U.S. West Coast 1997 ...

In July of 1997 Jonas and I rented a car and took a 3-week roadtrip through the western US. We hit eighteen states and one Canadian province. This is the story of our adventure, complete with pictures and postcards.

Day 1: Minneapolis, Minnesota to Wall, South Dakota

In order to begin our trip, we first had to pick up the car. My mother had rented it under her name because apparently rental companies require that all drivers be at least 25 (Jonas was 24, and I was 21), which is really lame. After assuring her that we would be careful and drive safely (you know mothers!), we began our roadtrip in the parking lot at Menards. Unfortunately, only a few minutes later we realized that we had forgotten the sleeping bags! An hour later, after retrieving the sleeping bags, we were finally on our way.
	We drove most of the day through the generally uneventful southwestern Minnesota and eastern South Dakota and, with the help of changing time zones, we made it to Badlands National Park and had enough time to explore some of the trails and rock formations before the sun set.
Outside the Badlands there is a little town called Wall. As you approach it from the freeway there are so many billboards that you expect a rather large city, but it's simply a nice small town with one quite interesting drugstore: WALL DRUG. Apparently quite a few years ago the owners of a small drugstore enticed travelers who would otherwise have bypassed the small town out in the middle of nowhere with billboards advertising "Free Ice Water". The popularity of the drugstore grew, as did its size, and now it is an entire city block of shops and interesting attractions where you can buy just about anything. Down the halls there is a quite impressive display of Wall Drug memorabilia, including articles and stories about Wall Drug from newspapers and magazines all around the world. Best of all, you can get a FREE "Where the heck is Wall Drug?" bumper sticker! (If you want more you have to buy them.) If you're driving through South Dakota, don't ignore all those billboards - visit Wall Drug! We stayed in Wall that night in a small motel.

Day 2: Wall, South Dakota to Cody, Wyoming

After leaving Wall we drove down to Keystone, SD to see Mount Rushmore National Memorial, the grounds of which were under some construction, but it was a nice view nonetheless. We didn't stay very long, as there really isn't much to do except look at it, so we got back on the road and drove into Wyoming. Wyoming, we discovered, was miles and miles of nothing, so we drove off the freeway to see it more closely, and Jonas decided to lie down on the plains.
Eventually the plains turned into hills and then into the Bighorn Mountains. At the same time the weather which had been cloudy, but dry, turned into rain and thick fog which spoiled and limited our view from the mountains. About halfway through, we realized that driving in the mountains eats up a surprising amount of gas, and we were nearly empty. After passing through some very tiny towns (whose cars must run on fairy dust, I guess, since there were no gas stations anywhere) we finally paid an arm and a leg to get gas at a mountain resort. (Crisis Number One!) Once that was solved we found ourselves coming through the other side of the range, which was the home of some cows. Once out of the mountains again, the weather cleared up and we had a lovely view once again.
Driving further west from the Bighorn Mountains, we passed through a tiny (and I mean TINY!) town called Emblem, Wyoming. We passed the town sign which said "Population 10", laughed, and then went back to take a picture of it. Soon after, we arrived at Cody, Wyoming, named for Buffalo Bill Cody. There is a Buffalo Bill Museum there too, but we didn't visit it. We had some Taco John's for dinner and got a motel.

Day 3: Cody, Wyoming to Butte, Montana

Early in the morning we left Cody and drove west towards Yellowstone National Park. We drove through the park's main circle from the east entrance south, and then north on the western side. The weather was cool and misty, and upon entering some of the first features we came to were the hot springs, which steamed in the cool air. At one point we passed quite a few cars which had stopped to watch a bear, despite the warnings against approaching and/or molesting the wildlife! We also stopped and sat to wait with a bunch of other people to see Old Faithful , the geyser, erupt. There was quite a bit of road construction delay during parts of the drive through the park, but it was tolerable.
	We emerged from the park on the north side, in Montana, and drove in the early evening until we reached the city of Butte. Although Butte is pronounced like the first syllable in "beautiful", we naturally made some silly jokes about it. We camped in a KOA campground there for the night.

