Dinosaur Travel Photos

I was inspired by something I came across the internet, dinosaur travel photos! It's a fun way to make all those famous landmarks and natural wonders just a bit more exciting and fun.

Step 1: Buy Toy Dinosaur... Check
Step 2: Further enhance toy appearance with weathering the toy... Check (for those of you that know me I'm into Warhammer 40k and the standard paint job the toy came with just wouldn't do, but thats another post for another time, I may or may not do)
Step 3: Test Photo... Check

Say Cheese!

Step 4: Capture Amazing Moments Like These...

Not on Google Maps yet, but only a matter of time

I was doing some reading on how and when Google Maps updates their satellite images, because I was curious when our new home would be visible.  As it would turn out the process is kinda of mystery. What I did discover was that the images only get captured on so may days of the year as a satellite taking imagery isn't always overhead, which makes sense. The other major factor is the weather on those days, doesn't do any good for Google to update its map with a cloudy days images. With all this research I went to some other satellite companies websites and I discovered this little screen shot of an image I hope gets updated to Google soon... our house, or at least the neighborhood it will be in.

Last Monday in Indiana!

As we head into the final stretch before our trip, I thought it might be a good idea to start packing.  John has been suggesting this for weeks, but I didn't really feel the need to have all the boxes sitting around.  So yesterday we finally started packing with a vengeance.  John has everything packed except the bare necessities he needs this week.  I have most of my stuff packed with the exception of everything I could possibly need this week.  In other words it looks like I haven't packed much at all :) Despite my hesitation to pack, we still ended up with 2 closets full of boxes and a pile in the living room. 

In addition we worked on stocking up on things we will need for traveling such as a bed for Allie, a soft blanket for Tink, toys for Skittles, Gold Bond for John and Dramamine for me as well as a number of random other things I decided the animals "just couldn't live without". 

We are "Those" Travelers Officially

With all of the destinations we and tourist sites we plan on stopping at on this road trip some of which are at remote National Parks. We caved in and bought a selfie stick... Oh my. Can't believe we are "those people". Should be fun to laugh and remember the moments with anyway.

 

New York City Rough Draft

Did a little planning on what I would like to do on our day trip to New York City. My wife's friend Rachel is living in NYC currently and may have some better ideas or tweaks to what I have now, but this is our start anyway.

We will be once again using mass transit to get around, but this time we will be taking the transit train into Penn Station, and then from there we bounce around the city on the subway. There are a couple things I really want to do as I've only ever seen New York's Skyline from New Jersey and have never had the opportunity to really experience the city.

Central Park! I want to walk through it at least part of it, I find it truly amazing to have a park like that in one of the busiest places on earth. Areas of Central Park I'd like to explore include Bow Bridge, Bethesda Fountain & Gapstow Bridge.

I'd also like to visit the 9/11 Memorial and take a trip up to the One World Observatory and check out the city from the highest point building in the Western Hemisphere. Before we head back uptown to the Time Square area, being the financial guy that I am ,I'd like to stop the Charging Bull near Wall Street for a photo.

Depending on the view from One World Observatory of the Statue of Liberty a trip to Battery Park may also be on the itinerary.


The rest of the day is the biggest question mark, my wife's friend Rachel has some Broadway connections and there is a possibility she may be able to get us some show tickets at a reduced cost.  If those plans or options fall through just hanging out around the Time Square area may still be fun. Seeing places like Bryant Park, Radio City Music Hall, St. Patrick's Cathedral & Rockefeller Center.

Then its back to Penn Station to take the train back to our car.

Finger Lake Wineries and Waterfalls Rough Draft

After leaving DC we head north to visit my parents. No animals with us make this day trip to the Finger Lake Wineries and Waterfalls very easy.

There are a couple most stop favorite wineries, but for the most part we hit what we find along the road (this isn't our first time visiting this area).

The most have stops are Americana Winery, Swedish Hill Winery & Hazlett Winery. Other we have marked down to visit are Goose Watch Winery (amazing view), Penguin Bay, Chateau Lafayette Reneau, Atwater Estate Vineyard & Catharine Valley Winery.

