B&T's Oregon Trail

Follow us as we travel cross country from Cambridge, MA to Corvallis, OR!

[tooregon-blog]

Omaha, Nebraska

Miles traveled: 2545

Cost of a gallon of gas: $3.45

Most played song/artist: If I Ever Stray, Frank Turner  

Average MPG: 32.5

Highest Temperature: 100 

We were lucky enough to have a scheduled stop on the "boring" part of our drive. (I say "boring" because it wasn't sooooo bad)  Brad's cousin Lindsay and her boyfriend Rob live in Omaha. We planned to stay with them for a night before driving to Colorado. 

It was a nice break from a long drive - the longest (and probably one of the hottest) legs of the trip. It was fun to spend some time with Lindsay and Rob who we usually would see at a large family gathering, so this was a bit more personal. We got lunch at McFoster's - a  mostly veggie restaurant and then went back to their house to hang out and enjoy some air conditioning and a cocktail! 

After we were settled and re-hydrated we went to downtown Omaha and got a tour of Old Town where we continued our not so official ice cream tour. Fred and Wally's makes their own ice cream the old fashioned way with a slow turner and rock salt and ice.  The ice cream is made fresh every day and there were some pretty delectable choices. I enjoyed a delicious root beer ice cream on a sugar cone. It was awesome. 

We went to the Missouri River to a walking bridge that took us back to Iowa. (We didn't spend much time there - I was over Iowa at that point). 

After some fun exploring we headed back to Lindsay's house - we were planning on ordering Indian food from the best indian in Omaha - Mother India. After everyone had picked out their choice we called only to find out they were closed! :( We found another place that was still great - but apparently no comparison to Mother India. Oh well, I guess we will have to go back! 

This is a photo of Lindsay and Rob deciding on dinner. I just love how Rory is sitting on Lindsay's lap, looking up as if to be a part of the conversation. :) Kitty love! 

Omaha wasn't so bad - and hey all you Lings - go visit Lindsay, her guest room is really nice! And also their tomato plant produces some super delicious cherry tomatoes. (They make great car snacks!!)

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Iowa

Miles traveled: 2215 

Cost of a gallon of gas: $3.45

Most played song/artist: Want U Back, Cher Lloyd  

Average MPG: 32.3

Highest Temperature: 100 

After a great week in Michigan Brad and I were both sad to leave. The daunting trip through Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska was ahead of us. It kind of felt like this was the beginning of our road trip. The most we had driven in a day so far was 6 hours and that was just one day. 

For the first time the whole trip we woke up in our tent in Southern Michigan (Silver Lake State Park -- it's a pretty strange place. Beautiful view but everyone had dune buggies! It was pretty weird)  and set off on a day of driving. 

Our car's AC is broken, and decided after some advice from a mechanic it wasn't worth the money to fix, for fear it would break again. (something to do with metal in the lines) We knew we had a very hot couple of days ahead of us so we stopped at Target to get a makeshift air conditioner, which was a spray bottle filled with water. It actually worked pretty good! And a lot cheaper than a $800 bill from a mechanic! 

Not much to say really about Illinois and Iowa. Lots of corn, and Iowa was much hillier than I had imagined. It was also hit 100 degrees in that drive. And with our car without AC, it was pretty miserable, even with our spray bottle AC. We camped at a state park right smack dab in the middle of Iowa, which we chose because it had a lake, and we couldn't think of a better way end a long hot day of driving then a dip in the lake. 

So after setting up our tent, we headed to the swimming area only to find not one, not two, but THREE warning signs about the lake water. The signs weren't saying don't swim here per say but both Brad and I did an about face to the car and agreed a shower would also do the trick to cool off. 

We cooked up some sloppy joe's and swiss chard for dinner - and called it a night. We had another long day of driving ahead of us… 

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Northern Michigan

Feature Post by Brad! 

Miles traveled: 1653 

Cost of a gallon of gas: $3.85

Most played song/artist: If Ever I Stray, Frank Turner 

Average MPG: 29

Highest Temperature: 79

Despite two trips to southern Michigan, Tiegen has yet to see the part of Michigan I grew up in, so we had a lot I wanted to pack into the few days we had between Traverse City and Petoskey.

First we spent a few days in TC, where a lot of things were new to me as well as Tiegen. We ate good food, Tiegen had her first ever Oberon (she liked it!), and we went on a Leelanau Peninsula wine tour.

