Road Trip: Around the USA In 30 Days

Quotes on Traveling

2014-01-16T12:59:00.002-05:00

Here is a pretty inspiring list of quotes about traveling.

Helpful Article

2013-03-24T20:51:00.001-04:00

This is a great little article with main points about how to make your road trip successful.
http://thoughtcatalog.com/2013/9-ways-to-guarantee-your-road-trip-wont-suck/

Cheers,

Melissa

Arlington to HoCo to Joisy to HoCo

2011-08-04T19:28:00.000-04:00

We left Arlington and drove the 40 mins to Columbia, MD. At my house, we dropped off a lot of my things and all of the extra food & drinks. This really lightened the load. From there we drove to the IKEA in White Marsh and had our first meal of the day. IKEA food is so good!

From there it was only a 2 hour drive to Princeton where we met up with our grandparents, my Aunt and Uncle, and my mother. We ate at Shanghi Park, one of the best Chinese restaurants I've been to. There, it was great to talk about our adventures.

After dinner we drove the hour to Sean's house and cleared out the van.

The following morning I woke up and followed my Uncle and my mom to the rental place. First, stopping at a gas station to fill up and get a car wash per the contract.

I think the rental place was okay as far as getting us to where we needed to be. Like any place, they were very trying when it came to getting your money. And that's all I will say about that haha.

Driving back to my grandparents, it was weird to drive my car again. Of course the day ended with me driving 5 hours. An hour each way to and from the rental place and the 3 hours home to MD.

I am going to refresh this blog and add more detail to each entry. Also, I will add some photos. So stay tuned!!

M

Raleigh & Alexandria

2011-08-01T10:28:00.003-04:00

From the ATL we drove to my friends place in Raleigh, North Carolina. It was last minute, but I am so glad we got to stop there as she just recently moved there. It kind of reminded me that when I get back, my grace period has ended and I should probably start researching jobs. I am really not too concerned with it right now as I do have another week of vacation.

From Raliegh we drove to Alexandria, VA to stay with my cousin. AKA Sean's brother. We went out to dinner at this place called Hard Times. It had the best chilli ever. You got to sample their 4 chilis which was awesome. My friend Dave came to dinner which was awesome since I rarely get to see him.

Today, it looks like we may drive through Annapolis. After that we will stop at my house to drop off some of my things and then we are driving to New Jersey. The car will be droppped off tomorrow and that will be the end of our month long road trip. When dropping the car off, I will have driven about 10,000 miles in total. How ridiculous.

Cheers,
Mees

Hot-Lanta! The ATL.

2011-08-01T10:21:00.004-04:00

Macon to Atlanta was only a 2 hour or so drive with traffic. It was relatively easy as well. We went to Waffle House again for breakfast that morning with our Macon host then headed out.

We got to Sean's friends place and went into the city. We were only 15 mins or so outside of the city, but we stayed again in a super nice area. it's surprising the way some of the cities in the US are set up. Mostly, I imagine the way Baltimore City is and the way the suburbs directly surrounding the city are in terms of wealth....In Atlanta, we went to the World of Coca Cola!!!!

It was amazing! We got to taste a bunch of coke products from around the world. It was interesting to see some of the archived advertisements and signage. My favorite part was sitting in this TV room where commercials or history of coca cola was played on a loop. It was cool to see the TV advertisements for coca cola products around the world. As a marketing major, I was exhilarated by this experience.

After that we went to Centennial Park where it had some Olympic memorabilia.

At this point we were dying, it was so hot. So we left and went to get food at a place called The Varsity. It was amazing fast food. They have this frozen orange drink and its like a sherbert mixture and texture. Delicious. We ate chili cheese fries and onion rings there. Both great.

We later went over to a district called Little Five Points. It was completely hipster, and I really loved it. Totally a bigger, nicer, classier Hampden. Full of culture. We walked around and into the record and thrift shops. We ate at a place called The Porter. We shared a bunch of appetizers that were so delicious. I believe everything on the menu was organic. at least quasi organic or local. Huge beer menu, and hot waiters. I'm loving Atlanta so far.

One of the many appetizers we got. This is the Goat Cheese Fritters with Honey dipping sauce.

Below is the Apple Benignant. I only got a couple bites. We viciously attacked this but it was amazing.

Our seats in The Porter.

Later we went to some art show and other hipster places. It was cool to see the diversity of that state and particularly the city.

After all that, we were dead tired. We were supposed to try and see a live play of Rocky Horror Picture Show, but we bailed. Heading back, we pick up the van and go to Gabby's fathers house. Her dad was gone and so we were supposed to have the house to ourselves, just Sean and I--and their dog. However, Gabby left the key with her sister. We tried breaking in, but were unsuccessful. We ended up driving back to Gabby's mom's house. There we stayed in the guest house. That place was being rented, but the guy was out of town. The place used to house Monks, but it had been recently renovated. The bedroom was up on a loft which you could get to by climbing a spiral staircase. Pretty cool. I ended up sleeping on the couch while Sean slept on his air mattress. The guys bed was sketchy. I totally forgot to take pics of this place. It was mad cool.

In the morning, we went over to the main house and had some breakfast. I had a chocolate croissant.

Cheers,

Mees

"I am from Macon, Georgia!"

2011-08-01T09:59:00.001-04:00

In Pensacola, our plan was to go to the beach. Fail. It was raining and thunderstorming the whole time so we stayed in the hotel room. At the Holiday Inn, they had a complementary "buffet" at 5pm. I grabbed a Foster, fruit, veggies, and pigs in a blanket and took them up to our room. It tied us over til we had the energy to try and find dinner. We ended up going to this real dive sushi place. It was pretty awful. We threw away our leftovers in the parking lot trash can. The next day my stomach was torn up.

The following morning, we ate for the first time at Waffle House. Sean and I both left feeling as if our waitress was slighly prejudice. She was extremley friendly to everyone else, but when it came to us her expression changed completely. But the food was awesome.

