Mission Accomplished

Total Miles Driven: 8,205

Days on the Road: 22

Harry Potter books listened to: 6.3

States Driven Through: 18

Oil Changes: 2

Speeding Tickets: 1

Accidents: 0

Car Problems: 0

Friends Visited: 13

Pictures taken: 4GB

Rainy Days: 0

Herds of Bison spotted: 2

Bison crossing roads: 3

Bear attacks: 0

Mountain Lions Spotted: almost 1

Winner of all Juice Box Races: Eric

Next trip planned: Driving up the coast from San Francisco to Alaska

Interesting Facts Learned:

• It is illegal to howl like a coyote in Yellowstone
  
• The Continental Divide is the highest elevation point, which splits to which ocean the water flows on either side.
  
• Kansas City is in both Kansas and Missouri
• Reno is the Biggest Little City 
• There are 10,000 lakes in Minnesota
• Interstates 90, 80, and 70 can take you anwhere
• St. Louis is not one of the twin cities
• Harry Potter is not good at Occulumency

Welcome Home Party!!

We drove from Bloomington to Pittsburgh yesterday, stopping to satisfy a McDonalds craving (the first time we had or wanted fast food the entire trip!)

With this drive, we completed Harry Potter book 6. Our plan once we arrived in Pittsburgh was to see a movie, so we just drove straight to the waterfront and sat in the parking lot to finish the last 30 minutes of book 6. Obviously, I was weeping for the final 2 hours of the book. Then, for a pick me up, we thought we'd see The Dark Knight. Great movie but really depressing.

We spent the night at Brandon's- it was so weird to be in Pittsburgh and for that not to be my home anymore! The next morning, we went to Alderson to see Elyse and Maura. We spent some time chatting and I picked up some things I had forgotten when I moved out. We took a map picture in front of the house, and then headed to Mineos to have our favorite pizza for our last time in pittsburgh until...? who knows?!

The drive from Pburgh to Eric's felt quite short, we began harry potter 7 which we will both have to finish on our own now. When we drove onto Eric's street, we saw what looked like my dad's car. Laughing because we had been joking that my dad was following us the whole trip (we saw lots of silver mini vans!), we suddenly saw through Eric's window- my parents! And a sign saying "welcome home Eric and Laura!". After laughing hysterically for a few minutes, we greeted our families happily. It is great to be home! We've been sitting and having dinner all together, discussing our trip and enjoying each other!

I will write again to wrap up the trip once I am home in good old quakertown!

with love,

Laura and Eric

Bloomington, Indiana

We are about to leave bloomington- where we have spent the past two nights. After driving through Kansas, Missouri and Indiana, we arrived in b-town around midnight on wednesday night! It was so wonderful to see Amanda and stay in her super cute apartment. We all stayed up talking pretty late, and then slept really really well on amanda's air mattress!

The next day, we walked to have breakfast at a place called "The Runcible Spoon", where I've actually been before last time I was here to visit Amanda. We had a really good breakfast, and there are fish in the bathtub in the restroom- hha! Then we walked around bloomington- down Kirkwood and then into campus. It was a beautiful day! Amanda gave us a tour of the music school, including the amazing stage she gets to perform on!

When we got back to amanda's apt we were pretty tired, so we all took naps which felt sooo good! Then we walked to the grocery store and stocked up for the night! We got some things for dinner and then, obviously, jager and redbull :P Amanda had to go to church choir for an hour, and eric and I were supposed to be taking showers and getting ready to go out, but instead we started watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the movie. Whoops. :)

Eventually we were ready to start partying! Some of Amanda's friends came over, and we all hung out and had jagerbombs. Gross but amazing nonetheless. :) We went out to some of the bars in town then, and had a very fun night!

This morning (by morning I mean 11:30 when we had managed to get up)  we met Molly and Julie, Amanda's friends, at Dunkin Donuts. Amanda just left to go to work, and Eric and I are packing up and getting ready to drive to pittsburgh tonight! Today marks three weeks from take-off, and tomorrow we go home. When I came to the realization that our trip was over at breakfast this morning, I may or may not have started to cry.

Real world, look out.... we're coming back!

xox

Laura and Eric

Kansas

Yesterday morning was spent enjoying beautiful, expensive Aspen! We met up with and had lunch with Rach and Sarah and a couple of their friends from the festival after their morning rehearsals. We were also joined by Adam, another CMU friend! We had lunch at a place called Poppycocks and it was yummy! We then said our goodbyes to our Aspen friends, and headed for a drive through Independence Pass- which rach had strictly warned us not to drive at nighttime. The drive was amazing. We went up and through the mountains, passing the Continental Divide (which my brother later explained to me is the highest point between the coasts, splitting which oceans the water goes to on either side) the elevation at this point was over 12,000 feet! There was snow at the same level as us! 

Eventually we made our way out of the mountains. We stopped in Denver for an oil change and heard some bad news about my brakes which I am choosing to ignore for the time being. We continued driving into flat Kansas, and eventually stopped for the night in a town called Hays.

We're about to leave for the drive to Bloomington! Here we come Amanda!!!

<3

Laura and Eric

Aspen, CO

Ok so yesterday we just drove all day. We began at about 7:20, and drove straight until we got to Rach and Sarah's (a bit outside of the town Aspen) around 11 or so. We admittedly made even better time than we had though, as the iphone had originally predicted our arrival around 12:30/1AM!  We stopped several times for gas and breaks, and we had to get fast food for the first time as well, because when we wanted lunch we were in some random casino area- we tried a casino buffet first but it was about to close, so we ended up going to Arby's. 

