Journey Through the Center of the States

Most of you already know this, but we made it to Michigan. It's been over a month now that we have been living here. The drive out was very long. We drove something like 2,000 miles over the course of five days.

Day 1: Draper, Utah through Wyoming to Sidney, Nebraska. 
This pretty much sums up our view through the wind shield for most of the trip:

You can see the Corolla that Steve and Allie were driving, the Penske truck that Steve and Michele were driving, a long stretch of road, and a big blue sky. The scenery did change from time to time, but those factors remained the same. Here is a little taste of Wyoming:

 Windmills

 Tunnel

Rock Formations

The most popular Hampton Inn destination on the planet.

Sidney, Nebraska is home to Cabela's headquarters. We visited the store there, but it was smaller than the one in Draper. I took a picture, but it was pretty dark.

By the way, what is up with these oddly shaped water towers? Maybe I'm the only one who thinks they are odd because it seems to be commonplace across the Midwest. Where I'm from, water towers look like this:

Source

Or they look something like this:

Source

They do not look like this one we saw in Nauvoo (and many other cities):

Nor do they look like this one, which is located in Ypsilanti where we now live:

Source

(In case you were wondering, this building was named the world's most phallic building in a contest held by Cabinet magazine. If you weren't wondering, I apologize for telling you anyway.)

That concludes today's study of water towers. We'll get back to the trip.

Day 2: Sidney, NE to Council Bluffs, Iowa
Council Bluffs seems like it is basically one city with Omaha, NE. They are on either sides the border between the two states. At this stop, we were able to visit Winter Quarters, the church history site. It was beautiful, but I didn't realize how hot and humid it would be along the Missouri River.

LDS Temple at Winter Quarters

Excuse the poor quality of these pictures of the Missouri River as they were taken through windows. What can you do?

 From the car

From our hotel window

Day 3: Council Bluffs, IA to Keokuk, IA
I didn't take many pictures on this drive, but after we arrived in Keokuk to drop off the truck, we drove to Nauvoo and Carthage in Illinois. Again, I didn't realize how hot and humid it would be, but we were right on the Mississippi River this time, so it was.

Nauvoo was really pretty. We visited the Scoville Bakery, the Webb Blacksmith shop, the Jonathon Browning home and gun shop, and the Land and Records office. I think the blacksmith shop is where they told us about making the Nauvoo bricks, which was interesting, and they give you a brick at the end. At the Browning home, they told us about Jonathon Browning's company, and they showed us the tools he used to make his guns. We went to the Land and Records office to look up one of Michele's ancestors who had lived in Nauvoo. It was really cool - they were able to tell her which plot of land her ancestor had lived on so we could go look at it.

Nauvoo Temple

Behind the bakery

View from Browning's back porch

 There were so many butterflies on these flowers at the temple grounds. I just thought they were pretty.

This is a view of the Mississippi River from the cemetery at Nauvoo.

We were too late for a tour at Carthage Jail, but we're pretty sure that the window at the top left of the picture below is the one that Joseph fell from.

Day 4: Keokuk, IA to Cincinnati, Ohio

This was a long day. We drove all the way across two states: Illinois and Indiana. There were a lot more corn fields than I was expecting in Illinois. It helped me to understand Children of the Corn and other rural horror movies. There is just an eerie feeling to driving through miles and miles of corn. I can't explain it. This picture pretty much sums up what we saw for most of that day.

We ended up in Cincinnati, where we dropped off Steve and Allie at his parent's house. Day 4 was my birthday, so Steve and Allie had raced ahead of the caravan to buy a birthday cake. It was really nice of them, and the cake was delicious! Steve's family invited us for dinner and ate birthday cake with us. It felt nice to be in a home again, even if it wasn't ours.

Day 5: Cincinnati, OH to Ypsilanti, Michigan

Our new apartment was a short four hours from Cincinnati. I never thought I would say a four hour drive was short, and maybe I never will again. But that day, it felt short. Ypsilanti (pronounced IP-sil-ant-ee) is like Ann Arbor's Orem. The locals shorten it to Ypsi (ip-see). What should be their claim to fame, although I had to read about it on Wikipedia, is that Ypsilanti is where Domino's Pizza was founded. Seriously, Ypsi? This is big stuff - figure it out. 

Anyway, we're here, and we're trying to get to know the place better so that when all of you come to visit us, we'll have cool places to take you!

Holidays

(This is awkward. I didn't realize that this post was just sitting in the drafts and was never actually posted. Sorry. It's been a while since I wrote this.)

A few holidays have passed, so I thought I would share how we spent them. You will have to overlook the fact that some of these were many months ago. We're going to start back in October.

A week or so before Halloween, we were invited over for dinner with the McEwans, a couple in our ward. We had a great time carving pumpkins with them, but I was worried they wouldn't last until Halloween night. They did! Mine was a little past its prime, but good enough for the zero trick-or-treaters we get every year. For Halloween night, Jake and I watched Jaws with Nic and Becca. Bec had never seen the movie, and I had seen it only the year before. I loved it, and wanted to see it again. So we all enjoyed it together, and I think Jaws enjoyed the four of us. "Not with three he can't!"

Here a few pictures of our pumpkins:

For Thanksgiving we went to Jake's parents'. We invited Nic and Bec to go with us, so it was fun having them for the holiday. The food was amazing! My favorites were Steve's sweet potatoes and Michele's cranberry chutney. Just thinking about it is making my mouth water.

Since we were with Jake's family for Thanksgiving, we were with mine for Christmas. We were really excited to see everyone and especially excited to spend Christmas with Will. After many Christmases with only adults, it was so fun see the magical experience Christmas is for a little kid. My favorite moment was when Will opened some tiny Mickey Mouse figurines and exclaimed, "Oh goody, goody!" Possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen.

We had such a great time laughing, playing games, and eating delicious Christmas treats. I thought I would miss the white Christmas since we were lacking in the snow department this year, but it was really amazing. Jake and I didn't have to worry one bit about the weather while we were driving, unlike last year when it took us hours and hours to get from one place to the next.

Once we returned to Provo, we had our own little Christmas. I forgot to take a picture of the presents after we opened them. I got Jake an accessory for his Dremel, the Adventure Time DVD, a few books, and a solar toy. He got me a rotary cutter, a sleeve board, a spoon ring, and Scrabble. I'm sure there were other things, but these are some of the items I remember. Here are a few pictures:

 Our cute little tree

We knitted our own stockings after we got married. Jake's is big enough for the Jolly Green Giant to wear on a cold winter's day. 

Jake and his new solar toy. All assembly required, just how he likes it. This toy can be reassembled as 6 different toys! So cool!

Lastly, let us not forget Martin Luther King Day. For Rebecca and I, this year was the fifth annual MLK Day Chocolate Pancake celebration. It all began 5 years ago in the Glenwood when fate brought together two girls destined to bond over their love of under-celebrated holidays and chocolate. It's crazy that we have been friends for 5 years! Nic and Jake have been celebrating with us for 4 (You're almost there, guys!) and little Matthew for 2.

Happy holidays!