It has been strange to experience something like this along this trip, after all it is 2011. Even in the midwest, I can sort of give those people the benefit of the doubt when staring at us. But mostly, it annoys me.

Sean and I talked a lot about how strange it is that Florida is inverted. The North acts like the "South", but South Florida has "Northern" aspects.

So moving a long, we found a place to stay in Macon Georgia where we got to experience the south in more fun ways. We stayed at the house of Princeton student. He was a friend of friends through Sean. I believe he was the son of a former Senator in Georgia.

The house was old style. Big open rooms, antique-ish styling. Cats. I stayed in a room that conjoined the living room/kitchen and the foyer. I had a full bath in the room which was nice up until the following morning where Sean stomped through at the crack of dawn--no locks on my doors.

First of all, southern hospitality doesn't exist. It's a myth, so I'm told. Maybe it was just Macon, Georgia. I was really disappointed in that. I hoped to have doors held for me, and hear people call me miss in a southern twang.

Second, there's nothing to do in Macon Georgia besides have a party at your parent's estate (yes I said estate) or shoot guns. We participated in both.

In Macon, we were in good company and it was cool to see what Macon life would be like. The pictures I posted were from driving through Macon. I'm told it's a rarity to see rain here.

Mees

The Big Easy

2011-07-28T00:14:00.003-04:00

New Orleans was very very cool. Touristy, yes, but cool nonetheless. Great atmosphere, great food, rich in culture.

We arrived in the lower garden district, met our host, a young alum, and peaced out into the French Quarter. Taking a streetcar into the city, I was surprised by the liveliness of the town even on a hot humid Tuesday. We walked around a lot, taking in the sites, eating the local cuisine.

As it got later, the atmosphere got livelier. Beads were being thrown at me! Just from walking around. I'd hear a "wooosh!" and a clapps and on the ground beside me would be a bead necklace. I caught 3 and decided to keep them as novelties.

Later in the night, I decided I'd try a good ole Norleans alcoholic beverage. The no open container laws are kind of crazy. Definitely keeps the city original and active during the week.

During the day, we ate fried alligator, po-boys, and had cafe au laits & beignets at Cafe du Monde. Delicious all around.

Cafe du Mond was so good. We got cafe au laits and beignets and they were delicious.

We rode the trolly home. I got to sit by the window this time, which gave me a nice breeze and a great view of the city at dusk.

Our host had a kitten. It was so cool, but kept me up most of the night. The other part of the night it slept on my back, face, arms, chest, and feet. It reminded me of my old cat Mr. Bojangles. We overslept in the morning ate at a local cafe and drove through the garden district.

The garden district was pretty an quaint. Seemed touristy and filled with shops.

The humidity down this far south is intense. I got filthy gross. We were always sweaty and uncomfortable.

Now we are in a hotel in Pensacola, FL. Beach tomorrow then going to Macon, Georgia. Our Birmingham place fell through. I wonder if people are skeptical to host us as this has happened a few times. I understand being worried about strangers staying in ones home, and i certainly wouldn't allow that. But its funny when people commit then bail. Why bother committing if you have any reservations.

Sean and I tried to finagle a way to get to Orlando to try and go to Harry Potter World. The money factor is holding us back unfortunately.

M

Houston we have a problem

2011-07-26T00:36:00.003-04:00

We got to see more of Austin today. Spent quite a bit of time there, actually. The morning consisted of seeing the Flag Ship Whole Foods in downtown in order to kill time. Here, we also got a quick bite to eat since we were not sure if we were going to eat at Facebook. I don't know where we got the assumption that we would be provided lunch haha. At Whole Foods we got a roll of sushi to share, which was of course delicious.

Finally at noon, we met up with our host in front of her office building. I was really excited, like a 6 year old going into willy wonka's chococlate factory excited.

We walk out of the elevator and on to the 10th Floor of the building to see a small masthead with the word "Facebook" on it. Double clear doors lead us to the front security desk. We sign a form, get printed out name tags and walk through another clear door an into a strange land where facebook is made...sort of.

When you walk in that clear door, you are in the dining area. There is a buffet style eatery with sensible options for lunch. I'll get back to that...

Our host takes us on a tour, I couldn't really hear what she was saying as she was talking quitely. The office takes up an entire floor (and their expanding to the floor up). The space is basically a big room with desks with Dell monitors. The employees, when hired, get to pick whether they want a PC or Mac. And they get their personal laptop as well as their desktop. So theres lines of computers for each segment. User Operations has one of the bigger rooms as there are more of those employees. Advertising and sales share a shmedium room --and when I say room i mean like open area type thing. Idk how to describe it but yeah...

I want to add that a guy had 5 Yuelglings next to him while working...And there was a keg-erator with a keg tapped.

We got to eat lunch at Facebook. It was very strange and there was a kid-like atmosphere in the cafeteria dining area which i described earlier. It seemed that the employees tend to make "clicks".
Lunch was great. Fresh food, many options, overall satisfactory.

I made a turkey with cheddar sandwhich and had peas and carrots as a side. We got fondu for dessert with fruit, marshmallows, and bunt cake. The FB employees really have it good there.

It was funny to see the choices made by the employees. They all ate relatively healthy. I feel there must be some pressure to look good as everyone is young. 20's 30's in this office. Austin is also one of those places where the organic, hippy, recycle, vegan, thing is huge and influential. Despite the associated phrase "everything's bigger in Texas", the people in Austin were quite the contradictory.

We drove to Houston towards the end of the afternoon, which was a really quick drive. Got there, checked into the hotel, and chilled for a little. We went down to the concierge to ask where a good place was to go for steaks. He recommended a few places. We decided on this place called Saltgrass which looked to be in our price range. It turned out to be kind of divey place, but the food was really good.

