Pictures!

We finally uploaded the pictures from our road trip to our shutterfly account. Go to http://jandjsievert.shutterfly.com/

to see all of the pictures. Warning: there are 415 of them:)

Here is one of our favorite pictures from the Redwood Forest in CA.

Enjoy!

Days 10-14 of the Great Sievert Road Trip

I know this is long overdue, but here is the recount of the last part of our trip:) I'll be posting a link soon to the photo album once I get it uploaded:)

Day 10-We woke up in Sacramento, CA and hit the road early. We headed east and drove through Reno, Nevada, the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and the Great Salt Lake Desert-the most desolate drive I've ever experienced! We stopped at the Great Salt Lake in Utah, and for those of you who haven't been there, it stinks! No literally, it smells horrible and there are dead birds everywhere. I did put my feet in the lake, so I can say I've been in it, but yuck. We drove for a few more hours and ended up in Lymon, Wyoming at another KOA for the night. This time we stayed in a cabin, which seemed like a good idea because we didn't have to put up the tent, but it wasn't quite airtight and there were a ton of spiders. I never thought I'd say this, but I think the tent would have been better:)

Day 11-Our day started bright and early as we drove through Wyoming and into Colorado. We got into Denver earlier than we thought we would, so we were able to walk around downtown while Eileen finished working. We got to see the convention center where the DNC will be held next week and also where Eileen works. We spent the afternoon at Eileen's apartment and then went out for dinner with her and Adam to a fun Mexican restaurant, and had a great time! After dinner we went in the hot tub at Eileen's to relax and then, since we're all getting to be old people, we went to be pretty early.

Day 12-We left Denver and set the GPS for Lincoln, Nebraska. There was a lot of construction as we went, so the drive was kind of long. We got to the Seifferleins and Brent took us for a tour of the University of Nebraska campus, where we got to go into the stadium and take pictures. We even got to see the team practicing! We got our own Nebraska tshirts and had a fantastic dinner with Brent at his favorite sandwich place downtown. After dinner we saw the coffee shop where Brent works and then went to see a movie with him.

Day 13-After sleeping in a little bit, we had a very tasty breakfast with Brian, Emily, Joseph, and Brent and then visited with them until we had to leave. We then started the long drive back to Dowagiac, and along the way saw the world's largest truck stop, aren't you jealous?:) We made it back to Dowagiac around 9:00 and spent the night at the Swisher's.

Day 14-We were able to spend a little time with Jared's family and when we were getting ready to leave, Jared's dad asked what was wrong with our tire. Sure enough, there was a 3 inch nail in our back tire, and we have no idea how long it had been there. So, we unloaded the car again and put the spare tire on the car. Finally, we got to Holland after a 50 mph trip all the way, thank goodness it happened at Jared's parents and not on our trip!

So, here we are, home again, just in case you're wondering, here are some stats from the trip:

Total states traveled through: 17
Total miles driven: 5,917
Gas stations visited: 24
KOA campgrounds visited: 5

We had the most amazing time on this trip, and are so glad that we were able to take it. If anyone is ever thinking of doing a trip like this, let us know and we'll give you some suggestions about where to stop and what to see! Now it's back to reality for us, Janelle to school and starting classes and Jared starting classes and back to work. Thanks for reading, we'll post pictures soon!

Day 9 of the Great Sievert Road Trip

After a great breakfast at the B&B, we hit the road and drove through a very foggy/cloudy redwood forest. We kept going down 101 South and made a side trip down the Avenue of the Giants-a road that has some of the biggest redwoods I've ever seen! We stopped to take a few pictures along the way, and then got back on 101. As we kept going south, we got on Highway 1 which follows the Pacific Coast down CA. We didn't know quite what to expect, but got the most winding, car-sickness inducing road we've ever seen! There were more 10mph turns than I've ever seen, but also more incredible views of the ocean that I've ever seen. A majority of our day was spent on Hwy 1, but later on in the evening, we made it to San Francisco and drove across the Golden Gate Bridge, through downtown, and across the Bay Bridge. We made it as far as Sacramento, which is where I'm updating from. We're at another good old KOA and are getting ready to re-pack the car to get on the road again!

