Lincoln, NE and Chicago, IL

On the way to Chicago, we stopped overnight in Lincoln, Nebraska to break up the super long drive. The next morning we drove through Des Moines, IA to pick up a fresh pair of new Jordans for Travis' birthday. We also stopped to check out the Iowa 80 truck stop, the world's largest truck stop, before continuing on to ChiTown. This truck stop included numerous restaurants, a movie theater, shops, a truck parts store, and even a dentist. Its actually more like a mini-mall. When we finally arrived in Chicago, the first thing on our minds was to get something healthy to eat from a familiar place. Thus, we headed for an old faithful, Whole Foods, for organic salads. Afterwards, we drove around a bit and admired the skyline before calling it a night. On our first full day in Chicago, we drove by Harpo Studios where the Oprah show is filmed, and we browsed the Oprah store. We then headed downtown to the Cloud Gate (the Bean), Grant Park, and Millennium Park. We went to the NikeTown where they had a display of every Jordan shoe in all white. Lorenzo loved it. Next, we headed to Banana Republic where Kim purchased a trench coat she had been eying for weeks, for 50% off. What a deal. After what seemed like much more than a 1 mile walk along North Michigan Ave, also known as the Magnificent Mile, we grabbed a bite to eat at the Grand Lux Cafe, which included lots of veggies and some seared tuna, and headed back to our hotel. The next day we drove a few miles back west to the Aurora Premium Outlets, and while there, we were tempted to purchased a new netbook from the Sony Store to assist us in blogging and keeping you up to date at we travel throughout Europe on the second half of our trip. We couldn't visit Chicago without tasting some deep dish pizza, so went went for some of Chicago's best at Lou Malnati's. Here we picked up a couple of bottles of their famous house sweet vinaigrette. We later checked out the Chicago Bulls stadium, the waterfront, and the world's 3rd largest Whole Foods located in Lincoln Park, which included a fantastic sushi section and many other specialty areas. We ended the evening with a trip to the movie theater to see Brooklyn's Finest on our last night in the Windy City.


Lincoln Nebraska (literally the middle of nowhere)


The world's largest truck stop (Interstate 80 in Iowa)


Harpo Studios (Home of the Oprah Winfrey Show)


Kimalee at the Oprah Store


Cloud Gate (A.K.A., The Bean)


Us at The Bean


Ice skating in the city


Chicago's nighttime cityscape


The Crown Fountain at Millennium Park


Deep Dish pizza at Lou Malnati's

Cheyenne, WY and Denver, CO

When we left Salt Lake City, we drove through the Rocky Mountains, the last major mountain chain in our drive east. After spending the last few weeks traveling through mountains of varying elevations, we were looking forward to the flat grounds of the midwest. On the other hand, the driving time between stops increased as we drove across the northwest because the cities were few and far between. We decided to stop in Cheyenne, the capital of Wyoming, to rest for the evening.


Some of the many mountains we drove across.


We literally drove through the mountains. Much faster than going over them!

The next morning, we headed to Denver, CO which is about 1.5 hours from Cheyenne. We decided to go to a Denver Nuggets game that evening. It was very exciting to sit amongst thousands of Nuggets fans as the Nuggets beat the Utah Jazz. Unfortunately, Ty Lawson was injured and didn't play, but Lorenzo still got a Lawson shirt and matching socks. The next day we explored downtown Denver and the state capital. We happened to be visiting the capital on a day when the state representatives were voting on medical marijuana, so we watched a rally by medical marijuana supporters which was soon broken up by the Denver Police. It was amazing how so many people who didn't appear to need marijuana for medial purposes rallied so hard for it. We didn't think it helped their cause much. Overall, Denver was one of our favorite cities with great shopping, nice houses and suburbs, and a very active downtown area.


Inside the Pepsi Stadium watching the Nuggets play


Lorenzo and Kim at the Nuggets stadium


Kim in front of the Colorado state capital


A close up of some of the people supporting medical marijuana outside the capital

Boise, ID & Salt Lake City, UT

Leaving Seattle, we drove through beautiful evergreen lined highways surrounded by snow capped mountains and crystal clear lakes that mirrored the sky above. Entering Boise, we noticed that although the city is the capital of Idaho, it was quite small. It reminded us of Gordonsville or Culpeper in Virginia, with just a tad more to do. Small, but charming, with a homey feel to it. After a two night stay in Boise that included nothing more than just exploring downtown, and a quick look at the capital building, we headed toward Salt Lake City.


