Day 11

We woke up to a naked man walking towards the bathroom, and then went upstairs to have our free breakfast of bagels and orange juice. Then we power-walked to the pier and boarded the ferry to Alcatraz! They spelled Courtney's last name wrong on the ticket as "Thomos" which is just ridiculous. Alcatraz was very interesting - we watched a short documentary and went on an audio tour of the prison which told about the daily lives of the inmates, including escape attempts, and life of the other families on the island. We then took the ferry back to shore, power-walked back to the hostel, and toured some unseen parts of the city in Toasty before we left for Big Sur. The drive today was supposed to be gorgeous but the thick fog hindered that. We had a few minor detours on the way but finally made our way to the River Valley Inn, a low-key, nice motel where we are currently enjoying a relaxing night and doing much-needed laundry.

Day 10

We drove to San Francisco and immediately crossed the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito. It was a really cute town full of art galleries and boutiques. We walked the docks and looked at the hundreds of boats, and happened to catch the Portuguese Parade on the way back. Then we returned to San Fran and checked into our hostel, where the staff had absolutely no sense of urgency. After finally checking in, we hiked to Lombard Street. This was the hardest hike of the trip and we did not expect the 50 degree incline of all the hilly streets. That day we walked down the "crookedest street," hiked up to the Coit Tower (which features a panoramic view of the city that we couldn't see because the elevator was inconveniently broken on that day), walked through China Town, checked out Nob Hill, hung off the side of the trolley, and explored Fisherman's Wharf. The Wharf had numerous performers and artists, including a 13 year old boy who did incredible spray-paint art. The best performers of all were obese sea lions that were lazily sunning on the docks of Pier 39. We even witnessed a sea lion fight as one tried to hop on top of his comrades to sleep. We stopped to get ice cream and saw the most picture-perfect banana split - we were literally salivating as we waited for our smaller but still delicious scoops. We lastly took the bus to see the Golden Gate Park, which was closed but we walked around anyways and hung out with the marble sphinxes. That night we attempted to go out, but the fact that it was a Sunday put a damper on our plans and we ended up exploring a few vacant areas of the city and returning to our hostel earlier than planned.

Day 9

We woke up early yet again to drive to Lake Tahoe, NV. The drive was boring but Lake Tahoe was stunning, and we picnicked on the rocks with Subway sandwiches that we'd been craving since Chicago. The view of the Lake was beautiful! Then we drove to Yosemite. Our original plan was to camp at Yosemite, but there was no availability so we ended up driving through the park and hiking a bit around sunset. The park had a very different feel than Yellowstone - it was pretty but much harder to navigate, and definitely more conducive to longer stays and more adventurous activities since most of the sights were only reachable by hikes. That night we drove around for hours calling every single hotel within 50 miles and Courtney was yelled at numerous times for accidentally calling private numbers (that our GPS told us were hotels) past 11 pm. She was also called a vagabond by an angry foreign man. We finally ended up in a Motel 6 in Modesto, CA, an hour and a half outside of San Francisco, and set our alarms for an early wake-up call to San Fran.

Day 8

We spent the morning exploring the other part of Yellowstone, which included many more geysers. Some of these geysers were full of bubbling mud and smelled awful; others were water filled and had beautiful, vibrant colors that were reflections of the microorganisms that inhabited the pools. One of the geysers actually had many of the colors of the rainbow and we couldn't believe these colors could exist naturally. We trekked down a little dirt road and up a steep hill to get a better view, as suggested by another tourist, and the view was definitely worth the hike! Next we stopped by Old Faithful, a landmark geyser that sprouts water every 60-90 minutes. We then buckled up for a long drive through Idaho and Nevada. The drive through Idaho was beautiful - we stopped by the side of the road to take pictures of the sunset. We soon crossed the border into Nevada and realized that the state is useless, except for Vegas...which we expect will be great. We spent the night at another cheap motel and were grateful for the showers - at this point, we did not smell very pleasant...