We are almost finished with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, book 5, and as we were driving up in the mountains late last night it was getting really intense. I was trying not to cry because I was driving...  :)

Anyway, rach and sarah have an awesome place here, its like a glorified ski resort. When we got here, they told us that there was a meteor shower going on! So we bundled up (seriously, it was SO cold it felt like november!) and drove up to a little trail entrance where we could park and lie on some blankets. It was so unbelievably clear, I tried to count the stars but I didn't get very far. Eric had never seen a meteor shower before, or even a shooting star, so it was really cool because we saw a dozen or more huuuuge ones that spanned the entire sky, and a bunch of little ones too. It was so fun! 

We came back and spent the night on their pull out sofa bed, and now it is 11AM and eric and I are going to get ready to go into Aspen to meet the girls for lunch. They are in rehearsals right now. After lunch, we're off again- headed tonight to somewhere random in Kansas, and hopefully getting to Amanda's in Bloomington, Indiana, sometime late tomorrow!!! I can't believe we are almost done! We still have many many miles to go, though, and the escort is due for another oil change!

Stat update: 

Friends visited: 12

Friends made: millions

Best food: sourdough bread bowls and clam chowder

Best purchase: matching white sunglasses

Most annoyingly awful Harry Potter character: Dolores Umbridge

Spells Cast: around 20

Oil changes: soon to be 2

Wierdest scenery: the salt flats 

fights: 1

emotional make-up conversations: 1

number of outfits left that we havn't worn yet: 0

loads of laundry done in random places: 5

San Francisco

(I actually wrote this on Monday, but did not have internet until today!)

Well Helen's wedding was absolutely beautiful. We took the shuttle from our hotel to the location- and it was just perfect. Helen and Matt were married outside of a little white gazebo at the top of a hill. Beyond the gazebo was a drop-off which revealed a fantastic view of green and blue hills, only slightly obscured by the white San Francisco fog, and a perfectly blue stream winding through the valley below. This was the Crystal Springs Golf Club- an absolutely fantastic setting. Helen was a vision in a champagne gown with a long train. Eve and the other bridesmaids (Lizzy, Helen's sister was MOH, and Matt's sisters were the other bridesmaids) wore dresses the color of red wine. Helen had joked the night before that her colors were "wine and champagne" which was a testament to her and Matt's interests! :) (Well they do live above a wine bar!)

The ceremony was lovely, including a string quartet, playing both the March from Aida and the Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin for the processionals. Oh and as a prelude, they played an arrangement of the Beach Boy's "California Girls", titled "Filles du Californie" :)

The reception was at the golf club, and was beautiful. And who can complain when you have an open bar! :) Eric and I were seated at the "Forbes Ave" table with a few other PIttsburgh-ians, as well as some Google-ites. We met a lot of new people and made connections with CMU people we hadn't known when we were in school. Eric, Eve and I definitely represented our class well! We pretty much owned the dance floor. 

On Sunday, Eve left early early to fly to Hawaii for vacation with her family! Lucky! Eric and I went to the brunch hosted by Matt and Helen at their apartment/the wine bar they live above. The food was deeelicious, and we got to see where they live. Their apt is super cute and Pal Alto is beautiful! Also, the owner of the wine bar offered eric a job, so if all else fails, he might come back!

After brunch, we went into San Francisco. The city is awesome. We struggled a bit to find parking- which is ridiculously expensive- but we got a spot right near Fisherman's Wharf. We walked around on the piers, and checked out all the crazy street performers. Pier 39 at the Wharf was completely covered with seals! They were so cool- barking and flopping around!

We saw how sourdough bread was made at Boudin's, and got a free sample of Ghirardelli chocolate! It was very crowded, but super cool walking around the Wharf. 

We then took a ferry across the bay to the town of Sausalito. The ferry boat was so fun! It was freezing on top where we sat, soo windy! We went right past Alcatraz (which I frequently confused with Azkaban...) and by the Golden Gate Bridge. Again, we were fortunate enough to be enjoying about the most beautiful day in the world. When we got to Sausalito, we had about and hour and a half to walk around and enjoy the cute little town. It didn't even feel like we were in America! The town is all built up on the hillside, right by the water, and really pretty. We had lunch in a great sandwich shop, and finalized our plans for the night via iphone. We decided our next destination would be Aspen, to stay with Rachael and Sarah. We decided to spend that night in Reno, randomly, in a hotel/casino called the Circus, which happened to have a great price for a room. 

We then took the return Ferry back to S.F. and walked around a bit more, shopping for souvenirs and hot new sunglasses. Then we got some sourdough bread bowls and clam chowder to go, and got back in the car. We drove around to find the Crookedest Street- which apparently everyone else wanted to do as well, so we sat in a traffic buildup for a while. This gave us the perfect opportunity to eat our soup and bread bowls- umm.... delicious. 

The crookedest street was really cool- it was really crooked. :) I had fun driving down it though, even if i was just a little bit scared. It was like Negly only in zigzag form and two times steeper! :)

Eventually we got out of the city, over the Bay Bridge which is LOOONNG. Then we tok 80 East- it's so weird to be going east now!

Three and half harry-potter filled hours later, we arrived in Reno. Which was like vegas except smaller and grosser. We went right to bed, ready to wake up at 7AM and resume the drive to Aspen.

xox

Laura and Eric

Silicon Valley

Our last night in LA was spent out in West Hollywood with Eddie, Diana and some of their friends. We had a lot of fun- probably way too much fun!! Therefore, we got a bit of a late start the next day, so we ended up heading out of LA and onto the Pacific Coast Highway by around 10 in the morning. The drive was lovely but quite slow. We enjoyed the sights of the coast but eventually had to take a faster route, since we were quite behind to get to the rehearsal dinner in San Fran that evening. Everything worked out well though- we made it to the dinner and were able to enjoy the delicious food and spend time with Helen and her family and bridal party. Helen looked stunning- I just can't believe she's getting married today! The food was amazing, and even though Eric and I were a bit smelly and disheveled, we still quite enjoyed the evening. We came back to our hotel which we are sharing with Eve and I crashed in record speed :)

This morning we opted to stay around the hotel, rest, enjoy breakfast and do some laundry which we desperately needed to do. We'll be enjoying silicone valley today and getting ready for the wedding tonight! We've got a shuttle between the wedding and hotel so it is sure to be a great, worry free night!!!

xox

Laura and Eric

Hollywood

Our first night in LA with Gino was a blast- we went out and had dinner at place called Mama Burger, then we went to a bar called The Abbey. It was so much fun to be in West Hollywood and hanging out w/ Gino!

