i love my rand mcnally atlas. thank you grandpa!

We are nearly done with our East Coast exodus, our never ending tour of I-80. Here's a brief recap of the trip so far:

 

Day 1: Utah-Wyoming-Nebraska

I have almost nothing to say about this day, except, why would anyone hold a basketball camp in Kearney, NE and take up all the hotel rooms in the middle of nowhere city?

Day 2: Nebraska-Iowa-Illinois-Indiana

We ate pizza at Giordano's, a little south of Chicago in Orland Park. Delish. That thing is filled with cheese! Probably about 2,000 calories a slice, but so worth it. Also, I saw lightning bugs for the first time in 14 years (since we moved from Indiana), and they are just as cool as I remember them as an 8 year old.

Day 3: Indiana-Ohio-PENNSYLVANIA!!!

Being only around 11 hours from our final destination, we decided to do some sightseeing. We stopped in Kirtland, OH and visited church history sites. We toured the Kirtland Temple and the Newel K. Whitney store. We would've seen a few more buildings (sawmill, ashery, historic houses, etc.) but our tour ran a little long, and we were getting starving, not having eaten since pizza the night before. So we drove onward to PA! Our GPS took us in sort of a roundabout, through residential areas way to get back to I-80 so we got to see some Amish country! Horses and buggies! Little kids in bonnets! It was awesome, and well worth the detour.

And we are currently in western Pennsylvania, having eaten at a terrible Applebee's down the street from our hotel. (ever since we started watching Masterchef-does anyone else love that show? because I watched every episode on hulu last week-I sort of feel a need to critique meals as if I were Gordon Ramsey.)

We look forward to a 4 hour drive to Philly tomorrow morning, and reuniting with Aaron's mom who's flying in! Woo!!