The End of Our Adventure and What We Learned Along the Way- Day 27

After a 6 hour drive from Chicago to Bellefontaine, we are home!

The car went straight to the car wash when we got home!

We had a blast on our trip. We learned so much about our country, people, ourselves, and each other. It was such a great trip that we will remember forever. 

Here are some things that we learned that could serve as advice for others:

1. America is huge and looks vastly different throughout the country!

2. After being out West, we will never again say that Bellefontaine, Ohio is out in the middle of nowhere. 

3. We learned from a local man in Oakhurst, California to go to a lumber yard for firewood. It's a waste of money to buy firewood at a store.

4. Waiting to schedule campsites at the last minute allows for flexibility in the trip. I wouldn't advise waiting last minute during Holiday weekends and busy seasons.

5. Smartphones are necessary for finding places to eat, sleep, and rent equipment.

6. Even with technology, you still need an atlas!

7. People are generally nice and if you are open to meeting interesting people on a trip, you will meet interesting people!

8. Keeping a blog during a long trip is a big commitment and can be time consuming but friends and family will appreciate it. Also, it's great to read back through it to remember all the memories you made. 

9. Camping is the way to go!

10. Go on long hikes! Our favorite National Parks were the ones where we got away from the crowds and went on a long hike. It allows you to experience the beauty of the park on a personal level.

11. Peanut butter on s'mores is ridiculously good.

12. Bring something other than your phones for cameras. Our phones made it easy to share our pictures but we had to delete some of our pictures because of space!

13. Wear sunscreen, always.

14. Talk to park rangers at National Parks. They can tell you which hikes are the best and interesting facts about the park. Also, do research ahead of time as to what state the park is in during the time of year that you're going.

15. Try new things and do things that scare you.

This trip made us so proud to be Americans. Traveling all over America gave us a deeper sense of patriotism and understanding for our country as a whole. It was also humbling and convicting to see foreigners love our country more than we do.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read our blog! Thank you for suffering through my poor grammar and spelling mistakes. It is surprisingly tricky to write a blog on a phone while in a moving car! Thank you for taking this journey with us and for supporting us along the way.

Next adventure: our trip to the alter!

 

Exploring Chicago- Day 26

We started our day off by walking the Navy Pier!

We saw this neat lighthouse on our walk!

And this boat!

After walking the Navy Pier, we rented Chicago's Divvy bikes. They are similar to Columbus' CoGo bikes. There are stations all throughout the city where you can retrieve and drop off a bike. You pay $7 for a 24 hour pass but you can only have the bike for a total of 30 minutes at once before getting charged extra. This worked perfectly for us. We were able to grab a bike, ride it to where we wanted to go, turn it in, explore on feet, get another bike and take off again! The Divvy bikes are very efficient and cost effective for exploring Chicago!

And they are a fun blue color, a little more interesting than Columbus' red and black!

Our first stop was lunch! We had lunch at a beachside cafe, this was our view! While eating lunch, we wish we would've brought our bathing suits and beach towels to chill on the beach! We felt like we were back in California rather than Chicago!

After lunch we explored Millenium Park. Matt wanted to get a senior picture shot!

We saw the Bean next!

We took our pictures in the Bean's reflection!

Bean selfie!

Here's the view from underneath the Bean! Can you find us? I can't!

It's hard to see in this picture, but on the other side of the trees is a large flock of young girls. We saw them run through and scream while we were at the Bean. Apparently they were chasing after some boy made famous by social media. They were screaming and crying! It was a bizarre scene, crazy girls!

After Millenium Park, we walked to The Magnificient Mile. The walk there was beautiful!

The Magnificient Mile is a mile long row of shopping stores that are generally out of our price range! It was great to walk through and see all of the fashion!

After checking out the shops in The Magnificient Mile, we walked to Buckingham Fountain. We got lost so it was a long walk but it was worth it in the end!

After seeing the fountain, we headed back to the car. We loved Chicago but I don't know if I could live there! I am not sure how the locals deal with all of the tourists! They don't understand cycling laws, sidewalk laws or even driving laws! It made it so difficult to get around! Aside from that, our Chicago  experience was a blast!

