First Snow of the Season!

So I’ve really missed writing in my blog all the time, but this year has been so hectic that I just haven’t had much time. Every time I think about sitting down and writing in it, I feel like I should be doing other things. But anyway, I’m going to be on break soon, so I’m going to make a conscious effort to write more often.

This Monday, we got our first snow! It was so beautiful. I really love the snow. I was like a little girl about it. It started flurrying at night. The whole Residence Hall was buzzing. People were popping in and out to catch a few flakes on their tongues—me included.

Then, around midnight, it really started to pick up and actually start to stick. And I don’t care if you’ve lived with snow your whole life, the first snow is so exciting! I documented the night on my phone. Here’s the two pictures from that night.

Light dusting from behind my building overlooking the tennis courts.

Starting to build up!

So I went to bed an hour later than I should have (at 2 a.m.) because I was in awe staring out my window. I have a great view of the creek and there’s lights shining so you can see the white flakes at night. I finally fell asleep though, but woke up early.

At 7 my body woke me up and I opened my eyes, grabbed my glasses, and looked out my window. WHITE! Everything was covered in white. The grass, the pavement, the trees, the tennis courts—everything!!

I was so excited that I couldn’t go back to bed until I stepped outside and got to touch it for myself. So that’s exactly what I did. I grabbed my phone (to snap a pic of course) and threw on my sweatshirt, marching outside.

Same view from the first picture, plus an inch or two of snow!

It’s a beautiful moment to enjoy a snowy morning by yourself. It was still snowing when I went out there and my black sweatshirt was quickly covered with tiny little puffs of ice.

I have this philosophy about snow. It is so perfectly beautiful that I don’t want to bother it. I feel bad when I walk on a fresh, smooth plane of snow. I want to preserve it for as long as I can so others can enjoy it too. I kind of cringe when people unnecessarily trek across snow when there’s a perfectly good salted sidewalk right next to it.

Needless to say, I’m excited for it to snow again. This time I want to be snowed in and have classes canceled…it will probably have to wait until I come back in January though.

My New Blog

Another one of my professors has asked me to make a blog. This time its showcasing my projects I've done in my Interactive Digital Design (IDD) class. Check it out and let me know what you think. Erica's IDD Blog

Here's a preview of whats on it. I took pictures from both my Yosemite trip and my cross country trip.

Strengths Quest

My Residence Hall Director, who is the woman who runs the building I work in and is basically my boss, and me and the other RA's in the building take this test to see what our strengths are. We're always thinking about our weaknesses because they are what hold us back--we notice them. But we rarely take time to notice our strengths. They are just a part of us and make things easier for us when we didn't even realize it. After seeing my top 5 strengths, it's kind of scary how accurate this test is. The strengths are in order, so the top one is my number one strength and so-on. I'm going to go into each one in more detail for what they mean to me and how I view them, but here's what the site describes them as.

This is me in a nutshell:

INTELLECTION
You like to think. You like mental activity. You like exercising the "muscles" of your brain, stretching them in multiple directions. This need for mental activity may be focused; for example, you may be trying to solve a problem or develop an idea or understand another person's feelings. The exact focus will depend on your other strengths. On the other hand, this mental activity may very well lack focus. The theme of Intellection does not dictate what you are thinking about; it simply describes that you like to think. You are the kind of person who enjoys your time alone because it is your time for musing and reflection. You are introspective. In a sense you are your own best companion, as you pose yourself questions and try out answers on yourself to see how they sound. This introspection may lead you to a slight sense of discontent as you compare what you are actually doing with all the thoughts and ideas that your mind conceives. Or this introspection may tend toward more pragmatic matters such as the events of the day or a conversation that you plan to have later. Wherever it leads you, this mental hum is one of the constants of your life.

INPUT
You are inquisitive. You collect things. You might collect information-words, facts, books, and quotations-or you might collect tangible objects such as butterflies, baseball cards, porcelain dolls, or sepia photographs. Whatever you collect, you collect it because it interests you. And yours is the kind of mind that finds so many things interesting. The world is exciting precisely because of its infinite variety and complexity. If you read a great deal, it is not necessarily to refine your theories but, rather, to add more information to your archives. If you like to travel, it is because each new location offers novel artifacts and facts. These can be acquired and then stored away. Why are they worth storing? At the time of storing it is often hard to say exactly when or why you might need them, but who knows when they might become useful? With all those possible uses in mind, you really don't feel comfortable throwing anything away. So you keep acquiring and compiling and filing stuff away. It's interesting. It keeps your mind fresh. And perhaps one day some of it will prove valuable.

