It’s (too) bright and early and we’re hitting the road for the the mad dash to the East Coast—hoping to cover 14.5hrs of driving today. Long Island, tonight—Philly by Monday. See you all soon. It’s been a fun ride. Hope you enjoyed following along.

a&d

the Sears Tower, the tallest building in the U.S.,

the Hancock Tower,

Gehry’s Music Pavillion, where we sat and listened while the Chicago Orchestra practiced.

And that’s just a taste. Oh, speaking of taste, before our Chicago experience was over we needed to check out the famous deep dish pizza.

Ehhh…I’m still a thin crust girl.

Lastly, Wrigley Field.

The Phils were actually playing the Cubs while we were here but we were just about tapped out so we settled for a trip to Wrigleyville, the area surrounding the stadium—an experience in itself.

The architecture of Wrigleyville consists of charming brownstones shaded by trees, much like other upscale Chicago residential neighborhoods. Except a lot of the buildings and homes surrounding the stadium have the Wrigley Roof with sky top bleachers for fans to view the game. It was quite a sight to see.

Sorry, Chi-Town, that’s all we have time for. We’ll be back for sure.

We hit brunch where Doug found himself some bacon pancakes.
(He ate them so fast I didn’t have time to take a photo)

We floated in the pool with our new friend, Izzy.

While Bridget went to work, we took her 1990 944 Porsche convertible out for a spin to get groceries

Little tip: if you have the brilliant idea for four people picking up some groceries in a tiny car that’s not yours, make sure you know how to pop the trunk.

Yeah, not the best idea.

Then for dinner, we experienced the famous Nook, featured on Dinners, Drive-Ins and Dives, known for its cheese-injected burgers. Silly me to think we were past the meat fest at the Big Texan.

Our hands were too greasy to hold a camera so you’re spared a picture.

Oh, and Izzy wasn’t the only canine here. There was also

Bruno

and Tucker

through Teton National Park

and crashed in Hot Springs, South Dakota. On our way out this morning we swung by for a peak at the larger-than-life heads of four famous dudes. That’s right, Mt. Rushmore. Unfortunately, we’ve had some technical difficulties and lost those photos….a moment of silence please.

But, I tell ya, it’s pretty magnificent even far off from the side of the road.

And now we’re powering through another 9hrs to Minneapolis

where we’re staying with Amos and Ayelet at Amos’ sister’s house for two days. We hear she has a pool so hopefully we’ll get in a day to breath before taking off for Chicago.

East Coast here we come.

We noticed our first bison as we entered the park. In no time we were on a first name basis with his kind. We even made up a Barry the Bison jingle that we sang while there.

It’s amazing how many dumb humans approached these massive beasts despite the warning. But even more amazing was how the bison cruised the two-lane road and stopped traffic at least a dozen times a day.

Besides Barry, we also saw a moose, countless deer (big whoop), and a grizzly. The grizzly was about 400yards away. But that was close enough for us.

Yellowstone should be experienced in more than a day, of course. Besides the boundless bison, and the more obvious Old Faithful,

there’s tons more to take in…

brilliantly colored hot springs,

bubbling mudpots,

and steaming fumaroles (aka stinky areas)

And as if there’s not enough, there’s even a Grand Canyon in Yellowstone.

Who knew?

We sat in a meadow of wildflowers which sprawled as far as our eyes could see as these mystical creatures grazed around us.

We traced the path of natural glacier water to a pristine lake below, its color bluer than the bluest sky, with mighty glaciers standing tall in the distance.

We dipped our fingers in a fresh glacial pool, and had the crisp waters awaken our senses.

It was nothing less than magical.

*Said unicorns might other wise be known as mountain goats.

We’re off for two nights of camping in Glacier National Park in Montana. After that, two nights in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, which means we’ll be cut off from civilization for the next 5days. Gulp.

Check back around the 9th. Hopefully we’ll have survived.

- a & d

The hike was to Eunice Lake and Tolmie Lookout, roughly 5miles. We started at Mowich Lake, which had the clearest lake water we’d ever seen.

(Apparently brown isn’t the norm. Sorry, Poconos.) It was as if the Caribbean was plopped in the center of a mountainous tree-lined pool. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. That is, until I saw Mt. Rainier in the distance. The combination of the pristine lake surrounded by lush greenery with massive Rainier in the distance took my breath away. It was like one of those cheesy nature calendar photos. (No offense to anyone who has one.)

Meanwhile we hadn’t even begun the hike to Eunice Lake. Unfortunately, I never made it. About half way up the buzz started. It started with a single bee. Then it went to two. I’m not usually the screaming type when it comes to bees. But when two went to three and three went to four, I started flailing like a little girl. Then the mosquitoes joined. The bugs were a swarmin. At first they were just around me like I was frickin Pig Pen. Then they found Doug too.

Everyone we flailed passed along the way told us the bugs were worse up at Lake Eunice. It wasn’t until the woman with 20 welts on her arm passed that I decided to do an about-face.

I flailed most of the way back down to the Lake, walking stick in one hand, swatting branch in the other. And when I got back to pristine Mowich Lake, I found a spot on a rock, plopped my feet in the water and wondered why I ever left.

Meanwhile, Doug continued on and hiked to Eunice Lake and got more amazing shots.

I was more than thankful for a taste of your beauty. But for Doug, it was torture to get a measly 9hrs of your time.

I thought the trip to Vancouver was cool in itself because it added an international leg to our 39day trek. Heck, I’d have been fine with crossing the border, doing a UB and crossing back for the fun of it. But as most of you know, Doug wants to do all that’s humanly possibly even when it’s not.

Here are some pics of our 9hr drive by in Vancouver.

Convention Center

Zillions of high rise condo buildings on the waterfront leading into the city

Picnic in Stanley Park. Unfortunately this is just the boring sign that means nothing to you.

Sea planes that fascinated Doug while at Stanley Park.

Capilano Suspension Bridge that gave me the heebie jeebies

Our final West coast sunset at English Bay Beach

Like I said, all in all, pretty damn good. Minus the 2hr blurry-eyed drive home at midnight. Doh.

The sunny skies made it possible to see all the way to Mt. Rainer—definitely a rare occurrence. Mt Rainer is the most prominent mountain in the contiguous US and still an active vocano. We’re planning on checking it out on Monday. You can see its snow covered peak off in the distance in the below photo.

Despite the heat, we kicked Seattle’s butt today. Temp was low 90′s and I felt revived after my whiny day in Portland. We hit the downtown area from Pike Place Market & Brewery on the Waterfront (Yes, yet another city making use of THEIR waterfront),

The pic below shows the tossing of the fish that’s famous here. Get this, PETA recently protested against the fish-throwers. Didn’t they know the fish were already dead?

to Pioneer Square, the oldest area in Seattle,

to the Space Needle

and Gehry’s architectural odyssey, Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum. Even if you don’t have architecture running in your blood, seeing this in person is pretty amazing.

We walked ALOT. We avoided most of the typical paid tourist tours except for the Underground City Tour.

Back in 1889 the city of Seattle burnt to the ground. In an effort to keep their industry going, they rigged a way to rebuild above the ash and rubble. If you ever visit Seattle, the tour is definitely worth it. That is if you can stand dark, underground spooky, worlds.