Cross-Country trip 2013

Sat, 12 Jan 2013 16:58:00 -0800

So it starts like this: Deanna's mom decided to give basically brand new Subaru Impreza to Rachel. You see, Rachel is starting a co-op internship at Kohler, and will not be at Michigan Tech for almost a year. So, Rachel did need a decent set of wheels, and Grandma was happy to help. But how to get the car down there? We decided to get the car transported to Kent, WA, and drive it across the Mid-West to Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

My Facebook photo gallery
Photo gallery here. Not as fancy, but if you don’t like Facebook, here you go.

So here are some thoughts on the trip:

God was good

God was very merciful to my daughter and I. We experienced no bad weather, no accidents, and did not get smacked by a wayward tire; more on that later.

The Snoqualmie Pass is dicey

Our journey started in Kent, WA, where we picked up the car. We got on I-90, and headed east.

Of the 2600 or so miles we drove, the Snoqualmie Pass was about the worst conditions we encountered. The winds were awful, and there were always big rigs nearby.

Spokane has good Chinese food

Gordy's Sichuan Cafe was a spot we discovered via Tripadvisor. While our lunch did cost $42, it was admittedly a delight to chow down on, and the leftovers reheated just fine into dinner.

Coeur D'Alene, why?

Coeur D'Alene is a very popular city in Idaho, but I'm just not sure why. Admittedly, we arrived late in the day, and took off by 5:30 a.m., but I just didn't see what all the hoopla was about. They did have Elmer's, a once-popular restaurant in Anchorage. The room we had at the local La Quinta was well-worn, but nice. It had a kitchenette, and only cost $55, including a free breakfast. I'd stay there again for sure. Oh yeah, Coeur D'Alene is located on the West side of Idaho, just a few miles away from Spokane, WA.

Western Montana is nice

Our trek took us across the the skinny top of Idaho, so we passed into Montana quickly. The West portion of Montana is quite mountainous, and included some passes which had tire chain-up areas. I'd describe those spots as very "Christmasy" looking.

The rest of Montana is nice, too

Pressing on into Montana, we ate lunch at the city of Butte, an old mining town which now hosts a university and some interesting quirky old shops. We each had a slice of "the rail" pizza at the Broadway Cafe, another gem we found using Tripadvisor.

Montana is ranch country. You can have any color of steer you like, so long as it is black. The cattle were quite prevalent, it seems that the winter did not bother them at all. I observed a line of cattle, walking single file up a hill. Nobody was leading them. Odd. Another time I saw cattle line up in a huge row, as if they were football players on the scrimmage line.

I recall passing through Missoula, Bozeman, and finally, Billings.

Billings Montana - "The Big City"

We drove on and spent the night in Billings, Montana; the largest city we came across in the Gold and Silver state. From what we could tell, refineries were the main employment around the area, and the gas was the cheapest we found, I think $2.97 a gallon.

Dinner was another Tripadvisor win, Cafe DeCamp. Just Plain Awesome. This is Nativity Lamb. No knife needed. Rachel and I saw so many tempting dishes go by. I could honestly see revisiting Billings just to eat there again. And again.

North Dakota - Bleak

Without offending any ND fans, I can honestly say that were it not for the oil discovered there, North Dakota should have been given to the Canadians. We crossed the entire state and I do not recall seeing a single tree, horse, cow, pig, rabbit, skunk, bird, or any living thing outside the cities, which were extremely few and far between. Oddly enough, though, they had really good cell coverage compared to Montana. We had lunch at Bismark, ND, and this is where Tripadvisor failed us. Miserably. The sandwich shop we first looked up and drove to was out of business. The Schlotzky's Deli we drove to instead was also out of business. We ate at Arbys, and then I got a cup of gas station coffee (pictured) that was so bad that I had to throw it out unfinished. If ashtray was a coffee flavor, I was drinking it. I have seriously had better coffee at a Salvation Army shelter. I have. Bismark is so depressing, it looks like the poster child for the failed economy. So many closed businesses. God have mercy on North Dakota.

