Category: United States

The drive between DC and Louisville passes through almost no cities; the college towns of Morgantown, West Virginia and Lexington, Kentucky are the metropolises of this route. In the place of large cities, however, lies 600 miles of authentic rural America. We saw this America as we blew by at 70 mph on the large interstate highways. To be honest, this project was inspired by the gigantic crane advertising the county fair we saw leaving DC off of which two items were hanging: a monster truck, and a gigantic flowing American flag. Nothing could be more appropriate.  Outside of that fantastic image we could not capture, here are images of the scenery that struck us.

It’s been a long time since we did a Travel Take Two installment, so I thought I’d bring this series back to life with a look at our last summer’s vacation, a road trip from D.C. to Maine and back with stops all along the way.

Destination: Cape Cod, MA; Burlington, VT; Northeast Kingdom, VT; Kancamagus Higway, NH; Bar Harbor & Acadia, ME; Portland, ME; Boston, MA; NYC.

Date: August 10-20, 2007

Travel Partners: Just the two of us

HIGHLIGHTS

1. Vermont. We both loved pretty much everything about Vermont. It was hands-down the prettiest state we traveled to, and just driving across it was a treat. But our stops really made it stand out. Burlington was a nice city to stroll around, ever so walkable and picturesque. Lake Champlain and its islands (more later) were awesome. Who doesn’t love Ben & Jerry’s? The tour of the plant was comical, the flavor graveyard was highly amusing, and the fact that their samples are actually substantial is a real plus. And finally, the Northeast Kingdom. First of all, how can you not love a place with a name like that? And secondly, how much more beautiful can a place be? Honest to God town greens, gorgeous glacial lakes, lovely B&Bs, great homegrown food—I was ready to move there.

2. Baseball in Massachusetts. We practically planned the trip around baseball, so it’s a good thing that at least most of the baseball was well worth it. Our two baseball experiences in Massachusetts were excellent and reminders of the way the game is supposed to be played. On Cape Cod, we were able to watch a playoff game of the Cape Cod League, the league in which the best college baseball players in the country play each summer. In Boston, we made it to Fenway Park to see the Red Sox. In both places, the atmosphere was excellent. Though many of the guys in the Cape Cod League will one day be seeing paychecks with many, many zeros on them, there was no pretension. Fans–large numbers of them–gathered at school fields, setting up lawn chairs and spreading out blankets to cheer on their teams, while the players put on displays on immense talent and then bantered with the crowd, handing out high fives or selling raffle tickets when they weren’t playing. Fenway is classic for good reason. The seats are tiny and the paint is peeling off of them, but no one cares. The stadium has atmosphere, an aura. And the fans are all too busy standing and cheering to worry about the state of their seat. Even though I’m not a Red Sox fan, it was an exhilarating experience.

3. The Great Outdoors. Now I have to admit that even though I’d been to much of the Northeast before, I hadn’t ever really equated it with great natural beauty. I’m not sure why, since it’s in fact, a great place for those who love nature. There’s a reason so many artists flocked to the Cape Cod National Seashore; it’s picture perfect. Vermont, as I mentioned before, is one glorious sight after another. The Kancamagus Highway in New Hampshire (probably my least favorite of the states we visited) offers lovely waterfall after lovely waterfall. And how do you even sum up Acadia? It’s a wonderland of peaks and seashore, tidal pools, and evergreens.

LOWLIGHTS

1. Lobster. What trip to Maine would be complete without at least one lobster dinner? Not ours, although maybe it should have been. Our trip to a lobster pound was less than a highlight. It didn’t take long for us both to decide that we didn’t really see what the big deal about lobster was. It was fine, sure, but not great, and it was so much damn work to eat. Then we made the fatal mistake of opening our lobsters all the way up. Seeing the green stuff in the middle was enough to make us both lose our appetites…and almost our dinners. Yuck. I’d rather just have steak, thanks.