Days 7-8 of the Great Sievert Road Trip

A continuation of Day 7: We went on our hike with Kortney and Red and saw a ton of banana slugs, the rainforest of Kortney's back yard, the old bunkers, batteries, dormatories, observatories, and the resovouir from the old fort that Kortney and Nick live in. After our hike, we went with Kortney to a theater in Astoria where you sit in the balcony on couches and order pizza and drinks. We got to see Kung Fu Panda while I ate a veggie calzone and Jared and Kort shared the "gorgy" topped with smoked salmon, roasted garlic, gorgonzola cheese with a garlic-onion sauce. The movie was very cute:) After the movie we went back to the Marlatt homestead and went to bed early.

Day 8: We got up early to hit the road and had breakfast with Kort and Nick one last time:( We miss you guys! We went down Highway 101 along the coast of Oregon (making a stop at the highly recommended Tillamook Creamery for ice cream at 9:00 am-and we're pretty sure you could smell the cows in the back yard of the Creamery that they use to make the ice cream!). We stopped for lunch at the Crazy Norweigian somewhere in Oregon. We finally crossed the California border and found our bed and breakfast-the Historic ReQua Inn. After checking in and getting cleaned up, we went out for dinner at a local restaurant called the Ambrosia Grille, which was excellent! We enjoyed good wine, chicken tempura for an appetizer, Jared had shrimp scampi and I had the chicken remoulade-all topped off with creme brulee for dessert. When we got back to the B&B, we exchanged anniversary gifts-I got Jared a dressier watch and he got me diamond earrings and a gift certificate and I LOVE them:)

It's day 9 now and we just finished breakfast at the B&B-pecan pancakes with toffee sauce, eggs, and homemade sausage. Our plan is to continue down the coast of CA as far as San Francisco and then stop at Napa on our way back east. We'll update as soon as we can!

Days 3-6 of the Great Sievert Roadtrip

At last we have computer access! Sorry to those of you who have been checking with nothing new to read (sorry Dad:). We're in Washington at Kortney and Nick's house so I'll try to fill you in on the past few days...

Day 3-We got up at the Buffalo KOA and had a great breakfast of pancakes and sausage in the KOA cafe. Once we got on the road we drove through the Bighorn Mountains all the way to Cody, Wyoming. After Cody, we drove through Buffalo Bill State Park and along the Buffalo Bill reservoir which was spectacular! As we approached Yellowstone we drove through the Shoshonie National Forest and saw a few wildfires that they were trying to control. We got to see the helicopters dropping materials on the fire to stop them from spreading. We drove into the east gate of Yellowstone and went towards our campground. About 15 minutes into our drive we came upon a herd of Buffalo and drove right through the middle of them as they were crossing the road-I got a picture of one right next to the car and they are huge! We got to Bridge Bay Campground and got our tent set up. I made spaghetti over the campfire-the first real cooking success over a fire and we got ready for bed. Since we were in bear country, we had to be very careful about not leaving any food or food materials out, so we put everything back into the car and went to bed.

Day 4-We got up early to start our day of exploring Yellowstone and when we walked out of our tent, there were two deer feeding right next to our tent. They didn't care one bit that we were 10 feet from them, and just kept on eating. After breakfast we went and had a shower-and had to pay 3.25 each for our showers! I told Jared that he better make it worth it and take an extra long shower. We spent the rest of the day driving the loop of Yellowstone-from Bridge Bay to Canyon Village to Tower Falls to Mammoth Hot Springs (where we had lunch) to Old Faithful and through the West Thumb on our way back to Bridge Bay. We saw elk, bison, mule deer, pronghorn sheep, pelicans, and some sort of a woodchuck creature. We were hoping to see a bear along the way, but the only bear we saw was the animal cracker bears we were snacking on. We also saw geysers, mud volcanoes, hot springs, waterfalls, steam vents, a caldera, paint pots, caldrons, rivers, lakes, valleys, and a ton of mountains. After about 12 hours of exploring, we headed back to camp and had dinner before collapsing from exhaustion:)

