The last stop!

We said goodbye to my aunt and all the great Ohio memories and continued heading east on Interstate 80. We stopped off at the Pennsylvania Welcome Center and saw some interesting sights. First there was this giant carving dedicated to the American Indians.




Smile! We made it to Pennsylvania!


Inside the Welcome Center there was a giant stuffed bear who had apparently been hit by a car. The bear did not survive the crash, but the car was actually demolished! Good thing we did not encounter any bears along our route!



We did not have time to stop at any sights in Pennsylvania. But when I go back to this state I already know the two places I want to go. First, there is the Crayola Factory in Easton, PA. How fun would that be?! I would love to see how they make all the crayons I use in my classroom. The second place I would like to visit is the Harley Davidson Factory in York, PA. That's where they build the motorcycles. Vroom, vroom! Here's a picture of the beautiful scenery in Pennsylvania. No more cornfields!


Late in the afternoon we entered our 19th state, New Jersey!


There was a cute garden at the welcome center with the bench in the picture. It said, "Listen to the birds chirp and tweet, but be careful when you take a seat." I decided that it would not be a good idea to sit there!

We drove to the other side of New Jersey, which did not take long. We got a hotel room in Secaucus, NJ (our last hotel room!). From Secaucus, you can long in the distance and see New York City. The next morning we got up at 4:30! We drove through the Lincoln Tunnel into New York City. Unfortunately, when we got to Rockefeller Center where they film the Today show, there were hundreds of people already there! Miley Cyrus was going to be performing a concert so all of her fans were there. Some families had been camping out on the streets of NYC since Wednesday! That's crazy! So we got a few pictures as close to the news area as we could, and then decided to go enjoy breakfast in New York City. It's only about 5:30 in the morning so we may look a little tired in the photos!





When a police officer saw us walking away with our posters, he said, "No you need to go this way." I told him that we actually did not care about seeing Miley Cyrus, we just wanted to get close to the Today show reporters so they could see our posters. He said that we were probably the only 2 people who were not concerned with seeing Hannah Montana! Oh well, at least we tried! Here I am enjoying breakfast with the Mamma Mia sign off in the background.


Yeah, we were in Times Square at 7 o'clock in the morning!


After breakfast, it was time to drive our last leg of the trip, back to Massachusetts. We went through New York, Connecticut and finally Massachusetts!




At about 11:30 in the afternoon on Friday, we pulled into my driveway. We had just driven 6,230 miles and been in 22 states in 25 days! What a trip! I will have to write an another entry reflecting on everything, but for now...I think I need a nap!

Taking a trip down memory lane...a.k.a. The Ohio Turnpike

On Tuesday morning we hit the road, continuing east towards our old stomping grounds...O-hi-o. Before we could leave Indiana, we of course had to see one more cornfield! There should never be a shortage of corn in the U.S.!


A few miles down the road we came to a complete stand still. Up ahead I could see a long line of trucks and a big cloud of smoke. We turned off the car and sat on the highway for about 30 minutes. It turned out to be a truck that had caught on fire! Believe it or not, it took about 5,000 miles before we actually got stuck in traffic. Not too bad!


Once we got moving again it did not take long to cross into Ohio.

Typical of Ohio, we never found the Welcome Center so the best I can do is this fuzzy picture of the sign at the state border.

As we drove across the state of Ohio, I listened to mom tell stories of her childhood and my childhood. Mom grew up in Ohio, my dad grew up in Ohio, my sister and brothers were born in Ohio. We lived here until I was about 12. Obviously we have a little bit of history with the "Buckeye State."

Our destination was Youngstown, Ohio, almost to the border of Pennsylvania. Youngstown is where my mom was born and grew up. Her sister still lives there, as well as her daughter, my cousin. Here's a picture of mom sharing some laughs with my Aunt Patty.


It was great to relax at my aunt's house and hear my mom and her sister tell all kinds of crazy stories from their childhood. I even got to drive by and see the house that my mom grew up in! Plus, we had fun visiting with my cousin Angela and her two kids, Jimmy and Gina. Here I am playing after our pizza party!





Wait a minute! Who is the photographer now?!

