Country Crossin' Part II: Praries, Deserts, and Presidents

Thursday 25 September 2014
We left Chicago after Gay checked over my car (I love it!! He's SUCH a DAD) and continued north through Wisconsin.

I feel like Wisconsin is one of those states that gets a bad rap for being boring or something, but it was beautiful. There's not a state I've been to that didn't have its own charm and beauty. 

Wisconsin was in full fall bloom. The trees and colors were magnificent. 

The best part of Wisconsin, for me, was actually found at a rest stop. I've always had a fascination with the American prairie. I think it's mostly because as a child, I read the "Little House" books over and over again  (side note: these books are WONDERFUL and teach so much about our country's history and the way of life on the Frontier). It breaks my heart that the prairie is gone. It must have been a sight to behold-an ocean of grass through our country's belly  I remember learning in school that the prairie grasses were over 4ft tall...that they spanned for miles and miles...that you couldn't even see a man standing amongst the tall shoots...that buffalo would blaze trails through the grasses...trails that Indians would follow on the hunt; trails that, one day, covered wagons would follow; trails that, one day, would become our roads. It's amazing and fascinating and it's gone. :( But, at this tiny rest stop in Wisconsin...there was a small plot of restored prairie and I got to stand in it and touch it and feel it and close my eyes and imagine how glorious it must have once been. 

In the prairie

We crossed out of Wisconsin and into Minnesota-a new state for me. My mom did a lot of the driving through Minnesota and she HATED it. Lol. I don't know WHY!! I thought it was beautiful and full of bucolic farmland, but my mom just wanted OUT of Minnesota. Haha!! She was on a MISSION to make it to South Dakota tonight. It was too funny and completely unjust.

My first time in Minnesota!! 

We did make a mistake in Minnesota. We didn't get gas. I fully expect to fill up at every opportunity before we were below half a tank out in the west...but in Minnesota? I had NO idea it was so desolate!! We had a tense ride for about half an hour :P It's funny to me, because my mom and I are SUCH worriers. Preston would cruise around on fumes of gas for days and not even think twice about it. 

NOTHING for miles!! 

Anyway, we were FINE, but it was a good lesson and we won't do that again!! 

Making great time, we traveled about 600 miles and stopped for the night in Mitchell, SD. Another new state for me!! Yay!!

I don't know how people traveled without the internet...I swear. Here I am talking about covered wagons and I can't even fathom not being able to reserve hotels from the road!! :P

Anyway, we found the locally owned Thunderbird Lodge that I had booked from the car. Good thing too-because it appeared to be full!! The staff was beyond friendly, but there were lots of people milling about...notably a group of rowdy men in the parking lot. 

My mom and I walked to a diner sort of place next to the hotel for dinner. It was just SO obvious that we were in South Dakota. For one, nearly everyone there seemed local and there was NO one from any sort of ethnic group that wasn't white. It was noticeably weird to me. Nonetheless, everyone was friendly. I ordered the special, which was Chicken Fried Steak. It seemed appropriate for the area :P It was also, like, $6. I don't even want to know... 

Our room was clean and cozy and we plopped into our beds after a long day of driving.

Friday 26 September 2014
We had the complimentary breakfast at the hotel this morning and hit the interstate again. 

Our goal today is to do a bit of sight seeing at Badlands National Park. 

The Badlands is an arid section of western South Dakota with a harsh geography shaped by millions of years of deposition and erosion. This area was also of importance to the Lakota Indian Tribe, who used the badlands as a hunting ground. 

Badlands National Park is an easy loop just off the interstate, that connects back to the interstate a bit further west (or east, depending on your direction). My mom and I found the turn off easily enough and she took over driving so that I could snap some pics. 

It's incredible that we were actually worried about bad weather on our trip...snow, etc., because the weather has been perfect.

The temperature in my car read 95 degrees as we drove into the park. We would later find out that this was a record setting temp. Haha!! It was a bit intense...hot wind and beating sun, but I loved it. I LOVE hot weather.

We pulled in at a look out and took some photos, before traveling a little ways down the road to do a short hike. 

I gotta tell you...the signage here in this park is SERIOUS. There are ALL kinds of warnings about health conditions and how much water you'll need for a hike and how not to get lost, etc. It's basically the opposite of New Zealand ;) 

Anyway, my mom and I were a tad freaked out about the hike we were about to do...so we decided to just do part of it. HAHA!! As it turns out, the hike was pretty easy, very well marked, and not very long. We easily made our way across the landscape to the end. We gazed out into the canyon below and returned to the car. I love the heat. It's really increasing the desert feel and giving me an understanding for how desolate it really is out here. 