Matt ended the day by feeding his Electrical Engineering side. He finally got a picture with a Tesla!!!! 

Tomorrow we are headed back home! It is so bittersweet!

CHICAGO!!!!- Day 25

Yesterday we went to Chicago! It was my first time in Chicago so I was excited!

We started our day by going to the Field Museum!

Matt was very excited to see the new Biomechanics exhibit! It showed us the science of how living things function and move. We weren't able to take a lot of pictures within the exhibit.

We then went to the Ancient Egyptian section. They had walls from an actual Pharoah's son's tomb!

And they had real mummies!!!!

And unwrapped mummies which were incredible to see!

And a bit creepy!

They even had mummified cats! I was amazed by the mummy exhibit!

We also got to see dinosaurs!

I found my favorite dinosaur, Stegasoraus! 

Matt was excited about Sue, the most complete T-Rex fossil ever found! I also love how crazy Matt looks in this picture! Hahaha

We also saw fossils from the Ice Age period! They made us feel tiny!

After the Field Museum we went and sat by the water and watched the sail boats. After sitting and taking it all in, we decided to walk a bit. About 5 minutes into the walk, Matt asked if I had his phone. I did not. He ran back to the bench we were sitting on and luckily it was still there! Good thing our phones are old technology, no one wants them!!

After our walk, we went here for Chicago pizza!

Deep dish pizza with a lot of cheese, sauce, peppers, pepperoni, mushrooms and deliciousness! It was great!

After pizza we went back to our car to head back to our campsite!

We loved Chicago and we are excited for a second day here today!!

A Blog Not Worth the Read- Day 24

I apologize for this sad excuse of a post. I have no pictures for you and no fun adventures to report on. We woke up in La Crosse, Wisconsin. We went to McDonald's to grab a coffee and finish writing postcards before hitting the road. After about an hour, we got on the road and headed to our campsite outside of Chicago. The only adventure we had was a quick stop at an Outlet Mall (which isn't much of an adventure). When we finally reached our campsite we made dinner and planned our next day in Chicago!

Again, I apologize for this sad post. I promise that tomorrow's post will be worth the read! We are in Chicago!!!

Driving, Driving, Driving- Day 23

Yesterday was a long day of driving! Our day didn't consist of very many adventures but it did start with a fun adventure!

We started off our day by having coffee in a train car!

We walked in and the lobby looked like an old train station!

We walked into the train car...

And had our coffee in a train car at one of the tables.

Here's a picture of the restaurant from the outside.

After coffee, we started our long day of driving. There is not much to look at in South Dakota. There are old homesteads occasionally and I was able to snap a picture of one!

We reached Wisconsin around 6pm.

We had a reservation at a campsite in La Crosse, WI. We saw this statue when we first entered the city. It's hard to see because of our buggy windshield and the sun. The statue is of Native Americans playing La Crosse. We found this to be rather odd.

Our campsite was right on the Mississippi River. It was beautiful but very buggy!

Today we are driving to Chicago! We didn't realize until last night that we are only 4 hours away. We plan on driving to our campsite and planning our next few days in the city. What are some must sees and must dos in Chicago?

Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse- Day 22

Yesterday was a big day of driving! We started in Cheyenne, Wyoming and ended up in Belvidere, South Dakota. 

South Dakota was beautiful but it was a foggy, dreary day!

The drive to Mount Rushmore was beautiful but the fog made it a bit spooky!

Here's Mount Rushmore! Yep, it was too foggy for us to see it. :( And it was too foggy to see Crazy Horse as well. :(

After our disappointment, we went to Badlands National Park!

It was beautiful but there wasn't much hiking there! 

We spent our time at Badlands driving and taking pictures.

We saw mountain goats at Badlands!

After Badlands National Park we drove to our campsite. On the way there, we saw a sign that "Dancing with Wolves" and "Starship Troopers" was filmed in the area. Matt thought this was really cool!

Today is another long day of driving! We will be in Chicago soon!