#ourcoasttocoast

As the clock continues to move forward and the sun continues to set the night before my senior year, I think it's appropriate to reflect on my summer. Summer 2014 truly has been the best summer I've ever had. Though this trip has been planned out for about a year, I never thought it would actually happen. I've always loved traveling but never thought I would travel through 33 states and Canada. It truly has been an unforgettable journey and though I would change some things, I would never change the experience. I've seen some of the most beautiful things that our country has to offer and I'll never be able to thank/show my dad enough appreciation for this summer. I did and saw things I had only dreamed of and there is nothing more fulfilling than being able to say that I did what I did. I don't know how many 17 year olds can say that they have traveled through the country (and Canada!) and it's a nice feeling to say that I have. Nothing I say or do will never equate to how grateful I am that my dad took me on this trip. This is something I will never forget and will always cherish. I'm so happy I was able to do all of this with someone who means more to me than he will ever know. Thank you so much dad, I love you!

We left Florida at about 10 in the morning and got to North Carolina early in the evening. This part of the drive was the easiest and we were kind of beginning to plan on being home by the next night. So we got up at a decent time and started our way to Cape Cod, MA. The second day of the drive was pretty brutal, there is nothing worse than Washington DC and New Jersey traffic. Surprisingly NYC wasn't that bad, but DC and NJ were horrible, I think it took us about 2 or 3 hours to get through DC to NJ. I don't think we're gonna be going through that area for a while (ever again). We ended up getting home to the Cape at around 9 or 10 and I had never been that excited to go over the good ol' Sagamore bridge.

After our way to Florida from Texas, we stayed in Florida for about three weeks. The first few days were days for us to recuperate from the previous long days of travel. Some of my family from Kansas came down and spent a week with us and though it was hectic, it was really nice to see some family. Then I spent a weekend with my sister which was nice. I don't always get to see either of my sisters so when I can get the time to see them, I'll take it. Other than that, my dad and I just hung out and started getting some stuff ready for the trip home to Massachusetts.

Days 14 and 15: California (pt. 2) Day 14 (California day 3): After seeing the beaches on the west coast, we were stuck choosing between the San Diego Zoo or Universal or Disneyland. Eventually, we decided on the zoo (obviously) because the theme parks were really expensive. We got to SD at a pretty bad time, there was a parade and all the street parking was taken and it's not like the zoo parking was any better since the parking lot is just about as big as the zoo itself. The zoo was a lot of fun and very impressive, it was massive. We were there for a good 6-7 hours and we still didn't see everything (we saw most of it though). I've never been to a zoo where they have bus tours, but the San Diego zoo had a lot of bus tours, and they showed you about 70% of the park. The pandas were probably the best part and it's clear that the zoo made the panda exhibit with a lot of care and high expectations (we waited a good 30 minutes in a line to see the pandas). The San Diego zoo is really incredible, it even impressed my dad who doesn't care for zoos and is someone who is really hard to impress! Though it was 2 hours away from us and kind of pricey, I had a lot of fun and it was really cool to go down to SD because it was one of the places I've always wanted to go. Day 15 (day 4 of California): This day was actually pretty boring. I did laundry and packed mine and my nephews bags as we all prepared to leave the next morning. I really didn't do much, except in the evening, my dad, nephew, sister and I went out to dinner together at an Italian place by my sisters house. The food was good and my dad enjoyed his seafood which is always a plus. It was nice to have some family time with my dad, sister and nephew. ❤️

We stared out maybe 15 miles from the state line between South Dakota and Wyoming, so we woke up and I drove. Today was a long day, who knew that Montana was so big? We drove about 800 miles today from South Dakota to Idaho, where we are staying tonight. We wanted to get a lot of driving done today so we would have less driving to Seattle tomorrow. I took a few pictures on my iPod and gopro but am too lazy right now to get them off. It's okay anyway, we didn't see much. A lot of the drive reminded me of Colorado, it's so beautiful up here. The rolling hills in Wyoming, the greenery and rivers in Montana and Idaho: priceless. I don't have much to say about today because not much has happened. Tomorrow I'll write more and have pictures because tomorrow, we are going to Seattle and going to the space needle! I'm excited for Seattle and all of Washington. I'm too tired now to blabber on about the pretty views that I'm excited to see. Now after a long day if being in the car, I'm going to sleep.

