It's back to school time
Oh, the end of a glorious vacation. Now comes the withdrawal, anxiety, and nerves.
Christian and I survived a road trip together :) All in all, it was a blast and went too fast...
First stop, Pittsburgh, PA
We got off to a late start because my idiot self underestimated 1) the capacity of my car and 2) the amount of crap I still had. I ended up shipping an extra 8 boxes that night to make more space. Even so, I still had to leave a number of things behind. We finally got on the road around 10PM and arrived at David & Emily's house around 2 or 3 AM. They've got a lovely house in the Squirrel Hill area, good space for both of them, and lots of potential to increase the house's value. But then again, they got the house for real cheap, compared to houses here! Less than $150K! That was one of the reasons I wanted to go to Pitt, the housing there is soooo much cheaper than anywhere in California! We spent most of the weekend chilling and catching up, and saw The 40-Year Old Virgin down by the waterfront. It was great to see them, and I hope they come out and visit Davis sometime, if not, we'll see them next year at their wedding!
Second stop, Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio
This was only 2 hours away from Pittsburgh, but the interstates here are all tollways. We spent 2 nights here because we did not want to drive immediately after leaving the park. We started our money saving by buying groceries and using our rice cooker and Foreman grill. Those things are a must for any road trip, they saved us a lot of money and gave us pretty good food! Yummy hamburgers, salmon and tuna steaks, and hot dogs. The noodles heated up soup and corned beef hash nicely.
Anyway, Cedar Point is awesome. We got a $15 discount from our hotel, bringing the price down from $45 to $30. It wasn't crowded at all, the longest wait we had was for Millenium Force, which was only about an hour. The other rides' lines moved pretty quickly. My favorite ride was the Raptor, a hanging coaster that lasted over 2 minutes. Millenium Force was wild - I felt like I was going to black out after the first 310-foot drop, but then I was fine for the other drops. It's quite a rush. All throughout the first drop I kept thinking, it only lasts 5 seconds, it only lasts 5 seconds! We also rode Magnum something-or-another, which was a lot of fun as well, and some other smaller rides. Top Thrill Dragster wasn't operational that day, unfortunately, and by the end of the afternoon we were too tired and worn out to do Wicked Twister. Overall though, I say we did a lot and had a lot of fun.
Third stop, Evanston, IL
Driving through Ohio and Indiana was pretty straightforward with nice, 70mph speed limits. Christian was driving the last leg through Chicago and thought the skyline looked pretty awesome from Lake Shore Drive. We ended up chilling at Barnes & Noble for a couple of hours because we forgot to factor in time changes along our route, and Steff was still on the El heading from the airport. We finally met up with her at her place, and she was very nice in letting us have the room to ourselves as she would stay at Patrick's that night. We had dinner at a nearby Nepalese place that was more Indian than anything (well, they are next to each other....) and went to a Blues bar joint in North Chicago with her, Patrick, and classmate Annette. It was a good time, and it was fun meeting new people and catching up with Steff. The next day, we had a late start to things (as is custom when hanging out with Christian =P) and we spent the afternoon in Lincoln Park, stopping by the conservatory and the zoo. All fun, and all free! We were really tired on our way back and called it a night early, since everyone had early plans the next day.
Fourth Stop, Sioux Falls, SD
We went through 3 states to get to the eastern end of SD: Illinois, Wisconsin, and the lower portion of Minnesota. It was quite scenic. A few of the trees were already changing color, which was kinda early. I liked crossing the Mississippi River into Minnesota. It was a long drive, (8hours plus), but we made it. I booked the hotel here on priceline for $40, it was sweet. 12:00 checkout too.
Fifth stop, Buffalo, WY
We stopped through Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial on our way to Buffalo. The weather so far had been perfect, and this day was no exception. The Crazy Horse Memorial is quite impressive. It's all funded by public interest and non-profits, no government money (I wouldn't accept any govt money the way they screwed the Native Americans over either!), and it's gonna be HUGE. So far most of the sculpture has been blocked off, and the face is done. On the way to Buffalo, we passed through nothing, so Christian set off some fireworks. It was a little too windy to do all of them, but it was..fun. I was leery at first because I feared that we'd get ticketed or something. I need to relax.
