Pennsylvania

Hooray for Pennsylvania and getting to spend some time out of the car! T. and I might have gone a little overboard: we went hiking three times. Here’s a picture of me in Philadelphia at Valley Green, which is one of my top five places of all time.We also hiked to Flat Rock at Colonel Denning State Park in central Pennsylvania: a steep, but pretty, hike. Here’s a hazy picture of the view from the top, in case you’re curious but don’t want to trek up there.
We saw a lot of toads like this while we were climbing. Actually, I kept almost stepping on them. They were huge!
The best thing about this section of the trip by far was getting to spend time with friends and family in Carlisle and Philadelphia. I definitely have a soft spot for this state in my heart.

If you’re interested, check out Mr. Slowski’s blog. He’s my dad’s wife’s father, and he’s biking all the way from Anchorage to Carlisle this summer. He hadn’t quite made it back yet when I was there, but he’s a great guy, and it’s a cool blog.

Hello Ohio

Although Ohio is apparently famous for the first airplane and traffic lights, T. and I booked it across this state without paying much attention. I would like, however, to mention Tim Horton’s, which we found in Columbus. Here’s a picture of T. purchasing Timbits (doughnut holes), and also, someone who could be No. 2 from Austen Powers.


Have you heard the song "Ohio" by Over the Rhine? It's mellow and really beautiful.

Good-bye Gromit :(

Gromit's staying with my mom while I'm in Germany, and though it's a great situation: he's got a big yard to play in, my sister's bed to sleep under, my mom's dog to play with (see photo), I really, really, really didn't want to leave him. Today as we drove across Missouri and Illinois and Indiana I kept expecting him to be in the backseat, and I kept thinking I needed to stop and walk him. I know this Germany thing is a great opportunity, etc., etc., but I keep wondering about all of this leaving things behind. Is it really worth it to go off when there are so many things that I'm going to miss so much?

This Cider House Rules

Here's us at the Louisburg Cider Mill on our way back to Kansas City from Bartlesville where there were yummy, yummy peaches. Also gallons and gallons of spiced cider, apple cider, cider donuts, apple butter, pumpkin butter - also a nice woman who volunteered to wash our peaches for us so we could eat them right away.

Missouri

I don’t know much about Missouri, but as it’s the home of the first ice-cream cone, hot dog, and iced tea it’s all right with me. T. and I had a good time hanging around eating KC beef with my mom (well, my mom ate fish – she’s a vegetarian), my stepdad, and my sister. We also took at quick drive down to Bartlesville, OK, which, according to the Lonely Planet guidebook “is noted for Frank Lloyd Wright’s Price Tower, considered by his disciples to be his worst effort.” We didn’t visit it this trip, but we did visit with, in twenty-four hours, sixteen members of my extended family. Congratulations to T. for remembering all the names. It was a bit whirlwind, but I’m really glad we made it down there.

Insert Church Here

The story I’ve always been told about my ancestors on my father’s side is that they traveled across the country as settlers with Joseph Smith and other Mormons in search of the promised land. Apparently, some of the settlers were convinced when they’d reached Independence, Missouri that they’d already found the promised land, and so they let the rest of the Mormons go on to Utah without them and stayed behind. A main concern for them was this one spot of land, which they believed to be particularly spiritual. It took some work, but eventually they were able own it rightfully, and they believe that when Jesus returns during the second coming, this place is destined to be the site of his temple, and Independence (renamed, New Jerusalem, I think), will become the second religious capitol of the world, (just after Palestine, according to the docent at the Church of Christ in Independence.) They haven’t built the church yet, because, as the docent told me, “According to the prophecy it will be built,” which I guess means that they’re waiting for Jesus to give some input on the blueprints. The cornerstones though, have been all laid out. Inside the church they have the original cornerstone placed by Joseph Smith. Here’s where it will all go down (please note the tiny, plain, Church of Christ in the background):

My favorite part of the story is that eventually the Mormons decided the site, indeed, will play a large part in the second coming. They’ve tried to get the land back from Church of Christ, but have had to settle for building huge temples like this one across the street, and also two next door, and all over town, actually.

Nebraska

According to the Lonely Planet guidebook, “I-80 is [Nebraska’s] major east-west artery, although much of its length is boring.” Despite this negative proclamation, T. and I tried to get to know Nebraska as well as we could during our two-day cross-state trip. Some things that stood out to us:

1). Huge Jesus statue welcoming drivers coming in from Wyoming.
2). Corn


3). “Outlaw Sodomy” = sign alongside the road.
4). State tree = cottonwood (“Do you think that’s a cottonwood tree?” “What about that?” Maybe that’s one?”) Indeed, they look like this.
5). Country roads

6). Lots of bugs: cicadas, weird tarantula-sized mosquitoes, and millions of cockroaches that came rushing out of the Flying J while T. and I were eating lunch in the parking lot (not because of our lunch, but because the exterminator sprayed something into cracks in the building). Also, weird briars that stuck in T.’s skin for hours – not bugs exactly, but behaving in a similar manner to bugs.

If you’re interested, the short story “I-80 Nebraska” by John Sayles is good piece about this strip of highway and is not at all boring.

Conga Lines and a Stuffed Safari

T., driving from Rock Spring to Laramie, where he showed me around the University of Wyoming.





























Here's a picture of T. pointing to a picture of him leading a conga line in a blue hawaiian shirt. It's a cool photo, on the wall at Lovejoy's in Laramie if you want to check it out.



















After Wyoming we headed on into Nebraska where we ate dinner at Ole's Steakhouse: home to over 200 stuffed game animals. Here's me with a big moose. They also had a polar bear (huge!), a giraffe, an elephant, bunches of antelope, deer, and geese, including one that dangled from the ceiling on a wire and swayed around in the air conditioning in a kind of creepy way.















T. really liked this elk.

The Wind-Swept Plains of Western Wyoming

Here's me with T. and Gromit on White Mountain, just outside of Rock Springs. In the distance you can just see the "living" sand dunes. Well, maybe not really.
Here though, is Pilot Butte, along with some wild horses:


Gromit got tons of walks from T.'s family, and got to run and run out in the desert. T. and I got to eat all kinds of yummy food (polenta! steak! lasagna!). This is all pretty typical for Wyoming, says T. If so, I'm coming back.