Tentative Trip Itinerary!

Good morning! (cue my relatives to remark/joke about how early I am up)--

Last night, after a diligent hour or so of planning, Aunt Amy, Aunt Trish, and I have arrived at an approximation of our stopping points! We're not taking a direct route to Portland, as we're trying to get the most out of this trip west. Below is a picture of our scheduled route:

On the list of things we're going to try to see/do (in no particular order because I have forgotten which state is home to what):

-Corn Palace (made entirely of corn husks)

-Devil's Tower

-The Badlands

-Glacier National Park/Prince of Wales hotel in Alberta, CANADA (that would be not America)

-Yellowstone National Park

-Sioux Falls

-Mount Rushmore

And, of course, we are leaving for Chicago today! We've got our hotel lined up in Chi-town, and we're planning on spending the longest there--three days. I'm really excited to see this city.

I know I must be forgetting something that we are trying to see, but I guess we'll find out soon enough. The trip, in total, is 3,200 miles, and would take two days and four hours if we were zombies and made it all in one car ride. However, this itinerary doesn't have us arriving in Portland for another TEN days!

On a totally unrelated side note, it was great to see cousins Mark, Mary, Nicole, and Taylor last night. Also, Julie and Julia was a really cute movie.

All right. Ahead of us is a 12-hour long car ride (the longest of the trip). Time to put on my comfy pants and put my hair up in a ponytail.

This may be the last day I ever find myself in possession of any kind of savings. In ten days, I will be broke. Feel free to donate money.

All my love to everyone!

Not quite gone yet.

Hi friends and family--

So this is my first official post of my first official blog. My road trip across America with my Aunt Amy and Aunt Trish (we're headed to Portland, Oregon) commences either tomorrow or the next day, and right now I am hanging out in Roanoke, Virginia, in my late grandparents' house. The weather is gorgeous and the mountains lovely, and I haven't even begun the trip.

Last night Mom treated everyone to a nice dinner in downtown Roanoke, which is a really cool, artsy area, and after eating we drove up to the Roanoke star and looked down onto the Roanoke Valley, which was all lit up and beautiful. Today we all visited what I believe is historic Grandin Street, and my family visited the house in which my grandfather grew up. It's adorable and on sale--not to mention really cheap. My mom and sisters just left to go back to Chapel Hill, and it's weird that I won't see them for two months! I'll miss them (but don't tell them that). The picture above is my family at the Roanoke star, with the valley in the background, and the picture below is the house in which my grandad grew up.

Although I'm least looking forward to spending extended periods of time in what I expect to be uncomfortable conditions (a very full car), I'm eager to start our trek to Chicago tomorrow. Everyone from whom I've heard (like my grammar? :D) says that the Windy City is amazing. Twelve hours of driving and we'll have reached our first destination! Jizzaaaaa!

I have nothing else to say, really. I'm crossing my fingers that the hotels at which we'll stop will, for the most part, have wireless internet, because I'm hoping to update this often. Thanks for reading! I miss a number of you very much already. Paz.