2. Yankee Stadium. ESPN’s made Yankee Stadium, a.k.a. “The House the Ruth Built,” into a year-long story, and everyone rates it as a classic, but we both found it to be a yawn. It felt pretty generic to us, and lacked the intimacy and excitement of Fenway. The stands were only about half full, and even though it was an afternoon game, I literally had a hard time staying awake. I guess I’m glad we got to see it before it gets torn down, but eh, I was less than impressed.

3. The L.L. Bean Store. For some reason, every time we told anyone that Portland was one of our stops, they asked if we were going to the L.L. Bean Store. So we added it to the list, figuring it must be a big deal. I have to say we were underwhelmed. Sure it was big and sure I can shop there around the clock, but it didn’t have any great deals or any fancy gear that you can’t find elsewhere. I guess maybe once it was something, but now everything’s big and open all the time, so I guess we’re just jaded. Plus all those outlets around town and the crazed herds of female shoppers had me a little freaked out.

LESSONS LEARNED

1. On that very rare occasion, the too-good-to-be-true deal is actually true. A hotel room in Manhattan for $20? Yeah, right. You can’t get a hotel anywhere for that. But oh yeah, we did. And no, this wasn’t a room in a brothel; it was in fact a room in a nice hotel right next to the United Nations with a huge marble bathroom, super comfy bed, and a light control panel that I had so much fun playing with. The hotel, which had just reopened after a renovation offered a very small number of rooms for $19.17 in honor of the year the hotel first opened. We happened to be one of the lucky few to actually score the deal.

2. Sometimes the best places are the ones the guidebooks barely mention. One of our very favorite stops—the Lake Champlain Islands—was mentioned in the Lonely Planet as a mere afterthought. If I’d been the one writing the guidebook, it would have gotten a couple of pages at least. The island are small, given, but they’re idyllic and oh so fun to explore. We visited an orchard, wine tasted at a vineyard, stopped to photograph hundreds of colorful bird houses that qualified as art in my opinion, bought goat cheese and then petted the goats that produced it, lusted over perfectly situated inns, had a picnic on the lakeshore, shopped at a general store true to its name, and just leisurely explored this tiny parcel of paradise. Along the same lines, other things that stand out on our trip—dinner at a tiny breakfast counter named Tooky’s in some tiny New Hampshire town, buying blueberries from a roadside stand in Maine—are things we stumbled across, not planned for.

3. On a trip where you’re spending a lot of time on the go, you need to add in a day every now and then to just do nothing. If you read the list of places we visited and then the amount of time we were gone, you’ll realize this was a crazy trip. We knew it would be that way; we were looking for a sample platter of everything the region had to offer; not a five-course meal. But as prepared for it as we were, by the time we got to Portland, Maine, we were exhausted. So rather than tour around, we had sushi and called it an early night. I guess on one hand, you could call it a wasted day; I have no real clue what Portland is like. But on the other hand, that one day off revitalized us and we were able to hit Boston and NYC with gusto. We’ll consider it a worthwhile sacrifice. Sorry, Portland.

4. Let yourself like a place that you’re convinced you’ll hate. Jeff was certain he wouldn’t like NYC—too big, too crowded, too everything—and he really had no interest in staying beyond the time it took to see a game at Yankee Stadium. But being the deal lover he is, he couldn’t pass up our fabulous hotel find, so we got to enjoy a day in the city, and by the end of that day he was a convert. Instead of looking for all the things he knew he wouldn’t like, he opened his mind to the city and found that there was a lot to love. I think I’ve even got him on board with my belief that it would be really cool to live in NYC for one year.

5. Don’t forget about your own backyard. Every year that we lived here, we said we’d do this road trip, but we never actually got around to it. Instead we jetted off to the Grand Canyon or Hawaii, Belize or Germany. It was so close and so easy, that we kept putting it off, feeling as if it would always be there. It took a realization that last summer might be our last in D.C. (turned out we were off by one year) to get us out and exploring the part of the country closest to us. Too often while we’re planning great international adventures, we forget that there’s a lot of cool stuff right here in our own country, in our own region.

