We have made it home. After waking up with my arms and hands numb from that Sleep Inn bed that may as well been made of stone, I vowed that we were not spending another thin dime on rented sleeping arrangements. We hauled it all the way from Ohio to Minneapolis yesterday. Leaving at 7:30 AM or so, we drove through the rest of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois (with all the scary drivers that place breeds), and Wisconsin and rolled into our home garage to unload the car for the very last time around 10:00 PM. We're toast.
I drove us through the mess that is the Chicago freeway system, passing up a 5 car pileup in the center lanes and I even blew past a toll area (accidentally); I fully expect to receive my ticket in the mail. I relinquished driving duty to the steady nerves of my husband once we passed the city, only after having to peel my white-knuckled hands from the wheel. I like Chicago, but holy gods, only if it's via the El. People have got to be insane to navigate that place in a car. John took us safely and calmly the rest of the way. There were TONS of deer running amok in Wisconsin, so I was trying to stay alert to warn of any bounding fawns near the roadway. Such a long drive brought relief to see the lights of our familiar downtown skyline. Our total mileage for this journey was an impressive 2709.7 miles!!
The kitties were pleased as punch to see us and, of course, woke us up around 4, 5, 6 and 7 o'clock with their chasing and pining for our comatose attention. After kicking Vesta out and getting Boo to lay down by me, we slept in gloriously this morning, and not one of my limbs felt like it was going to fall off! It was a lovely trip, but always a relief to sleep in ones own bed, and to have the kitties trade off laying on my lap all day! John's working on the photo album in iPhoto, and as soon as I've had enough lounging on the couch watching Man vs. Wild, I'll do some photo editing, too. Right now though, I've got to catch up on my tea drinking and laying about with our babies :)
Thanks for joining us on the road!! See you next trip!
Love & hugs,
R&J
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Friday, July 06, 2007
Brunswick, OH
Wow! We drove all the way from Newark to Brunswick, Ohio in 10 hours!! Wheeeeee! We could probably keep going for a couple more hours, but by then we'd be in NOWHERE Ohio and we really could use the rest anyway. At least we made it all the way through Pennsylvania. There's a lot of trees and mountains in Pennsylvania, which are undoubtedly beautiful, but too much bad ju-ju floating in the air for my taste. There are religious crosses everywhere, and when we stopped to pee at a rest stop, there were throngs of people praying. Just too creepy for us agnostics. I thought of Deliverance the entire way. Not our bag, baby.
The drive otherwise was uneventful. I drove until about halfway through PA, then John took over so I could eat a sandwich, then I took over for him once we hit the first rest stop in Ohio. I couldn't stand the thought of stopping again in PA, and there really aren't many opportunities, anyway. It is ALL highway. So now we're at a Sleep Inn which is popular with truckers because of the bare bones layout, but that's all we need. In fact, we're kind of regretting not just opting for the Sleep Inn's the whole way, but sometimes they're harder to come by within the cities, they mostly dot the highways. Plus it's kind of smelly and there are ants in here. Better than roaches, but still bugs. I really am ready to be home, I think. I can't wait to see the babies and do our laundry. And get back to my workouts!!! Oy, I've got to make up for lost time!
Anyway, we'll probably make it as far as Madison, WI tomorrow, so we should hopefully be home by mid-day, early evening on Sunday. ROCK HARD!!
Love to all,
R&J
The drive otherwise was uneventful. I drove until about halfway through PA, then John took over so I could eat a sandwich, then I took over for him once we hit the first rest stop in Ohio. I couldn't stand the thought of stopping again in PA, and there really aren't many opportunities, anyway. It is ALL highway. So now we're at a Sleep Inn which is popular with truckers because of the bare bones layout, but that's all we need. In fact, we're kind of regretting not just opting for the Sleep Inn's the whole way, but sometimes they're harder to come by within the cities, they mostly dot the highways. Plus it's kind of smelly and there are ants in here. Better than roaches, but still bugs. I really am ready to be home, I think. I can't wait to see the babies and do our laundry. And get back to my workouts!!! Oy, I've got to make up for lost time!
Anyway, we'll probably make it as far as Madison, WI tomorrow, so we should hopefully be home by mid-day, early evening on Sunday. ROCK HARD!!
Love to all,
R&J
Yankee Stadium
We came, we saw, we got our butts kicked. But.....not before giving those Yankees bastards a run for their money!!! What a great game to see in Yankee Stadium! We almost won, allllllmoooossst. There was a whole section of Twins fans up in the nosebleeds with us to cheer the hometown heroes. And as far as nosebleed seats go, um, yeah, this is the stadium to have them. A cool view, the place is MASSIVE and you feel like your going to fall at any second, it's teetery, the stairs are old and crumbly and look as if they were made for a city of elf-sized feet, but it was damn neat. You literally feel like you're on top of New York City. You can see the subway rumbling by, a view of the Bronx sprawling out behind and the New York sky stretched above. The food was cheaper than at the Dome, except for beer which was $7 for one kind only (I think MGD), but all the vendors come way up to the tippy-top! Even the hot dog guys! And let me just say that carrying anything up those rickety stairs is a challenge, so kudos to the brave souls that haul those hot dog carriers above their heads to reach all the fans!
