Cross-country picture post!
I really wish I took more pictures in Chicago! I literally have two from the three days I spent there:
That's right! We went to a really awesome little dive bar in the city. The bartender was this sweet old man and they served, as you can see, hard-boiled eggs for 75 cents! So good!
We stopped off in Dixon, IL to see the boyhood home of Ronald Reagan! Haha woo
Then we stopped in a place called the Quad Cities, which is this little urban-ish area made up of four "cities," two in Illinois and two in Iowa. We wanted to see the arsenal that was on an island there, but it kind of turned out to be a serious government arsenal and not a public thing, so we ended up looking like weirdos to the hardcore guards. But it ended up being an awesome detour anyway because we went to this great place called Sylvan Island, which used to be an industrial area covered by a huge factory. It's now beautiful ruins and I'm sad I only took one picture. Also: I saw a HUGE turkey waddling down one of the paths! I was so happy!
We did some more stuff and ended up in Omaha which I LOVED. Really I have never been to a place full of such remarkably kind people. It was seriously unreal how nice everyone was. And it was just such a good city. I have to make an entirely separate entry for the zoo there because it was the most amazing place ever.
Not the best picture or anything, but this is an example of how the buildings look in their pricey and trendy historical area. So many nice places! We walked all over it.
Here's a couple more of Omaha at night:
Driving through Nebraska was a bit tedious but we stayed over in a nice town called Ogallala that was all about the Wild West because it was an old trail town and I guess the famous pioneers came through. It was also a bit south of a humongous and beautiful lake with white sandy beaches. It was so clear and clean-- I was standing out in it while talking this.
Colorado was great and I loved the mountains always being on the horizon. I wish I had a chance to go more into the Rockies, but we did do some mountain trails and it was so lovely.
I didn't really get any good pictures of the awesome scenery, though. This is kind of crap.
So that all took about a week and then I flew to New York City! TO BE CONTINUED