http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Cranson/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Cranson en-us Fri, 01 Jan 2010 05:44:17 +0000 Fri, 01 Jan 2010 05:44:17 +0000 First off it's been a long time since the last blog and it's not really Cody's fault but he's going to get blamed anyway. So be it I apologize. Second this will be the last blog since the trip is now over and has been for a month.We had a beautiful drive through Tennessee ending up in Pigeon Forge. We stayed at a hotel room SOOO nice and left early the next morning after our FREE panc http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Great-Smoky-Mountains-Parkway/blog-340126.html As we drove through Ohio on our way to Louisville there was one place we had to stop for Grandpa Linscott White Castle. Cody had never been there before so we decided to give it a go. We ate our burgers as we drove from Columbus to Cincinnati. When we first drove in to Louisville we of course got lost and headed west to Indiana. We finally got turned around and found a spot to sleep for http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Kentucky/Louisville/blog-330437.html One of the good things about being back east is being close to the majority of my family. Not only did we get to visit my Aunt Lori and cousin Dan in Michigan we also made stops at my Great Aunts' houses in Mansfield Ohio and Sharon PA. Additionally we made it to Pittsburgh PA and saw my Aunt Karen and cousin Christian as well as my Aunt Mary Beth and cousins Sophie Anne Marie and Lucy. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Ohio/Toledo/blog-328008.html As most of Tuesday 916 was taken up by driving to Detroit we decided to get tickets to visit the museum for Wednesday September 17. We were surprised and very happy to find that with a Verizon phone the audio tour of the museum was free Apparently they have a deal set up with Verizon to allow customers to dial THF 843 3134834098 for nonVerizon and then enter individual item num http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Michigan/Detroit/blog-327703.html One of the neat things about our trip so far is all of the suggestions we have gotten on places to visit. Traverse City is one of those places thanks to my dad and the people he works with. We arrived in Traverse City on Friday September 12 at night. Because it was dark we decided that we would put off the sight seeing until Saturday morning but we did make a quick stop at Pangaea's pizza http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Michigan/Grand-Rapids/blog-327510.html First of all for anybody who was wondering about how my recent 0923 job interview went it was great They said that I will hear back in 3 or 4 days. YayWe headed east on Thursday September 11 from Duluth across the top of Wisconsin and into the Upper Peninsula UP on Highway 2 to the 28. The one thing that we wanted to make sure to do while we were in Wisconsin was get some nice fresh http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Michigan/UP/blog-327089.html This one is out of chronological order you still have Upper Peninsula and Mackinac Island Michigan to come but I wanted to put this one together now. For those of you who don't know I have a thing for round rooms or turrets on houses. Someday it is my plan to have a house that has a super tall turret that I can turn into my library with a huge ladder on wheels that I can wheel around the rou http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Michigan/Mackinac-Island/blog-326729.html One of Cody's good friend from La Junta Liz Nicklos now lives in Minneapolis MN and since we had never been we thought this would be the perfect time to stop. Monday September 08 we got up early headed out to get some breakfast and up to the Mall of America to get our shopping on. First thing the MOA as we'll call it is HUGE They have everything there. We didn't know exactly where to http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Minnesota/Minneapolis/blog-325787.html Wall South Dakota gateway to the Badlands. More importantly home of Wall Drug. To steal a saying from the 1000 Places to See book Like ZsaZsa Gabour Wall Drug is famous for being famous. It all started way back in the Great Depression when this small town drug store was struggling along with the rest of the country. In order to bring in more people the owners got the bright idea to ad http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/South-Dakota/Badlands/blog-324774.html So we headed out of Cody around noon on Friday September 5. The original plan was to hit Devil's Tower along the way. Unfortunately we forgot to take into account the time change in which we lost an hour. In addition to being after Labor Day and National Parks closing at earlier times we arrived at Devil's Tower after it closed. We did see it from the highway though. Cody got into a verb http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/South-Dakota/Rapid-City/blog-323616.html So I have given up hope that we will actually get the blog caught up with where we currently are. After leaving the Northeast Entrance of Yellowstone on Wed. Sept. 3rd we took Highway 296 up into Montana for a bit and then south to 120 Chief Joseph Scenic Highway into Cody Wyoming. We arrived around 9pm and immediately searched for a campsite. Not knowing the area we took the first one we cou http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Wyoming/Cody/blog-323550.html As we had already come a long way from our starting point back at Grant Village campground and we still had a lot left to see that we hadn't gotten to we opted to stay Tuesday night at another place closer to the sights that we wanted to see the next day Canyon Campground. We had originally planned to leave Wednesday 0903 but since there were still so many sights left we adjusted our plans http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Wyoming/Yellowstone-National-Park/blog-322543.html It snowed That's right September 1st and it was snowing. We knew it was gonna be cold just by watching the temperature gauge in the car drop as we climbed in elevation but never planned for snow.After the few hours sleep at the rest stop we took Hwy 26191 through Jackson Wyoming and the Grand Tetons. I could move to Jackson in a second if it weren't so dang cold It is an adorable town w http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Wyoming/Yellowstone-National-Park/blog-321375.html Alright the moment you all have been waiting for or at least since the last blog the Voodoo Doughnut. As an avid viewer of both the Food Network and the Travel Channel anyplace that has been featured on both must be worth a visit. We left Mt. St. Helens at around 10am we took Interstate 5 south to Portland Ore. Not having any other actual destination in mind while visiting Portland we got http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Oregon/Portland/blog-320747.html Cody here. So we made it to Labor Day weekend and had no plans for accommodations. We didn't really think about it too much to be completely honest. Based on what we had heard last night from the park ranger we were pretty sure that we were going to be sleeping in the car in a parking lot somewhere but we decided to give it a go. We drove a short way up towards Mount St Helens where ther http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Mt-St-Helens/blog-320284.html Fort Stevens was our camping accommodations on Thursday night as we rolled into town at around 900. Being right before the Labor Day weekend the ranger told us we were lucky to get a spot. Starting Friday they were booked solid. This was the largest campground west of the Mississippi and the fourth largest in the country with well over 500 campsites. Because of the lateness and the rain http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Oregon/Astoria/blog-319957.html In Crescent City California we took a detour from the 101 and took Highway 199 to Cave Junction Oregon in order to visit Oregon Caves National Monument. Not only is Oregon Caves National Monument one of only a few National Parks in Oregon they are also very rare caves in that they are made of marble. Only 5 of the world's caves are marble most are limestone. As is the case with the major http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Oregon/Bandon/blog-319550.html From Petaluma KOA we headed North on the 101 on Monday 825. Due to some computer glitch lost in cyberspace problem we didn't have a campground reserved in the Redwoods so we were hoping to make good time up to the park in order to secure a campsite. The drive in itself was uneventful and other than being long was fairly nice. We knew that one particular campsite Gold Bluffs didn't ta http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Redwood-National-Park/blog-318126.html As I'm sure Patrick will be happy to know on our way up to San Fran on Saturday 082308 we got so hungry that we couldn't wait any longer and we headed in to get some delicious burgers at InnOut. I've never seen a burger place so crowded in my life. It was definitely worth the wait though. Luckily right across the street from the InnOut was a BP gas station for which we have 150 i http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Francisco/blog-318085.html Monterey Bay and Pigeon Point LighthouseWe left San Simeon beach with high hopes of making it to Monterey early enough so that we might be able to spend some time at the aquarium. We were however waylaid not five miles north of our campsite where there was a sea lion viewing point. We weren't going to stop but a bunch of people were there and as I had never seen sea lions before we decided http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Monterey/blog-317316.html