EMPATHY
You can sense the emotions of those around you. You can feel what they are feeling as though their feelings are your own. Intuitively, you are able to see the world through their eyes and share their perspective. You do not necessarily agree with each person's perspective. You do not necessarily feel pity for each person's predicament-this would be sympathy, not Empathy. You do not necessarily condone the choices each person makes, but you do understand. This instinctive ability to understand is powerful. You hear the unvoiced questions. You anticipate the need. Where others grapple for words, you seem to find the right words and the right tone. You help people find the right phrases to express their feelings-to themselves as well as to others. You help them give voice to their emotional life. For all these reasons other people are drawn to you.

DEVELOPER
You see the potential in others. Very often, in fact, potential is all you see. In your view no individual is fully formed. On the contrary, each individual is a work in progress, alive with possibilities. And you are drawn toward people for this very reason. When you interact with others, your goal is to help them experience success. You look for ways to challenge them. You devise interesting experiences that can stretch them and help them grow. And all the while you are on the lookout for the signs of growth-a new behavior learned or modified, a slight improvement in a skill, a glimpse of excellence or of "flow" where previously there were only halting steps. For you these small increments-invisible to some-are clear signs of potential being realized. These signs of growth in others are your fuel. They bring you strength and satisfaction. Over time many will seek you out for help and encouragement because on some level they know that your helpfulness is both genuine and fulfilling to you.

RELATOR
Relator describes your attitude toward your relationships. In simple terms, the Relator theme pulls you toward people you already know. You do not necessarily shy away from meeting new people-in fact, you may have other themes that cause you to enjoy the thrill of turning strangers into friends-but you do derive a great deal of pleasure and strength from being around your close friends. You are comfortable with intimacy. Once the initial connection has been made, you deliberately encourage a deepening of the relationship. You want to understand their feelings, their goals, their fears, and their dreams; and you want them to understand yours. You know that this kind of closeness implies a certain amount of risk-you might be taken advantage of-but you are willing to accept that risk. For you a relationship has value only if it is genuine. And the only way to know that is to entrust yourself to the other person. The more you share with each other, the more you risk together. The more you risk together, the more each of you proves your caring is genuine. These are your steps toward real friendship, and you take them willingly.

Editor's Power

My latest article has been published today. I got a little tip from the editor-in-chief to add a little meat to my article and I went ahead and added some hard facts in there. It's nice to get constructive criticism, even though, I'll be honest, I've been known not to take it too well at times. But given in the right ways I think it's very helpful.

However, I'm a little annoyed that some editor (not sure who) changed the first sentence of my article. To me, it sounds a little snobbish to start out by saying "In my Californian opinion...". First of all, this is something I would never say. And second, I don't want everyone to hate me. Oh well, we'll see how they respond to this one.

Here's the link.

No Homesickness Here

This year, I am pleasantly surprised that I haven’t been very homesick.

I miss the people at home—my mom, my dad, my best friend—but I don’t really miss being at home. This summer was interesting. I was bored a lot. I really don’t have much going on at home anymore. My life is here now (as much as my mom doesn’t want to hear that).

This year has been a great one already. I’m really enjoying living on my own. However, sometimes it’s a little, well, lonely. My group of friends used to live in my building last year. So because all of us were extremely lazy, this worked out well. But now that they all live together in another building, I don’t see them nearly as much. I’m not really involved in their plans and most of the time they don’t make a huge effort to come visit me.

On the bright side, I’ve gotten closer to the RAs on my staff. We’re on the same schedule and do live in the same building. Weird how that works out. Anyway, I feel so comfortable as an RA. Like this is what I’m meant to do. I love my hallway, my building, and my staff. It’s a great atmosphere. 

First Article!