Still, we both agreed that Royals Stadium (Kansas City) is our favorite so far, followed closely by Baltimore. Jacob's Field (Cleveland) is very cool as far as view goes, in the heart of downtown Cleveland, but Royals Stadium is hard to beat, it's way cool and has the best food fare. Getting to Yankee Stadium SUCKED because the subway system here sucks major ass, so we stood in the hot, muggy platform for 45 minutes waiting for what was labeled as the only train (the 4) to go to the Stadium only to have some worker FINALLY come and tell a bunch of us that we actually COULD take the 4 express. Bloody hell. But we made it and it rocked nonetheless!!
After leaving the game, we made our way back into Manhattan to wander around a bit. It was raining so it was kind of a bummer, but we had supper at a neat little soup & sammie shop and took a long stroll. The crowds are pretty unbelievable here. Even at 8 pm, the downtown streets are jammed with people. This literally is a city that never, ever sleeps. Times Square has become something of a carnival, there is neon blaring and hundreds of people milling about shopping and taking photos. As much as I despise crowds, New York City is really fucking cool. There's just no denying it.
It's a tad disappointing to have to turn right back around and head home, but we are going to try to catch another AAA game on the way home and possibly catch a movie (Ratatouille or Transformers) at a drive in somewhere along the way. We've also been perusing the maps sketching out another trip for the future. There's so many places we'd like to see!!
Anyway, it's my turn for the shower & John's going to post some photos of Yankee Stadium!! Whoo-hoo!! Catch you somewhere in PA or OH!!
Love to all :)
R&J
Still, we both agreed that Royals Stadium (Kansas City) is our favorite so far, followed closely by Baltimore. Jacob's Field (Cleveland) is very cool as far as view goes, in the heart of downtown Cleveland, but Royals Stadium is hard to beat, it's way cool and has the best food fare. Getting to Yankee Stadium SUCKED because the subway system here sucks major ass, so we stood in the hot, muggy platform for 45 minutes waiting for what was labeled as the only train (the 4) to go to the Stadium only to have some worker FINALLY come and tell a bunch of us that we actually COULD take the 4 express. Bloody hell. But we made it and it rocked nonetheless!!
After leaving the game, we made our way back into Manhattan to wander around a bit. It was raining so it was kind of a bummer, but we had supper at a neat little soup & sammie shop and took a long stroll. The crowds are pretty unbelievable here. Even at 8 pm, the downtown streets are jammed with people. This literally is a city that never, ever sleeps. Times Square has become something of a carnival, there is neon blaring and hundreds of people milling about shopping and taking photos. As much as I despise crowds, New York City is really fucking cool. There's just no denying it.
It's a tad disappointing to have to turn right back around and head home, but we are going to try to catch another AAA game on the way home and possibly catch a movie (Ratatouille or Transformers) at a drive in somewhere along the way. We've also been perusing the maps sketching out another trip for the future. There's so many places we'd like to see!!
Anyway, it's my turn for the shower & John's going to post some photos of Yankee Stadium!! Whoo-hoo!! Catch you somewhere in PA or OH!!
Love to all :)
R&J
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
New Jersey!
We made it to New Jersey unscathed! It's kinda depressingly industrial here, but we've seen it before so no big whoop. I started the day driving, but because I couldn't sleep (again) and ended up taking a Benadryl around 1:00 AM, I was too groggy to be behind the wheel, so John took over and drove us all the way, yay for Schmoopie!! I'm getting a bit better at navigating, and I can't believe I didn't get us lost on the turnpike because the directions to the hotel were pretty funky. But we're here now at the Courtyard Marriott right next to the airport, decidedly the best hotel we've had yet, a bit more fancy but not bourgeois fancy. We decided that since it's rainy and gloomy here, we'll probably skip out on doing late night New York City fireworks tonight. As cool as it sounds to watch fireworks over Lady Liberty, to be dealing with all the people and rain and traffic to get back here sounds like pure aggravation (for me especially), we figured we may as well get a good nights rest, head off early in the morning for a full day and save $50 in the process.
