Road-Trip Day 8: Louisville

We are back to long hours of driving.  Today was only about six hours so that wasn't too bad.  It was nice to have a few days of little to no driving so that we could catch up on some sleep.

We started the day with breakfast at Kings with Christine and Alex.  They are breakfast connoisseurs so I knew it would be good!

Apparently the restaurant makes brownies that they call frownies and sells them in packages and call it a pity party.  These would be great to give to grumpy people.  I'm not sure about the dessert menu though.  Should I be excited that he is waiting for me or should I sneak out the back?

Gas prices haven't changed much.  This gas station did have a significantly lower price than the one a few blocks up the street.

When we were last in West Virginia it took nearly all day.  Today we cut across one of the little parts so we were only there for about ten minutes.

Tunnel!  I'm still amazed that you can drive under a mountain.

This visit to Ohio was much better than my first visit.  I was going to a teaching conference while I was in college and my flight was delayed to the point that I arrived at the Ohio airport at about 3 am.  That was the start of a long and unpleasant weekend.

They kept up the trend of decent gas prices.  If it matters...we chose not to try the iced mocha.

I'm really proud that we haven't really gotten lost this entire trip.  It helps to have a giant atlas with lots of details and many printouts of Google maps.

I'm always glad when we cross into the state where we will be sleeping.  I'm amazed at how little time it takes to go across some of these states.  You can drive all day and still be in Texas but most days we are going through four states.

Almost to our destination!  Louisville is such a cool name for a city especially after going through towns called Bland.

I'm glad we got into town early because we had time to go see Churchill Downs.  I got a good picture of it but the rest wasn't quite as amazing as I thought it would be.

It was definitely a race day because the parking lot was full.  The neighborhood around it was very normal.  It is always weird to see places that are so iconic surrounded by average daily things.

We also had time to explore the University of Louisville campus.  Unfortunately, we couldn't find the bookstore so we weren't able to buy shirts.  I guess we can always shop on the Internet.

I never would have thought to name a seafood place Moby Dick.  Unique restaurants are very entertaining but I'm not usually brave enough to try them.

Louisville Slugger has a really nice baseball stadium in downtown.  I'm not really sure who plays there though.  I would love to come back here sometime.  I saw so many places I want to visit but we won't have time on this trip.

Road-Trip Day 7: Pittsburgh Part II

Today we started heading back towards Texas.  We only drove about four hours so that we could spend the day with Christine and Alex again.  This will probably be pretty short because we didn't go very far or see much that was new.

Gas prices in New York were not great.  I guess it is a good time to turn around and head home.

This is the first time during this trip we have returned to a state.  I'm a little sad to be heading home already.  There is so much more out there to see!

I thought this looked like a really cool building.

On our way back to Pittsburgh for the fourth of July.

One of the things entertaining us on our drive is my iPod.  We have all sorts of music on there...some stuff we probably wouldn't admit to listening to.

One of my favorite things about the fourth of July is the hot dog eating contest.  I think it is really funny because they take it so seriously!

I made sopapilla cheesecake for my sister's fourth of July party.  There weren't very many people there but the cheesecake disappeared really fast!  I hope everyone else did something fun today to celebrate!

Road-Trip Day 6: Buffalo

Today was the day I was waiting for!  We only had about four hours of driving and we were going to see Niagara Falls!  It was tough taking pictures during the drive though because it rained almost the entire way.  I was really scared that it might totally ruin the day but it kept the temperatures very cool and it wasn't too crowded.

We started the day on I-79 to Erie and switched to I-90 headed toward Buffalo.  If you look really close you can see some of the rain on the windshield.

Gas prices in Pennsylvania were decent.  I really thought that by the time we got this far north it would be really ugly.

I got this one off the Internet because it was raining really hard when we passed it.  I did pout for a while about not getting any good pictures because of the rain.  I eventually got over it with a little help from Mike.  It was also a relief to see the skies finally starting to get lighter the further we went.

Yes!  Almost there!

Have I ever mentioned that I like bridges?  I'm not really sure why they fascinate me.

We're here!

Let's call this the before picture.  The boat people provided us with these lovely ponchos to protect us from the waterfalls.  It was kind of like wearing saran wrap.  They inflated nicely whenever the wind blew.

