One of our last night's in SF

I'll miss you guys!

"We're really good friends. We've known each for a while. I know everybody at this party. I have a lot of friends, a lot more friends than this. I have 60 cousins that live in space. I invented kayaks and I invented the streets. I have 6 babies and they all spoke 4 different languages before they came out of my stomach. And, umm, I can fly." Michael and I LOVE Penelope!!! Search YouTube for Kristen Wiig, Penelope if you haven't seen the SNL sketch.

AVP Volleyball Tour- Boston!

We spent the weekend at the AVP volleyball Boston Open. Evan's friend, Lauren Fendrick, was partnering with Holly McPeak. We initially planned to go just to see Lauren, but we had so much fun that we went back for all three days. We saw Kerri Walsh (Stanford grad!) and Misty May play Nicole Branagh and EY in the finals!

Last Day of the Ultimate Road Trip

Today, we went back to the falls to see the walkway underneath the Canadian side of the falls. It was wet, but fun! After our last tourist attraction, we drove back to the US through Buffalo so we could stop at Anchor Bar- the place that created Buffalo wings! Finally, we made our way across New York and home to Boston.

Day 14: The Henry Ford Museum and Canada

Today, we visited the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit where we were able to tour the Rouge Factory (where F-150s are now made.) It's a pretty high-tech factory and very environmentally friendly. They even have a living roof (a lawn on the roof lowers the temperature inside and filters out pollutants.) Evan was fascinated by the green building techniques. We also rushed through the Henry Ford exhibition hall where they have things like the Rosa Parks bus, the limo JFK was assasinated in, and the rocking chair Lincoln sat in at Ford's theater.
After our whirlwind visit, we drove across the border to Canada and up to Niagara Falls. Once there, we drove down to see the falls. We had a nice dinner at a Japanese restaurant and

watched a tight rope walker cross a thin wire overlooking the falls. We also watched an IMAX movie about adventurers who have gone over the falls in barrels, tubs, etc and saw a display of these contraptions.

Day 13: The Motor City

This morning, we had breakfast at the hotel before meeting Evan's grandparents for a quick tour of the IU campus and their retirement community, Meadowood. Then we took off across Indiana, through Ohio and into Michigan. It was a long drive, but we got to Detroit in time to visit the Motown Museum. We had a great tour guide who was very informative and very fun. We decided to spend the night here so we could tour the Ford F-150 factory and the Henry Ford Museum tomorrow. Both Evan and I wanted to see the assembly line!

Day 12: Nashville to Indiana

We spent the morning at the Country Music Hall of Fame. Got to learn a lot more about country music history! We also went back to the Grande Ole Opry to see the museum tracing the Opry's growth from small radion station to large concert venue. I liked the exhibit on Patsy Cline best!

Then it was off to Indiana to visit Evan's grandparents. We had lunch on the way to Bloomington, IN and got to Bloomington around 7 pm. We went to a dive bar near Indiana University to listen to live jazz and have dinner. Evan's grandmother made us delicious cookies with ice cream for dessert. She also graciously volunteered to do our lunch- something we desperately needed done! :)

Day 12: The Musical Odyssey Continues in Nashville

We spent the morning at Graceland- walking through Elvis' house, seeing his airplanes and many, many cars. They even had a museum on his costumes. There were an incredible number of people visiting because next week is Elvis Week in Memphis. After Graceland, we rushed to the National Civil Rights Museum. It was heartbreaking to learn more about the lead-up to the assasination of MLK Jr and to see his hotel room exactly as he left it on the night we was shot. . We had lunch on the way to Nashville. In Music City, we went directly to the Grand Ole Opry.

Unfortunately, it was closed for a special event so we checked into a hotel with a guitar shaped pool. It was a blistering hot today so it was great to be out of the sun.

That night, we went to the famous Bluebird Cafe to listen to some great live music. It was a round robin where each of the four artists would play an acoustic song in turn. Evan and I both really liked one particular country singer with a great voice!