So today my first article was published in my school's newspaper, The Chronicle. Here's a link to it: Bob Saget Opinion Article

Within an hour of it being posted, I already had 2 comments online. While they weren't encouraging comments, it's nice to know that people are actually reading what I have to say. I'm in the process of planning my next article. I'm not sure if I'm going to stay solely in Opinion. While I do love sharing my thoughts with the world, I'd like to do a hard news story or maybe even a feature. Im doing a news feature for my Journalism class, so maybe I'll work on that for both class and the paper.

The meeting for the paper is tonight and I'm also thinking of joining the production stage of the paper (editing, designing, things of that sort). I'm interested in running the actual web page because that's leaning more towards what I may be doing in the future. But anyway, I hope you enjoy my article! It's fun seeing my name in the by line of a paper again!

Getting Old

It’s official, I’m getting old. Sometime last week, I pulled a muscle on the left side of my back. It is the most annoying thing in the world. For those of you who have hurt your back before, I feel your pain.

It might not be so bad if I didn’t have a life and could just lay in bed for a week. But of course I had to drive 2 hours to Massachusetts, walk around all weekend, drive 2 hours back, and still have to walk to all my classes and sit in very uncomfortable desks and chairs.

However, think goodness for Aleve and Icy Hot! They are the only reasons that I’m able to get through the day. But I still feel a little ridiculous holding my back to bend over to pick something up. I suppose this is just a little taste of what it’s going to feel like when I’m older.

It's About Time

So this semester, I have decided to finally join the newspaper for my campus. I wanted to do it last year, but for some reason I never made my way to their meetings on Wednesday nights. But, with the encouragement from one of my residents (yes, it’s a two way street of support in my hall) we went with one of my friends.

For the next edition of the paper, I am planning on writing a story about being from California at a school in Connecticut. Sound a little familiar? So maybe it’s not the newest idea I’ve had (pauses to look over blog) but I think it’s a great point to start. It’s kind of like introducing myself to everyone.

The cool thing about our newspaper—called The Chronicle—is that even if your story doesn’t make it in the print edition, they post everything online. Once I’m officially published, I’ll be posting links to my stories so you all can check them out!

And yes, I realize that it's been a while since my last post. I'm going with the excuse that I've been really busy (because I have been really busy) and just haven't had any quality time to sit down and do this. It's difficult to write personally when I have homework to do and newspaper articles to write. Also, for one of my business classes, I've been asked to write a blog. So I'll be spending some of my time doing that. I have to post 4 times a week on a subject of my choosing. I'd just like to reflect that I don't even post 2 times a week--let alone 4--on this blog. We'll see how that goes. Here's a link to it: Erica's 20 Percent Time

Labor Day Weekend

It’s great to be back at school and be busy again. During the summer I feel so unproductive that it’s nice to actually do some work and cross something off your to-do list. But, at the same time, it’s great to take a break. Whenever I see Jeff is my break time. This weekend, he came and stayed with me and we had a blast. More importantly, I put all my work away and just focus on having fun. I know I’m not going to get any of it done anyway, so what’s the point of even thinking about it?

We had only two things we wanted to do: enjoy an awesome storm and hike the mountain that’s across the street. The first item on our list failed miserably. Like I said before, Hurricane Earl totally missed us, and we got small excuse for rain. So that left us with only one thing planned. But, not to worry, whenever we’re together, we always find something fun to keep us busy.

On Saturday we did a little bit of shopping, and I picked up some things that I have needed. We knew we wanted to do something outside because while the hurricane didn’t bother us, it did bring some amazing refreshing weather. On our beautiful day, we finally decided to drive 20 minutes south to a small beach that my friend recommended to me.

It was so peaceful to walk along the shell-strewn beach listening to the calming lapping of the waves. I love finding beautiful shells to take home with me. This trip, I found a very unique one that is now sitting on my shelf.

While I was collecting shells, Jeff—my soon-to-be pro photographer—was snapping away beautiful shots totally enjoying the way the afternoon sun was glittering off things. I’ll put a few of my favorites in so you can check them out.

After that, we went to the pizza place where my friend works and had a delicious dinner followed by some ice cream. We then returned to the beach to sit on a blanket and watch the sky change colors for the sunset. But, it’s only so romantic until the sand fleas start attacking.

