westward ho!

A mostly photographic re-cap of our 3 days in the car en route to Utah.

Day 1
 

On the road and crossing the Verrazano Bridge at 4:30 in the morning.

In New Jersey. This is the state where we hopped onto I-80. We didn't get off that enormous stretch of American highway until about an hour before we reached our final destination.

The Delaware Water Gap at the New Jersey/Pennsylvania border.

We let the boys stretch their legs at a rest stop in Pennsylvania by running races on the grass. *Note for next time: Don't let them run in dewy wet, freshly-mowed grass, especially if they are wearing sandals, unless you either want to scrub down their feet or deal with a grass-stained car.

Of all the road activities I packed for the boys, the number one favorite were the pipe cleaners and beads. They made bracelets for every one of the female relatives they'd be seeing on other end of this road trip, and then some. They made so many, I had to restock for the return trip. The other activities they enjoyed were making aluminum foil sculptures and coloring. Oh, and playing Red Car (in which you yell, "red car!" whenever you spot -- you guessed it -- a red car). The books on CD were a bust because I failed to realize that what I thought was a CD was actually a DVD -- that didn't play in our car. Also not a good idea were the marshmallows and pretzel sticks. Too, too sticky, and the marshmallows sucked up the moisture from the pretzels leaving them disgustingly stale.

Fog in Pennsylvania. I swear, this is the most beautiful state in the country.

Corn and soybean fields in Ohio.

Our first time back in Indiana since we moved away six years ago. It was good to be back, if only for a few hours.

I can't remember if this was the sky over Indiana or Illinois, but it was breathtaking just the same.

More corn and soybean fields, this time in Illinois.

By the end of the first day, we were starting to get a little tired of being in the car.

Crossing the Mississippi River into Iowa. We stopped for the night with my cousin's family, about an hour past the state border in Iowa City.

Day 2

We arrived late and left early, but still managed to sneak in a bit of cousin time with Emmett and James (he's the one hiding on his bed). Thanks so much to Zac and Jessica for putting us up at the last minute!

And still more corn and soybean fields, this time hosted by Iowa.

Since we spent so much time on it, I thought it'd be appropriate to document that we traveled I-80.

Further proof, in the form of semi trucks, that we were on I-80. Our favorite trucks were the ones carrying recently harvested crops of onions that we kept passing, the oversized trucks carrying massively oversized tires, and the long trucks carrying enormous windmill propellers. 

And speaking of windmills, the wind farms we started passing in Iowa absolutely fascinated the boys.

I'm not sure if it technically was, but entering Nebraska made me feel like we'd made it to the half-way point.

We celebrated by stopping for a picnic lunch at a grassy rest area.

Peek-a-boo, Matthew! We kept his car seat rear facing the entire way west, but halfway through our return trip we turned it around. Even though he was a remarkably good and tolerant boy on this trip, we were all happier once the switch was made.

Remember how sunny it was during our picnic lunch? Just a little ways up the road, still in Nebraska, it started to pour.

More wind farms, this time in Wyoming. Also, driving west on I-80 at sunset is the pits.

 There are no trees in Wyoming.

Our first sighting of Rocky Mountains. The end was near! But we still had one more day. We stopped this night in Rawlins, Wyoming. *Note for next time: It's surprisingly difficult to find a vacant hotel room on that barren stretch of I-80 between, oh, Omaha, Nebraska, and Utah Valley. We got lucky, but it took several attempts. Unfortunately, this lesson was not drilled into us deep enough in time for our return trip when every hotel room in North Platte, NE, was booked full and we almost had to sleep at a rest area before finding the last vacancy in a town 30 miles further down the road.

Day 3

We only had about 4 or 5 hours left on our final day on the road, but the landscape wasn't much to look at.

Except that there were more wind farms, which kept the boys happy.

Utah at last!

And my beloved Provo Canyon. We made it!

A Few Gems Heard from the Back Seat
While we are in the middle of nowhere Nebraska.
Caleb: I need use potty.
Me: We'll look for one, but it might take a little while.
Garrett: What we need to look for is an exit.

After passing some cool thing on the side of the road (what it was varied depending on where we were or what we'd passed).
Garrett: Hey, look at that!
Caleb: Where?
Garrett: Oh, you missed it.
(This conversation cropped up so frequently, it became the running joke of our trip.)

Also of Note
Blake is a power driver. He drove the ENTIRE WAY, there and back. We're talking 12-16 hour days with hardly breaking a sweat, or a drowsy eye. I am amazed.


The return trip was just as long, only it was more uncomfortable and tiring, as return trips often are. But we had a lot of fun in between our six total days spent on I-80. I'll report on those in my next post.