Crowne Plaza Silver Spring

... in Chicago Saturday morning with a 6 hour layover before boarding the Southwest Chief for Los Angeles. After sightseeing in Chicago, we boarded the Southwest Chief sleeper car. Before we left the station in Chicago a fowl smell overtook the sleeper cabin. It smelled like sewage. It lingered then passed after a few minutes. Soon the train took off and the adventure was underway. Soon after leaving the station the smell of sewage ...

... in a great mood and snuggled with Ted for a while, which is unusual - she doesn't like to sit still, but was very cozy with him. Fran made a delicious and healthy dinner, which we really appreciated after a couple days driving through the midwest without homecooked meals. We sat on their porch until the sun set and enjoyed the warm evening. Rosie had a blast catching the frisbee in the grassy park next to ...

... a respectable 14 putts. There was no yardage book for the course, but fortunately I was paired up with a golfer who knew the course well. His name was Minor and he looked like he could be a coal-miner from western PA, where I grew-up. Minor helped me with suggestions on the proper line to hit. His advice really helped on the 453 yard, sharp dogleg right, par 5, #8 hole. He suggested hitting my 200 yard club ...

... Australia and such places for last few months (http://www.travelpod.com/members/annat ee). Her blog's been pretty entertaining, and I figured I'd give it a crack myself with my first trip outside North America. I won't promise I'll be good about updating the blog, but I'll do my best.

After filling our stomachs with food and refreshing and relaxing our psyches with cocktails, we headed towards the White House to view the National Christmas Tree. Ornamented with colorful twinkle lights, the tree soared above our chilly heads. We walked around the artificial path to view trees representing each ...

... WA Food find: Pita Pit Best Latte: Lavendar, Tully's, Boise, ID Weirdest roadside attraction: Garden of Eden in Lucas, KA Best roadside attraction: Carhenge (it's free, it's in the middle of nowhere, and it lives up to its name) Blog visits: 914 at last count (WOW, Thanks!) Misc: chasing jackalopes in Douglas, WY; run in with a dust storm in ID; run in with a forest fire in WY; complete rainout in Rocky Mt NP; climbing sand dunes in OR; geysers in Y'stone ...

... tomorrow my dad and I will go kayaking tomorrow. I guess this is pretty much the end of this particular blog. I'll put a finish date on it and that's that. It's been one heck of a year, and I met the best people I think I will ever meet in my life. I hope to see them again, before long, because they hold a special place in my heart. I'm glad you've been here to follow along with my journey - stay tuned because you know it won't take long for me to start another adventure.

... don't even have a state library, Cathedral or population more than a small African Village. And Freemantle, selling coffee doesn't apply for city status. Behave! Ok so over the last 24 hours, I've been working my backside off trying to update this blog and give everyone a brief into New York (which doesn't really need any intro anyway). However that's besides the point. Sadly New York isn't known for its Internet Cafe's but it DOES have loads of ...

... Mr. Chun," Nellie reminded him. Mr. Chun had a long drown out excuse for each one of the offenses. "He was lying through his teeth," Tonya stated in the truck. "You just have to hear them out," Nellie said. "It makes them feel better to know that their side of the story is being heard." The drive home was long. Mr. Chun is a tour guide. Mr. Chun was trained by ...

... in Spanish speaking Latin America, Mana had arrived in the United States. Mana is why we found ourselves in New York City this Thanksgiving weekend. We got to our seats in Madison Square Garden last night at around 8:00PM. A subdued crowd I thought. Waiters were serving champagne in the stands. There wasn't the slightest scent of marijuana in the air. Then it happened. Mana came on stage and the crowd erupted - in a very different ...