The next day, we met up with Eddie and Diana, and they took us to Doheny Beach, an hour or so out of LA where Eddie's sister and family were camping for the week. It was a perfect beach day, and the water was warm and beautiful! The Pacific ocean!

The boys went out to try surfing with Eddie's brother-in-law and friend. It was eric's first time surfing, but he was a natural, of course. He picked it up really fast and got 5 or 6 great rides!

Diana and I spent the afternoon playing with Eddie's little niece Emma. She is soooooo ridiculously cute. We jumped waves and played games with her, and I swum in the ocean quite a bit since the water was so warm. It was a fantastic day!

We hung around at the beach until a bit after 7, waiting for the traffic to lessen before we drove back into LA. When we got back to Eddie and Diana's apartment- Eddie made us dinner. He made alfredo sauce (which I taught him how to make a while ago back in Pittsburgh! :) and it was delicious. We hung out and drank some beer, ate, and jammed on our guitars. It was a perfect day. Conversation throughout the day ranged from religion to education to vocal technique to the grooming of palm trees.  :)

This morning, Eddie made us eggs for breakfast- and I helped cook some turkey bacon (yummm). Then the boys and I got ready to go hike to the hollywood sign, while Diana stayed home to practice. The climb to the sign was easy at first- paved roads that wound around up the hill. The last part of the climb, to as close as we could get to the sign, was very steep and through loose sand-like dirt. We did pretty well- the boys made it up a bit higher than me, and then the hardest part was coming back down the very very steep trails in the dirt. It was really, really hot and we had forgotten to bring water (although this time at least Eric and I didn't wear flip flops!!). So I was a bit dehydrated, and also have a history of passing out randomly, so I had a little trouble for a bit and needed to take a break-- slash practically fall off the mountain :P Eric ran to get water for me from one of the rich bel air houses, haha, and the boys took care of me until I stopped seeing stars :)

After making our way back to the car, Eddie drove us back, showing us parts of LA including a cool solar-powered gas station. We stopped at an In-N-Out, where Eddie insisted we had to get burgers (I just got a grilled cheese!) and took lunch home to eat w/ Diana. The boys and I were exhausted and very very dirty- so for the past couple hours we have been showering and napping and just relaxing. Also watching some Arrested Development which is hilarious. 

We are going out tonight with some of Eddie and Diana's friends, but Eric and I are getting up for an early start tomorrow. We'll be driving up the Pacific Coastal Highway to San Francisco, so that we can arrive in time to go to the rehearsal dinner which Matt and Helen invited us to attend! It's been fun to relax and hang out for the past few days, so we'll have to get back into driving mode for tomorrow. Luckily- we have Harry Potter book 5! :)

Thats all we have for now- pictures will follow!!

xox

Laura and Eric

La La Land

So the delay in blog posts is due to the fact that Vegas hotels charge a million dollars per minute to use the internet. Therefore we will now try to catch you up on the past few days!!!

We left our campsite in Green River, Utah on Sunday morning and spent the day driving south through beautiful Utah. We stopped in a couple of national parks- Dead Horse National Park which overlooks Dead Horse Canyon, which was beautiful. We then drove to Canyons National Park, which spans a large part of the Utah craters and rock formations. 

Utah!

All of southern Utah is filled with these huge red-rock formations of many different shapes- points and towers (the needles), arches, craters and mountains. In Canyons National Park is Mesa Arch, an amazing arch form in the rocks. We took a couple hikes through this park, to Mesa Arch and a crater that scientists think could possibly have been formed by a meteor hitting the earth!  We had the genius plan of hiking in our flip flops, and the hikes were substantial and primarily very steep climbs. It was fun though and neither of us broke our ankles. :)

me and Mesa Arch

We then proceeded through Utah and entered Arizona. We thought about driving to the northern rim of the grand canyon, but it would have been a good 5 hours round trip to get back on route, and it was already about 3. So we went around to the southern rim and stopped many times at the various viewpoints of the canyon. The Grand Canyon was everything we hoped it would be. Massive and mind blowing, from each lookout the view improved. The day was again beautiful, and the light shining down into the canon make for a breathtaking sight. There were also these tiny little squirrels (i thought they were mice at first, but i was wrong!) Against my better judgement, I would say they were even a little bit cute. Although I am sure they all were rabid. There are two different breeds of squirrels- one breed on each side of the canyon! They are completely separated and evolved differently, how cool!

Us at the Grand Canyon!!!