Day 4: Butte, Montana to Seattle, Washington

	In the morning we left Butte and drove through the Rocky Mountains into Idaho, where we entered the Pacific time zone. The weather was really warm and pleasant and there was a gorgeous view as we emerged on the west side of the mountains. We stopped in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho for lunch and to get gas before we entered Washington.
After we crossed the border into the state of Washington, we simply continued driving westwards. The landscape was rather dull and flat, as it was the plains between the Rocky and Cascade mountain ranges. Soon after we crossed the Columbia River, though, the terrain began to rise again. We also stopped at a rest area after crossing the river, and Jonas discovered that he had lost his wallet. (Crisis Number Two!) We were near-panic because his passport was inside, as well as much of the money we had to spend on this trip. I made several phone calls to the gas station back in Coeur d'Alene, since that as the last place we had actually bought something, but they knew nothing about it. Finally, after several searches of the car, we found it in the back seat, behind one of my suitcases. Jonas had apparently set it down there temporarily while he was putting away some pop we had bought at the gas station, and it fell behind as we drove. What a relief! We might otherwise have had to cut our trip short.
We soon entered the Cascade Mountains as we approached the Seattle area. Since evening was approaching, instead of going downtown, we went a bit north to camp in Camano Island State Park. After reserving a campsite, we found a grocery store and bought some hotdogs, buns, ketchup and fire-making supplies. Then we returned and after setting up camp, we roasted some hotdogs, while some adorable slugs visited us, leaving some slime trails on our box of matches! It was a very pleasant evening, and although it rained during the night, our tent stayed dry.

Day 5: Seattle, Washington to Vancouver, British Columbia (and back)

This day didn't start out very well. When I woke up I had quite an upset stomach and couldn't eat anything without getting sick. But we wanted to try to do some sightseeing anyhow, so we decided to drive up across the border to Canada and visit Vancouver, British Columbia. It took a few hours to get there, during which we were forced to make several emergency stops at gas stations due to my stomach. When we arrived at the port-of-entry we had to stop the car and let the customs officials peek inside because Jonas was not an American citizen, but they were nice and did not arrest us or anything.
Once fully into Canada, we drove up to Vancouver, and drove around the city for a little while. Not really knowing anything in particular to do, we weren't really sure where to go. Finally, went to a beach to lie in the sun, and Jonas braved the cold seawater, floating on a foam raft. After a few hours, we ate some popsicles, changed out of our suits and decided to head back to Washington.
For the night we got a campsite at Wenberg State Park, fairly close to Everett, Washington. It was nearly dark when we arrived, so we did not really have time to do much else except to set up the tent and get to sleep.

Day 6: Seattle, Washington to Hoquiam, Washington

	This day we decided to visit downtown Seattle, so after we packed up at the campground, we headed there. On the way we stopped to have breakfast at a fast-food restaurant called Jack in the Box, which don't exist in the Midwest. At the restaurant you could buy a little jack-in-the-box head to put on your car's antenna, so we bought one and put it on.
When we arrived downtown, we parked the car at a ramp because it was easier to get around on foot. Then we found a pay phone and called up Slater and Flounder and made arrangements to visit them later on in the day. We took the monorail to Seattle Center and paid a ridiculously expensive fee to go ride an elevator up into the Space Needle. The view of the city and Puget Sound, however, was spectacular. After taking the monorail back downtown, we walked down to the Pike Place Market, which is was a really cool place. There are dozens of small shops each selling different and interesting things, excellent for touristy window-shopping. From there we walked down to the piers, where first we browsed a really cool curiosity shop (displaying things similar to Believe It Or Not items and artifacts) and then walked a few more blocks to the aquarium, where we saw a omnimax movie about the Mount St. Helens eruption.
After we picked up the car again from the ramp, we drove to Slater and Flounder's apartment and visited with them for a little while. They were quite nice and we had a fun visit, despite not really knowing them very well to begin with. After we said goodbye and left their place, we decided to drive out of Seattle and to see how far we could get before it got too late to find a place to stay. We drove for a few hours, even after it had gotten dark, and finally decided to stop in a town called Hoquiam near the west coast. There we found a nice but cheap family-run motel and had a nice night's sleep.

Day 7: Hoquiam, Washington to Coos Bay, Oregon

We left Hoquiam, Washington, in the morning, driving south to begin what was to be one of the most impressive and scenic days of our entire trip: the Oregon coast. Generally it is large cities or tropical locales that are considered the most spectacular vacation spots, but I can say quite honestly that the Oregon coast was one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited in my entire life. There are frequent and numerous places along the side of the road to stop and enjoy the view or to take some pictures. At one point we stopped at one of the beaches to walk along the shore. There was a small gift shop along the side of the road as well, where we stopped to pose for a scenic picture, though it seemed the wind was nearly strong enough to knock us over!
During the entire drive I was hoping to see some sea lions, but we didn't get to see any. Perhaps it was the wrong time of year. Nevertheless, we had a rather fun time stopping the car frequently and enjoying the scenery.
For the night we camped at Sunset Bay State Park, near Coos Bay, Oregon. The campground was beautiful and the facilities and grounds were exceptionally well-maintained - definitely a place I would love to visit again and to spend more than just one day. We roasted some hot dogs for dinner and took a lovely walk to the beach before heading to sleep.

