Day 43, Friday July 5th:

Day 43, Friday July 5^th:

Today was a travel day.  We left Indiana at 6am and got Ravi to Cleveland by noon.  From there Jeremy and Keith kept moving back towards Massachusetts after a long physically and emotionally exhausting trip.  While tiring it was clear that given the opportunity they would have done this trip again the same way.

~Jeremy

~Keith

~Ravi

~Adam

~Max

~Evan

Day 42, Thursday July 4th:

Day 42, Thursday July 4^th:

Today was our last day of the trip not including the travel day home that would follow.  We arrived to West Lafayette, Indiana at Purdue University at noon to visit and stay with our friend Chris Tucci.  Upon arriving Chris gave us a quick driving tour of the university before we went shopping for the day’s events.  Today the plan was to celebrate Independence Day with a BBQ and fireworks.  We stopped at a local Wal-Mart to pick up some food items and then stopped at a firework store to get some supplies.  Fireworks are legal in Indiana which made for a 4^th of July celebration that none of us have ever experienced.  Ravi was the most excited by this opportunity as he had much fun as a child back in India playing with such fireworks…he is also a bit of a pyro maniac.

After a few hours we noticed we were running low on fireworks…and it was only 4pm.  We decided to go back to the store for a 2^nd time and loaded up on some better supplies.  Jeremy found a box called “The Road Trip” which seemed very appropriate for the last hurrah of the trip. 

As we were in the store one of the employees asked “Weren’t you guys here already”.  This was embarrassing….so later when we went back for a third time we decided to go to the store across the street.

The lighting of fireworks and celebration of the 4^th lasted roughly 10 hours before we decided to call it a night.  On the way home Keith and Ravi got to have their long awaited Taco Bell with Tucci which Jeremy had done his best to avoid during the trip.

~Jeremy, Keith, and Ravi

Day 41, Wednesday July 3rd:

Day 41, Wednesday July 3^rd:

We left the hotel and first stopped at Millennium Park at 11am.  Here we saw the Bean, some sculptures, a garden, and got to see an orchestra practice. 

For lunch we met up with Jeremy’s cousin Marc.  We went to a downtown restaurant where we were severely underdressed.  After sharing stories and have some nice food Marc went back to work and we continued to walk around the city.  We headed down to Navy Pier as the weather became nicer. 

Here we walked down the river walk and road the Ferris Wheel.  We then walked to Lou Malnati’s for some deep dish pizza to get the full taste of Chicago.  We had plans to go to a comedy show but had a few hours to kill.  We decided to stop in at Dave and Busters where Jeremy and Ravi beat Time Crisis 4…kind of a big deal, and Keith won enough tickets to get Nerds Rope, a Flash doll, a back scratcher, a basketball hoop, some golf tees, and a kazoo.  At 8:30 we arrived at Zanies Comedy Club just in time for the show to begin.  The club was filled with pictures of comedians who had formed there in the past.  Many famous people were on the wall such as Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Leno, and Gilbert Gottfried.  The show we saw headlined local comedian Vince Maranto and he was quite funny.

~Jeremy, Keith, and Ravi

Day 40, Tuesday July 2nd:

Day 40, Tuesday July 2^nd:

We woke up in the morning and drove.  16 hours later we got to Chicago, ate at a diner, and went to sleep.

~Jeremy, Keith, and Ravi

Day 39, Monday July 1st:

Day 39, Monday July 1^st:

Ravi and Jeremy woke up early and made appointments for Acupuncture Therapy after what has been a long, physically exhausting, trip.  This was a unique experience for them both and enjoyable.  In the end they weren’t  sure if this helped their ailments at all… but maybe they will feel it in the future.

Keith went searching for a local coffee shop to go through more pictures and found an absolute gem of a shop!  Coffee shops are special in Boulder and this one lived up to the hype.  It was very classy with a coffee bar that also served alcohol, and two floors with a patio that had very comfortable seating.  After lunch Ravi and Jeremy met up with Keith and it was time to explore the city.  They grabbed blizzards at the nearby DQ and started walking towards the Pearl Street Mall.  Along the way they passed through some nice residential neighborhoods, the east campus of University of Colorado, Boulder Creek, and Carpenter Park.  At Pearl Street Mall we saw some very cool and unique stores.  Some were filled with art, others with candy, and some for the consumption and production of marijuana. While walking around Jeremy became star struck when he saw Steve Hytner (Kenny Bania from Seinfeld). Luckily shy Jeremy is friends with brazen and socially capable Keith who immediately introduced the two and negotiated a quick photo shoot for the pair! 

Shortly following this star studded moment, Keith found himself examining what was either a street performer or a statue…. Turns out it was DEFINITELY a street performer who unfroze from her unbelievably still pose when Jeremy deposited a dollar in her street performer receptacle. Keith immediately handed the camera off to Jeremy and grabbed a quick photo with this gifted artist!

After seeing all the shops and checking out more of the street performances, we caught a Prius cab back to the hotel for some time in the hot tub. The hot tub which Ravi was down right giddy about being able to enjoy turned out to be a huge disappointment… No heat and no bubbles left Ravi feeling like this…

Given the long day of travel we would have the next day as we head to Chicago, we decided to go out for dinner and a movie (man date) before calling it a night.  We saw White House Down which is a fantastic movie that all must see.  Not a joke.

