On The Road: Day 6

Hello from Omaha!! Today we drove from the Mall of America, down SE to Dyersville, IA. I drove first. We went to Dyersville to see the Field of Dreams movie site. It was pretty cool!! The only thing I was bummed about was that there was no corn field because (duh) it's not in season. So throughout our ENTIRE drive down to Omaha, there were no corn fields. After Dyersville we attempted to find a Bass Pro Shop in Altoona but we couldn't find it. So we headed out to Council Bluffs via Des Moines. After a quick stop at Bass Pro we headed over to Omaha. I was able to hit the old market and pedestrian bridge as well as meet up with Emily from Dance for the Child for dessert.

Now we're at the hotel getting ready for bed. Tomorrow we're going up to Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse. We'll be staying near Crazy Horse and heading out the next day for Yellowstone National Park. It's going to be a fun day in the sun tomorrow so I have to remember to drink lots of water (I tend to forget to do that a lot). Keep checking back for more updates!! Until then... Laters

On The Road: Day 5

Well technically we weren't on the road (and yes, I am posting a day late because I was so tired yesterday that I forgot to post last night). Yesterday we shopped until we dropped... LITERALLY!! It was the day for Mall of America. We woke up, ate breakfast, and went to the mall by 10am. We picked up our tickets for the amusement park. It used to be camp snoopy but now it's Nickelodeon Universe. We rode rides for about 2 hours before beginning to shop. The mall if 3 levels of shops and food and on the fourth level is mostly nightlife activities like clubs and bars. There's a sea life aquarium and a miniature gold course. We decided that the aquarium and the golf course we could do without so we focused mainly on the park and shopping. Overall we ended up staying from 10am to 5pm (felt like a full work day). Our feet were sore and we had done enough shopping (yes, I bought quite a bit). We headed back to the hotel and dropped onto the beds. Took a nap and at 8 went back to the mall for dinner. As much fun as I had at the Mall of America, it's still second place to Disneyland.

Today we hit the road again. First we're going to Dyersville, Iowa to see the movie set for Field of Dreams. Then my cousin is obsessed with this chain of stores called Bass Pro Shops so we're going to go to two of them--one on our way to Des Moines and one on our way to Omaha--to make him jealous and buy him a shirt. One of them has a bowling ally so we may bowl a game before moving on. So after visiting the Field of Dreams, Bass Pro, Des Moines, and Bass Pro, we will arrive in Omaha. I'm pretty excited to see a bunch of corn fields because secretly I'm a farm girl. I love wide open spaces where someday I will live so that I can buy a horse and ride until I get lost and have no idea where my house is (believe me, it WILL happen). I will be sure to update you once I get settled at the hotel, so keep checking back, thanks for reading, and sorry for the late post!! Until then, Laters.

On The Road: Day 4

I almost drowned today. Here's what happened: We woke up in Terre Haute and hit the road by 8am. We drove to Chicago and saw Wrigley Field (home of the Cubs), United Center (home of the Bulls), and Soldier Field (home of the Bears). Well we sort of saw all those places. It was raining very hard and I could barely see 5 feet in front of me. After getting out of the city we stopped at a HUGE rest stop. It was literally like a food court in a mall. After getting some food and stretching our legs a bit, we headed back outside. At this point it was pouring buckets, lightning, and thundering outside. I was absolutely drenched after a second of being out from under the covers. I like storms, but this was just crazy!! I hopped in the back seat of the car and bundled up in hoodies and jackets and passed out.

I woke up an hour later to find out that we were in Wisconsin filling up gas. It was cloudy but not raining so I was a little disoriented for a while. I passed back out and woke up an hour later when we were at another rest stop. I moved to the front of the car and became navigator for the remainder of the trip. Just shy of two hours later we were in Minnesota looking at the Mall of America. It is GIGANTIC!! There are no words to describe this mall. You just have to see it. I can't wait to go in it. We got here after 7 and it's Sunday so we only have one day at the mall. Tomorrow we spend all day riding rides, shopping, and having fun in the mall. Then we spend the next night here again and head out to Omaha the next day.

We are well on our way to the west and I can't help but think about the fact that with each day I get farther and farther away from the place I called home for the last four years but closer and closer to the place I called home for 18 years before then and the place I will call home in the near future. It's weird to think about where I've been and the adventures I still have waiting for me (which you will get to read about!!). I can't wait to experience them and write them all down here. For now, I best be getting to bed because I have a full day of shopping to do tomorrow!! Until than... Laters

On The Road: Day 3

Lucky me!! Tomorrow is the Indianapolis 500 and that means that EVERY hotel within a 70 mile radius from Indianapolis is full. I had no idea that this was going on so I booked a room last night for a hotel in Terre Haute, IN. The original plan was to stay in Hoosierville, IN. The reason I wanted to stay near Hoosierville was that I took Intro to American Studies with Professor Nathan and we learned all about the history of basketball. Ever since I took that class Sophomore year and saw the movie Hoosiers, I've wanted to visit Hoosierville. Well, I tried to look up hotels in the area and nothing came up on priceline, expedia, or hotwire. So I expanded my search, found a place for about $65 in Terre Haute. Not bad, right? I figured, I just want to see Hoosierville and then we can be on our way, so staying about 20 minutes away wouldn't kill me. I'll get to why I'm lucky in a couple paragraphs.