Day 8: Coos Bay, Oregon to Calpella, California

Having stayed the night in southern Oregon, we did not have to drive for very long before we arrived in California and approached Redwood National Forest. We left the freeway to drive down the Avenue of the Giants, and parked the car so that we could go to see the trees more closely. There was even a hollowed-out tree that Jonas climbed inside. While inside the park we stopped at one of the park buildings which had a gift shop and information about the park inside. Outside the entrance there was a sign on the stairs which read "SLUG X-ING", I guess so that people wouldn't slip on either the slugs themselves or their slug-slime. I thought the sign was really cool, and wanted to buy one, but we didn't find any for sale. We also found a silly tourist attraction: The Chandelier Tree. For $3 you can drive your car through a tree.

After the redwoods we drove a bit further south, and camped at a site that was run by the Army Corps of Engineers. Unfortunately, I saw a sign warning about wood ticks, and it freaked me out quite terribly, since I have a strong fear of wood ticks to begin with, but I my fears abated again after we got our tent set up and got inside to sleep.

Day 9: Calpella, California to San Luis Obispo, California

Right after leaving the campground in the morning, Jonas noticed that the road leading to and from the campground had a particular word painted on it, and insisted that we take a picture. We then continued our way south, toward San Francisco, passing an enormous amount of vineyards, which we drove off the main road to see up close.
When we arrived in San Francisco, we drove up a hill to view the Golden Gate Bridge from a distance. The weather was somewhat cloudy and gloomy, but we could still see it fairly well. Then we drove back down the hill, across it and drove downtown where we parked the car near Fisherman's Wharf. We walked along the wharf, and looked into getting on a boat to visit the island of Alcatraz, but they were booked for several days in advance, and we weren't staying that long, so we had to settle for a long-distance picture. As we walked along and explored the different piers we came upon a bunch of sunbathing sea lions, before having a nice lunch in a restaurant on the waterfront. After we left the wharf, we picked up the car again, and went looking for Lombard Street. En route we ended up driving up a REALLY steep hill in quite awful traffic, and at one point these two teenage girls who were driving a stick in front of us lost control as they shifted gears, and the back end of their car smacked into the front of ours (I nearly had a heart attack!), after which they gave up going up the hill and pulled out and went back down the way they came. Finally, we found what we were looking for: Lombard Street is probably the most famous street in San Francisco because it zigzags back and forth about 8 times during the length of one block. We zigzagged down the street and then drove back down the steep street again, before heading out of the city.
After we left San Francisco, we drove down the coast highway in the direction of Los Angeles. We had intended to find a place to camp on the way, but it seemed that because we were in a warmer climate, all of the state parks and such were full, probably having been booked in advance. We had no choice but to try to get to a larger city and find a motel. We drove and drove rather miserably, because we were driving along an undoubtedly beautiful coast, and it was too dark to appreciate it, but finally we arrived quite late in San Luis Obispo, found a vacant motel and slept.

Day 10: San Luis Obispo, California to Anaheim, California

After getting up and ready in the morning, we got on the road again, heading to Los Angeles. The drive was nice and sunny, but we happened to arrive when the traffic was quite bad (or maybe it's better to assume that the traffic is always bad). We initially drove straight through the city without stopping, so we could first make sure we knew where we were going to sleep, before doing any sightseeing. We first tried a few state beaches south of the city, but it was the same thing: they were all booked for several weeks in advance. I then made some phone calls to some hotels in Anaheim and found one that was kind of expensive, but we took it anyhow. We had planned to visit Disneyland the following day, and it was fairly close by and offered shuttle service, so it was worth it, I guess.
	After getting settled in the hotel, we decided to do some sightseeing of Los Angeles itself, so we drove (again!) through the traffic and took a little tour of Beverly Hills and walked down Hollywood Boulevard and saw the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was somewhat interesting, but most of the length of the walk was tourist-oriented shops with T-shirts and postcards and stuff. After it got dark we drove back to the hotel, to get a good night's sleep for the walking around at Disneyland.