We continued on to the Visitor's Center and enjoyed a nice reprieve from heat (for my mom more than me ;)). We watched a short video about the area and hit the road again. 

We stopped at one other short hike along a boardwalk, which highlighted fossil finds within the park. 

At one point on the road, there were dozens of cars stopped and we didn't see why until we were too far past where we could pull over-prairie dogs!! I was so disappointed to miss them, but we didn't turn around.

Back on the interstate, we made our way to Rapid City near the border of South Dakota/Wyoming.

Our hotel for the night is pretty nice. We relaxed for a bit and drank as much ice water as we could. 

Jumping back in the car, we headed south a bit to check out Mt. Rushmore. The drive into the Blackhills was beautiful. We went up and over the hills and arrived at Mt. Rushmore just as the sun was setting. The $11 parking fee was too steep for us cheapies, so we just clicked the camera as we drove by. We still got a great view of the monument...tho the sun was RIGHT in our eyes!! haha. It was like, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Jefferson, Washington, BLINDING sun. hehe. 

'Merica

We circled back down and stopped in the little town of Keystone. We walked the little main street and checked out some of the shops. I bought Preston a little buffalo from an Indian store.

Back down into Grand Rapids we went for dinner. We decided to check out a new pizza restaurant near our hotel. The pizza place was called "Blaze" and was like a Chipotle style restaurant for pizza!! It was brilliant!! The ingredients were fresh and delicious. Such a great idea!!

We tucked in back at the hotel for the night and put on a movie..."Stuck in Love". It wasn't great :P 

Tomorrow, Wyoming!!

Country Crossin' Part I: First Stop-the Midwest!!

Monday 22 September 2014

For the second time in my life, I packed up my car and headed west to California. Last time I took my beloved cat; this time, my beloved Momma ;)

I am going a bit reluctantly...that I can't deny, but I'm going. I've put it off a bit, which has worked out since Preston is having a hard time finding a place in LA. The problem is that we need something month to month. I don't yet have a job. My old job wants me to come back, but as I said...it just feels time to move on to new things. So, without knowing where I'm going to work...it's hard to commit to a year lease. Los Angeles is over 400 square miles. It's huge and the traffic is infamous. You just CANNOT live, say, in Long Beach and work in Thousand Oaks. You can't live in Santa Monica and work in Cypress, which is actually in Orange County, but you get my point. Or if you're not from LA...maybe you don't. A 40 mile commute somewhere else could be totally do-able, but in LA? That could be 3 hours. One way.

Anyway, I've just been blindly applying to jobs that fit my qualifications ALL over LA and Orange County, so it's hard to choose where to live. Poor Preston is dealing with the lack of month-to-month leases. He's been looking at tons of places, but nothing is working out :-/ Preston has been staying with friends, but there's really no place for me to go to when I get to LA...so it's kind of worked out with my wanting to stay home longer.

HOWEVER, it's time to get going...mostly, because: Winter is Coming. 

But, seriously...we can't wait much longer to do the northern route of this cross country trip. I've driven twice across the country: once going the southern route and once across the middle. I NEED to go North!! Also, we are headed to Chicago, so it just makes sense.

My cousin Zak came to see us off and my mom and I hit the open road for our first stop in Columbus, Ohio. The drive through western Maryland was beautiful and in a quick five hours...we made it to Columbus.

One of my most favorite people lives in Columbus...my friend Jen!! Jen and I met years ago when I first moved to LA. She had come to stay in my apartment with mutual friends of my then roommate. Jen and I immediately hit it off and later found out that not only do our dad's have houses less than a mile from one another in FL, but we have the SAME birthday. How crazy is that?!

When Kelly met Jen

Jen is amazing and upbeat and positive and fun. Not only is she a single mom, but she's also working full time and going to school full time. She's a wonder woman. I just LOVE her. Jen lives in Columbus with her daughter Georgia and they kindly invited my mom and I to stay for the night.

We met Jen at her new house, which is super cute. Jen has an incredible decorating sense. The house was perfect. It was so wonderful to see her!! Jen's parents took Georgia for the night so that Jen, my mom, and I could hit the town.

