Day 7: Wyoming to Napa!

The Home-Stretch

Well, Road Chief was supposed to kick off the driving this morning, but she over-served herself with celebratory beers last night, so Johnny started at the helm. We left around 6am and I am pleased to announce that we made it to Napa!

For our final stretch, we passed through Idaho and Nevada. Idaho was gorgeous. Beautiful green mountains and farmland. More cows and lots of horses.

Here, you can see Twin Falls. It's not the "falls" part, but the river part. We were too lazy/anxious to stop and take an actual photo. But you can make out the canyon and the river in this pic.

I have less nice things to say about Nevada. It was blah, dry brownness FOREVER. At one point, the landscape was literally just piles of rocks. 

<- This went on for about 150 miles without cell service. That was torturous for us Millenials.

 <- Piles of rocks.

Okay, Nevada wasn't all bad. This is kind of magnificent, actually.

As we got closer to Cali, the landscape drastically changed from brown to green and we could smell the pine trees!! When we finally saw the “Welcome to California” sign, we could have cried. After so many months of planning and agonizing, we actually made it!!! 

We are so excited to be here that pumping gas is fun!

This road-trip was the perfect way to start our California life together.  I can confirm that Johnny and I get along weirdly well, particularly considering the close quarters and lack of sleep.  I am so happy to be starting this chapter with him. This is going to be a very exciting year!

Now that the road-trip has come to an end, we will tackle some key items: Apartment hunt, lease Emily a convertible bug, and start our new jobs!  July 2013 has definitely been a monumental month.

Thank you all for following our blog! It was fun to keep track of our adventure and share it with you. I love you very much and can’t wait for you to visit! Until then, picture us here:

Day 6: Wyoming

Explore Wyoming Day

I'll start off with this. It's sunny here:

Today, we got our money's worth out of Wyoming. We got up early (shocker) and went to Jackson Hole for breakfast. It was delicious. These menus never make you feel bad about yourself. You know the "healthy options" that you always feel obliged to choose from? Well, those don't exist here, so you always feel good about yourself.

After breakfast, we explored the town of Jackson Hole (see below) and then we went hiking! Golf and horseback riding were equally over-ruled. White-water rafting seemed a little over-zealous for a couple of car-riden sloths. So, hiking was the best option. Once again, we hiked far too much. 10 miles was today's total. I blame "Camp Disston" for my issues; Johnny, I'm not sure what your excuse is. 

The Hike: Our 10-mile excursion was BEAUTIFUL. And I will say this: Jenny Lake gave Lake Sylvan a run for her money. We were amazed by the views. It reminded me a lot of Maine (which Johnny is sick of hearing about) but the overwhelming pine-needle smell brought me to a happy place. Here are some pics:

For all those waterfall lovers out there, this is indeed a waterfall. We hiked an extra mile for it, so I hope you enjoy it.

During our afternoon post-hike beer-sesh, we encountered a pair of cowboys (literally, they had the hats and boots) that made Snookie look like Princess Kate. We were appalled by their heckling, but their accents kept us tuned in. It was the ultimate train-wreck as they screamed "Hootie-Hoo" to every woman that walked by, no matter the age. It was like they were herding cattle.

One comment on Western Americans: They like fur. I don't get it. Do you?

Now, we are praying that we can make it to Napa tomorrow. We emailed 4 real-estate agents to look at apartments. By tomorrow night (late), we should be in our new home!!! The drive is 13.5 hours so wish us luck and moreover, wish Johnny luck. Road Princess will not take this well. I'll update you from Cali! So much love. ~Road Chief

Day 5: South Dakota to Wyoming

The long drive to Jackson, Wyoming

Total drive: 10 hours, 9.5 of which were in Wyoming. To our dismay, the scenery did not dramatically change as we crossed over the border from S.D.  In fact, it got a little more boring. In terms of road-company, it was slim pickins. We actually passed a town with a population of 4.  4!? They were bragging about it on their “Lost Springs” Welcome sign. No thanks. I’ve seen enough weird in Manhattan.

Cure for today’s car boredom: Filming Johnny singing. Out of respect, I only sent a clip to his female relatives without permission. Mutual respect is incredibly important in a relationship.

The Scenery: So many cows...which prompted our first “disagreement “of the day. Do we eat cow meat, bull meat, or both? Still not sure about the answer…when we Googled it, a posted question distracted us. The question was: “Is it wrong to eat cow penis?” Reportedly, said person bought some in Chinatown and found it to be delicious, in case you fall upon the opportunity one day.  See?! Manhattan has enough weird.

We saw every type of terrain today. Wyoming can't decide what it wants to be, so it has it all. We started off in green farmland, then grassland with cows, then dry grassland with less cows, then barren (BORING) desert, and then lush mountains.  Then, it oscillated between desert, grassland and mountains until we reached the Tetons. At that point, the scenery committed to mountains and we were exhausted. Here's a visual summary of our day:

 

The grand finale- The Tetons! It was absolutely breath-taking and I took 100 identical photos just to make sure I captured the awesomeness.

The people of “Heartland”: We are technically out of heartland now, but yes, its all true. People are nicer and SLOWER out here. I feel like a complete spazz when I interact with all these steady eddies.  

