Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Blogoversary and My First Giveaway

**If you don't want to read my ramblings about our Trip Across America and instead want the skinny on my blogoversary and giveaway, scroll to the bottom.**

Well here I am sitting in a hotel in Cleveland, Ohio and I can finally say that we're almost "home". It still feels a bit surreal to be moving across country, wondering what my new place will look like and how I'll get through the following months without a job. But we infertiles have been taught to adapt and overcome.

Tomorrow we get to Pennsylvania where we'll spend a couple days with my dad's side of the family. For now, though, I thought I'd share how our trip has gone so far. Our original schedule was to drive through Oregon and Idaho to Salt Lake City to visit Brandon's family and then drive across I-80 to Pennsylvania. At the last minute we decided to skip driving across I-80 (and thus miss the boring part of the journey) and go a little north to I-90 so we could see Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial. It only added 4 hours to the trip, plus however much time we would spend at the stops. Much to my dismay it was extremely cloudy and rainy on the day we went to visit those places so we couldn't see a thing. Needless to say I was pissed.

So we decided to salvage the day by visiting other touristy things in the area. We first stopped by Bear Country, a drive-thru wildlife park. It was actually pretty neat. We saw all kinds of animals like reindeer, mountain goats, and wolves. Some of the animals came within a few feet of our car. Oso was freaking out the whole time and we couldn't walk around the baby area (due to the rain) but we still had fun. We were supposed to keep the windows rolled up but we rolled them down for a quick second to take pictures.


We also stopped by a place called Reptile Gardens. It was like an aquarium type thing for the creepy crawlies. When we walked in the door we noticed a sign that said "Leashed dogs welcome". Seriously?! Are they trying to get free food for their snakes? Who would be stupid enough to bring a dog in a place to see large reptiles? Ummmm...we would. Oso did quite well though, even during the live demonstration. The snakes kept checking him out though. I told Brandon to hold him just in case they haven't eaten in the past week. Our favorite part of Reptile Gardens was seeing the group of 100 year-old galapagos tortoises. Oso enjoyed seeing them too. I bought a cute little hedgehog puppet in the souvenir store and then it was back on the road for a few more hours.

Next we stopped by a place called Wall Drug in southern South Dakota. They have a ton of neat little souvenir shops. Retail therapy can cure any disappointment and helped make the day a little better. And seeing Brandon ride a huge jackalope was definitely worth the stop.

Minnesota and Wisconsin was fairly boring, though the drive was much more scenic than I expected. Today we traveled through Illinois, Indiana and most of Ohio. My biggest complaint about today was the TOLL ROADS. I absolutely don't understand toll roads. How can you travel on an interstate for free in one state and then have to pay in the adjacent state? Shouldn't the taxpayers pay for the maintenance of the road? And if I'm going to pay money for a toll, shouldn't they use that money to maintain the road? I drove across some seriously crappy roads in Illinois. I think our money went to pay the wages of the person SITTING in the toll booth. We must have paid about $30 for each car in toll fees today and we still have more to pay tomorrow.

But back to the cool stuff. We stopped by a quaint little town in Indiana called Shipshewana. It's in Amish country and they have all kinds of shops and an enormous flea market. We were only able to spend a few hours there because 1) we were on a mission to get to Pennsylvania and 2) Oso was in the car and 3) we planned on spending a whole day in Amish country in Pennsylvania. Still, I'm a very fast shopper and I was able to find some cool stuff.

**Which brings me to my giveaway! May 22nd is my one year blogoversary so to celebrate the first birthday of my blog I have decided to have TWO giveaways! These are also my first giveaways so I guess we've got a lot of firsts around here!


The first giveaway is a beautiful sterling silver pendant made with the wings of a butterfly. They are made by Nature's Jewels. They're a small crafting company with no website but you can email Linda at naturesjewels@live.com on how to order your own pendant or earrings. Please note that no butterflies were harmed in the making of these pendants. The butterflies were raised on a farm where they were allowed to die naturally (butterflies only live a few weeks).


Entering the giveaway is simple. Simply post a comment in response to the following question: If you could take a road trip anywhere in the United States, where would you go and why?

During this trip I realized that I've visited almost every state in the United States, plus Canada and Mexico. I added it up and found that I've driven through or visited 36 of the 50 states. That doesn't count layovers in an airport because that's technically not visiting. But that's alot of traveling. I'd have to say the best state was probably Washington. Not because I just left there but because it has something for everyone to enjoy: shopping, big cities, wildlife, skiing, and just about anything to do with nature. This thought brings me to my next giveaway. To enter, simple post a response to the following question: How many states have you visited and which one was your favorite?

