Do you know why Northerners make crazy road trip plans in March? For the weather – so imagine our shock and awe when we woke in Richmond to snow. It was beautiful – especially since we also woke up in a poshy posh resort – but it was still snow. Apparently they had closed the schools in the area. Big travel advisories – although it was really only a couple of sloppy wet inches.
So we kept on trucking!
Onto North Carolina – which is turns out is a very pretty state. We had lunch in Fayetteville at a place called Circa 1800. The food was very good – the ambience a little strange. It was a hair fancier than we needed – although usually we can rise to that kind of occasion. What we didn’t need at lunch was a bar patron who had maybe had a little too much wine. In the end, he cursed the manager as he was escorted out the door. (Cursed as in – a hex on your family, not just the two word curses most of us could come up with.)
Lily is doing research on Dr Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X, so it was kind of interesting to put their lives in perspective as we toured various areas. Also she was smart enough to ask Grandpa questions about what he remembered from being a kid and Grandpa talked about his first trips south.
From North Carolina we headed to South Carolina. From South Carolina to Georgia.
We spent the night in Savannah. We ended up taking a wrong turn and drove through a less picturesque part of Savannah. The houses were very small – and I was amazed at how close they were to the street. But eventually we found the hotel – which was a very nice place kinda far out of town. We walked around Savannah a little bit. We saw Paula Deen’s restaurant. Lily was very excited to eat there – until she saw the food. Not a ton to offer a budding vegetarian. But we found out that he brother had a restaurant on Tybee Island. So we ate out there. It was dark so I’m sure we missed the best part of heading out there – the view – but the place was kinda fun.
States visited: VA, NC, SC, GA
We woke up in Pittsburgh. Kate realized that Dance Moms was filmed in Pittsburgh – so we took a detour, an unexpectedly long detour to the Abby Lee Dance Studio. Luckily for some of us it was closed – but it didn’t stop us from getting pictures. And I suspect it may be a trip highlight for some travelers. It was kind of interesting to drive through suburban Pittsburgh. There were lots of windy roads, pretty narrow roads and some nice houses and some not so nice houses. But it definitely didn’t feel like driving through Mac Groveland!
Then from Pittsburgh to Hershey PA. The World of Chocolate was fun. We started by making our personalized candy bars. We got to choose our flavors and design our labels. I realize that I was in the minority in choosing white chocolate (turns our white chocolate really isn’t chocolate – but it’s still my fave). It was fun to get an idea of the process of making a candy bar.
We took the free tour of the history of chocolate, which was cheesy but fun – and a perfect filler while we waited for our next activity – a chocolate tasting class. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but I wasn’t expecting to learn as much. We learned that it takes about 10 days to make a regular Hershey bar – from field to wrapper. The darker chocolate and higher quality bars take longer. The Bliss chocolate takes 30 days to make. I was surprised how much I liked the darker chocolate when I took the time to taste it. Although really – white chocolate is still much better – to me.
From the Chocolate World we headed to Richmond. We drove near DC – but it was dark so we basked in the glory of being near DC and enjoyed dinner in a nearby suburb – then on to Richmond where we stayed in a super ritzy resort and conference center. (Thank you Priceline!)
One of the fun parts of the trips has been to see the different terrain as we drive. I took a few good pictures and have included them. And I learned that I shouldn’t live in the mountains – my ears were popping the whole time. I guess that’s the Great Plans upbringing.
State visited today: PA, MD, VA
The day started about a week ago. We started in Chicago. Drove through Indiana, stopped in Cleveland Ohio for lunch and a tour of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and now we’re sleepy in Pittsburgh. That’s three new states that the girls and I have never visited. (Grandpa has – in fact he mention that the last time he drove this path was September 12, 2001; he was stuck in DC for 9/11 and decided to just start driving West to get home.)
We had lunch at the Great Lakes Brewing Company. It came recommended and was good – although a little loud. Then we headed to the Rock & Roll Museum.I suspect that Grandpa and I may have enjoyed the Museum more than the girls – at least one was a little crushed not to find Justin Bieber anywhere. Sadly you can’t take pictures through most of the museum – but here are some of out highlights (in no particular order):
- Boy Scout uniform from Jim Morrison
- Pictures from T Edwards radio program. (Including a picture of Dion; someone remembered when Dion played in Winona.)
- Album covers from the Midwest including the following: Babes in Toyland, Prince, Husker Du, Jayhawks, Replacements, including a flyer from a show at 7th Street (Lily thought it was sad that I had been there in the last month) and that’s all I can remember.
- ZZ Top drum set – I told Aine that they decorated the drums with their beards; that’s what it looked like anyways.