The next morning we were up a little early so we could climb “The Giant”. The name of the mountain is called Sleeping Giant because it looks just like one. So we were going to go get breakfast (and coffee) at the caf and grab a few sandwiches for lunch on the top, but when we got there, it was barred off and we saw that it doesn’t open until 11 on Sundays! Leave it to college to be open so late. Aren’t people up before then? Apparently not.

Anyway, we then had to hike up to my car (and yes it’s quite a hike, it’s parked in a lot called “Hilltop” and they aren’t kidding) and went to go get some Dunkin. Fueled up with a breakfast sandwich and Jeff with his coffee in hand, we finally were able to start our adventure.

It was a beautiful hike and it’s so nice to go with someone who’s on the same pace as you and is appreciating the same things. The view from the top is absolutely amazing. You can see the entire campus and all the way to the Long Island Sound. We were overlooking a beautiful forest of trees and it sounded like the waves of the ocean. 

Let me add here too, that Jeff had his Dunkin cup in his hand the entire way up—and down.

We found a friend at the top of the mountain climbing on the rock. He was a little caterpillar that we had some fun with taking cool pictures. Jeff got him on a leaf and placed him a tree when we were leaving because he seemed so out of place on the edge of a cliff.

But now that Labor Day Weekend is over, it’s time to start the week. Thankfully,  I had enough time today to finish all of my work and the great part about this is that now I have only 3 more days until the next weekend because I don’t have class on Friday’s!

My First Hurricane

It turned out to be nothing at all. Just a little bit of rain, but it pretty much missed us. Kind of disappointing. I was so ready for a huge storm and lots of rain. But I was especially ready for some cooler weather.

It is so hot here! The majority of residence halls on my campus have no a/c, so we rely on the mercy of Mother Nature to keep us cool. So far, she is not cooperating. Luckily I am on the first floor. We all know that hot air rises and boy oh boy is the 3^rd floor ridiculously hot!

I really wouldn’t care about that, but as an RA, we have to make rounds of our building (or in my case buildings) every 2 hours or so. Which means I have to climb up stairs to the Saharan desert.  After walking around for a bit up there, I then retreat back to my room in front of my overworking box fan.

I think it’s just starting to cool off outside, but there’s all this hot air trapped in the building soon. Man I can’t wait until fall!

Time to Find Balance

My Resident Hall Director (RHD) who is basically my direct boss as a Resident Assistant (RA) had our staff come together and each one of us make a collage. It wasn’t just any collage though. She asked us to make it about our goals for the year and my goal was “to find balance”.

 Looking at what I had going this year, I had a lot on my plate. And by a lot I mean that the mashed potatoes were spilling on to the table and the gravy was overflowing onto the floor. I am an RA, a member of a sorority, a student, a girlfriend, a friend, and I am planning on getting a job as well.

I could devote all my time to just one of these separate parts of me and still not be at my full potential. This is a very frustrating way to look at it. Instead, I have to learn how to blend all of my different roles into one me. But the tricky part is that I can’t spread myself so thin that everything gets the bare minimum.

I already love my job as an RA. I love all of the people I’ve met in the program. Everyone is so welcoming and inclusive. I absolutely love my staff (the RAs who work in my area). We mesh so perfectly. And I love my residents. If you can’t tell, there’s a whole lot of love going around. Of course there are hard parts that come along with this job—like having to write up people who are blatantly breaking the rules. But the good definitely outweighs the bad.

As a friend, I can already feel the pressures of maintaining relationships and keeping up with work taking its toll—and I haven’t even gone to my first class! I’m so busy during the day, that when night rolls a round I’m exhausted. Of course, night is when everyone is done with class/work and you get to make that decision would you rather sacrifice homework or paperwork to have some fun with your friends, or would you rather sacrifice your friends to do some homework or paperwork. I try so hard to give equal time to both parts, but inevitably the responsible part in the back of my head takes over, and I default to homework.

Especially as a girlfriend, I’ve felt terrible when I’m busy the entire day up until the point when I go to bed. I make a quick phone call to see how my boyfriend is doing, but I need to go to sleep so it doesn’t last too long. However, I love that no matter how busy I get, we always make sure to call each other at least once a day—even if it is only for a few seconds. I have a feeling this year Skype dates will be essentials. Time management is an important skill, and being able to plan an actual time to talk will be helpful.

