Settling the Score

So, before I can get back to some crafty posts (and before the next trip takes place), I wanted to provide the "facts and figures" from our quick jaunt across the northern route from Berkeley to Boston.

The total trip spanned 5 days, included 52 hours of driving over 3200 miles, with quite a bit of fun, and a lot of great views!

For anyone who can't make it through the full post, here's the Cliff's Notes:: We started with a quick stop in Tahoe, then zoomed through Nevada -- gambling any time we stopped for gas. We slowed down a bit when we arrived in Idaho and Wyoming (our new favorite state). Then, we put the car in drive and didn't slow down as we made our way through South Dakota, Minnesota, Illinois (hi Obama!), Indiana (where we stopped for a couple of hours to watch the new Indiana Jones), Ohio, PA, NY, and on to MA!

Now for the full sha-bang::
Livin' it up in the new VW:

History lesson - we used the blue VW on the left to drive from Philly to Berkeley last summer. But this year? We were riding in style with the silver VW on the right. Woo to the hoo.

Our first "touristy" stop was at this Mammoth Cave in Idaho. Not the Mammoth Cave, but it was big non the less. It was a great little stop, because we were given gas lanterns and let loose in the cave by ourselves, no guide, no other tourists, nothing. I was basically peeing my pants the whole time because I was just waiting for the scary movie to start and for a crazy murderer to jump out from behind one of the boulders in the cave. We survived.

This trip was particularly fun because I felt like we were constantly driving through history. Point #1 - these old wooden wagon bases:



Wyoming.
If it were not 2(am) I'd take the time to write an ode or a haiku to you. The first of many landscapes and skies from Wyoming. That's C riding his bike as we near the South Dakota border.

The Grand Tetons are definitely worth a stop if you're in the area. They just pop up out of no where. We camped in one of the campgrounds in the park, right on the shore of this large lake, and I'm sure at a cloud-free moment, the reflection of the mountains in the lake is amazing. Here, we give you the view with clouds and some rock-skipping:

Then, we hit snow:

And some buffalo. These guys were in a field right next to some hot springs in, are you ready? Thermompolis, Wyoming. What a name. So we stopped for an afternoon stop before hitting up...

MORE SNOW. in June.

Then, if you read the Cliff's notes, you know that it's all driving from here. So the rest of the pictures are from the car. For example, we zoomed past a field of HUGE sculptures. Here's a hammer::

We passed through Chicago-land at the SAME TIME that a little tornado touched down. It was the second time this trip that I almost peed my pants.

We saw some great farms and barns through Minnesota and Ohio:

We were the predators on this trip:

And, what kind of knitter would I be if I didn't mention that on those cold snowy nights, we wore some hats I knit last summer in the chilly bay area. Thank god we arrived in Boston just in time for the heat wave.

As always, it was a truly great road trip, and it was so nice for neither of us to be sitting in front of a computer for a few days.