Farewell

The last morning in Seattle, Chappy made pancakes and we of course playing one more Mario Kart team race. We played on a cup that we hadn't come within 60 points of winning the night before, and we won! It was a high note to end my video gaming for the trip on, for sure.

Chappy took me to the airport, and I tried to avoid saying goodbye until the moment I had to. The radio stations tried to put on lots of sappy music for us, so we ended up listening to something we didn't even know.

I know no one wants to hear my sappy thoughts, but I just want to sum it all up by saying the trip was amazing. There's no one I would've rather driven across the country with and I will never forget anything about the trip (especially since this blog will be here foreverrrrrrrrr). Thanks so much to everyone who let us stay with them, and especially to the Chapmans for housing me for 5 days. They showed me everything there was to see about Seattle and put up with me for a long time. And to my wife, I love you and thank you for not letting me get eaten by a bear. And for teaching me how to drink whiskey, and for driving the entire time, and for putting up with being the only tent in RV parks. It was a great way to start the summer and we'll have to do it again and go to Wall Drug...or New Orleans. I love you!

A long time coming

Ok, so realistically no one is reading this anymore, but the story of our trip cannot go unfinished. On my last full day in Seattle, I had some more fantastic food and saw some more things that I am sure I cannot find anywhere else in the country.

After we woke up we spent about 2 hours playing Mario Kart, but to no avail. We accomplished pretty much nothing and after more frustration than I ever wanted Chappy to experience, we decided to move on. We went to lunch at Uptown China, which is a very good chinese restaurant with a fantastic lunch special. After that, we finally went to see the space needle! It was a gorgeous day, and though "the mountains weren't out," the city was beautiful. Chappy and her mom spent a long time trying to orient me with where everything was but let me tell you, there are many parts of Seattle, and I still probably have no clue. I also found it funny that on the way up they said the elevator ride was 82 seconds and on the way down they said it was "the same as the way up...41 seconds." hmmmmmm, I'm not a math major (o wait, yes I am), but those are not the same numbers. Also in Seattle center, was this really cool fountain that we went and sat around by. We watched the high school kids think they were really cool and take their shirts off and run through it. One kid thought he was really cool and took his pants off to reveal his tightie whities. He took it too far.

When we got back to the house, we had some time before dinner, so Chap and I decided to exact our revenge on her mom in Mario Party. I lost again, but Chappy won, which is an acceptable defeat for my last game of MP. Mr. Chapman grilled some phenominal salmon. It was to die for. I'll never look at Atlantic salmon the same way ever again. It was the completion of my Seattle cuisine. After dinner, we had the most successful hour of Mario Kart ever, and beat all of the cups on 150, AND played all of the battle modes.

Hoping our luck would carry over to trivia, we headed to Kate's pub with Chappy's sister Katie, her friend, Jason, and Chappy's other sister (ish), Sarah. Trivia at this bar cost 5 bucks to play (we're not used to that up in Medford), and had a cool word games round and picture round. Then they ask 45 questions, and you swap answer sheets with the team next to you to correct them. Weird, right? But it was so fun! We finished with 114 points, in a tie for 3rd. The second place team (who won a pitcher...damn), had 115 points. wondering what our team name was? The One Hit Wonders, because that was the only time the 5 of us will be playing together at Kate's Pub. Sad Face.

Since it was my last night in Seattle, Chappy and I had a sleepover in her room and she even suggested putting Twilight on to fall asleep to (she's hooked!). It was a great end to my trip and it was a little sad to think about going home the next day.

Grab a glass of Rose

So yesterday was another day of casual sight seeing and very intense video gaming.  Chappy and I finally conquered Super Smash brothers, ending a year and a half long quest to defeat every character in the game including our own.  But that was later in the day.  In the morning, we played a lot more Mario Kart and managed to unlock two new cups to play!!  I know this means nothing to you, but to us it meant lots more team racing and frustrations with new courses.

At lunch time, Chappy took me for my first Pho experience (it's a Vietnamese noodle soup that is quite tasty and they give you a huge bowl for basically nothing) and I got to see another part of Seattle.  Then we went with her dad to the fisherman's terminal which is where all of the fresh salmon can be purchased.  We picked out what appeared to be some phenomenal cuts of salmon (we'll know for sure later tonight...mmmmm) and went to see the Locks. 

