YOSEMITE!

this was hands down the most incredible thing I've ever done in my life. These pictures don't really even begin to do it justice. The whole place was just absolutely gorgeous and the atmosphere was incredible. It was like a summer camp for adults. It was like 2 million adventurous 25 year olds. There is this huge lodge and at night they serve pizza and beer and everyone just mingles together and talks about what they did that day. It was so fun. I love Yosemite.

ARCHES NATIONAL PARK- UTAH

d




in arches national park, sun setting over the shadowed landscaped

wrapping my head around colorado

We crossed into Colorado around 6 pm.
THAD- there was an immediate distinction between how much better Colo was than Kansas.

Driving across Kansas took 7 hours. The distance we drove was equal to the distance from Charlotte to just north of Philadelphia. Kansas is unnecessarily large.

Currently we are halfway across Colorado driving down the backface of the mountain. We've got the sunroof open, letting those big Colorado rays shine all over us, and are enjoying every inch of the landscape infront, behind, and next to us. I guess I'll just start from the beginning...

Okay so we pulled into Colorado and it was just amazing. I'm gonna do my best to put into words. The Eastern part of Colorado is totally undiscovered. It's enormous an unobstructed. There are no mountains eclipsing the sky so the sun shines bright (it was almost white) and the Carolina blue sky felt like it was a mere few inches above our heads, like the only reminder that we were still tied to the ground was the sound of our tires speeding down the smooth road. Colorado made me feel slightly elevated and the eastern side is so wild because not many people traverse on those back roads even though the views are equally incredible in their own right.

We were both so excited when we finally made it to Denver. The city is BALLER. We stayed at a friend of Thad's house which was great. He had a really nice house and his roomie gave us a bunch of good tips for Utah. We went out to this great burger joint in Denver called the Cherry Cricket and it was maybe the best burger I've ever had (only slightly rivaled by, of course, the Penguin.) The vibe was great too. Really run down and laid back. Had old school Coca-Cola posters and lit up Coors Light signs. Metallic chairs and checkerboard floors. It was great.

We then drove around downtown Denver which was pretty kewl. No one in that town is above the age of 26 and they all ride their bikes to work and to bars. I felt like an asshole riding around in the car but oh well. Also the entire city is completely lit up. Every single building is adorned with millions of little yellow lights and luminous christmas lights hang off of all the awnings of the Downtown restaurants. Dig it.

Okay we have a lot more to say but I'm gonna post this for now and finish up later tonight. We are almost to Utah now!

Finally Some Photos - KANSAS

Upon crossing the Kansas border into Colorado, rays of sunshine literally shone down from heaven

Manhattan Kansas, The Little Apple!!!!

"Wow, I thought the rockies would be a little rockier." "Yeah that John Denver full of shit man"

I could not express my thoughts about Kansas more perfectly

Day 3 Hour 2

After several frustrating disappointing attempts at blogging we are back for round 2 to give it another go. So we have a lot to catch you (meaning my mom) up on.

We last left you when we were still in North Carolina, which seems like so along now. Since then we traversed across Tennessee without much trouble except for a gas shortage scare. The empty light had been on for awhile so we decided to pull off on a random exit hoping there would be some rinky dink gas station. Our worries were alleviated upon discovering an old-fashioned, stone faced, gas station. There were some local moustached men hanging outside the corner who small talked while we filled up.

So we made it through Tennessee and into our first stopping point: Kentucky. We were both pretty blown away with how gorgeous it was. Thad said he always knew Kentucky was pretty and that I was the only one who underestimated it. I guess it isn't called the Bluegrass state for nothing. It's all rolling hills and wide sky, warm nights, and misty mornings (you catch my drift). The camp site we stayed in was really nice too. It was inbetween 2 lakes and it was so calm and quiet. We went down on the beach and I dipped my toes in the water which was pleasantly warm. We set up camp that night and Thad made dinner as I cleaned up the car. We watched episodes of the office until we went to sleep and have since been quoting it every day.

OKAY SO after Kentucky we had a long haul to ST LOUIS. Not much to report on that one. Southern Illinois is nothing to look at. We were in it for a few hours and I literally can't remember one thing about it. Seriously shooting blanks.

MISSOURI!!
WE LOVE MISSOURI! the one thing I can remember about Illinois is how much worse it was than Missouri. We pulled into St Louis and automatically liked it. It was a perfect fit. Foolishly we started searching for the arch thinking that it crosses over the might Mississippi River, which needless to say it absolutely does not. No offense to St. Louisans but we were pretty let down .It's right next to the river but alas does not arch over it. Granted it was pretty tall but it didn't blow our minds. Hopefully the Grand Canyon won't let us down the way the arch did.
I got a little nervous in St Louis because there were severe Tornado warnings all over the city but needless to say we made it through. We ate lunch at this restaurant that Chuck Berry opened and it was awesome, very bluesy... great music and a good local crowd.

I took over the wheel after St Louis and we kept driving for about 4 hours (well 4 and a half hours due to when Thad got us hopelessly lost.) until we hit, the greatest city in America, Kansas City!! Seriously I know you are all probably thinking I'm being sarcastic but this city is like a dreamy little place stuck between lush valleys. In Thad's words: an oasis in a sea of boredom. It's clean, ritzy, fun, unique flavor, and needless to say great people. They've got those good ol' wholesome apple eating values that the Midwest is famous for. Interestingly enough it's also Seville's sister city so there's this huge part of Kansas City that is very Spanish looking. AND oddly enough apparently in Seville the main road in town is called Kansas City Avenue... pretty wild.

We ate at this great Mexican restaurant in Kansas City with one of Thad's friends from UVA which was fun and he gave us a great tour of the grand city. Then at my request we went to this great sultry jazz club and saw this local jazz band play. Kansas City has an awesome music scene and it was nice to get a little glimpse of it. It was a perfect little place. Crimson walls, candlelight, dark shadows, and funky people who were all dragging on cigarettes or cigars (apparently smoking in bars is still legal in Kansas City.) The heavy beats rolled off the drums and traced along the walls, they pulsed through the floor and made our table shake ever so slightly. In Thad's words: LOUD.

Okay so then we went back to our hotel and watched the Office (we are almost through Season 1). Woke up the next morning got a good breakfast and now I AM CURRENTLY BLOGGING TO YOU FROM KANSAS. If any of you were wondering where nowhere was.... we found it. THERE IS LITERALLY NOTHING OUT HERE JUST LOTS AND LOTS OF FLAT, BROWN, LAND AND OVERCAST SKIES. I truly have no words to describe it and not because it's indescribeable, merely because there is nothing to describe. We are en route to Denver though which we both think will be great.

OKAY SO this was one hell of a blog and hopefully we will update more often. We have a lot to look forward to at this point because our next stops include, Denver, Moab and Arches National Park in Utah, US Pacific Highway 1, Los Angeles, Grand Canyon, New Mexico, and other good things.

Life isn't so bad these days, we are both pretty content and are happy because we found a shuffle station on the sirius radio so it's been a good compromise. Plus anytime we get bored we just start quoting the Office again.

Talk you in Colorado (the Thank God It's Not Kansas Anymore State)

DAY

DAY 1 HOUR 2

hey hey,

So we got our wireless up and running and we just got to Asheville. We are stopping for lunch and to cruise around for a little before heading on to Knoxville. Music so far has been a lot of Talking Heads. I try and put it on songs that Thad doesn't know due to his terrible singing voice.