So after a long trip across the country, Jen and I have landed in Monterey, CA.

Here’s a picture of the beach/bay:

” alt=”" width=”799″ height=”600″ />

We put about 7,000 miles on the car, 2 oil changes. 1 U-Haul trailer, 21 different beds, 13 states & 16 breweries. Talk about a blast. Lots of National Parks. Just to name a few: Grand Canyon, Devil’s Tower, Painted Desert & Redwoods.

But really, I think my favorite was Crater Lake.

It was amazingly gorgeous. And the water really is that blue.

We went from Traverse City to Grand Rapids, then to Chicago to Milwaukee (Miller Valley), through Wisconsin to Minnesota (drove through some tornados.) Traveled to Sioux Falls, SD. The Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. Wall Drug. Mt. Rushmore. Stayed in Richmond, SD. Saw Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. Drove down to Denver, CO for a few days. One night in Albuquerque, NM. A night in Mesa, AZ. A few in Scottsdale, AZ. Saw Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taelisin West. Drove through Sedona. Camped in Flagstaff. GRAND CANYON. Southern NV to Las Vegas. VIP Party at the Luxor. Then to Barstow for a night. Put stuff in storage. Oceanside, CA. Loved the beach there. San Diego & Pacific Beach for about a week & a half. Went up to Venice & Santa Monica. Stayed in Azusa, CA at Jeff’s. Then drove up to Monterey. To San Fran. To Petaluma. To Eureka & the Redwoods. Spent a night in Eugene, OR aka Track Town USA. Then up to Portland for a few days. Then to Bend, OR for a night. Really liked OR. Saw Mt. Hood & some Lava fields at the Lava Butte. The Three Sisters (mts.) & Mt. Bachelor. Crater Lake. A night in BFE NE Cali. Then to Reno, down to South Lake Tahoe (gorgeous) and spent the night at The Caselli Cabin. Drove into Sacramento for a night at the Caselli house. And then on to Monterey. Seems like forever ago we left MI.

All in all the road trip was a great experience. There are plenty of stories to be told. You’ll just have to ask. And eventually I’ll get around to posting some great pics. After a month and a half it is nice to be in one place for a bit. I’d like to thank all of our wonderful hosts: Alysa, Hillary. Bruce, Jordan, Katie, Jeff, Aimee & The Caselli Family. We were very lucky to have such great people open their homes to us.

When I was in Chicago visiting Alysa I was trying to check my email. I had taken my laptop and was just searching for wi-fi. This is what popped up. And of course it was the only unlocked wifi network.

Took a train ride to Chicago, Via Pontiac, then Detroit. Here’s some of the pictures I took from the window. Lots of graffiti.