Trips from August, 2007
Driving Across the United States
I found out in February of 2007 that I had been accepted to Caltech for graduate school. After visiting in March, Lydia, my then girlfriend, and I decided to move by driving across the country over the course of 9 days. Since I was driving, Lydia took many photographs as we passed state borders and of interesting things on the way. Her photographs are appropriately marked. These entries themselves were posted in January of 2009 and backdated.
Day 1: New York to Michigan
Please see the first post on this trip for important details about this post.
We started off the trip by driving from New York, through a small strip of Pennsylvania, and through Ohio to end up in Ann Arbor, MI, where we visited some of my relatives. There wasn't that much that was too exciting along the way, though we did pass a tractor-trailer carrying 3 vintage tractors. Otherwise, we made it safely to Michigan and decided to spend an extra day there before we continued west.
Day 3: Michigan to Iowa
Please see the first post on this trip for important details about this post.
We left Michigan on the third day of our trip with the goal of reaching Iowa. Along the way, we stopped at Zingerman's Bakery in Ann Arbor, which is a very well known bakery, and for blueberries in western Michigan. Afterwards, we made it safely around Chicago, across the Mississippi River and through the cornfields of Iowa. Here are some more photographs.
Day 4: Iowa to Colorado
Please see the first post on this trip for important details about this post.
Quite frankly, the only fun thing about driving through Iowa and most of Nebraska is the 75 mph speed limit. Otherwise, the road is generally perfectly straight and surrounded by corn fields. One interesting thing about Iowa, though, is that the price of Plus gasoline (octane 89) is lower than that of Regular (octane 87). Again, nothing exciting happened in Iowa or Nebraska, although we did stop to pick up some Iowa wine on the way (there was a NY times article about it just before the trip). Not worth the price, but decent wine.
Otherwise, we made it into the Rocky mountains, through the Rocky Mountain National Park, and to our hotel on the west side of it. But there were plenty of wide fields along the way.
Day 5: Rocky Mountain National Park
Please see the first post on this trip for important details about this post.
We spent the next day and a half around the Rocky Mountain National Park. It's a beautiful area, with the mountains surrounding you on all sides, and one of the highest roads crossing the mountains at around 12,000 ft.
During the evening, we stopped at one of the hot springs in the area that Colorado is known for.