Remember this list? Back when we were highly motivated and were going to do all of those things around D.C. in our last summer before we left? Yeah, it didn’t quite work out that way. Turns out, when you hike all weekend every weekend in addition to holding regular jobs and writing 100-300 page texts in between, you don’t have much free time to enjoy the D.C. summer (if 100 degree heat with 100 degree humidity can be enjoyed … and I would argue that it can).

Well tonight we finally accomplished one of our goals off of our last D.C. summer list, making it out to Nationals Park to check out the new stadium. The Nationals were solidly defeated by the Phillies, but honestly, that was pretty much expected. We had a great time with some of our friends, it was a great night to be outside and I’m always up for a baseball game (and Theresa, if sometimes less enthused, certainly doesn’t mind …).

Even if it’s a day late, we’re calling this our third anniversary photo. We just have some kind of “glow” about us =).

If you’ll permit me an aside to talk about baseball stadiums, we did thoroughly check out the stadium, taking the time to completely circumnavigate it. It’s a very nice, new stadium, but I couldn’t help but think of all the things it could’ve been but wasn’t. To me, it lacked that iconic unique aspect. It was in the vein of the nice new stadiums, but felt so generic.

I don’t know if you can even see it in the corner, but there’s the national Capitol building. Really feels small and insignificant, right? If there’s anything that should be prominantly featured, it should be the Capitol building and the National Monument. You couldn’t ever see the Monument. And the Capitol building was blocked by the giant bar underneath it in this picture to everyone but the third level seats. Anyway, it just felt like there was so much missed opportunity.

So back on top a bit, we’re trying to fit in a few more of our goals before we leave. We certainly aren’t going to hit all of them between all of the things that are still left to do. I guess we should’ve taken our own advice and seized earlier moments to do the things we wanted in D.C. Ah, that wonderful hindsight.

In honor of the birthday of our great nation, we thought we’d pay tribute to its many fine sights. As we peruse guidebooks looking for the best each country has to offer and as we beg friends, family, and even strangers for their top suggestions of what to do in the countries they’ve visited or lived in, we’ve stopped a few times to wonder how would we answer that question ourselves. If someone was coming to the U.S. for the first time and they wanted to know the top ten things they should do (without regard to time or money restraints), what would we suggest?

Here’s where we’d suggest a visitor to our country start.

10. Vermont. An odd choice to begin with but surely one of America’s best kept “secrets.” As they say, Vermont is what New England used to be. Visit the only kingdom in America (the region known as the Northeastern Kingdom), which is further claimed as what Vermont used to be. The pioneering American spirit remains strong here. Marvel at Lake Willoughby nestled in mountains, head to the Lake Champlain (the “sixth” great lake) and its many islands, and for laughs, tour the iconic Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream factory (free sample included).

9. Attend a solidly American sporting event. Catch a game of baseball at Wrigley Field or Fenway Park. Brave the cold and the cheeseheads in Green Bay. Join the drunken herds in the infield of the Indy 500. Or don your best hat and bet your bucks at the Kentucky Derby.

8. Hawaii. The last state is also one of the most fascinating. It’s obviously well known for its gorgeous beaches, great golf courses, rainforests and waterfalls, and overall relaxing atmosphere, so enjoy those to the fullest. But also venture to the island of Kauai to immerse yourself in the native Hawaiian culture. Head to the Big Island and hike out to mere feet from an active lava flow, or climb to the top of Mauna Kea and gaze at one of the clearest views of the heaven’s available on earth.

7. Denver, Colorado and the Rocky Mountains. Home to world class skiing. Not winter? Make that world class mountain climbing. Gorgeous scenery abounds at every turn, but especially at Red Rocks, Garden of the Gods, and in southwestern Colorado, the cliffside Native American ruins at Mesa Verde. Throw in river rafting, rock climbing, snowmobiling, and so on, and the area holds many more outdoor experiences than any one trip (or less than a lifetime) can handle.