Day 5-We got up and I made a big breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and toast. We had to hurry up and get packed up before check out time at 10, so we ended up changing into our clothes for the day in a gas station then drove out the west entrance of Yellowstone. Since we didn't get to see any bears, we stopped at the Grizzly Rescue Facility where they take the bears they have to remove from the park, so in the end, we did get to see a bear, even if it was in a cage. We continued on the road through Montana and the Rocky Mountains, through Idaho and finally into Washington. We stopped at the Spokane KOA for the night just as it was getting dark and arrived just in time for a big storm to come through. We got the tent set up and a tarp over it just in time for the wind to come and the rain and lightning to hit. We sat in the car and waited it out, and fell asleep in the process. We slept for about 2 hours and when we woke up it the storm had passed on, so we went into the tent for the night and got some sleep.

Day 6-We woke up and tried to dry the tent out while we made breakfast and showered (in case you were keeping track, we didn't shower the day before so it was long past due, thank goodness we love each other even when we stink). Once again we hit the road and drove through Washington, down towards Oregon and followed the Columbia River along the border until we reached the Pacific Ocean. We were able to see the Cascade Mountains and Mt. Hood along the way. We took the bridge from Oregon across the river toward Chinook, Washington and met Kortney who took us to their house. Nick was at work, so Jared and I had a delicious salmon dinner with Kortney.

Day 7-After a great breakfast made by Kortney, we went exploring with Kort and Nick around Ilwaco and Astoria, OR. We saw a shipwreck that's washed up on the beach, had fish and chips for lunch and saw a whole lot of sea lions in the harbor. We also went to get coffee in Astoria and walked through the market that they have every Sunday. Nick had to go to work, so we went to a local artist shop and picked out a print that he personalized for us, when we get home we'll show everyone, it's super cute:)

That takes us up to now, when we're about to go on a hike with Kortney and Red (the dog). Our plan is to spend the night here and then head to CA tomorrow where we'll stay at a bed and breakfast for our first wedding anniversary-can you believe it's been a year already? Thanks for reading the latest chapters in the road trip novel:)

The Great Sievert Road Trip-Days 1 and 2

It's incredible how much you can pack into two days on the road! Unfortunately I can't post pictures from our camera here until we get home, so you'll have to use your imagination:) I'll try to give the best synopsis of each day....

Day 1: When we left Holland to go to Dowagiac to drop off the dog on Sunday, our check engine light came on just before we started packing the car. We had it serviced to avoid such an event, but it apparently didn't make a difference. So, on Monday morning we had to wait for Auto Zone to open so that they could code the problem. Just as we arrived, a huge storm let loose and drenched the poor guy trying to work on the car. Thankfully, it wasn't anything major and we were on the road. We took I-90 through Chicago and all of that traffic with our end goal being Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We traveled north through Wisconsin and then west across the bottom of Minnesota. Along the way we saw about 5 million corn fields, 5 crop dusters, and over 30 of those huge windmills in the plains. We also found out that the huge motorcycle rally is going on in Sturgis, SD as we saw a ton of motorcycles along the way. We arrived in Sioux Falls around 8:30 their time and set up our tent without incident. We've joined the KOA member's club which provides you with a discount at KOA campgrounds and also a great directory of each state and where the KOA campgrounds are located, so finding the Sioux Falls campground was no problem. After a delicious dinner of freeze dried chicken, we tried to get some sleep.