So here's what happened today: In the morning we woke up at about 6am, ate breakfast at our hotel in Harrisonburg, and hit the road around 7am. Now, I'm a HUGE fan of chick-flicks so I suddenly remembered that Win A Date With Tad Hamilton took place in Fraziers Bottom, WV. Naturally, I just HAD to see it. We took about 3 hours to get there and took a couple pictures of things that said Fraziers Bottom on it (needless to say, there's not much too look at. It's very country, complete with cows, sheep, and horses. Oh, and LOTS of green). We needed gas so we took that opportunity to stretch our legs and switch drivers. Then we continued driving to Cincinnati, OH. We stopped in Cincinnati for a 4pm dinner (we skipped lunch because we were driving so we were pretty hungry at this point) and then got back on the road. So far, we've only spent a maximum of 4 hours in the car at a time (I think).

Now here's the funny part of the story. We got in the car after dinner in Cincinnati and headed to try to find Hoosierville. We got to Brazil, IN with hardly any trouble. They were doing some construction on the highway so we missed our exits a couple of times, but nothing too bad. Then we drove around for a while in what looked like a residential area. We used our phones to look up Hoosierville since my GPS did not recognize that as a location. The phone showed Hoosierville as literally a block of land that we drove around in less than 5 minutes. I think Skidmore is bigger than Hoosierville!! There were no signs that said that where we were was Hoosierville, so I'm not entirely convinced that it was (it didn't look like the movie setting). After driving around and seeing cute little cottage-like houses we gave up and headed for Terre Haute for the hotel. Hoosierville was an EPIC fail.

OK, so why am I lucky?? When we got to the hotel and checked in, the lady at the front said, "We're glad you're here and we're glad you could get a room." I asked why and she explained the situation, which I explained in the beginning of this post. Sure enough, after I had checked in I heard a few people asking if they had any vacancies in the hotel. Wow!! I would say that makes me pretty lucky to have a place to stay tonight.

Tomorrow we have another long day of driving ahead of us. The plan as of now is to leave Terre Haute around 8, have a late lunch/early dinner in Chicago, IL before arriving at our final destination in Bloomington, MN at around 7 or 8pm. We will be spending two nights in Bloomington so that we have a full day to shop at the Mall of America without having to worry about where we're staying or when we're leaving. After that, it's off to Omaha, NE!! Be sure to check back to see what randomness we encounter tomorrow :) Until then... Laters.

On The Road: Day 2

Touch down in Harrisonburg, VA. I am EXHAUSTED. Here's what we did today...

We woke up in Philly around 7am and left for the city around 8:30. We took a tour of Independence Hall, saw the liberty bell, and walked around the city from 6th and Market to 3rd and South. We ate at Steaks on South. I had a real Philly cheese steak sandwich. It was amazing. Then we had Rita's Water Ice for dessert and headed back to the car to start driving to Virginia. We stopped in DC for a small snack at Current Sushi because one of my friends from Hawaii works there. I haven't seen her in 3 years and it was nice to catch up a little. By 8:30 we were back on the road. I kept a watchful eye on my phone since I get twitter updates from the Bruins sent to my inbox. I followed the whole game on the drive down the Harrisonburg from DC. I yelled and sat on the edge of my seat most of the drive because up until 6 minutes before the end, the game was scoreless and power playless. Then the Bruins scored and won the game!! I'm so excited that I will get to hear all about their next games for the Stanly Cups (I'm a pretty big Bruins fan). In the down time that I wasn't reciting Bruins updates, I was singing to my favorite songs on my iPod. I'm just going to say, there's a reason I dance!! My singing is terrible!! But it kept me up to help navigate while my sister drove from DC to Harrisonburg.

Now we're at the hotel and about to go to bed. Tomorrow we're headed up through Cincinnati, OH to Hoosierville, IN and spending the night there (we're leaving at 7am). We're trying to get to Bloomington, MN by Sunday so we have to drive a lot tomorrow and the day after. After tomorrow we're going up through Chicago to get to Bloomington, MN. Of course, we will probably stop at random places along the way but at the moment, our goal is to get to Mall of America for Memorial Day SALES :P Keep checking back for more updates!! Until then... Laters.

