Minneapolis: Spoiled Rotten

The following photo is outside of Minneapolis' trendiest restaurant: Azia. That's three nights in a row of being taken out to eat... we've been spoiled rotten! Factor in the awesome food, comfy house, and excellent company and you get an excellent stop in Minneapolis. So thanks again to the Lessers for everything!

And of course thanks to everyone who has hosted us or agreed to take us in down the road. You're all helping us achieve our goal of having an epic road trip!

Rafael

Minneapolis: Baker National

This was the view from the 8th green at Baker National. What a treat! Well, it's been fun playing golf with Johnny. On to the 9th hole!

Rafael

Minneapolis: We're Set

After activities in the park we headed over to a Lund's to pick up extra food and water for our upcoming camping trips in the badlands, Tetons, etc.

The rest of the day we'll each spend doing our own thing: Elizabeth and Julie are going to go watch Sex and the City, Orion will read and catch up on Arrested Development, and I'll be heading out with Andy and Johnny to squeeze in 9 holes. It'll be great to get back on the course - it's been almost a week for me.

Fore!

Rafael

Minneapolis: Catch at Noreburg park

After a relaxing morning of running, reading, and errands we headed to the park to play some catch with Andy and admire the view. Off to enjoy the beautiful Minnesota weather!

Elizabeth

Minneapolis: Big Money

There was another poker battle tonight and this time 6 people played. Elizabeth was knocked out first, then Orion, and then Andy's two friends. This left a showdown between Andy and myself for a king's ransom of $6.

The two of us battled for over an hour, back and forth, and there were big swings each way. In the end, Andy prevailed. This was another crushing second place result, but I'll bounce back. We've got some big plans tomorrow that should get me out of this poker slump.

$2 poorer,
Rafael

Minneapolis: Young Skywalker

We've been walking around the

 city, and one of the most noticeable

 things has been the network of

 skywalks that connect a good portion

 of the city blocks. That plus a lively,

 clean, intellectual vibe has actually

 made living here through the winter

 comprehensible. Negative double

 digit weather can't be that bad, right?

~Orion

A quick message from my phone,
Orion

Minneapolis: Lunch at Lake Calhoun

Thanks to Julie's amazingness (she bought us SO much food for our visit) we decided to bring some lunch with us to Lake Calhoun. Now that we're stuffed we'll go explore Minneapolis more thoroughly (earlier we did a driving tour of the Twin cities). There will be another post soon.

Rafael

Minneapolis: Mall of America

Wow. The following picture is just a glimpse into the Mall of America, which apparently has the largest indoor amusement park in the world.

The shops are ok. Just a higher amount of the same old shops you'd find in a normal mall. Except, of course, for the specialty Alpaca shop we passed earlier. Top notch.

On to more highly productive pursuits,

Rafael

Minneapolis: Poker Showdown

We arrived safely in Minneapolis and the Lesser family very kindly treated us to a dinner out on the town. We are lucky so far - both the Lesser's and the Cobert's have been great hosts! Thanks again to both.

After dinner we did a poker showdown between the three of us and Andy. Well, Andy had bad luck (pocket aces twice and lost both of those hands) and he was out first. Then I knocked out Elizabeth.

It all came down to a thrilling showdown between the two amigos but unfortunately yours truly ended up losing to Orion. The fellow is now the lucky winner of $3.

$1 poorer,

Rafael

Iowa/Minnesota: We Will Survive

Everything was going swimmingly until we hit a patch of inclement weather just now. It started storming and at one point we even got hit for a few seconds with some hail. Fortunately it stopped very quickly (the hail part) and we are continuing towards Minneapolis with no delays.

We pit-stopped a while ago to "fill 'er up" and paid $3.74 per gallon. That's the cheapest we've been able to fill up on a per gallon basis. We drive on undetterred!

Right now we're about an hour or so from Minneapolis. Nothing else to report except that the fields of Minnesota look just like the fields of Iowa. Civilization beckons.

Rafael

Iowa: Nowhere

In case you ever wondered what the Iowa countryside looks like, this picture is for you. Now multipy by 10,000.

Little did we know, this would be the location of the most amazing thing we will see during the whole roadtrip: the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile.

~Orion

Iowa City: A Lovely Place

We got to check out Elizabeth's law school and grab some delicious pizza in Iowa City. Here is a picture in downtown.

Rafael

Chicago: Millenium Park

We really enjoyed strolling through Chicago's Millenium Park and viewing the interesting architecture. In the background of the picture below you'll note the park's ampitheatre. The park also had a unique reflective structure and a few other smaller pieces.

We've also done a good bit of walking. We went through Millenium Park, down Grant Park, towards Shedd Acquarium, and back north towards the Wrigley building.

Off to explore some more,

Rafael

Chicago: Waterworks

The title says it all.

Chicago: Lunch at Portillo's

After a bit of exploring Michigan Ave. (the Magnificent Mile) and walking down State St. we decided to get some Chicago style hot dogs.

The meal was delicious and we're ready to continue exploring the Windy City. It's a bit cold, so it's a good thing we brought our fleeces.