We got steaks like planned which were so amazingly amazing. The portions were huge, so we both had a lot of leftovers. Our meals consisted of fresh bread, potato soup, steak, and a side. The price was really good for the amount of food we got.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel. There wasn't much to do or see in Houston. It just seemed like a place with all mega highways that looped up and over each other. Houston is another city where most people commute to the downtown for work. We were pretty exhausted from the heat and walking around Austin all day. Getting to sleep early was a great plan since we were excited to go to New Orleans.

Mees

Keeping Austin Weird

2011-07-25T01:02:00.004-04:00

We arrived in Austin today. Boring drive from Pecos to Austin. We drove around, and had lunch at a Tex Mex place called Maria Maria. It was delicious. A very different, higher end type tex mex. I guess thats authentic Tex Mex considering the state we were in lol.

This was my meal. I got chicken taquitos.

Above is the meal sean got. I believe it was some sort of beef burrito. He gave me his avocado :)

After eating, we went to the house. We had be advised that no one would be home, so we were to go through an unlocked door in the back of the house. Well that door was locked. We stood on the deck trying to get ahold of the host and then we saw a kid who came down the stairs and unlocked the door for us. He said a quick hello and told us his mom left "directions/instructions" on the counter. We took a look at this list. It was a well thought out and organized suggestions of what to see. This was great. It really helped us get to know the city.

We dropped off our things and headed back out into Austin. We drove around until we go to a park. It was a place that people could go swimming and the water stayed 68 degrees year round. We walked around this park and saw a drum circle! Then we walked around to see the people and the water. It was gorgeous. Aside from a few floating peices of garbage, the water looked refreshing. People had floaties and kayaks.

We tried to find a few other locations after that but totatly failed. By that time it was getting closer to dinner time and we wanted to head back into the AC and meet the rest of the family. So back at the house, no one had arrived home from work yet. We chilled for about 10 mins until the family walked through the door. They were immediately friendly and curious that we were comfortable. They asked if they could take us to dinner, and of course we accepted. Before dinner, we waited a bit for the babysitter to arrive. In the mean time, Allison, the Princeton Alumni, wanted to show us the bridge that bats come out of every night.

We were dropped off at the hotel near the bridge, It's a real touristy thing to see, and of course we saw it. It was actually pretty cool. A lot of people were there watching either from the bridge--which was packed--or people were on boats.

After the bats, we went to a Sushi fusion place that was absolutely the best meal we've had so far on the trip. The dinner consisted of tempura onion rings, grilled edamame, rolls of all sorts with awesome sauces, and desserts from a world renowned pastry chef. Overall, very Austin cuisine, and very good.

Tomorrow our host is taking us on a tour of Facebook facility. I am super excited.Here's hoping to husband finding at the facebook facility if not networking. I would so live and work in Austin. It is a really cool excentric city. I hope to go back soon

Mees

Santa Fe to ...not Carlsbad

2011-07-23T22:54:00.002-04:00

Santa Fe was really nice. Driving around the downtown, we got the vibe that rich people come here to go on spa vacations. There were ritzy stores and restaurants.

Finding our hosts house was kind of difficult. He lived down this dirt road with only a few other houses around. All sharing the same string of mailboxes. The property seemed big since there was really no yard. The surrounding plots of land were dry and very southwestern. The house was nice and big, and we had good company. The house in general was very open and airy. I suppose designed this way in order to have the dry air circulate throughout the house.

We hung out on his back porch for most of the evening just talking.

He had a nice little garden where he even picked his own collard greens to cook for dinner. Our host was very chill and made us feel right at home. He told us we would hear coyotes in the night, and we sure did. I woke up several times to the howling outside of the house.

He owned the western saddle Russell Crowe's crimson cheeks sat in for the movie 3:10 to Yuma. His dog Gio was awesome, and if we could've stayed longer, we absolutely would have. We had awesome coffee, made with chicory (a Louisiana thing) , and had a good breakfast to send us on our way out. It was sad to leave.

Carlsbad Fail. The caverns were way out of the way so we couldn't get to see them. No camping either cause my tonsils are swollen and gross and I think i have tonsilitis. I feel like crap. The dry weather got to me. We ended up just driving until we got into Texas. We got a hotel and chilled. It was good to make the drive to Austin much shorter.

Tomorrow I drive 6 hours or so to Austin. I'm excited to see Texas and to shop!

Mees

Pheonix to Santa Fe

2011-07-23T01:28:00.001-04:00

It's getting to the point where on top of not knowing what day it is, I don't know where I am or where I am going. Waking up in a new place everyday is trippy. But that could be due to the lack of sleep.

Today was a grueling some 7 hour leg to Santa Fe, not including the extra driving around the cities to "explore".

I though Phoenix was pretty chill. Very suburban-like function of the city. No real need for public transportation there. It definitely seems as though in the next 50 years or so, the city will grow and the all the foreclosed homes will be occupied. It has great potential. I really like how that city is set up. It is simple to navigate but also very pretty. Not really much to do, but overall, I'd go back.

Driving around the city, we stopped and got Jamba Juice. It was pretty hot. So stopping to park and walk around was a no-go. We we're itching at this point to see something different. Here, we stayed at a Double Tree. It was super nice and comfortable. Huge pool with a beautiful open area where we swam and looked at the stars. Something that is always taken for granted. We were relaxed after swimming. It was so perfect since it was absurdly hot, when the sun went down the water was still nice and warm. In the morning we had another breakfast. At this point we were sort of getting sick of the hotel breakfasts or at least I was.

In Santa Fe, we are staying at yet another nice house. The guy is really cool too. He welcomed us like we'd known him forever. Being really relaxed from the start, I felt really comfortable. Sometimes, walking into strangers homes in this situation, you can feel as if you are impeding. The guy also has a really good dog, Gio. Gio is quite the character. He is about 2 or so, but huge. A German Shepard and maybe husky mix. Very temper mental and sweet dog.

Tomorrow, if we wake up early enough, we are gonna jump in the hot tub and then head out to Carlsbad. We dunno really what the plan is there yet. We may or may not camp. We may just drive closer to Houston or Austin. I forget which one is first.

