fun- learning about all these different people and all their different backgrounds! So in conclusion Brian & Colleen highly recommend Milwaukee! The food was amazing, people are so nice, and there’s actually a lot to do! We plan to go back and do more brewery tours and cheese tours (since we didn’t have time – booo).

So to get from Milwaukee to Sioux Falls, SD our next stop you have to drive allll through WI and then ALLLLL through Minnesota. You know it’ll be a good ride when your navigation tells you to get on a road and stay on it for 296 miles – that’s Minnesota! So here’s some interesting facts for you about MN:

It is also known as the land of 10,000 lakes… 9,995 of them are nowhere near the south of MN, it’s just fields and some trees and some more fields…
This is where the popular show Bobby’s World (Howie Mandel’s cartoon) took place (doncha know)
Oh and Santa Claus (who lives in Iowa) comes to MN to get his gas… I really hope there's some way you can zoom in on this because it's seriously him... huge white beard, dressed in red, and if you can't see the license plate it says IASANTA...

Yea that’s about all there is to know about Minnesota. But they actually did have a really beautiful sunset which was so nice to watch… and then there was pitch black… for about 2 hours.

So now we’re in our hotel in Sioux Falls. There’s some volleyball tournament in town so everywhere is booked which is fun because we’re stuck in a smoking room that smells like it hasn’t been cleaned in months. We had to hide our luggage in the bathroom because it smells the least in there. I can’t wait to wake up and smell like I was at a Frat party all night. But this all comes with the territory of road tripping! So tomorrow we will wake up and pretend we’re on the Amazing Race, shower and RUN out of this stink hole!! And no cookies! =(

Sweet Dreams! =)

So I married a hustler…

Yup, final score of the license plate game 18-14 – Brian schooled me so now I know he was totally faking it Tuesday night. It is on. Also we tied it up in the alphabet game yesterday… neither of us could find a sign with an X. Apparently people in Ohio are very wholesome and never break bones because I didn’t see one billboard for X-rated anything and zero X-ray places! Unreal…

So we got to Uncle Teddy’s around 6 last night and went to a yummy Italian restaurant, it was really good! Oh and I learned that when Uncle Teddy and my Uncle Donald and my grandfather were growing up, their father died when they were young and their mother married an Italian! So they were raised in an Italian household which Brian says makes me absolutely no more Italian but I think it could explain my obsession with carbs. After dinner we went back to his house and heard some more stories which was really cool since I don’t know much about my grandfather’s side of the family (he died when I was a baby). We showed him pictures of what’s happened in the Miller family since he’s last seen us (we’ve actually been quite busy the last 12 years!) We also met his friend Judy who is so nice and has the cutest little bulldog puppies! Oh and Uncle Teddy has a roommate- Charlie. Charlie is a 5 pound Yorkie, she’s really cute and the best thing to do when you’re missing puppies is to see more puppies! Uncle Teddy ordered us to go to bed around 10 and we passed out immediately! I think that will probably happen a lot on this trip! This morning we woke up and went to meet Donna who we’ve heard so much about so that was nice and then we got back on the road! Unfortunately it was a very quick visit but when you’re traveling over 7000 miles in 18 days, that’s all there is time for. Still it was so nice to see him and catch up and we will definitely make another trip out to Fort Wayne! Uncle Teddy, Thanks so much for being part of our trip, it was great to see you and we will see you soon!

As for today’s plan, this is one of our crazy days- Fort Wayne, Chicago & Milwaukee. We left Fort Wayne around 11:30 and got to Chicago around 2. It rained almost the whole time we were driving up but then amazingly it stopped when we got there and it was pretty nice out! We parked in a scary underground parking garage (which was only $16 for like 6 hours!!) then walked up and tried to figure out how to get anywhere. We got to walk through Millenium Park which was really nice but we totally had no clue how to get anywhere. So we got a cab that took us to Lou Malnati’s Pizza so we could try some Chicago Deep Dish. The place and food were pretty awesome. My personal favorite was the dessert we split. A chocolate chip cookie baked in a deep dish pan with ice cream on top. The menu says please allow 10 minutes for baking! Those 10 minutes were the most anxious I’ve ever been in my entire life and when it came out- well worth it! I tried to take a picture but couldn’t really get the cookie because the ice cream kept melting… because the cookie was just baked… amazing!

Moving right along, we left Lou’s with our full bellies and a little more confidence to take on Chicago so we decided to forget the cab! Well I mean we did still have the navigation which helped out a little. But since I didn’t want to look like the nerd I am walking around with a navigation, we devised a genius plan… doesn’t it look like I’m on my cool iPhone? Yup, we’re pretty smart!