 I had no idea what the Locks was, but its amazingly cool and was clearly designed by some super smart engineer (slash Tink in her former life).  It's basically a place that connects the fresh water with the saltwater, so boats can go between them.  It puts them in this hold and then raises or lowers the water level in the hold depending on which way they're going, so they can make the transition.  I know my description doesn't do it justice but it looks really cool!!  And I'll put up pictures when I have my camera near me.  We also went to look at the salmon ladder which is how the salmon get from the salt water to fresh water and vice versa.  Me being from New England didn't even know stuff like that existed and its so awesome to see!

When we got back it was time for me to see the treehouse that I had heard so much about after Maya and Dlo's visit and they were not lying...it definitely lived up to its expectations and then some.  There really is a drawbridge to get in, which wouldn't come down so I had to lift Chappy up by her butt over the side of the treehouse (its fine...shes my wife haha).  We playing some Gin and I drank another Bitch Creek that Amanda gave me from Yellowstone until it was time to get ready for dinner.

For dinner, Chappy's sister took us to this restaurant called the Boat Street Cafe to have this like 6 course lamb dinner.  I don't need to tell you it was amazingly good...but I will anyways.  When we got there, Chap and I weren't sure if we were going to be able to go to dinner because it was rsvp only and we had rsvp'd as a party of 4, not 5.  So Katie went inside to see if she could figure out some way to get us in, and texted us that it was looking good.  So here we were outside standing awkwardly feeling underdressed not knowing how nice it was, and Chappy gets another text from her and reads it aloud.  It says, "We're all set.  Come inside and grab a glass of Rose."  Chappy pronounced rose like the flower and then quickly corrected herself to pronounce it like the wine, after we got a good laugh.

We grabbed ourselves quite a few classes of Rose throughout the entire meal which consisted of breads, a delicious salad, mussels, lamb and strawberries with shortcake and ice cream.  Even though I ate literally 20 little bread pieces, and all the rest of the meal, I was very comfortably full at the end.  Bottom line was it was delicious and we spent a great 4 hours telling stories and laughing at each other.  The only downside was that by spending 4 hours at dinner, we missed our window of opportunity for trivia that night.  But lucky for us, Seattle has an abundance of bars that have trivia and we're going tonight instead.

Just because she's Yoshi doesn't mean she should win!

Of course yesterday was a continuation of our video game playing, but we were sure to throw in some real life experiences as well.

I took Cara to The Dish Cafe in Ballard - a must for anyone who comes to Seattle. The place was packed, as per usual on a Saturday, but they were very fast and we had a fantastic brunch. Once sufficiently full we drove over to the marina where we keep our boat. Cara got to see first hand that I do not own a yacht despite any possible attempts by DLo to photoshop a picture of me at the helm of the Disney Cruise liner.

We then headed home to see if we needed to help with the production that was in swing for the evenings dinner. Our contribution to the night was the choice of beer that my father then went out to get. Once he got back we dutifully drank the beer while playing some more Mario Kart Wii. However, the beer didn't help our driving abilities and the stress of the game quickly got to us - or at least me.

Five o'clock rolled around and we walked across the street to Katie's house. Apparently my sister has taken to hosting cocktail hour (really three hours) once a week in her backyard. We were greeted with a bloody mary each and found out that the evenings theme was vodka. A bloody mary and a cosmopolitan later it was time for dinner of my fathers famous ribs and a few of my mother's choice salads. We of course remembered to grab one of Katie's Wii controllers so we would have enough for my mother to play Mario Party with us.

We stuffed ourselves with food once again and then it was time for some serious Mario Party

It will not be the last game Cara and I ever play together because against all odds my mother won. I'm not sure what to video game gods were trying to do by letting a new comer, and my mother at that, beat two seasoned veterans like Cara and myself, but we were not happy. Being Yoshi shouldn't give you an automatic win! I know he's cool and all, but really?!

After said depressing game we went back to Katie's house where cocktail hour was still going on. Cara got to see where I get my fantastic story telling ability as Katie got out her ukulele and gave us a spoke word version of her run in with the Hug Bug lady (if you want that story just text me Hug Bug).

This story then lead to another one about Katie's battery operated PA which of course was brought out. Her electric ukulele was plugged in and we had a karaoke session to doo wap music accompanied by the ukulele. Later the iPods were brought out and we sang disney songs and most of the Stand By Me soundtrack late into the evening.

The glorious company was very receptive to our idea of trivia and tonight we will be trying once again to take over another bar's trivia.

