Visiting the 50 states, part 3

Here we go! A road trip to cover 15 states total, including 9 new ones!! Just under two months ago, when it looked like I would be headed to UT for next year, my dad proposed a road trip that would get my entire apartment and me from Boston to Austin, hitting a bunch of states I’ve never been to AND visiting my grandparents. On Tuesday, we started on our epic journey!

Actually, I guess Monday night was the real start. My dad and I met up with Alex, SuYin and Daniel (who all helped us pack the truck!) and Maya at Sunset Cantina for my last night in Boston.

We hopped into the Budget truck around 7:45am on Tuesday and made our way out of Massachusetts. We had planned on stopping in Rhode Island for breakfast.

#3d: Rhode Island

In the “Historic” neighborhood of Federal Heights, we found a restaurant that came highly rated on Yelp. The Classic Café had a retro diner feel with excellent food. I had an omelet with feta, avocado, spinach and tomatoes, complete with four slices of sourdough bread and hash browns. Amazing! And, a perfect way to cross Rhode Island off the list.

We crossed through Connecticut (which I visited in March) and New York before we hit New Jersey in early afternoon.

#3e: New Jersey

We were still full from breakfast, so I looked for any sort of tourist attraction (rather than a restaurant) next to the New Jersey Turnpike so we wouldn’t have to venture far off of our route. I found the Thomas Edison Tower and Museum at Menlo Park. Perfect! We headed over there only to find out…it was closed for renovation until October! (And the museum was only open Thursdays – Saturdays…guess that’s what I get for just skimming the website!) We were both bummed but got some pictures anyway. We tried! Fed up with the tolls and the poor signage and now the misinformation of the Edison memorial, we decided this was enough of New Jersey and hit the road again.

#3f: Delaware

We stopped in Delaware for dinner at The Corner Bistro. It was oddly placed in a strip mall, but was pretty fancy inside, albeit with a décor that made me think the food was going to be better than it was. The salad was pretty delicious (it had goat cheese, candied pecans, and cranberries) but my chicken was a little dry and the potatoes were nothing special. However, they did let me charge my phone on the bar cart because our truck’s cigarette lighters don’t work, so I was very thankful for that.

#3g: Maryland

We hit Salisbury, Maryland at 9:30pm at the end of our first day of travel. We stayed in a Best Western, and we were off bright and early the next morning to move on to Virginia and then North Carolina!

On Wednesday morning we fueled up in Maryland before we were off to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel to go into Virginia. Even though it added some mileage to the trip, it was definitely worth it. The views were incredible (and so was the bridge/tunnel...what a nightmare to construct that!). 

Filling up the truck in Maryland! 

Paying the toll to experience the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel

The Chesapeake Bay! 

The dynamic duo!

Then, it was just a few more hours of driving before getting to the hotel of Gram and Gramps in North Carolina to visit my grandparents and spend the night there!

My grandparents were wonderful hosts, and we started the second half of our trip well fed and well rested, and with some homemade goodies for the road! It took us the rest of the morning to drive through the remainder of North Carolina.

#3h: South Carolina

We crossed over the South Carolina border around noon on Thursday, and got out at the visitor center to stretch our legs. HOLY MOLY HUMIDITY. It felt like I was swimming through the air! It was definitely the most humid of the states we’d been to yet. Our route was set to take us right through Columbia, SC, the home of University of South Carolina, so we made that our thing to see. The campus was beautiful! I think we only saw a very small portion of it, but the buildings were regal and the landscaping was stunning. We found the university bookstore so my dad could buy a shot glass (he collects them), and then walked back across a beautiful courtyard on the way to the truck. A perfect image of South Carolina, and the people were so friendly!

#3i: Georgia

We had decided to do dinner in Augusta, Georgia, and Yelp pointed us toward a restaurant called Frog Hollow Tavern. It was just inside the Georgia border, since North Augusta is in South Carolina, then you go over a river, and then Augusta is in Georgia.