- An undipped acid blotter sheet featuring a picture of Janis Joplin.
- Boots (and guitar) from Johnny Cash.
- Dress worn by Katy Perry
- Michael Jackson’s glove & the Thriller mask
- The giant hotdog that Phish used to land into one of their shows
- Janis Joplin’s psychedelic car
- Figures from The Wall (or as Aine says monster/teacher/Dr Einstein moving doll person) So wish I could have gotten a picture of that!
I’ll let you guess who loved each item. Our only sadness was that we didn’t have more time.
States visited: IL, IN, OH, PA
So who thought it would be a good idea to drive to Florida? What a dummy!
We started on the trip yesterday. We got on the road about noon, as scheduled. So that was good. We got a free upgrade to a minivan, which was probably good. (Not my dream vehicle – but loads of room for the girls.) Then the luck sort of ebbed.
I got a speeding ticket as soon as we crossed over the Wisconsin. I totally deserved it. I may have been able to talk my way out of it – being less than an hour in a rented car and just getting used to it – if I hadn’t been on the phone. I will give the cop credit for not asking if I knew how fast I was going. (I didn’t but I had some idea.)
Next it started snowing in Tomah. The blizzard started about 40 miles later. They closed schools in Madison about 2 hours before we got there. We were averaging about 40 miles an hour on the highway. I couldn’t read the signs. (Should have used that excuse with the ticket!)
Nearly 8 hours to get to Chicago – that’s an all-time worst record.
But once we got there bbq ribs were waiting and a cake to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday. And it was fun to see the cousins. And now it’s 8:00 and we’re already in a new state. I’m not driving. SO that’s good. Mifi is working. So that’s good. And we have plenty of gas. So that’s good because I think you can enjoy Gary Indiana just as much from the car. It seems pretty industrial – and not in a glamorous oils refinery/Emerald City way. Just trains and power lines.
State Count: MN, WI, IL, IN
Filed under: Alaska
Sunday was our last full day in Anchorage. So we made the very most of it! We headed north towards Mt McKinley. The day was perfect. It’s was crystal clear – and not really cold.
We could see Mt McKinley nearly the whole drive. From a great distance is looks like a small floating mountain. But I suppose that’s really just the top above the clouds. The weather on the mountain can be -22 F in the summer!
We drove through Wasilla – but we weren’t able to see Russia. Maybe we didn’t look hard enough. We did see that while the setting is beautiful, Wasilla isn’t the most attractive town you’re ever going to meet. We drove through to get to Talkeetna, which is near-ish to the Denali State Park. I say near-ish because really I just couldn’t get over how large Alaska is. From Talkeetna we had an amazing view of Mount McKinley. It was pretty spectacular. We also stopped into the Denali Brewing Company tasting hut. The beer was very good and the guy working there super friendly. Especially after it was established that his dad was Irish.
On the way back we saw a moose. John, who is kind of a fearless driver, stopped on the highway and backed up so that we could get a good picture of the moose. Very fun to see!
Eventually we made it back to Anchorage. Had a very nice dinner and saw a band. All in an effort to be tired for the plane ride home the next day. The plane ride is about 6 hours.
Filed under: Alaska
On Saturday I did a quick walk in the morning to see the sunrise. It’s not like you have to wake up early for it – sunrise sort of started at 8 am. But it was nice to get out and see a little patch of the city. I think people thought I was a little crazy; it was 14 degrees and it’s very slippery. A few folks stopped to kindly ask if I needed a lift. (Anchorage will not be winning any plowing or shoveling awards any time soon – but then I guess I could see losing interest in upkeep. I read that they’ve had 7 feet of snow this winter!) (Nearly forgot to add that I included the shop sign for my Scrabble friends – Oomingmak: The Qiviut Shop.)
One of the best things about a totally surprise trip to someplace great like Alaska is that you don’t really over prepare – or have any preconceived notion of what it will be like. So on Saturday when Bill suggested we head south I must admit I didn’t really know where we were going. We were originally headed to Seward – but took a detour to Whittier.
Whittier is about 60 miles from Anchorage. It’s on the west side of the Prince Island Sound, which may sound familiar because the Valdez port is on the south end of the Sound. In 1989, it was the location of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Whittier is not really that close to Valdez (as in we weren’t tempted to make the extra drive) but it gives you an idea of the geography. One cool thing about Whittier is that you have to take a one-lane tunnel to drive there. So there’s a schedule sort of like a drawbridge. The tunnel is 2.5 miles long.
