Roaaaaaaad Triiiiiip.!!!! Before this adventure a road trip meant my girls and I eating junk, complaining about how it’s going to make us fat, singing, taking turns driving, evaluating our lives bad choices, dangerously taking selfies, trying not to reroute a thousand times by taking the wrong exits, sleeping, checking FB, and eating more junk, then waking up on a warm beautiful beach somewhere along the west coast. When I was a kid road trips were even better because it meant going to sleep and waking up in an entirely different place with no recollection of how or when you got there. So to say this road trip was a new experience would be a complete understatement.
When we were considering this trip it didn’t seem like that big of a deal, type the address into the gps (https://maps.google.com/) and the route comes up as just one small line from one end of the country to the other, can’t be that long, right.? I mean it fit onto one little screen in the palm of my hand.! Well pshh thats easy! Flying almost feels like an entire day once you make it through JFK airport security, the crying baby on the plane, the baggage carrousel and the taxi line on the other end. So when my friend asked me to drive her old dogs across the country, with all expenses paid, it was a yes with no hesitation, in fact it was my brilliant idea. What were the odds that her dogs were going to her sisters that lives in Utah where I grew up.? It was fate.!!! We had to do it.! So after a few convincing conversations with my handsome co pilot and mapping out our tourist stop spots we agreed!
Preparing for the trip was more work than any other road trip I had been on because I made the decesion that I didn’t want to eat ANY fast food. So the night before we left we went to Trader Joes (my favorite market) and stocked up on groceries and goodies for the ride and packed them into the cooler bag. We started at 4am on June 30th in Brooklyn, New York. After picking up the dogs and loading them into the back with all of our luggage then arrannging it to where they couldn’t get to the food, or our laps, we were finally ready for take off.! I had to drive through Manhattan first to get into New Jersey which was the first state we drove through…
This is on the Williamsburg bridge headed into Manhattan.
My handsome co-pilot.!
Made it through New Jersey and entered Pennsylvania.!
By this point I was already ready to be in Chicago! We crossed in and out of Michigan while driving through Ohio then finally made it to Indianna where I was able to talk Kylan into actually getting out of the car to take a picture by the sign. He obvi didn’t know the state signs road trip traditon!
These were “the old boys”. Stanton is the one with the white neck. Parker is the darker one. They’re over 100 in people years so Ky had to pick them up every time they got in and out of the car. Their legs were to old and fragile to jump.
FIFTEEN HOURS OF DRIVING LATER. We FINALLY made it to Chicago! We freshened up and pulled our second wind out of the magical land of go do be so we could make it to Millenium Park to see “The Bean” and grab some Chicago grub.!
Millenium Park was full of really awesome beautiful art sculptures!
Our fave was “The Bean” that’s not its real name just it’s nickname. It’s real name is “Cloud Gate”. In a nutshell it’s a polished stainless steel sculpture that was designed by Anish Kapoor. I could’ve stared into it for hours to see my reflection at different obscured views althogh my reflection had nothing on the reflection of the beautiful sky line of the city. You could stand back and look at it from a distance and see out into what looked like infinity.
The bean wasn’t the only impressive sculpture. There were many others. We were just too hangry by then to take pictures by all of them.
Chicago was SO CLEAN!!! Well at least compared to NYC.
Initally I wanted something that was a Chicago exclusive. Maybe a hole in the wall. Maybe somewhere to serve Ky a real Chicago deep dish. However when it came down to it we didn’t make reservations and we were too hangry to wait 45 mins for a table. So I did what I knew best. Sniffed out a place! Litterally! We ended up at this random Itallian restaurant called Vapiano. We knew nothing of it at the time… Just walked past, it smelt GREAT and the atmosphere looked inviting. BOOM! Boy was I glad we came upon it. Although I learned it wasn’t a Chicago exclusive, it was new to us, and after I ate the fresh handmade GLUTEN FREE pasta all I wanted was MORE. Luckily for us, there IS actually one in NYC (surprise) which I was happy and mad about, mad because I could’ve been enjoying it for the past three years and I didn’t have to go all the way to Chicago to get it. Happy becuase there is one like five minutes from my office in Union Square so now we go like once a week.
So here’s a break down of why I LOVE Vapiano’s!
They have eight locations in the USA and like a billion in Asia and Eurpoe.
– EVERYTHING IS GLUTEN FREE, ORGANIC, FARM RAISED, GOLDEN PERFECTION
– They make everything to order right in front of your eyes just how you like it!
– ITS FAST AND CONVENIENT. You don’t have a server. They give you these credit cards when you walk in and they act as your “tab” so anything you order is scanned onto it and you just pay as you leave.
– Extremely affordable. Come on, everyone loves a good deal. Especially when it tastes this good.
I think you’ll start seeing Vapiano everywhere in the next few years & I hope so!
http://us.vapiano.com/en/home/
Specialty truffle pizza for their Chicago location and it was absolutely to die for.!
DAY 2: The old boys were ready for more driving. Stanton loved sticking his head out the window.
We made it a short drive through Illinois into Wisconsin. By this point in the drive I swore we had heard every song on “Road Trip Radio” on Sirius XM as well as “Coffee House Radio”. Those were my two favorites and we sang along to almost every song.
Minnesota had a hidden sign, but don’t you worry, we still snuck a picture.!
Somehow we missed the sign for South Dakota although we did NOT miss this GORGEOUS sunset. It was awesome because South Dakota is SO flat as you can see and we drove west for hours while the sun was setting so it felt like we were able to see it set at least 10 times.