As for the waterfalls some we will hit on our wine tour or when we just out and about the town of Ithaca. Those stops include Buttermilk Falls, Taughannock Falls & Watkins Glen State Park. We have seen Buttermilk Falls in the Summer before but have only ever seen Taughannock in the fall and we've never been to Watkins Glen State Park.

Washington DC Rough Draft

I've been working on a rough draft of the major stops we plan on making on this coast to coast adventure. The first of which is our day and half stop in Washington DC. This stop is a little bit easier because the dog and cats will be staying with my wife's parents back in PA.

One the half day we will be stopping at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park for the afternoon and evening.


One our only full day in DC we are hitting the major destinations The White House, Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, Washington Monument,& United States Capitol. We will finish off the day exploring the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

This will be my first time going someplace and heavily relying on subway mass transit to get around an area, so that should add to the excitement and adventure.

National Park Plans Out West

Researching our plans to along the route and I have discovered that several of our National Parks have entry fees. We have have a few have a few scheduled stops and we pass by many others, which we may have time for a quick detour to see them as well. 

Badlands National Park - $15
Mt. Rushmore National Memorial - Free Entry - $11 (Parking)
Devil's Tower - $10
Grand Canyon - $30
Zion National Park - $30

Look like our scheduled stops are going to cost us $85 in park entry fees and a little bit for parking at Mt. Rushmore.  With that being said and our future goals of seeing Yosemite ($30), Sequoia ($30), and Redwood (Free) National Parks while in California sometime in the near future. We will be investing in an Annual Pass ($80).

We many stop at Sequoia or Yosemite or both if our mortgage closing is delayed a day or two.

The planning continues

Little research about hotel options around Yellowstone has proven to be problematic, so we had to make a change.

We are headed SOUTH!!!

We are going to check out the Grand Canyon, the hotel options near that are much more convenient to our travel plans. This change also allows us to drive down the Las Vegas Strip and add another Food Network inspired food stop.  

Updated Map

Had to updated the map with the correct starting location. Since we technically live in 2 places, I didn't use the right one so my wife requested that I fix it. :)

I also added the Corn Palace as a stop. What that is I do not know but we shall find out.

Story Behind the Roadtrip

As many of you already know, I am completing my veterinary pharmacy residency at Purdue on June 30 and starting a position as a pharmacist at the UC Davis Veterinary Teaching Hospital on August 1.  Throughout most of our first year of marriage John has lived in OH while I've lived in IN.  Now we are ready to start a new adventure living in a state we first visited a couple months ago.

Our lease ends in Indiana at the beginning of July and we won't be able to close on our new-build house in Woodland, CA until July 20.  That leaves the first 20 days of July for us to get to California.  Since we will be moving so far away from our family and friends we want to make sure to see everyone before we leave.

Flipping the button on the development map to 'Sold' for our new house.  Scheduled house completion in 7/13 so we can close on 7/20

To make the most of our 20 days we planned out a trip based on the following:
- Location of family and friends
- Tourist attractions
- Top doughnut shops in each state
- Restaurants featured on TV shows

Since we will be doing this trip in my SUV with our dog and 2 cats this is going to be entertaining. We invite you to follow us as we travel across the country on our first big adventure as husband and wife.

Road Trip Plan

When planning this road trip across the country with my wife, I knew the planning would be left to me to figure out. One thing my wife wasn't short on was great ideas of things to do but whether or not we could fit them all in or not was to be determined.

I knew I had to figure out a why to plan this trip and keep us some what organized to make it a little more challenging are traveling with our dog and two cats and we also wanted to see family on the east coast before traveling west.


 Rough Draft Completed

4700 miles!

To plan this monster out I used furkot.com. We are hitting the sites along the way from Washington D.C. & New York City to the Spam Museum in Austin, MN. Crossing America we'll also be checking off some of the highlight dinning locations from some of our favorite TV shows.