Sixth stop, Yellowstone National Park, WY
The drive to Yellowstone was really nice. It was getting colder as we went into higher elevations, and we saw some cowboys when we made a pit stop in Cody. I've never entered through the East entrance, and it was very cool to do so. First we pass the Buffalo Bill Dam/River, which is really scenic, and make our way through mountains to get to the entrance. There was a lot of construction going on on the road from the east entrance to the park, and it was snow flurrying! When Christian opened the window to pay our entrance fee, a blast of cold air went into our toasty car. On our way to the lodge we saw a coyote and a small herd of bison. We were staying at the Lake Lodge Cabins that night, and it was a nice, cozy place. We managed to see the waterfalls before the sun went down (and before I freezed over) and headed back to the cabin for the night. A buffalo was crossing the road and so we had to stop to let it cross. We made burgers with the Foreman grill and boy, did the room smell good afterwards!
Seventh stop, Jackson, WY
The next day, there was snow on my car. Seriously. It was a cold day, but not much precipitation, thank goodness. We went all around the park as much as we could: Mud Volcano, Mammoth Hot springs, Wraith and Undine Falls, Norris Geyser Basin, Fountain Paint Pots, and Old Faithful. Christian's leg was acting up, so he couldn't walk around much. We did a lot of driving. Along the way we saw another herd of bison, and a traffic jam caused by a lone one because he was on the road heading in the direction of traffic! I felt bad for the cars on the other side because there was no way around him. We got awesome video as he passed our car. He was literally 4 feet away from my driver side window! As we passed Mammoth Hot Springs to Wraith falls, there was a herd of elk (one 12-point buck and all his bitches) chilling by the Mammoth Hot Springs Lodge. They were tanning on the grass. It was quite neat. My favorite part of Yellowstone is Fountain Paint Pots, because it's cute and they make adorable bloop bloop noises. On the way there another bison was causing another traffic jam, but we managed to go around him since he was headed in the same direction and there weren't too many cars on the other side. There was an buck elk eating grass on the side of the road and we stopped for pictures there too. He only had 10 points, which may explain why he was alone and had no girls with him. We caught the last eruption of Old Faithful by dusk-light after chatting with a woman with a cute bulldog. It was another 2 hours or so to head out of the park, past Grand Tetons, and into Jackson. What a long day!
Eighth Stop, Salt Lake City, UT
Unfortunately, the weather decided to go sour for us this morning. It was cloudy and rainy and cold, and the clouds were so low you couldn't sense the Grandness of the Grand Tetons. Bummer for Christian, who hasn't seen them yet. So we headed out early for Salt Lake City through a long road that went through some mountains (10% grade! that's the largest I've seen), and a hailstorm in Idaho, and got there around 6pm. Enough time to utilize the jacuzzi and have tuna steaks for dinner. It was also nice most of the hotels we'd stayed at either had a business center or free wireless. Unfortunately, my idiot ass misplaced the plug for my computer, so i wasn't able to update my iPod with Christian's songs. No worries though, Christian bought a plug adapter thingie for the car so he could plug his laptop and play music from there.
Ninth stop, Reno, NV
There's not much to see on the road from SLC to Reno. Funny signs, though. First, $2K for littering, and many a "Prison Area: Hitchhiking Prohibited" sign were on the road. It was pretty cool to see mirages on the road, and it was even more neat to see the mountains reflecting on them too. In Wendover, UT/NV, there's a line on the road that says "NEVADA/UTAH" and on the Nevada side are casinos! We stayed at Circus Circus and I had a craving for prime rib, so we ate at the hotel's steakhouse, which was yummy. Christian, unfortunately, wasn't able to play poker because they didn't have any no limit games going on during the day.
Destination, Davis, CA
Since there wasn't much else to do (I get bored easily in gaming areas because I don't like losing money), we headed to CA early. The Donner Pass sucks, because chains are used in the winter and the roads are screwy because of that. It was scenic though. Since we had some time to kill before meeting my roommate, we drove around Woodland and the outskirts of Davis, looking at houses, seeing what the market looks like. It's way expensive here. Most houses run $500K, the nicer ones are more in the $800K-1million range. Ick. So we finally got to my new apartment, unloaded everything and tried to settle in. I still need some pieces of furniture. We drove around different Davis neighborhoods, looking at houses (a little too pricey for our budget), ate at a really good Thai place and a really good Mediterranean cafe, and passed through Lake Berryessa, about an hour away from where I am. And I had to bring Christian to the airport :( Sucks he's gonna be gone for 2 months. We've been spoiled silly, spending so much time together for the past year. But, after I get through this initial withdrawal, I'll be fine. I just need to make some friends here. Hopefully that starts tomorrow at orientation.....
