See the U.S.A.

...in a Ford Explorer.

Had a great time on my road trip, driving from Southern California to back home. My friend, Paula, and her two kids, C.A. and M.J., ages 6 and 8, drove to visit her family there last month. I flew out to check on building progress of my home and drove back with them, stopping in Denver where I had some business to conduct. P grew up in Torrance and although I'm a SoCal girl, having grown up in the Valley and later living in Orange County, I'm not familiar with Torrance or the beach towns south of Santa Monica and north of Huntington Beach.

I flew into LAX on Tuesday, August 8 at 11 at night, where P picked me up. I spent the night at her sister's house, then the next day we went to Hermosa Beach and played in the ocean. Then I borrowed her truck and drove up the coast to visit my parents and check out the status of my house. My husband was there and we looked at granite, conferred with the cabinet maker on wood, and met the contractor at our home site. We're making progess and it's exciting to watch the transformation from the drawing plans.

On Saturday I returned to Torrance and met P's friends and family for a big dinner party. Paula and I have been friends for over ten years and I'd met her siblings when they came here to visit, but some I only met briefly. Others, like in-laws and family friends I had not met and it was nice meet people she's talked about over the years.

We got out of Dodge early on Sunday morning and made it to Las Vegas without incident. We parked at New York, New York on the strip and had lunch. Then we walked up to Bellagio and watched the fountains dance to the tune of "Hey, Big Spender" (from Chicago). The kids really liked it and then we walked around in the Conservatory at Bellagio. The exhibit included lots of trains and six-year-old C.A., was enchanted. Then we walked to the M & M factory and filled up on multi-colored candies. They have all sorts of colors, from light pink to dark purple and you fill up your bags to mix your own colors. As you can imagine, kids go nuts.

We left Las Vegas and drove across the hot desert into Utah, via I15. We drove through St. George and spent the night in Beaver, UT at the Best Western Butch Cassidy. I guess he was born there. It was around 9 p.m. when we arrived and after unpacking we went to a nearby restaurant, only to find out it was closing in 5 minutes. They wrapped our food to go and we ate at the hotel.

The next morning, I went for a short run. It was a small town, with streets numbered sequentially starting at 100, 200 etc. and separated by Main St. (north/south) or Center Street (east/west.) There wasn't a whole lot to see. I passed by one church, which you can guess what denomination it was, and I also passed the Opera House. This was built in 1908 and was meant to be the "envy of the surrounding communities." It wasn't grand by eastern standards, but made of local stone called tufa. Some of the older homes were made of a local stone that was black. The few people that were out in this small town were very curious about me--I'm sure they were wondering who I was.

We were on the road by 9:30 and headed to Denver. The scenery was spectacular! It killed me to be so close to Arches and not be able to stop and experience it, but that was not on the agenda. We pulled over at one scenic stop and locals were selling necklaces and beaded earrings. I didn't buy anything, but now I'm kicking myself for it.


I had hoped to arrive in Denver by the early afternoon, but miscalculated just how far it was, so I had to push back my meeting to the next morning. That gave us time to play and we stopped in Vail. I had never seen Vail Village and I wanted to check it out. Vail has now surpassed Boulder as my favorite place in Colorado (sorry, Bold) and I didn't realize it was so close to Denver. The mountains are just stunning, and at one rest stop (before Vail) we sat and dipped our feet in the Colorado River. There was a bike path that ran along the road and I would love to run it someday. Driving through the Rocky Mountains was my favorite part of the trip.

We stayed at the Fairfield Inn, which had a pool and access to a health club. P got up early and worked out while I stayed with the kids, then she and the kids went to the pool while I took care of business. I was back at 11, and Paula was anxious to get back on the road, although she stopped at Starbucks so that I could have my fix. Coffee isn't the same unless it's overpriced and made with steamed milk.

After leaving Denver, we stopped in Palisades, Colorado to buy some peaches. This area is famous for its peaches and P bought a case so she could make jam, and some cherries to make a pie. The lady at the fruit stand gave me a peach and it was the sweetest, juiciest piece of fruit I've ever had!

Paula would have been happy to drive non-stop to Minneapolis from Denver, but I couldn't handle it. So we planned to stop in Omaha for the night. She dislikes driving through Nebraska, but I didn't find it nearly as bad as driving through South Dakota (which I have done on previous trips, not this one.) Omaha is on the Nebraska/Iowa border. Fortunately we had called ahead because there was a John Deere (tractors) convention in town and there were only 3 rooms available in the entire city. Not wanting to be around a bunch of wild John Deere conventioneers, we stopped short and spent the night at the Country Inn in Lincoln, which is about an hour west of Omaha. It was still daylight when we checked in, and I pulled out my running clothes and went for a 50 minute run. I don't know how far I ran because although I packed my Garmin charger, I neglected to pack the Garmin! I ran until it got too dark for safety--I wasn't wearing anything reflective and cars couldn't see me. But it was so great to use my legs after sitting for so long. The pool was open until midnight, so after my run I took the kids to the pool so they could play. The water was relaxing for me, and they released some of that pent-up energy.

We got up early and had the breakfast the hotel provided, then continued on. Paula and I were both jonesing for a Starbucks, but didn't want to get too far off course to find one. I'm sure there would have been one in Omaha, but I'll never know. We even called a friend of P who works for Starbucks, so that she could look it up, but we got her voicemail. I was relaying this to the manager at my local Starbucks this morning and she told me there was an 800 number (!) that I could call to find out. NOW she tells me. Here's the number, so that when you're on your next road trip, you won't be stuck with inferior coffee: 1-800-23LATTE.

As we approached Des Moines, I saw a sign for a restaurant at the LS Organic Farm. What a find! I had Chicken Masala with rice and red beans and fresh veggies. The chicken was raised on their farm, as well as the vegetables. It was fresh, healthy, and delicious! The couple that owns the farm used to be in health care and they believe that good health comes with eating well, so they left their careers to do this. They hold 6-week classes on nutrition and cooking and I signed up for their soon-to-be-published cookbook when they publish it. Indian food doesn't agree with Paula, so the kids played with the goat and turkeys, while I ate.

In Des Moines, we managed to find Starbucks, but they didn't have sandwiches, which is what Paula was planning to have for lunch. So we got our drinks, then drove through MacDonald's. You KNOW I had the better meal, but three meals, two drinks and a toy cost the same as my organic lunch.

Then we headed North on good old I35. At the border of Iowa and Minnesota, we stopped in Albert Lea (pronounced LEE) to get gas. It was the first time it cost less than $50 to fill 'er up. We were craving some pie and drove through town in search of a bakery. We found a farmer's market, and a stall that sold "pie squares" but we had to wait 20 minutes for the market to officially open. That gave us time to check out the other vendors. The pie square lady proudly told me she doesn't use any hydrogenated oils, only butter. When I asked another vendor of baked good if she used hydrogenated oils, she said no, she uses Crisco! There was a nice Norweigan lady who sold lefse, which I bought. Since my name isn't Johnson, I asked her what to do with it. Warm it up quickly, then spread butter and sugar on it. Sounds delicious. Someone else was selling kolaches, but I forgot to go back to her stall and buy them. I did pick up a dozen eggs--these were jumbo Omega 3 for only $1 a dozen. Who could resist those prices?

We ate our pie squares in the car, and yup, she uses butter. Absolutely delicious! We drove to Ps house, because she lives south of me and then I drove her truck home. She'll pick it up tonight, since she's going to be in town.

It was a really fun trip and I think our friendship is still intact.