The Big D to Chi Town

SURPRISE!!! We decided to leave Ohio and stop by Hrayr’s family in Michigan on our way to Chicago.... We woke up at 530am just to give us a few extra hours with the fam.  we walked right up to their door at 930 in the morning and knocked.... they all thought it was Serouj coming to bring the girls over... but it wasnt! We spent that morning with our family- which was EXTRA nice considering we have been all over the country without our family for a week at this point.

Hrayrs cousin Carol was in town from Beirut with her husband and Hourig was in town visiting her mom so we got to see the kids- THEY ARE SOOOOO WAYYYY TOOOOO CUTE! ALL OF THESE KIDS!

We had a really nice breakfast outside on the patio, coffee, sweets, and some laughs.  It was a great time.  And you know we didnt leave without a cooler full of food for the road! Thanks Mom!! :)

But now its time to Party in Chicago!!!!

This is the weekend we've been waiting for!  We met up with Mike and stayed at his place.  Hrayr's friend Reza was in town too and we got him to delay his flight out from the next morning until the next night.  

These pictures should sum up our first day there... (which started at 4pm)

We met up with some of Mike’s friends, had a few drinks at a few places.... we went out to see the nightlife of Chicago on a Saturday night... it was all so much fun!  We finally decided to go back home around 3AM and when we get back a few of us were still sitting up on Mike’s balcony (which has the most beautiful view of Chicago from every direction you look!!!)

so were hangin out, talking about the night... when all of a sudden something is spilling from the upstairs balcony!?!?? Mike’s roommate yells at them that we are down here and to stop, but still they dont stop. And each time they are spilling something its landing on ME!!! (sort of) It was a bit delayed but FINALLLLY I realized... brace yourself.... I was getting puked on. SOMEONE WAS THROWING UP and it was landing on ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  After laughing soooo hard on the ground for a solid few minutes, I ran to the bathroom and jumped in the shower with my clothes on! GROSS! 

But funny :) 

Day two Chicago: Tourist Sight Seeing

(Grant Park to Buckingham Fountain to Millennium Park)

Our day started with a delicious Armenian breakfast, which Mike and his Roommate prepared for us.  We each even had our own half of a grapefruit! Thats hospitality right there! 

We hopped on the green “L” and went to Grant Park where we saw the copper legs- let me also state that the weather was RIDICULOUS.  It was probably a hundred degrees and incredibly humid. I’m talkin drip sweat walking under the sun!!! but it was so worth it because this city is GORGEOUS!

This picture is called the "classic 'bean' picture"

This water park was soooooooooooooo refreshing in the HOT HOT weather!!!

After we did some sight seeing we decided it was time to go to the concert.  We had tickets to a music festival called “Pitchfork” where a bunch of bands perform from 2pm until 10pm.  Reminder: It is 100+ degrees and huuuuumid! We saw some great bands (although we were really dying in the heat) 

We were there majority of the day, ate a ton of food, drank, danced, hung out, and came home.  THe day was so exhausting we literally passed out while watching a movie at night!!

I must add that I called AShley THREE times for her birthday and didnt get her once... she must've been having a great day :) But here is my official BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT TO YOU ASH!!! LOVE YOU GIRL!!!

DAY THREE: Gotta Say Bye 

Today we are gong to brunch in Chicago and will be heading out to continue our driving.  Our trip has been a blast so far.  Visiting different cities all over, its been a real eye opener as far as the land of this country, and the people, and the food.  I'm sad that it's more than half way over.

The next week is going to be very different form the previous week.  We decided to nix Mt. Rushmore out of the trip (sad... but we had to).  Unfortunately we have 5 days to come back west- I scheduled two 16-hour drives for the next two weeks... WHO DOES THAT? not sure why i thought that was possible.  So we will be going to to Des Moines, Iowa for the night tonight and heading on to Denver, Colorado tomorrow- all on our route to Mt. Zion, Utah.  This is our next BIG stop and we have been looking forward to camping there this whole trip! I cant wait to share those pictures!!!

We plan to be home either Friday or Saturday- but my plan is to stay the night there and have another hangout before we go to Scottsdale... FOR GOOD!!!!

OK thats catching y'all up to date- I doubt Ill have internet the next few days but I hear the drive west from here is the most beautiful part of the country for driving... YAY!!!

xoxo

WhIsKeY FoR mY mEn & BeEr FoR mY hOrSeS...

M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I:

We got into Mississippi and it was so pretty (just as every other state has been)- we looked up an old historical house from the 1800s and got the address so we could visit it, the internet said there were tours.  To my surprise, we exited into the tiniest southern town i’ve ever seen.... it was an all black town and we stuck out like crazy! we were getting stares from everyone! On top of that, the old historical house looked more ghetto than historical and there was no one there so we basically went to this town for no reason! I even think me and Hrayr got into a fight becuase he couldnt get back on the freeway fast enough!! haha I wanted to get outta there FAST!