And since we all know how stressful just being a student is, that brings me to my last role: a sorority member. Last semester I was initiated into Alpha Chi Omega. It was a great semester and I met some of the most amazing people. After a hard debate of what part of me could give a little so I could devote more time to being a good RA, I have decided to leave Alpha Chi. There are many reasons that have gone into this decision, and I would be more than happy to sit down and explain them to all of my sisters and friends. The simplest reason is that I could not put Alpha Chi on the back burner to being an RA. To me, it was all or nothing. I realize this isn’t the most appropriate outlet to go about announcing this, but I thought it was at least a step above Facebook.

I will truly miss everything about Alpha Chi Omega, but I know that my decision does not change my relationship with any of the women I have met. I will continue to support the great things Alpha Chi does, it’s just hard to think that I won’t be able to be behind what they do. Keep up the great work ladies!

So with that starts a new chapter in my life. Today is the first day of classes and I am starting sophomore year with a new position as an RA. I am excited for this year and am certain that in the long run my decision to focus more on being an RA will make me the happiest.

Feeling More Like Home

Today marked the first official day of move-in. My hallway—along with the rest of campus—is starting to get populated. It’s so much fun to have my new residents and their parents buzzing around the hall.

And while they’ve been setting up shelves and putting everything away, I’ve been adding a few nice touches to my room. I put up pictures on my wall and put up some nice notes and drawings from my good friends. It’s nice to see my familiar pictures and things.

While I have been looking forward to move-in week, I can’t wait until it’s over and everything starts falling into place. I can see how my schedule works and when people are in the hall using the showers and what not. It’ll be an awesome few weeks.

Well, I have to run now and go help new freshmen move in. I’m excited to start writing my blog regularly again.

New Beginnings at an Old School

Hey everyone. So first of all, sorry for taking so long to wrap up our cross-country adventure! We did make it and I am so glad to be back at school (never thought I’d say those words!). I’d love to go back and recount all the trials and tribulations my mom and I went through to move me in—like having to rent an SUV to fit a huge 32-inch TV in, and then having 4 guys help me lift it onto my dresser—but I don’t have much time and it has been more than a week after it all happened.

So I’ll just start with what’s happening now. A lot of you have been asking to see pictures of my room, so here they are. I absolutely love my room, and I hope that everyone else does too because it’s perfect for hosting people for movie night or just to hang out. It’s huge! It definitely beats living with 3 other people in a room only double this one.

I’ve been very, very busy with Resident Assistant (RA) Training. For those of you who don’t know, an RA is someone who lives in the same hall or area of residents and is there as a resource, a mediator, and an enforcer of the school policy. That’s the job description in a nutshell, but I’ve been learning the in’s and out’s of the position for the past week. I’ve met a lot of great people and am really excited for my residents to move in on Thursday.

I’ll try to get better with posting blogs, I’ll just have to find a few minutes in each day because I really missed not writing. And oh, I have joined the craze and am now reading Eat Pray Love. I just started, but I’m already enjoying it.

Day 7: Aurora, OH to Parsippany, NJ

Today was not very exciting as far as the driving part goes. However, it was great to wake up and come downstairs to a wonderful breakfast prepared by the Browskie’s. We enjoyed this wonderful baked French toast and some fresh fruit. After breakfast, their son Jim and his daughter Allison came over with their dog Bailey. I wish I had taken a picture of Bailey because she was the sweetest, fluffiest dog I’ve ever seen.

After talking for a bit, we decided we should hit the road. We hit the road without knowing where we were going to stay that night. We didn’t want to go all the way to Connecticut, but we weren’t sure how far we wanted to go. In the end, we made it so we would stop in New Jersey so that I could visit my really good friend that lives there.



So with a destination in mind, we kept on driving through Pennsylvania. And drove some more. And some more. Pennsylvania is just so wide and there is so much construction happening on I-80. I tried to take a picture of the welcome sign, but my car got in the way…I also tried to take a picture of the sign when we were leaving PA, but it’s blurry and the back window got in the way. (See below)




It is very pretty and here's a picture as we passed through the Appalachain Mountains.