And there's more cat piss

Ok ok, we're back. It's alot harder to post so often when I'm not sitting with the computer on my lap for 8 hours a day. Anyways, so I made Chappy watch Twilight, and she actually liked it (perhaps because we had some really stiff Gin and Tonics while watching...or because Edward Cullen is beautiful). I have to admit I was shocked that she didn't turn it off halfway through because of its corniness. We also watched the trailer for New Moon and I think I have her hooked.

Last night we went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner and had some more quite strong drinks (seems to be a theme of our trip). Then we went to the Mariners game where the UW softball team was honored and Danielle Lawrie threw out the first pitch. Despite our best efforts, we didn't get there in time to see her do it, but we saw them up in their sky box watching the game. The Mariners lost in extra innings, but the center fielder made a SICK catch to rob the twins guy of a home run. Of course the next play the left fielder decided it was time for an outfield fail, so the Twins won 2-1. And to make matters worse, the drunk guy behind us was absolutely obnoxious. BUT while we were getting our tickets we saw a dude in a Tufts sweatshirt and hat and I was like "omg we should totally say something to him." Chappy agreed, but by this time the guy was getting farther and father away so she just yelled "GO JUMBOS!" He turned and looked at us and gave us a fist pump. Gotta love Jumbo nation.

We've also taken a liking to playing wii Mario Kart, and Mrs. Chapman promises to take pictures because apparently we look ridiculous. We're having ribs tonight and possibly going out if we can pull ourselves away from the wii. We'll keep you updated. We seem to have a knack for meeting crazy people and it hasn't stopped just because we're in Seattle.

Oh wait! I forgot to write about the cat piss. So, Chappy's family has three cats, and her sister who lives down the street has 2 and multiple neighbors do as well. So in the neighborhood, everyone is really nice to everyone else's pets and leave the windows open so the cats can get in and out and because the weather is really nice at night. So at about 3am this morning, I woke up to the sound of a plastic bag rustling. I looked over and there was a cat that I did not recognize sitting on the plastic bag. He saw me look at him and he just peaced and jumped out the window. In the morning I saw that he had peed on the bag and told Chappy at which point she and her mom said "That's Cow (literally, he looks like a cow). That cat is such an asshole." It was hysterical and I love it here :)

The eagle has landed

WE MADE IT!!!!  We arrived in Seattle at about 530, having made excellent time allllllll the way from Yellowstone.  We did not smell pleasant at all (some combination of foot, dirt, tent and sweat) but luckily Mrs. Chapman was just happy to see that we had made it in one piece.  We're settling in with some Smash Brothers and a home cooked meal...mmmmmmmmmmm...that has been a long time coming (relatively speaking).  Our exciting first night in Seattle will consist of watching Twilight (a 19 Fairmount favorite) and heading to bed nice and early.  It will be great not to have to wake up at 6am.  Blogging will continue though, so fret not.  The adventures of Cara and Chappy are far from over.

The home stretch

We woke up this morning at 530 and managed to pack up our soaking wet tent and leave Yellowstone by 6.  On the way out of the park I was going through my pictures trying to delete some when Chappy yelled, "dude. Dude. DUDE! A BISON!"  The bison was legit walking along the side of the road.  So close to us (the picture is not zoomed at all).  We also saw a deer on the side of the road on our way out.  After stopping to take pictures at the Yellowstone sign and to prove that we were in Montana, we began our 12 hour journey.  We passed a sign for Milligan Canyon...crazy.  Really this post is here so we can show you pictures of the animals, but if anything cool happens, we'll update.  Also, don't worry.  We aren't going to stop just because we got to Seattle, because technically until I leave, the trip is still going on.  So the blog lives!

Our most successful camping night yet

After our short hike, it was time to do the most camping we'd done this entire trip.  We finally took the grill and charcoal out of the car, and had it up and running in no time.  While Chappy went to the bathroom and made easy mac in the water boiler, I grilled the hot dogs that we'd bought earlier.  Consider the Maker's Mark we had to wash it down with, and we had ourselves a feast!  I managed not to burn anything (unless you count when I tried to close the metal air vent with my bare hand.  Smart), and the hot dogs weren't half bad.  We had a catch outside, managed not to hit anyones tent or car around us, and sat down for some whisky (in solo cups of course) and card playing.  When the rain started, we moved the party (complete with ncaa speakers) into the tent.  

Side note:  Tell me...Baby by N'sync just came on in the car.  It will forever remind us of Alison Drobiarz and her outstanding dance moves.

