Day 2

Driving stats~

Time: 11 hours, 50 minutes

Miles: 700

Vehicles pulled over by cops: 4 cars, 1 semi

Fun animals spotted: cows, cows, more happy cows, horses, sad cows, deer, 2 hawks, and a heron.

Weather: Fair to overcast except for a few hours of snow flurries leading up to minor visibility and traction difficulties.

We live in such a beautiful country. Before today, I'd never had the actual experience of being on the top of a mountain , looking down across the land at the edge of the sunrise that hadn't gotten there yet. Somethings are absolutely breathtaking, even if it's just the way the light streams through a gap in the clouds. We started off bright and early, in great spirits and ready to face our long day of driving. Well, he drives, and I keep him company--really he's taking a lot on himself. At any rate, we were looking at signs and enjoying being somewhere new, and I saw a sign for a Lincoln monument. As I wondered what it was, we passed this:

So, I suppose that cleared that up.

Soon enough, we left Wyoming and entered Nebraska. We had originally planned to head down through Chicago so we'd have a different route each time, but decided it was worth it to avoid the snow and mountains. Plus we had fun passing all of the pioneer monuments and things we'd seen in various movies. He gave me my favourite quote of the trip so far: "Hey look, the North Platte River. I've crossed that...in the Oregon Trail game."

We stopped in Kearney for lunch at an Old Chicago pizza place which was, there is no other way to describe it, utterly delicious. We shared a medium pizza with Italian sausage and hickory ham, and it was utterly fantastic. (A possible 4 thumbs up!)

Around this time it had begun to snow, but it wasn't sticking or even very noticeable until a few hours away from Lawrence (our destination). We made a quick stop for gas, and when we came back outside it had suddenly decided to be difficult. A small layer on the roads, the sun had gone down, and turning on the brights only meant that we lit up the snow swirling around the car. To be fair, it looked wonderfully like we were headed into warp speed... The snow slowed us down a bit, but we made it through and were not in any of the accidents we saw (or the one that closed down the highway). Which was a fun adventure, being sent by Kansas troopers to "the old highway" down the street, which twisted around and included a very narrow one lane bridge (on a two-way highway). Eventually, he got us through it and the roads cleared up by the time we hit our last major roadway.

We made it to Lawrence later than we had planned, but still in time to alter our reservation at the 715--very different from last night's dinner though still as well-loved! He got rabbit ravioli, which was quite layered and delicious though also including goat cheese, which I am not a fan of so I can't really review it further. I however, got a wonderfully spiced, delectably moist pork chop. Let me tell you, they really knew what they were doing--not only was it amazing and cooked so nicely it made my mouth extremely happy, it was the only thing on the plate aside from some hand-made applesauce on the top. No veggies, no nothin', just meat. They were a place after my own heart! I will estimate another three thumbs up.

For dessert, we went to a place across the street called 3 Spoons Yogurt--for those of you who know Pinkberry, very similar. Except more soft-serve flavours and CHEAP! You choose your flavours, any toppings you want, and then they charge by the ounce. We got two cups for about the price of a medium Pinkberry with 3 toppings, but we got to sample all the flavours and it was just a fun experience. I ended up getting half strawberry and half cake batter, with mini chocolate chips. He got cake batter with Oreos, fruity pebbles I think, I don't even know what else but it tasted kind of like a funfetti cake with chocolate! We are big snobs about not eating low-fat or non-fat things on account of "taste", but 3 Spoons only had low or non-fat frozen yogurt, and we still went gaga for it. Again, 4 thumbs up.

Afterward, we checked into our Baymont Inn, which we found didn't have as large/nice of a room at the Ramada, but traded comfy for class. It made up for everything when we went into the bathroom and found...a jacuzzi tub. Yes. By the time we finished with dinner the pool/hot tub had closed, but no matter! All in all, an evening in Lawrence was the perfect thing to treat ourselves with after a long day of driving. We loved downtown, the food, and the atmosphere of the college in the area infused everything with trendiness; most of the people we saw would have fit right in back in Manhattan. Every single person here in Kansas has been extra helpful and wonderfully nice. I hope Kentucky can live up to this standard!