Olsen Westward Expansion: Day 3

Day 3: Porter, IN to Sioux Falls, SD

Total Distance: 644 Miles
Total Vomits: 0
Total "Dad Moments" where I lost my patience and became the Herm of my childhood: 1 (*pats self on back)
License Plate Challenge: 31/50
Listened to: 

• Music: Weezer - Teal Album, Imagine Dragons - Origins
• Podcast: The Rabbit Hole
• Audiobook: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Day 3 Highlights:

Day 3 was all about putting a giant dent in the overall distance of our trip. As we calculate it, we'll travel around 2,900 miles total, and today was our longest day on the road.

We woke up in Northwest Indiana, pointed our car west, and cut through the heart of Illinois and Iowa. From a scenic perspective, Iowa won. We both expected it to be flat and bland, but it was actually quite verdant and scenic, with rolling hills throughout the drive, endless tracks of green corn fields, and more gigantic wind turbines than we could count.

The long drive was made possible by Celeste's heroic efforts bouncing back and forth between the front and the back seat to deal with a hangry baby and a needy 5-year old who wants someone to appreciate everything she's saying or doing. We also enjoyed a lot more listening yesterday, including starting the Harry Potter series with Valencia. She has the extra large illustrated version of the book and followed along as we played the audiobook through the speakers. In her first sitting, she read the first 5 chapters, and was very invested.

In the afternoon, Celeste and I listened to and eventually finished a podcast called The Rabbit Hole, which I will just say was terrifying on so many levels. The podcast is about the dark side of the internet, Youtube, and social media. I learned—and was SHOCKED by—so much information that I simply had no idea about: Stefan Molyneux, PewDiePie, QAnon, etc. It's a well done podcast and I highly recommend it for anyone, especially parents.

Around dinner time, we finally landed in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We didn't have a lot of time due to the fact that getting in to a hotel room and setting everything up takes us about an hour. But we still wanted to experience this new place that we had never been to before—and that we would likely never return to.

Sioux Falls did not disappoint. We grabbed a to-go dinner from a local cafe and went to Falls Park, a city park downtown. We were shocked to find a river and dozens of waterfalls, large and small, surrounded by beautiful walking trails, fields of green grass, bridges, and overlooks. These are the falls the town was named after, and they were beautiful!

Now on to Day 4, where we will cross to the other side of the state and visit our 15th National Park as a family: Badlands.

Olsen Westward Expansion Day 2

Day 2: Canton, OH to Porter, IN

Total Distance: 346 Miles
Total Vomits: 0
Total "Dad Moments" where I lost my patience and became the Herm of my childhood: 3
Listened to: 

• Music: Watkins Family Hour
• Podcast: The Rabbit Hole

Day 2 Highlights:

We slowed our pace on Day 2 to take in some of America's National Parks. We woke up and drove just 30 miles north to Boston, Ohio, a small village that is actually located in the heart of Cuyahoga Valley National Park. We felt transported, somewhat, to another time and era. There was an old train depot, quaint cottages, and country roads and sprawling farms that belied the modern day rush of technology and information. People rode bikes on well groomed paths, and all around us were the rolling hills that made up the valley for which the park was named.

The highlights of the park were the Ledges hiking trail and Brandywine Falls, a beautiful 65-foot waterfall. Valencia was in heaven on the hike. She loves hiking generally, but she especially loves hikes that give her the opportunity to scramble atop rocks and practice her "rock climbing". Ledges and Valencia were a match made in heaven. She liked the waterfall, but noted that it was "too loud".

At one point, Valencia was in full rock climbing mode, and Celeste commented to me, "She is living her best life right now," with a chuckle. We both laughed because we knew how true it was. Valencia overheard the comment and decided to reinforce it: "I'm living my life right now!" That statement came out a few more times at random points on the trail.

Another cute moment was when Valencia, jumping from rock to root and back again, proclaimed without prompting, "I'm an adventurous kid!" with a sense of pride and accomplishment. We've failed on a lot of fronts as parents, but in teaching Valencia to love the outdoors, I think we've finally done something right.

Around lunch time, we hit the open road again, driving about 5 hours west to Indiana Dunes National Park, the newest National Park in the country (it was previously designated as a National Lakeshore, but just became a National Park in 2019). Indiana Dunes was nice, but the hiking was tough given that we were trudging on sand, not walking on packed dirt. We decided to tackle the "3-Dune Challenge", which was hiking to the top of the 3 tallest dunes in the park, one after another. Like I said, the hiking was tough, especially because the dune trails were deep with sand and the angles to the top varied between 38-43 degrees. We finally made it to the top of Mt. Jackson, Mt. Holden, and Mt. Tom. The tops offered beautiful views of Lake Michigan, and even the Chicago skyline from over 50 miles away.