Mees

Universal and Santa Monica

2011-07-22T12:28:00.003-04:00

July 20th, 2011

It was a very busy day. We woke up and went to the Santa Monica Pier. My little cousin who has her permit drove us. She actually is a very good driver, though I still felt like i was gonna die haha.

The pier and 3rd Stree Promenade was very touristy but pretty cool overall. The tempertature over there is much better than other spots in LA. The ocean breeze isn't a bad thing to live by. After some mexican food for lunch we went over to Universal Studios.

Walking through the City Walk, my Uncle and I were talking about Kevin Smith and if there would be a third Jay and Silent Bob movie. We walk a couple more steps, see a camera crew with a huddle of people around and poof, there is Kevin Smith interviewing some random guy. It was pretty awesome to have a star sighting in LA.

My first star sighting of the trip was in Chicago at a Country Club. Brad Wollack a writer for Chelsea Lately and a sometimes guest host of the round table on the show.

After gauking at Kevin Smith, we went in Universal. First waiting in line for the Simpsons ride which used to be Back to the Future. The ride was awesome! I don't typically do rides, and i especially don't do roller coasters. This virtual reality ride was pretty badass. Anyway after that we did the studio tour, which was great, and similar to what i remember when i went at like age 10. Last we had time for the Shrek 4D which was great.

We ended the night eating at the Hard Rock Cafe. Our waitress didn't know where Baltimore was. I nearly died when she said "wherever Maryland is".

The days events led us to get back pretty late. 10:30 we finally stepped foot in their house. I was supposed to meet with my friend who recently moved to Santa Monica, but I flaked as I was exahausted.

July 21

We woke up went to the post office to mail some stuff home, had a Jamba Juice, packed the car, said our goodbyes and left for Pheonix. The hotel here is pretty nice, we had dinner at Crackle Barrel and then went swimming, at night it was still over 100 degrees. But swimming was awesome and so relaxing. It was nice to lay out and see the stars.

Mees

LA LA Land

2011-07-20T02:25:00.004-04:00

Today was really chill. We woke up and just hung out at the house most of the day.

In the afternoon we went to my Aunt's friends house, who is an actress. I won't say her name on account that she may not want her business out there. But if you are a friend of mine in real life or facebook life, you should know who it is as I got a little overzealous when I found out. I'll give you a hint, she was on LOST. Back to the point, we went swimming at this lady's house. She was teaching a violin lesson at the time and was unable to be outside with us. We hung out there for a while and while the lessons were still going on we decided to leave. We were hungry and ready to go.

After dinner my cousin and I went for a wog (Walking and Jogging). On the way back we stopped at her best friends house to see her parents. Her friend is at camp. So we walk in and say hello. The mother is working on her daughters resume. I happen to know a lot about resumes and actually in my last semester of college took a class thats focus was interviews and resumes and things of that relm.
Anyway. the mom was confused with using word, so I sat down to help. In the process, I realized the resume was a mess. So I gently informed her that this one particular thing should be changed and she like had an epiphany. She was such a character. Hyper, happy, energetic... Her epiphany was very dramatic..and it was that I work on her daughters resume. Which I happily obliged. I sat for what was probably somewhere around 75 minutes editing this resume. In the process, the mom made me call the daughter and explain to her the things I was doing. It was quite hilarous and strange. Speaking with someone I have never met and helping her out. She was very appreciative. This girl had huge aspirations and is close to meeting her goals. She is studying and getting certified to become and EMT and a paramedic. She works out with a trainer, does P90x, runs with a 40 lbs vest amoungst other things.

If I could function around people and guts, I would love to be an RN or an EMT/Paramedic. Unfourtunately, I don't have the stomach for it. But anyway, this girl wants to do something great with her life. Went into college knowing what she wanted to do. I commend this girl for her asprirations. I am glad that I did something thats somewhat self-less. On my stressful and busy roadtrip, I was able to help out someone that is going to do good things with her life.

Tomorrow its back to the stress of what is this mayhem of vacation. I'm not really sure what the plan is but it is something along the lines of...

Breakfast: Jamba Juice
Lunch: Mexican Food
Dinner:?

Days Events:
Something to do with Santa Monica
Universal Studios
Seeing the Hollywood sign

I am hoping to squeeze in some time to see a friend of mine from home that recently moved to Santa Monica.

Hopefully tomorrow isn't too obscene.

Mees

Francisco, that's a fun name to say pt 2

2011-07-19T17:57:00.001-04:00

I LOVED SAN FRANCISCO.

It is a beautiful, kind of crazy, but really fun city.

Most of the homless are crazy and mean.

View from the apartment.

Mermaids in Ghirardelli Square

View of the city

Other than that, our stay was really nice. A young alum gave us her apartment. We didn't even meet her and she left the keys for us. Her apartment was sick. High ceilings, big windows, fairly spacious for a San Fran Apartment. 1 1/2 bathrooms, giant closet..i could go on but im sure you get the jist. The location was ideal. Close to a parking garage, and right in the shopping district.

The people in SF are dressed well for the most part. Occasionally you see the crazy Californians dressed in crazy eclectic clothing.

We walked and biked a lot. Saw the pyramid building, the ferry place market, the Frisco Bay.

At the end of the day, I drove down Lombard Street in the famous windey road. That was a lot of fun. Going up the hills to the top of that street was intense. Our van kept drifting backwards, so i would have to slam on the gas to avoid the idiot behind me who kept pulling so close to me knowing i was burning tires to try and avoid the drift.

We did an impromptu drive to LA. We were exhausted and pretty much saw all there was to see of San Francisco. We arrived around 12:30 AM happy to see our relatives.

Mees

Coastal Drive

2011-07-17T00:32:00.004-04:00

Yesterday we didn't quite make it to Port Orford. We got a room and stayed close to the water. In the morning it was that weird drizzle rain mixture that didn't stop until we got to California.