Johnny’s new nickname for me: Road Princess. Apparently, my patience is decomposing each day and my high-maintenance-ness is mounting. Yes, we all applaud Johnny for putting up with me. He’s a patient man.

Passenger condition: We are very sore from our Lake Sylvan hike. I feel like I did 11,000 squats which is mildly uncomfortable to sit on all day. For tomorrow’s day off, we are choosing between hiking, horseback riding and golf. Clearly, we all know where I stand in that conversation. Wish me luck!

We saw some California plates today. I think this means we are getting closer?? We are anxious to get settled but look forward to exploring Wyoming tomorrow! I'll update afterwards. Love you all very much.

Day 4: Day-off in Rapid City

Play Day in Rapid City

Today was so much fun! We woke up early, out of habit. This allowed us to enjoy the swarm of senior tourists in our hotel lobby. We were by far the youngest rubberneckers today.

First adventure: Mt. Rushmore. Pretty darn cool. We were slightly disappointed that we couldn't get as close as Macaulay Culkin in Richie Rich...but we got over it.

Following this excursion, we drove to Custer State Park. There are a bajillion parks around here, but this one came recommended. Talk about delivering above expectations. This place was over the top. I now know what heaven looks like, and that would be Lake Sylvan.

At first we got so excited about the lake that we decided to ditch the hike, grab the shooters out of our trunk and rent a paddle boat for the day. Then we remembered that it was 10am and we had spent three straight days in a car.  So, we went back to the hiking plan and that was definitely a good choice. Here's a view from our 8 mile journey and a sign (because let's face it, its not every day someone from CT hikes in the Black Hills):

Dad, I look forward to hearing about the formation of these interesting rocks :) And Mom, don't worry...that threatening storm cloud held off until the end of our hike. At that point, it actually HAILED. We were extremely confused but had enough time to grab some M&M's and gatorade and run for the car.

For lunch, we ate at the "Mangy Moose Saloon." The alternative was "Bumpin' Buffalo" so it was a hard choice.  We had beer and BBQ (gotta hit the the gym HARD in Cali). I was so tired afterwards that I took an afternoon snooze.

Anyways, we had a great day. We are now waiting for our room service and preparing for our LONG drive to Jackson, Wyoming tomorrow.  Talk to you then! XO

~Road Chief

Day 3: Iowa to South Dakota

Iowa to South Dakota- The Farmland Trek

Today started off slow and then turned out to be awesome! Our first stop was the Jolly Green Giant statue, which marks the half-way mark on West I-90. If you look closely, you can see Johnny between his legs!

Total drive time today: 11 hours.

First argument of the day: I started driving first (at 5:30am). After we stopped for coffee, I hit a bump on the highway and Johnny spilled scorching coffee all over himself.  Don't worry...he got me back by singing in a foreign accent for the better part of the morning.


Scenery: Iowa is gorgeous. It was the easiest driving- straight roads through sunny, green farmland.

Our favorite part of Iowa was the turbines!  There were acres upon acres of these things. They actually looked pretty majestic, turning gracefully in the open air, only disturbed by wind and sunlight.

South Dakota is AMAZING.  We are stunned by the landscape of this country. Below are pictures of farmland and then The Badlands.

Weirdest thing we saw today: A dinosaur skeleton walking a human skeleton...I'm not sure how to elaborate on that.

Awesome pit-stop: Old West Antique Mall.  To stretch our legs, we stopped here. It had amazing antiques and collectibles. Mom & Dad and Ellen & Mr I. look out for postcards from here :)

Tomorrow, I will post after our day of hiking and being tourists at Mt. Rushmore. No driving- yay!

We did not take any pictures together today, but I promise we still like each other.  To satisfy the need for a human pic, Johnny insisted that I post the below (me in the Badlands). Goodnight everyone! XO

Day 2: Ohio to Iowa

Port Clinton, Ohio to Cedar Rapids, IA

First of all, we discovered my road nickname (below). For those of you who are not familiar, Johnny calls me Chief (or Big Chief), so this sign was VERY exciting to find. All things are relative.



Today's start time: 6am. We wanted to get out of Ohio in a HURRY.

First stop: RV Museum Hall of Fame. So awesome!
We got to see RVs from 1930-1970. I loved picturing American families traveling across the country in these! We also had a lot of fun taking pictures in them :)

The distance we have covered so far (per Mama Chief's request):

The scenery: For the most part, it was endless cornfields which prompted some jokes to be sent our way...

Q: Why shouldn't you tell a secret on a farm?

 A: Because the potatoes have eyes and the corn has ears. 

Q: Why didn't anyone laugh at the gardener's jokes?

 A: Because they were too corny! 

 Today's music/entertainment: Country radio, Best of the 90's (AGAIN), Jim Gaffagan skits, calls with Mom, Dad, Ellen and Genie.



What we laughed about: Everything. We are exhausted.

Reaching our destination:  We finally reached Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Here is a pic in front of Cedar River and another of us having a much deserved beer! I'll update from South Dakota tomorrow. We miss you all very much- it feels more monumental to drive slowly away from the East Coast, rather than flying. Road Chief signing off. XOXO