Wednesday, 01 July 2009
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Vacation Observations
We put almost 3000 miles on our new car this last week. We drove and drove and drove. Here are some things I observed:
· Eastern Colorado still needs to be gifted to Nebraska and Kansas.
· Nebraska is still long and smelly, but I got through 2 great books!
· Iowa rest stops are amazing -- free wi-fi, nice buildings, very clean facilities, friendly staff (yes, at a rest stop), helpful information!
· Illinois is a disaster area. Every single inch of Illinois that we travelled on was under construction. The interstate was even closed at one point and we had to back-track back 20 miles to find a detour. The traffic was terrible, the tolls were expensive through Chicago, and some drivers were mentally disturbed! The whole state reeked of corruption. Sorry to my Illinois readers... I'm sure we didn't hit the nicer sections of your state.
· Based on the billboards, people in Chicago like fireworks, strip clubs, and eating.
· Wisconsin and northern Iowa were incredibly beautiful. They were a shade of green I'd never seen before! It was breath-taking.
· Michigan was very nice. The people were friendly. Our hotel had a really nice fitness center. At that altitude (or lack of it), I felt like I could work out forever!
· Lake Michigan off Racine was also amazing! Walking on the sand and sticking my feet in the really cold water was a highlight for me. We had a great time with our friends there.
· Iowa still has a lot of bugs... way too many of them.
I'm happy to be home in the thin dry air.
Bugs don't seem to like it here.
My skin is dry, but that's what lotion is for. It a compromise we make for being able to walk outside and not feel humidity.
Sure water takes longer to boil here, but we don't mind. We just put the water pot on earlier.
It's pretty hard to bake a nice loaf of bread too. That's what the grocery store is for!
Then there is the high altitude pressure change. A bunch of moisturizer squirted out of the bottle when I opened it this morning. (Those of you who live in high altitude know what I mean... the pressure that results from driving from sea-level to 6400 ft. causes everything to squirt out of bottles!) It is quite annoying when a whole tube of expensive make-up makes its escape and ends up all over the bathroom!
Being able to look out my window and see Pikes Peak makes it all worth it. It's good to be home!
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Comments (11)
I want to take a drive through Wisconsin some time. Glad you had a safe trip.
Welcome home! Thanks again for working us in.
We loved our time with you.
I don't think you should insult Nebraska. You may not like Eastern Colorado, but it's still Colorado and way worse than any part of Nebraska.
@karieda - Haha! You're right. At least some of NE has trees!
As a born & bred Illinoisian...Chicago and it's metro area needs to be annexed into Lake Michigan. It corrupts the whole rest of the state. Us "down-staters" are the true reflection of the Land of Lincoln. =)
Oh I'm glad you had a good vacation and glad you made it home safely!
Agreed: the Eastern 1/3 of Colorado is boring. Thankfully the Western
2/3 makes up for it. "Way worse than Nebraska," depends on how much
you enjoy the smell of cow dung, which was all we smelled for like 6 of
the 7 hours I was driving last time...with the windows UP. I'll take
boring over boring AND smelly.
If you live in or around Chicago (I did for 18 years) you'll find
MeLissa is right about construction/ traffic. They say there are 2
seasons in Chicago: Winter and Road Construction. Where we grew up we
were 5 minutes from pretty much everything we needed to live, and
that's the only way to live there.
I'll take the dry air & lack of bugs any day over oppressive humidity that causes pit-stains 5 minutes after stepping outside. I do kind of miss being able to grow plants, bushes, and flowers without a degree in horticulture and doubling your water bill.
Stuff voluntarily squirting out of bottles can be avoided if you remember to squeeze a little air out before returning to Colorado, the problem I usually have is remembering to do it BEFORE I leave the flatlands.
Only thing I'm questioning is the water boiling issue, cause technically water boils at a lower temperature at altitude. Hmmm? Slow stove maybe?
I like to visit the Midwest and all its greenery, but visit is the key word.
What a road trip-3000 miles! We once drove from Texas to Chicago and back and boy that was drive but enjoyed the scenery along the way!
@philipstruska - I'm not sure I can explain the water boiling thing. I'll try. I technically should have said it takes longer for things to cook in boiling water. Water boils at a lower temp here, but it doesn't get any hotter. So, once you put the food in, it take longer to cook it since the water isn't as hot as if you were at sea level. So noodles that take 10 minutes to cook at sea level will take 14 minutes to cook here. I've heard that we're supposed to boil eggs for twice as long here.... and above 9000 ft it is impossible to boil eggs (not that I plan to do that!) cuz the water would evaporate before the egg could cook.
I think that is right, but I really have no idea!
@IssyMae: Gotcha, that totally makes sense now. I hadn't thought about the water temp maxing out a bit lower. Potatoes definitely take frustratingly long to cook, that's for sure!
Use a pressure cooker to boil things. Might be overkill for a boiled egg and make it hard to stir cooking pasta (maybe kinda shake/swirl the pot?) but water would boil at a higher temp and cook things faster.