And then there was one...

I suppose I should post a "final" message to this 11-day adventure... of course, it is now 3 weeks since we hit the road back in San Jose... and the roadtrip itself feels like so long ago... I have been here in Newark for over a week now... and the last of my friends left earlier this afternoon... I suppose reality had to hit some time. :)

As a closing, I just wanted to share a few things:

A couple of stats:
4,199 - miles travelled from California to New Jersey.
$3.83 - average cost per gallon of gas.

Everyone needs to go on a cross-country roadtrip (but not by yourself). And I don't just mean through part of the country, I mean from coast to coast. It's like a centrifuge. Separates the good stuff from the bad in life. You will learn SO MUCH about how you really handle different situations.

Best of all, you will have a new appreciation for this country. I'm telling you, EACH state we drove through had something unique... not just in its tourist attractions but in its people. Each state had a culture.

And now, on to law school.

Some miscellaneous pictures from the roadtrip
(and a few from my friends' stay in NY afterwards).

This little tree stood out on its own in the middle of the hotsprings.

What a survivor!

Piglets from the farm. There were about 2,200 just
delivered the day before we visited.

Dinner with Dennis and Melinda in NYC.

A "balloon" sculpture on the top of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

More to come... some day. :)

Final leg - Ithaca to Newark

July 30, 2008

We got up early on Wednesday morning to try and see as much of Cornell University as possible before having to head out to Newark (4 hour drive!) for me to make my appointment with the apartment management.

Family photo (sort of)

In all honesty, Ithaca really is a beautiful town... albeit a little isolated. The Cornell campus is also quite nice, as it was created between two (of many) gorges in Ithaca.

After a really good breakfast complete with Chinese shao1 bin3 jia2 rou4 (aka marinate beef slices) sandwiches, we spent the morning touring the Cornell campus. The campus is so big that it took us 2 hours to BARELY make it to our final destination -- the famous Cornell Dairy Bar where they sell freshly made ice cream from the Cornell dairy farm. We had to hit the road by 12:30 in order to get to Newark by 4:30.

Tour of Cornell... with a "real" tour guide (sort of)

Every campus has a tower.

Every campus has a sign.

But not every campus has waterfalls.

Gas in Ithaca, New York.

Sadly, we said our goodbyes with my Aunt, cousins, and Hansen and were on our way to Newark. We got into the city at around 4:30. The building staff were so welcoming. We got a tour of the building, and I got my keys.

One of the many "amenities" -- a private 4-lane bowling alley

We dashed off to Ikea and Target after the walk-through so that I could get some "basic necessities" for the first night.

Settling in.

So, who wants to visit? :)

Playing catch-up

I'm sorry... it's taken me almost a whole week to update the blog with the last few legs of our roadtrip. We arrived in Newark on Wednesday, and I've had limited access to internet -- not to mention limited time and energy to get these posts up!

BUT, over the next couple of days, I will "finish" our roadtrip... starting today.

July 29 - Niagara Falls and Ithaca

We got up around 9:00 am (after a late night at the Canadian casinos) to catch the Falls in the daylight. We were hoping to do the "Journey Behind the Falls" walking tour, but unfortunately, the elevator down to the Falls was broken, so we had to abandon our close-encounter. We did, however, have lunch at Skylon, a tall "Space Needle"-like structure that gave visitors a bird's-eye view of the Falls and other nearby attractions (including the Toronto-skyline in the distance!). It was not too bad of an alternative to walking behind the Falls.

We were bored in the gift shop waiting for the elevators to be fixed...

You can't tell, but we were getting drenched by the mist.

American Falls (in the background --

Steve and Peggy in the foreground...

in case there was any confusion)

At the top of Skylon.

We headed back into the States in the early afternoon, hoping to make it to Ithaca by 7:00 to have dinner with my Aunt and Uncle (proud Ithacans for 10 years now).

Gas somewhere near Buffalo, New York.

It was so great to have a home-cooked meal after over a week of "roadtrip" food. We are still talking about the yummy food!