We drove to Port Orford and found a beach called Arizona Beach. It was misty but beautiful. The whole coast line was like this as well. Just absolutely gorgeous dramatic scenery with beach front and cliffs.

Port Orford is a place one wouldn't expect. It's small, quaint, and essentially a best kept secret of coastal Oregon.

I drove a lot today. We made it all the way through the Redwoods and into Ukiah. Drove around there for a while trying to find a hotel. We finally found one with availability. Apparently, a lot of people vacation in Ukiah, though there didn't seem like much to do.

Back to the Redwoods. Stunning again. The trees were huge and beautiful. We carved "Road Trip '11" into a redwood that was cut down which many others had carved things into.

You can kind of see "Road Trip '11"

Tomorrow we go to San Francisco!

Cheers,
Mees

Seattle to Portland

2011-07-15T01:30:00.003-04:00

Today was an early and stressful morning. I had to wake up at 6 am to move the car. If I wasn't so good with cities, I wouldn't have been able to do what I did. We got out of the apartment by 10 and headed to Jiffy Lube.

After Jiffy Lube I we got stamps and mailed out some things. It's a good thing to have stocked up on stamps so as to send post cards to our previous hosts asap.

The drive to Portand was fairly easly. The same sort of North West deal occured in terms of scenary, though it got much prettier about an hour maybe hour and a half outside of Portland.

We made an impromptu stop at IKEA and got some useful things...like lunch. IKEA food is so good!

We ended up arriving at our Portland hosts home around 5. We recieved a lovely welcome which included a couple glasses of local wine and brewskis. I love being able to sample the local spirits.

Oregon is known for their Pinot Noirs (my favorite red) and also their micro-brews. Both the wine and the beer were delicious as were the appetizers served. Dinner was lovely, we had fresh salmon and a really nice salad. I'm gonna be full for a week.

Again, we are staying at a beautiful large and spacious home located on what may be a mountain-ish type hill in the suburbs of Portland. I really wanted to run today, but the hills in this neighborhood and the elevation might just do me in with the added lack of sleep. Anyway, it is much much much more comfortable than last nights sleeping arrangements. Last night, we stayed in the typical guys college apartment....but it home to girls.

Tomorrow we will venture into the downtown area to explore Portland. Then, we'll head off to Port Orford. There, we'll be staying at a camp ground. In the morning we may do a short day hike before going to San Francisco.

Cheers,
Mees

Seattle, the windy city?

2011-07-14T11:17:00.004-04:00

Leaving Kennewick for Seattle was so depressing. I knew I'd spend the whole time in Seattle reminiscing. The drive into Seattle was beautiful. We passed a few national parks, so the scenery was very pretty. Very different from the rustic arid Kennewick.

In Seattle, we stayed with a Princeton student who interned at Microsoft. Her apartment was amazing. We snuck into the city for a little, just to hit up an REI and look around Capitol Hill. We ate at a very cute place that had amazing food. We met up with some of Sean's friends at Princeton. They took us around afterwards to an ice cream place.

Our first full day in Seattle was exhausting. We did a lot of shopping damage. But it was so worth it, I needed retail therapy since purchases at REI end up being stuff for backcountry camping that I don't even wanna think about lol.

FLAGSHIP REI

Seattle is a pretty cool city. It's confusing as hell though since it is all discombobulated. The market was pretty cool, also very touristy.

We went up to the Space Needle after dinner, which might have been disastrous.

Earlier in the day I had a mini melt-down in the library. Not a fan of heights, but I keep putting myself in these situations where I am sky-high in the air. Anyway, the view from the SN was really cool. It was a great time of day. The whole day was pretty great in terms of weather. It rained and drizzled in the morning for a bit, but then it cleared up and it was bright and sunny the rest of the day.

The one thing I have to complain about Seattle is that it is almost too similar to Baltimore in terms of transportation. It is almost as if you need a car to get anywhere. The public transportation is decent, but not exactly safe or remotely comfortable.

I can't imagine commuting into the city.

Today, we are heading to Portland. We will be staying with a alumni family. On to seeing more hipsters-- in Portlandia!

Cheers,

Mees

Tulip Springs

2011-07-14T11:02:00.001-04:00

The drive to Kennewick was pretty standard. It was a arid area we drove through. The land in Kennewick had to be irrigated otherwise it would not survive as the land it is. It would all be a sort of desert brush.

Arriving at Kennewick was such a relief. We got a private farm house on the property where Carol keeps most of her horses. The land was incredible, and abundant. Carol hosts 3 day eventing, to those that do not know what that is it is a 3 day horse back riding competition that consists of dressage, cross-country and show jumping. The farm was well kept, and those who love cross-country would have loved this location.

This was the main barn on the Tulip Springs property. We went up on the hay loft to explore. There are holes cut out in the top, which is mostly plywood, in order to drop hay directly into the stalls. The stalls were pretty big. Different from the schooly barns in MD.

These guys here are Mo and Coco. Woody's brothers! They were so bonded to each other. Carol told us they would rip each others fly masks off.

These little guys were across the street neighbors from Tulip Springs. Mini Horses!

The place was very rustic. The farm house we stayed in was very quaint and substantial to our needs. I know people that stay there are very comfortable as we were. Here, we did our first set of laundry on the trip.

Carol let me drive the 4-wheeler around the property so that we could get a better look at the place. That was really fun. We were able to see parts of the property not easily seen when standing in the drive way.

Carol's horses were very much loved. You could tell as they liked people. When we would approach the pastures the horses would run over to us, thinking we had treats. But they stayed to hang out and be pet after realizing we lacked treats.

The evening we went out on the ATV again so Sean could get pictures.
As he was setting up his tripod, the horse Coco came over to him to investigate the contraption scaring Sean. It was quite the site.