From Muscatine, we headed to Kansas City, MO to pick up my nephew!! I was so excited to see the little (actually huge now) dude. My dad was pretty excited too, and were happy to be able to spend the next couple weeks with him. Before we got him, we used my food app to scope out a BBQ place around KC. We settled on Oklahoma Joe’s which was featured on Man vs. Food and Food Paradise. It was paradise for sure. Barbecue food is one of my favorites, I love me a good pulled pork sandwich and ribs. We got there, and the line was out the door, but the line was steady and moved along pretty quickly. I got a good ‘ol pulled pork sandwich and my dad got brisket and 3 ribs and we shared a side of onion rings. The meat tasted like it had just been cooked over a campfire in the back, it was cooked to perfection, sooooo good. I enjoyed my sandwich so much that I just about had to force myself to finish the last couple bites. I was NOT going to throw away a perfectly perfect and tasteful sandwich. I tried some of the ribs my dad got and oh my lord I’ve never had better ribs. It fell right off the bone, tasted freshly smoked and tasted like a piece heaven. I wish I got ribs. :/ The onion rings we shared were also really good, they didn’t have the gross thick batter and they weren’t too oily either. God, I love Oklahoma Joe’s. They need one in Massachusetts. After dinner we got my nephew, got a hotel and I took my nephew, Breck, swimming. We’re gonna have a good time with Breck, he’s an awesome, smart, sweet little kid. I can’t wait for the rest of the trip with him. :) Tomorrow, we’re off in the direction toward Mt. Rushmore, but first, we are going to be picking up two (maybe one) of my cousins in Kansas. I’m extremely excited to see them, I haven’t seen them in a while and have missed the girls I was always attached to. Breck and my dad are sleeping so I think it’s time I try to sleep. The trip has just got a lot more interesting with a five year old, I’m so excited to spend some time with him!

Despite the rain and the cloudy weather, it was still such an amazing experience. Grateful doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel about being able to experience this. I love nature and the natural beauty that the world holds. The unstoppable force and free flowing direction of natures beauties is something that will forever bring me peace and solace. To be able to see something completely free and unchanged by man is something I will forever hold close to me.

Day 2! Today was day one of two Canada days. I've been looking forward to Canada because it's such a beautiful country. So we left Maine at around 7:30 am and began the gloomy, long drive to Québec or Montréal (it all depended on how we were on time). The Canadian border is pretty weird honestly. I've only traveled into Canada once, and it was with school so the border procedure was different, but today, we drove up to the border, handed our passports over, were asked some questions and then drove through. Maybe this was just oddly too easy for my dad and I because we're used to traveling through the Mexico border together where you have to get a permit to stay in the country. So after the easy border crossing, we began taking it all in. The scenery, the signs, the roads and the cool weather. Though much of the scenery was the same, it was still really nice. It's so clean and green here, there's no trash on the side of the highways and get this.. No billboards. None! It was weird, you're so used to seeing advertisements and directional signs so often, that it just looks so bare here in Canada with very few billboards and only the necessary road signs. (We saw no more than 10 billboards from Bangor, Maine, to Montréal, Canada. And the ones we did see, were buried far away from the road on farmers land). We got a kick out of the moose signs too, there were so many "moose crossing" or " use caution: moose" signs that I lost count. The weather was so nice despite the overcast and rain showers that lasted all day. I don't think the temperature ever went above 75° and it wasn't humid!! We got to our hotel at around 7 pm (I think?!) so today has been a long day. We didn't do much today, for it was a travel day. Tomorrow shouldn't be as bad, we are heading to Toronto early in the morning so we can get to the city at a decent time. We had dinner at a place by our hotel that was pretty good. I got a #5 which consisted of two (loaded?) hot dogs, fries and a drink. My dad got a #1 which was this weird (but very good!) hot sandwich/sub like thing with fries and a drink too. You'd think that a hot dog is a hot dog and hot dogs are good, but these hot dogs I had were fantastic. They had mustard, relish, ketchup and lettuce and vinegar on them and they were just two of the best hot dogs I've had. My dad's sandwich had a lot of stuff that we didn't know what it was, but it was a delicious little (actually, it was big) sandwich. We learned a few things in good ol' Canada today: Gas is expensive!!!!! ($5.50 a gallon!) Information centers are on the RIGHT. New Brunswick was nicer (people wise/scenically) than Québec. Québec is a strictly "French road sign area" (seriously, as soon as we were out of New Brunswick and into Québec, the English on the road signs vanished). You can get away with knowing where to go just by looking at the illustrated signs! Spanish is (in some ways) close to French. The people are (kind of, sometimes, not really) nice here. We can get by here in Canada. :) (P.S, please enjoy the road sign that says "St-Dominique" on it with me, because I never get to enjoy those stupid little things with my name on them unless I'm in Canada because of the French-ness of my name!)