Back to camping.  At approximately 930, finishing our hot chocolate, and removing pretty much everything (including water bottles) from our tent so we wouldn't get eaten, we were ready for bed.  Many of the families with their young children were just starting to cook dinner, but we were exhausted.  Thanks to Chappy's night time mix, we fell asleep despite the screaming children outside.  

More sights, and a little compromise

After our first journey to Grand Prismatic, the rain let up enough that we decided to go for a small hike.  Chappy figured that as long as we had time and were there, we should at least do some hiking.  Being the natural outdoorswoman that i am, I said sure :)  For the first three quarters of a mile I did nothing but constantly check around us for oncoming bears.  Clearly there were none.  We hiked to this place called Ferry Falls, which turned out to be quite pretty, and we saw some sweet yellow bellied marmats along the way (don't ask me what a marmat is, I can only describe it as half squirrel, half beaver).  The closest we came to an animal was when two marmats were chasing each other and one of them ran at us by accident, stopped when it got close, looked at us like "WTF?!?!" and ran away. 

On the way back, we passed by Grand Prismatic in the distance and since it was nicer out, Chappy noted that you could probably see it better.  We then heard voices coming from on top of the cliff like thing she wanted to hike up before, and she stopped.  I looked at her and said (as though I were sacrificing my life), "do you want to go up?"  She said yes, and turns out it was well worth it.  Obviously there were no animals and we got an absolutely stunning view of the lake.  That just shows you sometimes it's worth it to compromise...you might get to see a really cool lake.

The sights of Yellowstone

We got to Yellowstone earlier than we'd reached pretty much any of our other destinations...around 1130, noonish.  At the park entrance, the ranger guy informed us there was no cell service at all which sucked mostly because we didn't get to tell anyone that we'd be unreachable (I got 2 not so happy voicemails from my mom this morning not happy that I had not returned her calls).  We got our campsite where we were also handed a flyer that said "warning. Many visitors have been gored by buffalo," and given a speech about how if we left anything odorous out of the car, we could attract bears.  Great.  Naturally I was pretty sure we were going to eaten but its fine.  Chappy assured me that if people were eaten on a regular basis, they wouldn't put a campsite there.  What a smart wife I have.  We set up camp pretty quickly and it was off to see the park.

We'd driven no more than 5 minutes when we saw a shit ton of bison just chilling in a grassy area next to the road, so we stopped to take pictures.  We then headed in the direction of Old Faithful, not knowing if we were going to get there at an opportune time to see the geyser go off or not.  As luck would have it, we got there along with hoards of people, which we took to be a good sign.  A few minutes after we got there, water started to spurt up and then a massive combination of steam and water just shot out of it for a minute or two.  It was awesome!

Per request of Lauren Gelmetti, we next went to the Grand Prismatic Lake.  At this point, it was kind of rainy out and so the large amounts of steam prevented us from getting the view that we wanted to of the multi-colored lake.  Chappy was convinced we could climb this mountain type thing next to the lake to get a view from above and I just laughed at her and said hell no am I getting eaten by a bear.

Day 11- We are Alive

This is just a quick post to make sure everyone knows we did not get eaten by a bear or fall off a cliff or get gored by buffalo (trust me, it happens...the yellowstone people gave us many a flyer about it).  There was zero service in Yellowstone so we were unable to update at all yesterday or have any contact with the outside world for that matter (sorry for everyone whose comedy for the day comes from reading this).  But you know what that meansssss???  LOTS of updates today.  Especially considering we decided Idaho isn't worth the stop and we're going straight through to Seattle (12 hours ish).  Updates will be coming soon.

Do you want Taco Time?

So as today is Day 10 of our road trip, not surprisingly we have crossed over into crazy people land.  Not really crazy per say, but we've lost all concept of what day it is and what time of day it is.  Being in the car for so long will do that to you.  So about 20 minutes ago (circa 830am), we pulled off the highway to get some food.  We were trying to decide between Taco Time and Subway when we realized that it was 830 and normal people don't view either of those restaurants as breakfast options.  So we got back on the highway and opened our bags of chips instead.  We're about halfway to Yellowstone and might even attempt to cook some food on the grill tonight.  I'll keep you updated on which of my appendages gets singed in the process.

