New York & D.C. Travelogue April 2002
Sunday, March 31st, 2002Jen came by my house and picked me up around 9am. It was Easter Sunday.We filled up the car...or rather Jen filled up the car (the deal was that she paid for the gas) and got on our way. We drove east on highway 80, through 100 miles of California and into Nevada. This was the part of the trip that I had actually done once or twice before. At the 120 mile mark, we stopped at Reno for some Chinese Acrobats at Circus Circus. I also dropped about $20 at the slots and got a Easter brunch at their buffet. We got gas at Nile Valley, Nevada and spotted a "work at home" sign. I have told Jen ALL about them, and she was pretty tolerant of the whole thing. She told me about spotting a woman with a "Lose weight now, ask me how" button in Dunkin' Donuts and actually ASKING her about it. We stayed at the Red Garter Casino Hotel in Wendover, at the Nevada/Utah border. |
 The first snow on the trip, still in California  The tiny downtown of Reno, Nevada  the stars are less than 5.8% of the total area  brown hills of Nevada  First day driving pose.  Nevada hot springs  Approaching the first tunnel  Fully operational Deeth Starr Valley  When you can't beat 'em, join 'em! |
Monday April 1, 2002Woke up and immediately crossed the state line into Utah. We drove through the Bonneville salt flats.Near highway 80, there are rocks and dirt mixed in with the salt, so it isn't perfectly flat or gleaming white like I imagined. I am sure it is cleaner and flatter away from the road. Drove through Salt Lake City in a few minutes. It was nice. There were billboards and pole-signs celebrating the Winter Olympics. The best one was the Chevy Symbol made of hockey sticks. Further along, we caught part of a wacky radio show called "Brookes and Dunne", where they pretended to be dropping objects off of a tall building. It was just a April Fool's Day joke. I was pretty excited to be listening to Brookes and Dunne, because I had coincidentally been interviewed by them in February regarding how much is inside a box of Cheerios. Out of town, the look of Utah from highway 80 looked great. Snowy in parts, rocky in some others. The trains in Utah ran close the road and for some reason they looked like they were straight out of the brochure. Next we drove through Wyoming, where we saw buffalo. We drove through the widest part of Wyoming, so it took most of the day. We stayed at a Holiday Inn with a swimming pool as per Jennifer's request. |
 Jen practices her NYC driving skills in the arcade  Utah mountains. The truck says "Transformer Division"  The trains look great in Utah  Train on Utah mountainside  At Jolly Jacs Fireworks World  Large black cat firecracker roll.  Breaking pose at the gas pumps in Wyoming  Gas station internet access in Wyoming  Open road & monster buttes |