Day 1: Saturday, August 4, 2012

We started off the journey by leaving at 4:30 am!  We were so sleepy waking up so early.  Since Matthew was driving the first leg of the journey, he tried drinking a natural energy drink to keep him awake.  The drink was made of fermented kombucha plant but made both of us gag when we took a sip!  So we switched to more mainstream versions of energy like coffee, tea, and candy.  Before we hit Nevada, we stopped in Baker, CA to see the World’s Largest Thermometer! After that, we reached Nevada around 9 am and it was already 90 degrees.  We ate a quick breakfast in Las Vegas while we studied our maps for our next set of directions. 

First sun rise of the trip

The huge thermometer makes me look like an ant! Can you spot me?

Before we left Las Vegas, I played my very first slot machine, only lost 25 cents, and then we saw the World’s Largest Gift Shop! We spent most of the rest of the day driving through the entire length of Nevada.  I never knew how long and boring Nevada was.  We were on a one-lane road each way with no one around us for miles at a time.  When we were about 20 miles outside of a tiny town, we saw 4 lonely mailboxes on the side of the road.  Matthew and I both laughed because we felt so bad for the poor mailman who had to deliver mail to those faraway mailboxes. 

Nevada scenery...no one in front of us as far as the eye can see

No one behind us either

The biggest town we came across in Nevada was Ely, which was still small by any comparable means.  We stopped and got gas and Subway sandwiches for lunch in Ely.  Sooner than later, we reached Idaho!  Since Matthew drove through 3 states in one day, he was officially dubbed a champion driver!  When we first entered Idaho, it was such a relief from the dry barren shrubs that surrounded us in Nevada.  Initially, Idaho was mainly crops but as we ascended higher in elevation, it got more mountainous and foresty.  It was so beautiful!

Idaho scenery

As we were driving through Idaho, the sun was starting to set, so we were glad to reach Sun Valley before it got completely dark.  Matthew’s college roommate, Billy, was such a good host for the night and we had so much fun being shown around the town.  Matthew and I both agreed that we would love to come back to Idaho for vacation.  

Day 2: Sunday, August 5, 2012

It was so nice waking up in beautiful Idaho.  Billy and his sister made us a breakfast of scones, strawberries, scrambled eggs and bacon. It was hard to say goodbye but we had another long day ahead of us.  As we were heading south out of Idaho, we stopped in Bellevue to get gas. As we were about to get back into the car to start driving, we noticed that the front left wheel was flat.  After looking at the tire more closely, we discovered a nail or screw in the tire so we called AAA and they were more than happy to help.  Unfortunately, small town Idaho tire shops were all closed on Sundays so we had to make it until the next day to get the tire fixed so we just drove on the spare for the rest of the day.

After we got the tire fixed, I volunteered to drive for the day, making me a champion driver as well!  We reached Utah in no time although our whole day was delayed anyway from getting the tire fixed.  We stopped at Willard Day State Park where we got to eat a picnic lunch of salami, cheese, crackers, and nectarines on the shores of the Great Salt Lake!  After we dipped our toes in the lake, it felt so warm and it was so hot out so we decided to put our swimsuits on and try going for a swim! We didn’t go in very deep but it was a fun adventure to splash around for a little. 

Utah scenery

The Great Salt Lake

About to eat our picnic on the shore

Matthew taking a swim, while I ran out to take a picture of him

My turn!

Post swim

More Utah scenery

Wyoming was our next stop!  We stopped in Evanston to get gas and then another stop in Little America because we had read that Little America was home to the World’s Largest Gas Station.  Unfortunately, the gas station was a truck stop so we didn’t really get to see the largest gas station.  But we were able to go into Little America’s gift shop and get 50 cent ice cream cones.  As we were in line to get our ice cream, a guy around our age, asked me where I got my flip flops from.  Turns out, he recognized the Rainbow brand flip flops because he lives in Ventura, near the San Clemente Rainbow shoe store! It was so cool meeting someone who was from the same place as us, so far from home. 

Lots of wind machines in Wyoming

Wyoming scenery

We finally got to Cheyenne, Wyoming, our final stopping place for the night around 10:30 pm.  We stayed in The Historic Plains Hotel, which was old, dirty, and full of drunk men from the hotel’s bar.  We just labeled it an adventure and rested up before the next day of driving!

