Roadtrip Recap Part 1!

Tonight we're in Albany, NY. Tomorrow morning, Jason will drop me at the airport, to fly back to Wyoming. He will continue on this road trip, and return to the Ranch around October 24 or 25th.

We've had a blast. So much fun, in fact, that i haven't made the time to blog about it as we went. So here's the recap of the first three days of our road trip!

Thursday, Sept 29
We drove almost 800 miles today, across most of the state of Wyoming and all of the state of South Dakota. There are tons of farms in South Dakota, and very few buildings. What do they have an abundance of? Grains - Corn and Wheat. Hundreds of miles of them.

Sunrise over Wyoming.

Friday, Sept 30
We drove another 750 miles, this time crossing Iowa, Illinois, cutting the corner of Indiana, and driving halfway across Michigan, where we stayed in Kalamazoo for the night. Iowa is a lot like South Dakota, except there is no variation in grains. Iowa is all CORN. Everywhere you look? Corn. And maybe a barn or silo. I'd been told this before, by an Iowa resident, but didn't believe it could be THAT bad. No - it really is just corn. And the occasional town. It is beautiful, though, in a mid-America farming kind of way. We stopped for lunch in Des Moines for a Chick-Fil-A fix. This Chick-Fil-A happened to be inside a mall, and after six months in Wyoming, on a ranch an hour outside of a small town, I experienced some serious culture shock just walking into a mall. So many people, so much noise, so much going on! I will say this, though, noisy mall and all, Iowa is CLEAN. Iowans take pride in their state and keep everything clean and beautiful. Thank you, Iowans! If my Iowa culture shock wasn't enough, we found ourselves driving at rush hour in the rain in Chicago. I've been away from traffic for six months, and while it's always been a part of my California lifestyle, I forgot just how terrible it can be! We continued chasing the rain storm around Lake Michigan, through Indiana and into Michigan, finally stopping for the night at the only place within 100 miles of Ann Arbor that hadn't had it's price jacked way up because of the football game. It was a Knight's Inn and not only was it filthy, it was scary. Drug dealers in the parking lot, sheets you're not sure have been washed scary. Fortunately, I had Jason to make me feel secure. And we threw the deadbolts.

This is what Iowa looks like. All the way across the state.

Saturday, Oct 1
We couldn't wait to get out of that crazy, dirty hotel, and I was anxious to get to Ann Arbor and see my Alma Mater. Michigan is one of the largest Universities in the US, and is just beautiful. I couldn't wait to show Jason my college town! As we got closer to Ann Arbor, the stories just starting pouring out of me. Stories that I haven't thought of in years, about people that I haven't spoken to in years. It was wild, and I have some folks I know I need to get in touch with soon. There are definite changes on campus, the largest being that the building where I had all of my acting classes is no longer standing, now there is a new dorm in it's place, and a new Theatre Building on North Campus. It was weird not being able to go to my second "home", I felt a little displaced - weird I know. Two blocks from where I had all my classes is the co-op where I lived during my entire tenure at Michigan. Linder house has had some much needed work done on it, like having the old, drafty windows replaced and a new paint job. It's an interesting choice of paint color, though, since it's now bright Turquoise! (It used to be beige with green trim!)

Linder House, 2011
After breakfast, roaming campus, and a stop in a bar, we walked back to the Big House (Michigan Stadium - the LARGEST football stadium in the US) for the Minnesota @ Michigan Game. Did I mention that Michigan has a special kind of cold, one that gets right into your bones, and it greeted us on Saturday? I was bundled up, head to toe, with 4 layers on top! Anyhow, the game was a blowout - so much so that I was actually sad for Minnesota - but we had a great time! My Wolverines are now 5-0 and ranked #12 in the nation heading into their first road game. I'm not sure they deserve a #12 ranking while they're rebuilding, but there are very few unbeaten teams left in Division 1 football, so we just keep moving up with each win! Here are some photos from our Game Day at the Big House!

Well, that's it for tonight. I'll post about the rest of our trip in the next few days, maybe Thursday or Friday at the latest. Now? I'm going to enjoy some time with my husband!