Discovering the Pacific Ocean on a Freighter, 2005 It was 4:30 in the morning on a Thursday (September 29, 2005, to be exact) when we woke to the realization that we were moving. All the years of talking about going round the world for a year, the past month of driving from coast to coast…
New Hampshire to California, Fall 2005 Part 1 Even a 400-day journey needs a start date Part 2 Traveling west across the United States; Albany (New York) to Joliet (Illinois) Part 3 Two cities, twice the fun: Chicago and Minneapolis Part 4 South Dakota: From the Prairie to the Palace Part 5 South Dakota: The…
Driving across the United States PART 10: Rapid City to Long Beach with a stop at Las Vegas for a trip down memory lane With our destination of Long Beach clearly in our sites, we couldn’t not stop in Las Vegas first for at least a night or two. It is hard for us to…
Driving across the United States PART 9: Utah’s Zion National Park Zion National Park is not big but it has a natural beauty that takes your breath away. This one has jagged canyon cliff edges that tower above you. In September, the Virgin River seems like a lazy creek by your feet as you crane…
Driving across the United States PART 8: Wyoming and the Big Horn National Forest, Thermopolis and Shoshoni National Forest At the Information Center as we crossed into Wyoming, the lone attendant — Kathleen — had been surprised we were not heading toward Sundance or Yellowstone National Park. When she heard we were heading to California…
Today is all about driving toward Rock City to connect back up with Interstate-90 toward Wyoming. However, the biggest advantage of independent travel is that you get to set your own pace and route. That means we will leave enough time to stop at smaller attractions along the way. We have seen the billboards for…
Driving across the United States PART 6: Black Hills of South Dakota, Crazy Horse, Mount Rushmore, the Needles Highway and a fantastic dinner I love traveling with Rob … he has no problem going off track when something comes up that seems like a better option along the way. We are flexible about our route,…
Driving across the United States PART 5: Wall, South Dakota; the Prairie Museum; and Badlands National Park As we continued across South Dakota, it became apparent we would be driving through Wall and the nearby Badlands National Park. I told Rob about how enthused my parents had been about the “amazing badlands” and how it…
Our introduction to South Dakota takes us from the prairie to the palace. Palace, you ask? Okay we did drive through miles of prairie land to arrive at the Mitchell Corn Palace. It turns out that South Dakota is a very diverse place. It was also our first view of the Great Plains region of…
Chicago and Minneapolis are two of the largest cities in the Midwest and we haven’t been to either. We need to fix that! When you arrive anywhere in the dark, it is always refreshing to wake to sunlight. It is a visual transformation to see how less threatening everything looks. I’ve heard of Joliet but…
