West Coast: Day 3

Yesterday was a boring day in terms of food (lots of disgusting fast food). Today wasn't much better but I did make myself a pretty tasty English egg muffin sandwich this morning with sausage, home fries and a spicy salsa sauce. But we did see an incredible amount of pumpkins everywhere. Something about the midwest; they love their squash/gourd-like/pumpkins species out here. We visited a Gertens today (kind of the Wal-Mart equivalent for gardens/nurseries.) I have never seen a) so many pumpkins together in one place and b) so many different types of pumpkins. I love, love, love pumpkins. Weird, I know. We entered the prairies tonight (Murdo, South Dakota), literally in the middle of nowhere. Everything is flat and even the occasional tree seem out of place. Our Days Inn is cladded in wood logs and the lobby is filled with taxidermy. Perfect setting for a slasher film - House of Wax 2: Prairie Fire.

West Coast: Day 1

We left at 8am sharp this morning from Toronto and crossed the border (took two long dreadful hours - ugh US customs) at Sarnia, drove through Michigan State and now we are resting in Portage, Indiana for the night. My butt is in pain. The van is already in a state of despair. Doris (our GPS - not sure of the origin of her name...) hates us cuz we keep disobeying her orders to take pee breaks every hour on the hour, well, almost, and we insisted on the detour to the Coach factory outlet where the ladies of our travel party spent a lot of time and money. As for food it was breakfast at home, Mickie Dees for lunch (mmmmm - double cheeseburger!) and Longhorn Steakhouse for dinner. I had stuffed chicken with grilled portabello mushroom plus a glass of Samuel Adams. The other plate was my dad's grilled porkchops; I took a pic of it cuz it looked more appetizing half-eaten than mine half-eaten. We were so ravenous that I didn't remember to the photos until halfway through dinner. Then, we passed by a little family market to pick up some fresh fruits. The pumpkins reminded me how much I love Hallowe'en...and pumpkin pie. I mean, we all have one special memory or another related to pumpkins, right?