I love Seattle!

On Tuesday, Dad and I arrived in Seattle. It was the final destination on our cross country journey! When we arrived in Seattle we went to a farmers market called Pike Place Market, near the Puget sound. They had all sorts of shops and food stands there. What I really liked about Seattle is that they are very enthusiastic about locally produced food and goods. Many of the items the vendors were selling, such as crafts and soaps/lotions, were produced in Seattle or Washington state. I enjoyed walking around there and brought some stuff back for Mom and Arch! Today's picture is the front of Pike Place Market. For dinner that night we went to a great restaurant called Oddfellows, located in an area of the city called Capital Hill. The bar tender was from Holmdel, NJ, not too far from Toms River. The area was full of a lot of bars, restaurants, and coffee shops. I enjoyed walking around there! My hair felt gross after ten days of travel, so I decided to get a hair cut. It turns out that the lady who was cutting my hair is from McKinney, Texas, really close to where we used to live when we were there years ago. It's been funny how many people we've met who are connected to us in some way.

The next day we decided to take a day trip to Portland. We didn't spend a whole lot of time there, but it was a cool city. We went to an area that had all sorts of shops and restaurants, and I got ice cream at a place called Salt & Straw. There were a ton of people there, so I knew it must be good! They had really odd flavors, such as honey lavendar, and strawberry balsamic. Because I'm not adventerous, I stuck to chocolate ice cream with bits of solid chocolate in it. It was delicious! They made their waffle cones on premise and that might have been even more delicious than the ice cream! Fun in Portland.

We headed back to Seattle and the next day we walked for about 8 hours straight around the entire city! It was tiring but very fun. We went by the Space Needle, and by some parks along the water. We walked by Capital Hill again, and later went to an area called Belltown. We had drinks and some food at a place called Local 360, where all of the food and drinks come from within a 360 mile radius of Seattle. Everything was so fresh and delicious! Later, we found a speakeasy style bar that was hidden behind a building. I had a local beer there called a Pike Naughty Nellie. It was a little intense, but really good.

The next day we were flying home in the evening, but in the morning we went to the place where they make Boeing airplanes. They took us into the area where they make and assemble the airplanes. It was interesting to see how planes are made. In the evening we headed to the airport and took an overnight flight home to Philadelphia!

This trip has been such a fantastic journey! I am so glad that I got to see so many places in our country! It has been most interesting to meet people from each location and hear about their experiences living in the area. While this trip was huge to take on, and at times absolutely exhausting, I would do it again in a second!

Montana and Idaho are beautiful!!!

Yesterday Dad and I spent the day at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. It was absolutely beautiful there! You can see the Rocky Mountains, and there were a bunch lakes in the park where people were kayaking. We went hiking a bit and then drove to the top of a summit. We drove on winding roads and the view from the top was gorgeous! I hope I can go back there someday. Today's picture is from our time at the park!

Later we walked around the town near the park, Jackson Hole. We had a beer at a western themed bar in town, where instead of bar stools, they had saddles. While the concept was fun, it was interesting sitting on a saddle. I can't complain though, the thigh stretch was necessary after a week in the car. I enjoyed a Wind River Blonde, a locally brewed beer. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant and it was great. I had a meatball sub! We met a retired couple who have been on the road in their motor home since April! They were really nice and told us about things to do in town.

Today we drove about 10 hours to Cheney, WA, as an overnight stop on the way to Seattle. We had a great Mexican dinner in town at a place called El Rodeo. So much good food this trip! Today we drove through both Idaho and Montana. Idaho was so beautiful and green. There wasn't one cloud and you could see the winding road ahead of you. What a nice state! Montana was also beautiful with big mountains and rivers. We try to take pictures, but it really doesn't capture it. I really wish they'd put a sign up when time zones change. We didn't realize we were in Pacific time for a while. Mountain time was the only zone that gave us a sign- which resulted in a great song about mountain time that we made up while driving across South Dakota :)

Tomorrow we reach our final stop, Seattle! We aren't flying home until Friday night, so I'm excited to spend some time there this week!

I made it to Mount Rushmore!!

On Thursday we arrived in Rapid City, South Dakota! We expected the Mount Rushmore area to be pretty desolate, but Rapid City was a busy town. We went to a local restaurant for some barbecue. I was wearing my Jersey Shore sweatshirt and a waitress at the restaurant came up to me and said that she had the same one. She told us that she "went to a town called Toms River," on a mission trip a few years ago. We told her we were from Toms River, and she mentioned that she was there right after Sandy. We couldn't believe we met someone like that in the middle of South Dakota! There was a big street fair going on that night, and there was live music. There was an alley in town that was covered with graffiti art. People were painting and playing music there, too. It was awesome to see all the artwork done by locals. That day we also drove through Badlands National Park, which was beautiful. Today's pic is from there.

