Late last week my friend Sara and I embarked on the great American road trip, and after about 10-12 hours of driving a day, I didn’t have time to blog from the road but wanted to share some of our adventures. I was relocating from Blast’s Indianapolis office to join Sabrina at our new office in San Francisco. We couldn’t think of a better way to get to California than to drive out west.

We left Thursday, July 12 and were a couple hours into the cornfields when we decided to stop at the Beefhouse for lunch. Despite its name and creepy cowhead logo, the actual food was really tasty (I recommend). However, before we found the restaurant we ended up in a catering hall attached to the front of the Beefhouse. Parking next to it were rows of Cadillacs and Lincolns, which made us curious. Could a restaurant advertised on a billboard along I-74 be that expensive?

The moment we opened the doors and stepped inside, all the fancy cars suddenly made sense. We were surrounded by a sea of purple and red; by what up until that point I thought of as mere legend- the Red Hat Society. There must have been hundreds of them, women all wearing purple outfits and red hats listening to a country band. I’ve never seen anything like it.

As soon as we crossed over from Nebraska to Wyoming, the scenery really started to change. From green hills and fields to sun burnt rock stacks and dirt walls. Friday the 13th found us staying in a sketchy Heartland Inn in a small Wyoming town with themed rooms. Unfortunately, we didn’t warrant entrance in either the Jungle room or the Liberty room and had to settle for taking a picture of the door.

Saturday we drove through beautiful Utah- the fields of white are salt, not sand- as we discovered by pulling over and investigating; and made it to Reno just in time for dinner. Ah, the biggest little city in the world. Or as Lindsey G. stated, a poor man’s Vegas. We stayed at the hotel/casino Circus Circus Saturday night and made it our mission to find a bar not attached to a casino. There was only one, and after two beers and a chat with a careful hitchhiker, we called it a night.

Sunday brought us to California- an awesome drive around Lake Tahoe and through Sacramento. Finally after 40 hours of driving and over 2,300 miles, we crossed the Bay Bridge into San Francisco. I already love it and can’t wait to make it my home!