Day 7

We got up and did some errands around town and then went to the HF Bar ranch where Maya worked as a wrangler last summer. The ranch was beautiful and the people were welcoming. It was great to see where she spent her summer. We then went to Yellowstone National Park after climbing thousands of feet of altitude in Toasty (Maya's car). The road through the main part of the park is a circle, and the first day we drove the upper half. This hour and a half drive took us five hours because there was so much to see (and take pictures of) and consequently we stopped a lot. We saw grizzly bears from afar with the help of a nice couple's heavy-duty telescope, bison, and tons of geysers, which smell like rotten eggs. We finally got to our camp site around 9:30 and set up camp surprisingly fast, and started a fire in record time. Fifteen minutes after we got there we had a tent pitched and some corn on the cob cooking on the open fire, followed by delicious s'mores. We went to bed pretty early and woke up in the morning after Courtney had spent the night fending off Chrissie rolling onto her because her borrowed sleeping bag didn't zip and she was thus cold and wet.

Day 6

We woke up at 7 and enjoyed a free breakfast complements of the luxurious Econolodge. Then we walked to Wall Drug through the tiny town of Wall. We walked by the high school which looked like portable classrooms. We weren't sure where all the classrooms were because the building was tiny and when we looked in the window all we could see was a weight room. At least all the kids are in good shape! We got to Wall Drug which was kind of like an indoor flea market of stereotypical Western/Cowboy chachkas. It also featured a giant jackalope, a gorilla playing piano (think Chuckie Cheese style), a mechanical T-rex hiding in fake bushes, a bucking bronco, and lots of other places for classic photo ops. Wall Drug is famous for its free ice water but we tried some and it was sub par tap water. After Wall Drug we walked back to our car and headed to the Badlands. We drove through the park and saw prairie dogs and bison and took at least 500 pictures. Then we drove to Mt Rushmore. We are embarrassed to say that we didn't know which four presidents were carved into the Mountain and in case any of you are similarly confused the four presidents are Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln. We only stayed there for a short time because there are only so many ways you can take pictures of one thing. Then we drove to Needles Highway. It was really scenic and windy and the flies were aggressive and obnoxious but its ok because many of them have ended up on our windshield. Then we went to Wind Cave National Park. We took a tour of the caves which contain 98% of the world's boxwork, a point of which the park rangers are extremely proud of. Then we drove to Buffalo, Wyoming, the town that Maya lived near last summer when she worked on the ranch, and stayed at a cheap but classy motel.

Day 5

We woke up at about 8 and brought the car to the shop to get fixed. We went back to the Rivkins and had breakfast and then went for a walk around one of the lakes with Anna (Sarah's little sister). Then we took a very long tour around Edina to see all the popular places in town. It was nice to see where Sarah grew up even though we wished she were there to show it to us herself. At about 3:30 the car was ready to go and we set off for South Dakota. We made a stop in Mitchell, SD to see the world's only Corn Palace. They change the design of the exterior facade each year and we looked at pictures of all the past designs. It is basically a big tourist trap but how can you pass up a building made entirely of corn? Then we got back in the car and headed to Wall, SD home of the famous Wall Drug store.

Day 4

We slept in and left Madison at 11 to drive to Edina, MN. On the way we stopped at an antiques store where Courtney got the most delicious ice cream and I wasted $7 on fudge that tasted like cardboard. Maya bought a hat. We arrived in Edina around 4, on the way seeing St. Paul and Minneapolis from a distance. The Rivkins gave us a tour of Lake Harriet, Lake of the Isles and Lake Calhoun, three of Minnesota's 12,000 lakes. We also walked around the Sculpture Garden and saw the famous oversized spoon and cherry that Minneapolis is apparently known for. Maya and Courtney spent the night at the Rivkins and I spent the night in Orono with my aunt, uncle and 2 cousins who I hadn't seen in years. It was really nice to stay in a house and to see familiar faces.

