TravelStream™ news feed for member kare1322 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/kare1322 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 18 Apr 2008 01:46:44 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kare1322/1/1208235840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kare1322/1/1208235840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kare1322/1/1208235840/tpod.html Fri, 18 Apr 2008 01:46:44 -0400 The No Responsibilities Tour

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Herndon, Virginia, United States

Well as most of you know, we finally made it home to good Ole Herndon, VA.  We woke up in Toronto, Ontario Tuesday morning and headed straight to Niagara Falls, Canada.  We parked and walked along the falls in the mist and were both in awe of how much water is pumped over the cliffs there.  The horseshoe falls were spectacular and we were glad we stopped on the Canadian side so we could see them.  After getting soaked from the mist of the Niagara river we were headed over the bridge back into the US to Niagara, NY.  At this point, it was a six hour drive back home and so we decided to just make the trek back to VA because most of the sites in between we have already seen (most of Pennsylvania).  But first, lunch.  We went to Buffalo, NY to have some buffalo chicken wings of course. We had to stop off at Anchor Bar, where the original Buffalo wings were created.  They were amazing and need to teach the rest of the country how to make a good chicken wing.  After a delicious lunch, we drove along Lake Erie into Pennsylvania, then south through Maryland, West Virginia, and finally over the Potomac into VA.  We can both honestly say that this was an amazing trip, and DEFINITELY worth it.  Even Chris said putting all those miles (around 14,000) onto his brand new car was worth it.  Thank you to everyone who kept up with the blog and made this trek with us.  We are sorry to say that we will not continue the blog from home, mainly because we don't really have anything exciting to write about..haha.  To anyone who wants to look at ALL our pictures, probably around 3,000 or so...let me know. I will have a very looooooong slide show put together in a few days.  Thanks again for traveling with us...we love you all......Kara and Chris
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Toronto, Ontario, Canada

This morning we got up from our upgraded suite at the Red Roof Inn and headed into the unknown. We went through border control and it was actually much better than I expected.  Just before we got to the border we asked ourselves the question....should we get gas before or after the border.  We figured that it would be much higher in Canada, and we were sadly mistaken.  Do you all know that gas in Canada is around $1.15 a gallon......but then we came to realize, were in CANADA.  Everything is Metric here!  This is $1.15/liter or litre as they say here.  Well at least we made the right choice in filling up in the states.  After this realization we headed into the city of Toronto, ON.  It was a beautiful day outside and provided for some great pictures of the skyline.  We got into the city around 3pm and our first stop was to get a hotel room for the night.  After that was settled we went into town to see the CN Tower.  We found some parking that said $10.00 or 10.00$ here.  When we went to buy the ticket though it said that it was $27.00 for parking.....then we heard a honk behind us and this nice lady was leaving and gave us her pass that was till 6pm.  I will have to say Toronto is a nice town......when driving through the city I didn't hear one horn blaring (except mine), but the cops do like pull people over.  They are pretty strict around here as well, if you are caught going 50km/hr (roughly 30 mph) at anytime you automatically get arrested, vehicle impounded, license revoked, and a $10,000 fine.  Lets just say that people don't speed too much around here, and I follow suit.  Anyways we headed up the CN Tower, the tallest finished building in the world.  We went to the observation deck and the glass floor.  We also enjoyed a cocktail and an appetizer while at 1,135 ft, or 346 meters.  After that we headed into the town of Toronto and went to see the Casa Loma, a beautiful castle in the north side of town.  From there we went to dinner at Messini's Authentic Gyros.  This was in the Greek part of town.  We both agreed that it was not the best gyro that we have ever had but it was great none the less.  After eating we were both very tired and headed back to the hotel to get some rest.  Our plan is to make it home tomorrow, but it is a 9 hour drive.....so we will see.  See you all soon!Chris and Kara
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Chicago, Illinois, United States