The next day we were planning on going to sleeping bear dunes, but the great lakes weather machine brought rain and wind, so we left the dunes for another day and picked 11 pints of raspberries instead before heading north to Petoskey.

Our days in Petoskey were my first chance to show Tiegen the town I grew up in, so there was a lot to see and do. We biked the famous tunnel of trees bike route, had ice cream at Yummies (the location of my first job), watched my sister Jenn in the Petoskey Marching Band at night rehearsal, and enjoyed the company of my two puppy dogs. But of course it wouldn't be a trip to Petoskey if we didn't do some kind of fudgey activity - so one evening we went mini golfing, some how my mom got 6 hole in ones. 

But I think the highlights of the trip for both of us was the times we were able to spend out on the water. We went for a great paddle on Crooked lake one calm morning. And I had been looking forward to waterskiing while I was home, and teaching Tiegen how to ski on warm water (as opposed to just the frozen variety), but our boat wasn't starting. Luckily the Doull's graciously loaned us their MasterCraft to take out on to Walloon lake for a ski. My dad and I each took a turn first, enjoying the chilly but calm fall water on Walloon. Then after some verbal instructions Tiegen was in the water ready to give it a try. It took a couple of tries, but shortly afterward she was up and skiing. With more energy than I could imagine she kept asking for another run, and was soon weaving in and out of the wake like it was old news. I am pretty sure next time we go waterskiing she will be dropping a ski and slaloming. 

After a change of plans, we decided to drive south through Chicago instead of going through the UP. After saying goodbye to my family sans Megan we were header to sleeping bear dunes national lakeshore on our way to the corn belt. At the dunes we climbed the big dune facing lake michigan, and did a little bit more sightseeing.

After more than a week in Michigan, it was sad to leave the state I grew up in, but we have many more exciting adventures to come. Luckily Michigan said goodbye with one of its trademark million dollar sunsets. So from the west coast of the third coast it was onward to lots and lots of corn, soybeans, and cattle, before arriving at the Rockies.

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Southern Michigan

Miles traveled: 1360

Cost of a gallon of gas: $3.85

Most played song/artist: Tongue Tied  by Group Love 

Average MPG: 31

After what Brad claims was the smoothest trip through customs out of Canada we arrived in Detroit in time for a nice dinner with Brad's Grandma. After dinner, we looked through old photos of his family. Brad and I were the ones to have to call it a day - I think his grandma could have stayed up another 2 hours! We were both impressed with how well she's doing for 90. She still lives alone, still drives her car, and seems to stay quite busy. 

The next morning we had breakfast with his Grandma before heading out to  Ann Arbor. She was quite surprised when we suggested oatmeal for breakfast. I think she was expecting a request for eggs, or pancakes or something a bit more exciting, but hey we like our oats! 

We met Brad's sister Megan for lunch in Ann Arbor and walked around the Michigan campus. We would have liked to stay a bit longer, but we needed to get to Grand Rapids before it was too late. Megan will be our first visitor in Oregon, so we weren't too sad to say goodbye since we'd be seeing her in just over a month! 

Our next stop was to visit my Cousin Karen, her husband Peter and their 4 kids who live just outside of Grand Rapids. We arrived in time to eat a quick dinner and then head to downtown Rockford for some Rockies ice cream. We enjoyed our ice cream down by the water and asked a lovely woman to take a photo of all of us. I cropped as best I could, but as you can tell....she managed to be in the photo too. We all got a good belly laugh out of it at least.

After ice cream Brad and I learned a new card game, and Brad got to sleep in Jake's Michigan State room! 

We spent the next day with the Osborns learning to rip stick, judging(me) and participating (Brad) in a scooter contest and finished it off with a really nice lunch at Marie Catrib's in Grand Rapids with Peter and Karen. 

After lunch we were off to Northern Michigan to spend 6 days between Traverse City and Petoskey. 

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Rochester

Brad and I only planned 24 hours in Rochester, but we did probably 3 days worth of stuff. We arrived early afternoon and met my best friend, Andrea for lunch at a favorite vegetarian restaurant, the Owl House: 

After lunch Brad and I had some time to kill before we were planning on meeting some friends for dinner so we decided to relive our college days a bit. 

We stopped by the South Wedge, and awesome neighborhood Rochester. I used to live in the Wedge, and it is also the home to Brad's favorite beer store - Nathaniel's 

We stopped by RIT to walk around and reminisce a bit. We also happened to run in to a few friends: 

Our friends from ski team JD and Trevor 

and my friend Gabby 

and of course….it's not a trip to Rochester without a stop by Wegmans! 

