Day 4

A pony express station somewhere in Nebraska
Nate was asleep when I decided to get off the highway and stop here
the North Platte Mall...
Goooo Jesus!!??
Only the best for the North Plattians

a grasshopper jumped on my car as i was pumping gas
Anyone know what this is? some pioneer site...
Nate drove it to this ominous odometer reading
creepy huge doll at a truck stop

Day 3

downtown Chicago
it's so pretty!
Below the L, the public transit train thing...very Batmanish, eh?
some cool building
Nate doing yoga before he drives

After we had pizza we drove around down town Chicago and then headed west. Iowa and Nebraska took FOREVER! We ended up getting somewhere in the middle of Nebraska late Wednesday night, like at 12:30. So we stopped at a Rest stop and slept for about 5 hours.

Day 2 pictures

We got caught in the rain on the way back from the car
Where the yummy pizza's at
Look at that! Now that's deep dish!
Nate glaring at me with Russian speaking men in the background

An Ohio sunset
Ohio...or Indiana...I forget
We made it!!
A blurry, artistic look of Chicago's skyline
The nice hotel we stayed at

Day 2

After Pittsburgh we headed up north to Ohio, and then west through Indiana, and then to Chicago! We left Alyona's about 1 or 2pm and got to Chicago at about 10 or 11pm. Nate booked us this really nice hotel. We checked in there, dropped off our stuff, got caught in a rain storm, but then headed to The Weiners Circle for a really good hotdog. There were tomatoes and pickles on 'em, and this ninja turtle green relish. Bright green!! Then I went back and slept in the nicest bed with the best pillow ever, while Nate explored Chicago's night life. We left the next day, ate at Gino's Pizza, which had really good deep dish pizza. We made friends with Paul, our server guy, who is actually driving to Denver tonight with his friends. Since we're on our way to Colorado too, we became fast friends...well, he was just friendly and agreed to stopping to help us if he saw us on the side of the road. We drove through downtown Chicago and I took a bunch of pictures. Ya know, the new Batman movies were filmed in Chicago. It's a great city. I loved it. I think the phrase Nate hears the most from me is, "Look how pretty!" I'm easily impressed.

The internet and/or computer are being slow, so I'll add all the pictures later!
Also, check back for an fun elevator video!

Pittsburgh!!

So driving to Pittsburgh was intense, and really, just the Pennsylvania stretch was the toughest. It's a HUGE state, who knew? So we left NH at about 1:30, and went through Massachusetts, New York, we caught a glimpse of the city skyline off in the distance...and then through New Jersey, and then the dreaded Pennsylvania. But luckily there were several fun tunnels to drive through. We got to Alyona and Matt's at about 2am. Alyona was so nice and had waited up for us, and fed us tacos and a cold Russian soup she had made herself. It was good! Unfortunately we didn't get to see Matt cuz he was asleep when we got there, and had to leave for work early in the morning...and we didn't get up until almost 10. But I got to catch up with Alyona and meet her cat Solntse (which is Russian for sunshine). It was fun seeing her; I'm glad we made the stop. And Pittsburgh seems like a cool city. Nate thought it was too ghetto, but I liked it.

Driving-Day One

We started the day off with Nate obsessively cleaning the car. Weirdo. And then we stopped at DeAngelo's somewhere in Massachusetts for yummy sandwiches. The picture of our snacks is to show, as Nate puts it, that we aren't name -brand consumer whores. (When really, we couldn't find Goldfish in the store at all) Nate had saved half of his sandwich to eat on the road...and he got mustard on his favorite shirt...and took it off, while driving, and gave it to me to get the stain out. I did my best, but man, I really wanted one of those Shout stain remover pens. So Nate drove the rest of his time shirtless. He got in touch with his inner white trash apparently. At a rest stop in Pennsylvania I walked across the picnic area to take a picture of the beautiful scenery and I was surprised by fireflies! I haven't seen them in forever! So Nate chased them around.

Greenery

One of the big reasons why I love New Hampshire is that it's soooo green in the summer. It's just POW!-in-your-face green everywhere. The picture to the left is of the house, and our totally awesome tree...which looks like it's eating our house. This tree is pretty old, and we're not even sure what kind it is. Some professional even came out once to identify it and wasn't quite sure. We call it the Umbrella Tree.



As you can see from this shot underneath the tree, all the overlapping leaves create an umbrella affect.







This other shot is of the main interstate highway. I just love how each side is covered in trees. Back in Utah you can see out to the mountains, which is pretty...but definitely not as lush and green as New Hampshire. And then there's my favorite sign, which shows that Derry is indeed a prominent town, prominent enough to be on a sign with Boston.

Figurin' it all out

We've got a plan...as depicted here. This is my mom and I at the post office, sending off the title of my car and a limited power of attorney to Nate's dad Dave West who lives in Virginia AND has plates he's gonna transfer over to my car. The only problem is that we'll get the plates in the mail Monday, so the trip gets pushed back a few days. But not too bad considering.

Uh-oh!

Because nothing can ever be as simple as you plan it, we have hit some snags in getting the car registered. We thought we would be able to get temporary plates for the car, so I wouldn't have to register it completely here in New Hampshire. But, I can't do that because the car has a Virginia title. So I'd have to "sell" the car to my mom, a New Hampshire resident. (Alas, I am a Utah resident--I get cheaper tuition). But getting a title in her name might take longer then we planned. I can get temporary plates, but from Virginia and only if I was a Virginia resident. But the Virginia resident who "sold" me the car, is Tina, my dad's wife, and they are on their way to Bangkok via Tokyo as we speak. So they can't be reached yet...Wow! Talk about crazy. We planned on leaving NH on Saturday morning, but it's looking like the trip is gonna get pushed back. I'll keep ya updated.

gettin' started

The first big adventure that will be covered on here, will be the cross-country road trip of fun! Luckily my good friend Nate has agreed to take the drive with me. We've got all kinds of crazy plans, one of which being yoga at rest stops. We're gonna try to keep up the blog as we're traveling, so you can follow along!