Day 2: We woke up bright and early and left Sioux Falls, headed across South Dakota. As we were driving, we kept seeing signs for the "Corn Palace" in Mitchell, South Dakota. Being the intrigued tourists we were, we followed the signs off of the exit and went to find the corn palace. It was a sight, but probably not something I'd recommend taking the time to see. But, at least Jared and I can say we've seen the only corn palace in the world. We kept on going and crossed the Missouri River, which was incredible and by this time, the landscape was much more rugged and hilly. We stopped for lunch at a local diner in Murdo, South Dakota, and when we walked out, John McCain's bus was parked next to our car! We didn't get to see him, but got a kick out of the chance of that happening in the middle of nowhere! That afternoon we drove throug Buffalo Gap National Grassland, part of the Badlands National Park, and the Black Hills National Forest. We went through Keystone, South Dakota and had to dodge motorcycles because we were close to Sturgis and they were EVERYWHERE! We got to see Mt. Rushmore, which was very cool, and then headed towards Devil's Tower, Wyoming to camp for the night. As we approached Devil's Tower, the sky turned black and lightning started flashing all around. We were still hoping to camp there, but then the hail started, and we quickly realized that a tent wasn't going to work so well. So, we took some pictures of the actual Devil's Tower and then got back on the road figuring we'd just drive as far as we wanted and then would stay in a hotel since it would be night by that time. Jared drove until he was tired and we pulled over in Gillette, Wyoming to sleep and get some dinner. Once again, the motorcycles were everywhere, but this time they had taken all of the hotel rooms in town. We got dinner and then drove on. Finally, we got to Buffalo, Wyoming where we figured we were far enough away from Sturgis that the hotels would be available. WRONG. Thankfully for good old KOA, they had a campground in Buffalo, so we found it and got a site. We put up the tent using the car headlights because it was 10 their time, 12 Michigan time. After a long and tiring day, we fell asleep to the sound of the bikers next to us sharing all of their road stories about Sturgis.

So now we come to today, it's about 7:30 am in Buffalo, Wyoming and I'm lying on my cot snuggled in my sleeping bag updating our blog. We'll try to update soon...I'm learning a new appreciation for that song "On the Road Again":)

Summer Fun

Jared and I have been finding fun things to do this summer to enjoy the weather and the time we have together when he isn't working. We went camping to try out all of the camping equipment before the big trip and found out it's more difficult than one would think to cook with an iron skillet over a campfire-you sure can't turn down the burner. Jared is a trooper for eating the most burnt hash browns I've ever seen. This past weekend Jared's sister, brother-in-law and two nephews came up and we went to Michigan's Adventure and then they stayed for the weekend. It was so fun to have family here to visit! This week we'll be going to Silver Lake for a day with my family, going to a birthday gala, and going to Chicago on Saturday for a concert in Grand Park with my uncle. Only two more weeks before the big trip and we're so excited!

Summer!

We have finally started to seriously plan our trip out West in August, and are getting so excited! We will be gone for two weeks and are planning on going to Nebraska (to see Brent), through South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, to Washington (to see Kort and Nick), through Oregon, down the coast of California, through Nevada and Utah on our way to Colorado (to see Eileen) and then back to good old Michigan. We'll be camping the whole way and doing the whole outdoor adventure thing as we go, so keep your fingers crossed for no rain, no car problems, and most importantly no bears! If anyone has any suggestions for places we need to stop to see, let us know! This is definitely on the list of things we want to do before little Sieverts are running around (and, no, that won't be for awhile:)) so we want to fit in as much as possible.

Have a happy 4th of July everyone!!

Finally a new post!

It's been far too long since we posted, and as a dear friend said, "I keep checking your blog and you never have anything new for me to read!"-or something like that:) We are still alive and well and thoroughly loving married life. We have updated our shutterfly page, so check it out and you can see what we've been up to lately (jandjsievert.shutterfly.com). Summer is finally here for me, so I'm enjoying some down time-tutoring one day each week and spending lots of time by our pool. Jared has his last day of classes for the summer today, and then he'll be joining me at the pool when he's not working. He got a job in April at the Juvenile Detention Center in our county and is always on-call to go in to work as a relief specialist. That means that he's pretty much a guard in the Detention Center. It can be a stressful job, but he is glad to be working in the field he is studying. Jared has one more year of classes to go and then he'll graduate in April. I am still working on my master's and will probably finish next summer or fall. Ellie is doing well and loves having us home as much as possible. June and July mean lots of weddings and summer outings for us, and in August we will be taking a 2 week road trip across country with an itinerary that includes Nebraska, Washington, the coast of California, and Colorado. We'll be camping our way across the US and trying to fit as much as we can in during this trip of a lifetime!