Our Great Colorado Adventure started out at approximately 4:30am, which I have to say, was not that pleasant. I have a bit of trouble getting up at 7:45am for work, and I'm not sure I've seen 4:30am in many years, if ever. Regardless, the Mothership and I packed up the car, and were on the road by 6am. She kindly let me nap until Buffalo, but as I was excited for my first vacation in 6 years, I was unable to sleep.
We hit Buffalo around 8:30am...well, not really Buffalo, but we did get to stop at that killer reststop where you walk through the tunnel over the Thruway. I did take some pictures, but left that camera in the car by accident, and I'm too lazy to go get it! Of note, apparently the parts of New York and Pennsylvania that border Lake Ontario and Lake Erie grow a lot of grapes. I've never seen so many vineyards, and I grew up in the Finger Lakes!
We hit Buffalo around 8:30am...well, not really Buffalo, but we did get to stop at that killer reststop where you walk through the tunnel over the Thruway. I did take some pictures, but left that camera in the car by accident, and I'm too lazy to go get it! Of note, apparently the parts of New York and Pennsylvania that border Lake Ontario and Lake Erie grow a lot of grapes. I've never seen so many vineyards, and I grew up in the Finger Lakes!
Seriously, vineyards were on both sides of the road for miles...I was amazed!Additionally of note, we always joke that New Yorkers only go to Pennsylvania for fireworks, and that may be true, but apparently you can also go there for other things, as the second we crossed the NY/PA border, we drove by this:
Mom wouldn't stop there for some reason :(Pennsylvania went by so quick that I completely missed the border, and we were halfway through Ohio when the Mothership woke up and demanded to know why we hadn't gotten a picture of the "Welcome to Ohio" sign. My excuse was the oddly marked speed limit signs...60mph for cars and 55 for trucks/buses. Weird. I really missed the 65mph free-for-all on the Great NYS Thruway, but I guess we all make sacrifices to get to where we need to be, like Colorado!
Ohio's oddly marked roadsigns continued through the entire state, but fortunately only caused a slight incident in Cleveland, where we got lost. In the ghetto. I think I drove around in a circle three times before remembering that I have navigation in my little CR-V. Celeste was awesome, directing us back to Route 90, and we were saved!
We made it safely to the border of Ohio and Indiana, when the Mothership realized that she had left Indiana out of our time/mileage calculations completely. She was stunned, I was amused. There wasn't much to report from Indiana, except there is a city there named Gary, and the people there REALLY don't know how to drive. Well, actually the guy who almost killed us was from California, so I guess I can't blame the poor citizens of Gary.
Illinois thus far has been rather uneventful. Despite being on Route 80, we ran into an hour long traffic jam south of Chicago, which was distinctly unpleasant. We missed out on three Cracker Barrel opportunities. And we ended up in Annawan, which is more in the middle of nowhere than I have ever been. Our Best Western is gorgeous, but I am starving!!! And the only restaurant in town is the Quik-E Mart across the road, with a real, live Abu. He was super nice, and our pizza was delish. I'll try to get some quick pics before we leave in the morning. I think I should rest after 14 hours of driving 800 miles!
Ohio's oddly marked roadsigns continued through the entire state, but fortunately only caused a slight incident in Cleveland, where we got lost. In the ghetto. I think I drove around in a circle three times before remembering that I have navigation in my little CR-V. Celeste was awesome, directing us back to Route 90, and we were saved!
We made it safely to the border of Ohio and Indiana, when the Mothership realized that she had left Indiana out of our time/mileage calculations completely. She was stunned, I was amused. There wasn't much to report from Indiana, except there is a city there named Gary, and the people there REALLY don't know how to drive. Well, actually the guy who almost killed us was from California, so I guess I can't blame the poor citizens of Gary.
Illinois thus far has been rather uneventful. Despite being on Route 80, we ran into an hour long traffic jam south of Chicago, which was distinctly unpleasant. We missed out on three Cracker Barrel opportunities. And we ended up in Annawan, which is more in the middle of nowhere than I have ever been. Our Best Western is gorgeous, but I am starving!!! And the only restaurant in town is the Quik-E Mart across the road, with a real, live Abu. He was super nice, and our pizza was delish. I'll try to get some quick pics before we leave in the morning. I think I should rest after 14 hours of driving 800 miles!
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