The suite life

Wyoming was windy today! Here are today's pics.

This is the motorized monstrosity I'm driving. I'm actually used to it now. I kinda like it!

Utah was snowy and, going through the Wasatch Mountains, the windshield washer sprayer thingies got clogged with slush and road grime. Check out the gunk on the windshield:

I hung out behind a few trucks, letting them kick up moisture onto my windshield so I could wipe occasionally, until I was able to find a gas station. And lucky me, there was a car wash there, too, and the warm water cleaned out the wiper sprayers. My gloves got wet, but the Suburban, like my van, comes with a built-in glove dryer:

In western Wyoming, I saw that same rock formation that the boys and I took photos of in December '08:

And I saw some really scary weather. Fortunately, I didn't drive into this snowstorm:

And Wyoming has some pretty scenery. Sunset, coming into Laramie.

Finally, I'm here in Cheyenne. In a suite, no less! I use hotels.com to book my hotels and this hotel was having a winter special, meaning that it cost less to get a suite than it would have to stay anywhere else, even a Super 8 motel!

Tomorrow, it's across Nebraska to Lincoln, a distance of 442 miles. The weather should be good, and yay, no mountains! Only two more driving days left before I'm home!

Don't Let the Light Go Out

Sorry for the wait, folks. Here's what we've been up to:


The boys and I visit the house I grew up in (ages 9-17)

















I take a photograph in the same spot of the same subject that I took 25 years ago:

















We find big leaves in a nearby park where I used to play:
































We play in the park itself:

















We discover a tree that looks like it has camouflage bark:

















We discover that the housekeeping staff at our hotel likes the boys' stuffed animals:

















We celebrate the first night of Chanukah:

















We celebrate the second night of Chanukah (note that the boys have had haircuts):

















Mom/Blue Grandma feels well enough to take a walk around the duck pond, where the boys see a tree unlike anything they've ever seen before:

















We celebrate the third night of Chanukah:
















And now we wait to see what tomorrow brings.

How do you spell home? H-O-T-E-L

It's been one week since we left and feelings are mixed. On the one hand, it's so good to see Blue Grandma and Steve and Uncle James and everyone else here we missed. But especially Blue Grandma because she's the reason we came out here in the first place.

On the other hand, we miss home and especially Abba (Dad). Talking to him on the phone just isn't enough.

Tonight I caught myself telling the boys that they play with a particular toy when we got home. Daniel suddenly exclaims, "We're driving all the way back to Minnesota tonight?"

Me: "No, we're just going back to the hotel tonight."

Daniel: "But you said we were going home."

I have more photos that I'll have to upload in the morning. Until then, blessed sleep!

Hello from Lincoln, Nebraska!

And the long-awaited answer to our poll is: 8:02 a.m.

We made it to Lincoln, Nebraska. It was my hope to make it to Ogallala, NE, but sleeping 2 hours last night combined with a late-ish start made it a better choice to stop in Lincoln.

Also, I noticed something. Once we hit I-80, we are driving mostly west. The sun sets in the west. This makes for quite bright driving come sunset. Painfully bright driving. Blindingly bright, even. So we are here in Lincoln. And let me tell you, I can't explain it, but there was something very right about pulling into Lincoln at sunset while listening to David Broza. Maybe it's just me.

Okay, enough from the mom.

It's Yoni's turn: I noticed something really weird. Once we hit Council Bluffs there was absolutely no snow! And it was 2 degrees below freezing!

Now it's Daniel's turn: Today we went to a hotel. Our room is nice. And pretty. Eema let us try a digital camera. And she let us use hers. I was in one of the pictures. I took a picture on the very new digital camera and Eema's. There's two lamps next to each other up on the wall and there's a button in between that you push and then they turn off and then if you push it again it turns on. I got a camoflauge suitcase that comes with a water bottle. And in our hotell we got a TV with a cool remote.

Back to Yoni: You may have noticed that Daniel said more. And for dinner we went to Village Inn and I had grilled cheese dunkers with salad on the side and Daniel had macaroni and cheese with graham crackers on the side. And now he's asking me to read Kat Kong to him. We are on our way to California to see Blue Grandma because this may be the last time we may be able to see her again. On our trip, we saw a lot of interesting things, like wind farms and horses.

Here are some pictures we took.