On The Road: Day 1

Well, it's official!! I'm on the road en route to Oregon. Of course with me, everything is an adventure, and my family and I aren't just driving to Oregon. Here's our simplified route. Saratoga, NY--> Boston, MA--> Farmington, CT--> Philadelphia, PA-->Harrisonburg, VA--> Hooserville, IN--> Chicago, IL--> Bloomington, MN--> Omaha, NE--> Mt. Rushmore, SD--> Yellowstone National Park, WY--> Bute, MT--> Spokane, WA--> Bend, OR. Of course, there is always room for additions, deletions, and extensions. We essentially have until June 16th to get to Oregon.

So far, we've left Saratoga and explored Boston for my birthday (yes, I'm 22 now. How scary is it to know I'm growing up?!). My birthday in Boston was absolutely fantastic!! I walked the entirety of the Freedom Trail and enjoyed yummy Boston foods. Not to mention took tours of my favorite ballpark, Fenway Park, and this year I even got to visit the home of the Boston Bruins and Celtics, TD Garden!! I was very disappointed that the Bruins lost game 6 on my birthday, but with my family NOTHING feels like a disappointment. This morning (May 26th) my mom and dad said good bye as they boarded their plane to go home to Hawaii while Auntie Sandy, Rendi (sister), and I loaded up the car once again. Loading up this car is getting to be an adventure in and of itself!! We keep buying more and more souvenirs. Another great adventure: Toll roads. We have fun scrambling to see who of the two passengers in the car can produce the exact change first. It's even more funny when we produce the wrong amount and have to scramble again to get the right amount to the toll collector before they get mad or the people behind us get mad. Hawaii sure has spoiled me with nice people and free roads!!

We drove for two hours and stopped in Farmington, CT for lunch at my favorite restaurant, The Rainforest Cafe. I try to eat at every Rainforest Cafe I see, even though they have the same menu at each location. Once we had eaten more than enough and walked around a bit, we hopped back in the car and hit the road en route to Philadelphia. We got stuck in traffic three times: once in the Bronx and twice in New Jersey. Both New York and New Jersey drivers scare me!! My sister drove to Philadelphia while I panicked that we were going to get hit by crazy drivers next to us. We finally arrived in Philadelphia around 8 and after checking in to our hotel we went to have an experience at Sonic. We had never eaten at Sonic but we always see the commercials. It was weird having people come to our car. This really puts a whole new worry in my mind regarding the laziness of Americans. At least I can say I ate there!! Then we drove into the city center to see the city lights. We walked around the Philadelphia Museum of Art and I ran up and down the famous Rocky Stairs. I ran up first for a photo (of course!!) and then I ran down thinking that I forgot my own camera in my bag that I left at the bottom of the stairs. I really wanted to take a picture of the skyline from the top of the stairs. Once I got to the bottom I realized that my camera had been in my pocket the whole time, so I ran back up the stairs to take the picture. Can I just say that it's 84 degrees and humid here?! Running up and down those stairs was not the best idea I've had. Regardless, I had fun.

Tomorrow we're exploring around Philadelphia a little more and then we're headed down to West Virginia. We'll spend the night in Harrisonburg and then head on to Hooserville. I can't wait to see what adventures await us!! Check back tomorrow and I'll let you know what troubles we get ourselves into :) Until then... Laters.

Lovin' Boston

Boston truly is my favorite place to be. I turn 22 tomorrow... WEIRD. And I'm still loving being in Boston. My family and I did so much these last two days. In no particular order, we visited Harvard, toured Fenway Park, walked around The Garden, visited the Museum of Fine Arts, hung out with Matt, played candle pin bowling, and SO much more. We've walked around so much and have done so much that I couldn't possibly put them all into words here on one blog. My post would go on FOREVER. Although, I do have to confess that thanks to Bessey I'm officially a hockey watcher and now thanks to Boston, I have a team to cheer for. The Bruins are where my energy is now going toward. Red Sox will always be my first favorite Boston team. Celtics came second, and now I have the Bruins to love. My parents are trying to get me to love the Patriots but to be honest, I don't like watching football in the slightest. So that may not happen... But it's nice to have a focus ;) I have a deal with Bessey and for all you reading this, you may serve as my witness: He is going to try his hardest to make it onto the Bruins. When he makes the team, I will buy EVERYTHING with his name and number on it (I mean, he IS #1) and he will get me free tickets. Hopefully he won't forget the girl who took him home after Jr Ring and went to every home game to support him playing in the '10-'11 school year at Skidmore, because I know I will never forget my English class with him where he first told me that he was branded as a hockey player. Ever since that class, he has been my hockey boy.

Haha, anyway, I'm exhausted from another exciting day in Boston. I think we're going to the aquarium tomorrow... not quite sure, we kinda just play it by ear day-to-day. Regardless, I know with my family I will have a lot of fun. We laugh so much when we're together. I will be sure to update you every day when I hit the road again. Until then... Laters.