Danielle Lawrie is disguesting

Even if you were routing for Florida last night (sorry Dave), there's no way you can deny that statement.  Lawrie just got stronger and better as the game went on.  Chappy and I arrived in Park City at about 530, thinking we would speed set up our tent and get into town in time for the first pitch...not.  We pulled into the "RV Resort" and Chappy said that clearly there was no room for our tent here.  I didn't think so either at first glance, but the thing online said there were tent sites.  Since we were starving, we left the RV Park and I quickly tried to find campsites online, knowing that I couldn't make a second mistake or Chappy might divorce me.  We ate at Subway and none of the campsites were conducive to us setting up quickly and seeing the game.  I said there had to be tent sites at that other place because it said so online so maybe we should just go look.  Turns out there were in the back (though it was very clear that they were never used.  We obviously were the only tent among tons of RVs).  In order to get to the tent sites you had to drive down two sketchy dirt roads because there were 3 levels: the nice RV sites, the decent RV sites, and the shitty tent sites next to the creek.  After almost driving off the edge of the parking lot twice before finding the right way down, we set up our tent quickly, changed into our Washington shirts, and headed to Main Street.

We found a really cool brew pub, so they brew their own beer in the back, and we were maybe two of 10 customers in there when we first walked in.  We sat at the bar and watched the rest of the game, with Chappy biting her nails through the entire 7th inning.  When Lawrie got the last strikeout, Chappy was ecstatic.  Having adopted Washington as my team this World Series, I was also thrilled, but I'm pretty sure it took all of Chappy's self control not to scream in the middle of the bar.  Since we were exhausted, we pretty much went right to bed when we got back, and fell asleep to the sounds of the frogs croaking around us. 

 

Wyoming is so weird

I just had to put this down in writing because the lack of things going on is really freaking both of us out.  There's construction being done so literally these cones direct you to the other side of the highway and its a one lane interstate.  It's fine.  Also, we stopped at a gas station where the woman at the register proceeded to stare at us the entire time we were in there.  So creepy.  Also, there was a moose head on the wall next to the bathroom...like a real moose.  It's so quiet here, Chap and I are comparing it to Texas Chain Saw Massacres, AND we just saw an ATV driving the other way on the highway.  What is an ATV doing on a highway?!?!? There are exits with roads leading literally nowhere.  They just stop.  There's cows everywhere and you can see for miles.  It's an enigma to me after living in New England for my entire life where everything is so close together. We'll probably drive through a grand total of 5 towns that show up on a map before we leave the state.  Wow.  But still, the rest stop bathroom beats New Jersey.

Day 9

We're currently driving through Wyoming and the thermometer just hit 39 degrees.  Damn.  We had to say bye to the Amandas this morning and it was very sad.  Pants and I had a very nice moment (slash shorts made her say i love you before she left haha), and it's def gonna be weird living without her.  This morning at breakfast, the 4 of us were reminiscing about getting our driver's licenses (so soon, Erin!) and the fender benders we have all been in.  I admitted to Amanda that one of the summers when she let me borrow her car, I accidentally rolled into a stopped car at a red light because I was dipping my chicken nugget in sauce and thought I was going to stop in time.  Oops.  Unfortunately, Chappy can no longer laugh at me because as we were leaving a gas station this morning, she did the same thing (minus chicken nugget) and rolled into the car in front of her.  We were almost at a stop, so nothing happened, but it was very funny that it happened the same day I told my story.  We have another 5 hours until we're in Park City, and another 6 hours before the Florida-Washington game.  woooohoooo!!

Trivia Fail

Sad face.  We sucked at trivia.  It was a different format than back at Tavern and it was clear that we needed the home field advantage.  The trivia was run by geekswhodrink.com and apparently they have a blog as well...so cool.  When Chappy told Lizzy that they were called geekswhodrink.com, Lizzy responded with "so basically, TUSB."  So true.  Anyways, the first round didn't go too poorly, and we managed to win a free beer because Chappy knew the bonus question.  The second round was audio, and the trivia jockey played songs in German by German bands covering American songs.  The second one was we didn't start the fire by Billy Joel, and when we heard it, Chappy and I both screamed FRESHMEN!!! because they had redone the lyrics to it at our breakup dinner of sorts.  We definitely hit a wall at the round when it was completely sylvester stalone movie lines and we didn't get any (honestly, who can tell the difference in the Rocky movies).  We ordered pizza rolls which were huge spiral versions of the frozen ones, and I caused the plate to fall on the floor and marinara sauce to go everywhere.  Typical me causing a mess.  We finished trivia probably like 3rd to last, but we still had a great time.  