6. Go a state fair, preferably in the midwest. There’s something quintessentially American about a state fair. Livestock shows and rodeos. Sculptures made of butter or cheese or other perishable products. Quilts and homemade pies and the state’s largest watermelon. Funnel cakes and midway rides, country music stars, and racing pigs. What’s not to love?

5. Alaska. Now, this is one we ourselves haven’t yet been to, but it’s at the top of our list, and it just seems too amazing to leave off. Sail among glaciers, watch grizzlies gorge themselves on salmon, see the Northern Lights dance across the sky, spot whales surfacing in the icy water, scale the nation’s tallest peak. It’s a fantastic landscape, completely different from that found in the rest of the U.S.

4. Washington, D.C. No city has more monuments per square foot than DC. Steep yourself in all the political history you can handle, visit the Capitol, the National Archives, the White House. Throw in a fantastic array of free museums catering to every taste (and plenty more cool ones you can pay for) and you’re easily entertained for days.

3. The Grand Canyon. It’s the classic American vacation, the veritable pilgrimage every American makes, peering over the South Rim at the vast landscape. But go beyond that, make the effort to head down to the Colorado River, you know, the thing that carved that giant hole. Hike up side canyons to waterfalls. Examine the layers of rock you pass as you climb back out. It’s a marvel for good reason.

2. Drive Highway 1. Explore the best of the Golden State from this famed roadway, passing some of the most magnificent stretch of coastline in America. See movie stars and elephant seals, towering redwoods and the cliffs of Big Sur. Take some time out to explore Los Angeles, and then hop on a street car to check out the city of San Francisco.

1. New York City. There isn’t another place like it in the world. Stroll through Central park, shop in SoHo, write in your journal in Greenwich Village, eat in one of the many ethnic neighborhoods, walk across the Brooklyn Bridge at night, take a ferry ride out and around the Statue of Liberty, peer out at it all from the Empire State Building, tour the Met or the MoMA, and just walk, walk, walk until you can’t go another step.

That would be our top ten recommendations. What are yours?

While camping this weekend, I had enough time to run through the entire Peru guidebook. One down, many, many to go. In way cooler news, Bears!
Bear, bear, bear, bear, bear, bear, bear! Times 7. We saw seven bears in five different encounters on our three day camping trip. Only twice were the bears feeling photogenic.

With the level of bear encounter discussion that occurs in Theresa’s family (with complete lack of first hand experience unless you count from a car) It was really interesting to see how they reacted to your presence. They really are much less confrontational than I’ve been lead to believe. In every instance, they were either completely indifferent to our presence or scurried off very quickly, they never found us the least bit interesting or threatening. The only time I was even slightly concerned was when we stumbled across a mother and her two cubs. They moseyed right across the trail without even glancing at the noisy people. Even the bear I got closest to, only 20 feet to my right, rushed away when Theresa said “Jeff, bear!” I never saw it, only heard it run off.

But don’t you all start chasing bears now that I’ve said this! Since bears are cool, anyone else have a bear experience to share? Your regularly scheduled travel blog posting will resume in a day or two.

We’re going to continue the domestic trend of our Travel Take Two series with a look back at our 2006 trip to the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon, much like Hawaii, is a worn travel destination for most Americans. Most people head to the South Rim, spend a night or two up there, look out over the magnificent terrain and maybe hike a little ways down the trail. But we’re not most people. Our idea of seeing the Grand Canyon was from the bottom, rafting on the river that carved the canyon, the Colorado.

Destination: Grand Canyon: A 6 day expedition–5 days rafting down the upper half of the Grand Canyon, from Lee’s Ferry to Phantom Ranch and 1 day hiking out the Bright Angel Trail to the South Rim

Date: August 25-30, 2006

Travel Partners: Guides/Oarsmen from Moki Mac and fellow passengers.

