Day 5 - Denver, Colorado to Salt Lake City Utah

On day five we had another 535 miles and eight and a half hours ahead of us.  We didn't get to stop many places along the way, but that was ok because it was soooooo hot.

 We did get to take pictures in this really cool camping trailer.  They are called Airstream trailers, but my family and I like to call them Twinkies.

Some day it would be fun to get one and go camping in it.  I love camping.

 The inside of the trailer was even cooler than the outside.  So we took some pictures.  It had writing on all of the ceiling.



We got back on the road after that.  We saw lots of mountains, clouds and rocks.  I thought this rock formation was interesting.  I reminded me of when you play with blocks and stack them in a wacky way.

 Driving makes you really hungry so we stopped at a restaurant called "The Buck Stops Here."  They have tons of weird things like a deer whose front half is on one side of the wall and his back half is on the other.

They menu was so big it took me two hands to hold it up.  The food was just as big.  With a full stomach we got back on the road.

 The sky and mountains were beautiful to look at, but that is pretty much all you see along the way.  There were not even that many cars.  If you didn't have a good friend to talk to you might get really bored.  We talked a lot and sang along to the radio.

 When we crossed the Utah state line I thought it was funny that they have skiing on their sign.  I know people ski there most of the time, but it was over 100 degrees outside.  I was having a hard time picturing snow.

Utah is sometimes called the "Beehive State."  That got me excited because I love bees and honey.

 Salt Lake City is on the other side of the Rocky Mountains.  Which means we crossed a giant mountain chain to get there.

The city was founded by a man named Brigham Young, in 1847.  When he saw the land he said "This is the right place," and he started the city.

 Lots of people like to visit the city.  They go to ski and to see all the pretty buildings.

The olympics were starting the day we got to Salt Lake City.  Mike and I got to watch the opening ceremonies on a big screen.  I thought it was weird and cool all at the same time.  Most of all I was just glad to get out of the hot sun.

 

 When the sun went down the sky was so blue.  It was an amazing color.  I wish the pictures really showed it.

Before we went back to the hotel we walked through the city. They had some fountains you could play in.  If you look carefully you can see Mike in the middle of the fountain.

We were exhausted and had another long drive in front of us tomorrow.  We were going to the last city, Reno, before we finally made it home.

Day 4 - Lincoln, Nebraska to Denver, Colorado

Day four we drove almost 8 hours again.  8 might be our magic number.  Lincoln is the capital of Nebraska.  It is sometimes called the "Star City" since a star is what shows the capital of a state on a map.  The University of Nebraska is in Lincoln, which is the home of the Cornhuskers.

When driving from Nebraska to Denver we passed the "Great Platte River Road Archway"  The archway features a silver flying horse.  It is also a museum that shows you what it was like to travel West in a covered wagon.  Nearly half a million settlers traveled this same route to start a new life on the West Coast.

We drove past one of the Pony Express Stations.  The Pony Express was a mail service that delivered messages by horse back over the Rocky Mountains.  It was only around for a year and a half, but it delivered letters very quickly.  The horses and their riders could carry letters over 1,900 miles.

There were lots of farms along the road.  The farms that grow hay sometimes roll them up in order to store them.  There was lots of hay to see along the way.  They are so big that it is too tall to climb on top of.

After driving over 800 miles we finally reached Denver, Colorado.   Denver is sometimes called the "Mile High City," because it is 5,280 feet above sea level.  Being so high can sometimes makes it hard to breathe.

 The Rocky Mountains are not only very tall they are also very old.  Some of the oldest rocks in the mountain range are 1.7 billion years old.  They are also very pretty to look at.  In the summer they are very green, but the tops still have snow since it is cold up that high.  In the winter the mountains are completely covered with snow.

 Even though Denver is in the mountains, there are lots of skyscrapers.  It is hard to imagine that this was a city where cowboys like Buffalo Bill used to spend their time.

 Denver is the home of the Rockies baseball team. Their stadium is called Coors Field.  The field is pretty new, it was opened in 1995.  Their colors are purple and black.  You can see the Rocky Mountains from inside that stadium.

 After seeing the baseball stadium Mike and I did a little sight seeing.  We saw Denver's Union station and tried on hats at a very famous hat store.