Day 11: Anaheim, California

We got up fairly early and caught the shuttle to Disneyland, but due to the likelihood that it would probably prove boring and even impossible to describe everything that we did there, I won't. I guess just about everyone knows what Disneyland is like: lots of rides, lots of nauseatingly cute and nice themes, and people dressed up as various Disney characters, surrounded by adoring children. Disney as a concept isn't really my thing, but I have to admit that the theme park itself is kind of fun, for a day or so.

Right when we arrived one of the very first rides we went on was Splash Mountain. Because it was still quite early in the morning, the sun was not really shining very warmly, and being wet was kind of chilly, and I was not very happy. Some of the attractions we rode on and/or visited during the day (because I need a means of introducing these pictures somehow) were riding a raft to Tom Sawyer Island and a train ride the name of which I don't remember anymore. Overall we had quite a nice time, and before we left for the night, we met Mickey Mouse. We also stood in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle for a picture, but it was a bit too dark for it to turn out very well. We stayed until it was getting ready to close, then we caught the shuttle back to the hotel to sleep.

Day 12: Anaheim, California to San Diego California

Before Leaving Anaheim in the morning, we made one more trip through the traffic of Los Angeles to visit The Rose Bowl in Pasadena. I wasn't that thrilled about seeing it, since it wasn't anything more than a football stadium, but Jonas really wanted to see it and get a picture of it because it was so famous. After we left the stadium we drove south out of Los Angeles again towards San Diego.

We arrived in San Diego a couple of hours later and stopped at a tourist information center to call Mouser. Nobody was home, but we left a message and then asked for directions to where she lived. Since we didn't really know what else to do in the meantime, we decided to drive across the border to Mexico, just to say we'd been there. Going across was no problem; we didn't have to stop for anything. We ended up in the city of Tijuana and basically just drove around for a while. It was a little bit uncomfortable, too. Neither of us had been to Mexico before, and we weren't really prepared for having people approaching our car at every stop sign to wash our windshield, simply because our car had US license plates. After a while we turned around and drove back to San Diego, but that took 10 times longer than driving down, since the US border patrol is much more thorough in checking out who's passing through. Jonas was especially amused at the sign which was posted there, of which a closer look reveals the words "Aliens must show identification."

After arriving back in San Diego we used the direction we'd gotten from the tourist info place to drive to Mouser's house. She still wasn't home, but her brother gave an approximate time to expect her back. We went to a nearby Dairy Queen to pass the time. After a while we went back to her house and she was home! So we visited for a while, and then we went to the Hard Rock Cafe to have some dinner. Afterwards we took a drive to the coast where some sea lions were sleeping on the sand and then returned to her house. She and her family were really nice and they even allowed us to stay the night there! We chatted for a little while, but she had to work pretty early in the morning, so then we went to bed.

Day 13: San Diego California to El Centro, California

The next day we got up and left Mouser's place and headed to the San Diego Zoo. Again, I won't describe in detail everything we did there because I think everyone knows what a zoo is like, but instead set up some of the pictures we took. Something cool about the zoo is that it has some pandas on loan from China (the only ones outside of China, I think), to try to get them to breed, though last week I heard that the male isn't interested. There's a first, eh? Then Jonas hid in some vegetation in hopes of looking as though he were in a jungle. By far one of the most amusing things to occur during our visit was when some Galapagos Tortoises decided to mate while we were standing nearby. And quite loudly too! We watched a couple of shows as well, before leaving the zoo in late afternoon.

Since Mouser had left for work before we had woke up that morning, we stopped by her house again to thank her and her family for their hospitality. Then we decided to leave San Diego and head into the desert that evening, since it would be less of a pain when it was cooler. We saw a really nice sunset on the way, before stopping for the evening at a Motel 6 in El Centro, California that had a pool! We swam for a while before getting to bed.