When it was time to go home, we called the hotel shuttle to get picked up, but we still didn't know the exact address of the name of the bar.  Since I'm pretty much blind, I went to the door and took a picture of the building occupancy thing and then zoomed in to find the address on it.  Chappy laughed at me, but I thought it was pretty resourceful, and it got the shuttle there :)

Also, Washington won!!!  They're now one game away from being national champions and Chappy and I will be wearing our UW shirts tonight in whatever random bar we can find in Park City, UT that will put the game on.  GO DAWGS!!!

Wait...are you a Gemini?

I would first like to start off this post by wishing a very happy 19th birthday to Lizzy Iuppa (aka MO)!!!  Only one more year of being a teenager!!  Speaking of Lizzy's bday, Chappy and I beat Lena by about 10 seconds in being the first to wish her a happy bday :)  It took lots of skill.

Anyways, Last night was pretty fantastic.  We had free dinner and happy hour at the hotel.  Dinner was tacos, which is one of my favorite meals of all time, so I was loving it.  When we went to get drinks, the hotel lady asked us for our ID's and of course being skeptical of Shorts, checked her ID very closely and said "you just turned!  Your birthday is 3 days after mine!"  They then discussed how cool it was to be an Aries and I said "I'm a Gemini."  She said "Yea, I'm married to one.  You don't get points for that."  Stupid story, I know.  But keep reading.  During dinner, we called a cab to pick us up and bring us to trivia at some bar that I still don't know the name of.  Even though they said they'd call when they got there, we waited outside and when we saw a cab, we waved and he asked if we needed a cab and we figured he knew we did and just got in.  He asked if we had called for a cab and we said yes and he said "yup, i'm totally not supposed to be taking you."  At this point, the actual cab called Chappy, and drove by the cab we were in and flicked our driver off.  He then told us he was only at the hotel to get a cookie because his wife worked upstairs.  I'm sure if you'd looked at my face you could tell I was thinking very hard, and then I said in my not completely sober manner, "wait...are you a Gemini?"  Turns out he was, and he was the husband of the lady who had served us drinks.  We went on to bond from there and talk about people who had peed and thrown up in his cab.  When we got to the bar he gave us his phone number and told us to call him if we needed a ride home.  Though we loved the entertainment, we opted for the hotel shuttle after trivia.  Ps, his name was Brent, his wife's name was Brenda, and they named their kid Brandy. 

How we got drunk and climbed a mountain

  

           Just got back to the hotel after quite a morning/afternoon.  We did probably 

two of the most mismatched activities ever, but it's fine, they were both amazing.  This morning we woke up in time to get our free hotel breakfast (obviously...it was free).  Last night we convinced Pants and Shorts to stay another day in Denver and so we set off to see the sights.  

(Notice how I'm sticking to the paragraph form Chappy has taken a liking to).  We first went to the Coors Brewery, which is the largest brewery in the world (told to us several times by our audio tour guides).  Along the trip we got a small plastic cup of beer, maybe 3 or 4 shots worth, and told us we'd get three more samples in the lounge.  We thought this meant three more of these sampling sizes, but no, they meant three legitimate glasses of beer.  After finishing all of our three samples, we decided it best that we walk around and get some lunch before going to our next destination.  

       After lunch we headed to Red Rocks, which is this really cool outdoor amphitheater that is literally in the middle of these huge red rocks.  Despite Amanda and I taking us in a circle, we got there and decided to hike the 1.4 mile trail through all of the rocks.  Small side note, Chappy and I were wearing jeans for the first time since Nashville...huge PLD for rock climbing.  Amanda was mad because we weren't actually allowed to scale the rocks (it was a $1000 fine and 180 days in jail...not worth it), yet somehow the "trail" that we took led to the edge of a pretty tall rock.  Clearly we got off track somewhere, and of course I was now convinced we were going to fall.  We didn't, however, and I definitely feel as though I made up for the last week of not going to the gym.  We're back at the hotel getting ready to take advantage of the free dinner and happy hour :) before heading to trivia!!!!  Hopefully we'll bring home the victory and we'll end our trivia careers as the youngins on top.

Drink a beer save a monkey

Somehow we managed to find the bar in town that had this beer of which 25% of the proceeds go to saving gorillas.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Yesterday we hauled ass to Denver and immediately took showers when we got to the hotel.  The pain from the horrific sunburns aside, the showers were very pleasant and much needed.  Once Amanda and Amanda had arrived and partaken in the glory of having a shower we took full advantage of the hotels free shuttle service and headed to dinner in downtown Denver.

