[sharonpdx]

driving in the wind is not fun [Casper, WY to Ogden, UT]

Miles covered (together): 2,o31

States visited: 8

Diet Cokes consumed: 11

Times strangers asked if we were sisters: 3 (including a twins reference today!)

Traffic jams encountered: still 3

This was the image that greeted us when we awoke this morning:

These are the images that welcomed us into Utah on our way to Ogden this afternoon:

 

Jamie and Jacob made us coffee and entertained us with stories and gurgly smiles (the latter from Jacob, of course) before we got on the road around 8:00.  I'm so grateful for Jamie and her husband Jeremiah's generosity in opening up their home to us last night - it was fun to get ready for bed with Arielle riding her red trike around the house, narrowly avoiding our toes and smiling at us for the first time all night.

The drive today was not fun - we were buffeted by strong winds through most of the drive from Casper into Utah.  But the Utah landscape was a welcome visual treat from the expanse of scrub surrounding I-80 & 287 through southwestern Wyoming.  

We were pretty wiped from the drive by the time we made it to Ogden - but not too tired to notice that the next leg of our trip, from Ogden to Boise, is only 300 miles.  We aren't trying to get into Idaho early, but Portland - so we changed our itinerary once again and made arrangements to stay in Baker City, OR tomorrow, cutting our final trek to Portland down by 100 miles and hopefully allowing us to get in early Sunday afternoon.

If you've followed along this far, we hope you've enjoyed the photos & narrative - more to come tomorrow when we're back in the Pacific time zone!

new friends [Denver, CO to Casper, WY]

Miles covered (together): 1,628

States visited: 7

Diet Cokes consumed: 8 (poor showing, we need to do better or rename this trip)

Times strangers asked if we were sisters: still 2

Traffic jams encountered: still 3

Children fawned over: 4

New friends made: 7+

Jacob

Short trip today - we slept in, I took advantage of the hotel gym, and we met Lauren's friends Barb & Mark for breakfast at a yummy NY-style deli near our hotel before getting on the road late in the morning.  On our way to Casper, we had planned to stop at the Loveland outlets, a place I'd visited often while I was a student at CSU - when we arrived, I was blown away to see what a ghost town that place has become since a new mall opened up across the highway.  At least 50% of the stores are empty spaces now.  We did find some great stuff for super cheap at the Ann Taylor factory store (I got some super cute shirts) but we weren't there very long in the end, and made it to Casper in the late afternoon. 

Tonight we were treated to a wonderful reunion BBQ with friends of Lauren's from her stint here in Casper as a Vista (AmeriCorps) volunteer with the Boys & Girls Club.  What a great night!  Everyone I met was so friendly, and the babies/kiddos added so much joy to the evening. 

Max

Maddie

 

Jamie, Kim, Chad
[not pictured: Ariel, age 3, who was not a huge fan of the 2 strange girls who showed up at Kim's house]

We've made a change to our itinerary - we're not going to Yellowstone as we'd originally planned, but instead we're heading down to Utah and then up to Idaho en route to Oregon.  More tomorrow from Ogden, UT - we're in the home stretch and our sights are set on getting back to Portland!

a surprise hour [Salina, KS to Denver, CO]

Miles covered (together): 1,342

States visited: 6

Diet Cokes consumed: 7 (we were in Pepsi country today, it seems)

Times strangers asked if we were sisters: still 2

Traffic jams encountered: still 3

Wind farms seen: 3

Prairie dog farms visited: 0

more reasons to love Kansas: wind farms!

and actual farms, too!

reasons to love Kansas might also include Kansas barbeque.  I don't actually know, because we completely forgot that restaurants close early in small high plains towns.  Like, 8:00 early.  So, I will return to Kansas again sometime soon for barbeque.  And maybe I'll just wind up moving there and dating cute Kansas boys.  That's how much I loved driving through Kansas.

We made amazingly good time to Denver today.  In fact, we're not exactly sure how we managed to cover 431 miles and make it to our hotel by 3:30... we gained an hour, sure (a surprise hour, because we totally forgot about it and didn't factor it in to our trip planning last night), but still... we had anticipated getting in between 6 and 7 tonight.  We used the extra time wisely, of course: we opened up our laptops and read email and gchatted with friends (and each other.  at least, I tried to gchat Lauren but she was having none of it.) and at one point I walked over to Whole Foods to buy wine and food for a BBQ we're going to tomorrow.  See?  Wisely.  In fairness, driving is mentally exhausting.  I heard that from someone who used to drive trucks, so he would know.

Fun facts: the gas station in the town of Victoria, KS has 8 pumps.  All 8 of these pumps are out of order.  Also, the town of Victoria, KS has 4 cemeteries, and a single sign pointing to a business district that we couldn't actually find.  Furthermore, the town of Limon, CO has a delicious AUTHENTIC (don't forget that part) Mexican restaurant called, naturally, Jenny's.

