Cross country road trip: Montana to Miami

Jan 7 2011, Missoula MT

This winter break, I joined a group of 14 international students to a cross country road trip from Montana to Miami.. Here’s a brief log

Day – 1: Started from Missoula, MT; Stayed overnight in Gilette , Wyoming. Grilled burgers outside the motel with grills upon the vending machines under heavy snowfall in the mid of the night.

Day – 2: Danced on Michael Jackson’s song on a bridge on I-20 around sundance on our way to mt rushmore. Passed a town of 25 people in Wyoming. Saw Mt Rushmore in rapid city, South Dakota.

After that, we went to the AMAZING Badlands national park in Badlands, SD.

Coffee with a view!!!

Amazing Sunset!

rattlesnakes!!!

Great Sunset!

felt like dancing all the time!

Just another view!!

Day 3: Went to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Spent whole day at the Mall of America – the second largest mall in the US. Listened to Christmas choirs, went for coaster rides, got a custom air sprayed t-shirt. Drove to Menominee, Wisconsin and stayed there overnight

Mall of America - Minneapolis

Coasters within the Mall

Christmas Carols!

Airsprayed Tee!

Day 4: Drove to Chicago Illinois. Drove around a lot just to get the housing in suburbs called Homewood. There goes a great shot taken in one of the streets of Homewood:

That pretty much tells it all!!

Day 5 - Took Amtrak from Homewood to Chicago.

Homewood to Chicago by Amtrak

Then we had the famous Chicago pizza at Giordanos. Trust me, before eating that pizza, I had never appreciated how delicious a REAL Italian Pizza could be!!

Amazing Chicago style Pizza!

It was soo good, it must have been created by God!

After that, we walked around the city and then to the navy pier.

Cleaning windows could be a hell of a job!!!

No words needed!

John Hancock building

At navy pier

Delhi and Paris

It is what it says it is!

Riding the Federal Bull.. LOL

That reminded me of the game - Midtown Madness!

Chicago in the night

In the night, we went to John Hancock building and then to the Skydeck and saw Chicago from the 3rd tallest building in the world, the sears/Willis towers.

Chicago from the skydeck!

Sears/Willis Tower - 3rd tallest building in the world

Chicago at night

Chicago from Skydeck

Day 6 -drove to Niagara falls on 24th dec. Spent the night in motel.

Day 7 - Christmas day. Played secret Santa. Exchanged gifts. In the night went to Niagara falls. Went to Seneca casino with Sebastian and watched him play Roulette.

Behind the Falls is the City of Niagara Falls, Canada!

falls in the morning!

Falls, Toronto and we we...

Day 8 - In the morning, we went to see the Old historic Fort Niagara.

Old Fort Niagara - seen from one of the barracks!!

Old Fort Niagara

A really friendly Native American dressed up as British infantry shooting his custom rifle - the type used ~ mid 1800's in this fort.

At the old fort Niagara!

Then we drove towards Boston. Really bad snowstorm, visibility almost zero and blizzard in the night; car skid on the bridge even after driving barely ~25mph! Stayed near springfield.

putting on chains in the snow storm. With gushing winds and subzero temperature, it was almost impossible to keep hands out of gloves/pockets for more than a minute!

Day 9- went to Cambridge, MA and explored Harvard University campus a bit, including John Harvard‘s statue. Drove around Boston.

Harvard Univ - Cambridge - MA

A church in Harvard Yard

Uncle Harvard's statue...

Chem lab

Day 10 - Drove through NYC to Newark, NJ . Bad traffic. Went back to Times Square NYC and just wondered around.

Times Square in the night

Day 11 - Spent whole day in Manhattan, NYC. Tried buying broadway tickets but queue was a bit too long.

Times Sq in the daylight

We dropped the Broadway idea and took the state ferry (only free thing in NYC!) to the Statan islands bypassing the statue of liberty.

The Green Lady

Monumental bronze eagle in the Battery Park, NYC facing the Statue of Liberty. It was sculpted by Albino Manca and set on a pedestal of polished black granite, grips a laurel wreath over a wave--signifying the act of mourning at the watery grave. The monument was dedicated by President John F. Kennedy on May 23, 1963.

Then we went on to see ground zero. Natural history museum, financial district, trinity church etc.

Ground Zero - a tragic reminder of Human cruelty.

Dinosaurs.... ho ho ho!!!!

ho ho ho...!

Trinity Church @ Wall St.

lol... A bargain shop next to the Wall St for Millionaires!!!

