Coast to Coast: Vermont and Quebec City

After our visit to the birthplace of Mormonism Laura and I drove to Montpelier, Vermont to visit her brother and sister-in-law. This was my first time in Vermont and I couldn’t believe how rural it was. Seriously, I saw nothing but trees, rolling hills, and small towns. The state capital only has a population of 8,000 and it’s way small. It feels like the kind of perfect little town that would suddenly get destroyed by a volcano in some cheesy action movie (I mean you, Dante’s Peak). We took a tour of the state capitol which was actually really cool. I learned that two presidents have come from Vermont, but they both became president by being vice-president to a president who died. So apparently Vermont is good at electing vice presidents.

Vermont: Birthplace of vice presidents who outlive presidents

My friend Leigh drove an hour to visit with me and it was so great to see her. We had three years of gossip to catch up on after all. She stayed for dinner and Laura’s sister-in-law Sarah made an awesome meal from local produce. The salad even had flowers in it which I had never seen before. If I were to write a slogan for Vermont it would be, “Vermont: Pretty salads.”

Vermont: There are beavers here

Sarah also sketched our road trip so far
(based on the stories we told her)

The next day Laura and I drove to Quebec City which is when our car problems started. Unbeknownst to us Laura’s car was leaking oil. It was the result of a really poorly done oil change before the trip even started. During the drive there was no sign of any problem, but one block before we pulled up to where we’d be staying that night three different warning lights suddenly came on and the car did not sound healthy. We were super-lucky that the problems started when we were at our destination instead of in the middle of nowhere in a French speaking province. We put more oil in the car and it ran just fine (for a while).

The living room of our awesome Airbnb in Quebec City.
I should have taken a picture of Laura's gorgeous room.

My sister Lindsay and my mom flew in to Quebec City that night to join Laura and me on our Canadian adventure. We spent the whole next day exploring old town Quebec City and it is so cool. It feels like Europe with old buildings, winding stone streets, and people speaking a language I don’t understand. We took a bus tour of the city since we only had a day to see things. While we were sitting on the upper deck we drove a little too close to a tree and I ducked to avoid a branch. My sister was sitting right behind me and didn’t see the branch because my big head was in the way. She had no time to move when I ducked so she got unexpectedly tree slapped. She was totally fine thanks to her sunglasses and a healthy amount of laughter cured any embarrassment.

See, it looks just like Europe

In ascending order: Laura, Lindsay, mom, and I

Laura had spent the previous evening learning French phrases on Duolingo. I could hear her repeating phrases like “you’re a woman” and “there’s a cat.” I can’t recall if it was out loud or just in my head, but I was definitely making fun of her for learning such useless phrases. To show me just how wrong I was Laura had not one but TWO opportunities to appropriately say, “There’s a cat!” while we explored the city. The only things I can say in French are “My name is Ben,” “I’m from Washington,” and “I love you, my friend.” According to Duolingo Laura is 2% fluent in French. I won’t argue that.

I didn't tell my mom to jump. But she totally
could've. She's an athlete.

Quebec City: Too charming for its own good

There was an ice cream shop a block from our house with ridiculously long lines. We couldn't understand what the fuss was all about -- until we went there. The ice cream is a delicious soft serve that they dip in one of twelve coatings. It was awesome, just awesome. If you are ever in Canada and see a Chocolats Favoris you have to go. Lindsay loved it so much she's thinking about going to the one in Victoria for her birthday. 

More Canadian adventures to follow. 

Coast to Coast: Iowa to Palmyra, NY

Train travel is da bomb! I will vote for
whichever president will give us high speed trains

After a few days in Iowa City I hopped on a train in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa and traveled to Chicago. This was my first time traveling by train in the US and I loved it so much I would totally do it again. I wanted to get the full experience so I had a meal in the dining car. Since I was alone I was seated with a man from California, a woman from Mexico, and an annoying man from Alaska. Seemingly out of nowhere the man from Alaska said, “I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t understand why Mexicans who move to this country don’t want to learn English.” The Mexican woman spoke very good English and looked a little stunned. I replied, “I think most of them do want to learn English, but learning a language takes a lot of time and resources and people who come to the US to work often don’t have as much time to dedicate to learning English as they’d like.” He responded, “No, learning another language is easy.” I then said, “Well, I’m getting a PhD in how people learn second languages and it really does take work to learn a language as an adult.” I wish this story ended with a fruitful discussion of second language acquisition and him apologizing for misjudging a whole group of people, but he was more of a talker than a listener. He just ignored what I said and started talking about something else. But the burger I had was delicious. 

When I got to Chicago I learned that my friends Kyle and Mary were just about to leave Chicago by train and we overlapped by 40 minutes. The unexpected reunion was awesome. I stayed with LeAnne for a few days and spent the 4^th of July with her and her friends. We watched the Chicago fireworks from a park that felt like a warzone. The park was packed with people setting off their own fireworks and the constant explosions, debris strew fields, and smoky haze made it feel like WWII.

20 minutes of unexpected catching up in Union Station

LeAnne and I have never lived in the same state, but we
manage to see each other a few times a year

Fun Laura picked me up at LeAnne’s on the July 6^th and then we spent a few days visiting her friends in Fort Wayne, Indiana and East Lansing, Michigan. We then hopped over to Canada to drive to Niagara Falls. The drive through southern Ontario was unexpectedly stressful. Laura had some pepper stray with her that they made her surrender at the border. The border agent made it seem like a huge deal that she had brought it. We had both contacted our phone companies and had been told that they would work just fine in Canada, but when we got there they didn’t. Also, I couldn’t figure out how to use the gas pump at first which just made me feel stupid. The drive through Canada really stressed me out and I was so relieved when we got to New York.

