Road Report Part Deux
After spending some time in Los Angeles we drove up to Berkeley. I have extremely fond feelings for Berkeley because of the time our organic avocado farming adventure went awry. I went from sun-up to sun-down picking and packing avocados, living primarily off of boxes of persimmons and avocados, and sleeping in a freezing shed to staying in a sorority house in Berkeley during rush week. Needless to say, Berkeley was a big step up and won my eternal love and devotion. If you are in the bay area and find yourself in dire straights for a place to stay, you can always depend on Berkeley.
We got off to a late start heading out of California. Driving across California kind of sucks because of the mountains. And the road construction. I would guess that about 1/4 of I-80 was under construction during the course of the drive, but by far it was the worst in CA. It was so rugged that it messed up the allignment for the rest of the trip. And we stopped in Colfax for lunch. It was the worst meal. Avoid TJ's. Over priced, crap service, and the waitress argued with me about overcharging us by $45.
I had planned to get to the Utah border and stay in West Wendover, NV. We ended up stopping in a great town called Winnemuca. Who knew it, but in Nevada there are sprinklings of neon casino towns all along the desert highways. Winnemuca had a particularly swinging sixties feel to it. We originally were just going to stop for dinner at a AAA recommended casino diner called The Model T. It was great. Imagine Denny's, but full of desperate desert rats, neon, and mirrors everywhere. Cheap, tasty, efficient, and greasy. The town was so damn cute that we decided to call it a night there. My favorite hotel of the trip was Scott's Shady Camper Park. Super old school hotel with each of the rooms named. I think we stayed in the Santa Clara.
The next morning we got the tire re-balanced and started the tradition of hearty diner breakfasts to kick off the day. We finally got to Wendover, which is one of the strangest landscapes I've ever seen. It's right on the Utah border so there is a huge complex of casinos and neon signage. The background is the Great Salt Flats, so totally flat white desert surrounded by distant mountains. We had lunch at the golf course, so it was green fair way, cookie cutter houses, casinos, white, desert, mountains. There's also an awesome giant cowboy sculpture.
Nevada is really big. It took forever to get through. Eventually we made it to Salt Lake where we got the Mormon tour at Mormon Square. Definitely do it sometime. Those Mormons. Salt Lake didn't have much to eat downtown so we decided to change it up a little by going out for Thai food. Mmmm. Utah is super pretty and full of nice people. Great place to drive around.
Wyoming is vast and kind of redneck-y. There is a fascination with pioneers. We stopped at Fort Bridger because my dad said it was really great. It was an old fort with some little pioneer buildings and a museum. Nothing too exciting. We had dinner in Cheyenne which was cute beyond expectation. Walking around downtown was a nice break. It was a little creepy just because there were almost no other people walking around. The downtown also looked far more hip and with it than I had expected. Lots of little coffee shops (all closed by 6:00) and a really cute little movie theater.
We continued into Nebraska and stayed in a hotel which I thought was really cute and kitschy at first. Green shag carpet, fridge and microwave, sort of creepy front desk guy, weekly rates for methy looking families with stacks of grills in the front. However, after a roach fell from a light fixture onto my shoulder I decided I hated the place and couldn't wait to get going in the morning. Basically, Nebraska was the worst part of the trip. It was pretty with rolling fields of corn, but it was also super redneck-y and had the absolute worst driving ever. Go around Nebraska. There's nothing good there. Shitty drivers, corn, and crappy food. The only good thing in Nebraska was Omaha. Omaha is amazing. Go to the Old Market district. There are tons of cute places to eat, great indie book and record stores, and quality people watching. Omaha was great. But I attribute that to its proximity to Iowa.
Iowa was boring. Drivers were bad, but not as bad as Nebraska. I-80 just out side of Davenport has the world's largest truck stop. Be warned that there are almost no signs announcing this road side attraction. We went right past it and didn't have time to exit due to lack of signage. I was really hoping to stop and get a car compass and a novelty air freshner.
Illinois was boring. Drivers were less bad than Iowa and we crossed this really sick bridge. We also had to start paying tolls.
Indiana has bad signage. We stayed at the Indiana Dunes State Park. Super pretty! It looks just like the ocean. There are sandy beaches, blue water with waves, seagulls, and life guards. Camping fees were a shocking $25 PLUS $10 to get into the park. Kind of a rip, but they did have nice bathrooms including showers. The best meal of the trip was in Chesteron, which is the town right on the edge of the park. Super cute place with a weird name and a blue and white Cafe sign in front. Sort of a fifties/sixties diner decor with AMAZING food. Had challah French toast with orange and cinnamon and honey. Also, great coffee and the people running it were super nice. We noted 3 cute diners in our time driving through Chesteron.