We ended the day just a few miles outside of the park with a fancy dinner from Subway and laid our heads down at the 5-star Comfort Inn. We were happy to have a comfortable bed to lay our heads down on. We were happy to be off the road, ready to recharge and prepare for our longest day of driving yet. Our next stop is Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Olsen Westward Expansion Day 1: Goodbye NC, Hello America

We first came to North Carolina with the intention of staying for two years. It's a commonly told story by many former Teach For America corps members who thought they'd go on to medical school or law school, but then found their passion in education. For us, our lives came to a dramatic fork in the road in 2011 when we had to choose between law school at the University of Utah or a master's in education administration at N.C. State University. We chose the latter, and two years turned into 11 in what felt like the blink of an eye.

We fell in love with North Carolina. We fell in love with Henderson and the amazing people who live there. The state generally has been an amazing place to live. Professionally, it gave us so many opportunities to do what we love. We have grown as educators and have had the privilege of working with some of the most amazing students and fellow educators anywhere in the country.

Beyond work, it had it all: mountains, beaches, kind people, charming towns and villages, great collegiate and professional sports, and, let's not forget, amazing food. Our children were born and raised there. We started a school there. We celebrated our 5-year anniversary there, then our 10-year. We ate deep fried cheesecake on a stick at the State Fair. We climbed its mountains and hiked its forests, often with one of our little ones tagging along on our backs. We often said that if our family lived closer, we'd never leave North Carolina. Sadly, our recruitment efforts failed.

There is no way we can convey everything in our hearts. We love you, North Carolina. From the Old Well in Chapel Hill to the summit of Mount Mitchell. Thank you for taking us in, treating as one of your own, and allowing us to call you home.

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Now that we have decided to move west to be closer to family, we must attend to the business of actually getting there, and that's no small feat. We loaded up most of our belongings into a giant moving truck that someone else will drive (thank goodness). The rest we packed into our newly purchased minivan (yes, we're minivan people now, which isn't as bad as I thought it would be), and launched a 6-day journey across America. Below are some Day 1 Highlights.

Day 1: Henderson, NC to Canton, OH.
Total Distance: 516 Miles
Total Vomits: 0
Total "Dad Moments" where I lost my patience and became the Herm of my childhood: 2
Listened to: 

• Music: Steep Canyon Rangers, James Taylor, Green Day, Doc Watson, Old Crow Medicine Show, Weezer, Carolina Chocolate Drops
• Podcast: The Rabbit Hole

Day 1 Highlights:

• Waking up together in our house for the final time. Because we had to pack our mattress and bed the night before, Valencia, Celeste and I squeezed on to Vali's twin mattress and a pile of blankets and pillows. In other words, we didn't really sleep, but we did share a special night together, and woke up in an empty house, knowing that our time had come. It was time to get in the car and say goodbye.
• Merlin is the Bob Wiley of dogs. Merlin has severe anxiety that we're going to leave him. Anytime he sees a suitcase, he freaks out and hunkers down at our feet as if to say, "Take me with you?" He's been a wreck all week with all the packing and cleaning going on. On the morning of our departure, he somehow made it into the van and didn't come out. For 90 minutes while we packed, cleaned, and made sure everything was in order, Merlin essentially anchored himself to the floor of our minivan. "I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful. I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful..."
• Leaving is hard to do. There was something nostalgic and heartbreaking about leaving. We were mostly smiles throughout the day, but we each had our moments of being swept away by emotion when thinking of the friends and loved ones we're leaving behind. It's like reading the final lines of a book you just don't want to end. Sadly, some of our more nostalgic and touching moments were interrupted by the occasional confederate flag and/or Trump flag (often flying in tandem) waving outside our window as we drove through portions of the South and the Rust Belt. It will be a long time before I can stomach another drive through Danville, Virginia, where we saw a huge billboard that said, "Welcome to Danville, the last capital of the Confederacy...AND PROUD OF IT." Noxious and vile.
• Vali rejects my money. We are playing a license plate game road trip game where if we see a license plate, we check it off a list. Pretty simple, right? So I thought I'd spice it up by telling Valencia that if she memorized all the states and capitals, we would pay her $20. She responded by saying, "Well, money is just a want, not a need, so that's okay. Also, I already have money." After composing myself from the laughter, I told her that she had a great attitude toward money, and that I would remind her of that well into her teenage years.
• The Pro Football Hall of Fame. After driving for 9 hours, we needed a break, and the Hall of Fame provided just that. We were able to connect with my distant relative and Merlin's namesake, Merlin Olsen. Most people reading this will think that this stop was a very selfish one on my part, but both Valencia and Celeste had a great time. Valencia was fascinated with the exhibit of Super Bowl rings and could have spent all night ogling at the diamonds and jewels (fun fact: the most recent Patriots championship ring has 417 separate and distinct diamonds in it. Meanwhile, those of us on planet earth have toilet paper to buy. That's how we spend our money.)
• Cache's neck and new carseat. 500 miles is a long day of driving by any stretch, but especially for our 1-year old. Especially in a secondhand car seat whose glory days were long gone. After 1 day of driving, Cache got out of the car with a crick in his neck and an inability to walk straight.  That's when we decided to get him a new carseat. We'll see whether it was worth it when we update you with day 2 highlights.

Until tomorrow!