1 week to go!

So as you are anxiously awaiting the day we actually hit the road (ok well that's just mom & dad)..here is a picture that will be the only time Nicole will be caught behind the wheel. Erik is just that nice.

Thinking ahead....

Because planning is where it's at, we're going to have a large binder (I'm talking about 50 pages) with info on all our stops, particularly the national parks. (be jealous). While compiling this info, I found out that instead of driving up (5,000ft elevation in 15 miles) to Rocky Mountain National Park, we can park in the quaint town of Estes Park, CO, and take a shuttle up er. (Last Pittsburgh utterance ever). However, to do that, we'd have to be able to carry with us all we'd need for 3 days of living (minus water). In other words, if I buy a $100 backpack, I can save the car from likely overheating and vapor lock, which might end up costing thousands. Good investment. I was also suckered into purchasing some other necessary and probably unnecessary items... first aid kit (necessary), LED Maglite (so very necessary), multi-tool (who knows, but I feel like a camper with this $4 gadget strung off my belt), fire starters (probably necessary... I failed out of the boy scouts) and some camping specific dining utensils (probably unnecessary, I hardly use utensils when eating normally). All in all, we are pretty stocked up for our stay in Rocky Mtn... It's going to be sweet.... now for all that driving before that...

Fun things in the mail

Don't usually get much in the mail here in the 'Burgh... having only lived here a few months 'n at. (Some good Pittsburgh-ese for yins there). But today was a little different. After Nicole paid our way to a four hour nausea inducing trip to Kennywood, I treated her to a kid's sized (79 cent) vanilla frosty. The fun continued when we got back to find a padded envelope in the mailsliver (it's small). What could possibly be inside a padded envelope? Maybe this?. Nope. It was this:


This sweet little bit of plastic that can not carry a balance, thankfully, (ladies) is a season pass to gain access to all national parks. Mom & Dad we are both taking the year off to be itinerant ( from Nicole's 500 GRE flash card pack). Kidding. Seriously, in addition to the aforementioned (from Erik's vocabulary) free entry to national parks and 50% off camping therin is a savings of $3 each for the St. Louis arch. Sort of a weird looking arch if you ask me.

This is not us!

at least Erik and I will have a more productive trip than this... (mom & dad click on pic for it to work)

T-minus 16 days...

In sixteen days the journey will commence. From my temporary home of Pittsburgh, Pa, Nicole and I will be driving across country, to Irvine, California. We'll be stopping to visit family, National Parks, and at least a few interesting road kills (keep your fingers crossed). Erik is in charge of making reservations and all things manly (like putting unleaded gasoline in the car-sorry Lindsay...too easy. Not funny yet?). Nicole will be in charge of all things womanly like nagging Erik and documenting the trip in a book with pages that smell like flowers..


Below is a picture of our route, and for those of you a little computer illiterate, it is also a link to the google maps page we used to plot it out...


Well that is all for now, we'll be sure to update you all as we go along with plenty of entertaining posts. However we don't have a camera yet, so we're hoping we can snag one before leaving for your enjoyment....