Road Trip - Day 5 - Oct 13

We left the motel in Wisconsin and headed to Canada.  Along the way we noticed that the rest areas in Wisconsin were called waysides and all of them were closed.  We stopped in Armstrong Creek, Wisconsin for a potty break.  The place we stopped at was a gas station, a bank, and a grocery store all in one.  It even had a bear processing shop.

 

Got to Michigan (the Great Lake State) about noon. The first town we got to in Michigan was Norway.

 

 

 

 

 We took at potty break at the Island Casino and Resort, Bark River Michigan. We commented that we didn't need to come all this way for a casino, so we just got back in the car and left. 

 

Rest areas in Michigan are called road side parks.  We saw a Bob's Big  Boy in Manistique, Michigan.  Haven't seen one of these in a long time.  It brought back memories. 

 

About 20 miles from Canada we saw snow on the side of the road.  First snow we have seen so far. 

 

We stopped for the night and stayed in Sault Ste. Marie (Sault is pronounced soo), Michigan about 5 miles from Canada.  It is the home of LSSU - Lake Superior State University. 

 

All in all, drove 330 miles today.  

 

 

Road Trip - Day 4-Oct 12

Went to the Mall of America in Minneapolis Minnesota.  The Mall is huge and has a whole amusement park on the bottom floor.  There is also an aquarium, a huge lego store, and over 400 total stores.  We got lost when we left and ended up taking the scenic drive into Wisconsin (America's Dairyland or the Badger State). 

Wisconsin was interesting.  They actually have streets that are not just numbers but have fractions also such as 16 1/2 street and 14 3/4 streets.  We drove through several unincorporated towns and mostly on a 2 lane hiway.  It seemed like every town had a bar.  Homes were all along the hiway and were set back from the road with great big front yards and dirt driveways. 

Decided to stay in Rhinelander, WI.  Went to a steak place, the Fireside Supper Club which was recommended by the desk clerk at the hotel.  While we were waiting for a table we sat at a bar.  It was so weird to see little kids sitting at the bar too.

We drove a total of 271 miles today and were in 2 states, Minnesota and Wisconsin

Country Road - Rhinelander WI

Road Trip Day 3 - October 11

Left Kearney Nebraska at about 9:00.  We stopped in the little town of Aurora, Nebraska for breakfast at the Early Riser Cafe.  This reminded me of Jessie's in it's haydays.  There were the same older farmers sitting around having coffee and the same older waitress taking care of everybody (very good waitress, though)

Eastern Nebraska was much prettier than Western Nebraska. There were a lot more trees and it was not so flat.  Along the way, we saw a town named "Henderson". 

We crossed over to Iowa about 12:30.  In Iowa we went past the Rolling Hills wind farm which had about 190 windmills.  It is the largest wind farm in Iowa which has a total of 12 wind farms.  We also drove past Desoto Iowa which was the birthplace of John Wayne (Made me think of Mike Braegger who would have been excited about that.) 

We then entered Minnesota about 4:39. 

We stayed the night in Faribault, MN which is about 50 miles south of Minneapolis. 

Today we were in 3 states Nebraska (The Cornhusker State), Iowa (The Hawkeye State), and Minnesota (Land of 10,000 Lakes)  According to the internet there are actually over 11,000 lakes in Minnesota. 

Another interesting tidbit of information is that not every state has a marker or sign saying you have entered their state.  You have to really watch the mile markers so you know when you enter a new state. 



Road Trip - Day 2 - Oct 10

Left Dillion/Silverthorne Colorado bright and early.  Because we had driven a lot of Colorado in the dark, we decided to backtrack for a few miles and see what we had missed.  Breckenridge and Copper Mountain ski resorts were beautiful.  After seeing these, we headed back towards Denver and got on to I-76.  Saw an interesting town named Lliff (I have no idea how to pronounce it, but according to the internet there was a man with that last name).   Once past Denver, no more mountains.  The road was flat and straight.  We then traveled through part of Nebraska (The Cornhusker State) and stopped for the night at Kearney, Nebraska.  Today we were in 2 states and traveled 470 Miles. 

Road Trip - Day One - Oct 10, 2012

Day One - October 10, 2012

Well, Mike and I are off on our big road trip. We left Mesquite at about 9:22 a.m. and it was 68 degrees outside. The first place we stopped was at the San Rafael Swell between Richfield and Green River on I-70.  Pretty Cool and something we really hadn't seen before. 

We drove from Mesquite to Dillion/Silverthorne (Dillion is on one side of I-70 and Silverthorne is on the other side) Colorado (about 90 miles west of Denver) for a total of 614 miles!!  The city of Dillon is close to a Dam so we ate at the Dam Brewery that night.    

During the first day of our trip, we were in 4 states, Nevada (The Silver State), Arizona (The Grand Canyon State), Utah (The Beehive State), and Colorado (the Centennial State). The drive from Grand Junction, Colorado to Denver was very pretty.  Mountains and ski resorts galore.  Along the way we saw an interesting town called "No Name, Colorado". Also along the way we stopped at a rest stop and ran into a couple who just purchased a home in Mesquite and were traveling to Denver for a birthday party.