Well it’s hard to live in the twenty-first century and not have a blog, at least that's how it seems these days. So this is ours, beginning with how we got to this new city we now call home. This post is the first of many posts on this new-shared-blog. Later posts will document the adventures now that we are here. Enjoy.

Nampa, ID
Bright and early August the 7th our journey east began. The trailer had been packed for days, thanks in large part to Kirsten and David. Six hours of driving found us at the Hostel Boise, a strange little complex out in the middle of nowhere. There isn’t much going on in Nampa, ID other than the subdivision of bedroom communities for Boise commuters - dinner at an Italian restaurant included deep fried croutons flavored with calamari and inch–long linguini noodles. On the way back to hostel Boise, we passed a yard with at least fifty chickens free ranging. Of course we stopped the car–jumped out–and took pictures. With so many chickens and no fence to keep them in on any side, we wondered why these chickens weren't eating the crops in the neighboring field or crossing the road to deface, in protest, the bright new sidewalk of the recent development across the street. We were sure our girls wouldn’t let such a brilliant opportunity go to waste.



Antelope Island
Getting to the Salt Lake City area with plenty of time to kill allowed us to head out to Antelope Island. The small island turned state park sits squarely in the middle of the Great Salt Lake and is home to a heard of American bison and some million plus migrating birds. A seven-mile causeway connects Antelope Island with the shore– bridging the salty water in which only brine shrimp and blue green algæ can live. The existing lake is a tiny tide pool of the great lake that once covered the entire city area and more. We saw a family of partridges or pheasants and a red tailed hawk. Our time on the island was primarily spent stalking out buffalos to photograph while getting thoroughly sunburned.









Salt Lake City
After exhausting ourselves on Antelope Island we drove into Salt Lake City for the night, staying in the historic Perry Hotel. The hotel was nice and the location was great. A lively brewpub across the street provided a delicious dinner before we set off exploring the downtown. We were both impressed by Temple Square on who’s corner sat a pillar that marked the origin point of the town’s historic plot, and by how spotlessly clean the downtown was. The transit system seemed great- modeled after Portland.

De Moines Iowa
Wyoming and Nebraska passed by with out much excitement. Wyoming was home to Little America, where we stopped to get dinner and saw wild rabbits in the parking lot. Unfortunately no pictures. The country Inn Suites, in De Moines Iowa was where we called it a night, swimming in their overly chlorinated pool and eating free continental breakfast in the morning. Unfortunately we left the hotel sans computer. Two days later we realized it was gone and had them mail it to our address in New York.

Chicago
We got a bright and early start in order to get to Chicago as early as possible. After parking the car we checked into the hotel Blake and got settled in for the weekend. Friday night started with Chicago style stuffed pizza and ended in Millennium Park where we stumbled into all kinds of excitement. A free symphony was taking place in Frank Ghery’s band shell, so we stayed a bit before continuing on. The park is home to at least several dozen rabbits, which were hopping out for the evening. On the way back to the hotel we stumbled into the Chicago Art Institute that was having a free evening. Saturday we split up with Adrien going on the Grey Line bus tour of the city and Karen going on an Architectural walking tour of the historic downtown. After, we met up for dinner at one of the best restaurants ever - Minnie’s! Everything at Minnie’s is miniature including the drinks and the French fries. A regular order consists of 3 petite sandwiches each smaller than the size of your palm and an airplane cocktail. Karen got so excited she took pictures. Her three mini sandwiches included a grilled cheese, a mozzarella-basil and apple-brie.



Afterwards we headed down to the water for the twice-weekly-summer fireworks. Good luck and good timing landed us on the Farris wheel for the whole run of the fireworks. The couple in the basket above us was getting engaged, so the gentleman had prearranged to be at the top of the ride when he popped the question, giving us an excellent view.



Small Town Pennsylvania
Sunday we woke bright and early to catch the Architecture river cruise of Chicago - seeing over 40 buildings from historic to modern, and then set off for our longest day of the trip. We passed through Pennsylvania mostly at night – deciduous forests lit by a red moon. It was also the day that Karen drove over 5 hours in one stretch. The day didn’t end until 2 am at which point we passed out in a roadside motel.


Home-Sweet-Home
Our last day of traveling was another early-start-day with the motivation of getting into New York before rush hour traffic. Driving in New York proved to be tricky, particularly after we were re-routed to another tunnel after being rejected from the mapquest recommended one due to the trailer. We arrived at our apartment at about 4 pm and cleaned up until the movers arrived at six to help us move everything in. And then we started the unpacking process…