Mountain drive to Boise


Oregon evergreeens


Idaho State Capital

After a long drive and before we even checked into our hotel, we drove straight to the Great Salt Lake. The lake spans 1700 square miles and is the largest salt lake in the western hemisphere. The high salt concentration allows people to float in the water much easier than in ocean water. Once we got here, we walked the 100-meter beach to the water's edge where we took in views of various species of birds and the surrounding area of mountains and snow. The beautiful colors beyond the lake and into the mountains appeared blue, purple, and grey. After taking in the scenery, we stopped off at the FYE Superstore where we picked up some rare DVD's for Dad and Aunt Linda, and headed to our hotel. The next day we explored downtown including Temple Square (symbolic heart of the worldwide Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints), the state capital building, and the University of Utah and Olympic Park (home to the 2002 Winter Olympics). We regret that we didn't have time to travel 90 minutes away to the Bonneville Salt Flats State Park - the 30000 acre natural wonder where they test speed cars. But, we'll catch it on the next trip. All in all, we really enjoyed our time in Salt Lake City. Next stop, Cheyenne, WY and Denver, CO.


Snowy drive through Utah


The Great Salt Lake


Scenic views around the Great Salt Lake


Us cuddling to stay warm in the wind of the Lake


The Salt Lake at night


The Utah State Capital Building


Kim's favorite spot on this trip. She relaxes while Lorenzo drives.

Seattle, WA

On the way to Seattle, we stopped off to view Mount St. Helen's. Mount St. Helen's looked so serene and beautiful that it was hard to believe that just 30 years ago it caused the deadliest volcanic event in the history of the United States. Once in Seattle, our first stop was the Space Needle. We rode the elevator up 520 feet to the observation deck where we were able to see 360 degree views of the city. The observation deck has both inside and outside viewing sections, which we greatly appreciated because it was extrememly cold and windy outside. We saw dense downtown skyscrapers, a working port, neighborhoods, and the snowcappped mountains in the distance. We were even lucky enough to time our visit so that we were able to see the views during the day, at sunset, and at night. After the Space Needle, we caught a bite to eat at a nearby Thai restaurant and called it a night.


Mount St. Helen's in the distance.


The Space Needle


The view of the Seattle waterfront from the Space Needle.


A view of the downtown area at dusk.


Kim and Lorenzo on the Space Needle.

The next day we took a 15 minute drive out to the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, WA. We stopped at the visitors center and the Microsoft museum where we learned about Microsoft's history and how Bill Gates started it all and about the company's current and developing technologies. Here you can play XBOX, listen to Zune, browse software on laptops and even test Microsoft Surface. We then browsed the Microsoft store where we saw employees picking up loads of discounted software. We left Microsoft for a late breakfast at IHOP on National Pancake Day, then headed to the REI flagship store near downtown Seattle. Downtown Seattle has a large variety of restaraunts and tons shops and we ended the day by shopping and eating downtown.

Microsoft headquarters


Lorenzo added his picture and message to a screen at the Microsoft visitor center.


Lorenzo joining the Microsoft founders.

Despite the windy and overcast weather, the next morning we walked from our hotel near the Space Needle to Pike Place Market which is located on the waterfront near the downtown. The Market is full of little specialty shops and restaraunts and stands selling fresh seafood, fruits, and vegetables. As we wandered around, we smelled dried lavendar and fresh flowers and saw purple potatoes and a giant octopus. We also tasted chocolate pasta and ate a humongous oatmeal cookie and a delicious apple pastry from a small Russian restaraunt called Piroshky, Piroshky.


Pike Place Market


Giant octopus at Pike Place Market


Kim taking a bite of a yummy apple pastry.


Lorenzo enjoying a mushroom and broccoli pastry.

