• Kentucky

    Heading South

    November 27, 2014 - By 

    Not only was I thrilled with the lowest gas prices I’ve seen in about 7 years, my heart was captured by the adorable Southern accents that are nonexistent on the west coast. Geographically, Virginia and West Virginia sit along the east coast, but culturally, they embrace the South.  I had no idea that the faint hint of a southern drawl spanned from Texas all the way to Virginia.  Because I’ve only heard the charming accent in movies and media, I found myself focusing more on the sound of their voices rather than their words. In any case, we made a brief stop to Richmond, Virginia to…

  • D.C.

    Washington

    November 24, 2014 - By 

    It wasn’t possible to tour the U.S. without seeing our nation’s capital.  Chris had never been, and my recollection of the capital only exist as fragments of memories from a lame tour bus over a decade ago.  During the planning stage of our east coast tour, our scheduled route was NYC -> Philadelphia -> Washington.  And now, here we were. We had the fortune of staying with my friend’s brother outside of Washington in Germantown, Maryland.  From there we took the metro (which by the way was perhaps the cleanest metro I’ve ever seen in the U.S.) in and out of Washington for…

  • Pennsylvania

    Philadelphia

    November 21, 2014 - By 

    ***Just a heads up: those who don’t know anything about or give the slightest shit about U.S. history will find tourism in Philadelphia and this blog entry to be a total bore.  Just sayin’!*** After embracing two consecutive weekends of fancy drinks, gourmet food, and beautiful sites in the big cities of Chicago and New York, we braced ourselves for a taste of historical America–Philadelphia, the capital of the U.S. from 1790-1800. Fortunately my uncle’s house in the outskirts of Philadelphia was our campground for the next two nights, rather than another sketchy freeway bridge.  Not only was being conspicuous no longer a requirement, we…

  • New York

    New York City

    November 20, 2014 - By 

    Before entering Chicago, we had the fortune of dropping off Scromp in the burbs.  I was hoping we would have the same sort of luck during our stay in the city…perhaps a friend or friend of a friend who lived in the outskirts of NYC would have been kind enough to take in Scromp while we toured NYC. Instead, a friend told me the story of the time when he spent a summer camping on Long Island.  “There’s this free parking lot under the freeway bridge in Brooklyn on Meeker and Graham,” he wrote to me.  “I slept in that parking lot…

  • New York

    Niagara Falls

    November 18, 2014 - By 

    Rather than driving across the painfully wide state of Pennsylvania straight to New York City, we opted for a shorter route north into New York for a glimpse of Niagara Falls.   I had visited Niagara Falls with my family almost 15 years ago during the summer, and I couldn’t wait to hear the power of water and gravity again.  Horseshoe Falls, American Falls, and Bridal Veil Falls make up the Niagara Falls that flow between the international border of Ontario, Canada and New York, U.S.A.  The water flow of the combined falls is the strongest of any waterfall anywhere in the…

  • Pennsylvania

    Chicago to Pennsylvania

    November 17, 2014 - By 

    I asked three of my native Michigan friends what the hell there was to do in Michigan and all three responded with the same, dismal answer: Nothing. Well, nothing compared to everything else we had seen.  Because there was apparently nothing to do there, I decided at the last minute to extend our road trip into New York City, stopping by Presque Isle State Park and Niagara Falls State Park along the way.  Chris had never visited The City That Never Sleeps so we were stoked to spend our next weekend in NYC after hanging out in Chicago the past weekend–WHOO! We…

  • Illinois

    Chicago

    November 11, 2014 - By 

    Between breathtaking South Dakota and bustling Chicago, we made a stop to sleepy Iowa. Since most of the corn fields were harvested, we couldn’t witness endless fields of swaying wispy, golden corn stalks, but I at least had the opportunity to cuddle with barn animals at Chris’ twin brother’s farm. Monty, the gentle horse.  Despite their size, I learned that horses are kinda like dogs. Pinwheel, the apathetic cow.  She, like all other cows, ate and shat perpetually. Petunia, the fun-loving pig.  She had another pig companion, but it got away and was hit by a car, so it was roasted and devoured.  Bacon…

  • South Dakota

    Black Hills and Badlands

    November 5, 2014 - By 

    It was still dark and nibbling cold when we left Colorado Tuesday morning, but we had a full day of driving ahead of us: north into Wyoming, and then east into South Dakota. Our plans entailed a full day in Black Hills National Forest and a full day in Badlands National Park the day after just in time to arrive in Des Moines, Iowa for Halloween and Chris’ 36th birthday.  Although the 13,000+ acre Black Hills wilderness is filled with campgrounds, the Wrinkled Rock Climbing Trailhead is the only dispersed campground also open all year round.  Obviously, that was where we spent the…

  • Colorado

    Colorado in 3 Days

    November 3, 2014 - By 

    Tuesday, October 28th was our arrival goal for Black Hills National Forest, South Dakota, which gave us 3 whole days to spend in Northern Colorado.  Having never been to Colorado before, we were both eager to check out the mile-high city highly regarded by outdoor adventurers.  We evenly divided our time between Rocky Mountain National Park, Boulder, and Denver for a taste of the Rockies and well-missed metropolitan city life. Perhaps it was the last warm autumn Saturday before daylight savings time could begin, but the crowded Rocky Mountain National Park was a culture shock after arriving from the deserted Yellowstone National Park.  Like Zion, Rocky Mountain offered…