Final Destination: San Diego!

We set out on Wednesday for our longest drive yet - 10 hours! We drove through Utah, the edge of Nevada, and a tiny bit of Arizona, to arrive back in California. The smog was overwhelming! Take me back to Nebraska haha! The drive was uneventful thankfully!

We made it back to Murrieta (Ryan's hometown) last night and got a home-cooked meal. Man, we’re sick of eating out! We drove the last hour to San Diego to deliver Red Pepper to her owner this afternoon. She has treated us very well! Throughout our trip we drove 4500 miles (Ryan drove all 4500 because I can’t drive a stick - thank you Ryan!!!!), were in 22 states (including D.C.), saw the license plates from 45 states, and got 15 tanks of gas!!! Not to mention spending two wonderful weeks together and seeing amazing scenery!! I think I would have to say my favorite things were Boston and Yellowstone and seeing friends along the way. Ryan’s favorite things were Niagara Falls and the St. Louis Cardinals game. We highly recommend a cross country road trip! We want to do another...through the southern states. We’ll see when we ever have the time. :) Thanks for following our blog!

Yellowstone to Salt Lake City!

On Tuesday we made our way back into Yellowstone to enjoy the scenery - we just couldn’t get enough of it! And in the short two hours we were there, we had four animal sightings! A herd of elk across the river, a few deer and elk in another meadow, a hawk in its nest, and a huge herd of buffalo. We ate our lunch watching the buffalo mosey around eating their lunch. We departed from Yellowstone on the drive to Salt Lake City through Idaho. The drive was pretty uneventful except for one thing. We were minding our business driving south on the I-15 when a car zoomed past us swerving in the fast lane. The car almost swerved off the road, then was straddling the lanes, tailing the car in front of it - needless to say, we attempted to stay far away from the reckless driver! At one point we realized the driver was wrestling with a map. Um, just a note, that’s when you should pull over... The car being tailed by the reckless lady got out of her way, and we continued on our way down the road well behind the lady. Soon thereafter, we noticed a police officer who pulled out from the median and sped off in front of us. He joined another officer in pulling over the reckless lady. We cheered!! We think the car being tailed must have reported her.

We arrived in Salt Lake City just in time for a barbecue with the Salt Lake friends I (Jadyn) met while on rotation. We had a great time laughing, eating, and telling stories. And now we find ourselves on our last, and longest, day of driving - home to San Diego!! It’s been an incredible trip, full of adventures, beautiful scenery, wonderful visits with old friends, and amazing sights!! We’re sad to see it come to an end!

Wyoming and Yellowstone!

We drove across all of South Dakota yesterday - pretty flat, but still green. Wowwee, we sure saw a lot of billboards along the way. They must be an attempt to keep you awake. We are pretty certain we saw well over 100 signs advertising “Wall Drug”, a destination (a town, we think) that we were sorely disappointed by - still not sure what it was. We drove by the Badlands and to our destination - Mount Rushmore! Pretty amazing memorial - not quite as big as it looks in pictures, but still an amazing thing to see in person. We went on from there to see Crazy Horse, another memorial being carved into a mountain about 20 miles from Mt. Rushmore. Neither of us had heard of it before, but it is a memorial to honor American Indians that will be 641 feet long and 563 feet high - an incredible feat once it’s completed, but it is far from completion. Mt. Rushmore is in the Black Hills so we saw some pretty amazing scenery along the way (reminded me of Colorado).

We went on from there to the town of Custer where we had a delicious dinner at a local pizzeria. We stayed with our friend Jess’s parents in the nearby town of Newcastle, WY. And to our surprise we awoke to discover that our classmates Kyle (also from Newcastle) and Heidi were in town, so we got to have breakfast with them. Off to Yellowstone!

On the drive we saw a few deer right next to the road, and even a moose! Right when we got into Yellowstone, we saw a huge buffalo just grazing nearby! Then we realized as we drove further in, there are TONS of buffalo... We made our way to Old Faithful geyser and waited for it to erupt - it went on and off for about 30 mins. So cool!! We drove out of the park and on the way saw a buffalo crossing the road, several more geysers, a wolf, and a buffalo with its baby. We feel like we're in a huge wild animal park with so much to see!

St. Louis to Omaha

Yesterday we experienced the awefulness of humidity! It was 90 degrees, with 60% humidity in St. Louis. Talk about sweating before you’re actually sweating! And we decided to spend time outdoors exploring the Botanical Gardens of course. Slightly hard to enjoy when you feel like you’re in a sauna. :) It was beautiful, though, and Ryan really enjoyed making friends with the dinosaurs at the gardens. Mariah took us to the popular local custard (essentially ice cream, but creamier) shop where we got a delicious treat to cool off. Needless to say, we spent the rest of the afternoon indoors, doing what?? Watching The Bachelorette online of course!! Wowee, drama, drama! :) Last night, Ryan and I, and Ed and Mariah took in a Cardinals game. They won (because of us, I’m sure). The city sure does have some devoted fans!

