Cross Country Journey to Kalamazoo

So we took a little trip the other weekend to a cousins wedding and here's a few things we saw along the way. It turned out to be quite an adventure when it was all said and done. (At least for a person who lives in rural Kansas it could be considered an adventure).

First of all, we got to drive the new car. Which I might mention I still have not named. I am leaning towards Erics suggestion(Stella), but I can't for the life of me remember where that movie quote is from. And now some silly pixar cartoon is spoofing it just to taunt me. Can anyone help me out here? The point is, it's always an adventure getting to break in a new car on a road trip rather than just the daily drive to work.

So it turns out that if it weren't for Chicago, Illinois would(and probably still does anyways) win the award for the most worthless state in the union. Seriously they probably give out cartons of cigarettes to newborn babies at the hospitals there. But the fact that everyone in that state seems to smoke everypalce you go is besides the point. If it wasn't for the occasional tree and walmart distribution hub on the side of the road there would be nothing to look at.

Then there is Chicago. I think the people that work for the transportation department must have a little bet going or something..."Let's see which one of us can screw up traffic the most with construction". Let me help them decide on a winner. I say it's the one that decided to take all the other peoples construction projects and route them ALL together into ONE friggin lane. I lost count at 12...someone decided it was a good idea to merge 12 plus lanes of traffic into one over a 2 mile stretch. AND THEN, send that one lane through a friggin toll booth! Charging every last car 65 friggin cents to sit in traffic for another hour! Genius.

One thing I did learn, I like metal girder bridges(and there are lots of them).



I also learned that they make miniature lighthouses... Who knew?



We did finally make it to Kalamazoo. The first thing we learned is that their chamber of commerce pays its emloyees too much if all they can come up with is to put "zoo" at the end of everything in the city as a promotional tool. Air-zoo, Nature-zoo, Laundromat-zoo...ok the chamber prolly didnt have much to do with that last one.

We did have a reason for going to Kalamazoo afterall...A wedding-zoo.



Congrats to the Zellers's.

Of coarse there are lots of other things to do in Kalamazoo as well. Like visiting this one of a kind "red roof with plants on it".



Erin has a thing for green roofs. Speaking of things Erin has a thing for...Chocolate fountains. Quickly becoming a staple of the wedding circuit it's quite a tasty treat. And they fool you into thinking it's healthy by letting you dip fruit into it. Ok so perhaps it's one of them weird cravings people keep talking about pregnant people getting, but Erin enjoyed the chocolate fountain. (I did too, but I was holding the camera).



Ok, what else did I learn on this trip...Well, kids would rather eat candy than throw it at people. I give her credit, it didn't take her long to realize the absurdity of trying to throw candy at people when they surely would get more in their mouths if they just put it there themselves.




Last but not least, we almost got killed by a tornado. We thought we'd outsmart the weather on the way home by stopping early for the night and just relaxing in the hotel, going out for a nice meal, and watching a fun movie. Ok, so none of those things worked out too swell... First of all, the town we stopped in was apparently hit by a small tornado not an hour after we stopped. (the ONE town in Illinois that we choose to stop at to be "safe" is the one that gets the storm. Illinois hates us.) Secondly, small towns in the middle of nowhere don't usually have many places to eat, so that part of the plan didn't work to well either. But at least we did get to relax in the hotel for the night...So the plan sort of worked.

Here's the beginning of the tornado that almost got us.



But when it was all said and done, it was a fun trip.
Now I must go do things.