Salt Lake to Minneapolis: 23 hours of fun

Miscellaneous

Jan 15

Spirits were high as we set forth on our journey.

It was a sunny Saturday morning and our first stop was Soldier Hollow, the national championships venue, where we would get in one final ski in the winter wonderland before embarking eastward. After requisite showers were taken at the “SoHo” lodge, we assumed our places. I was fortunate enough to claim the entire 2nd bench.

Our first 10-hour stretch of driving took us from Midway, Utah, through Park City and Salt Lake, and then across the border into Wyoming. See here for a map of our route. We followed I-80 all the way across Wyoming, stopping at such notable destinations as “The Cash Store.”

“Cash Store” in Wyoming.

Around dinner time, we passed through Cheyenne and into Nebraska, and stopped for dinner at Subway. While Subway arguably provides the greatest number of calories for the fewest amount of dollars, it has a tendency to incite “Subway Belly” and as a result we have decided never to eat there again. Somewhere in western Nebraska around 10:30pm we decided to call it quits for the day and found respite at a Best Western.

Bright and early the next morning, after a substantial continental breakfast, we set out again, driving into the sun. It was somewhat disheartening that we were still in Nebraska, but we entertained ourselves with books and magazines (Nils and Bryan), gameboy (Pat), spanish conversation (Gordon, Nils and I), talking to girlfriends (everyone except for me), and listening to Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me. I also baked nine dozen cookies pre-departure, so we ate a lot of cookies. By far the best en route entertainment was found at the Cabela’s clearance sale outside of Lincoln, Nebraska.

Pit stop!! “No more than 45min” – Pat. (The translation of this statement is apparently, “No more than 90min.”)

We FINALLY made it out of Nebraska and into Iowa on Sunday afternoon. The final stretch of our drive had us turn north onto I-35 in Des Moines and we reached our destinations in Minneapolis in time for dinner on Sunday. Some of us are staying with Maria’s parents in Lakeville, which is just south of Minneapolis, and the rest are at Gordon’s family’s house which is in the city proper. Unfortunately we planned our drive so we missed all the good football games this weekend, but other than that, it was a successful trip. We’ve been skiing on two different man-made snow loops so far, both of which were very well-maintained, if not super exciting! The Tour de Twin Cities commences this Saturday and continues through Sunday the 27th. Then the boys will drive all the way back to Craftsbury… As much fun as this drive was, I helped myself to a plane ticket home!!!

Enjoy the photos. You can click on them to open a larger image.