Road trip: The best & worst of it

We spent 33 days on the road, posed for pictures in front of 33 state signs, visited 44 cities, and drove over 11,000 miles! The adventures were endless and each day held something different. The horizons before us changed colors and shapes as desert turned to badlands and farms turned to cities. Every place was new; every day was new. With all that newness came a lot of great discoveries and also some that I could probably have done without. Here are some of the best and worst of our days on the open road: Best Meal: It’s hard to…

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Road trip: Surprise, Montana is lovely

Everything about Montana was a surprise. It was a surprise that we ended up driving through it as it was never on the original route plan, and it was a surprise that I kind of fell in love with it. I mean, let’s be honest, it just isn’t one of those states most people even think of very often. After all, the only thing I knew about Montana was that it is Big Sky Country, whatever that entailed, I had no idea. We drove west through the state and passed a man selling handmade wooden stools at the side of the…

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Road trip: A spectacle of spectators at Old Faithful

We arrived in the mountains of Yellowstone National Park in complete darkness. Again. You would think we’d have learned our lesson about arriving at campsites in the dark, but clearly, we had not. We drove through 45 minutes of winding darkness passed deer and elk, and got barricaded by 4 large bison before reaching camp. It was a cool 30° F outside (or -1° C for more dramatic effect) and way too cold and late to set up camp so we camped in the car near to all of the food so that the bears would have an easier time finding us. No,…

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Road trip: Girl v. Food

I intended to attack Chicago Girl v. Food style…although that is pretty much how I attack every meal placed before me, but never mind that. I had watched Adam eat himself silly on Travel Channel’s Man v. Food here and planned to do much the same. Besides, with less than 24 hours to spend in such a vast city, what more could we really do besides spend our time eating? And of course visiting the giant silver bean in Millennium Park. After a grueling 11 hour drive plus a border crossing from Toronto into Michigan, we finally arrived in Chicago…

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Road Trip: Biking across country

I never imagined I’d ride a bicycle from one country to another, but I did. Sounds really cool and outdoorsy, right? Nevermind that it was the shortest two minute ride across a nice bridge from the Canadian Niagara Falls to the U.S. Falls; it sounds better to say I rode from one country to another, so I am sticking with that. I felt like I was in a movie as the wind whipped my hair and we rode across undisturbed by cars or even other people. It was just me, my bike, my friend, and a bridge in limbo between two…

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Road trip: Watching my dinner swim in Halifax

Each one looked so peaceful. They were all swimming around and climbing over one another in a playful sibling sort of way, vying for what little space was left in their waterfront home. They had no idea what was going on. They had no idea that they would soon be whisked away into a shopping basket and weighed for sale. These innocent lobsters had no idea that they were going to become my very lavish dinner. I don’t like to see my food alive. I am no vegetarian, but I can certainly understand the sentiment when an animal, or crustacean in…

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Road trip: Why I even love the garbage in NYC

Aah…huge heaps of trash on the sidewalks…I am home. Well, not home where I live, or have ever lived, or have any family that lives, but home where at least part of my heart is. I am back in New York City. As we drove through the drizzle into the crazy pedestrian strewn streets of Manhattan, it was the first time I realized just how far we had come. It was also the first time I had ever maneuvered a vehicle in this city, and I would really like to never do it again if possible. Not that I couldn’t…

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Road trip: More than cheesesteak in Philly

I went to Philly for the cheesesteak. No, really, I did. Well, to anyone who knows me, going somewhere just to eat something wouldn’t seem silly at all. My love affair with food is almost as critical as my love affair with travel. Almost. After all the talk of the rivalry between Pat’s and Geno’s, and the testaments from die-hard Philadelphians, what more could I do than visit and eat for myself? We drove into the city at midday. The skies were gray and the weather was crisp, not a particularly beautiful day at all. As we parked across from Pat’s…

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Road trip: Fatigue and roaches

Please tell me that was not a roach that just crawled up the wall. I didn’t want to believe it, but it was a roach that just crawled up the wall. I very reluctantly climbed out of the bed, in my pajamas, to scope out the scene. I walked over to the side of the room where the roach had been and peeked around for more. I had the unfortunate pleasure of discovering one wedged between the doorframe, one beneath the table by the window, one underneath the air conditioning unit, and one in the closet. Then I stopped looking.…

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Road trip: Happiness in Daytona Beach

It was a far, far cry from the Everglades. I laid on the smooth sand in the cozy Daytona Beach night air and let the warm water roll over me. It seemed worlds away from the hot tent, viscous mosquitoes, and the bathroom lizard of nights prior. As far as I was concerned, everything was perfect. We had stumbled upon what felt like the greatest little place on Earth–or at least in Daytona Beach, the Sand Castle Motel. It was adorable. And it was a stone’s throw from the beach, literally. The faded pastel yellow of the building was warm and…

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