It started to get cloudy and windy, and for fear of being blown into the grand canyon, we decided it was time to leave. It was about 6 and we had really not eaten all day and we're starving. We still had about 2 hours to go to get to Flagstaff, where we had planned on staying the night, so we just bucked down and drove, not stopping to eat until we entered the city. We went to a cute italian pizzeria and had delicious chicken and artichoke pizza. While at dinner, we discussed how much we did not want to camp in the rain (it was raining at the time) and that we were not tired at all. So, we therefore decided to drive to Vegas instead. :)

The drive took about 4 hours, and we went over the Hoover Dam. This was the first time we had driven through the night, so it was kind of creepy to see the mountain formations and realize we were driving through a desert. Driving over the Hoover Dam was intense, it felt sort of like going through some secret government area. They are building a new bridge, but we took this windy route that was very slow. We also had to stop at a police checkpoint at one point during the drive. But we made it to Vegas around 12:30, and we headed for the hotel which we had just booked a room in, using Eric's expedia coupon. Our room was in the Paris Replica hotel- we drove through the Arch de Triumph and saw the Eiffel Tower ahead of us :P

Our room was supposed to be a standard room, we were paying about 35 bucks with our coupon. But since we registered so late, we ended up being put in a huge suite!!! 

The view of the Eiffel Tower from our Vegas Hotel Room :)

We actually died. It was like 5 rooms, two separate bathrooms, including a jacuzzi bathtub (I took two jacuzzi baths in the 9 hours we were there...) a dining area, sitting area, giant king sized bed and a tv that rose out of the table in front of the bed. Um... it was amazing :)

Our awesome suite!

We showered and got dolled up to walk around vegas- at this point it was like 3 am- and we were so tired that we only lasted about 15 minutes until we came back to our giant room. Oh yeah, and we had spent the entire driving day listening to book 4 of Harry Potter, like actually 15 hours. We were so close to the end so we finished the last 20 minutes of the book :) 

Amazing!!!!! 

So we checked out of Paris at 11 the next day, and decided we would spend the next night in Vegas as well. We wasted a couple dollars in the slot machines but couldn't really get the hang of it.

We walked around, taking in the sights of fake vegas land. We had breakfast at a really creepy saloon called "Bill's Wild West Saloon and Casino". Then we enjoyed Greece, New York, and Seattle. (All of these places are represented in Vegas, along with more). We got discounted tickets to see Stomp Out Loud, which was an excellent decision. We went to our new hotel, which was a few minutes outside the strip area. This hotel was also nice, although we were quite spoiled by our paris experience :)

We also in this time realized that our friend Graham was in the city, he is in Jersey Boys right now! Graham was a cmu student 2 years ahead of us, and so we texted him and made plans to get together after our show!

So we made it to Stomp just in time- because I forgot the tickets, and there was traffic, and we had to walk an actual mile between parking and the theater. (seriously- when we got into the casino and asked where the theater was, the lady told us "oh just go a half a mile through the mall and then upstairs". Not an exaggeration.

Stomp was amazing. I obviously enjoyed watching a bunch of very attractive drummer boys dancing and banging on stuff :) It was really, really good- definitely a good choice!

After the show, we headed to where we were supposed to meet Graham. We met at Firefly, a cool tapas place a bit outside of the hubbub of the strip. It was so great to see Graham- p.s. cmu people- he and Nicole are getting married, in Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh, in like 11 days. HOW CRAZY!!!!!

Ok anyway, we had a really really fun time. Some of the actors that are in Jersey Boys with Graham came, and they were super cool. We had pomegranate mojitos (amazing!) and great food- an all around good time.

Back in the hotel- we crashed with plans of waking early to sunbathe before we had to check out! So this morning we went down to the really nice pool and laid out for about 2 hours, then we checked out of the hotel and started the drive to LA!

The traffic was not too terrible, and we got to Gino's around 5 or so. Gino was not home yet so we went to a rite aid near his apt so I could get a new hairdryer, and then starbucks where Gino met us!!!! We are so happy to be in LA and be w/ Gino! We sat at the starbucks for an hour or so to catch up, and now we are back at his really nice apt with his random weirdo roommates. Soon we will be heading out on the town! Yay california!!!!

So thats the general idea of our last couple of days!!!! Tomorrow we are spending the day with Eddie at the beach, and staying with him and Diana tomorrow night. Thursday is undecided, Friday we leave for San Francisco! Eric and I are doing a good job of re-adjusting to society. After a week in the wild we have to talk to other people now, so hopefully we will be ok :)

Lots of love,

xox

Laura and Eric

what happens in vegas... Stays in vegas.

Utah and Ants

We drove all day today- through Salt Lake City where we stopped for an oil change and lunch. We were wandering around a shopping center in the city called Trolley Square, trying to find somewhere to eat, when we came upon a restaurant called the Green Street Club, which turned out to be a "private" club. Meaning you needed a membership to enter just because they sell alcohol there! Hah... utah! Anyway, we were about to leave when a nice couple came by and went to go in, and they said that they would "sponsor" us... meaning we could go in. So random. It was a nice enough place, but not super fancy or pricey- basically like a Friday's. But that's Utah law, I guess! 

Anyway, we then continued to drive through Utah, passing through amazing mountains and listening to Harry Potter. Which, by the way, is really starting to get to us. We have begun to refer to other people as 'muggles', and we occasionally curse each other with an "Expelliarmus!" We also both desperately want an owl, to be star Quidditch players, and to date someone in the Weasley family. 

We just arrived in Green River, Utah, at our KOA campsite for the night. It is a cute site, very flat and open- but there are ants everywhere in the dirt around our site! Gross. I'm not terribly happy with the owner of this campsite, however. When we entered and went in to register, the campsite was under my name, and on my credit card, and the vehicle we had to register was mine. The owner, however, a man, decided that he was only going to speak to Eric. He explained everything in great detail to Eric, looking only at Eric. He tried to hand the information and even the credit card receipt that needed to be signed... to Eric. He in fact only looked at me once when I got excited about the complimentary coffee they offer in the morning, and then he quickly looked back to Eric to explain how to use the coffee maker.  I mean, it makes sense, since Eric is the man and he is the only one capable of understanding the complicated procedures involved in camping overnight.