 We got to Christine's place Friday night and Chris stated that he wanted deep dish pizza...so deep dish pizza he got. We all walked a few blocks from her place in Lincoln Park to a little pizzeria that served delicious stuffed pizza.  We were really tired from driving all day and everyone else was tired from working all day so we decided to call it an early night and went to bed.  Sat morning we woke up and drove around the city for a while before our Wrigley field tour.  Our tour was at 3:30 and it had been raining all day, but right as we walked into Wrigley it stopped raining....but it was still VERY cold, overcast and windy...but not raining.  The tour was an hour and a half and took us all over the park inside and out.  Anyone who has interest in the history of baseball would love it, because so many traditions started here.  After the tour we headed to Ryan and Tracey's house, who are JMU alums that Chris played softball with last year.  They just moved into a condo near Soldier field in the city...we hung out with them for a bit and then went down to the "Viagra Triangle".  Which is the hilarious nickname of one of the many bar areas of Chicago.  We grabbed dinner at one bar, then on the way to the other Chris and Ryan were enticed into another smaller bar by "Free shots with every beer." The free shots were supposedly kamikazes, but tasted just like straight sour mix....anyways, then we went to Finn McCools.  Lets just say at Finn McCools...the LOFT WAS OPEN and "Brooke" was there.  They had a dance floor upstairs with a fog machine and numerous disco balls and catwalks for girls to dance on.  It was pretty entertaining and Chris even got me out on the dance floor for our favorite song, Low.  Even in pretty bad weather Chicago still showed us a great time, and we are looking forward to spending some more time there when we can check out the beach area and its a little warmer.  We are headed east Sunday morning towards Detroit and the border....See everyone soon...Kara and Chrisp.s. I uploaded the Robie house pics for you drew, but ill write about that tomorrow
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Detroit, Michigan, United States

Before leaving Chicago, we had to check out the Robie house which is one of Frank Lloyd Wright's houses in Chicago.  Drew talked us into going, well talked Kara into going and I was talked into it after she said she would pay for it, but it was pretty interesting.  After going to the Robie House we said goodbye to Chicago.  We took off to Detriot Michigan.  On the way we decided to stop off and see Notre Dame's campus.  Its a beautiful place and of course we loved it from watchin Rudy so many times.  After the quick driving tour we were off to the lovely state of Ohio.  From there we headed north to Ann Arbor to stop by the University of Michigan.  We went by one of the biggest stadiums in the country, but it was not what we expected, because it is sunken into the ground.  This was a bit of a dissappointment but we will live.  Now we are off to stay at the Red Roof Inn outside of Detriot.  Tomorrow we get up to head outside the USA.  This will be the first time for me and I am a little timid, but the Canadians sound harmless.  See you all soon!Chris and Kara
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Chicago, Illinois, United States

So after leaving Rick's we ventured off to the home of one of the greatest football teams, the Saint Louis Rams.  After looking at the stadium we went to see the gateway to the west...the st. louis arch.  Unfortunately we did not get to drive through it like we thought since there is no road that goes under it...boooooo.  From there we stopped at the famous White Castle (no Harold or Kumar there though) for some delicious treats.  After a quick recharge we were off to the windy city of Chicago with a detour through Springfield, Ill.  We saw the old state capitol building and the Lincoln library (no comparison to the LBJ one though..haha) then headed to the cemetary to see Lincoln's tomb.  After the quick driving tour of Springfield we were headed north to Chicago to stay with Christine a friend of ours from JMU....Talk to yall later.Chris and Kara
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Columbia, Missouri, United States

Mitchell, SD if you don't know is on the map for one reason only...its Corn Palace. So of course we did a drive-by on our way out of town.  One big building with an entire facade made of corn...awesome.  Our plans originally were to go through Iowa to the Field of Dreams field and to Davenport (22 mile) Iowa...but since it was forecasted to rain allllllllllllll day, we decided to skip the sights and drive south out of the storm to Columbia, MO and see Rick, who played baseball with Chris in college.  We drove through the most states in one day yet, from SD to Minnesota, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska and into Missouri.  We drove all day. It rained all day.  We got to Columbia around 7ish and had a blast hangin out with Rick again and meeting his girlfriend Kristie.  We sat around and talked, Rick made me drink too much and we went to bed with Rick trying intently to get us to stay another night.  We have already made plans for a Wrigley field tour on Saturday so we had to get on the road to get to Chicago.  I didn't feel so hot this morning...so we started off the day with a relaxing  breakfast with Kristie...poor Rick had to work.  Then we were off again headed east to St. Louis and then north to Chicago and see how far we make it....Thats it for now....Kara and Chris
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Mitchell, South Dakota, United States