This morning we left St. Louis and drove about 7 hours to Omaha, Nebraska! We arrived and met up with our friend Jessica (who we went to school with) and ate dinner at a great restaurant downtown, then met up with a couple more friends and went on a long walk on a bridge over the Missouri River into Iowa.... Fun fun fun! It's crazy because it stays light out here till well into the 9 o'clock hour. Just enough time to have some great Nebraska ice cream made with 100% Nebraska cow milk. Goodnight until tomorrow!

St. Louis

2010 NBA World Champions: Los Angeles Lakers!!!!!!!!! We just got back from watching the wonderful game 7 and were quite pleased with the results, although it was stressful yet exciting to watch...

We had a 5 hour drive from Chicago to St Louis to start out the day. The scenery is changing more dramatically now... getting into the "green flatland" look. We drove straight to the St. Louis Gateway Arch, where we took a "pod" to the very top. The arch was built in 1965 and stretches 630 feet high, making it the highest national monument in North America. It was constructed as a monument representing the western expansion of the United States. We then made our way to Mo's house (a friend of Jadyn's from college), where we are staying tonight. We had dinner at a nice sports restaurant in downtown that boast's about it's good food, but more importantly it's large selection of TV's... 63 to be precise. We focused on the biggest one for a good 3 hours to help bring in the champs! (yes, they won because we were there pulling for them to win.... every little bit helps!)

Tomorrow's agenda? Well... you'll just have to wait until tomorrow's post!

Chicago!

Sorry to our avid followers (sister K)...we didn't have wifi last night. Yesterday started off with a tour of the Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland. I know, a cemetery?? It had rave reviews, so I dragged Ryan there with me. I do say it had gorgeous grounds. The self-guided tour with a cd was a challenge to follow though. We did get to see President Garfield's Memorial (amazing!) and John D. Rockefeller's memorial. We left Cleveland and made our way to Chicago!! We arrived in the midst of a downpour. We are staying with Ryan's sister's friend Corey. Dinner was at a fun pizza joint where we watched the Lakers beat the Celtics!!

This morning we enjoyed breakfast at a cute place called Milk & Honey. We introduced ourselves to the "El" public transit and got into the world of downtown Chicago. The Architectural Boat tour was took down the Chicago River was incredible! What an amazing city! Let's just say, it's a little different feel than Cleveland. Dinner was very relaxing at a cafe right next to the river in perfect sunny weather with a nice breeze. Now we find ourselves at a cute coffee shop, and will head to St. Louis tomorrow.

Niagara Falls to Cleveland

Hello from Cleveland, Ohio! We started today with a spectacular, and drenching, boat trip on the Maid of the Mist into Niagara Falls (don't worry, they gave us ponchos). Quite amazing! Just fyi, "Niagara" means "a split in the flat land." And to give you some perspective, 750,000 gallons of water fall per second from the Falls! So, needless to say, we enjoyed our experience there. We embarked west in Red Pepper from New York through Pennyslvania to Ohio. The route took us all along Lake Erie. The scenery has changed a bit from huge, green, lush trees lining the roads to green plains with a few trees. When we arrived in Cleveland, we found an interesting Bar & Grill that would be packed if there were an Indians or Cavaliers game, but tonight was rather empty. We did get a little taste of Cleveland - my sandwich had french fries and cole slaw on it! We walked by the Quicken Loans Arena so Ryan could get a picture with Lebron James. After that we headed to see the movie The A-Team. When buying our movie tickets, I asked for two tickets. The clerk rang it up at $10, and both Ryan and I thought she misunderstood and said, "No, we need two tickets." And she said, "That is for two tickets. It's 5 dollar Monday." To which Ryan responded, "Oh wow, we're from California. That's cheap!" Haha! A-Team's a good movie by the way. We finished the night with some ice cream from Scoops, a local ice cream shop. And just in case you're interested, we saw a billboard for The 7th Annual Duct Tape Festival here in Cleveland on June 18th! We like Cleveland - it's a quaint and interesting city!

On the road to Niagara Falls!