Christian and I survived a road trip together :) All in all, it was a blast and went too fast...
First stop, Pittsburgh, PA
We got off to a late start because my idiot self underestimated 1) the capacity of my car and 2) the amount of crap I still had. I ended up shipping an extra 8 boxes that night to make more space. Even so, I still had to leave a number of things behind. We finally got on the road around 10PM and arrived at David & Emily's house around 2 or 3 AM. They've got a lovely house in the Squirrel Hill area, good space for both of them, and lots of potential to increase the house's value. But then again, they got the house for real cheap, compared to houses here! Less than $150K! That was one of the reasons I wanted to go to Pitt, the housing there is soooo much cheaper than anywhere in California! We spent most of the weekend chilling and catching up, and saw The 40-Year Old Virgin down by the waterfront. It was great to see them, and I hope they come out and visit Davis sometime, if not, we'll see them next year at their wedding!
Second stop, Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio
This was only 2 hours away from Pittsburgh, but the interstates here are all tollways. We spent 2 nights here because we did not want to drive immediately after leaving the park. We started our money saving by buying groceries and using our rice cooker and Foreman grill. Those things are a must for any road trip, they saved us a lot of money and gave us pretty good food! Yummy hamburgers, salmon and tuna steaks, and hot dogs. The noodles heated up soup and corned beef hash nicely.
Anyway, Cedar Point is awesome. We got a $15 discount from our hotel, bringing the price down from $45 to $30. It wasn't crowded at all, the longest wait we had was for Millenium Force, which was only about an hour. The other rides' lines moved pretty quickly. My favorite ride was the Raptor, a hanging coaster that lasted over 2 minutes. Millenium Force was wild - I felt like I was going to black out after the first 310-foot drop, but then I was fine for the other drops. It's quite a rush. All throughout the first drop I kept thinking, it only lasts 5 seconds, it only lasts 5 seconds! We also rode Magnum something-or-another, which was a lot of fun as well, and some other smaller rides. Top Thrill Dragster wasn't operational that day, unfortunately, and by the end of the afternoon we were too tired and worn out to do Wicked Twister. Overall though, I say we did a lot and had a lot of fun.
Third stop, Evanston, IL
Driving through Ohio and Indiana was pretty straightforward with nice, 70mph speed limits. Christian was driving the last leg through Chicago and thought the skyline looked pretty awesome from Lake Shore Drive. We ended up chilling at Barnes & Noble for a couple of hours because we forgot to factor in time changes along our route, and Steff was still on the El heading from the airport. We finally met up with her at her place, and she was very nice in letting us have the room to ourselves as she would stay at Patrick's that night. We had dinner at a nearby Nepalese place that was more Indian than anything (well, they are next to each other....) and went to a Blues bar joint in North Chicago with her, Patrick, and classmate Annette. It was a good time, and it was fun meeting new people and catching up with Steff. The next day, we had a late start to things (as is custom when hanging out with Christian =P) and we spent the afternoon in Lincoln Park, stopping by the conservatory and the zoo. All fun, and all free! We were really tired on our way back and called it a night early, since everyone had early plans the next day.
Fourth Stop, Sioux Falls, SD
We went through 3 states to get to the eastern end of SD: Illinois, Wisconsin, and the lower portion of Minnesota. It was quite scenic. A few of the trees were already changing color, which was kinda early. I liked crossing the Mississippi River into Minnesota. It was a long drive, (8hours plus), but we made it. I booked the hotel here on priceline for $40, it was sweet. 12:00 checkout too.
Fifth stop, Buffalo, WY
We stopped through Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial on our way to Buffalo. The weather so far had been perfect, and this day was no exception. The Crazy Horse Memorial is quite impressive. It's all funded by public interest and non-profits, no government money (I wouldn't accept any govt money the way they screwed the Native Americans over either!), and it's gonna be HUGE. So far most of the sculpture has been blocked off, and the face is done. On the way to Buffalo, we passed through nothing, so Christian set off some fireworks. It was a little too windy to do all of them, but it was..fun. I was leery at first because I feared that we'd get ticketed or something. I need to relax.
