Hall of Fame

After spending the night in Cleveland (Hello Cleveland!!!), Lecia and I made our way south to Canton, OH and the home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. If I had to rank all the stops we made along the route to DC, this was easily in my top 5. Guys, visiting the Hall of Fame should be on your lifetime of things to do checklist.
Color commentator and ex-Oakland Raider head coach, John Madden was to be inducted into the HOF later that week. Once inside we were able to pay our respects to the great players of the game. One of Lecia's favorite players is Walter Payton. Here the uniform and helmet from the game he broke the all time yardage record is on display.

Every team in the league is represented with a display, complete with a summary of their accomplishments. Here the Oakland Raiders are represented with one of my favorites, Tim Brown.

Just before the gift shop (every museum in America has one I have come to find...) The holy grail of professional football is on display. The Vince Lombardi Trophy which is awarded to the winner of the SuperBowl every year. This raised the hair on the back of my neck. I couldnt believe I was literally inches away from it...

Wake up the echoes...

After spending two days in Chicago with Lecia's High School friends from Minnesota, as well as her college friends who now live in Chicago, we drove 50 miles south to Beecher, IL where Lecia's mom lives. There we spent the day with Lecia's two brothers, their families, and had a big Imbery family day which was very nice and we all ate very well. One dish that I found particularly good was fried noodles with a sauce made of peanut butter and maple syrup. Sounds crazy but it was really good. The next day we left Illinois and headed east into Indiana. We stopped in South Bend, IN to check out the campus of the University of Notre Dame. My brother and I grew up watching their football games on TV, a natural affection for us since they were "The Fighting Irish" in a Catholic school. I never thought I would actually get to see Touchdown Jesus or the Stadium in my lifetime. And then the famous tunnel where the players of both teams must meet together before they hit the field. How this place must rock when the games are being played...

My Kinda Town

I am skipping through most of South Dakota, all of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and going straight to Illinois and my favorite city in the country, Chicago. Not only was traveling through those states uneventful, (we did have a low tire pressure indicator light go on for no apparent reason) once we left Mt. Rushmore all I could think of was getting to the Windy City. We had to be there by at least 3pm on Thursday if we were going to make the Cubs/Cardinals game at Wrigley Field. Built in 1914, Wrigley Field is the second oldest baseball park in the country. It's where Babe Ruth called his home run in the 1927 World Series, and its where Ted Williams hit a walk off home run in the first All Star game. Every great ballplayer who ever lived at one point in time played on this field. It's ivy covered brick walls, bleacher bums, and the neighborhood homes that peer over the fence makes for the perfect setting for watching a baseball game. Not to mention beer vendors in the stands who have been banned in California for 20 years. I've wanted to experience this park since I was a kid watching the Giants wearing those ugly orange pullover jersey's in the 70's play the Cubs. It's a place that reminds you of stories your dad told you about a simpler time, when things were simply better in this country. Walking into this place is like stepping into a time machine...

Wacky Pony

Leaving Gillette, WY and entering the Great State of South Dakota, we headed to Mt. Rushmore. Along the way we came upon a mountain that had a face carved into it. It was so trippy! Not only because it was life-like, but because it was HUGE. We were looking at the Crazy Horse monument. We stopped and hung out for about an hour, watched the film about Chief Crazy horse and the construction of the monument which is privately funded, mainly by the gift shop and tours of the site. One man started building the monument in 1958. He has since passed away and his family has taken over the construction. When finished, the Chief will be sitting on his horse pointing to the land where the Lakota people are buried. According to legend, (ie Lecia) before he became a chief and was named Crazy horse, as a young man he was known as "Wacky Pony" renowned across the Lakota nation for doing silly things unprovoked.

A 30minute drive and we found ourselves at Mt. Rushmore. Just to give you a bit of perspective in terms of size. You could fit all four heads of Mt. Rushmore on the side of Crazy Horse's face.

Yellowstone and daredevil rabbits....

After taking in the sights of the Grand Tetons, we headed north for the hour or so drive to Yellowstone and the one thing in the whole park that I cared to see, Old Faithful. Learning that this was the largest concentration of geysers in the world and Old Faithful as being the largest, I was pretty fired up to see it. Enduring some traffic and tourists from all over the world, we finally got there and this is what we saw...