947 miles, 4 tanks of gas, and 5 days later... we find ourselves in Niagara Falls NY. Over the river we see Canada.... but let's go back to the beginning of the day. Today started off driving out of Boston, but not before we took a peek at Eastern Nazarene College and Harvard University (both very different from each other with interesting architecture). Before leaving Boston, Jadyn and I visited the neighborhood Target and purchased an igloo for cold soda's, sandwich ingredients, yogurt, and waters to assist us on our 8 hour drive and throughout the trip. The journey through Massachusetts and New York was absolutely green and beautiful with not much between towns except wild deer and cows. In the mid afternoon, we made a quick drive by through Syracuse, then finally arrived at the beautiful Niagara Falls and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe - Niagara Falls style. Tonight, we are staying literally 300 yards from the actual Falls! Despite an unfortunate Lakers loss tonight, it has been an exquisite day seeing this natural wonder of the modern world. Tomorrow we embark on the Maid of the Mist ferry down by the falls! Wish us safety from a flash flood!

Providence and Boston

We departed from NYC this m

orning and made our way through Connecticut (very lush and green) and stopped in Providence, Rhode Island (to look for Harry and Lloyd - the Dumb and Dumber guys). :) We had the privilege of dining at Louie's Diner in Providence, a featured diner from Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on the Food Network. Delicious food, adequate service. We drove around Brown University and downtown Providence and headed toward Boston. Tonight we took the subway (man, we love public transportation!) to downtown Boston to explore. The historic feel of the city is incredible - the cobblestone streets really make it. Unfortunately, we had to buy an umbrella to survive in the dreary rain. We saw Paul Revere's house, statues of Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, the wharf, and a few other historic sites, and got some clam chowder to top it off! We enjoyed hearing the Boston accents all around. Off to Niagara Falls in the morning!

One More Night In NYC

Well here we are getting ready for bed at 11:40pm EST. Seems to me like we’ve gotten our NYC experience! Today started off with moving the car at 8am from one spot to another, due to street sweeping/cleaning. While looking for a parking spot, I finished my whole box of glazed doughnut holes (mmmm), then returned to enjoy a couple more hours of sleepy land. Around noon, we got on the subway and had lunch at a pizza place in Times Square, followed by a ferry ride to Staten Island to look at the Statue of Liberty, then walked around the World Trade Center area, and finally the broadway play Stomp (we got half price tickets)! Goodnight from New York City!

Second Stop - New York plus 6 other states!

What an exhausting, but fun-filled day! It's 1am and we're just returning from a night out in New York City. What a crazy city - it never sleeps!

Our day began in D.C. where we packed up Red Pepper and began our trek across the country, with some detours for sight-seeing of course. We made our way from Virginia through D.C. to Maryland to Delaware to Pennsylvania to New Jersey and finally to New York! You could never touch that many states on the west coast! I do have to say I love the big, green, lush streets that line the highways here. We did stop to enjoy lunch and a view of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. However, one thing we did not enjoy was the large deep thud that we heard only to realize that a bird had sacrificed its life on our windshield. What a sickening feeling that caused! But, luckily, the traces of the bird on the windshield were washed away in the torrential downpour we experienced in New Jersey.

We ventured into New York City during rush hour of course in Red Pepper, with her manual transmission - not the smartest move, but Ryan worked his magic and got us through the city safely. We are staying with a friend of Ryan's, who took us downtown for dinner at an Austrian restaurant (delicious food!) and a dessert cafe (fabulous gelato!). The subway system here is amazing! You can get anywhere with a simple subway pass. We also took in Times Square at night, which was packed of course. And now we are finally in for the night...what a great day!

1st Stop - Washington D.C.

We embarked on our trip to the other coast with a red eye from Ontario to Houston to D.C. Our first leg was somewhat miserable because we were in front of an exit row, hence no leaning our seats back. You can bet we slept the entire second flight though. And we got very lucky to be able to switch our seats to sit together on both flights!

We arrived in D.C. where Bill picked us up and handed over our new best friend, a red 2010 Mazda 3, which we promptly named "Red Peppper." She seems to have a little flare to her! Upon arrival at Bill's house, we were exceedingly excited to brush our teeth and take showers. And we laid our heads on the pillow for a 3 hour nap!

After our rejuvenating nap, we took to the streets of D.C. and made our way downtown to see the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Veteran's Memorial, WWII Memorial, and drove by the Jefferson Monument and Iwo Jima Memorial. Man, it's humid here, but luckily it's only in the 70's, so we were grateful for that.

We made our way back toward Bill's house in search of a dinner spot. And what did we come across but a Chevy's?? A place unique to D.C. would have been nice, but we needed a familiar atmosphere in this foreign city. :)

Off to plan our day of travel to Philadelphia and New York City tomorrow!

Getting Ready For The Trip

So here we are (Ryan and Jadyn) in San Diego. Packing has never gone so smoothly... Well, Jadyn is still packing away, but my [Ryan's] pack is nestled safely next to the front door eagerly awaiting it's departure to the Ontario Airport. After writing this initial blog post, I am planning on finishing the itinerary and emailing it to all of our friends and family wishing to know our soon to be whereabouts! We will plan on adding a post/pictures to this blogspot once a day, so here's the first!
-Ryan