Summer Trip part 2

Sorry it’s taken me so long to get to part 2. Brent and I have been very busy with summer projects that we’ve wanted to complete before we go back to school. But more on that later. Back to our trip and fun categories.

SCENERY
BEST: Colorado Wolf Creek Mountain Pass. If you know anything about me I HATE driving through mountain passes. The twists and turns and ups and downs…it’s just all scary. However, this mountain pass was absolutely GEORGOUS!! The trees were so tall and majestic. I can’t believe the cool crisp air and the peacefulness of the whole scenery. We stopped to take a picture but it the picture gave it NOOO justice. It was just too beautiful for words or film.

WORST: It kills me to say this but, New Mexico wins the worst scenery. But it’s not where my mom and dad live. On our way back to Virginia we drove from Albuquerque to Amarillo, TX. That drive was dreadful. It was super flat, and extremely boring. There were some weird trees but their height was nothing to write about. They looked more like large bushes. But they were a pale green and dry. The dirt was almost grey instead of brown. It was hot and just plain dull.

HONORABLE MENTION: I have to plug Iowa and Minnesota. BEAUTIFUL!! I can’t wait till Brent and I move up there. The rolling, green hills are seriously what I’ve dreamed about living in since I was little.

BATHROOMS
BEST: Interesting enough the best bathroom that we hit on our trip was by far my own father’s. Him and my mother had to add a new toilet to their bathroom because their old one was…well old. But the new toilet they purchased was longer and larger than the old one, so it didn’t fit. Normal parents would just return the big toilet and get the correct size….but not my parents. They put the toilet in but at a diagonal. It is completely strange and funny. But oddly enough, it’s comfortable.

WORSE: There were SOOOO many to choose from but by a small margin, Tennessee wins the worse category. It was a small town between Nashville and Knoxville. The gas station looked big and clean on the outside, but the bathrooms were CRAP! Small, dirty, dark and the toilet wasn’t even bolted to the floor. The sink leaked everywhere and they had no paper towels. I hated being there. I thought for sure I was going to get the swine flu while I was in there. EWWWW

CONSTRUCTION
BEST: Driving 4000 miles around the US we were bound to hit some construction. But it was easy to rate. The construction on the road from NM to Durango, CO was long but very well managed. We got through the one lane quickly and with no hassles. And surprisingly, we saw people actually working instead of just a bunch of equipment.

WORSE: There was tie. In Scranton, PA we hit one lane traffic and no one knew why. There was no construction, no block, and no wide loads. They just shut down the lane for no reason. And we were stuck for at least an hour. FRUSTRATING!! The next worse construction was in OK. Lots of bumps, lots of detours, and confusing signs. And to make it worse, there was no one around and just a bunch of equipment just sitting around. We actually had to drive on incomplete roads for miles. I hated it.

ODDS AND ENDS
Just to finish part 2 I wanted to give a few little interesting things we noticed

1. Worse city roads to navigate—Amarillo, TX. The roads didn’t go straight and the map didn’t make any sense.
2. Worse traffic—Washington, DC (duh it’s always a traffic jam there)
3. Dumbest thing we saw on the freeway-- 2 girls and a guy fighting in TN. Yes they were actually fist fighting and yelling so hard we could hear them in the car. One girl pushed the boy into traffic and he just barely missed a car. It was our first sign that we were heading back into the Ghetto.
4. Funniest thing we saw on the freeway—The world’s largest cross in TX. Literally in the middle of no where some church built this GIAGANTIC cross. You could see it for miles each direction. The sign said it was 7 stories high. Super funny
5. Most impressive sight—The millions of wind farms in MN and IA. Just awesome to see such massive windmills powering towns.
6. Best shopping—Mall of America, MN. Ummm..it’s the nations largest mall…nuff said.
7. Best cheese curds—another tie. Carr Valley Cheese, WI and the Beir Stube in Hastings, MN. It’s true that you just can’t buy or eat better cheese than what comes from the Midwest. YUMM
8. Best tour-- The Gordon experience touring the new Green Chamberlain Science Building at Beloit College, WI. I wanted to see where Brent went to college and we meet up with one of Brent’s roommates and he gave us a tour of the new building on campus. The most detailed tour I’ve ever been on.
9. Worse weather---While stuck in traffic in PA it was down pouring rain. The drops were so big when they hit the windshield…crazy. But surprisingly this was the only bad weather we had the whole trip.
10. Best tool for the road--- By far it would have to be our iphones. We used those things for navigation, music, internet trivia, games and entertainment for long, boring roads.

OK that’s all I have for tonight. But strangely enough…I still have a lot more to write. So stay tuned for part 3. Thanks for reading. For those of you on Facebook you can see all our pictures on my page.