We had no fun stops in Pennsylvania, so that made it kind of boring. To break through the boringness was the sound of my mom biting her nails. All of her fake nails had broken off and some little OCD part in her was compelling her to bite her real ones. I kept yelling at her, but she just couldn't stop herself. Thankfully, we found a Wal Mart in Du Bois and while we're sitting in the parking lot, she's applying her new nails. This is also after I changed my shirt to long sleeves in the same parking lot. We just felt the need to add to the atmosphere of the store. We are now officially Wal-Martians.

Other than that, the only “big” thing that happened to us was that we hit 3,000 miles on our trip odometer! That was very exciting.




Right as you cross the New Jersey border, you also cross over the Delaware Water Gap. If it sounds familiar...that's because that's where George Washington crossed in that very famous panting. See the resemblance?




So once we crossed into New Jersey, we were ready for some food and a little bit of rest. We stopped at a Chili’s that was right down the street from our hotel. We had one of the weirdest waiters. He tried to be charismatic, but it just turned out to be creepy. He realized our table wasn’t wiped off, so he comes over and with the spray bottle, writes his name on the table, spelling it out for us. If that wasn’t bad enough, when I told my friend Alyssa about him, she totally knew who we were talking about!



Anyway, after relaxing in our hotel room for a couple hours, Alyssa was finally off work and she came to meet us at our hotel. She picked me up and gave me the grand tour of Parsippany as well as the grand tour of her house. It was fun to see where she lived, and see the room I’ve seen on Skype before! It’s so cool to be in her hometown after hearing so much about it. I then got to meet her group of high school friends. It was cool to meet these people I’ve heard so much about.



But it was late so she took me back so we both could get some sleep. Hopefully I’ll see here before we leave Jersey. But next stop is my school!

Day 6: Gurnee, IL to Aurora, OH

So yesterday was nice, but it was time to hit the road again today. We got up at “too-early” 7:30 and got out of the house by about 8:30. Because Loren had flew out to Denver to meet us in Casper, WY, we had to bring her to the airport to pick up her car. Luckily, it was on our way out, so it worked out perfectly. 40 minutes later we were at the airport and we said our goodbyes and watched Loren walk away.

Then we watched her walk back. We rolled down the window, and she said that she was focusing so hard on not forgetting the parking ticket, that she forgot her keys! We couldn’t believe it! But we did the only thing we could do, which was hop back in the car and go back to her house to get them and then come all the way back. I won’t lie, it sucked. But it wasn’t the biggest deal in the world and we were soon on our way again.



We drove right by Chicago. Last Thanksgiving we had actually went out and visited, so it wasn't a big deal that we didn't go into the city. I still snuck a few pictures of it, but it was a little smoggy. We also passed by the Chicago White Sox baseball stadium. I think it’d be fun one day to take a road trip to different baseball fields.



After that, we quickly came upon the lovely—heavy sarcasm—state of Indiana. Right from the get-go my mom and I did not like this state. The first thing we did was pass through the toll. It took forever. There was a line of like 10 cars and it was crawling by. Finally when we get close, we see what the hold up is. There isn’t an attendant taking your money, but a machine! And I have to add that there are no signs telling you how much money to have ready until you get right up to it.



So anyway, this older woman was in front of us. She must have been 80-years old judging by how much her hand was shaking. But here she is trying so hard to line up the dollar to put it in the little machine. And then she has to put in a couple of corners. My mom felt so bad she was ready to jump out of the car to help her.



Then it’s our turn. Of course we only have a $20 bill for the $1.50 toll. So we put it in and then we hear the clanking of coins. And would you believe it, but it gave us $18.50 in gold dollars and quarters!! I didn’t even know people still used those! However, we gladly gave most of these coins back to Indiana in all the different tolls we passed.



We stopped at a welcome center in Indiana and found out that we were only 15 minutes from South Bend. I didn't know the significance of this until today, but that meant we were very close to Notre Dame. Of course we went to visit and it was a very beautiful campus. The bookstore was huge and I decided to buy a shirt. I probably won't be there again, so it was definitely a cool stop.



East Indiana wasn’t very pretty, but once you hit Amish Country it was very pretty with tons of farms. I might add that Ohio is now the 4th state of corn. It’s amazing how much corn there is—but only about %12 of all the corn grown in the U.S. is actually eaten by people.