Day 14: El Centro, California to Williams, Arizona

	In the morning we left the motel and continued driving through the desert all the way into Arizona, stopping the car every so often to admire the scenery, and to check out the different kinds of cacti we found. At one of the rest stops we found a really fantastic view of the desert.
	We drove through Phoenix north to Flagstaff, where we left the freeway and drove on a small highway up to Grand Canyon National Park. It had been getting kind of late, and we weren't sure if we'd get there in time to see it well, but we did! We stopped several times along the road through the park to browse in some information places and giftshops and also to check out the canyon itself. It was really a lovely and warm day and we were both really impressed with the view. In addition, because we had arrived quite late in the afternoon, we enjoyed a colorful sunset. Afterwards, however, it got to be too dark to really see anything more, so we enjoyed one last view of the setting sun and headed out of the park.
We left it the opposite end from where we entered it, and drove south approaching Williams, Arizona. A small distance before we reached the town we stopped for the night at a campground. Then something quite extraordinary happened to me. I happened to look up into the sky and noticed that because we were out in the middle of nowhere, the stars were not only brighter, but I would see many, many more of them than I normally had. But not only that, there was a wide, white band going across the entire sky. For the first time in my life I was seeing the center of our galaxy. If you are not a stargazer, you may not be impressed; however, if you have enjoyed the night sky your entire life as I have, you can appreciate the thrill! We then drove up a dark road for a while in order to see it more clearly before returning to our tent to sleep.

Day 15: Williams, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada

After leaving the campground in the morning, we drove westwards towards Las Vegas. Much of the journey was over flat, boring desert, and I even did some of the driving on the way! Upon entering Nevada, we arrived at the Hoover Dam, which is on the Colorado River. The road around and across the dam was made of lots of twists and turns, and there were several places that we were able to stop the car for a look at it, and Jonas took advantage of the activity of changing the film to pose nicely for the camera, as well as make a goofy face as I advanced the film.
After leaving Hoover Dam we made our way into Las Vegas, which was a bit overwhelming. After driving around for a while, along the downtown strip as well as around the edges, we decided to get a room at the Circus Circus hotel. Hotel rooms in Las Vegas are absurdly cheap, namely because it is assumed that people who are visiting are going to spend their money gambling, and they make up what is lost in the low prices in that probably several times over.
As soon as we got the room and checked it out, we left again, driving west from the city into the desert toward Death Valley. There was a bit of construction delay on the way, but it didn't last too long. Also on the way there we took a peek at a ghost town named Rhyolite. It was kind of interesting, especially to read the story behind its demise as a town. The town also had a rather peculiar house which was built in the early part of the century almost entirely out of bottles. We left the ghost town and continued our way to Death Valley. I think we were wise in driving through it in the late afternoon, rather than in the middle of the way. Although it was still VERY hot and dry, it wasn't nearly as bad as it would have been a few hours earlier. We stopped the car at several places to both check the temperature and walk around feeling what it was like to be in the center of Death Valley. As we were leaving it, the sun was setting and we enjoyed the pleasant view. In addition, I even drove the car part of the way back to Las Vegas!
Upon arriving back in Las Vegas, we had a spectacular view of all of the city lights. I can't even imagine how much electricity gets used there every day, it's really quite amazing. Virtually every building downtown is covered with lights, even the McDonald's! After we finally returned to our hotel room we freshened up a bit, since we had been in the hot, dry desert, and went down to play some slot machines. Jonas also played a little blackjack. I didn't win very often, and in the end I continued spending all that I had won, since I'd allotted myself that much to spend anyhow. Jonas, on the other hand, was quite lucky with the slots, and not so lucky in blackjack, but in the end he too spent his winnings. Nevertheless, it was quite fun for our first visit to Vegas, and we eventually got to bed quite late.

Day 16: Las Vegas, Nevada to Ogden, Utah

In the morning we left Las Vegas and headed northeast into Utah, towards Salt Lake City. The journey there wasn't terribly noteworthy, but it was pleasant all the same. The desert that was Nevada gradually turned into some forests which were a nice change in terrain after having been in only desert for the last three days. We arrived in Salt Lake City in the late afternoon and got a campsite in Willard Bay State Park. The bay was pretty scenic, and we took a short walk around the area before returning to the campsite, and at some point Jonas got something stuck in his throat and spent a good half hour hacking up a lung. Eventually, as it began to get a little dark out, we decided to set up the tent. The wind was picking up quite a bit, and we were afraid it might storm, but it turned out to be just a lot of wind. When it was dark, we went to bed.

Day 17: Ogden, Utah to Farmington, New Mexico

In the morning after we packed up our tenting stuff we headed west out of Salt Lake City toward the salt flats. The salt flats are really impressive. Millions of years ago there was an inland sea which eventually dried up due to the changing climate, and the remains of it are both the Great Salt Lake and the salt flats: miles and miles of salt-covered desert. We got out of the car to walk around on it, among other things. The road to the flats and back was so straight and flat that we were able to go the 200 miles roundtrip in only about two hours.

