We left Lisbon and picked up our rental car to drive to Obidos. Portugal drives on the right side of the road which inevitably eases my “new country driving” anxiety, but once you leave major highways you can see why people hesitate to self-drive. Obidos is a small village surrounded entirely by castle walls, so... Continue Reading →
Finishing 50 States—West Virginia Whitewater Rafting
Katie has been trying to convince me to go whitewater rafting for weeks. She insists that it’s a positively benign undertaking and not the river deathtrap I envision it to be. After both reading positive reviews and viewing some harrowing videotape footage (big mistake) we decided to just speak to the rafting office after we... Continue Reading →
Nashville—Leaving my City Roots for Boots
The last time I was in Nashville was exactly 3 years ago, when we circled the country. I was a typical anti-everything country New Yorker who had no idea what I was walking into. The initial shock of hearing pants referred to as “britches” and swerving through a sea of cowboy boots and whiskey wore... Continue Reading →
Honolulu Bound—Bluer Beaches and Brighter Berries
It was hard to leave the little island of Maui, which had won my heart with rain forest-like drives and sunsets that looked like they were from paintings. Our next stop would be Honolulu, a more urban-style Hawaiian island and also the most densely populated island of them all. We hopped aboard a full-size Hawaiian... Continue Reading →
Road to Hana-Skinny Pavement & Pig Tacos
Before we got to Maui, we’d done some reading in the road trip bible (Lonely Planet guidebook) about the Road to Hana. It’s a 45-mile stretch of twisting pavement along Hana Highway that snakes around the east side of the island, between the towns of Paia and Hana. It contains 54 single-lane bridges that crawl... Continue Reading →
A Whole Lot of Aloha
Getting to Hawaii was the real goal of this west coast adventure. It would be state #45 for Katie and #39 for me. We gained another 3 hours through the time difference and sat through another 5 ½ hour plane ride between San Francisco and the island of Maui. We managed to cram our 7... Continue Reading →
Travel vs. Vacation
The topic of travel has begun to take on a different meaning for me than it once did. In the last year or two in particular, a growing issue has emerged. In these situations, I’ll be rambling on and on about a trip that I just came home from, not knowing when I can leave... Continue Reading →
Milwaukee—Cheese kebabs, Craft Beer & Clean Air
We rolled into Milwaukee by early evening, after a quick pit stop for a cheese kabob from a coffee shop in Green Bay. Totally exhausted and starving, we got ourselves ready for the evening and set off in search of dinner. The restaurant we wanted to try was .6 miles from the hotel according to... Continue Reading →
Upper Peninsula Pasties and Country Girls
We got an early start on Sunday and parked by the water to take a quick walk down the dock. Once again, we stood solo amongst an empty stretch of snow. Following lone footprints from some unknown dock-traveler in the deep powder that buried the walkway, we made it to the edge of the lighthouse... Continue Reading →
Journey towards Michigan’s Upper Peninsula
Two days before we flew to Detroit, Katie and I made a last minute decision to take the northern route on our way to Milwaukee instead of the (much shorter) southern course. This is one of the reasons that we don’t book our hotels in advance. After some finagling with Google maps and a glance... Continue Reading →