Judy and i decided to take and cross country drive after the wedding rather than taking a conventional honeymoon, lounging on a beach on some lonely tropical isle. It was mostly for practical reasons like moving judy's car from the west coast to VA, but we thought it would be a fun adventure. Even though judy's done the cross country drive before, we weren't sure what to expect. Being in the car together for 8 days? Would we kill each other before it was over?
Here's our route (approximately). most people don't realize that SF and Virginia Beach are almost perfectly aligned from east-west.
Our first stop was an evening in Lake Tahoe, CA. despite a short detour getting lost, the place was really beautiful. we even had a gorgeous view of the whole lake from out hotel room window. (this is at a scenic overlook though.)
After a day's driving we arrived in Salt Lake City, UT. The salt flats in UT are really amazing, from a distance they look like lakes, but close up they are miles and miles of dried salt.
Through the valley
Moving eastward, our next destination was denver, colorado, where we stayed for a day of sightseeing. the mountains really rise up out of nowhere as you move eastward over the rockies.
Denver is a great town, full of history and culture. Being a good husband, I took Judy to do one of her favorite things. We found this fancy old hotel that served afternoon tea.
Judy loved the tea. I loved the sandwiches. They even gave us a free plate of extra ones after we consumed all the ones here.
There is a lot of art around Denver. Here's a funny sculpture outside of the Denver Public Library.
If you click on the photo, you can see on the words "One mile above sea level" etched in the steps of the Denver City Captiol.
We enjoyed our stay in two B&B's in Denver. At one, the owner gave us a free room upgrade, saying he "heard a voice from above" telling him to give us a bigger room. Sweet!
Judy's ready for breakfast.
The sun setting somewhere over a farm outside of Chicago.
Traveling on the interstates, you don't see much of the small town charm. And nowadays, everywhere you go you see the same Starbucks, Barnes and Nobles, and Walmarts. But one day, we did take one small detour to fill our nearly empty gas tank. This gas station didn't have digital gas pumps, but they did have ... free high speed internet.
After stopping through in Omaha, we stayed a day in Chicago. It was sweltering that day and we were craving some bubble tea, so of course we had to make our first stop in Chinatown.
After circling around a couple times, we didn't see any shops, until we saw a guy walking down the street holding the tell-tale dome topped cup. Judy says, "Ask him where he got it!" Tim, being a good husband, shouts out the window, "Hey! Where'd you get that bubble tea!" The guy points us to the general direction and we find a shop with people lined up outside.
At last, we found some delicious bubble tea!
Enjoying bbtea on the streets of Chicago.
Our main stop for the day was the Art Institute of Chicago.
Judy's getting ready to do some laundry.
A knight in shining armor.
In Chicago's Millennium Park is a big sculpture that looks like a shiny metal jelly bean.
Everything gets reflected and also stretched.
Judy stretches herself.
That night, we caught a showing of Blue Man Group, which was a lot of fun, and we even got to meet one of the Blue Men in person. He didn't smile for the picture.
An evening stroll on the Chicago river.
Back on the road. Hi!
We had both brought a lot of things to do, including books, cds, even movies to watch on the laptop. In the end, we spent most of the time just talking and goofing off. Good thing we happen to enjoy each other's company.
After making a stop to visit my uncle's family in Ohio, our final stop was in DC after 8 days on the road. Of course, we had to make a pilgrimage to the local IKEA to buy stuff to fill our empty new house. Somehow we managed to stuff everything the car.
All in all, we had an amazing time! A little bit tiring, but we saw so many cool places and things, we were really glad we did it. it was a great way to start off our life together. After all, what is marriage but a long journey together? Maybe we'll do it again ... but not til after we hit the beach.
