Chicago --> Omaha

The next day Rob took us on a quick driving tour of where he grew up on the west side of chicago, and then took us to Al’s to get italian beef. An italian beef for those not in the know is like a philly cheese steak without the cheese, and the entire sandwich can be (and should be) dipped in broth. I got mine with hot and sweet peppers, dipped. It was so damn good. If i lived in Chicago, i’d probably get one of those at least once a week. I’d be fat, but happy.

We got on the road, and Erin took the first shift, which was also her first time behind the wheel this trip. We drove till lunchtime and Erin saw a sign for Steak and Shake. Which i’ve never heard of, but Erin heard of through her midwestern friends at her internship this summer. We had to stop, and good thing we did because the manager told us that it was the furthest west location. The burger wasn’t anything to write home about, but Erin said the shake was good. I’m not a big shake fan, so i’ll leave that to her.

Illionis and Iowa are big sky country. SO much sky and SO much corn. It is ridiculous how much corn there is, and i’m pretty sure almost all of it isn’t for human consumption. There is something i don’t like about that, and i don’t think i’m alone.

We made it into Omaha around 9 and checked into the Carol Hotel and stayed in the room and looked at apartments on craiglist and caught the last inning of the Yankee game.

Drive to Chicago / Night in Chi-town

After a wonderful breakfast prepared by grandma and mrs. houser we hit the road. The drive to Chicago was realtively quick, up to toledo, through indiana, then over to Chicago. We did take an unplanned adventure to Michigan, where we ate at a Taco Bell, and then hit up some outlet shopping back in Indiana. Erin found some cute pants, and I saved my precious pennies for our expenses when we get back to SF.

We got into Chicago around 6 and met with our buddy Rob, who we stayed with in Hyde Park. We got a little walking tour of the area then took the Metra into downtown Chicago to see the bean and Millenium Park. We got out before the end so we could walk down the greenway. Chicago has a ton of parks, and they are all well maintained, even in the less afluent parts.

Mellenium park is beautiful. The Pavillion, designed by Frank Gehry, is AMAZING. Classic Gehry styling and a wonderful lawn where they have free concerts all summer long. The bean was oddly wonderful. I didn’t know what to expect, and it really is something you just have to see to understand.

We went to Giordano’s for dinner, and had a sausage and pepperoni stuffed pizza. The debate has been settled in my head. You cannot compare thin crust and stuffed pizza. They are two seperate food groups. One can only compare thin to thin and stuffed to stuffed. End of debate.

The Houser Home

We stayed with Matt’s fraternity brother Jeff’s parents. They were SO excited to have us. They said seeing Jeff’s friends (even though I have never met him...) made them miss Jeff. We were glad to make them happy. We relaxed in their backyard for a while. We played with their bagel (beagle / basset hound) Emerson (not named after the college Matt & Jeff went to...well maybe subliminally).

We had a wonderful home cooked meal of meat loaf, corn, home fries and caesar salad (with homemade dressing). The meal was cooked by grandma (who was 91 and still going strong!). Dessert was grandma’s famous chocolate cookies (which they gave us extra to take on the road with us).

We watched a little TV then hit the sack. I got to take a nap on the drive over but Matt stayed up all day so he was pretty exhausted. Chicago tomorrow!

Drive to Cleveland OH

We woke up bright and early so we could say goodbye to Matt’s Mom before she had to go to work. We waved goodbye to her and Markus before we hit the open road.

It was a bit rainy when we left and things only got worse when we were going over the mountains in PA. It poured for a while until we were about an hour away from the Ohio border.

We hit three states today. It was my first time in OH and this would be the first of many new states I went to this trip!

Cleveland - Lake Erie, Rock & Roll Museum

Got into Cleveland in the early evening. Drove to Lake Erie right by the Rock & Roll Museum. Walked down to the water. It was my first Great Lake! We noticed that there either had been a triathlon or was going to be one in the near future. We saw spray painted marking for “run in” “bike in” “bike out” etc.

We popped into the Rock & Roll Museum. Took some pictures with the huge guitars then hopped back into the car so we could get to our host’s house by dinner time!

Road Trip - Take 2 - Heading Back West

Thanks to all the loyal followers (ie mom). =) We hoped you enjoyed our first cross country journey.

Summer in NY was wonderful. But my internship drew to an end and Matt wrapped up all of his renovation projects. So...we packed up the Prius again.