When we returned again to Salt Lake City we left it driving south again to the center of the state, where we left the freeway and drove towards the southeast corner. The weather was a little bit gloomy and rainy, and a couple of times we thought it would storm quite badly, but it was bearable. The scenery was at times really fantastic, made of rock formations and gorges which we drove through. Towards twilight we saw quite a few deer around standing by the sides of the road, and we fervently hoped that none of them would decide to decide to cross. Luckily, none did. After it got dark we got lost a bit north of the Arizona border, missing a turn we should have taken, and it caused us to lose a bit of time. Eventually, we crossed the border into Arizona, and soon after that, New Mexico. The first large city we came to in New Mexico was Farmington, and we arrived there fairly late, so we stayed in a hotel.

Day 18: Farmington, New Mexico to Santa Rosa, New Mexico

When we woke up this day, we drove a small distance back the way we came, and then north to a very unique place in the United States. It is the place where four states of Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico meet in one spot, fittingly called "Four Corners". It is pretty much out in the middle of nowhere, and it cost about $3 or something close to visit it. There is a big plaque in the ground and you can stand on it in such a way that you are in four states at once, by putting each foot and hand in a different spot. It wasn't much to look at, but the idea of it was fun enough to be worth visiting.

When we left Four Corners we returned again to New Mexico and drove south on Highway 666, which was eerily amusing. After a while we reached the freeway again, and took it east towards Albuquerque. We drove for most of the rest of the day, and ended up in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, where we got a hotel and stayed the night.

Day 19: Santa Rosa, New Mexico to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

We spent most of this day driving. We left Santa Rosa and continued east towards Texas, on the freeway which also encompassed the famous Route 66 highway. Again (hold on to your hat!) I drove part of the way from the eastern part of New Mexico until we were nearing Amarillo, Texas. We made a stop in Amarillo to find a post office so that I could buy some stamps for postcards, and then drove out of the city east again. Not long after we'd left Amarillo we saw a somewhat amusing thing in the distance: the largest cross in the northern hemisphere. Soon after that it started raining quite hard, and that turned into strong wind, thunder and lightning, and after a while of driving in that, we decided to stop somewhere to see if it would let up. We left the freeway and pulled into a Dairy Queen (yes, we like our Dairy Queen, all right!) where we had some ice cream. The DQ was also part of a store, and we also browsed through the store, where Jonas bought a bottle of Bloody Mary mix. When the storm lessened we started driving again, and we saw a lovely rainbow in front of us as we drove. We continued driving east and towards late afternoon we arrived in Oklahoma City, where we got a motel and stayed the night.

Day 20: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Kansas City, Missouri

We left Oklahoma City in the morning and headed north toward Kansas. On the way we saw a billboard advertising a town in Kansas called Lindsborg, touted as "Little Sweden," and decided to visit it. We had to drive off the freeway a ways to get there, but it was a very cute and quaint town, complete with cobblestone streets. It was founded by Swedish immigrants, and there were quite a few stores selling all kinds of Swedish paraphernalia, including imported food, candy and books. We spent a couple of hours looking around there, and had some banana splits in a small, old-fashioned ice cream parlor before we left.

We drove for the rest of the day, and reached Kansas City, Missouri towards nightfall. We got a hotel room there, and then decided to treat ourselves to something other than fast food, so we went and had a nice dinner at Applebee's. After we finished, we went out to the car and noticed a large bug had attached itself to the roof. We drove back to the hotel and saw that the bug was still there, so we picked it off and put it in some bushes before going inside our hotel room to sleep.

Day 21: Kansas City, Missouri to Minneapolis, Minnesota

In the morning of the last day of our trip we left Kansas City and headed north toward home. We had no plans for anything to do or to see, so we simply drove and drove. While we were driving through Iowa we got pulled over for speeding, which was somewhat amusing, being the very last day of our 21-day roadtrip that we got a speeding ticket. In the late afternoon we entered Minnesota and stopped at a rest stop near Albert Lea. This rest stop has been memorable to me for several years due to the nature of its "Pet Exercise Area" signs, which indicate where you are allowed to walk your pet around. However, the picture on the sign looks more like a woman walking a duck than anything else, and my friends and I found it amusing when we were in high school.

We continued north towards the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul and arrived around 8pm at the same Menards parking lot we had left from 3 weeks before. I gave my mom a call to let her know we were back so that she could pick us up after returning the car, and that was the end of our Summer Roadtrip 1997! Stay tuned for roadtrips to come!

Updated 07 May, 2004