Local tourists in our new city

We've spent a week unpacking and working and thought we would reward ourselves with a bit of San Francisco sightseeing today.
We started out on Lombard St.


to test Joe's driving skills on a curvy road after having just driven 3,000 miles in a straight line. I'm happy to report he can still turn the wheel :)




We then headed over to the Palace of Fine Arts and took Emma to the Exploratorium.


Very cool. So much so, that we are now members, so any of you that might come for visit-it'll be on the To Do list.
We also had our first official view of the Golden Gate Bridge today (as CA residents). It's one cool bridge.


We took a stroll around Fisherman's Wharf, saw the seals, picked up some Sourdough (E already ate this poor turtle's head off and said "it sure is yummy")


and Ghiradelli chocolate and had some ice cream.


Some of us might still be wearing a bit a bit of hot fudge!


The Alcatraz Triathalon is tomorrow and there was lots of activity going on: concerts, parties- it was a good day to be downtown.


We'll keep on explorin'...
We'll get to The Rock next time.

Location:Franklin St,San Francisco,United States

Mile 3178. Home

A lot of miles, a lot of fur, too much fast food, but we're here!



We're off to register E for school, but wanted to let everyone know we're here. Safe and sound with happy E and pets.







More later!

Location:Blackhawk Meadow Dr,Danville,United States

Mile 2980 - Welcome to California!

Ahhhhhhhhhh, California.
We might just make it.



The animals could sense our excitement this morning, and Rip was up early and ready to go. Syd took the boycott approach and for the first time in a week, I had to wrangle her out from under the bed. Being in a hotel, I had no broom handy, and had to resort to snapping a towel and throwing a cutting board at her. Yes, you read that right. I had limited supplies. Needless to say, the cat and I aren't speaking right now.

It's only 57 degrees at 9:24am and beautiful blue skies. High of 80 today in Danville.

We have only 200 miles to go...

Location:Alan S. Hart Fwy,Truckee,United States

The end of day six. We can almost smell the end...

It's Reno. There isn't much to say here. We took care of a few domestic duties this evening, including my favorite task of laundry. It was made extra special by hotel laundry facilities, which is oddly like college. If you are 5 minutes late moving your items from the washer to the dryer, someone unceremoniously dumps it out on the table for you.

The highlight of the evening: it's taco night during Happy Hour at the Residence Inn. E was delighted with the unlimited cheese supply. Joe, not so delighted with the strange processed meat options :)

Tomorrow: 3 hours and we hit Danville. Oh sweet glory. The car walls are starting to close in on us a bit and surprisingly we've been able to lose things in such close quarters. Though we've had fun, we're ready for a bit more space! One more night at a Residence Inn tomorrow and then the moving truck comes on Friday. Yippee!
We may be California residents now, but we'll always be Pats fans. I found this picture earlier today, and had a laugh. We have a good dog! It appears he may not think the same of us if his expression is any indicator ;)

Location:S Virginia St,Reno,United States

Mile 2757 - Pacific Time

We're in Nevada, the last state before CA! We've also entered Pacific Time. We're 3 hours back from most of you now, so please don't call us first thing in the morning ;). We're cruising west about 200 miles from Reno. Traffic is light. It is us and the trucks. We're still missing 2 license plates: Kentucky and Hawaii. There's not a ton out here, but it is pretty. E summed it up best when asking "where are all the houses?" That should give you an idea of the scenery. Lots of mountains and valleys with VERY small towns VERY far apart.

We were hoping to change things up a bit thanks to Carol's suggestion and stay in Lake Tahoe tonight instead of Reno, which looks neither nice, nor noteworthy, but changing accommodations to Tahoe, with the pet contingency in tow proved tricky. We promise to check out Tahoe in the near future and give everyone an update. Or, if you want to come out for a visit- we'll take you!

Our morning has been interesting. We've passed under the mountains (tunnels):


Saw a truck on fire, which appeared to be quickly spreading into a brush fire along the highway:


Watched countless dust devils spin (they don't photograph that well, so I'll spare you the bad photo!).

Saw snow and salt that looked like snow.







We're almost there!

Location:Victory Hwy,Golconda,United States

Mile 2487- Last Full Day

Good bye SLC. You were fun. Packing up was a bit of a challenge this morning in an urban environment with too many cars around and too little space. We must have been quite the site as we strapped all of our worldly goods onto the roof, loaded up kid, cat and dog, de-trashed the car and went about our morning activities which now are routine to us, but to the average businessman getting into a taxi, must be quite the spectacle. If for no other reason, the snow storm like fur explosion that now occurs when we open the trunk. This car will get pampered with this nicest detailing we can find once we get settled. You've been good to us nice vehicle and we appreciate it! Please keep it up :)

So now for some sites from this morning- no trip to SLC is complete without a visit to Temple Square and Church of Later Day Saints. It is a beautiful site.







And we did take a peak at the capitol although we did not go all the way over, as we had been inside on our last visit.


Back to I-80 we are, and a nice ride through the Great Salt Lake.
Salt anyone?