Nico (the Prius) suffered some injuries this summer. Long story short...I was driving down a street close to Vassar when BAM!@@$@&%@%) out of nowhere a deer smashed up against the drivers side window. I basically saw just a flash of brown hair and didn't even know what happened. At first, I thought it was a golden retriever (that's what I get for growing up somewhere where the number of dogs outnumber the deer). I exclaimed in confusion: "Did I just get hit by a deer?" My summer roomie and now awesome new friend Kate said: "Yep...and it definitely just took off your mirror." When Kate later recounted the incident to me, she vividly described to me how she saw the deers eyes, mouth, and entire face smashed up against the window. (Guess that explains the deer juice that was on the side of the car!) So, all in all, the deer did about $5000 dollars worth of damage to Nico but no one was hurt which was the blessing since deer accidents can be pretty dangerous.

After a stop to a body shop in Middletown which is run by one of Matt's long time family friends, the drivers side of the car is just like new! The guys at the shop were great and gave us a great deal.

Now, (I guess that wasn't that short a story after all) Nico is all patched up and ready to drive the 3,200 miles back to California.

Hope you all follow along with the journey. This time we're taking the Northern route (Cleveland, Chicago, Omaha, Mount Rushmore, Salt Lake City, Reno, HOME). Goodbye NY, Hello road to the West!

Cross Country Snapshots #3

Family & Good Friends

NC, PA & NJ

Chapel Hill, NC

After a wonderful lunch with Josip.

Chapel Hill, NC

With Ian & Amanda, the at the time "soon-to-be" parents. Now baby Simon is keeping them busy!

Havertown, PA

With my cousin August!

Havertown, PA

Aunt Jeannie & I at Matt's house for Kayla's birthday.

Hatboro, PA

With Matt's sisters in their awesome new apartment!

Fairview, NJ

Matt (the Best Man) & I with Will and his fiance Caitlin!

Cross Country Snapshots #2

New Orleans, LA

Our corner balcony table at Royal Oyster House.

We rented a scooter for the day to tour around NOLA. Don't worry, I didn't drive...just posed for the picture.

After a trip to the Lower Ninth Ward...we got caught in a rainstorm.

A fancy dinner out at Broussards.

With our server at Cafe Reconcile.

Cross Country Snapshots #1

SF, Arizona & Texas

San Francisco, CA

In Chateau Damilano, before waving goodbye to SF.

Quartzite, AZ

There were cacti everywhere!

La Mesa, AZ

Shopping in Old Town.

Beaumont, Texas

After some delicious Texas BBQ.

Fentress, Texas

With Uncle Jim, Linda, Martin & Izzy in front of their travel trailor.

NJ -> NY! Last of our amazing trip!

My best friend, Willie, had gotten engaged earlier in May, and called to see if we could stop by his fiance's house to meet her parents.  Since i'm the Best Man, i have obligations, plus they said they'd feed my so i gladly said yes.

Loved them. Mainly because they fed me Italian food, and they tell great stories and laugh. It was a great visit, and it was great to see Will for the first time since he got back from Iraq.  He's a marine.  And we got to meet his dog iceman.  Who is super cute.

We left Jersey and made the final trip to Florida, getting in around 11pm.  Our road trip was over, but the fun of summer was just beginning.  Erin is going to have a great time at her internship, and I'm excited to spend time with my family, and friends, and lower my handicap.

Pictures will be uploaded soon, i think Erin is doing that now.  See you in a few months, when we start the posts for our trip back!

Baltimore -> Philly Sun June 6th

We spent a great night in Baltimore with jackson and john (who are moving to SF!)  We went out for crab and beer, NattyBo, the beer of choice for Baltimorean hipsters.  We got a bucket of crab, ate them with hammers, and then went to a roof top party, and then crashed a birthday party of the neighbors.  It was a great night with old friends.

The next morning we stocked up on pastries from the bakery jackson works at, and headed to Philly for erin's cousin's birthday party.  It was a fun 7 year old's birthday party, complete with bouncy house.  Great to meet new people and hold my first baby.  Yep 24 years old and had never held a baby, but now i have and i'm a pro.

We left the party and went to see my sister's new place outside of Philly, and then made our way up to NJ to meet my best friend's new soon to be inlaws.

Raleigh -> DC -> Baltimore June 4th & 5th

We went out to a great dinner with Amanda and Ian.  Amanda was super pregnant and beautiful!  Plus we loved otto their mini schnauzer!  After a wonderful breakfast of eggs and oatmeal pancakes we drove up to Chapel Hill to meet up with a friend's dad and have lunch with him.  We ate at Top of the Hill, which is the biggest Tar Heel haunt.  Good salads!

We got on I95 finally, much to my chagrin, and made our way to DC.  We got into town, met up with my friend Eric at his place and then went for our first Sushi dinner of the trip.  The next day we went to the national mall and went to the Air and Space museum and the Museum of American History.  Loved both.  Who doesn't like a Smithsonian?

After we went and ate at a really trendy restaurant called Matchbox.  Really cool, 3 floors, great food and local beer!  We decided we had enough of DC and went up to my friend danielle's place in Baltimore for the night.