The following day we got to ride. We rode a 19 year old Bay named Woody (Norwegian Wood) my cousin Alia would appreciate that name. Woody was worn our by the time we rode so that he could be easier to handle. Sean on the horse was quite funny. It was his first time being on a horse.

I mounted and immediately relaxed. Before I had been anxious and nervous as I haven't ridden since age 15. It was like riding a bike....but not really. There's quite a difference between weight at 15 and at 22. My ankles were burning shortly into the first couple of trotting loops. Woody was such a comfortable ride that I was eager to canter. Following Carol's clear directions, I easily got Woody into a canter. The ring we rode in had a lot of jumps and standards. Also, there was a woman lunging some of the other horses, so space was limited. I couldn't be very clean with my riding. I think Woody was exhausted so I didn't bother to ask to jump him, though I would have "jumped" at the opportunity. I got to see some of his old show jumping pictures. They were amazing, and I really wish I could've jumped him.

After riding, we went over to another part of Carol's property to meet a couple of mares. One was pregnant and due the day before. We hoped she would deliver, but were happy to meet another foul who was 5 weeks. Nameless foul was a miracle baby. It was one of those situations where the vets said Georgia, his mommy, couldn't get preggers but did conceive. Georgie and Nameless shared a pasture with a mare named Rosette, Rosie. Georgia was such a bully to Rosie, though it didn't always go unprovoked.

(White mare is Georgia)

After visiting the mares and the foul, we headed back to the farm house, packed up, and left.

The time spent in Kennewick had been so much fun. I hope to go back some day because Carol was super gracious to us. She was also really fun to be around. She took us to a great place for dinner and the conversation just rolled right along, paused only by our choking laughter. We had a great time in Kennewick, and I certainly will miss it. I would love to have a horse farm one day.

Mees

Getting Yellowstoned

2011-07-11T00:14:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, we drove to Yellowstone. I got my very first speeding ticket. It was really absurd and unfortunate.

We got to Yellowstone and went to the nearest rangers office. We got a backcountry permit and was forced to watch a 20 minute video. Needless to say, with the delay of the ticket as well as the video, we got a late start on our backcountry backpacking/camping adventure.

We camped at spot 4G4. It was a 4 mile hike through sand, mud, and creeks to get to the site. We passed and old couple and later a young couple, both coming back from fishing. 20 minutes in we decide to re-bug spray ourselves. Sean had to double back to the car because we left the canister on the bumper. We wouldn't have survived without it, though it really seemed as if it did nothing. The bugs were virtually immune to this deep woods spray. We are going to pick up some DEET before heading out to our next backcountry or camping trip, whichever comes first. The bugs made it so uncomfortable and nearly impossible to enjoy Yellowstone camping by Grebe Lake.

We went to bed early because we couldn't function by the campfire. It only kept the bugs away for so long. Plus, we were running out of firewood and it was getting dark. These spots seems to be used frequently for fishers, leaving barely any downed firewood.

Getting in the tent and away from the bugs was such a relief. We fell asleep early with intentions to leave early.

I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of rain. I woke up not long after that to the sound of a thunderstorm. I could feel myself getting wet. I tried waking up Sean, idk what good that would've done if I succeeded. I ended up falling back asleep, luckily.

We got up at 7am and started getting our things together. My brand new sleeping bag leaked down so there were clouds of feathers in our tiny two person backpacking tent. I went and collected more firewood as Sean fired up the WhisperLite. We lit a fire too, to try and keep away the bugs. We had freeze dried scrambled eggs with bacon for breakfast. I wasn't a fan, but it was sustenance that would give me energy for the 4 mile hike back to the trail head.

The hike back was worse. Sean lead us onto the wrong trail, but we quickly turned back. The bugs were even worse than I could imagine on the hike back. They were resilient, I guess this time because we were hiking in the morning. It was impossible to stop and take a break because the bugs would just flock to us immediately. They would bite through our clothes. I couldn't wait to get away from the clouds of black flies.

We got back to the car and just threw our packs in. We grabbed Gatorades and headed for Old Faithful. It was pretty amazing to see that eruption, though it was about 15 minutes late on its prediction. We walked into the building to watch the eruption from inside. We got an empty bench luckily. It was pretty funny walking into these areas of the park which had high traffic volume of people when we were covered in mud, we smelled, and looked like we went through hell. Sean kept talking about how other people think their outdoorsy when they come to parks like this...then there's us who actually roughed it.

Leaving Yellowstone was sad but also a relief. A relief from the bugs. The scenery was beautiful, though i wasn't able to take pictures. We got to see a lot of wild life and the world's natural beauty. I think that everyone needs to see Yellowstone and Montana in their lifetime. It really made me think about preserving the planet. Growing up in the suburbs, I have never experienced nature in such a pure, raw form.

Tomorrow we are headed to Kennewick, WA. I am super excited about this destination. We are going to Tulip Springs, which is a horse farm/ stable owned by my Aunt's college roommate at Princeton. I haven't rode a horse in years, and I am really excited to get back on that proverbial horse. Also, it may act as a revenge to my cousin for making me go through all the heinous bug situation in Yellowstone.

Looking forward to an early start tomorrow.

Mees

Off to Yellowstone

2011-07-09T10:35:00.001-04:00

This morning we ate a lovely breakfast at the hotel. We're just about ready to leave for Yellowstone. I am a bit worried because I read that a man was just killed by a grizzly in Yellowstone. I won't be updating my blog for a few days as I most likely will not have my laptop around. So stay tuned :)

Mees

Boulder, the most good looking city to Wyoming, the most good looking state (until Montana)

2011-07-09T00:43:00.002-04:00

We got up this morning pretty late. I stepped outside to grab some things from the car and our host, Corey told me to look over there (to the right), cause that's where the mountains are. I stood with a gaping mouth. It was such an amazing view. We didn't get to see the mountains when we arrived because it was dark. This first picture is the view from the driveway of the mountains.

After showering and getting ready, Corey showed us around his backyard, which was pretty big and very nice looking. There were 2 ponds and just lots of space.