Jen drove us into Columbus proper and gave us an INCREDIBLE tour. I mean, it was FIVE STAR. I don't know even half as much about my hometown. My mom and I were really impressed and felt like VIPs!! 

OF COURSE, we went by THE Ohio State football stadium. People in Ohio are CRAZY for Ohio State. This was a phenomenon that I was introduced to with my Ohio born roommate in LA. I had no idea.

It was pretty cool to see the stadium and we took our O-H-I-O pictures :D We continued our tour of the city. Columbus is bigger and nicer than I expected. It seems like a really great place to live. 

We got dinner at a bar with a famous burger challenge, which is something crazy like 4lbs of meat. We opted out of the challenge, but the burgers were really good!! Jen treated us to dinner...I'm telling you, I felt like I was on a world class tour!! 

From dinner, we drove through an impressive neighborhood full of enormous houses. My mom and I love looking at houses, so it was perfect. We made a quick stop to see Jen's old house that she is putting up for sale. It was adorable.

It had been a long day, so we headed home to bed, but Jen and I stayed up talking for a while into the night. After all these years, I'm so glad to have finally gotten to Ohio to see some of Jen's life here :)

Goodnight Columbus

Tuesday 23 September 2014
We were all up early, since Jen had to go to work and we had to hit the road. If you can believe it...on top of everything else, Jen got us bagels for breakfast. I'm serious...I need to step up my hosting game. BIG TIME.

I gave Jen a huge huge hug and my mom and I headed west and north to Illinois. We are on our way to Chicago to stay with my in-laws (Gay and Debbie) for a few days. I look forward to hanging out in Chicago as much as I look forward to being home, so I was excited :D

We drove up and up through Indiana, which we actually found quite beautiful. There were lots of wind turbines. 

Traffic got a little crazy and congested around Chicago, but we made it safely to the little suburb of Barrington where Preston grew up.

My mother and father in law greeted us with open arms. I always feel so welcomed and at home in their house. We settled in and talked for a while before being joined by Dale (their neighbor, who married Pres and me)for dinner. 

Debbie made her delicious veggie lasagna and we had a great time talking and laughing.

As is usually the case, Gay and I stayed up late talking in the living room before retiring to bed.

Wednesday 24 September 2014
It's always so strange to be here when it's warm. It doesn't happen very often :P We had coffee on the back patio and my mom and I took a walk around the neighborhood. It was great.

Today we get to go meet a new baby!! One of Preston's dearest friend's Rich and his wife Aimee just had a baby boy. I get to meet him before Preston does even :) 

Preston has SUCH amazing and fun friends in Chicago. Most of these guys Preston has known since childhood. I really love them all and they've welcomed me as family right from the start. Almost all of Preston's friends are married or in serious relationships and their wives and girlfriends are equally awesome. When considering places to live...Chicago definitely gets a lofty vote for this reason. 

Debbie, my mom, and I headed out to Rich and Aimee's to meet baby Jacob. He was, of course, perfect and adorable. Rich and Aimee actually had snacks ready for us while we were there!! I'm amazed at the hospitality of all these parents with new babies!! Incredible. 

I think the cutest part of our visit was the pride that their little daughter Julianna showed for her new brother. It melted my heart. :)

I have a date tonight with my Chicago BFF-Lindsey, so we headed back to Barrington. Debbie and my mom are headed out to girl's night and I headed south to Napierville to see Lindsey and Timmy.

Conveniently, Preston's very very best friend Timmy is married to Lindsey, who I adore. We are so similar that it's scary. She definitely gives the Chicago area another big vote in my mind. (I'm still thinking ahead on future places to raise a family, should we leave California).

Lindsey and Timmy just moved into a huge and beautiful new house. I got the official tour and hung for a bit with their daughter Avery before Timmy came home from work to take over baby duty.

Lindsey gave me great tour of her hometown and her old neighborhood. It's a beautiful area and seems like a great place to have grown up. Lindsey treated me to a yummy sushi dinner and we had a great time sipping wine and catching up.

OF COURSE I didn't take any pictures, but here we are back when we first met ;)

On the way home, we saw a coyote and actually followed it for a while!! Crazy that these animals are coming into such suburban areas looking for food. 

My night with Lindsey made my heart so happy. It's such a great thing when you can find someone that you just understand and relate to so easily. I drove home to Barrington with a big smile on my face.