Somehow I couldn't get a picture with Jimmy's tongue in his mouth!



It was so good to wind down our trip with a visit with family. Jimmy if you read this ...tell mommy that you want to come to Boston!


On Wednesday night, mom, Aunt Patty and I went to see the movie "Mamma Mia." Mom was just a little bit excited since it is one of her favorite shows. She and I have both seen it performed several times. It was very entertaining, and we were singing Abba songs all the way home. Then we stayed up late watching home videos from my mom's childhood. It was great seeing my mom at about the age of 7 doing a dance recital for the camera. She informed me that she was so excited because it was the first time she was allowed to wear makeup. The funniest thing about the video was that it was like watching me as a child because my mom and I looked exactly alike at that age!

It's hard to believe that our trip is almost over! I still can't believe everything we have seen and done. Hopefully you are all enjoying reading about our adventures!

4 states in 1 day!

On Monday we drove through 4 different states! We left the wonderful state of Nebraska and drove all the way through Iowa. Then we drove straight through Illinois. Finally, we drove almost all the way through Indiana. We stopped at South Bend, Indiana, home of Notre Dame University and birthplace of Larry Bird.

Remember when I told you that Nebraska was the 3rd largest producer of corn? Well number 2 is Iowa and number 1 is....Illinois! That's 3 states in a row that are full of cornfields, cornfields, and more cornfields!

Time for a little photo quiz. Can you tell which cornfield belongs to which state?





Maybe in another entry I'll give you the answers to this exciting quiz! Can you imagine 8 hours of looking at corn out the window?!

Here are some pictures of entering the different states.





We did get some excitement when we entered Illinois. Here I am being greeted by good ole' Abraham Lincoln. Our 16th president was born in Illinois. I bet he liked corn!

From cowboys to corn!

On Sunday, we said goodbye to Wyoming and headed east towards Nebraska. We stopped off at the Nebraska Welcome Center and learned some interesting facts about the lovely state of Nebraska. Apparently, in Nebraska the possibilities are endless...so are the rows of corn!






Mom was not too happy about seeing another rattlesnake sign. She thought we had left those back in Arizona and New Mexico!

Little known facts about Nebraska:
1. Kool Aid was invented here, and there is actually a kool aid museum. Wow!
2. Most of the spam in the world comes from Nebraska. Who knew?
3. The TV dinner started in Omaha. I guess people in Nebraska prefer easy to make foods?!
4. Johnny Carson, Henry Ford, and Marlon Brando were all born in Nebraska.
5. Believe it or not, the state of Nebraska is only the 3rd largest producer of corn. Do you know who the top 2 are?

Here are some of the sights that we saw while driving...






After miles and miles and miles of cornfields, this covered bridge memorial was an exciting change of scenery. But then it was back to cornfields!

We made it almost all the way through the state of Nebraska and stopped in the capital, Lincoln. Lucky for me, I actually know someone who lives in Nebraska! When I went to Japan 2 years ago, I met teachers from all over the U.S. One of the teachers I met is from Nebraska. She teaches 4th grade, and she is one of the nicest people you will ever meet! At about 5:30 we rang the doorbell at my friend Kathy's house. She was so excited to see us. Kathy had prepared a delicious home-cooked meal. (Sorry to say...there was no kool aid, no spam, and no TV dinners!) Can you guess what vegetable we ate?!!?
Here's mom enjoying some sweet....C-O-R-N!!


It was so nice to not have to be in a hotel. Thank you Kathy for the delicious food, the comfy beds, and lots of laughs! I may actually come back to visit Nebraska again.



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Another News Update...

Our trip is coming to an end. I have more to tell you about...many more states and stories. But I wanted to tell everyone to try to watch the Today show Friday morning. Mom and I are going to finish up our trip with a stop in New York City. I am making some posters that talk about our adventure. Hopefully Al Roker will want to talk to me! Look for the two traveling teachers on the Today show this Friday!!!

A jam-packed Saturday in Cheyenne!

It was going to be a full day in Cheyenne so we got up early and went to our favorite hole in the wall, the Driftwood Cafe, for breakfast. Then we grabbed our folding chairs and headed to find a good spot to watch the parade. During Frontier Days, they have 4 parades throughout the week. Here's a picture of me waiting for it to start...in my cowgirl hat of course!