My poncho was specially crafted for me.  No one else had a poncho that could cover their ankles and yet display their favorite shoes.

Everything was very beautiful and smelled like fish.  I was amazed at how much water is constantly going over the waterfalls.  That was some powerful water!

So beautiful!  You could see the mist rising to the sky from miles away.  This is my favorite waterfall because I like all the rocks.  Can you imagine being there to see one of the big rocks come tumbling down?

Our boat sat in the middle of this for quite a while.  We were definitely up close and personal with this waterfall.

Let's call this the after picture.  We didn't really feel the need to put our hoods on until it was fairly pointless to bother.  We are the type of people who don't mind dancing in the rain without an umbrella.  We always figure that we'll dry eventually.

My favorite part of a waterfall is the top!  It has that sense of looming danger that makes you want to test gravity.

Watch out duckling!  Don't get in the water behind you!

We decided not to go to Canada.  I'm sure it is lovely there but we already saw everything we wanted to see.  We also didn't want to translate...Eh?

For the first time in this road-trip we finally headed south.  It was kind of strange and confusing at first since we've been going north and east for days.

We had plenty of time to go back to the hotel and wash Niagara Falls out of our hair and get ready to go see Wicked.  We parked in downtown Buffalo and roamed around until we found a local pizza place that was great.  We still had plenty of time before the show, so we stopped for dessert.

Dessert was tasty!  It was a gooey brownie with chocolate ice cream.

The theater was so fancy and classic.  We weren't suppose to have a camera in there so I didn't get any pictures of the inside.

Wicked was fantastic!  I knew it was going to be good but it is now one of my favorites.  It was funny and really well written.  Even Mike was able to relax because the music and singing were virtually flawless.  I would highly recommend seeing this if you have a chance!

Road-Trip Day 5: Intermission

Today was our hangout day in Pittsburgh day.  It was nice to not spend the entire day driving.  We slept in and got a late start.

This is my twin sister Christine!  Most people we meet don't believe us.  This is the building on the University of Pittsburgh campus where her office is.  She is working on a masters and PhD in psychology.  She is pretty good about not analyzing us.

Lunch was at the local burger joint that apparently is well recommended my many newspapers.  I thought it was very tasty!

I love shoes and I have some very interesting and attention grabbing shoes but these flip-flops have totally crossed a line.  I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who would love to have these and probably have an outfit that would match.  I didn't buy these but I did buy a University of Pittsburgh shirt!

I can't remember what this building building is called or what it is for.  I think it looks really nice.  I actually wanted to be an architect for a while.  That was after I decided not to be an astronaut.  Every time I see a cannon I always wish I had one!  Is that normal?

This building is called the Cathedral of Learning.  It's huge!  Christine calls it the Tower of Power.  She and Alex (her husband) think it resembles the Tower Of Sauron from The Lord Of The Rings because they say it is like you are always being watched.  It makes me think of The Ministry Of Truth from Orwell's 1984.

I think Christine got tired of me stopping her tour to take random pictures.  Isn't it always necessary to take pictures with the statue of a school's mascot?

Can't lie...I love this sign and I wish I could have it!  I kinda made me think of Green Eggs And Ham.  It was really good coffee.  I'm a big Starbucks fan and I would definitely take this over Starbucks anytime!

Pittsburgh is really industrial and the landscape is very rugged.  The road are difficult to drive on during the summer and I can't imagine what the roads are like in the winter.

It would be very interesting to live somewhere that is not flat.  I grew up in Dallas, went to college in Waco, and now I'm in Houston.  When we were going through West Virginia I was totally caught up in the pretty mountains and told Mike I could live there.  He reminded me that I probably wouldn't make it more than a few days.  Truthfully, after a couple more hours of the pretty landscape, I was finished and praying for a Starbucks because that usually means civilization of some sort.

This is Loki!  He is Christine and Alex's dog.  We aren't really sure what he is.  They claim he is a coonhound but I hadn't even heard of that breed until they got him.  He wasn't very well behaved when they first got him but he has been on his best behavior while we have been visiting.  At 65lbs he is definitely bigger than Sadie! We had dinner and spent the rest of the night playing Wii.  Alex was able to join the fun since he didn't have to work as late tonight.