Also Whittier had more snow than I have ever seen in one place. There were piles of it – I didn’t do a great job of capturing it – but it seemed like there were 10-15 foot banks everywhere. And the snow was blue – glacial blue, I guess. Except for the snow – the town could have been in West Cork. There was a harbor – where we saw otters and maybe a seal. I took a picture – knowing from experience that it wouldn’t really turn out – but I’m including it. We stopped at a pub/hotel for a drink – and even once inside it seemed kind of strange to me that the bar staff didn’t have Irish accents. The total bonus was that I got carded! It was a really nice place – we were kicking ourselves that we hadn’t thought to check out of our other hotel before heading out.
The town was a little sleepy in February – and there was at least one big Scooby Doo-esque abandoned hotel/asylum-place – but you could see the potential for summer! (And we enjoyed it even in Feb.)
Filed under: Alaska
You know you’re in a pretty city when the coastal walk also boasts some beautiful views of the mountains. While much of the day was spent working – we did get out for a nice walk. Because it’s February, we didn’t see a ton of actual coast – well at least in terms of water or sand. But the views are spectacular. And we could see one hearty boat trying to get to the dock.
We walked down the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. The trail is apparently 10 miles long – although we didn’t go nearly that far. One of my highlights was the moose warning sign. Lots of good advice on keeping away from moose – but of course that sets up an expectation. We didn’t see one – but we have two more days. The trail sort heads from downtown towards the airport along the coast. The homes that we passed were amazing. It’s a shared path for walkers and cross country skiers.
Also – lots of fun little urban art outbursts on our various walks.
Day one of Alaska was a lot of time inside a windowless room, which wasn’t half as bad as it sounds since the people were so friendly. I’m hear with John and Bill as part of a team to talk about broadband. So today we worked a conference and talked to people about their own technology use and set up. Then about 3:00 we finally got to see the sun. We arrived the night before around 9:00 – in the dark. And the conference started at 8:00 this morning, which is a little earlier than sunrise in Anchorage in February.
The weather is actually not very cold – probably about the same as home, hovering around freezing. (Academic freezing, not really cold freezing.) But Alaska got all of the world’s snow this year. There are piles of it everywhere and folks have said that much of it has melted in the warm up they’ve been having. But it made for a very pleasant walk. We walked towards the water and then towards the mountains. It’s very beautiful – although with all of the buildings, the pictures don’t really do justice.
The town itself is not very big.
We also visited the museum, which was kind of cool. It was nice to see the history, which we didn’t get much time to prep for the trip. The art was beautiful. There was an exhibit of faces who had climbed Mt McKinley. We thought they were going to be before and after faces – but they were just afters. But they were cool anyways. Amazing to see the difference between the skin that was covered by goggles and the weathered faces that clearly did not have enough protection.
Also in anticipation of comments – I will try to get a picture of me outside to prove I was here. But I’m a much better as photographer than photographed!
Filed under: St Paul
It’s been a funny winter. It’s February 1 with predicted temperatures in the 40’s! I think we’ve had 8 genuinely cold days all winter. So we were glad to get out and enjoy the Winter Carnival Ice Sculptures before they melted.
For readers outside of our area… St Paul has celebrated a winter carnival since 1886. It’s happens over the last week of January and first week of February. It is kind of a fun gage of weather. Like trick or treating, I can always remember the weather for Winter Carnival events. Last year it was cold and snowy. And while this winter has been warm, it was kind of chilly when we were looking at the sculpture – but I think that kept the crowds down – or rather moving. I suspect lots of people came to see the art – but hustled right through and didn’t linger.
We saw a few of the sculptures being made, which is always fun. The range of sawing tools, and melting tools and detailed tools and axes is kind of amazing. The sculptors generally appear to be dressed for the weather – in fact I’d like to know where the get some of that fleece – but it seems that inevitably there’s a time when you have to take off the gloves and use your hands. It’s cold work. But as the pictures demonstrate – it’s worth it. The hard thing is that the sculptures are particularly beautiful in the sun – but harder for me to capture on film.
Oh added extra bonus (for us) this year’s Winter Carnival was the Beer Dabbler – think outdoor wine tasting with great bands – except swap out the wine for beer.
Filed under: St Paul
Last year we went to the Red Bull Flutag – and I will give it to those guys – they know how to do it big! This year they have brought the Ice Crash Course to St Paul. The Ice Crash Course is 1300 feet of a downhill ice skating race track. It is hardcore. Aine and I went to check out the course this afternoon. I don’t’ know what I was expecting, but I completely forgot that Red Bull does things big.
The course starts at the Cathedral and winds down across Summit and down towards downtown. It is sheer ice. And it’s very steep in places (both going up and down) and there are a lot of intended bumps. In a million years I can’t understand why anyone would want to skate down it – but I’m now seriously tempted to go back to watch it!
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