Day 1 and Day 2 = very long!

So, we set out from FG at 7 a.m. and headed to I-70. We crossed into Colorado and it felt like we were in that state for a looong time! The scenery was great with mountains everywhere and cute little ski towns.We were making good time until we got to the Eisenhower tunnel (which was 2 miles long). From there to Denver the traffic was terrible! We lost about an hour and a half. We wanted to stop in Denver, but since we were behind we just got a picture from the road.

After Denver, and after we finally got out of the traffic, we made it to Kansas. There's a lot of corn in Kansas! And no mountains.

We stopped in Abilene, Kansas for the night. We didn't get there until after midnight. It was a really long day of driving and not much to see. But I did get a new state in (Kansas). When we woke up we got some gas and after seeing some billboards, realized that Abilene is the hometown of President Eisenhower. So we went to the little visitors center there real quick before heading out.











We finally got to Missouri, which is really pretty. We went through Kansas City and the hometown of David Cook.

On the other end of Missouri is St. Louis. It was raining really hard when we got there, but by the time we got the arch it had stopped. So we got out to see it and see the Mississippi river. We went underground to the little museum they have, then we kept driving.




We crossed into Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. In Indiana we went through Indianapolis and saw the Lucas Oil Stadium where the Colts play.




All through Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio there are soooo many trees, corn and soybeans! Everything is so green. And it seems like with every state line we cross the humidity gets worse. I can't imagine what it'll be like further east.

But the highlight of the trip so far probably has to be the thousands of fireflies we saw in the fields in Ohio. I've never seen them in real life, and they are super cool! :)

Tomorrow is a shorter driving day, so we'll have a day and a half in DC. I'm sure I'll have LOTS of pictures!

Map of the cross-country trip!

Trip from Fountain Green, UT 84632 to Shenandoah Nat'l Pk-Swift Run Ent, Skyline Dr, Elkton, VA 22827


It will be a long drive, but so fun! I can't wait to see the country and go to all these new places :)

Plans finalized!

So the plans for my cross-country road trip to Virginia are finalized. As I said before, my sister, Sadie, is coming with me. 2500-ish miles is a long way to go by yourself. We're leaving the morning of July 18th at like 6 or 7 a.m.

The first leg of the trip is the longest--14 1/2 hours! After driving through Colroado, we'll be stopping in Abilene, Kansas to stay that night. I've never heard of Abilene but Topeka was too far and there's nothing else after we pass Denver. haha.

The second day is about 12 hours. We'll drive out of Kansas and through Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.... stopping for the second night in Dayton, Ohio. We may stop and see a little of Independence, Missouri, and go to the little visitors center they have there.

Our third and last day of driving we'll go through West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland back into West Virginia, back into Maryland (lol), then finally end up in Washington D.C.!!! I cannot wait to be there! We'll stay 2 nights in DC (well....Alexandria, Virginia) and try and see everything we can in our short time there. And hopefully we don't die from the enormous heat wave they're having back there.

Early in the morning on the 22nd, I'll drop Sadie off at the (extremely large) Washington National airport before heading into Shenandoah to get settled into my dorm room and start my job! I seriously have never been so excited for anything in my whole life!!

I'll be posting pictures during the whole experience, so check back to see the amazing-ness of America. Don't be too jealous of me though. haha. :)

I'm going to Virginia!

I decided to start a blog so that I can keep everyone updated on my big adventure! I heard about Shenandoah National Park in Virginia last summer when my Lake Powell employment application was forwarded to the park by Aramark (they hire for both places). Shenandoah called a week before school started last August and offered me a job. I couldn't take it obviously because I needed to start school. But they said they would keep me in mind for the next year if I was interested. Well....March rolled around and I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with my life when I graduated in a few weeks. I kept Shenandoah in mind all year because I knew it would be so amazing to be able to go somewhere and do something fun like that, but I never really expected it to work out.... well, it is working out, because I'm leaving to start my job on July 18th! The day after Lamb Day (which I would never miss, of course!) I'm taking a cross-country road trip to get there, and my sister Sadie is driving out with me so I don't have to drive 3000 miles by myself. We're going to spend a couple days in Washington DC before Sadie flies back home. I'm so excited about that....If I could go anywhere in the country, DC would be the place, and now I get to go there! Shenandoah is about an hour and a half away from DC, so I'll probably get to visit a lot. It's 4 hours from Philadelphia and 6 hours from New York City, so hopefully I'll get to see a few of those amazing places while I'm there. The job ends in November, so it's just a seasonal thing, but I think that it all works out really perfectly. I can go do this and have this great experience, then come home and go back to school in the spring to start working on getting my teaching license. I cannot wait for my big adventure! Only 18 days left :)