Portland, OR

The 10 hour trek from San Francisco to Portand was like one long, continuous uphill drive. Although the drive was long, it was also very scenic with views of snow capped mountains and an abundance of evergreen trees. When we finally reached Portland, we were highly impressed by the downtown skyline and both agreed that it was the best one yet. Although we were visiting Portland, we technically stayed in an apartment-like hotel (Staybridge Suites) across the state line in Vancouver, Washington. On our first full day in Portland, we went downtown to checkout the Nike flagship store and also braved the cold Portland wind to walk to Voodoo Doughnuts where we waited in line for an hour to try six doughnuts including the Bacon Maple Bar, Grape Ape, and Apple Fritter. After tasting the absolutely amazing doughnuts and seeing the other 70 people also waiting in line, it was clear to us why native Portlanders consider this place an institution. Voodoo Doughnuts, like the rest of Portland, is a bit alternative, but this is a quality Portlanders are very proud of. After exploring downtown, the rest of our time in Portland was spent watching Redbox movies and taking a break from the fast-paced travel of the last few weeks.


Some of the hills we encountered on the drive to Portland.


The evergreens and mountains of Oregon.


The outside of the flaship Niketown in Portland.


The line at Voodoo Doughnuts


The Voodoo Doughnuts menu


A few of the doughnuts we tried - Grape Ape, Apple Fritter, and Bacon Maple Bar.


Evidence of Portland's pride of its weirdness.

Silicon Valley

Considering that Lorenzo started his own web company and does social media marketing, we took an inspirational pilgrimage to the tech biz Mecca, including Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, and Stanford University.

We first stopped at search giant Google's headquarters in Mountain View, CA. Here we visited the vast campus which includes its own ampitheater, movie theater, and various restaurants. Google's campus is located in a large business park area, away from the rest of Silicon Valley, that also houses companies like Intuit. Isolation often births creative focus. There is an overwhelming presence of creativity, innovation and individuality here. Lorenzo couldn't help but to feel inspired and empowered in his current business ventures. While at the visitor's center in front of the main campus building, we suprisingly got the opportunity to see Google's co-founder, Sergey Brin outside on the way to a meeting. Though this guy is worth $15 billion, he appeared very unassuming, wearing jeans and a hoodie as he hopped on a bicycle to ride to the next building, with an iphone in one hand and a laptop tucked under his arm. This is creative capital in the flesh.


Google

Next we traveled only 10 minutes to the home of Apple Computers, Cupertino, CA. This area is much more built up than Mountain View. On this campus you will find employees checking their iphones while walking to the company shuttle buses. We went to the flagship company Apple store, where mostly all products are the same as you would find at any other Apple store across the country. But, this store did have a lot more apparel including our favorite, a t-shirt that stated "I've Visited The Mothership".


Apple


Apple visitor's center and company store

From Apple we drove to Sunnyvale to visit Yahoo. Yahoo is housed in a more residential area in twin silver buildings with the purple Yahoo logo, and unlike Apple, does not welcome visitors. Not much to see here. No one was outside as they were at both Google and Apple. Looks like their freely creative, experiential and playful business model has not yet rubbed off on Yahoo. Work-life balance doesn't seem to be as much of a priority, and maybe is what is affecting their marketshare and recruiting of the brightest minds on the planet.


Yahoo


Yahoo headquarters

We later went to Facebook, located in Palto Alto in what looks like an old library building in a residential area near Stanford University. Here you will see many flags of various countries and universities around the world, hanging over bright young creative minds hunkered down at their computers coming up with the next great social media creation. One of these flags included The University of North Carolina. Even Facebook is a Tarheel fan.


Facebook


Facebook headquarters inside old library

We passed through Stanford University and before heading out towards Sacramento, we stopped off in Menlo Park, CA, the home of the Venture Capitalists and Angel Investors that provide the financial fuel for these tech companies to go from university start-ups, to web giants. Here you will find many beige colored buildings with little to no signage nestled along Sand Hill Road, and housing such power players as Sequoia Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and many others.


3000 Sand Hill Rd. The place to be if you're searching for Venture Capital.

Lorenzo left this area full of inspiration, knowledge, connections, and ready to work. Next stop, Sacramento.