The second giveaway prize is a cute metal note pad that I found in a souvenir shop.
You can also earn additional entries by becoming a follower. Post an additional comment with your follower status, whether you're a new or veteran follower. This additional entry will count for each giveaway so you only need to do it once. Entries will be accepted until midnight PST on May 21st. Entries will be listed in an Excel table for each giveaway and the winners will be selected through a Random Number Generator on May 22nd. Anyone is welcome to enter, I am willing to ship worldwide. Once I get to 100 followers I will have my next giveaway.

I can't wait to read everybody's comments!

10 comments:

  1. If I could take a road trip to anywhere in the U.S. right now, it would be back to Washington. Yes, I know! Crazy! That's a long trip! But! My best friend had her first baby a few weeks after we left and I haven't gotten to meet her yet! So it's a totally legit reason for wanting to go back! Though preferably, I would like to fly! Haha! But I would definitely drive it!

    And I have visited 27 states. South Carolina was definitely my favorite! We lived there for just over 2 years, and loved it! It's a beautiful state, especially on the coast!

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  2. I'm glad you guys are having a great trip! There is definitely lots to see! Continue to be safe!!

    P.s. I am a veteran follower!

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  3. I would go to Las Vegas because I have never been ther before and would love the experience.

    hewella1 at gmail dot com

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  4. ooh. I love the pendant. I really want to visit Savannah, Georgia. I have read so many books about the city. I want to see a real southern town with so much history and beautiful homes.

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  5. If I could take a road trip anywhere in the US I think it would be up the Pacific Coast Highway. I hear it’s an amazing trip and I have never been up to the Northwest!

    I have been a follower of yours for a while! Have fun on the rest of your trip!

    What a neat pendent!

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  6. I enjoy seeing your pictures and trip!!!

    As for where I've been in the states and liked the best - going to Disney World in Florida was possibly one of my favorites. It made my husband and I feel like a child again. Which is also why I'd love to visit there again!

    Otherwise I don't have any specific spots - my husband and I get out and do drives around Washington just so I can take pictures so any where can be an adventure.

    As for being a follower - I've been following for a few months now. I wouldn't consider myself new, but definitely not a novice although I tried to catch up on your history.

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  7. I want to go to those places you just described!! I have sometimes thought I'd like to just drive cross country, the whole way - there is a sign by the beach here that tells you the miles to CA, and it always makes me pause and think!

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  8. Looks like you're having an awesome time! I loved your animal pics.

    Like you, I've been to a lot of the United States. I think I'm only missing Hawaii, Alaska, North Dakota and Michigan. Otherwise I've driven through the rest. If I had to pick a state to drive to, it would be Alaska. I've never been and it would include having to drive through Washington State and British Columbia, two of my favorite places in North America. I think I would have to include stops at both Orca's Island and Victoria, BC because they make me happy and I love ferry rides.

    I think that sort of answered the second question partially, but for clarification, I've driven through 46 states. I grew up overseas and when we would visit family in the US my parents would try to introduce my brother and me to as much of the US as they could so we would land in places like NYC and then drive to Cali taking different routes each visit. On top of that, my hubby is military and we've lived in CO, WA, NJ, and now SC. As far as being my favorite, I'm torn between Maine and Washington. Maine is where my childhood friends live and I love winter there. It was my escape during college and when I think of happiness, I think of Maine. Washington is amazingly beautiful and green and we owned our only house in historic Tacoma so I have lots of happy first memories there. Can I have two?? :)

    I've been following for a couple of months now. As a fellow infertile who has lost children, I feel bonded to you and your story. There is strength in common struggles and I appreciate your honesty about the pain and heartaches, as well as the triumphs of this journey we are forced to be on. And you're right, we are good at adapting and overcoming!

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  9. If I could take a road trip, I would like to take a road trip of the US. Not to see any place inparticular, but various places and things.
    I have visited 16 states. If you talk about layovers, then it would probably be just about all of them. LOL
    I have been a follower for a few months now.
    Doreen

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  10. Glad to hear your having fun on your road trip!!!

    "If you could take a road trip anywhere in the United States, where would you go and why?"-----we have done a cross country road trip twice. literally cross country, 1st time NC to AK and the 2nd time AK to FL, both because of PCS'ing. The 2nd time was the best as we did it in an RV and took a full 3 weeks exploring our beautiful country. So my response would be to be able to do it all over again.....but maybe when we are older and finally have children.

    How many states have you visited and which one was your favorite?---all of them except Maine, Mass, VT and NH. Florida will always be my fave for too many reasons to list.

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