... :)

Anyway, tomorrow the Man will be driving as we leave Green River and head down through Arches National Park in Utah. We will make it to the Grand Canyon tomorrow, and are camping in Flagstaff, AZ. Can't wait!!!

It looks like it might rain tonight- which will be the first time we've really had any significant rain this entire trip. Luckily we are master campers and have the rain flap securely on over the tent. 

Ok I guess that's all for tonight. I don't really have any pictures since I was driving all day, and because Eric told me that I should really try not to take 2 GB of pictures every day. I've been restraining myself. 

We will try not to be eaten alive by the Siafu tonight. 

xox

Laura and Eric

Driving through Jackson Hole

Yesterday we slept in a bit at the Yellowstone campground, and around 10AM set off to drive through Yellowstone some more. We actually thought it was 11, because we are having some issues with technology/the time zone changes :) 

We did the northern loop through Yellowstone, driving past some beautiful water falls, hot springs, and a herd of bison! Taking our time, we stopped occasionally to check things out (one time we even walked around a hot spring for 20 minutes!).

Eric in front of a currently dry hot spring area- white from salt deposit!

Eventually, we made our way out of Yellowstone around 2. We took the southern wyoming exit and started following a route from our "Scenic Drive of America" book, through Grand Teton National Park and Jackson Hole.

This was by far the most beautiful drive yet. At one point, after driving through wooded mountains for some time, we suddenly came upon a clearing at a huge lake. (Jackson Lake). This view was breathtaking. Out beyond the lake are the huge Teton Mountains, massive  and snow topped. Again, we were enjoying another fantastically sunny, blue-sky day, so the overall effect was just mind-blowing. The pictures below hardly do justice to the actual sight. 

After taking this in for a while, we continued our drive down through Wyoming. The mountains were around us the entire time. We went through the town of Jackson, which is a very cute town that is probably a great resort type place in the winter for skiing! Eric was obsessed with Jackson and already began planning his next vacation back. Don't worry- there is an airport there too!

We continued driving down through the mountains of Wyoming. The mountains gradually got a bit smaller, and we entered a primarily farming area, with some random cool houses on a few mountainsides. After driving through a lot of tiny towns, (like Smoot, Wyoming: population 100) we eventually crossed into Idaho.

This picture was taken for us by a family of lost Swiss tourists.

Right inside Idaho, we were stopped for a long time due to construction. The guitar came out to help pass the time. Being about 6:30, we were definitely ready to stop for the day. We finally made our way to a KOA in Montpelier, Idaho. This campsite is much smaller than Yellowstone's, and basically in the middle of potato fields. But we pitched our tent, and then drove into the actual town of Montpelier to have dinner at a place called "Ranch Hands". By this time it was 8:30 and we were ravenous. Luckily, the food was good :)

Not really tired by the time we were back and it had gotten dark- we listened to the first six chapters of Harry Potter, book four. (The Goblet of Fire!) We are slightly obsessed. 

This morning, we pulled our car over to the vacant campsite we were really supposed to be in last night (except the campsite owner, Stewart, had put us out on the edge of the site, apparently wanting us far away?? haha) Anyway, this site has a hookup, so we are charging up my laptop, ipod, and other various electronics. 

Oh yeah, on a side note, apparently my hair-dryer is broken. Cool.

So after we charge up a bit more, we'll be heading out of here to Salt Lake City, Utah. We need to get an oil change! (It's been almost 3,000 miles!) Then we'll continue driving along a scenic route from our book, and we'll be camping in Green River, Utah tonight. 

xox

Laura and Eric

Stats:

Total miles driven so far: 2,914

Most expensive gas: $4.69

Harry Potter books listened to: 3

Actual meals eaten in the past 4 days: 5

Bears spotted: almost one

Most states in one day: 3

Giga-bites of pictures taken by Laura: 1 googleplex.

Best town name: Smoot, WY

A Few Yellowstone Pictures

Warning!!!

BISON CROSSING!

Old Faithful

Idaho

We are at a tiny campsite in Idaho...yes, Idaho.

I have no battery... just checking in :)

Amazing pictures (if possible) and details about today's drive to come!!

night!

Laura and Eric

in case you were interested, we are about to start book 4 of Harry Potter.

:)

Of Bison and Old Faithful

Today was actually awesome.

We were on the road by about 6:20AM this morning-making our way out of Rapid City and back to never-ending Rt 90. Harry Potter got us through hours and hours as we drove through Wyoming, mostly looking at massive barren hills that were gradually turning into mountains. We felt like we might run into a covered wagon at any moment. Eventually we began to see the mountains ahead of us. Massive, snow covered peaks that started out basically the color of the sky and then began to become clearer. Eventually, we went off 90 and took a route that literally wound through the mountains. For about an hour, maybe two, we drove up and around windy mountain roads, getting higher and higher. The view was mind-blowing. We paused once to take a some pictures, but mostly eric tried to capture what we were passing as I drove.  The road leveled out again as we cleared the first set of mountains- we were in the Bighorn Mountains. We came back to good old Rt 90. 

Around 2 or 3, after like 9 hours of driving, we got to Yellowstone. The mountains had been massively rising as we got closer, and after entering the park we were pretty much blown away. Huge mountains, ridiculously blue mountain streams and lakes- not to mention Yellowstone Lake which is enormous and might as well be a small ocean. We stopped first along the shore of this lake, amazed at how massive it was. It has waves too- more waves than Lake Michigan had had, because it was quite windy off the lake. Today may have been the most beautiful day ever- I can't imagine better weather for this drive.

At one point while driving through the Yellowstone loop, we noticed the few cars ahead of us had stopped. Much to my delight- there was a Bison in the middle of the road! I have pretty much been obsessed with seeing bison ever since we saw a sign about them back in the Badlands. Everytime eric and i drove past cows or any kind of animal we basically pretended they were bison. This was our first real sighting! It was really big and awesome and just walking very slowly along the road. 