We walked around for a little bit and it is SUCH a great city! It’s so nice that I actually pulled out my Dad’s really good camera because I actually didn’t feel like I was going to get mugged! And the best part is, I didn’t! There are about a billion less people walking around than in NYC and it’s so clean and the buildings are just so beautiful! If anyone has even the slightest interest in architecture, you definitely have to visit Chicago. There’s super old buildings, crazy modern buildings, square buildings, round buildings, anything you can think of! Also they have different levels to the city which helps traffic and is just really cool. We walked down to the lower level and walked along the river for a while then took a cab over to Navy Pier. They have a giant Ferris Wheel (I almost threw up just looking at it) and lots of art, a giant Macaroni & Cheese noodle (Brian’s favorite) and tons of bus and boat tours.

We ended up doing the hour long architecture boat tour which was really cool. We went up and down the Chicago River and our tour guide sounded just like Molly Shannon from Saturday Night Live when she does the radio show-awesome! But since we were in the river, we were so low down that it was a totally different perspective than you get from street level – really cool!

Chicago is so nice that they even have a free trolley to take you to and from Navy Piers to a bunch of other stops. After waiting for 25 minutes we decided to just pay for a cab up to Grant Park. They were setting up for the Chicago Jazz Festival so we just went over to the Buckingham Memorial Fountain (which was so pretty) took about 100 pictures then back to the car! Now we’re on our way up to Milwaukee where we’ll be staying for the night. Hopefully it stops raining buckets so we can enjoy WI a little! This might be sympathy rain for everyone at home waiting for the hurricane, stay safe guys! And Carolyn, take care of our puppies, they don’t like hurricanes! We’re staying in a Doubletree and I’m crossing everything that the rumors are true about them having fresh cookies when you check in. Tonight will be a late night as we got some recommendations for some cool places to go in Milwaukee (Thank you Marcus!). I’ll let you know if they’re actually cool, I’m pretty optimistic about it! Oh and fun fact – we’re past the 1,000 mile mark (hit 1,000 in Racine, WI)- woohoo!!

Oh and PS Stacy, totally had no clue there was a Butt Hut?!?!  I WISH!!  And Carolyn, besides checking the sheets, lift the mattress.  So far we're okay! =)

And we're off!

Well we started out our trip last night and got 3 miles from the house and sat in a parking lot on the Southern State parkway, that’s always fun! Luckily traffic cleared up and we didn’t do too bad and got to our first stop around 10. I can’t say exactly what time since I’ve learned that Brian is one of those people who doesn’t put the right time on his car clock. Seriously, what’s the point?!? I don’t understand why people do this, to trick themselves? But don’t you know it’s fast? It’s really just simple subtraction… Jess agrees, that’s one of the many reasons why I love her! Let me tell you, this couple knows how to take care of their guests. Not only did Tom buy an air mattress for us to sleep on but he got us the air mattress with the couple playing cards and laughing on the box, that’s how you know it’s good! And when we realized we remembered bowls, plates, spoons & silverware for our road meals but forgot cups for our OJ, that’s when they really stepped it up… Styrofoam AND plastic cups! Oh and did I mention we now know how to check for bed bugs? Which is very important to me as this is like my 3rd biggest fear of the trip and since there’s an epidemic and 1 in 8 people has them – eek!! So anyway, since we’re not at all old and we’re still so cool, we actually stayed up until 1 am!!! That’s right folks, we’ve still got it! Yea that was fun waking up at 5:45… But it was well worth it to get to see Tom & Jess even just for a little bit. If anyone’s planning a trip, I would definitely stay with them, email me and I’ll send you their address and info…that’s cool right guys? ;) Thanks so much to the Baggios (Tom, Jess & baby Baggio!) for being the best first stop ever!!

So we got up, got ready and were on the road by 6:30. Again, we sat in traffic… but this time I had a cup of OJ so all was good! So far we’re doing pretty good with time, thank you to the residents of PA and OH for staying off the road for us! My favorite thing about the PA turnpike is that they play games! I love games so when I was driving and my Assistant to the Captain -oh yes, background- I requested for Brian to call me Captain. At first he told me he would have a few other names for me but since then he’s changed his mind, I think I swayed him when I told him he could be my Assistant to the Captain (he is my Dwight for any Office fans). I digress… so I was driving and my ATTC was out cold. All of a sudden I see a sign that says “remove your sunglasses”… so I thought about not removing them but then got nervous, there’s rules for a reason! So I removed… next sign “turn on your headlights” so now I was so excited, this is such a fun game, what’s next?! Well the game ended and you go through a tunnel that runs through a mountain. But it was fun while it lasted… the 45 seconds.