Unfortunately we were in the shade for only about 15 minutes. The rest of the time we were baking in the sun! Guess we picked the wrong side of the street. But we were across the street from an old movie theater that advertised free admission as long as you bought popcorn! What a deal!


The parade was quite a big deal! There were about 400 horses total in it. The mayor, the governor and 2 state Senators were all in the parade. It lasted for an hour and a half! Here are some shots of what we watched go by in front of us...
(I took a million pictures, but I'll try to pick out the best ones!)





One of the first floats had this giant pair of jeans...I guess the theme for Frontier Days was "Walking Tall." And that is Miss Wyoming riding in the back of the car.

Here are some more pictures...







The horses in the picture above were called the "Texas Thunder." They were massive! The average height was 6'4"! We got to see them again later at the rodeo doing some impressive steering and galloping.

Check out this float! There was a teacher giving lessons to the students on the float. One little boy's chalkboard slate said, "I got straight F's."





The pull carts in the picture were what the Mormons used to WALK from the midwest out to Utah. Many of them walked over 1,000 miles! That makes my feet hurt thinking about all that walking!







After the final tractor rolled by, we gathered up our chairs and headed to lunch before the rodeo. We ate at a great place called Sanford's Grub and Pub. The menu was gigantic, basically it reminded me of one of my big books that I read in my classroom! Mom says that the onion rings she had were the best ones that she has ever had in her life. So if you are ever in Cheyenne, and you like onion rings, head there for lunch.


Finally it was time to go to the rodeo! Finding a parking spot was a little difficult. The lots were full so we had to park in a neighborhood and walk many, many blocks! We walked by the original gate sign that has been welcoming rodeo visitors for 100 years. Our seats were pretty high, but we could see everything, and I sat next to an old cowboy from Wyoming who explained all of the events to me. Some of the events we watched were steer roping, bucking broncos, bull-riding, barrel racing, steer wrestling, and old fashioned horse racing. I already explained in another entry about the steer roping. The steer wrestling was crazy! A cowboy rides out on a horse going 35 miles an hour, jumps off his horse and grabs a running steer by the horns, stops hims, picks it up in the air (200 pounds) and dropped them down on the ground! Talk about a workout! The bucking broncos and the bull-riding was also quite scary to watch. Here are some pictures of the action!









There were 2 special events that happened at the rodeo. One was called the Dinner Bell Derby. They bring out colts and their mothers. They put the babies at one end and the mothers at the other end. Then the colts race to get to their moms! Here they are lining up.


Another event was called the Wild Horse race. This was the craziest thing I've seen! They bring out these wild horses who are jumping and running and going nuts. 3 cowboys are on a team. The official fires a starting gun, and one guy has to hold the horse still, one guy has to put the saddle on, and one guy has to actually get on the horse and ride it around the track. Well horses are jumping all over the place. Guys are getting dragged through the dirt. Some horses are jumping over others. It's complete chaos! Only a few guys actually made it on the horse and around the track.




At one point the overall winner of last year's rodeo came out with his girlfriend. They were riding in a wagon pulled by the "Texas Thunder" horses. They introduced him to the crowd, and then he proposed to his girlfriend. Luckily, she said yes!

In between events, they had people riding by doing tricks on their horses. This lady was riding on the side of her horse while it was racing by!


The rodeo lasted 4 hours! But it was so exciting that I did not even notice the time. The day was not over yet! We went back to our hotel to shower and get ready for the concert. Every night during Frontier Days different country music bands perform. We were going to go see Taylor Swift and Rascal Flatts. It was a beautiful night with a great breeze. The performances were awesome! It was a perfect end to a perfect day!







Here's a picture of the carnival that was going on outside of the concert. I forgot to buy my favorite...cotton candy!


At about 11:00 we finally left Frontier Park. Here I am at the entranceway. I am so glad we decided to extend our stay in Cheyenne. Everyone should experience "The Daddy of 'Em All" at least once in their lifetime. This is definitely a place that I will come back to for another visit. I could get used to wearing a cowboy hat and cowboy boots!