Off to explore Chicago,

Rafael

Chicago: Great place to stay

We made it to the Cobert's house safely and this is such a great place to kickoff the first night of our trip! We've got beds, food, and great company for the next two nights.

After a bit of planning with everyone (lots of map searching) we now have a general plan for touring Chicago tomorrow.

Much more to come,

Rafael

Nashville: The Parthenon

Why go all the way to Athens to see one in bad shape when you can go to Nashville and see a new one? For $5 you can even see the 42ft gold statue of Athena inside! Randomness from the road ensues...

~Orion

Nashville: Lounging at Vandy

Only a few hours into the road trip and Orion is already climbing up walls. Specifically up Vanderbilt's wall outside the admissions office! Well, we're off to explore the rest of Nashville.

Rafael

And We're Off!

So begins our adventure! This is the second big road trip Orion and I have done (the first was up and down the east coast after our freshman year. It was creatively called The East Coast Road Trip). Of course, it'll be even more fun this time since Elizabeth is road tripping with us.

No big news to report so far. We're just heading from Atlanta to Chicago. We've got our rough agenda, spirits are high, and we're all excited to take part in a cross-country trip.

More from the road,

Rafael

The Itinerary

Here's our rough itinerary. It'll be interesting to see how this roughly planned trip ends up playing out, since we're all very open to staying extra days in places we like.

However, in the spirit of transparency and fun, here's what we're thinking so far:

Date:		Day		Final Destination (where we sleep that night)
27-May		Tuesday		Chicago, IL area
28-May		Wednesday		Chicago, IL area
29-May		Thursday		Minneapolis, MN?
30-May		Friday		Minneapolis, MN
31-May		Saturday		Minneapolis, MN
1-Jun		Sunday		near Rapid City, SD
2-Jun		Monday		near the Devil's Tower
3-Jun		Tuesday		Grand Tetons NP
4-Jun		Wednesday		Grand Tetons NP
5-Jun		Thursday		Grand Tetons NP
6-Jun		Friday		Yellowstone NP
7-Jun		Saturday		Yellowstone NP
8-Jun		Sunday		Bozeman, MT
9-Jun		Monday		Bozeman, MT
10-Jun		Tuesday		Glacier NP
11-Jun		Wednesday		Glacier NP
12-Jun		Thursday		Banff National Park, Canada
13-Jun		Friday		Banff National Park, Canada
14-Jun		Saturday		Whistler, BC
15-Jun		Sunday		Whistler, BC
16-Jun		Monday		Vancouver, BC
17-Jun		Tuesday		Victoria, BC
18-Jun		Wednesday		Victoria, BC
19-Jun		Thursday		Victoria, BC
20-Jun		Friday		Port Angeles, WA
21-Jun		Saturday		Olympic NP
22-Jun		Sunday		Port Townsend, WA
23-Jun		Monday		Whidbey Island, WA
24-Jun		Tuesday		Seattle, WA
25-Jun		Wednesday		Seattle, WA
26-Jun		Thursday		Portland, OR
27-Jun		Friday		Portland, OR
28-Jun		Saturday		Portland, OR
29-Jun		Sunday		Other OR
30-Jun		Monday		Other OR
1-Jul		Tuesday		Other OR
2-Jul		Wednesday		US 101 (coast)
3-Jul		Thursday		US 101 (coast)
4-Jul		Friday		Redwood NP
5-Jul		Saturday		Eureka, CA
6-Jul		Sunday		Drive along US 1
7-Jul		Monday		Drive along US 1
8-Jul		Tuesday		San Francisco area
9-Jul		Wednesday		San Francisco area
10-Jul		Thursday		San Francisco area
11-Jul		Friday		San Francisco area
12-Jul		Saturday		San Francisco area
13-Jul		Sunday		Drive along route 1
14-Jul		Monday		Drive along route 1
15-Jul		Tuesday		Drive along route 1
16-Jul		Wednesday		Drive along route 1
17-Jul		Thursday		LA
18-Jul		Friday		LA
19-Jul		Saturday		LA

If we haven't contacted you already about staying at your place (and if you have a place for us to sleep along our general route that you would like to offer) then please let us know.

One more day until the road trip begins!

Why Start On May 27th?

Over the past week or two, I've had a few people asking why we were starting the trip on Tuesday, May 27th. It's because we wanted to avoid the majority of this year's Memorial Day Weekend traffic. We didn't want to get caught in that kind of traffic, so we just figured we'd start right after the holiday.

Two days left until we start the trip!

Where We're Going (Roughly)

We thought it'd be nice to share a few maps of where we're tentatively thinking of going this summer. Of course, all this is subject to change on a whim! Check it out:

How This Blog Works

This blog will provide updates of our road trip. We'll do this through a few digital mediums:

• General posts that'll be a few paragraphs long
  
• Snippets that we'll be sending in via our iPhones
• Pictures we'll also send in via our iPhones
• Video clips and other pictures uploaded occasionally

Make sure to check back often because we'll be updating on the fly. Thanks to the power of the iPhone (Steve Jobs you can thank us for the plug later) we'll be able to blog from anywhere that we can get reception.

We hope you enjoy keeping track of us - remember to check each day for new posts!