Speaking of wildlife- we received a lot of information on entering the park about the wildlife in Yellowstone. There are bison, elk, bears, wolves and a lot more. In case you are ever in the wildlife here are some tips :)

Make lots of noise while hiking so that the bears can hear you! Seriously. Eric and I plan on singing a lot tomorrow if we walk through the park :) 

Don't try to outrun bears- apparently they can run over 40 miles per hour. And they can climb trees too, so don't do that either. Your best bet is to play dead. And then I guess it eats you, I don't know.

Also, according to a lovely flyer we got that pictured a Buffalo impaling a human, buffalo can gorge you. So watch out.

Anyway, our next stop in Yellowstone park was Old Faithful, obvi. We arrived at a good time, people were just sitting and preparing for its next performance. I guess these days Old Faithful goes off about every 90 minutes. Apparently the time interval has changed significantly due to changes in the earth, and also from tourists throwing stuff in her, according to signs, (and probably global warming too. Just throwing that out there. :P )

Anyway, we waited for about a half an hour, while O.F. steamed. Then she gave off several false alarms- spurting a little bit and then going back to steaming. I thought maybe she had performance anxiety/stage fright- eric thinks she has a flair for the dramatic and likes to get people all excited first. Every time she went off, everyone got all camera-ready and stuff, and then it would stop and we'd all sigh. This happened several times, and then finally (after some encouragement on my and Eric's part, I think, we were chanting "old faith-ful! old faith-ful!)

she went! It was amazing. Actually so cool. Tomorrow we might try to check out some more geysers because they're pretty much awesome.

Ok by the time all of this was over, it was 5:30 ish. So we headed out of Yellowstone- stopping again to watch a herd of elk cross the road, and found our KOA campsite.  KOA is amazing. We have a cute little site with our tent all set up (which we are pros at, by the way), we had a great dinner, did some laundry, took warm showers and have free wi-fi! All in the middle of bear country! How cool! :) 

Eric is updating our map- we are about 3/4 of the way across the country. Pretty awesome. All in all, I think the past two days have been very very exciting. We saw amazing stuff that we've never gotten a chance to experience before- everybody needs to do this. period.

After today's long drive, however, I think we might take it a bit easier tomorrow. We're planning on going back into the park in the morning and "hiking" which, by hiking, we of course mean driving around and occasionally getting out and walking a few yards, then returning to the safety of our bear-proof car :P 

And with that, we now say goodnight!

xox

Laura and Eric

Badlands and Bad Connection

Hey everyone! Eric and i drove all day today through South Dakota, mainly on Rt 90 again. We went off course to take a scenic drive through the badlands- which was actually the most ridiculously amazing thing ever. I didn't really know anything like that really existed- pictures coming soon.

We are now in Keystone, SD at the base of Mt. Rushmore. We visited the mt. this afternoon- it was not really what I expected, honestly, but cool all the same. 

Right now we are at a little cafe that has free wi-fi. we are going to get some food and then return to our ghetto-fabulous hotel that we booked for tonight. It is so seriously in the middle of nowhere, no internet, no cell phone service... kinda creepy. So we wanted to post briefly so you (whoever actually reads this) know we are alive! :)

I would like to take this time to report that eric has a very exceptional talent of assimilating to any and all accents wherever we happen to be. I partially blame Harry Potter, because he spends a lot of our car time talking in a mix between british/scottish and cockney... but then whenever we go to a gas station or hotel/campsite, he begins speaking to the workers in whatever accent they speak to us in. I can only imagine what will happen to him when he moves to texas. It is weird. that is all.

The plan is to leave at 6AM tomorrow- we have our longest drive ahead of us- about 10 hours, to Yellowstone national park where we will be camping again! (Compared to tonight's hotel room, camping sounds very luxurious!) 

More on the sights of South Dakota to come!!

love,

Laura and Eric

Camping in Sioux Falls, SD

After stealing internet in Minnetrista, we went on a mission to find more dry ice. Eric used his bond-like iphone skills to locate a dry ice store. Seriously. It was called Continental Carbonix Company and i guess they sell massive quantities of dry ice. We walked in and asked if we could buy a block or two to put in our cooler. The guys working were SO nice and had the strongest minnesota accents possible. He loaded up our cooler for us and then let us take it all- free of charge! It was a very successful mission and we plan on sending them a postcard from mt. rushmore.

I drove today- about 5 hours until we stopped in Sioux Falls. We are stocked up with groceries which are freezing in the cooler, so we havn't had to buy any meals today. Arriving in Sioux Falls, a small-ish "city" in the southeast corner of SD, we followed signs to Falls Park. We passed some interesting things, including an actual pig slaughter-house type complex that smelled a lot like ham. It may have been the first time in my life I didn't want to eat bacon.

Sioux Falls is a really beautiful waterfall that spreads over rocks that are such an interesting color they barely look real. 

We explored the falls a bit, and then headed back a few miles to our KOA campsite, stopping to buy some Miller Lite Pounders. (I felt it would be most appropriate to buy our beer in pounder-form) 

Then we successfully pitched our first tent! It was easy! We used this power converter thing that we attached to my actual car battery to blow up our air mattress, so we're all set. The campsite has free wi-fi so even here in the middle of nowhere we are connected! We've been hanging out, talking to some campers, playing the guitar and planning our accommodations for tomorrow night in Mt. Rushmore. I am going to the store in a minute to buy charcoal so we can make s'mores. 

There are a lot 

of bugs.