We went to this family style restaurant called Das Dutchman Essenhaus. Here’s the link to a site about it: http://www.essenhaus.com/. (Just as a side note, I think it’s weird that there are websites about the Amish Country. It kind of goes against everything they stand for). But anyway, this was some of the best food I’ve had. They served us amazing fried chicken, with mashed potatoes, stuffing, chicken noodles, and corn. Our waitress was very nice but it was really interesting overhearing her conversation with the man next to us. He asked her if the french fries were the best, and said that she liked them, but had never had anybody else’s fries before. It’s so interesting that there are these towns of people living a completely different life than the town right next to them. There really was no fine line between Amish Country and the rest of Indiana.



After dinner, we got to pick a piece of homemade pie. My mom picked banana cream pie and I picked Dutch apple pie. It was the most amazing apple pie I have ever had. I wish I could go back all the time, but sadly it’s in the middle of a state I really didn’t like. We did a little shopping of the touristy stuff they have, and then we had to hit the road again.



On our way out of Amish Country, we realized the highway was only a half a mile away from Michigan. So of course we stopped by to take a picture of the sign and say that we’ve been there. That was our last stop though before Aurora, Ohio.





We are so lucky to know people in Ohio. The parents of our long-time family friend have graciously opened their home (and kitchen) to us. It’s been so fun to see them in their beautiful house, instead of seeing them in California when they come to visit their daughter and grandkids.

We’ve decided that we’re going to stop again tomorrow before Connecticut so that we’re not rushing the whole day. Not sure where we’ll end up, but I’m glad we don’t have to leave here at the crack of dawn and instead we can enjoy a good breakfast with fun company.

Day 5: Relaxation in Gurnee, IL

It was so great to sleep in a nice comfortable bed and wake up when I wanted to—not to the sound of an alarm at 7 in the morning. We didn’t have to rush to get ready and pack up the car. It was wonderful.

For what I’m deeming a relaxing day, we sure did fill the time. Loren’s niece Kristi and her three sons, Tyler (6), Logan (2), and Caden (3 months) came over to visit. We had met all of them—minus Caden because he was still in his mommy’s belly—last Thanksgiving. It only took the boys a few minutes to warm up to us again and we were all laughing and having a good time.

We decided to go to the Rain Forest Café at the Gurnee Mills Mall. Ironically enough, it feels as humid as a rain forest outside. But the trip to the mall turned out to be a day of fun. The Rain Forest Café is always a cool place to go to. While their food is overpriced, the atmosphere is so fun. And it’s always so cute to watch how kids react to the gorilla beating its chest or the elephant moving its trunk.





Logan and Tyler showed me all around, paying special attention to the fish tanks. We found Nemo’s and Dory’s and even a puffer fish. Also, across the way from the restaurant, there was a reptile safari place. A girl was standing in the doorway holding some type of albino boa. Everyone got a chance to touch Banana—that was its name!

We tooled around at the mall for a little bit more. It’s amazing the little things that kids find interesting. But after we said goodbye, Loren, my mom, and I were back on our way to Loren’s to relax a bit before seeing other friends. We did stop at Oberweis—a very yummy ice cream store—on the way home! That was kind of our dinner.

We moseyed around the house for a bit and all of us even laid down for a bit. By the time we looked at the clock, we realized we were going to be late for the birthday part we had been invited to.

We quickly wrapped our presents and hurried over to Chris, Christine, and Brandon's house. We weren’t greeted by the birthday boy because he was a little cranky from being locked in his room all day, but once he came out, he was glad to see his presents. Spunk, their 10-year old cat, loved the little mice I gave him! And in honor of his birthday, we had delicious pumpkin spice cupcakes that Christine made.



At their beautiful house, we played a few rounds of Bananagrams—a Scrabble-like game where you play on your own but with other people. My mom won every round. So instead of having our butts beat for the rest of the night. We brought out a new game: Catchphrase. Games like that are always good for a few laughs!



On our way out of their neighborhood, we saw two deer eating some grass in the empty lots. It must be so cool to have deer living in your backyard! Also, this past day has been great for my much needed kitty therapy. It’s been weird not having a cat living with me (I’ve had one for as long as I can remember). But Loren’s cat Jinxy is very playful and energetic. He may not let me hold him for long, but he loves to get his belly rubbed. And Spunky was a giant mushball who had a lot of fun playing with my feet.

