How did I get so fortunate as to earn this cross country trip you ask? Oh well... my boyfriend happened to get a job (yay!) in California (boo!), so I volunteered to help him move. I swear I'm not a glutton for punishment. I really don't have an affinity for hauling boxes and getting barnacles on my butt from sitting for two days straight, I'm just a sucker for mountains and a sucker for a certain boy I know. ;)
Because I had a ridiculous amount of time to sit (...and sit...and sit) and think, I learned two things about myself on this trip:
1. I have an infinitely tiny bladder. (I'm banned from drinking caffeine on any road trip henceforth unless I'm driving and need it to stay awake.)
2. I am ridiculously thrilled by being a tourist. I love junk shops, points of interest, trying to shoot beautiful photographs through a dirty window/windshield, and any sort of cheesy photo op involving famous places.
I was also very surprised by the diversity in the landscape of North America. I understand that it covers a vast expanse of land, but it surprised me nonetheless. For example, it appeared that less than 1 mile across the Colorado/Nebraska border, Colorado began to take on a life of its own. The plants changed, and the flat agricultural land of Nebraska was quickly replaced by rolling hills and rocky pasture land. I guess the settlers knew what they were doing when they drew the state lines on the map.
I only wish that we hadn't been on such a tight schedule, alas. I would have loved to stop at every single "worlds largest __________ (insert tacky attraction here)", and some more of the natural wonders of our great nation, but I guess I'll have to save that for a later date. I will leave you now with some of the aforementioned "dirty window" photos that I managed to take.
