Isabel

Isabel
Isabel 2016.05.21

2013年8月12日

> Day 7

Our 7-day road trip includes 3 days of long-hour driving, 3 days of national parks, and 1 day with friends and family.
We had fun and we were tired

The drivers



The passengers 

the photo was taken in Yellowstone where the over night temperature is too low for the plants to handle, so we brought them into our hotel room. The plants also got burnt a little bit when we went hiking in  the Badlands. Now they are also getting a little burnt in the sunny California ..


And the hard worker 
needs a wash

Day 7 (Aug 10)

Day 7 (Aug 10)
Start:  Idaho Falls, ID
End: Palo Alto, CA
880 miles/ 14 hours 



Our last driving day and it was a long drive. From Idaho we drove pass Idaho, Nevada and enter California by Lake Tahoe. In Idaho, the hay are rolled up into squares. The golden wheat field is the first time for me. Nevada is a beautiful desert. And we both enjoy the mountain view of Sierra Nevada and Lake Taho. 9pm at night, we made it to Palo Alto, California!! 





Day 6 (Aug 9)

Day 6 (Aug 9)
Start:  Yellowstone National Park, WY
End: Idaho Falls, ID
250 miles


Our drive today was hot and lively; we visited many hot springs and also encounter many animals on the road. Elks are beautiful and bisons have very hairy faces. They are both very large. Even the chickmunks seems larger here. We got to Teton national park and drove along the Jackson lake. To our left and right, we were surrounded by mountains which have glaciers visible near the top.




Leaving Teton, we drove a little west toward Idaho Falls. A pleasant surprise was waiting for us: good food. It was pass 9pm when we were in the city looking for dinner. The first place we tired was closed and we were wondering whether or not to give up and just head toward a fast food place. On the way to our car, we walked passed an Italian restaurant, Il Castello. I'm not sure when the next time I will be in Idaho Falls, but I should remember the restaurant's address in case I am back there: 445 A St Idaho Falls, ID 83402. They make fresh pasta noodle in house and everything we had (beet salad with goat cheese, bruschetta, pasta bolognese, and panna cotta) were all tasty. 

 Since we got some sign of every state so far, it will be sad if we missed Idaho. Without a road sign… I guess a license plate will do.

Day 5 (Aug 8)

Day 5 (Aug 8)
Start:  Badlands National Park, SD
End: Yellowstone National Park, WY
560 miles


Wyoming is different … Jack said, "in South Dakota, villages are small, but at least they exist." After 3 hours of driving, I started looking for a rest stop, and we drove for at least another 50 miles until we came across a town. 

Today, our drive was different: a scenic route. We continue on I-90W fro 300 miles and then turned onto a scenic byway - Route 14 in WY, through the Bighorn National Forest, the Shoshone national forest, and eventually climbed up to Yellowstone National Park! The sulfur smell drifted into our car and it reminded me of  my childhood Yangming mountain home . Yellowstone national park is very different than what I have imagined. From the east entrance, we drove through a forest and stayed by a very large lake (Yellowstone lake).  Tomorrow we will look for  the geysers, hot springs, and wildlife. 




2013年8月7日

Day 4 (Aug 7)

Day 4 (Aug 7)
Start: Exit 150 on I-90 in SD
End: Badlands National Park, SD
20 miles

Today we walked.


From where we were yesterday, we drove for another 20 miles west, and then started walking. We wondered around in Badlands national park. It's a very unique place  and I'm glad we have an entire day here. I read license plates and see where other visitors are from. Surprisingly, people are from everywhere, I saw two other Massachusetts plates, a New York plate, other from Texas, Oregan, Colorado, Washington...




We walked around trails, watched thunder storms, took lots of photos and Jack even found fossils.  Every turn we took, we found a surprise waiting for us. 

Day 3 (Aug 6)

Day 3 (Aug  6)
Start: South Bend, IN
End: Kadoka, SD 
940 miles; 14 hours 

Today, we picked up extra 2 hours because of time zones. We started driving right before 8 am and got into the hotel at Kadoka also at around 8 pm, but we actually have been driving for 14 hours (13 hours driving + 1 hour meal & breaks). Today, we crossed Illinois, Iowa, and 2/3 of South Dakota. We also crossed two rivers: Mississippi river  at  Illinois/ Iowa  border and Missouri river in South Dakota. The speed limit keeps getting higher  and the number of cars on the road keeps dropping. The town we are staying at tonight has a population of less than 700 people. 









Day 2 (Aug 5)

Day 2 (Aug  5)
Start: Simsbury, CT
End: South Bend, IN
810 miles; 14 hours (12 hours driving + 2 hours breaks)


We passed six states today: Connecticut, New York, New Jersey (just the corner, < 1 mile distance), Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. Jack drove in the morning until lunch time, then I drove until dinner time, and Jack finished the last couple of hours after dinner. I decided that it was fun to take photos as we enter each state. Sometimes we either forgot to take photo after we cross the state border or can't find the sign, so we needed to be a little creative to find an appropriate sign for each state. 



 There is no photo for New Jersey. If we didn't stopped at the gas station, we probably wouldn't know there is a tiny little stretch (<1 miles) of New Jersey that we touched.








2013年8月4日

Day 1 (Aug 4)

Day 1 (Aug 4)
Start: Cambridge, MA
End: Simsbury, CT
110 miles; 2 hours

We packed up our car and started driving. We had more things to packed into the car than we thought, so we have  a pretty full car. Day 1 was a short and familiar drive.  Left our apartment in Cambridge and got to Simsbury early in the afternoon. 






2013年8月3日

Day –4 (July 31)

 Day –4 (July 31) 
start:  8:30 am Cambridge, MA
end: 5 pm  Cambridge, MA
miles: 0




Loaded everything we have into one container. We return the 2nd one empty back to the moving company. The container is 7' tall, 5' wide and 8' deep, and we stuffed a mattress, a bed frame, a three-seat sofa, a book case, a dining room table, four chairs, two end tables,  two small stands, and a sewing machine table in it; plus three large suitcase of our clothing and about 20 boxes of books, pottery,  and kitchen items.