Sixth stop, Yellowstone National Park, WY
The drive to Yellowstone was really nice. It was getting colder as we went into higher elevations, and we saw some cowboys when we made a pit stop in Cody. I've never entered through the East entrance, and it was very cool to do so. First we pass the Buffalo Bill Dam/River, which is really scenic, and make our way through mountains to get to the entrance. There was a lot of construction going on on the road from the east entrance to the park, and it was snow flurrying! When Christian opened the window to pay our entrance fee, a blast of cold air went into our toasty car. On our way to the lodge we saw a coyote and a small herd of bison. We were staying at the Lake Lodge Cabins that night, and it was a nice, cozy place. We managed to see the waterfalls before the sun went down (and before I freezed over) and headed back to the cabin for the night. A buffalo was crossing the road and so we had to stop to let it cross. We made burgers with the Foreman grill and boy, did the room smell good afterwards!
Seventh stop, Jackson, WY
The next day, there was snow on my car. Seriously. It was a cold day, but not much precipitation, thank goodness. We went all around the park as much as we could: Mud Volcano, Mammoth Hot springs, Wraith and Undine Falls, Norris Geyser Basin, Fountain Paint Pots, and Old Faithful. Christian's leg was acting up, so he couldn't walk around much. We did a lot of driving. Along the way we saw another herd of bison, and a traffic jam caused by a lone one because he was on the road heading in the direction of traffic! I felt bad for the cars on the other side because there was no way around him. We got awesome video as he passed our car. He was literally 4 feet away from my driver side window! As we passed Mammoth Hot Springs to Wraith falls, there was a herd of elk (one 12-point buck and all his bitches) chilling by the Mammoth Hot Springs Lodge. They were tanning on the grass. It was quite neat. My favorite part of Yellowstone is Fountain Paint Pots, because it's cute and they make adorable bloop bloop noises. On the way there another bison was causing another traffic jam, but we managed to go around him since he was headed in the same direction and there weren't too many cars on the other side. There was an buck elk eating grass on the side of the road and we stopped for pictures there too. He only had 10 points, which may explain why he was alone and had no girls with him. We caught the last eruption of Old Faithful by dusk-light after chatting with a woman with a cute bulldog. It was another 2 hours or so to head out of the park, past Grand Tetons, and into Jackson. What a long day!
Eighth Stop, Salt Lake City, UT
Unfortunately, the weather decided to go sour for us this morning. It was cloudy and rainy and cold, and the clouds were so low you couldn't sense the Grandness of the Grand Tetons. Bummer for Christian, who hasn't seen them yet. So we headed out early for Salt Lake City through a long road that went through some mountains (10% grade! that's the largest I've seen), and a hailstorm in Idaho, and got there around 6pm. Enough time to utilize the jacuzzi and have tuna steaks for dinner. It was also nice most of the hotels we'd stayed at either had a business center or free wireless. Unfortunately, my idiot ass misplaced the plug for my computer, so i wasn't able to update my iPod with Christian's songs. No worries though, Christian bought a plug adapter thingie for the car so he could plug his laptop and play music from there.
Ninth stop, Reno, NV
There's not much to see on the road from SLC to Reno. Funny signs, though. First, $2K for littering, and many a "Prison Area: Hitchhiking Prohibited" sign were on the road. It was pretty cool to see mirages on the road, and it was even more neat to see the mountains reflecting on them too. In Wendover, UT/NV, there's a line on the road that says "NEVADA/UTAH" and on the Nevada side are casinos! We stayed at Circus Circus and I had a craving for prime rib, so we ate at the hotel's steakhouse, which was yummy. Christian, unfortunately, wasn't able to play poker because they didn't have any no limit games going on during the day.
Destination, Davis, CA
Since there wasn't much else to do (I get bored easily in gaming areas because I don't like losing money), we headed to CA early. The Donner Pass sucks, because chains are used in the winter and the roads are screwy because of that. It was scenic though. Since we had some time to kill before meeting my roommate, we drove around Woodland and the outskirts of Davis, looking at houses, seeing what the market looks like. It's way expensive here. Most houses run $500K, the nicer ones are more in the $800K-1million range. Ick. So we finally got to my new apartment, unloaded everything and tried to settle in. I still need some pieces of furniture. We drove around different Davis neighborhoods, looking at houses (a little too pricey for our budget), ate at a really good Thai place and a really good Mediterranean cafe, and passed through Lake Berryessa, about an hour away from where I am. And I had to bring Christian to the airport :( Sucks he's gonna be gone for 2 months. We've been spoiled silly, spending so much time together for the past year. But, after I get through this initial withdrawal, I'll be fine. I just need to make some friends here. Hopefully that starts tomorrow at orientation.....
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home