Day 28: Cows, Cornfields & Soybeans

I have decided that over half of the US is either cows, cornfields or soy beans.

This morning my crazy husband got up at 6am and drove to Michigan. He of course was looking for a cache so we could color in our geo map with another state. After 7 attempts and 2 hours he came home defeated. I guess Michigan wants us to come back another time. (Jimmy we just might get to meet your soul mate yet) One good thing about this little excursion is that he came back with Krispy Kreme donuts for me!

Have I mentioned how much I HATE toll roads! Today alone:
Indiana $3.10 + $1.50
Illinois $3.00 + .80 + .80 +.80 + 1.60 + 1.00
Total= $12.80
Onto Wisconsin, thank heavens!

As we were traveling through Wisconsin in the middle of cows, cornfields and soy beans I decide to give my dad a call.I was telling him that there was nothing here! As I hung up with him, cars started to come toward us in the opposite direction with their lights on. I said to Ed, "isn't this a sign that there is bad weather ahead?" The traffic got slower and slower until they were crawling at about 30 miles an hour. We could not figure out what all these people in the middle of nowhere were doing. Well, a Roadside America attraction that we were planning on stopping to see, the Muir Space Station in Wisconsin Dell, was just up ahead so we got off. WE ARE FROM CA HOW ARE WE SUPPOSE TO KNOW THAT THIS IS THE HOT SPOT TO VACATION IN THE AREA!" Oh my, a child's dream come true and every parents nightmare! If you are familiar with a hotel by the name of The Great Wolf Lodge (google it) multiply that by at least 50 different competing hotels. We have never seen so many garish signs for hotels, restaurants and attractions in our lives. This place could compete with Vegas. (Yes Teresa you could gamble there) By the way all those people were on their way home from the Labor day holiday.

Dad, we found the perfect car for you today!

After driving through this place, a mirage I think, we never did find the Mir Space Station. (What were we thinking? the Mir Space Station in the middle of Wisconsin!) I guess we were just desperate to see anything but corn fields, cows and soy beans. We got back on the road to Minnesota. (4 more hours)(ugh)
Tomorrow I get to shop my heart out at the Great Mall of America!

Day 27: Geese Chasing

This morning we decided to grab a cache just over the border into Ohio. The darn GPS took us on a wild goose chase. Our brains knew it was at the rest stop but the GPS had us getting off later and then wandering down country roads to the backside of the rest stop. Of course it was all fenced off. Oh well on to the next cache. On our way back to the fwy we filled up the car with $2.53 gas and saw our first ALIVE wildlife sighting. Four deer darted across the road in front of us. (Pretty pitiful.) We tried very hard in Vermont to find a moose but it just never happened. The second wild goose chase of the day was our detour into the Ohio Amish country. DOES ANYONE WHAT DAY IT IS TODAY? SUNDAY. When will we learn that everyone except CA shuts down on Sundays! (especially the Amish) We did get to see several buggies with the whole family in them on their way home from church.

Through Indiana and into South Bend. My sister Teresa is thrilled! She and her husband Matt are huge Notre Dame fans. Of course after we had dinner we went and walked around the Notre Dame campus. It is a pretty campus. We went to see the Grotto, Basilica, touch down Jesus and the stadium.

Day 26: Driving, Driving, Driving

We left Vermont this morning to start heading back to Sloville, CA. As we were approaching Troy I sent a text to Lauren, "good bye". Another one "hugs and kisses" and another one "goodbye. Finally later in the afternoon when we crossed into PA we sent Jeremy and Lauren messages that we were in PA. She responded! I guess she figured it was safe to answer since we were far away from her and couldn't just pop in. We made a dinner stop in Clearview, PA at Denny's Beer Barrell Pub. They are world famous, and in the Guiness World book for their 123 pound burger which only costs $399.99. Believe it or not but someone ordered one while we were there! It was for a group of guys that were coming from the Penn State game.