We ended up hanging out at the house for a few hours, just conversing with Corey. Corey is my age, 22 and going to be a senior in a university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was cool to hang out with someone my age as opposed to the families we had become accustomed to. It was a pretty relaxed atmosphere in general which was really refreshing. The home was located outside of Denver. The land in this area, Lafayette, is pretty spread out & rural.

We headed into Boulder in the afternoon and went to the REI. Which was full of hot guys. In general, Boulder was a good looking place, both the people and the location. We both spent quite a bit of money at the REI, stuffing more crap into the van. After the REI hull which trickled over into a Bed Bath and Beyond hull, we ate at Panera then headed out.

Wyoming was the most beautiful state to drive through so far. The plateaus, and the land was just eye candy. We got to the Casper KOA, took one look at the campsite and then left. We got a hotel. We just couldn't possibly camp there. We were next to a power plant on some dry land. It very windy as well, which did not make for good sleeping conditions. Getting a hotel was worth it. We took a lot of the stuff out of the van to organize and get our things together for Yellowstone. I can't imagine what it would've been like to camp before Yellowstone. It was good to be comfortable and to have a hot breakfast the morning before.

I heard from my friends today, it really made me miss them. I can't believe a week has gone by already!

Mees

Chicago to Iowa to Denver

2011-07-07T23:28:00.001-04:00

July 6, 2011

I was sad to wake up to leave Chicago. I had such a wonderful time there, and wished I could see more.

We packed up the van and went to Northwestern to drive around. It had a very cute campus and location. We then went the The University of Chicago. This was also very cute and kind of old school. Outside of the campus was a dump, sketchy area. We drove passed the Robie House then decided to park so as to get a closer look.

We ended up walking around the campus for quite a while.

Later we headed out but stopped for an impromptu tourist thing. We ended up visiting Frank Lloyd Wright's home. It was a great, but long hour tour. After the tour we drove by a church thingy designed by FLW then headed to Iowa.

We got into Iowa pretty late. The family greeted us at the door, including their friendly dog, Rocket. Sean and I agreed that we both felt at home in this mid-western home. The family was wonderful and immediately broke out some healthy snacks for us to eat before bed. The interesting thing about this family is that they were no strangers to letting strangers into their home for the night. They used to host foreign exchange students.

July 7, 2011

We both slept well, and the family dog slept at my feet on their leather couch :)

Breakfast was served to us hot, which was such a nice gesture. The daughter, soon to be senior in high school, Mady was kind enough to take us into the Des Moines downtown.

We saw the sculpture garden as well as the capitol and a temple. It was a quick tour as we had 10 hours of driving ahead of us.

We arrived at the home just outside of Denver around 8pm. This has given me some time to catch up on these blogs. They're kind of starting to be a pain. If I don't have the time to write, I feel so far behind and am unable to remember what I would have liked to posted.

Mees

Full Day in Chicago

2011-07-07T23:16:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was our full day in Chicago. We woke up late yesterday morning, getting a late start on the day wasn't too bad though. After showering in this amazing shower, we were served a lovely breakfast of cinnamon bread and fresh raspberries, strawberries, and cantaloupe.

We were taken to the local grocery store to purchase the tickets --or whatever they're called--to get on the L. Then we were dropped off at the station.

We waited quite a bit for the Elevated to arrive. Good thing Sean is functional with public transportation because I would never have got down there if it weren't for his directional & transportation skills.

On the L, we passed Wrigley Field. That was pretty cool to see. It was awesome that people built their own seating to watch the game from their apartment or row home. I hear they get taxed for that. Travelling through the city was neat. When we got off, we got out at a pretty populated area. Making our way over to the financial district, we mostly just wandered since we didn't know where we were going. We made our way over to the Sears/Willis Tower and waited in line for hours just to get up to the sky ledge. It was worth the wait though. The view was incredible and it was good to get out of the heat. The most exciting thing was definitely me planking the sky ledge. Face down, 103 stories up. What an exhilarating experience that was.

After leaving the Willis Tower, we went on a quest to get deep dish pizza. The first place we got to was really crowded, so we kept walking until we found another place. This place was okay. I wasn't impressed, and I've always been a NY style pizza fanatic. We had a couple of deep dish pizzas and then headed out. I was full for the rest of the day from that pizza. I really didn't each much of anything later. I felt bad since our host family made fajitas for us. I took some on my plate to be nice, but truly I was full.

So after food, we walked around more, making our way to the bean and other sculpture pieces around the city. Going to an art museum and an art college.

We ended the day in Navy Pier. Walking up and down the touristy spot. We thought about getting on a boat tour, but being exhausted, we just left. Finding the nearest L and jumping on it.

It was really satisfying to go back to a comfortable host home and crash. The house we stayed in was amazing, I'm not sure if i have mentioned that yet. But it's the type of house you drive by and wish that's that house you are staying in, when in reality you stay in one of the relatively smaller, less attractive looking homes. To say the least, I would've been perfectly happy spending the rest of the month in this Chicago suburb.

Mees

From Detroit to a Country Club

2011-07-05T23:36:00.002-04:00

I missed writing a blog last night. We we're up pretty late, and the mobile hotspot on my phone was not working well.

Yesterday, we had a Chinese breakfast with the family we stayed with in Detroit. It was interesting to eat some of the same foods offered when staying with my grandparents. It was very home-like for Sean and I. The breakfast was delicious. It seems we are getting a variety of food. We hope to taste local favorites and not just pizza.

After breakfast, we got all packed up and headed over to a local park. In Grosse Pointe, there are 5 areas with 6 parks. One area has 2 parks. The one we visited was on the water of a river I forget the name of. But it was very scenic and right next to a yacht club.

After the park, we drove down Jefferson which took us through mansions and through slums then directly into the financial district of Detroit. Again, this city was pretty empty. We made some spontaneous lefts and rights to see different buildings and structures. We drove right by the Tigers and the Lions stadiums. They we're both nice looking. When leaving the downtown area, we drove towards the abandoned railroad station, which was also pretty cool.