Yesterday we finally made it to Cooperstown, toured the Baseball Hall of Fame and saw Doubleday Park, which is the agreed upon "spiritual birthplace of baseball", if not the actual birthplace. The HOF was really cool, a bit smaller than I envisioned it, and a lot more crowded with idiots than I'd hoped, but still very groovy. TONS of pictures taken there. None of the trinkets they had were neat enough to warrant opening of the wallet, so we passed on those. Neither of us are shoppers, anyway. We stopped off and ate burgers at a little joint along the touristy streets of the town. We got lucky and found a little cottage-style motel room that was very homey and they had a little flock of ducklings that they took care of!! I got pictures of the ducks having their daily bath in the kiddie pool :) Happy ducks!!
Since most of our trip has been driving, it's been harder to blog this time around. Overall, we've not done too much. There have been cute little things on the road we've seen, like wild turkeys, sheep, horses, cows, loads of hawks. The tolls are so frequent now that I've stopped keeping track. We've spent a good deal of money on them, let's just say that. The roadkill tally is always ticking, but mostly now all we see are muskrats. I'll post the mileage later since I've neglected once again to remember to bring the book up to the room. I've taken a crapload of 15 second video of trees and scenery with our small camera, so I don't know how much fun those will be to watch until I splice them together to make arty stuff. Other than that, we're just happy to be on a journey away. I miss the kitties terribly, so I guess I won't be too upset to get home in a few days to see them, but for now I'm loving being footloose and fancy free, as they say. I wish it were easier to travel with cats, but I don't think Boo would stand for that. Vesta's too unpredictable to say for certain. They will be such loves upon our return, though :)
Anyway, I've rambled long enough. We hope all is well at home. Have a great 4th of July everyone!!
Love,
R&J
Yesterday we finally made it to Cooperstown, toured the Baseball Hall of Fame and saw Doubleday Park, which is the agreed upon "spiritual birthplace of baseball", if not the actual birthplace. The HOF was really cool, a bit smaller than I envisioned it, and a lot more crowded with idiots than I'd hoped, but still very groovy. TONS of pictures taken there. None of the trinkets they had were neat enough to warrant opening of the wallet, so we passed on those. Neither of us are shoppers, anyway. We stopped off and ate burgers at a little joint along the touristy streets of the town. We got lucky and found a little cottage-style motel room that was very homey and they had a little flock of ducklings that they took care of!! I got pictures of the ducks having their daily bath in the kiddie pool :) Happy ducks!!
Since most of our trip has been driving, it's been harder to blog this time around. Overall, we've not done too much. There have been cute little things on the road we've seen, like wild turkeys, sheep, horses, cows, loads of hawks. The tolls are so frequent now that I've stopped keeping track. We've spent a good deal of money on them, let's just say that. The roadkill tally is always ticking, but mostly now all we see are muskrats. I'll post the mileage later since I've neglected once again to remember to bring the book up to the room. I've taken a crapload of 15 second video of trees and scenery with our small camera, so I don't know how much fun those will be to watch until I splice them together to make arty stuff. Other than that, we're just happy to be on a journey away. I miss the kitties terribly, so I guess I won't be too upset to get home in a few days to see them, but for now I'm loving being footloose and fancy free, as they say. I wish it were easier to travel with cats, but I don't think Boo would stand for that. Vesta's too unpredictable to say for certain. They will be such loves upon our return, though :)
Anyway, I've rambled long enough. We hope all is well at home. Have a great 4th of July everyone!!
Love,
R&J
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Buffalo Bisons vs. Rochester Red Wings
After leaving the wondrous countryside of Canada, we took a Maid of the Mist boat tour of Niagara Falls which was romantic, wet and wild!!! They drive the boat right up into the spray of the falls, so you get a good soaking. We got some spectacular pictures (and lots of them) so we'll have to post those as soon as we can. We had a leisurely walk around the park after the tour to dry off, then once the crowds started getting awful we made for the car to head for Buffalo to get a hotel, relax and then go to the AAA team, The Bisons, game, which pains me grammatically to say, but yes, they are called the BISONS, with an 's'. The game was so relaxing and I've decided I think I like 'A' and 'AAA' ball better than the majors. It's such a different feeling, more relaxed, more quiet, just a plain old game with big spirit. We were weirded out by the 3 mascots they had, though, still trying to figure that one out. The Rochester Red Wings (who are one of the Twins' minor league teams) were losing big in the 7th, so we decided to leave a bit early because I was a zombie, the game was going on really late and we wanted to get back to the hotel. Thankfully, this hotel had a feather bed so I was able to FINALLY get some sleep. These hotel beds have been so hard that my limbs fall asleep before I do, then I can't sleep. So I'll have to do some of the driving today now that I'm well rested.
Hope all is well back home. We'll be heading to Cooperstown as soon as we finish getting ready. We're debating going to see 4th of July fireworks in New York City or just skipping it. It sounds so romantic and extravagant, then when we thought about taking a subway (or worse, driving) out of there at midnight, suddenly it doesn't sound that pleasant. Either way, we'll post the results here!
