California Road Trip August 09
Day 1 - Monday, August 24
We wanted to leave at 5:00am but didn't get packed up on time. We couldn't take any of our bikes because it was too much weight for the van, that made me cry. We finally left our house at 10:22am. About a mile from home Josh asked how long it would take to get to California, we said "all week." He had a shocked look on him face and he was speechless. At 10:24 we were in front of the Hudsonville McDonald's when Caleb said, "look how far we are already!" It was a beautiful, sunny day in the 70's. The drive through Michigan and Indiana was pretty uneventful. Of course the kids loved crossing the border out of Michigan.
We took 94 to 90 (toll road) near Gary, IN and stayed on 90 to Rockford, IL and up to the Wisconsin border. The boys were amazed with the Chicago skyline. We pointed out the Sears Tower and John Hancock buildings. As we neared O'Hare airport there were a ton of planes landing and taking off. The boys were constantly spotting them. At one point Caleb let out a yell when a low flying plane scared him. Josh became irritated at this point because he is packed into the back seat of the van with the seat beside him full of stuff. Since he can only see out of one side of the van he claimed it and said that no one else may look out HIS side. He'll put up his hand and sternly say "no peeking!" We ate the yummy sandwiches that grandma VJ packed for us between Chicago and Rockford, IL. We were starving and daddy didn't want to stop driving. It was about 2:00 MI time. About an hour later we stopped at an oasis for gas, the rest of our lunch and a bathroom break. The boys thought it was cool to stand in the oasis, over top of the road and watch the traffic pass below.
Wisconsin was pretty uneventful. The boys watched some Superman videos while mom took a much needed nap. Even daddy took a couple of micronaps. The last hour of Wisconsin and first part of Minnesota were beautiful. We went through some hilly, rocky, tree covered areas that made for interesting scenery. We crossed the Mississippi River as we crossed into Minnesota. We stopped at a rest stop for some pictures. The boys had fun rolling down a small hill on the bank of the river. After driving in Minnesota for a while we were all getting sick of it. We'd been on the road for almost 10 hours and didn't want to drive to our goal of Albert Lea, MN. We called to book a room at a Comfort Suites in Rochester. It was a new hotel with free wi-fi, and the tiniest pool I've ever seen in a hotel. The boys were obviously stir crazy since they 'thought' they could run down the halls and jump on the bed. They were wrong! We swam a bit then ordered Godfather's pizza. We highly recommend their taco pizza, it's amazing! Daddy and the boys finally hit the sack at 10:30 while mom spent a little time on the computer.
Day 2 - Tuesday, August 25
We had a wonderful stay at Comfort Suites. Everyone slept till 7:30 (very impressive that the boys slept that long since that's 8:30 MI time). The hotel breakfast was fantastic and even had bacon and these cheesy, sausage things. The weather was cloudy and cooler, great for travelling. The boys and I walked around a small pond while daddy loaded pictures on Facebook. Nathaniel cried a bit when a Canadian Goose 'chased' him. I even pulled a couple of giant weeds out of the hotel landscaping (gardener at heart). We left the hotel at about 10:00, it was just starting to sprinkle. Later than I thought we would but that's ok. At about 10:30 we drove through a big wind farm. The boys LOVED it! They kept pointing and looking and exclaiming. At 11:15 it was pouring rain when a nut came loose where our wiper attaches to our van. Of course it was the driver side, the wiper flipped back up against the mirror. Dan drove for a couple of miles looking out my side of the windshield until he was able to pull over until a bridge. Oh, and this was in a construction zone so traffic was going in both directions. Thankfully, he packed a tool kit so he fixed it in just a couple of minutes and we were off again. As we pulled away Caleb said, "goodbye old, faithful bridge that kept us dry."
By 1:00 the sun had come out, we stopped for lunch about 1:30 at a rest area. Later "Here I am" is on the radio reminding us of what we are doing. We crossed the border into South Dakota the first time at 2:40. My picture of the sign was blurry and since I was showing Dan the picture he missed the tourist info rest area. So we turned around and looped back for a redo. I was happy! He rolled his eyes at me. :-) Still 1 hour to the corn palace. This day is going way too fast, it'll be another late night. We arrived at the corn palace at 4:00. It's really an entertainment auditorium with a really cool looking outside and a lot of corn murals inside. There were photos on the wall of the corn palace dating back to the late 1800's. They have to replace the corn every year so all the pictures were a little different. There was also a tourist trap gift shop and concession stand inside. The outside was the best part. We got gas before getting back on the highway. The boys jumped out for a quick snack and had fun stomping on crickets in the parking lot. We were on the road again by 4:30. The east side of South Dakota is very flat, similar to Iowa. Then, out of nowhere, there is a big hill that you go down before crossing the Missouri River. After that it's pretty hilly with almost no trees or signs of life. There are giant fields of corn, hay and bright yellow sunflowers. There are a lot of pastures too. There are giant fields covered in round bales, they even bale the grass along the sides of the highway. Day 2 to be continued.........
No comments:
Post a Comment