HIGHLIGHTS

1. Rafting the rapids. It’s incredibly exhilarating to plow headlong through ten foot high walls of freezing water in a small rubber boat, drenching you and everything in your boat, but perhaps even more exhilarating is the building anticipation of hearing the rapids well before reaching them, feeling the sound build and build until there is nothing else but a roar and your imagination of what rests around the next bend.

2. Kayaking in the ducky. I had read before we left about getting to paddle an inflatable kayak yourself, and knew immediately it was for me. They finally pulled it out on day 3, when we were going through ‘calmer’ waters, and though it took some doing, I convinced Theresa to get in with me (she may describe this experience as more of a lowlight). She was cursing me as soon she sat down in the self-bilging boat and soaked her bottom in the freezing brown water. As we pushed off into the river, they called out “They call that the divorce boat, you know.” After our first (small) rapid, yelling back and forth about who was paddling on what side and that we weren’t hitting the waves properly, we quickly understood why. Nevertheless, we quickly got the hang of things and at least I had a great time controlling my own fate through the rapids.

3. Hiking the side canyons leading to beautiful vistas, Indian ruins, and waterfalls. We went on a number of afternoon hikes up side canyons, which, in addition to getting us out of the hot afternoon sun (most times), led us to relics like an ancient Indian city along the banks, some granaries built into the side of the canyon at Nankoweap. We also we treated to a number of waterfalls (including a sideways waterfall!), getting to dip into the clear and refreshing water. All in all, they were a very rewarding change of pace from life on the river.

4. Staring at the night sky every night. With nary a light in any direction for a hundred miles, the night sky included the Milky Way in addition to millions of stars you never see. There is such a stark delineation of pitch black canyon walls and the star-peppered sky. We tracked satellites and shooting stars from one side of the canyon to the other nightly. We’ve been in some places with some amazing views of the night sky, and at the bottom of the Grand Canyon is definitely one of the best.

LOWLIGHTS

1. The bathroom situation. It wasn’t quite au natural, but it was close. There was a bucket and a whole orchestrated set of rules pertaining to the bucket. At least we did have toilet paper. I’m just glad I wasn’t the one who had to take care of the bucket.

2. Crossing a murky Little Colorado. This isn’t so much of a lowlight as a missed highlight. The Little Colorado if often crystal clear, warmer, and really fun to float down in an upside down life jacket. At least this is what we were told and were really excited about. When we got there, a recent rain had left it murky and at too high a level to safely navigate. So we were left to enjoy watching two muddy rivers merge together from the river bank. Not nearly as much fun.

LESSONS LEARNED

1. Some things are worth the cost. I’ve deliberately avoided mentioning how much this adventure cost, because as you may suspect, it wasn’t cheap. Though for what we got, it was certainly reasonable. All meals were included (and were quality meals … we’re talking steak and chocolate cake on day 4 quality). The guides rowed and navigated us safely through rapids the entire time, leading side hikes in their spare time. The full experience they provided us was worth our money.

2. A different point of view is a good thing. As I alluded to earlier, most people see the Grand Canyon from the South Rim, never even seeing the river the carved the canyon. After we hiked out and experienced the typical Grand Canyon experience as well, it became really clear how different and unique a perspective on it we really got. It’s such a different world descending into and then ascending out of 1.2 billion years of schist, shale and limestone.

3. We get along with diverse groups. We were one of 15 passengers on this trip, people from all different backgrounds from all over the US. We enjoyed everyone’s company and got to know many of them quite well in the five days. Since we’re not always the most outgoing people by nature, it’s comforting to know that we can =).

4. Preparation breeds success. The hike out was quite daunting — 9.5 miles long with almost a mile of elevation gain in Arizona in August heat. Needless to say, we were somewhat concerned with our physical conditioning for such an outing, so we trained a few times with our packs in nearby Shenandoah. This helped immensely. I’m sure our spry young legs helped, but we were able to make it out of the canyon each carrying our 25 pound packs in under five hours, before the worst heat began. Who needs mules?

If you want to read more, Theresa wrote a story about this trip for the San Antonio Express-News that you can read here. Also, you can look at all of our pictures from this trip here.