Then came Thursday, and we were off. First stop - St. Louis! We traveled through West Virginia first. Who knew the slogan was "Wild and Wonderful"? Let me tell you, there was nothing wild and wonderful about it, though we were only in it for about 20 minutes. And it was probably around 11pm.
The rest of the drive was pretty boring, except for the random rainstorm, which is the reason the rest of the state sign photos were taken on the way back. I-70 is basically a truck highway lined with farms and periodic rest areas and gas stations. We drove straight through the night, arriving somewhere near St. Louis around 6:30 am. We stopped at a gas station and as I got out of the car, I saw this...
The sunrise was breathtaking. But then it was back on the road to see the arch. Along the way, I noticed that the roadside farms were covered in fog. It was so neat looking because the road was clear for the most part, and the sun was coming up behind us, but to the left and right was fog for as far as the eye could see.
Please excuse the dead bugs here. Causality of a long trip, I guess.Finally... St. Louis. I was dying to get to The Arch. It's HUGE. And the view from the top is amazing! You take this tiny little elevator to the top where there's a landing with windows all the way across to look out on both sides. Now, bear in mind while looking at these pictures, that Dan and I had been on the road for about 14 hours, both getting about an hour of sleep along the way. It was completely worth it, though!
Back on the road for the remaining 3 or so hours to Kansas City. We crashed immediately after our celebratory drink. We obviously had to toast that we had arrived safe and sound. The next day it was off to the church for the reason we had made the drive... Dan's cousin Angela's wedding.
Dan's cousins, Jay and Bree, walking Grammy Maron up the aisle.
Aunt Toni bustin' a move all by herself.
Grammy and Pete cutting a rug.
How pretty does she look!?
Haha! I caught Dan dancing with his mom... and it wasn't even his song!
Appropriately, this the last picture of the night... at the bar, after the reception. We decided it would be a good idea to do jagerbombs. I don't think we need photos after this. The rest of the night included a stop at the casino where neither Dan nor I made any money and then bed.The next morning, we went to a brunch hosted by Dan's Aunt Laura for all of the family which was greatly appreciated! Dan and I stuffed our faces and hit the road. It was nice to have daylight in the states that were pitch black on our way out. But it was still incredibly boring for the most part.
I'm pretty sure that says Mississippi River. Taking pictures from a moving vehicle is hard.
This is where I spent most of the trip. Dan is not a distance driver, that's for sure.
That says Indiana. Again, excuse the bugs. Yes, that is what those marks are, it wasn't raining. YET.
Somewhere in there is the Ohio state sign. Dan was sleeping and I tried to take the picture myself.Next came West Virginia, which we already had, followed by PA. Dan was driving and I think I was looking for something. Either way, we didn't get the PA sign. Which is disappointing looking back, because PA was by far the most interesting part of the drive. After the first tunnel, I took back over driving, and that was when the bad weather started. It was a wall of fog for about 15 miles. The remaining tunnels were a major relief from the rain and fog, and I've never been happier to see a hint of sun. We finally made it home around 8am and did nothing but sleep and watch tv for the rest of the day. All in all, it was a great trip, the wedding was beautiful, but I think next time, we'll fly!