 Trying on hats was so much fun at Rockmount Ranch Wear.    They make hats, cowboy boots and lots of other cowboy gear.  The dog that works at the store even helped catch people who were stealing.  The dog was really sweet too.

 After all that fun, we were starving.   That meant we got to eat corn dogs.  They are delicious.

Tomorrow we would be heading to Salt Lake City, Utah.

Day 3 - Chicago to Lincoln, Nebraska

On the third day of the trip we saw tons of cool things during the trip.  We drove just as many hours as the other days.  Before we left Chicago,  we took pictures at a very famous baseball park.

Wrigley Field is the home of the Chicago Cubs.  They are one of the oldest baseball teams.  They have been around since baseball became the national past time in 1876.






I thought it was kind of funny that they had a giant piece of macaroni, from a bowl of macaroni and cheese.

Our next stop was not planned, but was probably the best part of the day.  We found a kid sized version of Wrigley Field called Little Cubs Field.  

Little Cubs Field was built by volunteers, so that children can  play baseball on a field that looks just like Wrigley Field.

Mike and I got to pretend to catch baseballs in the outfield and to sit on the benches.  It would have been even more fun if we had a whole team to play a game with.

After Little Cubs field we were on our way to another place that loves baseball.  Along the way we saw two other interesting places.

This is a picture of President Ulysses S. Grant's house.  It is in Galena, Illinois.  When Grant came back from the Civil War in 1865, the people of the town gave him this house.  He lived in the house until 1867 and then from 1879 - 1881.  The house has tons of things that was owned by Grant. 

We also drove over the Mississippi River.  It is the longest river in the United States.  It starts in Minnesota and ends in the Gulf of Mexico. That is practically from the top to the bottom of the United States.  

The next stop on what seemed like a day full of baseball was the place where they filmed the movie Field of Dreams.  In the movie a man turns part of his corn field into a baseball field.  They actually turned a farm into a baseball field to film the movie.  

The family that lives there kept as a baseball field so people can come and visit. You can even play a game of catch or pretend to walk out of the baseball field like the baseball players in the movie.

Mike and I had a good time walking around this place.  It is so cool to be a place where they filmed a movie.  You can pretend to be part of the movie.

Mike did the last of the driving that day.  Nebraska is famous for its beautiful skies and sunsets.

The next stop on our trip is Denver, Colorado.  Stay tuned for pictures from that day of the trip.  

Day 2 - Cleveland to Chicago

On the second day we left early, but not at 4 o'clock in the morning.  That was too early!

We started out by going to see a place where one of my favorite movies was filmed.  Have you ever seen A Christmas Story?  It is about a little boy who wants a toy that his mother says is not safe.  I am sure that everyone has wanted something their parents didn't want them to have.

I got so excited when I found out that the house they used for the movie was in Cleveland.  So before leaving the city we stopped by and took pictures in front of the house.  The museum wasn't open when we got there, because it was early.  I was just as happy to see the outside.  

We then got on the road for Chicago, Illinois.  Illinois is the state where both President Abraham Lincoln and President Barack Obama are from.  It was another long drive but we had some time to see cool things before we were too tired to keep our eyes open.  

Here we come Chicago

Singing along to the radio

The City of Chicago

Navy Pier

We got to go to the Lincoln Park Zoo.  It has more than 1,000 animals, some of the endangered animals cannot be seen anywhere else.  They have gorillas and chimpanzees at the zoo.  Some of them are even older than me.  The zoo has part called the Regenstein African Journey and it is home to giraffes, wild dogs, meerkats and pygmy (small) hippos.  There is also a children's zoo and another part of the zoo that looks like a farm.  

We also got to take a picture of the whole city, while in the zoo.  The city has  a skyscraper that is North America's tallest building.  It used to be called the Sears tower.  It is 110 stories and is 1,353 feet tall.  I don't like heights so I am glad we saw it from the street instead of going up and looking down.

It got really hot, so we went to the Chicago History Museum.  They had so many fun things to do.  

You could pretend to be a giant Chicago hotdog.

Or pretend to drive or ride on  an old fashioned trolley car.

There is even a place where you can answer Chicago sports trivia.

At the end of the day there was a beautiful sunset telling us to get to bed.  We would need lots of sleep to continue on the journey in the morning.