Day 3

We left our subpar accommodations early and headed West towards Chicago, which was a much quicker drive than our previous destinations. Parking in the loop, which is what the locals call the center of the city, we headed towards the Cultural Center to collect maps and do the free walking tour. Unfortunately, we were quickly rejected because it was 15 minutes before the place opened, so we walked through the Millennium Park. This park had unique pieces of art and architecture, including Cloud Gate, which looks like a giant reflective bean, and a cool outdoor concert venue. After, we went on a free hour-long tour by a very knowledgeable guide who talked about the city, individual buildings, the history, and personal anecdotes. We then made our way to the Sears tower. We paid to go up to the 99th floor and saw a 360 degree view of the city. After that we went to the fountain at Grant Park and walked along the water to the Navy Pier, which had a small, McDonalds sponsored carnival, delicious crepes and candy nuts, and lots of tourists. We then walked to the Trump building and stealthily used their bathroom, which had fancy cloth towels instead of the normal paper towels. The average room went for about $500 per night, but we didn't think it was all that impressive (except for the cloth towels). Next we hopped on the subway to Oak Park to see Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture. We passed through a lot of sketchy neighborhoods and were surprised to see that Oak Park was a nice, residential area. After walking around all day we'd worked up an appetite so we headed back to the downtown area to eat. The first place we tried was a bit more pricey than we'd planned, so we asked for the nearest TGI Friday's type restaurant and were directed to Bennigan's where we devoured our burgers in record time. We then left Chicago and drove two hours to Madison, WI to spend the night.

Day 2

We woke up at 4:45 to go back to Niagara to see the sunrise. We took even more pictures and then we headed off for Cedar Point, an amusement park in Sandusky, OH. It has been voted the best amusement park in the world for 11 straight years and it lived up to the hype. There were a ton of roller coasters and Chrissie went on her first big roller coaster. The biggest roller coaster we rode was called Millenium Force and it was the first roller coaster to break the 300 ft barrier. Chrissie and Courtney rode 5 coasters and a couple spinning rides that you couldn't pay me to go on. I ended up riding 4 before my stomach got the best of me. We played a card game called Scat in line and it made the lines go a lot quicker. Then we set off for Chicago but unfortunately didn't make it there that night as planned. Right over the Indiana border a really smart deer decided to jump into our car. We pulled over and called AAA and when the tow guy got there he took one look at the car and told us we could keep on driving even though the headlight was completely smashed and the driver side panel was falling off. Because of the delay we couldn't make it to the hotel that we had planned on staying at so we had to improvise and we ended up staying at a Motel in La Porte, IN. The motel had subpar accomodations although I guess you get what you pay for.

Day 1

We left at 6:00 am from Courtney's house in Needham, MA and headed towards Howe Caverns in NY. We arrived right when they opened at 9 and got on the first tour of the day. The caverns were a constant 52 degrees and we were a little chilly in shorts but the sights made up for it. We walked part of the tour and part of the tour was in a boat. At one point the guide turned off all the lights and we got to see how dark it was before they installed all the lighting. After the tour we got back into the car and set off for Niagara Falls. When we got to Niagara we crossed right over the Canada border and did a boat tour that took us right to the base of the falls, we walked behind the falls and we did a 4D simulation of the creation of the falls. It was a really nice day and there was a rainbow and we took a lot of pictures (especially Chrissie). We walked on Clifton Hill, this street with all sorts of weird attractions. It was Disney World meets Vegas. We walked into a fudge shop that smelled amazing. Courtney and I made a bet that Chrissie would get some but she resisted temptation. We crossed back over into the US to see the sunset from the US side but by the time we parked and SPRINTED to the park the sun had already set. We waited around because after it gets dark they light up the falls with all different color lights. That night we stayed at a hostel in Buffalo, NY. The hostel was really clean even though it was in an interesting area.