Kristen and Dan: Cultural Learnings of America: November 2011

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Interesting Facts

Total mileage: 7,926
# of states: 17
highest gas price: $4.38 in LA
lowest gas price: $2.97 in Albuquerque
fastest speed: 91 mph
# of pics taken: 1,844
how many times Dan shaved: 0
cheapest hotel: $23 at the Riviera in Las Vegas
books read: 5 1/2
earliest wake-up: 4:45 AM
latest wake-up: 11:30 AM
# of all-night driving trips: 1 (and never again)
coolers of food lost to wild animals: 1
longest distance on one road: 1,450 miles on I-70 East

Monday, November 21, 2011

Home Sweet Home

Yes, it is true. We made it home safely, almost exactly 4 weeks since we left. The final leg of our trip was filled with seeing friends and family, a great way to end. In Albuquerque, we spent time with Dan's Uncle John and Aunt Lucy, and cousins Drew, Brett and Kaycee, and their two sweet little guys Luke and Nate. We hiked in the foothills and around the top of the Sandia Mountains, toured around Old Town Albuquerque, and played several rounds of ping-pong. After all the fun, we left for the Great Sand Dunes. We spent the day climbing up and running down the massive dunes, definitely a work-out. Over the next two days we stopped in Colorado Springs to visit Dan's friend Danny and his family and in Denver to visit my cousin Lacey. It was nice to get to spend time talking and visiting together. After Denver, we went to Fort Collins to stay with Dan's friend Ben and his wife Jobi. We had a lot of fun hiking, playing with their adorable dog Dargan, and just spending time together watching football and talking. Dan and I also had time to drive into Rocky Mountain National Park, where we got to see some wild sheep and two huge herds of elk and a ton of snow. We left CO early and made the 13-hour drive to Illinois, just outside of St. Louis. We stayed with Dan's cousin Parker and his wife Laura and their two little cutie pies, Samuel and Willow. They were kind enough to show us around the city, including the St. Louis Gateway Arch and the art museum. We left Thursday around 6 AM and made the long 14-hour drive back to our sweet, little house in Brunnerville. And here we will stay because Dan has decided he is not driving any longer than 20 minutes at a time from now on!

We want to thank everyone who prayed for us while we were away. God certainly answered prayers because we made it across the country and back without any major issues. Dan was a great driver, no one froze to death or got eaten by a bear. We got to spend a lot of time talking and laughing just the two of us and with so many friends and family members. All in all an amazing journey!

<3 Dan and Kristen

Thursday, November 10, 2011

For Ben

Ben has been complaining via text that we haven't been blogging enough, so this one is for Ben (and for everyone else who loves us, just don't tell Ben). We are in Albuquerque with Dan's Uncle John and Aunt Lucy and their family. It is relaxing to rest and spend time with family and eat wonderful home-cooked food again. Before New Mexico, we spent a good amount of time driving and camping all along the coast until we got to Los Angeles. We tried our best to spot a celebrity. Unfortunately, the best we could do was the wax museum. Not quite as exciting as seeing a real celeb, but still a fun afternoon. After LA, we went to Las Vegas and gambeled our life savings away. Just teasing. Sorry Grandmas. We did have fun taking in all of the sights and the elaborate casinos. We even got to see some of the World Series of Poker at the Rio Casino, which made Dan a very happy guy. After getting our fill of Vegas, we stopped at Hoover Dam and then spent the rest of the day taking a huge amount of pictures at the Grand Canyon. From Grand Canyon, we went to the Petrified Forest and on to Albquerque. Next stop, Great Sand Dunes in Colorado and Fort Collins to visit some friends. We miss everyone and, even though we are having a great time on our adventure, I think we are starting to miss our family and even our little house in Brunnerville.

Around Monterey Bay

Laetitia Vineyards and Winery

Guiness World Records Museum in LA

We've been eating a lot of junk food.

Sorry, Dan.

Sorry, again.

We had way too much fun at the wax museum.

It didn't really look like Will Ferrell, but that didn't stop Dan from being excited!

Tom Cruise... isn't he a cute little thing?!

A stare down with Steve Carell

I <3 Hollywood

Vegas

Hoover Dam

The Georges got too close to the edge of the Grand Canyon.

Petrified Forest

Sandia Mountains in New Mexico

~* TRIVIA QUESTION #2*~

What is the largest hotel in the world?

Hint: It is located in one of the last two major cities that we visited.

Congrats to Kristy for answering question #1 correctly!

You get a postcard from us (but you have to share with Dave)!

Friday, November 4, 2011

On to LA

Hey everyone! We are taking advantage of the free wifi at our hotel in San Luis Opisbo, a stopover on our way to LA. We left Half Moon Bay and stayed one night at a little state beach called Sunset Beach. The name was well deserved. Then we drove about 4 hours to Yosemite National Park. The first item on our list of things to see was the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoia trees. We hiked for about 5 miles around the grove trying to see as many of the famous trees as we could. We saw the Giant Grizzly, the California Tunnel, the Wawona Fallen Tunnel, and several other incredibly large trees. We were definitely in awe of the size of these trees. They are not your ordinary MD or PA trees! After that we camped at the Wawona campground in Yosemite. We did not see any bears or mountain lions or coyotes, although they had all been reported in the area. We did however lose some sleep due to what we thought was a bear, only to realize it was the man in the campsite behind us snoring. We spent the next day touring around the rest of the big attractions at Yosemite, like El Capitan (the largest monolith of granite in the world), Bridalveil and Yosemite Falls, and Half Dome. Then because there was a chance of snow, we left Yosemite and headed back to the coast. We stopped in Monterey at Point Lobos State Park and saw the cutest little sea otters, harbor seals, and sea lions (who made the funniest sounds). Because it did start to rain and we were exhausted, we decided to stop here on our way to LA. Next on the schedule: wine touring, celebrity stalking, and becoming a game show super-star in Hollywood!