california!

We made it!!!

Crossing the state line might of been one of the most exciting moments of my life. I don't know about you, but I have always been fascinated by California. Maybe it's a Midwestern thing? The allure of the coastline, mountains, beaches, redwoods, Hollywood... Whether they admit it or not, I think everyone dreams of living here at some point.

And after five long days of driving, here we were.

As we forged ahead through the Sierra Nevada, for the last three hours(!!!) of our cross-country adventure, we discussed two very important things:

1. OMG, we live in California now. Dave, the lifelong Chicagoan, and me, the country mouse. No big deal, but we just moved to a place where avocados grow on trees.

2. The pioneers and the gold-seekers were crazy fools. Very brave, yes. But also completely nuts. Once we passed the site of the infamous Donner Party, we could not help but think about all the people who traversed this land before us. The long trek to California was rough enough in a luxury SUV. The same journey in a covered wagon, through rivers and deserts and mountains, exposed to the elements, surrounded by sickness and death? Oh, heck no.

And so, like millions of people before us, we were beyond excited, and a little relieved, to finally reach San Francisco!

Just like that, we were home.

nevada

nevada nothingness

Nevada, specifically Reno, was not my favorite part of this journey; I found it extremely depressing. In Reno, every other building is abandoned and boarded up. People aimlessly wander through the streets in wheelchairs and drunkenly stumble into casinos at all hours of the night. They all appear to have lost everything, and seem certain they will win it all back. Very sad.

Granted, I formed this opinion of Reno after being there for less than 24 hours. This impression is also coming from a girl who is overly-sensitive to the plight of others (I tend to assume the worst in all situations) and who hates deserts, casinos, and gambling in general. So, no offense if you love Reno; it's just not the place for me.

The good thing about Reno? We got a hotel room on the 12th floor. I cannot say that we had a stellar view (unless you deeply appreciate parking lots), but after days of small town U.S.A., it was nice to feel like we were in a city again. Even if it was the "Biggest Little City in the World." Whatever that means.

taking in the city view // reno

It also happened to be our last night before arriving in California. And thank goodness for that.

Honestly, I'm not sure how many more days of travelling we could have tolerated. Had this been a leisurely cross-country road trip (sans dog), it would have been an entirely different experience. A vacation, even. That's not to say we had a terrible time; we just wanted to do more.

For example, there were countless times I wanted to pull over to snap a photo, but there were just too many miles to cover and not enough hours in the day. Had we stopped to photograph each and every random thing I saw, we'd probably still be in Wyoming.

I did try to take photos from the car but never really mastered that skill. Since I would usually forget to roll down the window, most of my car photos, while very sharp and well-composed, have smeared bug guts in the foreground. Oops!

Also limiting us was Margot, who is prone to separation anxiety and could not be left unattended in a hotel room (and we would never leave her alone in the car). Drive-thrus are fun for about a day but at a certain point you want to just sit down in a restaurant and eat off of a non-disposable plate. That being said, I never ever want to eat fast food again for the rest of my life ever.

Same problem with Yellowstone. For very good reasons -- bears and cliffs, for example -- doggies are not allowed in most areas of the park. Because one of us always had to stay with the dog, we didn't get to see anything together and some things we didn't get to see at all. Not a big deal, we'll just have to go back :)

Sure, at times we were annoyed we couldn't leave her, but overall Margot did a great job. On day two, she concluded that we live in a car now, and the backseat was her new home. And what is her favorite thing to do at home? Nap. Oh, and nap she did.

margot napping in her backseat suite

In a lot of ways, Nevada marked the end of the road trip. It was the last state, the last hotel, the last night before we were in our new apartment, in our new city.

We loved the romance, the adventure, and the unknown of the open road. But we were both just ready to be home.

on the road

Peace out, Nevada. Hello California....

idaho

Whoa. We've been living in San Francisco for two weeks and I'm still talking about the road trip. Oops!

Did you know that Idaho is actually really gorgeous? We certainly didn't. At times, it felt like we were driving through a painting. Rolling hills, distant mountains, reflective lakes, and pristine farms in every direction, all the time.

To be honest, we knew very little about Idaho in general.

They have the potato, of course.

And then there's Napoleon Dynamite.
(I actually begged Dave to take me to Preston, where the move was filmed, but alas, there was no time.)

And...

Yep. That was the extent of our knowledge about Idaho.

Well, a few hours into Idaho, we reached an unprecedented level of boredom and again turned to our faithful friend, Wikipedia. Turns out, there is an interesting story behind the origin of the name Idaho, which you can read here. Interesting being a relative term, of course :)

Ultimately, we left Idaho knowing more than when we arrived and that is something, I guess.

wyoming // tetons

Just south of Yellowstone is a small little place called Grand Teton National Park. I'm so glad we did not overlook this hidden(ish) gem.

We originally thought a teton was a tree (not even kidding) and boy, we were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves wrong. The tetons are, in fact, mountains and wow, they are magnificent.

