road trip -- louisville, kentucky to tulsa, oklahoma -- day 3

 

funny story -- we were so bummed about our failed "welcome to kentucky" sign that the next morning we drove across the indiana state line, turned around and drove back into kentucky. but isn't this sign so much better than the last one? totally worth it.

 

we took a pit stop for lunch in new harmony, indiana, and were pleasantly surprised by how cute of a town it was/is.

  

 

i mean, who even knew towns like this existed? how awesome.

  

 

we felt it was obligatory to hit some of the route 66 stops along the drive. when the guide book said that we could see a replica of stonehenge somewhere in missouri, we decided to stop (plus we needed gas). but this was not quite what we had in mind. still, you can't blame us for trying!

another route 66 must was driving through kansas. we could have driven on the main highway and bypassed kansas altogether, but we decided to take the long route. because neither of us had been to kansas! and now we have. success. 

 

ps. we might have done the same turn around at the state line to get a good "welcome to kansas" sign. it's very important to have good signs. 

the gateway to the west: gateway arch in st. louis

i've never been to missouri before. in fact, i've never been to most of middle america: missouri, kansas, oklahoma, nebraska, iowa, arkansas. so i was excited to go on this road trip; i knew that i would finally get a chance to check out some of these states. but nothing prepared me for driving from louisville, kentucky through indiana and illinois, crossing the mississippi (!) and staring up at the gateway arch. 

gateway arch fun facts: it stands 630 feet tall and is 630 feet across at the base. the legs are 54 feet at the base and the top is 17 feet across. and it's taller than the washington monument in dc by 80 feet. 

every time i looked up at the arch i was convinced that it was moving or swaying in the wind. it was kind of terrifying. 

but according to the arch facts website, the arch doesn't sway, although it's designed to. in fact, it should be able to withstand 50 mile an hour winds before swaying. 

  

unfortunately, we didn't have a lot of time in st. louis -- we had to drive all the way to tulsa, oklahoma that night -- so we didn't get a chance to go up the arch. we asked the people at the desk if we could go up the arch quickly and then come back down, but they said we had to go through the whole museum tour, a 45 minute affair we were not interested in. bummer city, but it gives me a reason to go back. because let's be serious, there must be more to st. louis than just the arch, right? 

2013 -- week 21 -- road trip!

i feel like everyone's bucket list should include a long cross country road trip. ideally you would take your time, seeing all sorts of weird things, eat strange but local delicacies, and stop in a lot of states. so when csv was talking about how she needed to get her car from vermont to arizona after her graduation, i jumped at the chance to accompany her. not only would i finally get a chance to drive across the country but i would also get to go to some new states -- this was especially exciting since i haven't been to a lot of the midwestern states, and my goal in life is to go to all 50.  

we've been planning this trip for a couple of months. we've looked at maps, ordered aaa books, read books about the sights and eats along the road, and researched the things to see along route 66. and all of the planning really paid off -- we had an amazing time, saw nifty things, and ate awesome food. and since i bought a fancy new camera the pictures are super cool. which means the blog posts should be great; be looking for those in the coming weeks, including a guest post by csv about all of the food we ate along our trip.

some highlights from this trip include the four new states i went to (missouri, kansas, oklahoma, and new mexico), local food in oklahoma (fried onion burger, a coney, and calf fries), the changing landscape from one state to the next, and the grand canyon where we met up with rcg.

have you done a cross country road trip? where did you go? what did you see?