So apparently everyone on the roads yesterday thought that we were in Germany. I made the 240 mile trip home in 2 hours and 45 minutes, reaching a top speed of about 100mph. And to top it all off, I somehow managed to average 40mpg. Gotta love the diesels!
Anyways, I hope everyone has a great thanksgiving!
I got to thinking and was wondering if anyone really does read my blog. If you do, leave a comment.
I never remember how amazing the fall colors are until you actually see them. This last weekend Katie and myself made the trek up to Menomonie for my neighbors wedding. It was a nice wedding, and a tasty reception. We also concluded that all we did was eat. Friday night we went out for fish fry at Whitetail (a golf course in the area). Saturday we went out to lunch with my Godmother to The Creamery Resturant and Inn for a tasty meal. Saturday afternoon we attended the wedding, and then went to the reception for some tasty eats. Sunday, we woke up and had eggs and bacon. We then took a trek up to Otter Creek to the cabin to see some colors (Check out the gallery, amazing pictures). When we got back, we ate again and then left.
Anyways, it was a fun weekend, and the best part was .. WE HAD CELL RECEPTION!
So, for about the last week and a half Katie and I have had very sketchy cell phone coverage in Whitewater. We called T-Mobile and first they told us to call Cingular (we roam on Cingular towers in whitewater). Of course, Cingular refused to talk to us because we aren’t their customers, they informed us T-Mobile has to contact Cingular and work with them directly to solve the issues. We called T-Mobile back, they and they filed a ticket. After a few days of hearing nothing, I decided we needed to determine what cell tower was causing us problems. After visiting cellreception.com, I plotted all the cell towers in the area out on Lucy, and we (Katie and I) headed for the car to take a tour around and figure out what was going on. After about an hour of driving around, we determined what I had thought. The tower on Winther Hall apparently doesn’t play nice with T-Mobile. So, I then thought I’d call T-Mobile and have them add this information to the ticket in hopes that it may help out the engineers some.
Today, Mike called up T-Mobile, and they told him they closed the first ticket, opened a ticket at a higher level, they then closed that ticket and opened a ticket at OSD. Mike also informed me that they did a site survey of the area and submitted a proposal for a new tower in this location. Cross your fingers, maybe they will put one up! Until then, it’s the joys of sporadic cell service so if you call and get voicemail right away or after a couple rings, that’s why.
~ Receptionless in Whitewater
Like everything in the world, all good things come to an end. So, the road trip was a great success. It was so much fun and will definitely live on in all the great memories. We saw Niagara Falls which was an amazing site to see, I definitely recommend it for anyone who hasn’t been there.
We also made a stop in Boston. I got a personalized tour from Katie on some of the key and cool parts of Boston. I’ll definitely have to go back sometime and check out some more of it.
We then made our way to Virginia to Mikes. This was our first real downtime of the trip since we stayed there for a few days and relaxed by the pool, and took the Metro into DC to do some sightseeing and wander around. It was a very cool place to go, but I think we will always wonder if we were suppose to just be wandering around outside the pentagon :).
Katie did all the driving, so it really was a vacation for me, I just sat back and yelled at Lucy. Thanks to Katie for coming with, it really was a great trip and vacation and we will have to do it again.
Next road trip destination: Oklahoma!
For those of you that didn’t make it to Katie’s site, here is a recap of what she wrote.
My good friend Aaron….from college…and I decided to take an end of
the summer road trip. We left on Saturday the 19th with two
destinations Boston and Virginia days unknown…return unknown. Not
much of planners we are but so far it has been to our advantage.
Day one.
We departed Stoughton, Wisconsin after
getting within centimeters of taking out an unresponsible child on a
bike. SOO SCARY! I the driver was scared out of my mind after that but
made myself keep driving. I drove so long 462 miles later we ended up
in Sandusky Ohio at Lazy J’s Campground.
In record time I put up the tent under the light of the headlights and a glow stick.
Day Two
After some careful…(quick)..planning we
decided to make our destination 2 Niagara Falls. Driving 277 miles we
ended up in the Town..yes there is a town (Aaron and I were Surprised
too) called Niagara falls. A much needed nap was apon us so we zonked
out for a good hour or so. After regaining cosciousness with my nifty
internet surfing skills I found information on the Falls. Thanks our
nonplanning skills we lucked out and were able to see a fireworks show
over Niagara. Absolutly beautiful place at night..check out the
pictures!
Now we are off to get all wet at the falls with a boat tour. After getting soaked our 3rd destination- Beantown!!
Day 3
Getting soaked was an understatement..we were drenched! But thanks to
our complementary ponchos we stayed relatively dry…pictures are there
to prove! We thought The Falls were beautiful at night, they were
breathtaking in day time.
After taking about 95 pictures we were on the road again….on the road again, I cant wait to get on the road again.. 
.sorry
couldnt help myself. Anyway.. We drove another 475 miles bringing our
overall mileage up to a hefty 1300 marker, ending up in my favorite
place in the US. BOSTON!!
Getting here at night we of course got a bit lost, totally expected in the curvy streets of beantown.