Quite a few people came out for burritos from Sol (I've never had a burrito better than a Sol Burrito)  and a sunset view of Rochester's skyline 

After dinner we headed towards Canandaigua, where some of my family lives. We stayed the night with my cousin Travis and his wife Alice (thanks guys!) and then headed over to visit my cousin Jodi and her 3 kiddos who just adore Brad. (and I don't blame them…) 

After a nice visit with the  Weavers and the Brocklebanks, we headed back into the city for a quick visit with my cousin Lea, her daughter Olivia and my Aunt Beth.  

A very quick trip to Rochester - we were on the road to Detroit, MI before noon! 

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Shaffarabia

Our first stop on our trip west was an easy 4 hour drive from Boston, my parents' house in upstate New York. Thursday night after we had finished packing the car and cleaning the apartment  we grabbed pizza at Regina’s Pizzeria (the best pizza in Boston) and hit the road.

Brad and I were pretty tired after a long week of packing, so our first few days were pretty uneventful - but it was nice to spend time with my parents and enjoy the simple living.

  My parents are both vegan so it’s always fun to cook with them. We had some delicious vegan meals, including big breakfast Sunday morning!

  We took a day trip to Ithaca, NY  primarily to eat at Moosewood -- a pretty well known vegetarian restaurant. (they’ve published quite a few cookbooks too!) And of course the waterfalls.

It’s always sad to say goodbye to my parents, and this one was especially hard, since I wouldn’t be leaving to go back to Boston which is just a short weekend trip. As much as it was difficult for me, I’m sure it was just as hard for them -- now all 3 of their kids are in a different timezone. My sister and I will both be on the West Coast, and my brother and sister-in-law in Japan. But the internet makes the world a little smaller and we are all thankful for facetime and google hangouts.

Next stop, Rochester!

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Reflecting on A Year (and a half)

It still doesn’t seem quite real that Brad and I won’t be heading back to Cambridge after a long weekend at my parent’s house in Stonearabia. My sister texted me yesterday and said “Boston resident no more! You live on the Road! How does it feel?” My response: “Feels like I’m visiting mom and dad for a long weekend.” I’m sure it will settle in, but for now I’m just enjoying the simple living in Shaffarabia. :)

It feels like just yesterday Brad and I moved to Boston. Brad had just graduated from RIT and was going to co-op with GE Aviation and I had accepted a full time job with CTP - an advertising agency in Boston’s North End. We knew Brad would be going back to grad school about a year and half later - but weren’t sure where.

In that year and a half we made Boston (well. Technically Cambridge) our home. We met some great people, built relationships with people we already knew, and really took advantage of New England.

A few highlights:

Spent many weekends at the “Cape Coddage.” My Aunt Nancy and Uncle Dan are 2 of the most generous people I know. We even took a day trip to the Cape with Brad’s family last fall.

With our roommate Lampie and my co-worker Abby we joined a beer league at the local ski hill. Not to brag, but we placed 3rd in our night and 12th overall (over 100 teams!)  ok...I’m bragging.

Hiked some of the White Mountains.

  Took advantage of some great East Coast skiing.

  Survived Superstorm Nemo - and even made it out the next day to ski.

And of course when we weren’t busy traveling all over, we enjoyed Cambridge and Boston.

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Hi, Hello. Introductions and Explanations.

It’s weird to start a blog. But I’m doing it because I’ve promised so many people I would. And in 25 years when my kids don’t think I’m cool they can read this and it will affirm their assumptions.

So. Introductions. I’m sure you all know who I am and who Brad is, but incase we have some miscellaneous people following our trip, I’ll bore you with the details.

So. This is us:

We have been living in Cambridge, MA for the past year and a half. I had a job at an ad agency in Boston, and Brad was working for GE Aviation in a suburb of Boston. But now we’re moving to Corvallis, Oregon. Brad will be attending Oregon State for his Masters in Mechanical Engineering. I am in the process of finding a job.

We were lucky enough to have a buffer of about a month to get out to Oregon. Our lease in Cambridge runs up at the end of August and school doesn’t start for Brad until late September. We are using those 3 weeks to our advantage and taking 24 days to drive across the US. This is our route:

So follow along as we explore the US. And don’t hesitate to recommend places to stop. We’re excited to share our trip with all of you!