This is one of the Morton's salt facilities. I'd love to dive into that pile!
Happy Wednesday everyone!

Location:SW Temple,Salt Lake City,United States

The end of day five - Salt Lake City

Oh sweet bliss of a nice hotel and non chain restaurant. We checked into the Hotel Monaco where Ripley was greeted with more enthusiasm than his human traveling companions, and given his own doggy bed, dog bowls and specialty dog snacks. If only they had someone to walk him for us! There was even a bellman to assist with luggage... It was heaven.

We had time to take a stroll down to the Gateway, a lovely area of shops, restaurants and play areas. E had a blast in the water fountain. It's quite warm here, about 90 degrees, so she took the opportunity to run through the kid's water play area, and had a good howl.

We had dinner at a non chain establishment with food that may have actually been made today by people, not machines. I'm not known for my exceptional eating habits, but if I see another McDonald's or Subway, it'll be too soon. I can't wait to get a kitchen back and go grocery shopping!



Tomorrow is our last full day on the road. It's hard to believe our journey is nearly over! We've had fun so far and I must say this is a truly amazing way to see our country. Except Nebraska. Sorry folks, that part was kind of long and a bit less than stimulating, plus, no welcome sign. I still can't forgive that...

Good night everyone!

Location:S Main St,Salt Lake City,United States

Mile 2187 - Continental Divide

I guess we're officially in the west now. We've passed the Continental Divide. Twice actually. Not really sure how that works on a straight road, but I'm not one to mess with science.





It's been a beautiful drive, and we're enjoying the scenery immensely. The town names have given us a chuckle or two as well and I'd like to take a minute to share some entertaining names we've seen along the way. We mean no disrespect to anyone with any ties to these places, they just gave us a laugh in pronunciation or some other fashion as we saw them.
Here goes:
Conyngham, PA
Nescopeck, PA
Jersey Shore, PA
Mishawaka, IN
Ogallala, NE
Wamsutter, WY
Wahoo, NE

I'd also like to thank Nabisco, makers of Barnum Animal Crackers. You are truly a delightful snack.






We just heard from Atlas, our trusty movers, and our belongings are currently just mere hours behind us being treated to a truck wash at the moment. We've seen a couple of Atlas trucks on the road and Joe has had to restrain me as I've tried to identify if they are ours. The odds would be low, I know this, but I still have to look ;). For now, I take solace in knowing Wayne, our driver, a good man from what we've seen, takes pride in a clean truck!

Location:Lincoln Hwy,Rock Springs,United States

Mile 2000-Big Sky Country

We've put Cheyenne behind us, which will forever be known as "train town" to us. Not our most restful night, but a necessary pitstop.

We're up to 8,000' in elevation an oh how things have changed. We have clear blue sky for as far as the eye can see and it looks like we have a beautiful drive ahead of us. There is still snow on the mountains in the distance and the rock formations are just awesome.





The roadkill is getting bigger too, so we'll have to start paying a bit more attention to things wandering around out here! We've been to both Wyoming and Utah before and I'm always amazed at the beauty in this part of our fine country. If you haven't been here before, I'd highly recommend it. Our pictures can't do it justice.





We only have a 420 miles today- a short day for us! Our rear ends and backs will welcome some time out of the car later today. We should roll into Salt Lake City around 3pm. To the locals there: if you see a crazy family running around like a bunch of maniacs, that's just us getting a little pent up energy out of our system :)

On a personal note, thank you to all of you for the emails, comments and Facebook posts. We started this blog to document our trip and let family know we were still alive when it might be tough to call. It has grown into something bigger, and much more fun, and we really appreciate your support. Thank You!!

Location:E Bluebird Ln,Laramie,United States

The end of day four - Cheyenne, WY

Hello hotel. Oh how we've missed you. It's unfortunate that you are located next to train tracks that see more train activity than our windshield kills bugs. Tonight's sleeping may require a bit of medicinal intervention.


That's a train going behind the hotel on the right hand side...

We checked out another the Wyoming State Capitol on the way into town (another Capitol checked off for E!) and took a quick spin through town. Cute Western town, with mountains in the distance. It makes us feel like we are getting there.


We're all a bit bushed tonight after a long day in the car, so we had a quick dinner and we're calling it a night. Tomorrow should be a shorter drive, just over 500 miles and we'll have some time to enjoy Salt Lake City a bit more.

Location:County Road 228,Cheyenne,United States

Cheap gas, bugs and dog duty

We're just 15 miles from Cheyenne and have made great time today, but had to make a quick pitstop at the TA (Travel America Stops for those of you who don't travel by car) and were pleased to find even cheaper gas (it's down $.27 from where we started) and our first real peak at the mountains. That's about where the pleasantries stopped. One of the reasons for the stop was to reload the windshield washer fluid as we were low and could no longer see through the windshield due to the inch thick layer of bug splatter/road debris. We refilled and chiseled off what we could. I then got the fun task of walking the dog on the 4 weeds that were available, right in front of all the patrons pumping their gas. I'm sure there was nothing they enjoyed more than seeing me pick up after my dog. Rip enjoyed it too. I think he actually had a smile on his face as he saw me lean over with a plastic bag on my hand.