We walked in just a few minutes after they opened at 5pm, and found out they were completely full for dinner that night! Not to worry, they said, we could sit at the bar with full dining service. Cool! We headed to the bar where the bartenders helped us out by answering our every question. We settled on the Mac and Cheese to start, my dad ordered the catfish, and I had the Angus Butcher Steak. The Mac and Cheese arrived and it was amazing! Smoked gouda and cheddar between flat sheets of pasta; my dad said it was the best M&C he’s ever had. Our entrees were equally as incredible—the best food we’ve had on this trip so far, hands down—and for dessert we had a carrot cake bread pudding. Feeling stuffed and overwhelmingly content, we waddled back to the truck and drove through the Georgia countryside to get to Atlanta for the night.

For the last few mornings on the road, we had driven an hour or so before stopping for breakfast. But on Friday morning, circumstances necessitated driving further to find an acceptable breakfast spot, as the only offerings in Anniston, AL were poorly rated on Yelp (think long waits, fast food, and food poisoning—not something we wanted to experience!).

#3j: Alabama

We drove almost two and a half hours before getting to Birmingham, where we stopped at Fife’s Restaurant. This was certainly a place for the locals! My breakfast sandwich was stuffed with bacon and scrambled eggs, and it certainly filled me up!

Wanting to fully experience Southern cooking, I also asked for a biscuit with gravy:

“I’ll have a biscuit, and do you have gravy?”

[Waitress looks at me like it was the stupidest question she’d ever heard] “GRAVY? We don’t have gravy.”

[Me, meekly and sheepishly] “Oh, ok. Just a biscuit then. Thank you.”

Birmingham was definitely an experience!

In the early afternoon we passed right through Tuscaloosa, home of the University of Alabama and the Crimson Tide. We thought, well, we’re here, let’s have a look! The architecture of the campus buildings was absolutely beautiful: every brick building had intimidating columns at the front with rounded staircases going up to the entrance. It did make them all look sort of the same, but I didn’t mind: it looked like quintessential Southern architecture to me, and it was magnificent.

We found the university bookstore in the student center, where we proceeded to look for a UA shot glass. We found mason jars, and martini glasses, and pint glasses, and mugs…but no shot glasses. Strange, we thought. Finally, after searching the entire store, my dad asked an employee. Turns out, shot glasses are the one thing the bookstore isn’t allowed to sell! Seems crazy to me…and to my dad. We left empty handed but happy, and got back into the truck to drive onto Mississippi.

#3k: Mississippi

We had planned on making a quick stop in Hattiesburg, Mississippi to see a Medicine Wheel Garden on the University of Southern Mississippi campus. It looked like a nice place to stop for a quick stretch and some photo ops. We exited the freeway, and started following Siri’s directions toward the parking lot for the garden. But due to copious amounts of construction, a baseball game, and stricter parking signs than Capitol Hill, we had to give up and move on! Even if we had just had a space to park and wander around, I’m sure we would’ve been able to find the garden. But alas, stopping to visit the Medicine Wheel Garden in Mississippi just wasn’t in the cards on Friday. Frustrated from countless three point turns, one way streets, and blocked entryways into seemingly empty parking lots, we left Hattiesburg without looking back and pressed on toward the next stop: New Orleans!

The signs for New Orleans from the road in Mississippi!

#3l: Louisiana

The last new state of the trip brought with it a very fun evening! Finding a jazz club in the French Quarter that came highly rated on Yelp (noticing a trend here?), I called and made a reservation for the two of us from the road. We cruised into New Orleans just before 6pm, and proceeded to turn onto Frenchmen Road, in the French Quarter, in a BUDGET TRUCK. It was clear there was no way we would be parking on this street, or any of the streets in the French Quarter that were similarly crowded. We barely squeaked by the cars parked on either side of the one-way street, and after some careful maneuvering, made it back to the more spacious boulevard, where we found a parking spot not far from the restaurant. Phew! Crisis averted.