We then made our way to the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. We met our hosts at Greenfield and they got us in for free with their memberships, which was awesome. We walked around there for a little bit. It was like a 19th century village, which had a lot of historical artifacts. The place had 11 or 9 Model T's which you could ride around it. We did lol. It was a great way to see the entire village sans walking.

We had intentions of going into the Henry Ford Museum, but decided it would be best to get on the road. We were already holding up our next host family.

The drive to Chicago was pretty cool. The driving is getting a lot better. Still country though, but there's more diversity.

I think we arrived in the suburbs of Chicago around 6 or 6:30. We changed and were off to a country club. The atmosphere was unique, and something Sean and I have never been around. The food was good and satisfying after missing a lunch.

The fireworks at the country club started to the Star Wars main song. It was glorious.

That about wraps up day 3.

Mees

more of the city of bridges, a stop in the mistake by the lake, and finally in motown

2011-07-03T22:49:00.001-04:00

i am exhausted. and it's only day two. uh-oh. well, we still have a case of monster energy drink in the back of the van. we woke up this morning at around 9 and had breakfast with the lassmans. they were so kind to provide us with company and food. afterwards of which, we packed and showered and by 11 we were in downtown pittsburgh walking around. we drove to PPG Place, which is a Philip Johnson designed tower. for those of you not familiar with it, it's the tower shown in the live action film Inspector Gadget. that entire film used pittsburgh as its backdrop. anyway, we enjoyed walking around and looking at the wonderful sights. it's quite a beautiful city. the road system around there is INCREDIBLY confusing. it is not gridded and instead just winds around everywhere. and there are a million bridges. but it's still remarkably pedestrian friendly. i didnt see a lot of public transit, however. and we did exhaust ourselves walking around everywhere. there were plenty of old historic buildings as well as contemporary ones. a good mix in my opinion. i'm still so amazed by pittsburgh's vitality. there is not a single steel mill left in that city and today it's ranked as one of the most livable cities in the united states. it somehow not only survived the end of the industrial economy but adapted to the knew service/knowledge economy and thrived! many cities in the united states did not survive that transition at all. and now i'm very interested in how that did that. our host family pointed out several facts about the city that kept it alive: Carnegie Mellon and U. of Pittsburgh, both major research universities, are well within the city. These are world famous universities that provide not only education but the impetus for technology companies to come into the city for the proximity to well educated, talented young people. another interesting thing is a matter of demographics: many cities went downhill with the race riots and the flee of white middle class people to the suburbs ("white flight"). many of the people in pittsburgh before the end of industrial economies who were white were actually orthodox jews. now, orthodox jews cannot use technology on the sabbath (i believe; correct me if im wrong) and must walk, not drive, to synagogue. so these people were not going to drive and move out to the suburbs. they stayed put. demographics, education and research. ingredients for urban success?

anyway, we left pittsburgh for detroit. we took the ohio turnpike from the penn turnpike and eventually i-75 around toledo up towards detroit. however, along the way, we decided to take a stop in the city of cleveland, for a detour at the rock and roll hall of fame! the city has a beautiful, if small, skyline. there is a massive, post modern/contemporary skyscraper that is handsome and fits well into the eyes of viewers. it's a cesar pelli design: not groundbreaking but very harmonious and very much needed in cities. you cant have a skyline full of empire state buildings but you need fillers. but the fillers can't be ugly. it's called the key tower. another tower is the terminal tower. this was built in the 20s or 30s and is beaux arts. gorgeous. the mix between the contemporary key and older terminal is seen throughout the city. anyway, we got to the rock and roll hall of fame and parked next door at the science center's parking deck. step out and it stunk to high heaven. there was this huge mass of seagulls...thousands upon them, down the road at a warehouse and the wind blew the smell of them towards us. it made me gag. but we hurried over to the hall, which is a design by i.m. pei and quite gorgeous too. what makes it especially gorgeous is it's next to lake erie. we didn't go in, but we did walk around. and we saw for our very first time a great lake. it was breathtaking for me, though it for others must be mundane. but the concept of this massive sea in the middle of the "great american desert" of the midwest. it was amazing. "i can't see the other side!" well, eventually we got back in the car and drove through the downtown. the city is handsome and clean. but it looks sterile. too clean. not enough life. our host family in pittsburgh noted that people live in the suburbs in cleveland. that's unfortunate. it's great to work in a city. but even better to live in a city. pittsburgh was great to see at night bustling with young people. that reminds me: pittsburgh was so young! so many young people! note to self: move there.

anyway, we got back on the road and headed straight towards toledo. theres unfortunately not much to say. it is, after all, ohio. we did stop at a dennys for dinner. attached to it was a little convenience store. they sold shot glasses and chachkis that said ohio on them. i was tempted. anyway, around toledo, we got onto i-75 and headed straight towards detroit.

one thing we noticed immediately in michigan: all the cars are american brand. all of them. all of them. no one owns a japanese car. in nj, most cars are japanese made. american cars are in the minority. anyway, again, there wasn't much interesting in michigan until all of a sudden a sign said "welcome to motown." that sign happened to be on a oil refinery building. what a welcome. a welcome to hell? with fires spitting out of the chimneys of an oil refinery? then we saw the downtown. the renaissance center, GM's headquarters, had signs glowing. we also saw the outline of the abandoned michigan central train station, the grand beaux arts abandoned station. as we passed near it, we could see straight through the windows: it's gutted. also interesting was seeing the bridge b/w windsor, ontario CANADA and detroit, michigan, USA. we were basically at the border. signs pointed us in the direction of the tunnel or bridge to canada. we're so close to a foreign country! we actually picked up a CBC radio station along in ohio. one station was in french. but we're nowhere near quebec. anyway, we're here now in the suburbs of detroit. and i am exhausted. and want to rest.