We spent the night at Fargo, ND, right on the Minnesota border. Our stay at La Quinta was quite pleasant, the facility was very recently built and was frankly, nicer than the Hilton Garden Inn we stayed at the previous night.

The most remarkable thing about our stay was the man next door to our room. This guy got off the elevator carrying a large sack of liquor, the sack being a translucent plastic. It had many bottles of booze in it, including a bottle of Stoli big as a Clorox bottle. The same guy stuck a Do Not Disturb tag on his room door, so I guess he was settling in for the evening. I pray he didn't drive anywhere for the next 72 hours.

If North Dakota ever wants to revisit their state motto, may I humbly suggest "The Bleak State".

Minnesota

Fargo ND is right on the border of Minnesota, so our morning drive took us right into a beautiful sunrise, as we headed what I think was "downhill" until we rolled into Edina, MN; just outside of Minneapolis

Rachel had a hankerin' for eating at Panera Bread, so we did just that, at the same Panera Bread location I visited earlier in the year. After that, we hit up Mall of America to get some chocolate at the Lindt store. I don't have any pics of MOA< sorry, but you can see the Lindt truffles we bought. I love that store because the have all the flavors in one shop. Yum.

The previous night, while we were in Fargo, ND, the playoff game between the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers was going on. Minnesota lost, so the sports radio was basically a funeral service mixed with a blamestorming session. The radio in Wisconsin, however, was nothing but jubilation.

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is just pain odd. They use letters to designate highways, so you see stuff like "X", "XX", "NN", and whatever other letters they use. It was like they used an Excel spreadsheet to label stuff. There are fireworks stands everywhere. The main industry is cheese, beer, and brauts, so it is Octoberfest every day there. The people are pretty round, so it looks like they're doing their fair share of consuming the state's produce. I can't blame them, the cheese curds are awesome.

We stopped in Green Bay, WI, to take a picture in front of the legendary Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers. By evening, we arrived at Sheboygan, Rachel's home for the next few months. After unloading the car, we had a quick dinner at Jimmy Johns. Finally, a night to sleep in a bed that could be called "home".

Michigan

The next morning, again at 5:30 a.m., we were out the door and driving up to Ishpeming, MI, to get Rachel's other belongings from her Michigan Tech roommate. The drive was pleasant and without incident. We gassed up at Crivitz WI, where Rachel can recount a story about her and her friends being ran off the road by a big rig. Thank you Jesus for watching over our daughter and her friends, they could have ended up dead. So after grabbing her belongings and returning to Sheboygan WI, we ate at Culvers, a Wisconsin institution. I'd describe Culvers as being on par with In-And-Out or Five Guys. Culvers has fried cheese curds, though. And frozen custard, made right in the store. "Yum" doesn't do it justice.

Kohler

Well, Kohler is the reason for this whole cross-country adventure. Rachel will be doing a what, 8-month internship there? Something like that. Anyhow, Kohler-the-factory is located in Kohler, WI. It is literally a "company town" formed back in the early 1900's for the factory. The big attraction there for non-employees is The Design Center. I want to go back and spend a day there just pouring over the historical stuff, which I found incredibly fascinating. Their custom bathrooms and kitchens were just amazing. This is the place where millionaires come to shop. So nice. I do pray Rachel has a fantastic time working at, and for, Kohler. Of course I pray she works for Jesus primarily, and the rest will take care of itself.

Chicago

So, it is time to go fly home. Rachel, her friend Hailey, and I believe it was Josh; we all pile into the car and head to Chicago's O'Hare Airport, about a 2-hour drive from Sheboygan, WI. Heading into O'Hare, we had to pay at a toolbooth. Just a few miles to O'Hare, we nearly got smacked by a tire that somebody had left on the roadside. The tire starts rolling right into the freeway traffic! Praise Jesus, we were able to stop without getting rear-ended. So the tire, it is rolling across all the traffic lanes, taking it's time. Amazingly, no accident resulted.

At the next toll stop, it was automated, and if you didn't have a prepaid radio badge, you had to pay $1.50 in coins. We had to scramble between the four of us to dig up quarters, two dimes, and a nickel.

