Pretty wyoming



Daytona's - Click for more pics of Day 1!!


Last night we made it all the way to Lincoln, Nebraska. We stopped in Des Moines for dinner, and liked the sound of daytona's bar and grill. We're trying to stop in semi-local places, and, hey, at least it wasn't fast food. The place was full of racing memorabilia - helmets, car parts, derby racers, and a motorcycle hung from the ceiling. The barstools were made from aluminum drums, and the lights were surrounded by tires. There were signs advertising $3 cheeseburgers on Thursdays for bike night, but when we tried to order them, the bartender looked at us as if he'd never heard of the concept. He told us it hadn't started yet, and I looked at my watch. He said, no, it starts in April. Like, when there are bikers. :). We ended up splitting an 8 inch buffalo chicken pizza smothered in mozzarella and cheddar cheese. The sauce tasted like a mild tobasco, but it was very good. If you're wondering whether to recommend it, in all honesty the service was incredibly slow and we felt rather ignored, but the ambiance was cool and the food was good.

Elle - who we were couch surfing with in Lincoln, worked until 10pm on Thursdays, so we ended up rolling into town a bit after 11.  She lived in a little house right outside of downtown with a black lab named Sammy who was very excited to have visitors.  He got out all his toys and bones to show us and he and I played tug of war for a while.  We didn't end up going to bed until 2 in the morning on a futon in the living room, so 7:30 came awfully early! We slept under the down comforter that I threw in at the last minute and which I've decided was a good addition to the car.  :)

In the morning we made ourselves oatmeal from the car, along with brown sugar and walnuts (what, you thought I wouldn't use all the food I brought?).  We got on the road about 8:30 and set off on our 14 hour drive to salt lake city. First we finished crossing Nebraska. It is flat. And empty. Devoid of snow though. Mostly golden brown fields that I think is farmland. But don't quote me on that.

In Cheyenne wyoming we stopped for lunch. We found a little place using an iPad app called The Pie Lady. The place was very cute - all the walls were decorated with aprons and there were little wooden pie cutouts advertising the daily pie specials. We shared a prime rib sandwich that came with mashed potatoes and a "teaser" pie, which is half a regular slice. We tried the raspberry sour cream, which we weren't actually crazy about but was fine. The sandwich was very good. Not sure if I would recommend driving 3 miles off the highway to visit it. Maybe if you already live in Cheyenne. :)

At lunch-
Tricia: I'm thinking of taking these ketchup packets, but I'm not sure we have anything to put ketchup on.
Me: um....pasta!
Tricia: Ooooh, yeah, good idea.

We took the ketchup packets.
Tricia put ketchup on her prime rib by the way.  She said she was craving ketchup.
Kat hates ketchup.

In Nebraska and up through Cheyenne, the sky was blue and it was sunny and the temperature climbed all the way to 46. After Cheyenne, we started climbing into the mountains. The temperature plummeted 20 degrees, and the sun disappeared behind an angry brown mob of clouds, like super thick smog. The snow blew across the road, and the road signs advised us to turn off our cruise control. (Did I mention that I-80's speed limit has been 75 for two days? It seems awfully fast actually, particularly in the dark.)

Quote-
Tricia: oooh, snow!
Both of us dissolve into giggles because we just left the blizzard of 2011.
Tricia: well, the snow is way prettier in Wyoming.

Which of course it is.  :)

Wyoming through the windshield - Click for more pics of Day 2!!

After about 20 miles of that, we began to descend. The clouds disappeared and the sun came back out.  Wyoming is gorgeous, and I practiced taking pictures of the mountains, clouds, sun, sky, and road from the car. I'm getting pretty good at it, if I do say so myself!! I'm learning the nuances of my camera.  Sometimes you can see so far out the windows, and the snow has been swirled around the fields by the wind and it's so beautiful. It reminds me of the ocean, or of the view of earth from space. I'm not sure any of my pictures captured it - mountains are easier to shoot.

It's now 5:30 in Wyoming - we've been driving 10 hours.  Hopefully only four hours to go. GPS says 4.5.  :(  We did stop for lunch though, and for gas, bathroom breaks, and to see the pony express in Nebraska. So maybe we're making good time.  Salt lake city, here we come!

P.S.
Did you know you can go all the way to San francisco on I-80? Every day, it's drive all day on I-80, get off when you're ready to turn in for the night.

P.P.S.
Tidbit of information for the day. We passed the continental divide road in Wyoming. Since both Tricia and I were educated in America, neither of us was sure what that was. Turns out that all water to the west of the divide flows to the pacific ocean, and all water to the east flows into the Atlantic. Pretty cool, huh?