step 3 - south dakota

After filling up with gas, the mishaps were kept to a minimum... at least for me. I should probably mention that Nash had the EXACT same thing happen to him (he drafted me into the next gas station). You would think that we learned our lesson when I ran out of gas, but no, we had to do everything the hard way. At least the portion of South Dakota we were traveling through was really pretty.


The roads in the plain states are pretty flat and straight.


Grassy fields were as far as the eye could see.


Until we got to the black hills... even though they are red in this picture.


Some more scenery from western South Dakota

Besides some pretty landscape, South Dakota is also full of tourist traps like the Corn Palace, the pre-historic museum, the wild west outpost and everyone's favorite, Wall Drug.


Field riding a giant rabbit at Wall Drug

Once we got deep into the black hills and close to the real tourist filled areas of South Dakota, there was some really interesing structures.

Wooden Bridge on the way to Mt. Rushmore.

step 2 - the midwest

The journey continues through the midwest, out of Chicago and through to Minnesota. I have concluded in my four trips across these United States that there really isn't anything interesting in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Anyone from these states will inevitably argue with me, to which point I calmly and simply ask them, "If its so amazing, why did you leave?" I have yet to get a response from any native of these parts thats worthy of mentioning. Oh well... Minnesota reminded me of Pennsylvania. It had rolling hills, dairy cows, wind mills, real thunderstorms, and some crazy clouds. For a moment I was strangely nostalgic, but I snapped out of that as I started to drive off of the shoulder.



ATT... more power lines in more places



hmm, i wonder if they use the horns for stakes when they play horseshoes



so...does this mean that the sun actually is right no my tail?



the clouds in this state are a bit spotty (insert joke here)



darkness falls but some keep truckin' it into the not-so-great plains

stop 1 - niagara falls

Okay... so... I have driven the country four times (twice east to west, twice west to east). Each time I have done a trip I have had a different group of people with me, thus I have stopped at most of the places you are soon to see a grand total of four times. With that said, rather that post pictures in a chronological order and have a great deal of redundancy, I have just selected some of the better pictures of these four journeys to upload for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!


Stop one: Niagara Falls



this is the generic "i went to niagara falls and was too lazy to walk to canada, so i took the picture from the states even though the view isn't as nice" shot



this was taken from the US/Canada bridge that spans the gorge...I am pretty much in the middle of the bridge, exactly half way to freedom, i think... either way I am really close to ketchup potato chips and I am happy



getting even closer to those crazy canadian chips....mmmmmm!



i made it to the boat, aka the maid of the cyst... wearing nothing except a leather banana hammock and the light blue poncho that you get when you buy your admission ticket... have i mentioned that I LOVE canada, eh!



I've been on the boat for about an hour, I have consumed 4 bags of ketchup potato chips and chased it with some french fries and gravy... man, the maple leaf lovers sure do enjoy messing with potatoes. The down side of all this is the fact that I puked off the aft of the boat and freaked a few tourists out (actually, I guess that isn't really a down side). I'm ready to get back on the road... Chicago here I come!

West Bound for the Puget Sound

All good stories and life have a few main components. Primarily, they have a beginning, middle, and an end. This next rambling is the tale of my entrance to the Seattle scene. This post will be atypical from my other posts, which will be very picture oriented and geared towards visual stimulation rather text heavy.

I promise that I will have a little text throughout this website as possible (sans the early posts). If a picture really is worth a thousand words, then I am gonna rely on them to share my experiences. They are a lot easier to upload than typing out a few pages. Plus they look better. And, it just so happens that I have a few thousand pictures to share. Okay, here we go...



THE BEGINNING
The story of my initial venture to Seattle begins back in wonderful upstate New York. It was the fall of 2005. I had recently suffered a series of setbacks in the summer of 2005. One of the more significant setbacks was the loss of an internship with a very reputable aerospace company (I was hired and fired before I had even arrived for employment, really messed up). This event and its repercussions propelled me into my an interesting arrangement in which I ended up living with the mother of my college roommate (that in itself is an awesome story, but is beyond this posting). The outcome of my aerospace internship debacle led me to Syracuse, New York. I was to start my first internship with a very well known air conditioning company. After working in the corporate environment for a few weeks, I was not entirely excited and/or happy with my situation and the path in which I was traveling. It wasn't all that bad, but I knew it could be better. I was going on 21 and not completely enthralled with what my foreseeable future had in store. Something needed to change.

While living in Syracuse, I quickly determined that upstate New York was not for me. Thus my search for a bigger and better future was born. I ditched a day of work to go back to school for a career fair. I spoke with numerous companies, both big and small. I was even called back for interviews at a few. One of these happened to be a Seattle based aerospace company. I went to my interview ready to talk about an aerospace future... fresh for the opportunity to show them my worth after being shunned by their competitor. I was too fresh. I researched the complete wrong job opening that my interviewer had intended to discuss. Bye bye any potential career in aerospace, I had just screwed the pooch. Royally. I left the interview discouraged and disheveled.

Luckily, that changed quickly. My return to Syracuse, and the realization that I did not want a career with air conditioners, gave me a new vengeance at improving my situation. For a two-three week period, I applied for every aerospace job that I could find. Nothing. Months went by. Still nothing. 2005 transitioned into 2006. Nothing. Then, all of a sudden I got a phone call (in the middle of a physics mid-term, with the volume turned up to the hard-of-hearing loudness setting... only slightly embarrassing). I finished up the mid-term, checked the voice mail and was surprised to hear that it was a hiring representative from the Seattle based aerospace company. She was looking to see if I was available the upcoming Saturday morning for an interview.

Shit. As of that exact moment, I wasn't available.

Saturday happened to be my 21st birthday party. I was anticipating being either really really hungover, still drunk, or passed out on Saturday Morning. Maybe even all three. But maturity prevailed, I quickly re-arranged my weekend plans to accommodate my interview. I presumed that karma was in my favor, after all, Saturday was still my 21st birthday. I was right, karma was on my side. I nailed the interview. I was completely prepared for every question, got along capitally with the interviewers, and had some follow up questions that actually stumped the interrogation panel (a first for all of them). The conversation that was scheduled for 20-30 minutes lasted over an hour. I ended up interviewing them about their individual positions, career decisions and personal job preferences for a much longer time than they had interviewed me about my engineering 'skills'.

AWESOME!

Then nothing. A few weeks pass without any communication. The academic quarter moved on and finals week kicks into in high gear. Then something. AGAIN, I get a phone call in a physics test. AGAIN, its an HR person calling about my availability for a conversation. However, the situation with this message is a bit different. This gal needs to speak with my about my start date availability, benefits package, and relocation details. I am on cloud nine.

Nate's now west bound for the Puget Sound!