From there it was just a hop into Ohio and Oberlin. And I am so not ready to be back at school.
We got off to a late start heading out of California. Driving across California kind of sucks because of the mountains. And the road construction. I would guess that about 1/4 of I-80 was under construction during the course of the drive, but by far it was the worst in CA. It was so rugged that it messed up the allignment for the rest of the trip. And we stopped in Colfax for lunch. It was the worst meal. Avoid TJ's. Over priced, crap service, and the waitress argued with me about overcharging us by $45.
I had planned to get to the Utah border and stay in West Wendover, NV. We ended up stopping in a great town called Winnemuca. Who knew it, but in Nevada there are sprinklings of neon casino towns all along the desert highways. Winnemuca had a particularly swinging sixties feel to it. We originally were just going to stop for dinner at a AAA recommended casino diner called The Model T. It was great. Imagine Denny's, but full of desperate desert rats, neon, and mirrors everywhere. Cheap, tasty, efficient, and greasy. The town was so damn cute that we decided to call it a night there. My favorite hotel of the trip was Scott's Shady Camper Park. Super old school hotel with each of the rooms named. I think we stayed in the Santa Clara.
The next morning we got the tire re-balanced and started the tradition of hearty diner breakfasts to kick off the day. We finally got to Wendover, which is one of the strangest landscapes I've ever seen. It's right on the Utah border so there is a huge complex of casinos and neon signage. The background is the Great Salt Flats, so totally flat white desert surrounded by distant mountains. We had lunch at the golf course, so it was green fair way, cookie cutter houses, casinos, white, desert, mountains. There's also an awesome giant cowboy sculpture.
Nevada is really big. It took forever to get through. Eventually we made it to Salt Lake where we got the Mormon tour at Mormon Square. Definitely do it sometime. Those Mormons. Salt Lake didn't have much to eat downtown so we decided to change it up a little by going out for Thai food. Mmmm. Utah is super pretty and full of nice people. Great place to drive around.
Wyoming is vast and kind of redneck-y. There is a fascination with pioneers. We stopped at Fort Bridger because my dad said it was really great. It was an old fort with some little pioneer buildings and a museum. Nothing too exciting. We had dinner in Cheyenne which was cute beyond expectation. Walking around downtown was a nice break. It was a little creepy just because there were almost no other people walking around. The downtown also looked far more hip and with it than I had expected. Lots of little coffee shops (all closed by 6:00) and a really cute little movie theater.
We continued into Nebraska and stayed in a hotel which I thought was really cute and kitschy at first. Green shag carpet, fridge and microwave, sort of creepy front desk guy, weekly rates for methy looking families with stacks of grills in the front. However, after a roach fell from a light fixture onto my shoulder I decided I hated the place and couldn't wait to get going in the morning. Basically, Nebraska was the worst part of the trip. It was pretty with rolling fields of corn, but it was also super redneck-y and had the absolute worst driving ever. Go around Nebraska. There's nothing good there. Shitty drivers, corn, and crappy food. The only good thing in Nebraska was Omaha. Omaha is amazing. Go to the Old Market district. There are tons of cute places to eat, great indie book and record stores, and quality people watching. Omaha was great. But I attribute that to its proximity to Iowa.
Iowa was boring. Drivers were bad, but not as bad as Nebraska. I-80 just out side of Davenport has the world's largest truck stop. Be warned that there are almost no signs announcing this road side attraction. We went right past it and didn't have time to exit due to lack of signage. I was really hoping to stop and get a car compass and a novelty air freshner.
Illinois was boring. Drivers were less bad than Iowa and we crossed this really sick bridge. We also had to start paying tolls.
Indiana has bad signage. We stayed at the Indiana Dunes State Park. Super pretty! It looks just like the ocean. There are sandy beaches, blue water with waves, seagulls, and life guards. Camping fees were a shocking $25 PLUS $10 to get into the park. Kind of a rip, but they did have nice bathrooms including showers. The best meal of the trip was in Chesteron, which is the town right on the edge of the park. Super cute place with a weird name and a blue and white Cafe sign in front. Sort of a fifties/sixties diner decor with AMAZING food. Had challah French toast with orange and cinnamon and honey. Also, great coffee and the people running it were super nice. We noted 3 cute diners in our time driving through Chesteron.
From there it was just a hop into Ohio and Oberlin. And I am so not ready to be back at school.