Philadelphia - Chicago - Denver - Salt Lake City - Yosemite - San Fran
My friend Gene who goes to school in Philadelphia decided to come spend a second summer with us in San Diego. Somehow he convinced me (without much arm twisting) to meet up with him after I was in DC, and make the drive to Cali. I was finishing up my last semester at San Diego State, and rearranged some finals, and was able to confirm my attendance on this epic adventure!
I met up with Gene, his sister Tara, and friend Franklin in Philly. It was my first time there, so of course I had to partake in a Philly Cheesesteak. We went to Pat's to indulge right before hitting the road.
Our first big stop was to be in Chicago, Illinois. We left Philly at 8PM, and slept at a slightly sketchy hotel somewhere in Ohio, and arrived in Chicago the next morning. The only setback along this drive was Tara becoming nauseous and throwing up in a convenience store. Haha, we laugh about it now.
Chicago, IL
Chicago really was the windy city, we tried to not get blown away as we checked out downtown and the Navy Pier.
After exploring the city it was time for dinner. Of course we're not leaving Chicago without hitting up a famous deep dish pizza spot. We chose Giordianos, cheesiest pizza ever. My favorite part was when we were leaving Franklin saying,
And obviously we couldn't leave without visiting United Center so that Gene and Franklin could molest the Michael Jordan statue. They ended up getting kicked out by security, and then we started off to Denver, Co.
A Night in Middle America
Our plan was to stop in between Chicago and Denver to sleep at some point, but once we started driving, we somehow convinced ourselves that it was a good idea to just keep on going. So we drove 17 hours through the night, hitting the rest of Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and finally Colorado. We hit the most massive thunder/lighting storm in Illinois, water was getting into the car, and I could barely drive 2 miles an hour, but of course during all of this I was screaming that I couldn't see, yet somehow managed to get the video camera out and record what was going on...too bad that somehow got deleted!!!
This is what four people who just spent 17 hours driving through the nothingness of middle America look like.
After we took a much needed rest, we headed out to Boulder,CO where we hiked the Chautauqua mountain right next to UC Boulder. It was a good chance to let us stretch out and get some exercise after we had been sitting in the car for so very long!
After our hike, we cleaned up and had dinner downtown at a gourmet mexican restaurant. Then the boys wanted to watch the Lakers game, we went to a local pub where they explained to me who Kobe was. Then we found the future Gene...if you look past me in this photo you will see Gene in 50 years...:) jkjk
Salt Lake City, UT
The next, Salt Lake City. The first thing we did when we got there was find the great Salt Lake of course! We took a dip to test science and see if we could actually float..and we definitely could.
Here's what we looked like covered in Salt when it started to dry.
And then came what you might call my favorite part of the trip. Driving west from Salt Lake city we came upon the Salt Flats. Basically a salty wonderland that appeared to be snow, and was the most amazing thing I had ever seen!!
Yosemite National Park
We finally made it to Yosemite after a long night of driving through the rest of Utah and Nevada. It was a journey in and out of the mountains, but was definitely well worth the sights!
After Yosemite, we drove straight to San Francisco, where we went to Jess' house and met up with Jesse. We got in at about 3AM and at 5AM we were rudely awoken by this here bird.
We then took part in San Francisco's Annual Bay to Breakers. To some, Bay to Breakers is a 12K race. To most others, it's a chance to dress up in a good costume, or wear nothing at all, and drunkenly parade through SF.
Needless to say, this ridiculous event was an epic end to an even more ridiculous journey across America. To top it off, I ended up having to fly back to San Diego the next day to make it to my Venture Management final! Don't worry...I passed :)
Golden Gate Bridge: Me, Jesse, Gene and Tara.
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