After diner we went on to Clarion, PA. (there were no rooms available in the vacinity because of the game)

Day 25: To Bristol and Beyond

WOW we started out really late today. decided to take it easy since we have a week of driving coming up. We drove to Bristol to see the Lords Prayer Rock. Its a Roadside America feature and a geocache! One of the old stories about this rock is, in the early days of the town when the loggers would haul their logs into town they had to climb a steep hill and would cuss and swear at their teams of horses to get them to get a good head of speed to make the climb. As the story goes, a Christian man who was well to do decided to have the prayer carved into the rock to help remind the drivers to keep their tongues in check. Then we went into New Haven to see The grave of Timothy Clark Smith in the Evergreen Cemetery which has a window on it. Timothy was afraid of being buried alive, so he had a special grave built for him when he passed away in 1893. A cement tube leads down to Mr. Smith's face. On top of is a 14x14 inch square piece of glass so he could see up above ground if he was mistaken to be dead. A bell was placed in his hand so he could ring it and hope someone would hear it and let him out. We couldnt see anything down there. Guess what this is also a RA and geocache!

Knit Wits I have a new group project! i found this really cute book in a shop today in New Haven, VT.

Geocaches today, 19.

Tomorrow we leave to start driving back home. Guess what? We are going right through troy again.

Day 24: Rock of ages

Today was a rock day. We went to the quarry, Rock of Ages in Barre Vermont. They are one of the largest quarriers and manufacturers of granite in North America. The granite mined here is a blue grey color which makes it perfect for monuments, industrial and architectural use.

Then we worked on an earth cache. It was pretty time consuming. We had to go to 4 different quarries. Boy we sure know alot about granite now.



After the cache we went to Hope cemetery. They are local here and only accept headstones made from granite from Barre. We did a little shopping there.





















These were my two favorites. Of course a mausoleum or chapel would be nice.

Once the shopping was complete we drove to Woodstock.We had lunch there and poked in out of the shops. Then home it was. It is still very hot today. They are on day three of record temps. But we have a hurricane headed for us! They expect it to hit land Friday sometime. By the time it gets here it will only be torrential rain. But then the arctic air will be able to return to the area. Then the changing of the colors will begin here, just in time for us to leave.

Day 23: Extreme Sports Day

Wow what a day! We started out the day with the luge. We went flying down icy mountains with our hair blowing in the wind. Then in the afternoon we rode class 6 rapids down the Mad River in inner tubes.

OK, we really drove to Stowe. Its one of the biggest ski resorts on the eastern side of the country. We rode on their alpine slide down the ski slope. (Twice) It’s a kick in the pants. It’s a sled with wheels that goes down a half pipe track all the way down the beginner ski slope.

This afternoon it was still warm here, so we decided to float down the Mad River in inner tubes. A lazy 2 ½ hour ride. A company here drives you up the river and then picks you up at the end.

That’s all I got for you today.

Geocaches today, 3

Day 22: Record Highs

Well wouldn't you know it? Vermont was expecting RECORD highs today. (The record being 88) We started out the day at 83 degrees and the high ended up being 95 degrees, with humidity! We decided to take a nice cool car ride to Burlington. Burlington is a hub for Vermont. They have 5 malls, several colleges and sits right on Lake Champlain. It’s a pretty big city. We came upon a street sign today that we have never seen before. I wonder why we don’t have these in CA.

We stopped briefly at the pier to see the plaque for the Lake Champlain Monster. Yes, they have a monster out there!

Then in a field just outside of downtown we came across the world's tallest filing cabinet. Who comes up with this stuff?

Ok Knit Wits, I was just complaining yesterday to Sharon that I had not seen any great knitting stores. Now I have seen two shops in the last two days. The one today is named Kaleidoscope Yarns and is in Essex Junction, VT. I picked up a treat for each of you!
CURVES Ladies you are getting into the action today! I came upon Curves in Waterbury, Vermont. You won't believe this but, during the day they are Curves and at night they transform into a Thai restaurant. There you go Marilyn, a second business for you.

Geocaches today, 17