Road Trip to Nebraska

In past years I have managed to do at least one road trip per year, sometimes in the US, sometimes in Europe. The last one was June 2007 -- our annual trek to Ashland, Oregon, to indulge in food and Shakespeare. This summer, however, my daughter had to work all summer to save money for an upcoming college workshop in Hawaii in January. (Life is tough.) So, our annual summer road trip didn't happen, much to my dismay.

I suspect I need to audition a new traveling companion. Someone who likes road trips, sightseeing, food, live theater, museums, food, back roads, etc. I'm exhibiting Ashland withdrawal symptoms, so I intend to go next year even if it's by myself.

Earlier this year my older daughter got a new job and ended up relocating to Lincoln, Nebraska, which is a heck of a lot closer to California than central New Jersey, so I decided to plan my 2008 road trip to go and visit her and her family. The last time I saw my granddaughter she was just on the verge of crawling. She's 2 now and quite a character, I understand.

For companionship, I'm dragging along my 86 year old mother since it's unlikely she'll go to Nebraska on her own anytime soon. My mom hasn't done a road trip in the US in many years, so this time she'll see some geography that will be new to her. (We did circumnavigate the Iberian peninsula together several years ago, which is another story.)

So, tomorrow morning we head off on our big adventure to Lincoln. We have a packed itinerary already -- international quilt museum for me, art museum for my mother, and my daughter said they just discovered a really cool dairy farm about 20 minutes outside of town that we need to check out, so I am bringing my cheese-making books with me. On the return trip home, I added one extra day so I could go home via home -- Santa Fe & Albuquerque -- even if it was only for 24 hours. This should be a fun trip.

I've already made the two remaining Barefoot Blogger challenges (yummy ones they are, too), so I'm hoping the posts will show up at the appropriate times. TWD will have to await my return, and Daring Bakers, while finished, will be posted only slightly late. I just ran out of time for all the other challenges, so hopefully life will be a bit more normal in October.

I'll do my best to keep an eye on everyone and comment when I can and take oodles of photographs and try not to go into baking withdrawal.