Inside the Trinity Church

lol..

Me and Ed were using the subway to commute and quite frequently we found ourselves hopping on to trains going in completely opposite directions! A lot of times we were on the right train but somehow we managed to make a fool of ourselves by overshooting the stations we were supposed to get out at! Finally, we decided to walk from the Natural History Museum through the central park to the Times Sq again to see Azu fulfilling her dream. Azu had a dream of going to the TGI friday in the Times square as she worked for TGI Friday in Japan. She fulfilled that dream in style by donning on TGI Friday dress and dancing on birthday songs in the restaurant!!!

Day 12 – drove from Elizabeth, NJ to Washington DC. Stayed in a motel in Allentown, Maryland

Elizabeth station, NJ

Day 13 – Dec 31 2010. Took a metro from Branch Ave, Maryland to L’Enfante Plaza, Washington DC. Walked down to the National monument, Lincoln memorial, White house etc.

Capitol from a distance!

Capitol building!

Some fancy art near one of the Smithsonians..! Wish I was smart enough to know what it was!!!

National Monument

Smithsonian Information Centre

Lincoln Memorial

That guy's memorial..

Some building near white house grounds

Tourists!

White House..

Others wanted to chill out in a restaurant. So I decided to take a walking tour on my own. Lost my map, so just wandered around and saw some interesting things like the oldest church in DC area  - St Patrick’s, FBI building etc.

Old Post Office

Old Post Office

FBI.. they make great chocolates!

National Archives

What is it? Read the sign board below:

After that, I paid the pilgrimage to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural history. Saw the blue whale, squids, rhino, hippo, tigers, and the Hope diamond – the oldest known diamond which happened to be from India!!

The Shrine!!

Blue Whale @ Smithsonian Nat. His.

Rotunda @ Smithsonian Nat. His.

Hope Diamond.. check wiki.. you know you want to!

Only if they return that to India, we'll be a rich country again!!

Went to Smithsonian museum of air and space. Saw the first successful airplane built by wright brothers, stones and soil from the moon, and the Apollo 11 module itself! Took a simulation flight only to find out that I am the worst amateur pilot there could be!

Apollo 11: The module that took man to the Moon!

One of the Lunar stones they brought with them!

The real Wright flyer - firstever successful airplane built and flown by Wright brothers in 1903

The 1903 Wright flyer

Yay!!!

Then I walked up to the Capitol building in the night. Went to see the Union station and had a pizza before going to the White house again in the night.

Smithsonian Info Centre and National Monument

Capitol in the night

Union Station, DC

in the Union Station

Union Station

Took Federal triangle metro to Branch Ave station back to the motel. Saw the new year 2011 celebrations in times square on tv! lol..

Federal Triangle, remember Dan Brown?

Day 14 - Drove from Allentown, Maryland to Salisbury, South Dakota. stayed overnight in a motel. Nothing exciting.

Day 15 – Went to Atlanta, Georgia. Spent the night there. Nothing exciting

Day 16 - Went to the Georgia Aquarium – world’s biggest aquarium in Atlanta, GA. Saw sharks and penguins. It’s right next to the world of coca cola and the CNN headquarters. Walked through Centennial Olympic Park (where 1996 olympics were held) to the underground mall.

The world of coca-cola, Atlanta GA

Sharks stored at -20C in Georgia aquarium

Shark jaws!

Georgia Aquarium - World's biggest!

A shark swimming right "over" your head - its quite an experience!

My favorite birds - PENGUINS!!!!

in a tunnel with my favorite bird so close to me ..!!!! happy happy

centennial Olympic park

Day 17 – Drove to Pompano beach, Florida; 30 miles away from Miami. Went to the beach in the night for a quasi-swim session. Sebastian attracted some wasted girls from Rhode island with his new year fireworks on the beach!

Day 18 – Went to downtown Miami. Rented a bicycle and explored Miami; ended up in Miami beach. It was 20-25 Degrees C in January!

Miami baby..!

going up the wrong bridges on bicycle was not fun!!!

Miami Beach

some birds gathered near our food!!

The End!

Went back to Pompano beach for the night.

Day 19- Sebastian an others dropped me at the Miami International airport; opted out of the new full body scanners, no one asked for pat downs!! Apparently, I am a decent looking kid Met a Spanish literature grad student from UC-boulder at MIA. She had a really sweet smile. Got back to Missoula, MT. End of the trip.