Things we wish we had:

chicken cutlets

collapsable lawn chairs

a swedish masseuse 

a prius

Stealing internet in Minnesota

After we left Danielle's, we drove around a shopping center/apartment area until we could find some internet to steal. We are currently parked outside an apartment, using the internet to download more harry potter! We are obviously trying to get book two!

The plan for the day is to drive for a while until we feel like stopping to camp. We won't be able to make it to Mt. Rushmore today, so we're going to stop along the way before it gets dark. (Since we havn't practiced pitching our tent yet...and since we are afraid of bears.)

Eric is currently searching for dry ice locations so we can go grocery shopping and keep some food around for a few days. 

Not sure what kind of internet we'll have over the next few days- we'll be driving through south dakota, sioux falls, the badlands (sounds scary!) etc. After the past few days of staying with our friends, in beautiful houses, with great meals.... things are about to change! :) So cross your fingers for us!!

xox

Laura and Eric

P.S. 

A few statistics:

Total miles so far: 1,292

Most for gas so far: $3.99

Least for gas so far: $3.77

(havn't paid over $4 yet! this is a big deal to us!)

total hours spent in car: approx 25

number of free meals: 5

songs written: almost one. (named Soda)

Harry Potter audiobooks completed: 1.1

Chicken cutlets eaten: 5 (one went bad)

Internets stolen: 1

Minneapolis, MN

After driving through Madison a bit more (and discovering Bassett street!), Eric and I headed for Minneapolis. Another easy drive, about four hours. We finished Harry Potter book one, and began book two but then discovered that the file was messed up! (That’s what I get for illegally downloading it, I guess). This was our first big disappointment of the trip. Hopefully we will be able to download a good version. Otherwise we will be forced to like, listen to music. Or talk to each other or something.

 While driving through Wisconsin, we saw lots of signs for cheese. I got a lack-of-caffeine headache around 1 so we stopped at some taco place so I could get a diet coke. This happened to also be the location of several large plastic animals. A mouse with a big wedge of Wisconsin cheese, A gazelle or some leaping animal, and an enormous orange moose. Obvious photo-opp.

The drive was smooth- eventually I took out the guitar and we attempted to write songs about driving in Wisconsin. We wrote a really great song when we entered Minnesota. It had something to do with wanting a soda.

 We easily met up with Eric’s friend Danielle- and she took us around in her car to give us a tour of the twin cities. We saw Minneapolis and St. Paul- saw some cool artwork, a new theater overlooking a great view of the Mississippi (Don’t tell my mom but I had no idea the Mississippi went through Minnesota!), and beautiful St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Danielle taught us some vocab-  “Minn” means ‘water’… so Minnetonka is big water, Minnestrista, where Danielle means, means twisty water, and I guess Minnesota is soda water? J

Then, we went to the Mall of America! I did not realize this would be in the cards for us today- but what an experience it was. There is an actual roller coaster/log flume/entire amusement park inside of this mall. What?

Next, we headed out to Danielle’s home, which is in Minnetrista? This was another installment along our tour of beautiful homes in America. Danielle’s parents have an absolutely gorgeous house on a lake- (you know Minnesota has 10,000 lakes…) – an amazing view and awesome home. 

Danielle’s father is an Australian native (how cool!?) and he was preparing dinner for us when we arrived! He grilled steak, chicken, corn on the cob and vegetables. It was deeelicious. We ate and drank wine and Eric and Danielle reminisced over their days in Archmere. (Danielle’s family moved to Minneapolis three years ago, but she went to high school w/ Eric in Delaware).

After dinner, we had ice cream with dark chocolate and cherries for dessert, and then we started playing and singing around their piano J We even sang some traditional Australian songs with Mr. Thomson!

Madison, WI

After a scrumptious brunch in Chicago (thanks to our patron, Andrew)- we left for Madison. The 3 hour drive passed quickly with Harry Potter! (We're getting close to the end of the first book- very climactic!)

Wisconsin is pretty chill- lots of signs for cheese, seriously. The Ready's live in Middleton which is a little bit outside of Madison. Their house is absolutely amazingly gorgeous, it is so nice to be here. Mark and Jorie were SO nice and fun- they took us into Madison and gave us a full tour of the city (which happens to be the capital of Wisconsin, everyone).  Madison is really cute! It's pretty much a big college town, UW is huge. The Ready's took us to "The Terrace" which is where our Madison-ian friends told us to go. It's a really cool part of the university campus- an outdoor spot right on the lake (Mendota i think, the other lake is Monona...) It feels like a german bier garten! We got a pitcher of beer and eric had 'brat', Jorie and I had chicken sandwiches.   It was really awesome sitting out by the lake at sunset- which was beautiful- and talking about life. :)

When we left, they drove us around Madison a bit more, showing us the capitol building and the convention center built on lake Monona by Frank Lloyd Wright. 

When we got back- eric and I watched hairspray. :) We slept very well and now are having breakfast and doing laundry before we get ready to leave! We are thinking about walking around and exploring Madison again this morning before we leave for Minneapolis to stay with Eric's friend Danielle.

So far we have not been "roughing it" very much :)

ciao!

xox

Laura and Eric 

Chicago

This is the morning of our third day on the road! Eric and I are sitting in Anna's apartment in beautiful chicago- it is almost 10 and we slept in which felt amazing. 

Yesterday, after sleeping in my old room in pittsburgh, we woke at 6AM and began the drive to Chicago. Eric drove first, then we drove in shifts, taking turns driving on 80 and sleeping. After we both had sufficient car-napping, we spent the last hour or so of the trip listening to Harry Potter :) It was an eight hour drive, but we gained an hour as we crossed a time zone! 

                 driving into Chicago

So we arrived in Chicago right around 1 PM. We wanted to go to the beach! It was difficult finding a place to park, but eventually we parked the car and got to the beach on North Ave. After spending a week at a real beach, on a real ocean, the lake didn't really do it for me. But it was still nice to get some sun, and the water was warm, and it was a gorgeous day!