In honor of that, here's a picture of Syd, in cat jail. She goes all day, won't eat food or drink water, and doesn't do anything until we let her out at the hotel.
Go Sydney!

Location:Lincoln Hwy,Cheyenne,United States

Mile 1678 over 1/2 way there

80/80/80
Joe just pointed out it's 80 degrees out, we're on I-80 and we're going 80 mph (before you call the Nebraska State Police on us, the speed limit is 75!). We're running out of things to discuss here. We just had an in-depth conversation on the usefulness of a better ketchup dispenser for fries while driving. Don't you all wish you were in the car with us right now?
We've seen some interesting water towers:





And passed the Archway Monument in Keaney, NE.



I must say Nebraska was a bit if a letdown. It was the first state we've entered that didn't have a big "welcome to our state" sign. We don't have a whole lot to look forward to and we get kind of excited to cross state borders. Seeing that big highway sign is a strange kind of accomplishment for us, and now we have go nearly 450 miles to Wyoming to feel that satisfaction again. Wyoming, please don't let us down.

We just had lunch - a true All - American meal at McDonald's which will likely make us all feel wonderful in about an hour, but it was quick and near gas, which we seem to be burning through at a rapid rate today.
We'll pick up another hour in time zone change in about 100 miles or so and we're just starting to climb a bit in elevation. We're at about 2,500'.

3 state left to go for license plates. Can't believe we haven't picked up Kentucky by now!! Other than that, just Nevada (which we'll drive through, so shouldn't be a problem) and Hawaii, which might be tough!!

More trees and cows now, slightly less corn.


Not sure if you can tell in the picture, but that's a bunch of cows. We were going kind of fast :). That's pretty much the scenery of the moment- and hay fields. Lots of hay.

Location:Gothenburg,United States

Mile 1422 - Somewhere in Iowa

Good Monday morning to ya!
We're up and out early today as we have quite a distance to cover. Hopefully we have all of our belongings with us ;)

We're headed due west, yet again and set for Cheyenne, Wyoming this evening. Not a ton to see, we're in prime corn country now, but we did see a giant windmill and we've also seen a bunch of blades being transported on the highway and as an insurance person let me just say, they're HUGE and I'll have to make note of that for my next windfarm request!



The Midwest does make good use of windfarms...

You know it must be an exciting drive if I'm discussing the windfarms.

I do have some sad news to report. There will be no viewing of the Largest Ball of Twine. It turns out it isn't on our route. We'll try to find something equally entertaining to capture in photo for everyone. It could be tough. If anyone knows anything in Nebraska, on I-80, send it along!!

Marcia, I think Des Moines was as close as we came to KC. Not sure exactly how close that was?? A couple hours maybe??

Location:T-Bone Recreational Trail,Pymosa,United States

End of Day Three - West Des Moines

Ahhh, another day down. Not a bad day's drive, but we're happy to be here.

I'll take this opportunity to make a quick public service announcement: DO NOT LITTER
We were appalled to drive behind some today tossing out water bottles, paper wrappers and who knows what else. Not cool. As E would say, reduce, re- use, recycle and keep our Earth green.
Ok, now that I got that out, let me just say West Des Moines is lovely. We were a bit bummed out to not buy anything at Antique Archaeology (American Pickers place) - it appears we aren't the only ones smitten with that show as the place was PACKED. We did get some pics though...










So, we took a pitstop in Des Moines to see the Iowa capitol instead. E is a fan of state capitols. Being Sunday afternoon, we had the place to ourselves and saw not only the building,


but the mini Statue of Liberty donated by the Boy Scouts.


We're now at Residence Inn number 3 - we'd call it average, but the area is great. We walked over to Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Emma and Joe got something special



As did Mommy



We walked back through an outdoor concert in the park



And back to rescue our favorite pets from hotel boredom.



It was great to get outside and stretch our legs a bit before we fold them back up for another day tomorrow. We'll head out early in the am (and hopefully pack better than today, as the animals have no food and water bowls!!). Wyoming here we come.
Good night everyone!

Location:Ep True Pkwy,West Des Moines,United States

1/3 of the way :) Mile 1018

It feels good to have passed the 1,000 mile mark. Too bad it was in the rain.
There will be no Chicago viewing for us today...

However, the rain did wash off the bird sized bug splatters overtaking our vehicle. We're amazed some of them haven't cracked the windshield.
So far we've passed through:
Massachusetts
Rhode Island
Connecticut
New York
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Ohio
Indiana (and a brush against Michigan)
and just now:



We're getting there. We found another Danville, but still not the one we're looking for.


We picked up our extra hour, and may go to Omaha tonight if we're up for it. For now our sights are set on LeClaire, IA
http://antiquearchaeology.com/antique_arhaeology_leclaire_ia.html
Bring on the junk ;)

Location:Joliet,United States