As Krusty the Clown says.....Hello everybody!Today we started by sleeping in. We figured that since we have covered quite a bit of distance in the past couple of days that we deserved it.  After getting up we headed off to Devil's Tower.  This was where the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind was filmed.....well were the aliens landed at least.  It was quite a site to see, but unfortunally it was all that was in the park.  We then headed down to Mt. Rushmore....or should I say Fogmore.  We drove down to Keystone, which is the town that Mt. Rushmore is in.  There is one problem there is a huge storm coming through the town and there is a ton of fog.  You will see by the pictures that there was not much of Rushmore.  It was sad but I guess we will have to see it just like the rest of you.  From there we headed out to the Badlands National Park.  This was a place that I didn't know much about but was a great suprise.  Even in the rain the park was still beautiful.  The combination of rock formations with the different colors was amazing.  From there we hit the road once more.  We made it to Mitchell, SD, right outside Sioux Falls.  We have no idea what tomorrow brings so it will be a suprise to both you and us.  Have a good Thursday!Chris and Kara
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Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, United States

We got up this morning and hit the road once again.  We took off and did a little drive by tour of the town on Butte.  This was one of the oldest mining towns in the US so we had to at least take a look.  It took us about 2 1/2 hours to make it down to Yellowstone National Park.  There were many beautiful sites to see on the drive and it only got better as we got closer.  When we made it to the park we found out once more that the pass to get out of the park was closed.  So we had to drive through the park and make a U-Turn and come out the same way we came in.  This took about 3 hours out of our day.  Although the bad news came, the scenery changed our moods.  Our first stop was at the Mammoth Hot Springs just as you enter the park from the North entrance.  They were quite the site to see and more of a stench to smell.  Needless to say we didn't spend too much time there.  When then headed into the park to get a look at the wildlife.  Little did we know how good of a look we would get.  It only took about 5 minutes to find our first buffalo right on the side of the road.  This would be a continuing theme.  As we drove down we saw all kinds of wildlife including buffalo, elk, deer, rams and even wolves!  It was an amazing drive and even though we did not get to make it down to see Old Faithful, because every road but one is closed, it was well worth the trip.  After Yellowstone we headed further west so that we could make it to our next destination of Mount Rushmore.  We stopped off in Billings, MT at this nice little brewery for dinner.  We will have to take this splitting meals thing back to real life with us.  After a recharge of dinner and fuel we were off east.  We made it to Moorecroft, MT before we stopped for the night.  We also have quite a day ahead of us tomorrow.  Hope everyone is doing well!Chris and Kara
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Butte, Montana, United States

Today there is not much to tell.....we drove.  There is not much to do out here but drive.  We will let you know more when we get to Yellowstone tomorrow.Chris and Kara
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Troutdale, Oregon, United States

Well it was not so pleasant to wake up to a soaked pillow and wet feet in 40 degree weather.  Oh well we were on the Ocean and we weren't going to work the next day at least.  After packing up the car with all the wet gear we headed north into the Redwoods National Park.  It was a weird day weather wise....sunny, cloudy, sunny and cloudy again.  It was an amazing drive through the park seeing all the Redwoods that were here long before our time and will be there long after we are gone.  As you can see by the pictures it was beautiful.  After making it through the park we headed up the California/Oregon Coast......that's right Oregon.  It is the first time in two weeks that we have made it to another state.  It was definitely worth heading up the coast because the scenery was awesome.  The rocks off the coast were spellbinding and looked like it was right out of a movie. After making it up to Florence, OR we finally said goodbye to the Pacific Coast/Ocean.  It was sad and we shed a tear, but it is nice to be heading home.  We have quite a bit of driving ahead of us the next couple of days.  Tonight we stopped in Eugene, OR for some dinner at Sweet Basil Thai.  This is the only place that has rivaled Thai Luang in our experience.  After a wonderful dinner we decided to head back on the road.  We made it just outside of Portland in Troutsdale.  This way we have less to drive tomorrow.  Hope you all are having a good start to the work week.  See you all soon!Chris and Kara
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