We hung out at the lake for a few hours, eating ice cream when we realized we hadn't really eaten anything more substantial than almonds and one chicken cutlet so far in the day. (The chicken cutlets are going fast, but the dry ice is amazing at keeping our food cold! It actually froze the pasta...)

So then we walked around a bit, took a bunch of pictures, and eventually ended up back at the car- then we head for Anna's apartment. We drove down Fullerton which goes through a beautiful part of town- old brick houses and big trees- it was amazing and I want to move to Chicago.

Anna's apartment is awesome- and it was so great to see her, Andrew, and Anna's roommate Erica. when we got here we showered and eric vacuumed. (There was going to be a party and he obviously wanted to help clean!) We went down the street to a really great restaurant (called Dunleys) and had dinner outside, then we came back and finished getting ready for the party. Andrew taught me how to play the 12 bar blues on the guitar, and eric learned how to play Anna's melodica. (a keyboard that you play by blowing air into it...)

We made champagne punch and the girls had yummy trader joes food- it was a really fun night and we got to meet some of Andrew's high school friends, some chicago friends, and Kent Haina came (a friend from CMU)! 

So now here we are, relaxing at Anna's and planning to leave for Madison in a few hours. 

We'll be staying with my family friends the Ready's tonight!

xox

Laura and Eric

p.s. i'm having trouble uploading photos right now so I will add more later!

Pittsburgh

So I obviously was much later than scheduled this morning, and didn't actually get to Eric's until 1. Then we had to repack the car and inflate the spare tire (which was ridiculously low- oops) and this took a long time...so we didn't really leave Folsom until 3PM. 

the trunk is very full...

Some essential items we packed:

Our Heelies, a kite, my guitar and other musical instruments, a book of the best scenic drives in America, a sledgehammer, ponchos, many various electronics...

Then we stopped at genardis where apparently you can buy dry ice! (Don't touch it, it burns) So our food will stay cold, if not frozen, for a few days now. We had an easy drive to Pittsburgh while listening to Harry Potter book 1 on audiotape...um amazing.  We arrived in the burgh with plenty of time to visit a few people and take lots of random pictures around cmu

campus with the map...

The map was eric's project- a giant map of the US on poster board which we plan to carry with us everywhere, take pictures with, and mark our route. 

We were going to grab pizza at Mineo's, since it's obviously the best, but then we decided to go to a restaurant we had never been to before. It's in a part of shadyside which we never really knew existed until we found it by accident a couple weeks ago (when I got lost, obviously). It is called Cafe Brugge- and the food was amazing!  

 yum!

After dinner (which we didn't finish until 10:30) we decided we were tired and wanted showers. Soo here we are in alderson, showered and relaxing. I think we'll mostly be sleeping for the next 6 hours although Colin is arriving in town soon and coming to play. But we are planning on leaving at 6am tomorrow and taking shifts between driving and sleeping as we head to Chicago!!!! The early start will be worth it when we get to chicago and spend the afternoon on the "beach" on Lake Michigan. :)

SO goodnight!

xox

Laura and Eric

Official Day One- leaving LBI

It is 8AM and I am sitting by the bay in Surf City. A little back-story- Eric was here wednesday night to support me as I competed in LBIdol. It was totally embarrassing but also pretty fun. I had to do a sing-off at the end, but I won! I sang "Walking on Sunshine" and it was actually pretty terrible. My whole family plus some came out to support me though, which rocked, and I had becky behind the bar cheering me on! 

Our friend Rob, my brother Lee, his wife Dani, Eric and Me

at the fine establishment the Surf City Hotel in LBI

So anyway, this morning I mostly re-packed my stuff, and I hope I don't have too much. But I probably do. I am leaving in about an hour, and heading first to my brother's workplace to pick up something very important that I forgot to pack.... my heelies!!! 

Anyway, from there I will go to Eric's and then we'll really figure out what we have/need/can't live without/etc. Hopefully by around 1 or so we will be back in the car headed to pburgh! None of this is really very exciting yet, as we have done the pburgh trip together millions of times. 

But it's still pretty cool that this is all finally happening! Yay! We will write again when we have something more interesting to say :)

til then!

xox

Laura

On the east coast...

Although today is not the official start of our trip- eric has joined me for a day down the shore here in Surf City, Long Beach Island. I think it is appropriate that we are beginning our adventure on the coast of the Atlantic. Highlights of the day were finally being able to go in the ocean which got above sub-zero temperatures, discussing details of our upcoming journey, and preparing for my performance in LBIdol tonight--- just what it sounds like, a singing competition at the surf city hotel. Bek will be bartending and my extended family will be in tow since you win by applause. Should be amusing.

Eric leaves early in the morning tomorrow to complete his portion of packing, and I'll spend my last day down here with the family. Friday morning I will leave the island and get eric in Philly- then we'll be off! First night in pittsburgh- for old times sake. And by old times, I mean 2 weeks ago when I was last there.

OK so this being the official first post, some details of our trip's first few days involve stopping in cities such as Chicago, Madison, and Minneap

olis- visiting friends and having good times. Then we venture into the great expanse of this country, with our first major national park stop being Mt. Rushmore!

 

Feel free to comment with thoughts, suggestions of places to see/things to do, or invitations for us to stay in your homes if you are along our route! :)

We will try to update with status-es (stati?) and p

ictures as frequently as possible!

That's all for now!

xox

Laura

(and eric sort of but he's on the phone right now and did not really contribute to this post)

(he wants to be sure that he is not lumped with my thoughts and opinions at all times throughout this blog, so we will try to be clear about who is participating in the posts) 

:P