We quickly examined Niagara Falls from the US side and then walked back into Canada to see the falls from the other side. After being there for a bit we walked back to the US so we entered and left Canada twice in one day. I’m sure this was super-sad for Canada as we taunted her with our presence, but refused to stay. We stopped on the bridge between the US and Canada to watch the fireworks and they were spectacular.

We're in Canada -- again

Laura and I drove to Palmyra, NY the next day to watch the Hill Cumorah Pageant. Laura isn’t LDS so she didn’t care about the pageant, but I’ve been wanting to see it for years and she was kind enough to spend a day with me in the birthplace of Mormonism. I gave her a brief overview of Palmyra history during the drive so she’d know a little about the Hill Cumorah, the Smith Farm, and the Grandin Printing Shop. On the tour of the Printing Shop the missionary giving the tour asked who Joseph’s first scribe for the Book of Mormon was and Laura answered, “His wife!” before any of the Mormons could answer. My little lesson in the car made it look like Laura really knew her stuff. I also ran into one of my former students who is serving a mission there. When she was in my class she wasn’t baptized yet so I had absolutely no idea that she was on a mission and it was so great to see her.

Thumbs up for running into your old teacher

Laura at the Smith Farm: "I know so much Mormon history!"

The Hill Cumorah Pageant was super cheesy and I loved it. Laura was a great sport and was kind enough to spend the day doing Mormony things with me. What I found really odd was that some of the missionaries giving tours talked to us like we knew absolutely nothing about Mormonism while others talked to us like we were all Mormons. I really appreciate that Laura was willing to take an entire day doing what I wanted to do and the only time she complained was when I made her climb the Hill Cumorah (it's quite steep).

Laura: "What's a Nephite? Is it, like, a Pokemon?"

Laura made us awesome matching t-shirts for the trip. Apparently Korean couples wear matching outfits on their honeymoons so Laura says that we're basically Korean honeymooners. I can't think of any reason why that wouldn't accurately describe us. 

Laura: "It's that way!"
Me: "No, it's that way!"

More adventures to come!

Coast to Coast: Seattle to Iowa City

Minute 0 of a 30 hour drive

On June 30^th my brother Jessen, his wife Laura (not to be confused with my friend fun Laura who will appear in later posts), their three kids, and I drove from Seattle to Iowa City. We’ve all done this drive together before, but the 30 hours in the car felt a little longer this time. They bring me along because I’m super-good at staying awake. Put me in the driver’s seat at 10:00 pm and I'll drive until 7:00 am no problem. All it takes is a Coke, peanut butter M&Ms, a bag of chips, and a good lineup of podcasts. They get to sleep while I drive and I get a free ride to Iowa. It's a win-win. This time I even got to enjoy a spectacular sunrise while driving through the rolling hills of South Dakota.

The best part of the drive was stopping at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota. I mean, we had to stop there because it’s the world’s only Corn Palace. It’s basically the Tigger of random tourist stops (because it’s the only one). Fun Laura sent me a postcard from when she visited it last year which is the only reason I’d ever heard of it. And it was awesome! First of all, it’s totally free (that’ll earn any site a 10/10 in my book) and the façade is covered in murals made entirely of corn. Maybe it’s because it was super-rad, or maybe it’s because I’d only slept for about an hour, but I loved the Corn Palace because it was so randomly absurd. The inside was mostly just a huge gift shop with displays about corn. I bought a magnet and didn’t learn anything about corn.

That mural is made entirely of corn! 

So much corn

 As we were leaving I saw a sign that said that Cornelius, the Corn Palace mascot (talk about the big times!), would be coming out at 11:00 am (coming out to greet people, not coming out of the closet). I looked at my watch and it was almost 11:00 so we milled around for a bit waiting for Cornelius to emerge. Twice I asked a teenage employee when he’d be coming out, but at 11:10 he still hadn’t shown up so we left and I was disappointed, but only a little.

Since we didn't get to meet the real Cornelius
we had to take a picture with his plastic statue

Iowa--surprisingly gorgeous

We stayed at Laura’s parents’ house on a farm outside of Iowa City. It’s in a beautiful setting and watching hundreds of fireflies at night was pretty magical. Laura’s parents are hilarious and they taught me all kinds of cool facts about Iowa. Did you know that Iowa has 99 counties, but 100 county courthouses? In one county the two biggest towns couldn’t decide which one of them would be the county seat so they both built courthouses. We also discussed some online schemes that are going around. For example, someone will pose as a wealthy man on a dating website, trick you into falling in love with him, and then say that he needs a few thousand dollars for a fake emergency. And because you’re a lonely woman who is so happy to finally feel the validation that comes from being loved you send him the money. Laura’s mom warned, “As soon as they tell you you’re beautiful you know they’re lying.” Solid advice, women of the internet.

Wyatt and his kids

While I was in Iowa City I visited Wyatt and his family. Wyatt (or Y@) was one of my colleagues at BYU. He didn’t have a cellphone back then so his wife would call him on our office phone and I’d inevitably always answer because no one else would want to. We all became good friends and it was so good to see them again and meet the new kid that had arrived since my last visit. Corn Palaces, fireflies, and sunrises are all pretty cool, but the best part of road trips is all the great people I get to see. 

I’m still traveling and I’ll write about the rest of the trip later.  

My sister-in-law's parents aren't tall people.
This fact is evidenced in their mirror height.