Wyoming scenery

The Great Plains Hotel in Cheyenne, Nebraska

The streets of Cheyenne

Day 3: Monday, August 6, 2012

Before we headed out of Cheyenne for the day, we stopped at Midas to get the flat tire fixed so we wouldn’t have to be driving on the spare tire for the rest of the trip.  We also got gas in Cheyenne for $3.25/gal, which was the cheapest we had filled up with so far. We got to Nebraska and then stopped for lunch in Gothenburg, which was home to the fanciest Pizza Hut we had ever seen, the World’s Largest Plow, and also a Sod Museum.  The museum was so interesting! It was so full of history and lots of old artifacts.  For the most part, I knew that Nebraska was going to be flat but Matthew and I were both stunned by the complete and utter lack of any type of landscape other than miles upon miles of corn fields.  

The start of many corn fields in Nebraska

Nebraska scenery

With the World's Largest Plow in Gothenburg, Nebraska

In Gothenburg, Nebraska

The Sod Museum in Gothenburg, Nebraska

Nebraska scenery

We also made it to Omaha that day, where we tried to stop in Boys Town, which I had heard, was home to the World’s Largest Ball of Stamps.  Unfortunately, the gift shop for the stamps had already closed for the day.  However, we did take time to explore around Boys Town anyway.  When we first got there, we thought it was a large religious campus of some sort but after finding a sign, we discovered that Boys Town was actually a campus that housed abused and abandoned boys.  Another fun discovery about Boys Town was what we initially thought was an extremely loud alarm system but it turned out to be thousands of cicadas!  Matthew and I were so confused.  We had never heard sounds like that coming from Southern California and we couldn’t see anything to indicate what the sound was.  Just another one of the things that we learned along the journey!

Boys Town, Nebraska

Boys Town

After getting lost in Omaha and tired from a long day of driving, we finally got dinner at a place called Ingredient in the college part of Omaha.  After that we kept driving to Iowa, but unfortunately, the state line sign was above us on a bridge and I couldn’t get my camera out in enough time to snap a good picture.  As we were making our way to Des Moines, it suddenly occurred to me that we were a day ahead of schedule! Oops!  We were supposed to stay with my family in Illinois in two more days but it ended up that we were going to get there in just one day.  After getting all the kinks worked out about the rest of the trip, my family was so kind and gracious and was so willing to let us land on them a day early.  We eventually made it to Des Moines where we stayed the night at a Days Inn.  Since the Olympics were happening at the time, I had read that Olympic gymnasts, Shawn Johnson and Jordan Weiber had trained in Des Moines and we thought it was so exciting to be in the same city where they trained! 

Another tidbit that Matthew and I noticed was that hardly any of the public restrooms we had used in the Midwest had toilet seat protectors!  I thought it was so silly and such a cultural difference for us.  

Day 4: Tuesday, August 7, 2012

We got gas in Des Moines before getting back on the road.  We easily made it to Illinois and as we were about to enter Illinois, we passed over the Mississippi River! It really was just as big as everyone claims it is!  We pulled off the road so we could take a picture above a lookout for the Mississippi River.  Since we pulled off at the lookout, we almost missed the state line sign picture! After trampling our way through some buggy dead plants, we got the picture! 

Overlooking the Mississippi River

The Mississippi Overlook

With the Mississippi River

Since we were in Illinois earlier in the day, we decided to drive into Chicago to see some of the sights.  Unfortunately, the timing that we picked to drive there was not ideal because so many people were getting off work then and we got stuck in traffic!  After getting a little lost, we walked down to Millennium Park to take pictures and see my favorite Chicago sight, The Bean (also called Cloud Gate). 

The first sighting of Chicago

A street in Chicago

Chicago

Looking at ourselves in The Bean

The center of the Bean

This was a fountain near The Bean, where lots of kids were playing under.  The mouth of the person spit out water!

Finally we made it to my cousins Lynne and Phil’s house in Westmont, Illinois where my Aunt Carole was also waiting for us.  We were treated to a delicious dinner at a place called Standard Market.  It was such a cool place because it was a grocery store and a restaurant.  I also really like their water bar because you could choose from a bunch of different waters, which had different fruits or vegetables flavoring them like cucumber, berries, and even mint!  My family was so kind to Matthew and I and we both just felt so loved being there!