~Jeremy, Keith, and Ravi

Day 38, Sunday June 30th:

Day 38, Sunday June 30^th:

The plan of this day was to venture out into Denver and figure out what to do there.  Keith and Jeremy decided to hit up Coors Field and see the Rockie vs Giants and experience another beautiful stadium.  Ravi still reeling from the bummer that was Safeco Field decided he did not want to take part in the game and chose to meet up with his brother Prayag.  Before going our separate ways we grabbed lunch at the Falling Rock Tap House, which was nearby the stadium.  Here we had some outstanding burgers and local brews.  Coors Field had a great atmosphere and lively fans!  Concessions were also much cheaper than any other stadium we have visited on this trip.  We sat in the upper deck, but the game was still very enjoyable.  Keith went exploring at one point and was allowed to go into the field press box to snap a few photos! 

After the game Jeremy noticed that one of his co-workers, Dan, was also at the game and was sitting just 4 rows behind where he was sitting. What’re the odds!  Dan was on vacation for the week, small world.  Ravi and his brother explored Denver for a while, and Ravi got to see where his brother lived.  Eventually they ended up at ZanZBar which offered cheap happy hour drinks and free games of pool.  After the game Jeremy and Keith met up with them there and they all got a few drinks and continued to play pool for several hours.  Eventually we had to part ways with Prayag and head back to the hotel….to do laundry.  We had an easy rest of the night doing laundry, watching movies, and blogging.

~Jeremy, Keith, and Ravi

Day 37, Saturday June 29th:

Day 37, Saturday June 29^th:

We woke up at 6am and packed up camp in an attempt to get to Boulder, CO by mid afternoon (a 15 hour drive).  We drove out the south entrance of Yellowstone and through the Grand Tetons.  Here we witnessed more beautiful scenery and if given more time would have loved to explore more of the Grand Tetons.

Most of the drive was through very straight and flat land in southern Wyoming with mountains in the background.  We arrived in Boulder at 5pm at what we thought would be a rundown motel. To our surprise it was one of the nicest places we have stayed in on this trip.  We checked in and showered and then went to explore the city.  We ate Indian Food at a local food court of the University of Colorado campus and walked around.  The campus and town was beautiful and the good vibes in the area made it clear why this is considered the happiest city in America.  Because of the long days of camping and driving we decided to take it easy this night and see the movie Fast and Furious 6 which was just the kind of entertainment the three of us were looking for.

~Jeremy, Keith, and Ravi

Day 36, Friday June 28th:

Day 36, Friday June 28^th:

After waking up and eating s’more pop tarts we started our adventure down to the west and south side of the park.  Our first stop was Artists Point which offered an amazing view where artists from around the world set up to paint the gorgeous vista.

Next came Fairy Falls where we hiked a very steep trail off the beaten path to get an amazing view of the Grand Prismatic Pool.

Next was Midway Geyser Basin where we saw many different geysers including Morning Glory.

We ate some more PB&J at the Old Faithful lodge before checking out Old Faithful and seeing an afternoon eruption.

After Old Faithful we traveled to Yellowstone Lake and West Thumb for some beautiful views.  We then stopped to take our first shower in 3 days at Canyon Village!!! This was glorious… Not sure how many of our readers know what it means to hike a national park filled with sulfur in eighty degree weather for three days and NOT shower, but its terrible….  Squeaky clean we sat down to enjoy a filling meal of burgers and fries at the Fountain Bar and Grill.  We then sauntered back to the campsite for one last night around the fire before heading out early the next morning.

~Jeremy, Keith, and Ravi

Day 35, Thursday June 27th:

Day 35, Thursday June 27^th:

We woke up in the morning and ate some pop tarts before starting our adventure for the day.  We decided to go for the north and east side of the park with the first stop being Mammoth Hot Springs. Here we walked up and down a boardwalk which led us to many views of different hot springs.

On our way from there to Tower-Roosevelt we stopped many times on the side of the road to view the bison in the area.

We ate PB&J for lunch and then went to our next destination of Fishing Bridge.  Along this road we came across more bison, birds, deer, and a black bear cub.

We also stopped to view the “Grand Canyon” of Yellowstone.

From Fishing Bridge we traveled back to our campsite which took longer than expected as we continued to stop many times and got to see elk, a bear, a wolf, and more bison. 

On one of the stops we even took part in a survey with a park ranger.  We were her favorite survey of the day! It was getting dark as we arrived back at the campsite and Ravi started another fire which we used to cook the rest of the hot dogs.  Keith took some pictures of the stars and Ravi and Jeremy went to bed talking about how different life would be if Yellowstone was the equivalent to the Pokémon kingdom and how scary it would be to try and capture the wild animals. 

~Jeremy, Keith, and Ravi

Day 34, Wednesday June 26th:

Day 34, Wednesday June 26^th:

After some sleep we got back in the car and went straight to Wal Mart.  Here we purchased what we thought would be enough Hot Dogs, PB&J, and Pop Tarts to last us 3 nights.  We then continued our journey to Yellowstone arriving in the late afternoon.  The park is a big one and we started looking for the campsite we wanted.  We had decided on staying at a place called Indian Creek which is one of the more secluded campsites in the park.  At 4pm we had finally found it but the sign said the lot was full. OH NO! Feeling lucky we went to the camp host anyways to see if there was anything available.  Lucky for us someone had just left, and there was one site open. Wahoo!  Apparently in all of Yellowstone it was common for all campgrounds to be full by 11am.  Good fortunes were once again on our side!  We set up camp and then explored the area where we found Indian Creek and caught a glimpse of some moose on the other end of the water.  Unfortunately we had no camera on us at the time but seriously it happened… There were two moose (mooses, mice, meece) and they were humongous! Fortunately no one was bit.

From there we went back to our campsite were Ravi started the fire and we cooked up some hot dogs and sat around the fire for the night before going to bed to the sound of wolves howling.

~Jeremy, Keith, and Ravi