Well, it’s time for bed now because we have a day of driving ahead of us tomorrow. Here we come Cleveland.

Day 4: Mitchell, SD to Gurnee, IL

So at the end of the day while we were driving at night into Illinois, we were all trying to figure out what we did today. I guess after you go to Mount Rushmore and see dozens of bears the day before, driving across 5 states just isn’t exciting. And yes, you read that correctly, we passed through 5 different states: South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and finally Illinois!

The hotel we stayed at in Mitchell, South Dakota was definitely our least favorite of the whole trip. First of all, I’m not sure why but there are hundreds of crickets all around the front of the hotel. When we were wheeling our suitcases in at 1 in the morning, I probably killed about 12 crickets because they are all over the ground, walls, and sidewalks. Loren describes it as a “bad Stephen King novel”.

So already walking into this place we’re grossed out. Then in the room, the wallpaper trim is of pheasants. Really? Pheasants? I guess we’re not in Kansas anymore—or we’re so close to being in Kansas. Either way, it was ugly. After noting the bedspreads that would crinkle when you touch them and the slight mold growing in the shower, I saw that there was another door in the room. I went to open it and I’m not sure I can describe what was on the other side.



It was like an open courtyard, except it was completely covered. So it was pretending to be outside when you were obviously not. It was so muggy and all you can hear are the thousands of crickets swarming the building. I took a picture of what it looks like, but the picture actually makes it look nicer. There’s a swimming pool and a weird set-up of mini golf. It’s also all completely carpeted.

One of my mom’s coworkers suggested that if we’re in Mitchell we better stop at the Corn Palace. Not knowing what to expect, we followed his suggestion straight to the weirdest stop we’ve made. It was only about 2 miles from our hotel and in the midst of houses and stores was this:



It is completely adorned with—you guessed it—corn. There are 12 different types of corn, all different colors, which is how they create images and give the structure its unique look. As if stepping out of your car and seeing this building façade wasn’t enough, when you step inside, there are “corn-cession” stands and then finally an auditorium. There’s a basketball court inside and while there are vendors on the court right now, they do play games there.




Every year the design is changed on the outside and hundreds of thousands ears of corn are placed on the Corn Palace. The first one was built in 1892 and even after all that time they’re still coming up with unique ways to “paint” with corn.



After we hit the road, Loren was looking at the map and noticed that the town where her husband grew up in was only a stone’s throw away from I-90. We were driving through Minnesota and Spirit Lake is in Iowa, so we decided to go visit and cross another state off of our list. Around this time, there was a huge storm. It was absolutely pouring and we had been seeing lightning for at least 30 minutes. It’s so beautiful because the land is so flat that you can see for miles and miles, and when lightning strikes, you can see the entire bolt.





Luckily, when we got to Spirit Lake and stopped at a Wal Mart really quick, the storm had passed. Sadly, I didn’t see any “Wal-Martions” but it’s still cool to say that I was in a Wal Mart in Iowa.

After that, our next stop wasn’t until Blue Earth, Minnesota where there is a giant Jolly Green Giant. This 60-foot statue is just off the highway and he overlooks all the many corn fields. A friendly biker told us that he’s there because that’s where it all started. He is sitting at the edge of the “Valley of the Green Giant”.



When we crossed into Wisconsin, we also crossed the Mississippi River. Let me tell you, it is huge! It is easily the widest river I’ve ever seen in person. We didn’t stop and get out of the car to look at it, but this picture I have crossing over, is only half of the river. The trees on the left-hand side are just part of an island in the middle of it.



It was starting to get dark then and since I was driving, we decided to switch drivers. So we stopped at a gas station—that also had a Quiznos—and got some dinner. While we were leaving, a guy held the door out for me and when I thanked him, he said “You betcha”!! I am so excited that I got to hear that in Wisconsin. It really made my day.



After that little stop though, we were driving in darkness, counting down the hours until we got to Illinois to check in at Hotel Loren. I tried to get a picture of the Illinois sign, but it was too dark and didn’t come out. Maybe I’ll get one tomorrow when we’re leaving Illinois. And also, for those of you who know my mom--and who don't--check out her blog and see her side of the trip!! http://ny2ca2ct.blogspot.com/