It's Over

Yesterday I flew back from Salt Lake to Chicago, and then caught the bus from Chicago to Madison where my car was waiting.
I'm now back at work after a great 10 days. We'll definitely have to do it again sometime. It was great seeing everyone, and I definitely enjoyed missing the frigid weather here. I will post some more pictures once I get home and load them on my computer. Erin is settling in in Salt Lake, and I know neither of us are ready for work again.

Ah sleep! (soon!)

Erin and I just arrived in Salt Lake City and are lying on Jake's floor being dorks on our computers. Yesterday we made it up to Flagstaff, and stayed with Kent and In-Ja. It was so nice to see them. Kent did his master's in tuba at UW when i was working on my undergrad and he is now a professor at NAU. We had a lovely dinner followed by great conversation and sleep. We woke up and had a quick breakfast before they had to find out the sex of their baby (it's a boy!) The visit was way too short! Maybe I will end up in Flagstaff and will be able to visit much more often. I liked the feel of Flag, lots of small (non-chain) restaurants, cafes and bars! We ordered way too much sushi for lunch, and ended up putting the leftovers in Kent's fridge. I had a meeting with the director of the Student Affairs program at NAU and we discussed the program which was very nice. We ended up leaving Flag at around 3, and we slowly made our way north. We were planning on stopping for the night but ended up just driving straight through, which is nice because it will give us time to rest before my meetings at the U of Utah tomorrow afternoon. We also stopped in Tuba City so we could get some pictures there! But, I think it's time to sleep. Good night :)

Sunny Phoenix :)

What a pleasure it was to wake up and not have to drive a long distance today! We brought Erin's jeep in to the shop to get the brakes checked out, and then headed for an early lunch at some Bear Cafe with Greta, ate HUGE portions of food and then drove a little around Cave Creek and came home to rest. We definitely laid around outside to get some sun, and I think my nose was enjoying the sun, I could have fallen asleep out there it was so gorgeous! Jerry got home from work and took us to the horse track where Erin and I bet a dollar on horses 2 and 4, a quinella? We lost :( Oh well, it was cool to be there! Then we went out for a bit, and then home for homework, a great dinner and some more cousin jumping pictures! Good times :) Tomorrow it will be time for lunch with Chuck and Phyllis (my Kangas relatives) and then we're hitting the road up to Flagstaff to stay with Kent and Inja for the night and so I can visit the NAU campus on Wednesday before we drive up to Utah later that day :)

Now it's time for some Grey's Anatomy and bed...hooray for relaxing :)

Phoenix!

After an activity-filled day and a death drive from Flagstaff to Phoenix, we've made it safely to Phoenix. More about today later on--pictures here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/eekauppi/RoadtripPart2?feat=directlink

Or here:

Roadtrip Part 2

Jump in!

Sleepless in New Mexico

First, a disclaimer: Sheena won't let me read her post before I write mine, so my apologies for any duplication. :)

And, our first three days in photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/eekauppi/RoadTrip?feat=directlink

I'll spare you the detailed road trip narrative, because I'm too tired to make it interesting. :) Instead, I'll tell you that I'm writing from Gallup, New Mexico, where creepy men lounge outside of pay-by-the-hour motels and ancient Route 66-era buildings crumble on the side of ill-maintained roads. Sheena is sleeping, as I should be. Thus far, I've spent over 32 hours in the car, driving through Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, and New Mexico.

Lots of driving and lots of giggling. I haven't driven cross-country in almost four years, and I'd forgotten how exciting it is to see the country change. Sheena and I find plenty to entertain ourselves...the Runza restaurants in Nebraska gave us excellent joke material (most of which was off-color and suited to a 12 year old boy). Something along the lines of, "We got the Runzas in Nebraska," or, "These Runzas give me the Runzas."

Tomorrow, we're heading to Holbrook to wander around the Mile High Ranch, the big meteor crater, the petrified forest, Winslow, Arizona to stand on the corner, Sedona to check out the rocks, and finally, down to Phoenix to visit Greta, Jerry, and Keisha.

Here we go.

The Rambling Roadtrip

Friday, January 9, 2009

Memories of Day One:
Sheena

After a long, tired day at work, I drove home to see Erin sitting in my driveway talking to Jim. We loaded up the car with my meager possessions (I only brought one little bag!) and off we went. We drove down to Iowa City, stopping for provisions on the way (Chicken in a Biskit, Pickles, Munchies, Water and Diet Coke). We made it to Blaine and Jennifer’s house around 8, and headed out to get dinner. A game had just let out, so we ended up at the Sanctuary for dinner. There was a delightful choice of beer, wonderful garlic bread and yummy food. We all splurged and got dessert, Jennifer and I got the Vanilla Crème Brulee which was not set quite right, but tasted wonderful regardless. Blaine and Erin got a Molten Chocolate Cake with raspberry sauce. Yum! We headed back and played with the dogs for a while before collapsing into bed. What a nice easy start to the roadtrip.

Day Two: Heading to Boulder
Sheena

We hit the road at 7:30a.m. First stop: Walmart. We needed to buy electrical tape to tape up the loose wires by my feet, and we bought some more water/diet coke to last us for awhile ☺ We are currently driving through Iowa, we will be stopping in Des Moines for breakfast. We have already passed a town called What Cheer, a Kum and Go and a sign for some Bulls for Sale. We decided to pass on buying a bull to send home to the family. Our apologies. More later. We’ve decided to wait until Nebraska to eat. New state soon! We ended up eating at a Wendy’s in Lincoln. It was not very good…surprise. Long drive ahead. It snowed for about an hour, but other than that the weather and roads were great. We made it to Boulder at around 8pm, met Gretchen and Jeff at Target and followed them 20 min. up the mountain to their house. It is a super cute little rental, right on a creek with gorgeous windows and wood stoves. It would be great to live somewhere like that. Erin went to bed early and Gretchen and I hung out and caught up. They have a very amusing hippie neighbor who has a great invention called his Infinity Chair, it is totally adjustable and hangs from the ceiling. Love it! Went to bed late and had a hard time falling asleep because of the cold and the altitude. (We were at about 7500 ft which is the highest I’ve been since I was in California in August).

Day Three: Climbing a Mountain and driving South
Sheena

We woke up at 7 and got ready for the day, ate some breakfast and decided to brave Sugarloaf Mountain, even though it was supposed to be windy and -9! We got up there though, and it was gorgeous and warm. We were shedding layers the entire way up, and the sun was glorious. I was definitely winded walking up. We got some great pictures on the top, and there was a great view. What a wonderful way to start a day of driving. We’re now heading south on 25 and just left Colorado Springs. We are going to drive as far as we can tonight, and then have a relaxing night of tv, takeout and hanging out. Tomorrow we’ll take our time driving to Phoenix and seeing the sights. I’m looking forward to seeing Greta, Jerry and Keisha and eating some good meals. Any sushi suggestions in Phoenix or Salt Lake?

Gallup, NM: We got here around 9:45 and are currently hanging out in a Red Roof Inn, we'll be doing a shorter drive tomorrow with lots of sight-seeing so that is really nice! We had a gorgeous sunset driving across New Mexico with a gorgeous purple/blue sky and an amazing moon. Now it's time to sleep! Goodnight :)