Later we met up with Jess and caught up with her over Indian food (sure, local cuisine is bison, but I had enough of that in my years living here, and plus my travel companion is a vegetarian) - even though I'd visited Jess just a month earlier on an extension to a business trip, it was still so great to see her.  In preparing for her and her husband Zach's 6-month road trip, Paige was telling me how neat it was to reach an age where folks we love are spread all across the country, so we can visit them on trips like this - so true.

Tomorrow's an easy day - we get to sleep in, I'm planning to hit the hotel gym in the morning in an effort to combat all this mindless eating in the car (Mom, you'll be pleased to know I've graduated from Cheerios to pretzels), and we're meeting Lauren's friend Barb for breakfast.  We've also got big plans to hit up the Loveland outlet mall (!) and then we'll make our way to Casper, Wyoming, where Lauren's friends live.  I hear a BBQ is being held in our honor*.  Wow.  (Or as Cynthia would say, wowo.)

FYI, we did not stop at Prairie Dog Town on our way through Kansas.  Sorry, Hannah**, but I don't even like prairie dogs.  And I certainly do not like raccoons, rattlesnakes, or any of the other "exotic" animals they advertised from the side of the road.  Seriously, what type of advertising is that anyway?  "Here's a list of all the animals who creep you out or actually terrify you: COME SEE THEM!" 

We did take a picture of Prairie Dog Town's sign, though, in case any of you wish to go there.  Now you will know what exit to take.

So with that, we bid you adieu.  We're sleeping in separate rooms tonight.  I have decided not to take that as a sign Lauren is sick of me.  But if it is a sign, well right back at you, LT***.

*It's possible this BBQ is not being held in our honor, but I like my theory better.  So there.

**Confession time, Hannah: We also didn't go to that Van Gogh thing you mentioned.  I'm not sure what that is or if we even passed it...

***KIDDING.  Love ya.

Kansas is pretty [Dallas, TX to Salina, KS]

Miles covered (together): 911

States visited: 5

Diet Cokes consumed: 6

Times strangers asked if we were sisters: still 2

Traffic jams encountered: 3

Super Targets visited: 1

Salina, KS - today's final destination

Lauren and I agreed: of all the states we traveled through today, Kansas is by far the prettiest (her friend Bess will be pleased to know we came to this conclusion).  We got an early start, and had about 100 miles fewer to travel, which made for a much more fun day - still, though, after 10 hours of doing essentially nothing, I feel exhausted and completely beat up.  Is this normal for road-tripping?

Immediately across the Oklahoma border: casinos.

Our travels today took us north through Texas and Oklahoma and into Kansas.  About 20 miles outside of Oklahoma City, where we were planning to have lunch, we ran into traffic as they attempted to take a 3-lane highway down to one lane. 

I call this "Everybody wants to go to Oklahoma City."

By the time we got through that, we were ready for a break - and then we spotted a Super Target off the highway.  Done.

Lauren's first trip to Target since coming back to the States

Now we're attempting to stream the parts of LOST we missed on Sunday.  Days Inn Salinas' free wi-fi offering is a tad misleading - it's free, but it's not much better than a 56k modem.  Soon, we're going out for some Kansas barbeque... tomorrow: Denver!  Hoping to meet up with Jessica for dinner, and Lauren's friend Barb the next morning for breakfast.

Thanks for following along on our journey!

 

road trips are long [New Orleans to Dallas]

Miles covered (together): 501

States visited: 2

Diet Cokes consumed: 4

Times strangers asked if we were sisters: 2

Amount of wheat in crackers LT brought on this trip: 0

Number of people who think things without wheat in them should not be called crackers: 1

Lauren & I met up at the New Orleans airport around 5:00 Sunday evening.  She came into the airport to meet me.  Can I just tell you how rarely that happens to me?  I get off a plane like, I don't know, 80 times in a year?  More?  I'll tell you how often that happens.  It happens precisely once a year, when my dad picks me up in San Diego at Christmas time.  Seriously, if I meet a man who surprises me at the airport by greeting me on the other side of security, I'm proposing to him on the spot. 

Anyway.

We dropped our stuff at our hotel and took the streetcar down to the heart of the city, where we tried to accomplish in an hour and a half everything (food-related, at least) that I enjoyed when I was here 2 summers earlier... namely grabbing a daiquiri to combat the muggy heat, beignets at Cafe du Monde, and checking out the french market.  We didn't make it to the market, but we did manage to do everything else and grab some po boys before heading back to the streetcar.  If you're wondering why we were in such a hurry, well, here's the truth: we were trying to get back to our hotel by 8:00 to watch the LOST finale.