As we left the Grand Teton area (the Grand Teton being the highest peak of the range), Dave noticed a strange cloud in the distance. We didn't think much of it until we started approaching Jackson, Wyoming. Once we saw the orange flickers at the mountain peaks, we knew it couldn't be good. Indeed, it was a wildfire. 

We pulled over near Jackson Hole to find out more about the fire (it was huge), and see if it would force us to make a detour (it did not). At the rest stop, we saw a woman crying as she watched the tremendous clouds of smoke cross the sky. As soon as she noticed Margot, our little people magnet, she rushed over to dote on her. As we chatted with Margot's new friend, we learned that she had lost her home in Colorado to wild fires just last year. She and her husband had subsequently moved to Wyoming.

I cannot even imagine.

I hope the people of Jackson, and their homes, are safe.

wyoming // yellowstone

And then there were mountains.

Probably every Midwesterner feels this way, but aren't mountains awesome? I adore them. Well, not so much driving on/through them (those roads are curvy and man, those drops are steep), but definitely looking at them. Mountains are my absolute favorite. You know, as opposed lakes or deserts or just plain hills :)

Lucky for me, Wyoming has an abundance of mountains. And a ton of horses too. Like South Dakota and billboards, we are convinced there are actually more horses than people in Wyoming. Often, we would drive for miles and miles and miles and never lay eyes on another human being. The emptiness was at once terrifying and serene.

Of course, the whole point of going to Wyoming was to see Yellowstone. While I don't consider myself outdoorsy in the least (Dave has at least camped and even gone skiing), I loved every single rocky, rugged, nature-y minute of it. We had such a fantastic time, we vowed to return at some point in our lives -- and maybe even camp (like for real - outside).

Because of the long drive still ahead of us, we only had a few hours to spend in Yellowstone. Luckily, the weather was perfect and it was not crowded at all.

Overall, the scenery was gorgeous and the natural wonders were breathtaking. The animals, however, seemed to be hiding. Dave really wanted to see a bear; I was hoping to see a moose. No luck. But we did see a lot of bison and even got to experience a "Bison Jam," which was just plain surreal. We also happened to stumble upon some cute little river otters hamming it up for the tourists.

Even though we got lost once or twice, it was so worth the detour.

When I asked Dave if he had anything to add to the above, he responded, "It was fine, but we didn't even see a yellow stone." Sigh.

Some highlights:

we made it!

stinky mud pot

margot had a good time - lots to sniff

otters

grand canyon

just a little lost

lower falls

yellowstone express

painters pots

he was pretty excited about the sulfur volcano

approaching the springs

prismatic spring

bacterial mats

texture

damage from forest fires

pretty excited about the geysers

lone buffalo

warned...

... ignored

color

where the buffalo roam

see you next time, yellowstone!

And last but not least, the Bison Jam:

south dakota

If I told you that Dave and I put a lot of effort into plotting the actual road trip portion of this move, I would be lying. Big time.

Rather than be bothered by travel details, we opted for a more romantic approach. Let's just see where the road takes us, we thought.

Except, I do not drive. Technically, I know how to drive (Dave says that is highly debatable), I just never got a driver's license. So, without the option of sharing driving duty, the entire trip fell to Dave. For anyone, 40+ hours of driving is no small feat. But for Dave, who has relied almost exclusively on public transit for the last ten years, it seemed an especially daunting task. Keeping Dave alert would be key. Our solution? Take the scenic route!

Well, at some point, we decided we could bypass the monotony of the Great Plains by driving above Nebraska and through South Dakota. Because all of South Dakota is like Mt. Rushmore, the Badlands and the Black Hills, right? Turns out, no. That is not the case at all. Had we actually looked at a map at some point, we would have quickly learned that South Dakota is actually 99% flat and man, it is enormous.

By the time we realized our mistake, it was too late, of course. And so we drove on...

Almost as soon we crossed the state line, the lush green trees of Minnesota disappeared and an infinite golden-yellow flatland emerged. Soybeans mostly (we think?), accented by the occasional sunflower field. It was... well, not interesting. At all.

Soon the billboards began to pop up. So many billboards! Actually, I am certain there are more billboards than people in South Dakota. To keep us entertained (no joke), I would often read aloud from Wikipedia (again, wish I was kidding here). The South Dakota entry fails to mention the billboard-to-person ratio, but I'm pretty sure my assessment is spot-on. Also, did you know that South Dakota is the fifth least populous state in the U.S. and the state insect is the honey bee? No? Well, now you do. You're welcome.

We skipped almost every single tourist attraction (Corn Palace, Wall Drug, Mt. Rushmore, etc.) in favor of making good time. We did, however, visit the Badlands and they were... strange. Strange but spectacular.