We finally arrived in Keystone, South Dakota around 12am in a GIANT lightning storm, so of course we didn’t get a picture. It was actually kind of scary and really beautiful. I was driving slow while it poured buckets down on us through a canyon I had never seen in my life. As much as the lightning startled me it actaully was super usefull in lighting up the sky and path in front of me so I could see where we were going. Everything on the main street in Keystone was closed when we arrived and it was still closed when we left to see Mount Rushmore at 6am, bummer.! Guess there’s always next time.!
Mount Rushmore was beautiful! Better than I expected. Chicago was my pick and Mount Rushmore was his. History has never been my favorite subject, it’s Kylans!
I guess everything is beautiful and amazing when you have someone like him to do it with.!
Soooo this picture is actually the best picture of the whole trip… You may ask why.!? Well, to be honest I blew this giant weed after I almost peed my pants… BUT, I didn’t. The drive across South Dakota and through Wyoming has NO BATHROOMS. When I say that I’m not joking! This picture was taken next to some little out house in the middle of NO where. I’m still so thankfull for that outhouse it definately beat squating on the side of the road which I also had to do… TMI.
We finally made it to Syracuse, UT at 1am on July 3rd.! I was SOOOO exhausted and excited to see everyone. Lizzie and Amber were jumping up and down in the drive way when we arrived to Amber & Brecks new house. I have the BEST friends. However what I thought was just exhaustion turned into heat stroke and I was out flat my entire first day of being in Utah… Guess my plan to drink little water to avoid bathroom stops so we could get to Utah faster back fired.! Thank goodness I had my all natural health guru Amber Hansen to set me up with a nice cozy bed and some essesntial oils to calm my fever.! She rubbed pepermint oil on the bottom of my feet and some other sweet concoctions and I was better by the next day, thank goodness because the next day was my favorite holiday!!!
FOURTH OF JULY.!!!
My dads favorite Fourth of July tradition is to get southern BBQ that is served by the local baptist church at Layton days. So of course we had to do that.!!!! Love you Dad.!
I loved finally getting to hang out with this little cutie Kannon Kai.!
Amber makes such a cute mom, it’s been so crazy and fun seeing her turn into a mother.!
Lizzie is the best.! She’s always the first to lend a helping hand.
My cousin Riley let us take over her house for our fourth of July BBQ it was in the perfect location for the Sugar House Park fireworks… Which I think has the best firework display in all of Salt Lake City.!!! Thanks Riley.! I love you and can’t wait for you to come to NYC.!
My cute fourth of July date in his patriotic USA shrit.!
My main girls, minus a few. Cheers to the past and future 4th of Julys.! MERICA.!
The BBQ would have been nothing with out chef Kylan.! He cooked up a feast for everyone.!
We’re the three best friends that anyone could have, the three best friends that anyone could have.!
Bailey and Kyle made it just in time for Sugar House fireworks.! Can’t wait to go to their wedding in a few weeks! Bailey is one of my best friends and my hair stylist! She’s the best!
NOTE: TH
My baby girl Ayva is almost a big girl.! So much sass in such a small package.!
Katey and Kain threw a BBQ the day after mine and it was so much fun.! We played corn hole and volley ball all night long. Thanks for inviting me Katey.! Love and miss you.!
One of the things I miss most about Utah is all of the beautiful nature. Utah is home to some of the most beautiful mountains in this world with hidden hikes all throughout the state. So of course I had to show my New Yorker what real mountains look like.
We ventured up Adams Canyon the morning of July 5th right after a morning rain shower. A little rain wasn’t going to stop me, although it did get pretty muddy, I was grateful to be wearing my water shoes! Adams is one of my favorite local Davis County hikes. Its located with fairly easy access off of highway 89 and is about a two mile hike up and two mile hike down, with a spectacular 40 foot waterfall at the top, round trip it equals out to be about a four mile hike round trip. WE LOVED IT.!
Had to stop by my favorite dentist while I was in town.! Was so lucky they were able to fit me in. If anyone is looking for an awesome dentist in the Ogden, Layton, Syracuse area look no further than Summit Dental.! They are the best in the business and this is coming from the biggest dentist hater in all the land. Dr. Scott is GREAT at making sure you’re comfortable so you don’t feel a thing. They’re also great at teeth whitening, in case you’re wondering where my pearly whites are from.!
This is the car that safely carried us 2,448 miles with NO tickets and NO issues.! SO BLESSED.! Except our morngin scheudled return didn’t line up with our late scheduled flight so the last day we were in town we were taxied around by some of my favorite people in the whole world. First Bailey, second Payton & Brandon. Thanks guys.!
My family came down to Salt Lake on their way home from Idaho. I had heat stroke the day I was supposed to join them in Idaho so they came at different times throughout that day and joined me for lunch and dinner before we all went our seperate ways.! So lucky to see my family when I do because we’re all so spread out.
NOTE: This is the first pic of my hair right after Bailey Richardson did it that morning.! She is AMAZING.!!!! Feel free to look at how dull and dead it was the first 3 days of my trip compared to how bright and healthy it is in this pic.!!! She’s the best. She drove from Provo picked me up at the airport and did my hair at Paytons… Now I can’t guarantee that she will drive hours just to do your hair, however I can guarantee she is the best hair stylist in the whole state of Utah hands down.!!!
This is my brother Zen, we caught up for a bit while I did some shopping at City Creek and Gateway.
My girl Payton and our addiction to Cheesecake Factory… I missed this girl SO much. It was so fun spending the day and going to dinner with these two, such a sweet ending to a short trip.!
NOPE! NOPE! NOPE! NOPE! NOPE! NOPE! NOPE! Never let Brandon be the DJ. NOPE!
This was it, passed out, next thing I knew I was back in the city of bright lights and big dreams.
SO GRATEFUL FOR ALL MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY! LOVE YOU ALL!