The next morning we went to Mount Rushmore! As many of you know, I have wanted to see Mount Rushmore since I was about 10. I have no idea how that fascination started. I was so excited to finally see it! As you approach the national park, you can start to see part of the sculpture. Mount Rushmore was so impressive! It sat on top of a huge mountain surrounded by trees and rock that was blasted when they were making it. It was very serene there. Dad and I decided to go on a trail that would give us a different view of the mountain. We climbed 250 stairs to the observation deck. It was a great view!

After Mount Rushmore, we headed to another monument called Crazy Horse. A sculptor began this project as a tribute to Native Americans, but died before it was complete. Now his 10 kids work on it. It was pretty cool, but they haven't gotten too far with it yet.

This morning we began our trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. What was supposed to be an 8 hour drive turned out to be an 11 hour trip. We took a detour because a road we needed to take was closed, and then when we got to the alternate road,that was closed also. We handled it okay but by the last hour and a half at the trip we couldn't take being in the car anymore! Dad and I considered it an accomplishment that no colorful language was used in the final hour of the trip. Go us!

One of our detours took us to Nebraska, so we took a picture in front of the state line sign. When we took the picture, a field of about 50 cows all stopped what they were doing and stared at us in silence. It was a little strange. Also, the route was so desolate that the only bathroom was a porta potty that shook every time a car drove by. Who needs Disney when you can ride the shaking porta potty in the middle of Nebraska!

Dad and I had dinner at a place that I already forgot the name of, but it was delicious! I tried my first buffalo burger which was really good! I had a locally brewed beer called a Snake River lager. That was necessary after our drive.

We thought our hotel was going to be near Yellowstone, but it's actually about 5 minutes from Grand Teton National Park, so we're going to spend the day there instead. Yellowstone is about 2 hours away- whoops! We don't mind, people we've met here say Teton is beautiful! Looking forward to tomorrow!
Rocking my Taylor Swift t-shirt in South Dakota!

Chicago has a lot of food

After Cleveland, our next stop was Schereville, Indiana, which is about 30 minutes outside of Chicago. We went there to visit with one of Dad's oldest friends, Gary. They grew up around the corner from each other in Rahway, NJ, and have been friends for over 50 years! On Monday, we had dinner with Gary and his family, who would probably make the list of nicest families in America! I enjoyed spending time with them and hearing stories about Gary and my dad! Upon arriving at their house, I accidentally locked myself in the bathroom and had to call dad to come open the door to let me out. Talk about a first impression. Today's picture is of me, dad, Gary, and his wife, Gina.

The next morning, we got up really early and headed to Chicago! I'm not ashamed to say that we basically ate our way through Chicago- there were so many authentic restaurants around! At about 11am I had a Chicago style hot dog from a place called Portillos. It was amazing and there was free cake. FREE CAKE. That's never a bad thing.

I didn't know what to expect from Chicago, but we had a great time there! It is right on Lake Michigan, and has a pier that goes right by the lake. We walked around the city for hours and then met Gary's son, Garett at a restaurant for deep dish pizza. YUM. We ate at a place called Lou Malnati's. I had a beer called a Goose 312, which apparently is the beer of Chicago. It was great!

Today the plan was to drive to Fairmont, Minnesota, which is just an overnight stop on our way to Mount Rushmore. We drove through Wisconsin and stopped at the welcome center, where a woman immediately handed me a "cheese map," listing all of the places in the state where you can buy authentic cheese. We then became determined to try lots of cheese. We went to a place in Stoughton, Wisconsin called Cheezers and sampled A LOT of cheese. There was bacon muenster (yum), basil (yum), blueberry cheddar (weird, but yummy), and maple cheddar (ew). The place had over 100 types of cheese to try. Felt a little gross after eating 5 different types of cheese as lunch, but it was worth it! We drove through Madison, Wisconsin and took a look at the college there.

Finally we arrived in Fairmont, Minnesota. If you want to imagine what it looks like, imagine the green landscape that comes as the background on Microsoft computers. It's as perfect as it looks! There is absolutely nothing here, but it looks pretty! It neighbors a town called "Welcome," labeled with a sign that says "Welcome to Welcome!" They really couldn't think of anything else?

Tomorrow we head to Rapid City, South Dakota!