Amanda and Amanda had told us some hilarious stories about their ability to get lost, but for some reason we still decided to follow Amanda and walked a block and a half in the wrong direction before turning around in search of our restaurant.  We had picked out a little pizzeria from Amanda's travel guide and the book didn't let us down.  We had some great pizza and some great cocktails.  The altitude being what it is we got a happy a bit quicker.  Cara, already being a beer deep, was loving life by the time she finished her Bilini (peach nectar, peach liquor, and champagne).

We then went in search of the Wynkoop Brewery for a few drinks and a TV to watch the Washington vs. Georgia game.  We got to the intersection of the street we wanted to be on and the street we had been on and had no idea which way to turn.  Amanda said she thought we should go right so knowing her ability to be wrong with directions we should probably turn left.  I'm not sure why, but we turned right.  It took us three blocks before we found a second street number and realized we were walking the wrong way.  After walking back those three blocks, dodging some creepy lady who Amanda and I skirted past and left Amanda and Cara to deal with, and walking an additional three blocks from our starting point, we found the bar.  It was very chill and very Denver.  The whole place was wood and there was a giant gorilla in the corner.  Our bartender later explained that the gorilla gets more play than he does.

Cara convinced the guy to put the softball game on and we settled into drinks and softball and Cara and Amanda reminiscing about the last four years of their lives spent largely in each others presence.  Amanda of course got the beer that save a gorilla, but it was a cellar beer served at room temperature and really just not her taste - really not any of our tastes.  She still drank the pint.  We called it quits about when the game ended (a little past ten).  Yeah, we're sad and peaced out early, but Cara and I had been up since 4:30AM.  The hotel shuttle came back and picked us up right outside the brewery and we chatted about our road trip, future plans, and the shuttle drivers eligible sons (the youngest of whom hadn't yet graduated from high school, but that shouldn't make him any less appealing she said) on the way back. We went back to the hotel and had a grand time with our whisky from Maker's Mark and the MTV Movie awards replay.

Today we're off to see Denver and tonight... TRIVIA!  Yes, we found a place that has trivia and yes we are going!  The Youngins take Denver!

You know... OH MY GOD!

We're sitting in the hotel in Denver right now watching the Alabama vs. Florida game.  The Florida left fielder just dove for a blazer and didn't catch it.  Being the angry retired outfielder who always comments on outfield fails that I am, I started to explain what was wrong with that play (for anyone who cares, she needed to sprint to the ball standing up and then push off the ground to propel herself forward rather than run like a hunch back and awkwardly fall at the ball and not catch it).  However, this thought was unable to escape my mouth because at that exact moment I saw, through the glass door behind the TV, the giant Oscar Mayer wiener mobile.  The thing pulled right into our parking lot.  We of course ran out and took pictures.

Denver

We made it to Denver!!!  We're now in the hotel room hanging out with Amanda and Amanda (Pants and Shorts), and figuring out what to do tonight.  Should be a great night out though as long as Chappy and I don't pass out first.  We'll definitely be somewhere watching the World Series and hoping Washington pulls it out!

FML

Since we're in the car on our way to Denver, we have to watch Washington on gametracker.  So that sucks.  Then we saw that they hit a 3 run hr to left center.  So I asked Mira where it went and she said "over the short bleachers under the scoreboard." ie. RIGHT WHERE WE WERE SITTING THE LAST TWO DAYS!!! FML chappy so would've caught it.  But its ok...its fine.  Yay for Washington, and yay for eating subway in the car while driving through the flatness that is the state of Kansas.  Hopefully we'll get to Denver in a few hours. 

DAY 7

We're on our way to Denver after waking up bright and early...actually not bright at all.  Just early.  We took the tent down in darkness and put some money under the door of the camp collector guy and then hit the road.  We have a long drive ahead of us followed by a much needed shower and a long nap so we can go out tonight :)  Anyways, we got to watch the sun rise today which was amazing.  It really is beautiful out here and you can see for miles.  The lake that we camped near was very pretty as well.  We'll be in Denver in a while and I"ll update about anything funny that happens along the way!!

