Pittsburgh to Utah!!

Hey everyone!  Kayce here. We know this blog post is a bit late... but we have spent the last two weeks solely focused on pushing out website, www.findfestivaljobs.com live! 

When we left you last, we were headed back to Pittsburgh!  There we spent much of the week working... but we did break away to spend time with family and friends, relaxing, laughing, playing games.

BFFs Brock and Sadie

Cherry Pie For Breakfast

We loved playing this game... late into the night! Mom crushed us!

One day, Brock. Mom and I decided to go play in the city!  We first ended up at the Fountain at PPG place.  This is located in downtown Pittsburgh, where a bunch of kids of all ages, run through the water!

After that, we went (in our clothes) and played in our friend's pool! Brock and I raced, did handstands, and basically acted like we were 10 again.  Mom Mom Mom! Look at me!!!

 After we had our fill of Chlorine, we decided to go... in our wet clothes... to Pittsburgh Church Brew Works! Its an old renovated Catholic Church that was renovated into a bar.  They have all their own beers.  Its a stunning environment, and a ton of fun! Our pictures are kind of dark! sorry!

 We packed our bags and headed west to Chicago! We had no idea what was in store for us that night....

 Once we arrived at our friends' Erica and Catherine's apartment, we were off.... to go on a huge yacht and ride along the Chicago coast. We were awestruck by the beautiful scenery and our rare opportunity to see Chicago by water at night.

PBR on a yacht! You know how we do.

Catherine and Kayce

Chillin like villains!

Catherine and Shawley

The next morning, we all headed to breakfast. We loved their huge skillets and chocolate milk! Great way to start the morning

 We headed out of the city and back on the road!

Crossing back over the Mississippi River!

After driving 14 hours... since we are driving on all side roads... we finally made it to Columbia, MO to see Little One!  Little One's real name is Tony and as you can see.... he's not so little... but  he is one of the nicest, most genuine, and smartest people I know.

Little One!!

We met him out at a restaurant for a few beers and dinner.  After Tony's solid recommendation, we ordered the wings, and they were absolutely delicious! Hickory smoked in house that the meat just fell off the bone.

We hung out for a bit with Little One, his girlfriend Ashley, and their dog Dexter! It was great to catch up and have a few laughs!

 The next morning, Tony, Brock. and I went to a cute cafe and had fresh breakfast burritos! We headed out of town

Where are we headed again?

 We headed on our way through cornfields and winding roads through Nebraska. 

 We ended up camping at a Reservoir in Eastern Nebraska.  It was beautiful! We swam, drank wine, and relaxed before dark.... again, not knowing what we were getting ourselves into.

We were asleep in our tent when Crack! Bang!... lightning strikes across the water. After that... a huge rain storm came through!  Brock didn’t have his contacts in so he couldn’t see a thing, but I could see it all!  There was lightning flashes hitting the water and loud, grumbling thunder. The rain was pouring down so hard that even our rain cover was leaking.  The wind was so fierce that our tent was blowing in on us!  Of course I was petrified there was going to be a tornado so I started freaking out!  Brock found his glasses and set up two picnic tables to block the wind while I kept all fours up trying to hold up the tent at all ends!

Check out Brock's picnic table structure!

 

The next day we picked up and drove all through Colorado and to the Rocky Mountain National Park.  It was absolutely beautiful!  Still had snow up in the mountains and we reached up that high!   

  

 

 

There were a bunch of huge Elk grazing along the edge of the road.  We loved the scenery.  We again camped out on a lake.  It quite picturesque.  At one point in the night I couldn't sleep so I got out of the tent.  The big dipper was lit up on the horizon, almost looking like it was on fire.  

Everyone designs a placemat!

We hung out in Steamboat Springs for a bit the next day.  This is definitely a place I want to revisit... maybe this winter??

Chocolate Malts!

Off to SLC! Ahh… a nice, warm, clean bed.  Even though I loved camping (who have I turned into??)… and I even miss it sometimes… it was such an awesome feeling to unload the car and put our stuff AWAY!

As a Welcome Home treat, we went with our friends on a tubing trip down the river.  Great way to spend our first day back!

Thanks for reading our blog and sharing in our adventures!  Although we have ended this journey, don't worry.... we will be back... and back on the road!

NYC, Mass and Vermont

B*ROCK here for this installment.

It's hard to believe we've been on the road for almost two months now. It seems just like yesterday we left Utah and soon we will be heading back that way.

This week we made the trek to New York, New York where we spent some time with Kayce's mom who also was in NYC for work. We were fortunate enough to stay in the Trump Soho on the pull out couch with Kate for a night. For that evening we had dinner plans with Christina and Kayce's mom. The place was in Chelsea and they had some amazing Vegan and Vegetarian food. It was my first time meeting Christina and I had been warned that her and Kayce were friends for a reason. They are practically identical in character...