Okay so speaking of games, we have a few. Brian’s sister Michelle & husband Michael sent us the license plate game! This is not your ordinary shout out when you see a license plate, this is serious. It’s an entire board with every state’s license plate. You flip the block when you get one and BONUS points for getting the capital! As of last night, the score was 13-4, I’m sort of killing him. He’s getting better though, I think he might be a hustler just trying to psych me out. Second game, the always popular Would you rather? Just in case we run out of creative ones, I have a book full of them (thanks to my BFF Liz who gives awesome gifts). And finally back to the Baggios they taught us the alphabet game. So far I got nothing, I think we’ll have to wait until we hit Albuquerque.

To save time and allow myself to get some sleep at night (maybe) I’ve decided to type while ATTC drives. This could be amazingly efficient… or I could get carsick and feel like death, wish me luck! So far we’re doing pretty good with splitting the driving. Only difference is ATTC naps while not driving so he’s probably on about 4 extra hours of sleep… I type so I’m on about 20 minutes extra, FUN! So we’ve gone through a few states so far today. We started in PA, went down the block to DE to get gas before leaving in the morning then through Ohio to IN. Besides boring rest stop & gas stops, we stopped in Pittsburgh at Klavon’s Ice Cream Parlor. If you’re ever in Pittsburgh or anywhere near, you have to go. It’s from the 1920s and it’s super cute! It’s one of those places where they knew we were tourists because they didn’t know us. Literally a guy walks in and everyone says “Hi Bruce!” and when another guy leaves and says “yea yea yea” the waitress tells us that his brother does the same thing. We thought it was really cute… oh and the ice cream was awesome too so that doesn’t hurt! Once we were done, we got back in the car for some more driving. Today’s final destination is Fort Wayne, IN. We’ll be staying with my Great Uncle Teddy (Dad’s Dad’s brother) who I haven’t seen in about 12 years. And now I feel old…

More to come! =)

Last night in Levittown for a while...

So in about 24 hours we will be arriving at our first stop... Chadds Ford, PA-home of the Baggios!  Tom & Jess have not only offered their home to us nomads but they've promised awesome blog material and I'm sure they will deliver! 
We're both working all day, then we'll come home and load up the car.  So what do you bring on an 18 day trip?  Giant suitcases, cameras, navigations, books, maps, tons of wires and chargers, a cooler that takes up the entire back seat of the car and of course Frappuccinos for those 13 hour driving days!  The good news is, I don't think we forgot to pack anything - because I think we actually brought everything we own (think "bring only what you need to survive"......................) 

It's a lot like moving to a new house... except our house is now a Highlander...

Needless to say, tomorrow will be a very busy day!  Even though we will be rushing around and exhausted tomorrow and pretty much for the next 2 1/2 weeks, I'm sure this will be soooo worth it!  (Start playing the Star Spangled Banner in your heads) As much as we would LOVE to go to Europe or relax on some beach and do nothing, this country has so many cool places to go and things to see!  And this is such an exciting way to experience it all at once.  If anyone is interested in doing this, go for it, the planning alone is worth it!  Just remember, it's not a vacation, it's an experience!
Oh and Bill & Terry- DDD is Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives, one of the best shows ever... Food Network, check it out! =)

It's almost time to leave!

So we decided back in January that we would do a cross country trip in September...and now all of a sudden it's here!!  In the past few months we've spent countless hours deciding on where we'll go, what we'll see and most importantly where we'll eat!  Thanks to DDD, Man vs Food and tips from family & friends we've had lots of help with this! 

We will be leaving Long Island Tuesday night (8/31) and returning on Saturday (9/18).  This will most likely be the most exhausting trip we have ever and will ever do but it will be so worth it!  Along the way we'll be visiting friends & family and being the biggest tourists ever!  We will be doing some factory tours, city tours, visiting Yellowstone & Mt Rushmore, driving down the CA coast and staying at some fun places including a log cabin in Jackson Hole, a "green" hotel in Lake Tahoe and a balcony room on Bourbon St!

In between driving for hours and hours and hours and sightseeing and maybe catching a few hours sleep, we'll be updating our blog so everyone can get excited and plan their next exhausting trip!  Don't worry we've done all the work so it'll be easy for you guys!

Okay now off to finish packing and enjoy the last few days with our puppies before we leave!