As we made our way through the park, the formations grew and receded and grew again. With each turn, the shadows shifted and the colors changed. For miles, we saw no one else and the only sound was that of the wind. Seeing the long history of this earth so exposed in the layers of rock, well, it was a pretty humbling experience.

While I did take a lot of photos, I'll share you just these two. Let's be real, no one wants to see a gazillion photos of rocks :)

the badlands // south dakota

more badlands // south dakota

Yes, the Badlands were awesome indeed. But my favorite part of South Dakota? Deadwood. Dave and I are huge fans of the HBO show and it was thrilling to drive through where it all went down. In fact, it inspired us to watch the series all over again. I highly recommend that you do the same. (Or, if you can't get your hands on the DVDs, the Deadwood Wikipedia entry is a riveting alternative, if I do say so myself...)

wisconsin + minnesota

Here we are about to leave my parents' house, and all things familiar, to officially begin the long drive to California:

After a lovely, and very early, breakfast at the Original Pancake House (one of my favorite Madison spots), we were off! 

Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos during the drive through Wisconsin or Minnesota. We were so busy plotting out our whole new life (and ok, getting lost) that I completely forgot about my camera until we pulled into our hotel in South Dakota. Oops! Blogger fail :(

But I can assure you, Wisconsin is a magnificently beautiful state. In fact -- and I am not biased in any way -- it is my favorite state :)

To be fair, this favoritism is a somewhat recent development. Only in the last five years or so have I come to appreciate all Wisconsin has to offer. The charm was definitely lost on me as a kid. Cows and farms, yeah, whatever. All I wanted was the city; skyscrapers and subways for this girl.

My momma, on the other hand, grew up in west Philadelphia and moved to Wisconsin in her thirties. After all these years, the quaint red barns, rolling hills, and spotted cows of the Wisconsin countryside still astound her. Whenever my mom and I would drive down a scenic country road (which, in Wisco, is rather often), she'd frantically tap my arm, point, and exclaim with such a childlike enthusiasm, 'Look, a COW!!!' Every. Single. Time.

As Dave and I drove north (or 'up nord' as the locals say) toward Minnesota, I found myself doing the exact same thing. 'Ooh, Davey, look at that cute little farm! I see a little baby cow! Aw, and there's a whole family of cows! Weeee, a hill!!'

Ultimately, I'm really glad we opted for the Wisconsin detour. It was wonderful to be home, if ever briefly. My only regret is that we did not stop for a cheese curd break or pick up a case of New Glarus Beer to enjoy upon arrival in California. Oh well, it's not like we'll never be back...

Oh yeah, and Minnesota was nice too. Crossing the Mississippi River was definitely a highlight -- the rock formations that jut out of the earth were really awesome, and such a stark contrast against the otherwise forested landscape. We were just a few weeks too early, but in the fall, I could see this little nook of the country being absolutely breathtaking.

P.S. I think it goes without saying that leaving my parents was really emotional too. I cried. A lot.
P.P.S. Thanks for lending us the GPS, guys. We probably would have ended up in Mexico without it!

departure

The first leg of our journey began with the (relatively) short drive from Oak Park/Chicago to Madison. Don't worry -- we realize that Wisconsin is not actually on the way to San Francisco from Chicago; however, we decided to take a small detour to see my parents on our way out. This northern route also gave us the opportunity to avoid Nebraska (sorry, Great Plains) and drive through Yellowstone, which was definitely a highlight of our trip. More on that later...

Leaving my sister, niece, and nephew in Oak Park was harder than I even imagined (and trust me, I am a hardcore worst-case-scenario kind of worrier). As we sat down to a nice farewell dinner, I glanced at the the piles of packed bags by the door and the tremendous weight of regret began to take hold. I am not going to lie -- in that moment, this whole grand moving scheme felt like a huge mistake. It was unnerving and I cried. A lot. 

After I stalled our departure for several hours (during which my sister basically had to talk me off a ledge), we finally loaded up our suitcases, and Dave dragged me to the car. We said our goodbyes. It was heartbreaking and I cried. A lot. 

But then as we pulled away, everything felt right. And everything was right. As difficult as the departure was, it marked the beginning of our new adventure, our new life - just me, Dave, and our silly little brown dog. The best part? As if just for us, 'Lake Michigan' by Rogue Wave played on the radio while the city skyline (and Lake Michigan) faded in the rearview mirror:

We dried our tears, smiled, laughed, screamed, and set out on the long drive to California...

sunset

Wow.

We have seen a lot of amazing things over the last few days. We have also seen a lot of not-so-amazing things (wheat fields that go on forever, for example). There are so many images to share and so many stories to tell, I don't even know where to start.

That being said, traveling nonstop for three days straight is utterly exhausting. It's amazing how quickly driving (or, in my case, managing the iPod and setting the GPS) can deplete your energy. At this point, we could probably sleep for months.

So -- until I can sort through all of our photos and find the brainpower to actually write, a small preview will have to do.

sunset // idaho

Four states down, three to go! Halfway there!