The Last Few Days

I'm sitting right now at the Holiday Inn Express in Wauseon, Ohio. I wanted to make it to Cleveland tonight, but heavy traffic has a way of changing plans...

On the plus side, I have wi-fi! Unlike all of my friends on the trip so far, the Holiday Inn has embraced the 21st century and provided me with internet access. It's a good thing too, because I am excited to post a picture of my room. It was the only one left in the whole hotel, and it has no room number at all. Instead, it is just labelled "Meeting Room". And it's huge.

I don't have much time to type (plus, gymnastics are on the Olympics!), so here's a quick recap:

Going to Anne's

On the drive from Kelly's house to Anne's, I drove through the coolest landscape ever. There were these weird rock formations, and I spent a good hour taking pictures through my window while using cruise control to maintain my 70 mph. I soon came to Teddy Roosevelt State Park, where I learned that I was in the Badlands. Weirdly, I listened to the last essay on my audiobook right after I left, and Sarah Vowell spent a good 15 minutes talking about her trip to the Badlands - to the Exact Same Lookout that I went to. Amazing.

I got to Anne's house pretty late, but we still had time to go on a walk at her campus (including seeing the tallest point in the city - a tiny hill not any taller than me!) and hang out for awhile. The next morning she made me breakfast. I love Anne!

The Short(ish) Day

After leaving Anne's I got a nice respite from entire-day-long drives. I arrived to Jessica "Jdub" Ward's house in the afternoon and was happy to actually have time to hang out with one of my friends!

We went to the Mall of America. Wait. WE WENT TO THE MALL OF AMERICA! I felt so touristy taking pictures and spending too much money, but I didn't really care. Here are some pictures:

After this, we spent time driving around town and making a few stops. I got to see where Jess grew up and spend some time with her friends. We also visited the town of Hugo where a tornado devasted a neighborhood last Memorial Day. That part was kind of eerie, in a way, but it was heartening to see that most houses had undergone repairs, men crawling on roofs like worker ants even while we were there!

As I heard time and time again while I was there: I can't see the twin cities in one day! I'm going to have to go back.

Today

I slept in this morning and then drove. Forever. And got stuck in traffic. For hours. Nothing particularly exciting happened today. So, I will leave you with the following advertisement from the restuarant that Jess and I had breakfast in this morning:

"Put some more syrup on those cakes, kids! It's good for you!"