moreeee world series

We're on our way home from our second day at the world series.  Today we saw 4 games!!  The first ones were right during the heat of the day and we absolutely roasted in the sun.  Chappy has the most disgusting flip flop tan line i've ever seen.  We sat with David again and tried to drown out the obnoxious fans in front of us.  After the first two games (won by Georgia and Alabama) there was a break between sessions.  PS Alabama beat Arizona 14-0...who would've predicted that one?  During the break between sessions, we went to get Chap a new phone and we also got Quiznos.  At Quiznos the lady said "I don't think I've ever seen a female order a large sub unless they were...really big."  Well, we both did.  I mean, we were hungry, and we can eat :)  During the second session we got nachos and I think David was also impressed by our eating haha.  TUSB has trained us well.  The night games were won by Georgia and Alabama, setting up some great matches for tomorrow.  We're heading back to camp now and hopefully can find some way to pay for our campsite before we leave around 5am for Denver (where we're gonna see Pants and Shorts!!!)  yaaaay.  Pictures to come tomorrow!!

Day 6

Today is officially the halfway point in our drive across the country!! woohooo that's exciting.  Now comes the point of mostly camping, but then 4 nights in Seattle to recover.  AND we now have 21 followers (thanks Lindsey)!! Anyways, turns out we were able to park down by the lake in the state park and just walk into our campsite.  It was a little creepy walking in the pitch black, but Chappy distracted me by telling me a story about how she used to have a crazy telescope and be an astronomy nerd.  Who knew?  We're on our way to the World Series for the wholeeee dayyyyyy.  It's gonna be awesome.  Up first is Georgia and Missouri, followed by Arizona and Alabama.  We don't get to see Washington or Florida play again because they get today off, but all 4 of these are elimination games, so I'm sure they'll be crazy.  Keep watching for us!  

WORLD SERIES!!!

We're just leaving the parking lot at the World Series and I not only have great stories, but great potential for more stories.  We went to the World Series and were kind of rushed to get there because we got to the camp site later than we had wanted, so we set up our tent super fast and then Chap went to pay the camp dude for the night.  Apparently that's more normal at campsites, it's not supposed to be a hotel check-in like at the KOA.  She came back to the car and informed me that there might be a small problem.  "The gate to the campsite closes at 10."  As you can see, it's now 11:11PM.  We decided (with some encouragement from Lizzy) that it was more important to see as much softball as we could.  Sooo basically we might be sleeping in the car.  Also at the game, we sat next to this nice kid named David who is originally from Maine, but is in the Air Force and is now in Oklahoma.  Anyways, we started chatting it up with him and we made many a comment about having to sleep in our car.  As we left the stadium after the game, Chap informed me that earlier when I was in the bathroom, David offered us a place to stay at his house tonight haha.  It was very nice of him but as our tent was set up already we kind of had to go back. So now we're gonna see if we can somehow get to our tent.  We'll obviously post about it.  And PS, University of Washington won 1-0 over ASU in 8 innings!!!  And then Florida won 1-0 over Michigan.  Two great games and 4 more tomorrow!!!  

things to note from our drive

So we just passed a burning tree we think...and the national shrine to baby Jesus ...and also we just hit our 2,000 mile mark!  Woohooo! Lots of flat road ahead but we should be getting to the National Park where we plan on camping sometime in the next couple hours.  Look for us on tv tonight in right centerfield at the world series!!!! Also please note the mess that is the area between Chappy and I.  We probably could run a radio shack out of our car.

Day 5

So Day 5 (which was actually yesterday) consisted of the morning in Nashville, which I already wrote about, and then a lovely drive to St. Louis!  Unfortunately, we didn't get to see as much of STL as we wanted, though Robey did write us an amazing itinerary, because of our car troubles.  Sad face. BUT we did go to the arch, which was amazing!!!  It's so big and you can see pictures of it (which you will) but I personally was in awe just seeing it in person.  The walk to the arch was very nice, and St. Louis looks like a beautiful city.  After the arch we had intended to go to Delmar Blvd, but figured we probably should get to Robey's since the car was acting up.  Her mom was awesome!  She made us mexican tacos for dinner with authentic pico de gallo and rice and beans...totally my style.  We skyped with Robey (and Heather) for a while before dinner and then talked to Robes again afterward.  PS her little brother is sooooo cute, and her other brother looks just like her...its craziness.  But we were very happy and thankful to have a home cooked meal and a bed.  Now its off to Oklahoma City to the world series and to camp for the next 2 nights...oh boyyyyyyy.  Don't worry, we'll update often.  Totally becoming a Washington fan for the World Series (I mean come on, they're the Huskies just like UCONN...CT!!!) PS...we know the picture it awkward, but we tried.  It's fine.