Dinner with Christina and Kate

Hanging at the Trump Soho

Trump coffee.

For real?

The next morning we ordered room service and hung out until we had to take Kate to the airport. After saying our good byes we headed over to Christina's place in Brooklyn. We decided to go grab a bite to eat and found this awesome raw place. Afterward we took the metro back to rest up for a bit before heading out to grab a drink later.

Awesome raw food if you're ever in the Brooklyn area.

Sad to see trash in cities like this.

Super weird ad for stop smoking.

On the next day we made our way to Central Park. I met up with my friend Phil to grab a drink and catch up. Kayce and Christina went to grab a nice glass of wine somewhere cool. Later that evening we took the metro to a bar that Phil was hanging out at. His buddy is the bar tender there and had it closed down for a party earlier. We arrived just as everyone was leaving and they locked the doors behind us. Come to find out that we had the whole bar to ourselves. Kayce, Christina, Amanda, Phil and myself hung out and met a few other people that had been invited.

Ball game in central park.

Christina enjoying some wine in the shade.

Artist on the metro.

Kayce, Christina and Amanda

Phil and myself.

The next morning I was sad to leave our friends in NY but also very glad to leave the hustle and bustle of the city. Being a country born kid it was a bit too much for me! We headed up to Becket, MA to swoop up our friend Mark and take off to Vermont for some camping. We arrived to the campsite after dark and built a fire under the stars. It was nice after the busy city adventure.

Packed and ready to go!

Fire under the stars and full moon.

Mark enjoying his time away from work.

Campsite. Mark is still sleeping...

Our view.

After an awesome night under the stars we continued to Grout Pond where we took a hike around the lake.

Mark's not really that short... You can see him crouching. What a good friend right?

Mark and Kayce hiking. It was pretty muddy and wet in some places.

View from the other end of pond.

When we finished our hike we made out way to Manchester, VT so Mark could shop for some attire for an upcoming wedding. After that we took a mini road trip across Vermont to New Hampshire and saw the sights.

Mark Pascoli. The Dude.

New Hampshire has one of my favorite state motos.

We found a small school to stop and play catch.

The school had a little garden by the playground.

Mark after shooting some hoop!

This looks good but 99% of my shots ended up in air balls...

After our mini road trip we made our way back to The Ye Ole Forge for some raved about wings. Next we made it back to Jacob's Pillow and set up camp at Mark's cabin. Mark showed us his garden he spent hours and hours on. We set up the tent and built a nice little campfire for the night.

Marks garden and cabin.

Headlamps rock!

The next day Kayce and I worked in the Cakewalk Cafe and attended to some emails. When everyone from work at Jacob's Pillow was done we met up at the Gypsy Joint for some awesome food and laughs. Next stop was Moe's for drinks with the rest of the crew.

Mariclare!

 

Kayce enjoying her food...

Kayce and her many friends from Jacob's Pillow

After parting ways we made our way back to Mark's cabin for one last night around the campfire. Kayce and Mark's friend Carly came down to say hello.

We decided to try out some different settings on the camera night shots.

Mark and Carly

Spooky.

The next morning we got up and made our way to Bethel, VT to meet up with my two homies Ben and Matt. Matt grew up in the area and we decided to float the river and check out some of his swimming holes from his childhood. Afterwards we grabbed some food and threw the frisbee around at Matt's parents house. We decided to setup camp in their yard for the night before heading to Burlington the next day.

Stripped Clams. Not Clam Strips.

Frisbee and a beer.

This will do!

In the morning we went and grabbed some food at Eaton's. We poured as much Vermont maple syrup as we could on our pancakes. When we were fully satisfied we made our way to Burlington where we toured the Burton Snowboards factory. Afterward we head to community kickball and watch as 10 teams competed.

I missed the memo on wearing a black shirt.

Breakfast is served!

These are all the people that have ate at Eaton's from SLC, UT. Come to find out a famous Mormon prophet was born in this area.

Ben in his kickball attire preparing for the game.

Crab walk race to see who is up to bat first.

Game on!

Hanging out afterwards waiting for the sun to set.

Matt Lewis

Sunset over Lake Champlain. Great way to end our time in Burlington.

When we woke up the next morning we grabbed a quick bite to eat with Ben and Matt before jumping on the road again. Kayce has been craving this pizza from her childhood so we decided to drive the 6 hours to Yardley, NJ for a tomato pie at De Lorenzo's.

Kayce's happy!

Chees pizza with extra tomatoes

Once Kayce's mom heard we were at De Lorenzo's she asked us to bring her one home.

Once we had stuffed our faces and picked up the extra pizza for Kayce's mom we started our long 6 1/2 hour drive to Pittsburgh, PA. We wanted to avoid the Jersey Turnpike at all cost so we put in the address to home and selected "Avoid Freeways and Tolls" in the GPS and started the long drive back.