I kissed my daughter goodbye at the airport, and once inside, had a fine lasagna lunch at Macaroni Grill. Home I came without incident, and that pretty much does up the story on our cross-country adventure. Dear Jesus, thank you for watching over us, and please watch over my daughter as she starts on a new adventure working at Kohler.

How we got a free plane ticket

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 23:19:00 -0800

My wife and I have been big credit card frequent flyer miles fans. While typically we use our Delta amex card for this, things have changed. With our daughter's college being where it is, United is a better choice for us.

So, here's the deal: United Airlines offers a Visa card where you get 25,000 miles for signing up, with the first year free. Continental Airlines offers a Master Card with the same arrangement; 25,000 miles for signing up and the first year free. We got both. Now the sweet part is this: Since United and Continental have merged, they let you share miles between the two separate plans. Tonight I moved the miles from United over to our Continental account and booked our daughter's Christmas trip home. Had to shell out $10 cash, but that was it.

If only the rest of her college costed as much, oh if only!

So yeah, that's your free frequent flyer tip of the day.

Visit to D.C., August 2009.

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 16:13:00 -0800

View Photos of Washington D.C., August 2009

First off, about the photos. I lost my nice camera either at home or on the way to the airport. It's gone. The photos here were all done with my camera phone, so yeah, they are not exactly high quality. Beats nothing, though!

The Hotel

Okay, so it goes like this: Our trip to D.C. this time was so I could attend CFUnited 2009, a ColdFusion developers conference. The conference itself was a few hours out of D.C., in beautiful Lansdowne, Virginia. Well, my wife and I spent 3 days in D.C. first, though, so we could be tourists.

I decided to give Orbitz a shot, and did indeed lock in a 3 night stay at the Hyatt Regency at $89/night. This is pretty much less than half price. But wait, that ain't all. We get to the Hyatt at 11 p.m., and ask if we can get a room with a single king bed instead of two twin beds. The reservation lady drops a huge surprise on us, they only got one room left, and it's a nice suite. We get it for the $89/night!

This pic so doesn't do it justice. This room is more like a full-blown apartment. All the amenities. Full bathroom with separate shower. Coffee maker with built-in bean grinder. Computer, couch, sofa, big dining table, all that. I think the room is intended to be a war room for politicians. It had two of those double-door doors which connect to adjoining doors, handy for cronies or secret service buddies. Weird thing is, we opened one of the doors, and there is a person sleeping on their bed! The dude kept his door of the double-door wide open! Weird. We called up the front desk and they sent somebody up who dealt with the situation. A bit odd. Anyhow, I'm guessing this was a thousand dollar a night room. We got so spoiled.

Just a couple blocks away is Union Station. Sorry, no photos. Union Station is where the train meets the Metro. It also is where armies of homeless converge, turning the area into an American Calcutta. No joke. It's pretty sad, really. Within, though, is Au Bon Pain, where we scored goodies to eat at all hours. Great cookies, breakfast sandwiches, whatever. Fantastic.

We attended the Legg Mason Tennis Classic, our first tennis tourney ever. Saw Andy Roddick lose to Del Potro. Argh. Really wanted Andy to win.

Anybody mention that parts of D.C. are pretty much "the 'hood'?" Yeah they are. We took the Metro out of D.C. and to Silver Spring, MD. Along the way is some major 'hood graffiti, right off of the train track. Where else would it be?

Oh yeah, we did do something pretty cool. Turns out right on the Red Line is the longest escalator in North America, right in Wheaton Station. I don't have video of it, but this guy does.. Took what, 2 minutes and 43 seconds? Yeah, that was it. That's all we did in Wheaton Station. Got off the Metro, went up the escalator, went back down it, got back on the next Metro.

Well, anyhow, we did that and more in D.C., then headed to Lansdowne, Virginia, for the conference I was attending. Tell you what; other than the conference, there wasn't that much interesting in or about Lansdowne. So, ahh, that's about it. Bye!

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