We stood there for a minute looking at it. We looked at each other. Lecia took a picture of it and then asked "ready to go?" And I said "yup" and back to the car we went. After the Tetons it really wasn't much of anything to see. Yellowstone Park is massive and with the road construction going on it took several hours to get out of the park. We drove all day long and encountered many deer along the highway. Some would stop at the edge while others crossed the road as if they owned it. It made for some nerve racking driving. We then stopped in Buffalo, WY for dinner. I had a buffalo steak for dinner which was lean, gritty, and gamey but I liked it. I could see how others wouldn't though. After dinner we headed to Gillette, WY where we decided we would stay the night. We were warned by the locals that we were in for 90 minutes on a dark freeway with more deer, but we didn't see any. What we did encounter were jack rabbits darting across the road, kamikaze style. It was almost as if they were crossing the road on a dare, cheating death with each pass. Lecia was driving at the time and it was pretty much her nightmare come to life. A vegetarians and lover all animals great and small, Lecia drove in the middle of hells half acre with furry, cuddly bunny rabbits running across the roadway. She missed every one of them by inches and to be honest, I still don't know how she did it. We reached Gillette without harming any rabbits... Lecia deserved a medal, but what she really wanted was a drink!!!

Grand Tetons National Park

When Lecia and I plotted our course we oringinally planned on going to Yellowstone. Just about all of our friends told us that Yellowstone was overrated and the place we should really stay and see was the Grand Tetons. I had never heard of the Tetons but so many people talked it up, I just had to check it out. Located about an hour's drive south of Yellowstone next to the town of Jackson, WY. The Grand Tetons is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I can only imagine that if I were to go to the Swiss Alps, this is what it would look like.

That night we pitched the tent, built a little fire, and camped over night. We spent much of that night staring at the abundance of stars in the sky while I did my best Sean Connery impression from Celebrity Jeopardy on SNL. (Oh, you think you are so smart, what with your dago mustache and your greasy hair!!!)We woke the next morning bright and early and went to Jackson lake to get more pictures before we headed north to Yellowstone. The lake was like glass and from the dam I could see thousands of brown trout taking refuge from the fisherman in an area off limits to them.

I highly recommend coming here, it really is amazing.

Some of the best parts of our trip ended up happening by going to places that we didn't originally intended on seeing, or in this case just happening upon them. After leaving SLC and making our way up north to Wyoming and the Grand Tetons, we came across Bear Lake. Located on the boarder of Utah and Idaho, Bear lake is 20 miles long and 8 miles wide. The lake was crystal clear blue and majestic. It was quite a scene so we couldn't help ourselves but stop and
take some pictures. The view you see is from Utah looking towards Idaho.

The day following the flag encounter, Lecia and I spent a few hours in SLC to check out the Temple Square. Within the square is the Mormon Tabernacle, The Temple, The first Mormon chapel ever built, and the visitors center which is part museum, part interactive conversion arena, and part air conditioned bathroom facility. If the missionaries don't drive you inside to find God, the heat and/or nature's call definitely will. Lecia and I took the guided tour which was free and lasted just under an hour. We were not allowed in the Tabernacle since it was under construction, or the Temple since we are not card carrying Mormons. However we did end up in the visitors center where the tour's climax included a trip up a circular staircase to "heaven". This consisted of a room with a domed ceiling painted to look like the sky, and an 11 foot Jesus statue in the middle. With his arms outstretched, a forward leaning posture, and face looking downward, he was the most intimidating depiction of Jesus I have ever seen. Thoughts raced through my mind of how I could pose in front of the Jesus statue for a photo that might suggest he was angry with me. What a picture! Just as those images formed in my mind, three simple words squelched any fun I might have had with our Messiah, and it was Lecia whispering "don't embarrass me..." At any rate, no pictures are allowed in heaven but we did get some of the Temple, and the headquarters surrounded by an iron gate across the street.

I jumped the gun a little bit with the SLC stuff, it was just so exciting to be there that I couldn't wait to share it with you. Exciting you ask? You betcha. You see, before you get to Salt Lake City, you must drive through Northern Nevada, Eastern Nevada, and of course, Utah. If Texas is the armpit of the country, this is definitely the top of the butt crack. Imagine yourself in a car with a good friend, some cool tunes, and then this to stare at for 8 hours:

















At one point I actually thought that Henry the dog was talking to me.

"hey Chris, let's pound a Red Bull!"

While in Salt Lake City, Lecia and I came upon a crosswalk that was placed for some odd reason in the middle of a major street rather than at the intersection. Recognizing the potential hazard caused by the crosswalk placement, the powers that be in SLC decided to install buckets on the sidewalk with flags for pedestrians to carry and add to their visibility, warning drivers of their presence. Lecia and I applaud their efforts and took them very seriously. Please note the size of the flags as well as the volume of traffic on this bustling thoroughfare.

I love pizza. I could eat it morning, noon, or at night. Its good hot, its good cold. But most of all, its just damn good.

Pizza is just like sex, when it's good, it's great! But when it's bad, it's still pretty good...

No pineapple, no dead fish. No alfredo sauce, no bacon...

So toot your horn Pizza people, and sing your priases for the pizza pie.

Blogging is so much fun!!!!

I have nothing to add today. Check back tomorrow and I may have pics to show you from my cross country drive. Snapfish isnt cooperating today so the best I could do is this St. Patty's day picture.