Love,
R&J
Hope all is well back home. We'll be heading to Cooperstown as soon as we finish getting ready. We're debating going to see 4th of July fireworks in New York City or just skipping it. It sounds so romantic and extravagant, then when we thought about taking a subway (or worse, driving) out of there at midnight, suddenly it doesn't sound that pleasant. Either way, we'll post the results here!
Love,
R&J
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Day 3: St. Catherine's, Ontario
We finally made it to Canada!! Holy crap, what a long day in the car. We've been driving for about 10-11 hours. We went through Detroit, took a few pictures of Tiger Stadium, which is about to be torn down, and of Comerica Park and proceeded to get the heck out of there. It was a very depressed city, almost all of what we saw was completely run-down buildings and shitty roads in dire need of repair. Deserted streets void of everything but the early-bird panhandlers who aren't shy about approaching people in their cars. We got in the "tunnel to Canada" and I got some awesome video clips of that. I felt all weird and shaky after the customs drive through "interview", but moments later we were in Canada!! It right away felt different than America; very safe feeling and things better cared for, certainly more than in Detroit.
We made our way to the Point Pelee National Park which is the southernmost tip of Canada and other than me getting a wee bit crabby at the parks lack of signage, we had a lovely time. There were tons of tourists, birds, bees, bugs, and even a snake: we got a couple of photos of him!! The tip has been withered down to a little slice of sandbar that's being eroded all the time by the crashing waves of Lake Erie. It's a dangerous place to be because of the severe undercurrents, there are signs reflecting that everywhere and yet people let their little kids wade around in it anyway *rolls eyes*.
Then we drove for hours and hours up the rural road along the coastline, the 3, which has got lots of farms that are right on the shoreline. It strangely resembles Minnesota, other than having rows of corn and crop bordering a massive lake. Drivers here are much more courteous and I've decided we need to buy a lake home here because it rocks. The other cool thing: NO ONE here owns a Scion XB because they're not for sale here yet, so we've had loads of stares on the highway, and a couple of inquiries about what kind of car it is. A couple of small crowds formed to admire it while it sat in the Pelee parking lot. The dude at the hotel desk asked John all about it, said he loves it and really wants one. Everyone loves The Toodlebug :)
Tomorrow our plan is to spend the day at Niagara Falls. We'd like to take the Maid On The Mist tour, which I think is a boat ride under the falls that gets people REALLY wet, so hopefully that all works out. I know nothing about Niagara Falls other than it's a big waterfall and a hot tourist spot. I'm hoping it doesn't mean three-hour waiting lines and idiot parents with screaming kids, but that's probably wishful thinking. Even though John did the majority of the driving today (I still didn't sleep well, so he was a love and took the wheel), I did the last leg and I'm completely exhausted. I think I'll be going nite-nite soon.
We'll post tomorrow after Niagara Falls, probably from some Comfort Inn in Buffalo, NY.
We made our way to the Point Pelee National Park which is the southernmost tip of Canada and other than me getting a wee bit crabby at the parks lack of signage, we had a lovely time. There were tons of tourists, birds, bees, bugs, and even a snake: we got a couple of photos of him!! The tip has been withered down to a little slice of sandbar that's being eroded all the time by the crashing waves of Lake Erie. It's a dangerous place to be because of the severe undercurrents, there are signs reflecting that everywhere and yet people let their little kids wade around in it anyway *rolls eyes*.
Then we drove for hours and hours up the rural road along the coastline, the 3, which has got lots of farms that are right on the shoreline. It strangely resembles Minnesota, other than having rows of corn and crop bordering a massive lake. Drivers here are much more courteous and I've decided we need to buy a lake home here because it rocks. The other cool thing: NO ONE here owns a Scion XB because they're not for sale here yet, so we've had loads of stares on the highway, and a couple of inquiries about what kind of car it is. A couple of small crowds formed to admire it while it sat in the Pelee parking lot. The dude at the hotel desk asked John all about it, said he loves it and really wants one. Everyone loves The Toodlebug :)
Tomorrow our plan is to spend the day at Niagara Falls. We'd like to take the Maid On The Mist tour, which I think is a boat ride under the falls that gets people REALLY wet, so hopefully that all works out. I know nothing about Niagara Falls other than it's a big waterfall and a hot tourist spot. I'm hoping it doesn't mean three-hour waiting lines and idiot parents with screaming kids, but that's probably wishful thinking. Even though John did the majority of the driving today (I still didn't sleep well, so he was a love and took the wheel), I did the last leg and I'm completely exhausted. I think I'll be going nite-nite soon.
We'll post tomorrow after Niagara Falls, probably from some Comfort Inn in Buffalo, NY.
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