We rushed back to the streetcar stop and were on track to make it back to the hotel by 8:15 - not bad, I thought, given our tight timeline.  Or, would have been, rather, if I hadn't directed us to board the wrong streetcar.  That's right - instead of taking the streetcar on the loop back to St. Charles Ave, I directed us to the one that goes down Canal Street - and by the time I realized it, we were two stops away from the end of that line, and more than 5 miles away from our hotel.  We had to take the Canal Street car back to where we'd begun, wait another 15 min to board the right streetcar, and then take that back to our hotel. 

The LOST finale was 2.5 hours long. We caught the last hour, eating cold po boys and even colder beignets on our beds as we tried to piece together what we'd missed.  We decided we'd spend Monday's drive theorizing the first hour-and-a-half's events and then watch it again online at the hotel Monday night.  Ultimately, though, the ending was a bit of a letdown (Lauren would say that's putting it mildly), so it looks like we've decided we really just don't care what we missed.  Had I known that at 8:45 last night, I wouldn't have felt so awful about getting us so lost.  Ha, I just read what I wrote.  LOST.

We got on the road pretty late today - I set my alarm for early but wound up sleeping through it, still pretty wiped out from the early morning flight on Sunday.  Today's drive was long, but uneventful - we had breakfast for lunch at Cracker Barrel (yum!)  and decided to skip the alligator park (sorry, Hannah), and we sat in traffic a bit (in LA, and again outside of Dallas, that time because a truck's cab apparently caught on fire and melted, seriously scary looking).  Made it to our hotel in Duncanville in time to get margaritas and mexican food at a place across the street and book our hotel for tomorrow night.

Tomorrow's route is 410 miles through Texas, Oklahoma, and into Kansas; we're staying in Salina tomorrow night.  We're committed to an earlier start, too, so that's all for now.  Stay tuned...

Cafe du Monde, New Orleans, LA

traffic somewhere in Louisiana (after Lafayette, I think)

fueling up after lunch

 

3 hour layover

Watching Battlestar Galactica @ LAX. Getting in 30 min early isn't exciting when you've already got a ridiculously long layover, but at least everything's posted as on-time! Just so anxious to get there already!

:: vacation, all i ever wanted ::

vacation, got to get away...

As I type this, I'm waiting at PDX to board a 6:30 a.m. flight to LAX en route to New Orleans.  It's been nearly a year since Lauren left to complete her first year of graduate school in Israel, and now she's got to get her car from Tallahassee, FL to Los Angeles, with a detour through Portland to catch up with old friends.  I'm headed New Orleans to meet her at the end of her first day of driving, and assuming we don't run into problems, we should be back in Portland in a week.  

Operation Diet Coke Across America* itinerary:

Day 1: Tallahassee, FL > New Orleans, LA [LT solo/ Sharon in air]

Day 2: New Orleans > Dallas, TX

Day 3: Dallas, TX > Salina, KS

Day 4: Salina, KS > Denver, CO

Day 5: Denver, CO > Casper, WY [stay with LT's friends in Casper - this was our one "must-do" for the trip]

Day 6: Casper, WY > Yellowstone [subject to change]

Day 6: Yellowstone > Boise, ID or Baker City, OR

Day 7: to Portland!

Most folks who know me know that I'm not a huge road-tripper, so this vacation choice may come as a bit of a surprise... ultimately, the motivation was selfish: I missed Lauren a lot when she was in Israel, and I'm thrilled to have a little LT+SP time together before sharing her with the throngs of Portlanders who love her, too.  And it'll be a fun adventure!

I love New Orleans, and so I'm thrilled that's the site of our reunion - and to top it off, we meet again on the day of the LOST finale!  Hoping I land in time for us to watch it before heading downtown for daiquiris and beignets...

Time to board flight #1... more to come from the road.

*For months we've been calling it the SPLT Road Trip (our initials, and the abbreviation we gave to our various outings in Portland during the three years we've known each other) - until Emily pointed out that it looked like Splat, which is a bad omen for a road trip.  And anyway, we love Diet Coke.

life's a beach

five things I love about living in Oregon...

the rocky coastline [Arch Cape, OR | Jan 20, 2010]

 

the gorgeous forests [Oswald West State Park, OR | Jan 21, 2010]

hiking along a trail, seeing and smelling the forest and ocean simultaneously [Jan 21, 2010]

  

[takes my breath away]

 

good friends [Arch Cape, OR | Jan 21, 2010]

 

knowing I'm right where I'm supposed to be [Cape Falcon, OR | Jan 21, 2010]

Christmastime. Family time.

to those who celebrate it, i hope you enjoyed a lovely Christmastime with friends, family, or friends whom you call family.

[the Padgett family, San Diego, 12.24.2009]

Think I'll go to Boston...

Vacation! Its finally here!

7:06 a.m., Wednesday: up at an ungodly hour to catch a direct flight to Logan from PDX. Me and my back-up MacBook battery are chilling out in a forward cabin window seat - lots of homework to do on this flight. But right now, I intend to ignore all of that. Malcolm Gladwell's latest is calling my name.

See you on the East [coast] side!