The parking situation in the French Quarter

Three Muses was a small but bustling jazz club/tapas restaurant. There was a trio playing in the front corner, and without meaning to, you could hear your neighbors’ conversation. We ordered a cheese plate (we were so hungry that we started eating immediately and I forgot to get a picture) and seared scallops (only did slightly better on the picture front this time) to start, then moved on to bacon wrapped dates filled with bleu cheese and a hangar steak over a crab cake. All of the food was absolutely delicious, and we ended the meal with homemade malted vanilla and Mexican chocolate ice cream with homemade biscotti and cookies.

They had warned us when I made the reservation that we were only allowed to stay at the table for 1.5 hours—we could move to the bar after that if we still wanted to stay in the venue. We decided to explore more of the French Quarter instead: there was an art fair happening on a side street, and the whole main street was bustling with people and live music from various venues. Overall it was a welcoming and enticing first New Orleans experience, and I would love to go back someday!

After much consternation (and swearing from the passenger seat) on the road of trying to find a hotel after leaving the French Quarter, we finally found one in Hammond, LA. Definitely not a five star establishment, but good enough for the night, and we slept soundly before the last day of our trip!

Our last day had us in Hammond when we woke up late, and we decided we wanted breakfast before we hit the road today. We found a local place called Lee’s Diner decorated like a 50’s diner, and had breakfast there before we hit the road.

We got to Texas around noon, but then it took us another FIVE HOURS to get to Austin. (I never realized how huge Texas was until we entered the state at exit number 876.)

Our time in Austin has been so great! Our hosts (family friends) were so wonderful and welcoming, and I got to meet a few friends of my dad’s from college too! On Sunday the first order of business was unpacking the truck into a storage unit and then returning the truck. After that was done, we walked around the UT campus and had some Austin food, and tried to watch the bats (hopefully we’ll have better luck next time!). Monday brought with it some of the craziest weather I’ve ever seen! The morning was cloudy, but at about 1:45 (the time that my dad and I went to hang out with Lauren) the rain just started pouring down! There was tons of flooding and multiple tornado warnings. It was insane! 

I know this blog post was long (sorry!) but this was the biggest trip I’ve done in a long time! I had a great time, and I can’t wait to start my new life in Texas in August!

12/18 done with #3!!

Visiting the 50 states, part 2

This is part 2 of my goal to visit all 50 states. See part 1 here!

When my parents and I were discussing what to do with the day they were going to be in Boston after my recital, I told them that I really wanted to visit Maine and New Hampshire, since they're so close and once I move out of New England, they won't be as accessible. My mom loved that idea, and so we started making plans. When I mentioned it to my brother, he got time off of work to fly out to Boston for my recital and for the trip. And Tim was here too! So, on Friday morning, we all met at my apartment first for bagels and cream cheese. Then, we piled into the rental car and got going! The three "kids" slept almost the entire ride to Maine...oops!

#3b: Maine

We started out in Portland, ME, where we almost locked the keys and something else in the car.

We walked around Old Port and finally found ourselves starving, so we looked up "lobster" on Yelp and found a place close by that came highly recommended.

My mom's lunch

I ordered a lobster roll, which I felt like a needed to get since I was in Maine! It was really tasty. 

Both Max and I had a fun time playing with the lobster that my mom ordered...

The restaurant was on the water, and it was a great place to experience Maine lobster! 

Next, we went to Cape Elizabeth to check out the lighthouses. We got a little lost, but ended up right next to the water and explored for a while. 

There was a line of quartz running through the rock!

Then we finally found a lighthouse at Fort Williams, which was a military base in the first half of the 20th century.

Thus concluded our time in Maine!

#3c: New Hampshire

After we went to Maine, we had to go through New Hampshire to get back to Boston. We stopped in Portsmouth for a pizza to share and some drinks.

Restaurant! 

Night street view in Portsmouth

3/18 done with #3!