We met up with a Austin a local Bostonian (from Missouri) and his visiting friend Jacob…or Jason (sorry ) Chilled at his house for a few and enjoyed a N/A Bloody Mary..yumm… (Thanks Austin)
Being back in Boston hit me like a ton of bricks, I love this city
because of the memories I have of it. Most of those memories are with a
family that I will not see for a very long time. Seeing simple places
like a toy store we shopped at, and a childrens barber that we had many
good and bad memories at while getting Henry’s hair cut sent me to
tears. But life goes on and I will keep a smile on my face as I play
tour guide to a Virgin Bostonian (Aaron).
Day 4 and 5
The Tour was a success, we walked around for nearly 5 hours hitting up much of the Freedom trail and stopping to take pictures along the way. We even made it to my first home in Boston, 8 Otis of Beacon hill. Next was a walk through the Public Gardens, Boston Commons ( home of many many bums, and many memories of feeding Henry lunches and dinners), a trip to the craziness of Faneuil Hall for some good ol’ Aaron sunglass shopping, lunch in Little Italy on the North end. A visit to the USS Constitution, Bunker Hill, a very enjoyable ride on the infamous T ferry/water taxi through the Boston Harbor. And finally a scavanger hunt to find my stuff in a storage compartment.
Since we had to drive through and around Boston, New Haven, New York, New Jersey, Phili, Baltimore, D.C. and finally Manassas VI. We decided to leave later in the evening and drive through the night. 9 hours of driving can do funny things to you especially when you do it with not even a drop of caffeine ( Didn’t indulge in any, Aaron however had 3 Mountain Dews). Our final destination was met with only two stops, when the clock hit 3:30, 472 Miles later bringing our overall trips milege to 1700 we were greeted by wide awake Mike in Manassas Virginia. Not exactly sure how, the three of us stayed up till around 4:30 when I had to be a bad guest and retire to the guest room. I dont even remember my head hitting the pillow, actually I really think I was already asleep when I was changing into my pj’s.
Finally for the first time since probably Easter I slept past 9am, and did absolutly NOTHING. Waking at 10:30 I stumbled out got dressed and did the best think next to sleeping worked on my tan at the pool.
Here are a few pictures from the trip so far. I do apologize now for how my voice sounds, If I do sound like this normally I really do apologize…especially for the amount of talking I do.
Just click the link thats aarons blog and then click each video and pray that it works Just kidding Aarons a genius….and enjoy.
http://www.frozenpc.net/s9y/archives/220-Niagara-Falls-Videos.html
Day 6
We have done so much and so little in the last few
days it seems like a week has gone by just in the last two days. Aaron
and I worked on our tans for a few hours, well I worked on my
tan…Aaron worked on getting burnt. When Mike was able to astray from
work we trucked over to JTC and the famous site of Modevia, their
webhosting company.
After stuffing our faces with yummy
nonauthentic Mexican food we headed for the Metro. Talk about a clean
train system, I was much impressed over its cleanliness over the Boston
Train System. We didn’t arrive there till after 3 but we managed to
cover so much ground and of course their are pictures to prove.
Wanting
to get out of the sun for a few minutes and settle our dehydration we
very quickly decided to hop into a bar. Now Im not sure if I believe in
fate but something brought us to this bar for a reason. We had just
planned on having one drink and very quickly that turned into an
appetizer and more drinks. Im not sure how it all started but we
started talking to a girl whom was sitting by us Sibu was from the
Greater Boston area and was such a character. Tony from Pennsylvania
joined the conversation midevening and quickly became one with our
"corner of the bar" group. We had such great conversation..nothing of
which had any meaning whatsoever but none the less it was a very
eventful enjoyable evening.
The night ended as all nights should,
Mike broke his sandal at the bar and honestly I dont think I’ve seen
anything as funy as that before. I took way too much video footage
because it was just so damn funny I couldnt help myself. He had to gimp
around D.C. with a broken sandal because he needed it to get on the
metro. We made it back, broken sandal and all. By the time we finally
hit Manassas and did what all people do after leaving the bars, hit up
the Taco Bell.
Day 7
We Lounged around the pool for a
few hours in the morning and headed back into D.C. to finish seeing
what we missed the day before. Arriving late afernoon we again hit up
many more interesting sites. Nothing makes you feel more patriotic than
breating down glass of the Magna Carta, Constitution, Decleration of
Independence, and the Bill of Rights. The rest of our stops are all
documented by photographs so please do look.
Day 7 ended with a feast of 4lbs of crab legs and baked potatoes prepared by your very own, me.
Day 8
800 Miles to go and we’re off. Sleeping in till 12:30!! I think we
should be able to cover some serious ground. Wish us safe driving.
over and out Katie and Aaron
We have been in Virginia the last few days, and made a couple trips to DC. There are alot of new pictures in the gallery. Again, Katie has done a good job of posting updates on her blog, so go check out what she has written about our trip (www.katiestravels.us).
Click the links below to view the awesome Niagara Falls Videos:
So far we have had a great roadtrip, started out camping in ohio, then stopped at niagara falls, and now we are in Boston. There are plenty of pictures in my gallery.
Since Katie already wrote about the trip so far in her blog, im cheating and saying just go read what she has to say: Katies Blog