ALABAMA:

Unfortunately our camera died in Mississippi- just as we got to the ghetto house! So we used my backup camera for pictures the rest of this day... but forgot the adapter at home so no pictures from here... but I’ll paint a pretty picture with my story.  The state started off beautiful! green, looked like Louisiana and mississippi.  We decided to go to a plantation/mansion - in Green County, Alabama.  A nice southern Gentleman named Tom gave us a tour of the Kirkwood Mansion- which was built in 1864.  It was soooo neat!!!!!! our first “historical” experience on this trip.  He told us about the family that lived there, how one of the children died from falling off the 2nd story porch that we were standing on... The furniture inside was so ornate and unique- most were originals from the house. Its really a shame i cant show pictures of this place right now :/ The town was your typical small town that you’d picture in Alabama.  Everyone knew everyone.  We were told to go to Miss Betsy’s restaurant- in fact Tom called Miss Betsy himself to tell her to stay open for us... but she had already closed.  So we hit the road on route to Nashville.... and I start examining the clouds and sky and predict that a storm is about to hit us... HOT DAYUMMM I was right! An unbelievable thunderstorm that lasted for most ALL of Alabama- my poor hubby had to drive the whole way practically because it was too dangerous for me.  So I look up the weather conditions on a live doppler image (as if my one semester Climate and Geography class taught me anything) and realized that there was a severe T- Storm warning, Flash Flood Warning and Tornado Warning and we were smack dab in the middle of it.... TORNADO????? OMG my heart rate was a million beats per minute and all i could focus on was watching for ditches along the side of the freeway so we could hide under when this Tornado hit. lol. such a drama queen... cuz nothing happened. Although I do think thunder struck on both sides and in front & back of us during that storm.... we got lucky furreals.... BUT we made it out of Alabama and into Tennessee... my future home state :P

Tennessee was... you guessed it... soooo pretty!!! lol I have to say I didnt realize how gorgeous our country is! I expected so much of the land to be flat and boring farmland.... but the beautiful land has definitely helped the long drives to be tolerable.  We got into Nashville at about 7pm, checked into our hotel and I had already decided I loved this city.  Literally cowboys everywhere - all I did was walk to the bathroom and someone crossed my path on accident, tipped his hat and said “excuse me miss...” wowwww Southern Gentlemen...

That night we went to downtown, i bought 2 pairs of cowboy boots and Hrayr got one pair- what a FUN EXPERIENCE!!!!! We were so happy! We left the boot store for a BBQ place called Jack’s.... the world’s most AMAZING Ribs and Pork Sandwich (pictures come later since we still didnt have a camera on this night... but here is a pic of our boots :)

After dinner we went to different bars and listened to music at each one.  Our favorite place was called “Second Fiddle.”  Every bar had a live band, I’m certain we saw at least one future country music star/band :) Drank Jack & Cokes all night and called it a day.  I went to bed smiling for sure.  

TENNESSEE DIA DOS:

This day has been our most historical day so far.  We went to Franklin, Tennessee... which is said to be the battleground of the most atrocious battle of the civil war.  There is an old house called The Carter House where the Carter family lived. The house got taken over by the union general and the family and all their neighbors hid in the basement.  THe confederates came in to attack right in the front yard of this house and all over this tiny town.  The Carter house still has bullet holes on the outside... hundreds of them... from the battle.  There was a house accross the street called the Lotz House whcih was built by a German guy.... this house still had canon ball marks inside on the wood and blood stains.  After there we went to The Carnton Plantation- now this was a HUUUUUUGE mansion- a real plantation, said to own tons and tons of slaves.  The plantation was also in the town of Franklin.  When the battle ended all the wounded soldier were transported to this plantation and their Parlor was transformed to an operating room... MASSIVE blood stains all over that place.  it was so interesting... if those walls could talk!

Toby Keith HERRRRE WE COME!!!

En Route: Nashville to Cuyahoga Falls

Passed Through: Kentucky

Checked in at our Hotel in Ohio

We decided to camp at Portige Lakes Campground in Akren Ohio.  Hrayr pitched the tent perfectly! the campsite was great, right on a lake.. we saw a ton of cardinals fly through from tree to tree- crimson red... too bad I couldnt get a picture.  We pitched our tent and went to the Toby Keith concert, then came back and slept for a few hours before we got up for a morning surprise.

The concert was SUCH an experience..... first of all, i was the ONLY person there with dark hair.  Everyone was staring at me and hrayr- this is no joke. We found a spot on the lawn witch a perfect view in front of this husband and wife and their 2 daughters..... All born and raised in Ohio... on a farm.  They were super cool. I was telling them about our trip and mentioned that “Our country is sooooo beautiful!” and the man responds “Oh ya? what country is that?” like... REALLY!?!? i looked at him and his wife and was like... “THIS country. OUR country.  AMERICA???” turned to his was wife and was like... “is he serious???” so that goes to show you the type of crowd we were amongst.  But everyone was pretty cool once they realized that we knew every single word to every single Toby keith song.  Once they saw that they all wanted to dance and jump with us.  The concert was the BEST Toby Keith concert I’ve been to (two total, lol).  we had such a great time! Met some interesting people.  But it was a very long drive and a very long night at the concert in the heat and we decided to leave Ohio for Chicago at 6am the next morning so we just went back to our camp site and went to bed.