Wow, two for one today!!

Well, our trip from Indiana to Oregon led us on Interstate 80 almost exclusively. And pretty much the entire 2,500 or so miles of that highway is under construction. Granted it became a tad bit exhausting because as soon as we had safely navigated through one area of construction, another would pop up... However, I will say that President Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is in full effect- We traveled almost 5,000 miles- pretty much all of which was under construction, and these signs were EVERYWHERE! (I should amend this to add that it still kinda sucked, though :)

In the beginning we were excited about driving through many of these states because of their notable landscapes and wide open spaces... Unfortunately I-80 kind of avoids a lot of those beautiful places... I have a feeling that in order to really enjoy some of it, an "off the beaten path" trip will have to be in order... Oh well... it just means another road trip will have to be planned to see what we missed!!

Here's the breakdown:

Indiana:

We had really wanted to visit the Indiana Dunes on Lake Michigan during our visit, but there just wasn't enough time. So instead we decided to make a little detour on our way out and at least dip our toes in the lake... Which I'm really glad we did. We drove through Michigan City, Indiana, which is a really cute little town. Scott and I were kind of smitten with it in fact, joking that it would almost be the perfect place to move to: close to his family, Chicago and Lake Michigan. Perfect. Until we drove into the center of town and saw IT. Yikes. As cute and seemingly perfect as Michigan City seemed... I just couldn't do it. I think I would spend too much of my time agonizing over this, um, landmark to live there... Oh well. We were both kind of bummed.

The Indiana Dunes were wonderful. We were only able to spend a couple of hours there, which is really a shame. The dogs loved the water, and although we were going to be spending the next two days in close quarters in the car, we let the dogs have a little frolic in the lake. I had Brea on the leash at one point and she kept practically dragging me into the water, so there was really no way around it. Then we found a shady spot and had a nice picnic. It was really great, and we will definitely have to spend more time there next time!

Illinois:

Luckily we didn't run into any would-be tornadoes this time around. Although we did experience the worst of the construction around Chicago. That, combined with our detour to the lake, took us a lot longer to get on the road than we had hoped for, but being able to see the lake was totally worth it!

Iowa:

Iowa was very pretty. And flat. With lots of corn.

Nebraska:

Nebraska took what felt like six days to drive through. Although it was probably less. :) Seriously, it was a very beautiful state, with lots of Amber Fields of Grain... Our first night was driving through Nebraska, and when we woke after a short nap, the morning was absolutely beautiful with fresh rain.

Wyoming:

There are two states that we drove through that I definitely think we need to return to so we can really explore. Wyoming is one of them. I-80 is the southern route through the state, which is also the drier, more desert-like part. I was really expecting to drive through scenery that was closer to Yellowstone, rather than Arizona. Ho-hum. But there were some beautiful views of the snow covered Rockies and the packs of wild horses in the distance.

But I definitely want to go and explore the rest of the state in the future.

Utah:

I love Utah. When you break through the dry, brown, desert of Wyoming, you crawl up this huge mountain pass, and the highway seems to break through all of that rock. It runs parallel to a river, so the the interstate is surrounded by huge mountain cliffs, and crazy inclines and windy roads. It was absoultely beautiful. There seems to be no civilization between Rock Spring WY and Salt Lake City- just this crazy, intense mountain range... I also really want to go back. I've heard that the Mormons call Utah the Garden of Eden... and I have to admit they weren't that far off... it's beautiful.

We ran into Salt Lake City around dinner time, so we meandered our way to the Great Salt Lake for a picnic. It was worth the $10 :) Our location was on the smallest, most narrow part of the lake, but you still couldn't see the other side of the horizon. The lake is absolutely beautiful, and a little cold!




Idaho:

How do I begin with Idaho? *sigh* Because we hit the state at night and were unable to really see the scenery we were driving past, there was only one to describe this little part of Idaho that we explored:

I have heard that northern Idaho is a beautiful place with wondrous mountains and lush plant life. I think this why we should probably go back and explore the northern part of the state... We drove through the southern part (north from Salt Lake City) through Twin Falls and Boise. And even in the dark, there was no mistaking what we encountered: Factory Farms. And lots of them. It was horrible. We couldn't see them, but we could SMELL them... and it was so far off from your run of the mill cow farm smell... And it seemed like as soon as we survived one noxious cloud of farm, another would creep up and make your eyes water... I think I'm good on visiting southern Idaho for a while... :)

After trudging through Idaho we finally made it to Oregon and the Columbia River Gorge. That part will have to have an entire post of it's own... it's too huge and beautiful to squeeze in here...