We've been away for 10 days, but my gosh it feels so much longer... The benefits of traveling with your sister.. ;) Just kidding! But seriously, we've just seen so many places it makes it feel like we've been away forever.

Chicago

So we started the trip with a two day stopover in Chicago, which turned out to be a five day stopover thanks to the snow storm. Apparently it was the third biggest storm in history to hit Chicago. I wouldn't have minded it so much and was excited about all the snow (over 0,5 meter of snow fell overnight) but we had packed mainly just spring/summer clothes and hadn't really prepared for the snow storm of the century. Not only was the airport shut, but the whole city. All the museums, shops and most of the restaurants as well. They had announced a state of emergency and you couldn't see anyone on the streets. Lucky for us, the cinema was open and we saw a few good films.

The night of the storm we were walking around the closed city, and remembered that we had earlier seen an Irish bar somewhere. We then decided to head that way, because I doubted that even a major storm could keep the Irish from their drink. And we were right, it was open. It was like an oasis in the desert, this cozy little bar with a fire place and friendly people.

All in all, I think Chicago was great. I'd love to return there in the summer. I believe it's a bit like Helsinki, nice all year around, but really comes alive in the summer.

Even though the city was getting covered with snow, we managed to accomplish on of the touristy must-dos. Eating! The official snack of Chicago is popcorn. (Only in America, cities would have their own official snack foods..) And I must say, the cheesy popcorns I had were absolutely divine. But then again, they had cheese in them, so you can't really go wrong with that. We also indulged in some very traditional American breakfast - blueberry pancakes - delicious. And apparently, while in Chicago, you must have hot dogs for lunch - check to that as well!

Seattle

We flew to Seattle Friday morning, went for a wonder and in the evening joined Helmi to her student party at the university. I have to admit, I was quite excited to attend my first real American student party and actually drink of the red cups you see so often in the movies. The night ended in Capitol Hill, which seemed to be this really nice area, but unfortunately I was so tired from the early flight, I had to return to the hostel before closing time.

On Saturday afternoon we got our car and the roadtrip officially began. We got a nice black Dodge Avanger that will take us all the way to Texas. (Almost 5 500km in total ahead of us.)

Portland

We arrived to Portland late Saturday evening and it was pouring down with rain, so we were happy to find our accommodation easily. We had reserved a simple room in "Park Lane Suites and Inn" and due to a reason unknown, they had upgraded our reservation to one of their suites. So we got a bedroom, kitchen and a spacious living room instead of the tiny room we were expecting. To celebrate this, we went to this gourmet grocery store (how lucky that it was only a block from our hotel?) and cooked and enjoyed an evening in.

Sunday was mainly spent watching the Superbowl in a sports bar, (It's the biggest yearly sports event in USA and of course we had to experience it). I have to say, I was more excited about the half time entertainment (a cool performance by Black Eyed Peas) and the commercials. The Superbowl commercial slots are the most expensive of all, so you can expect good commercials. (Or you should, some of them weren't all that impressive). My favorite was the one with the Glee crew promoting a car (can't even remember the make of the car, just the Glee kids.. but how good of a commercial is that then..?)

We enjoyed the town like feel of Portland (and our comfy accommodation) so much, we decided to stay a few extra days. Portland is a very pleasant city and apart of not being by the sea, I couldn't find much to complain about. It's very green and even smells good! (How often can you say that about a city?) I could easily enjoy living there. Plus they had this awesome bookshop, Powell's Bookshop. It's apparently the biggest one in USA, and I think that's saying something! There isn't a book you can't find there and I spent the day browsing through different sections and purchasing a few good reads for the trip.

It was time to leave Portalnd and continue the trip down the coast. The Pacific byway is one of the most beautiful roads in the world with beautiful blue Pacific ocean on your right the whole time. The scenery is breathtaking and it's impossible to capture the beauty in photos (at least for me).

Two days, many many country songs (including all of Taylor Swifts albums) and numerous scenic viewpoints later we arrived to Yosemite. But more about that in my next blog.