US Road Trip Day 28 and Day 29 - NYC!

"Down into Philly for Hand-Drawn Noodles and a Greyhound bus to New York City. Through the Lincoln Tunnel and heavily loaded on to the L train over to Brooklyn, where we found the little walk up we discovered on AirBnB for the next few days. Sunday morning down to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge Promenade, the weather holding out for a grey view of the skyline. Up to West Greenwich Village for a walk around the confusing streets, then to the High Line Park and along the greenery among the old train tracks. An accidental stop at B&H Photo (the most ridiculously automated camera store in the world), then past Times Square and over to the grand old New York Public Library and the huge reading room. Closing out the evening with Grand Central Station and the Apple Store they've set up there, then back to Brooklyn for a night of letting the bones settle in the feet. Monday takes us to the World Trade Center Memorial for early tickets and a walk around the marble footprints of the fallen towers. Over to the Wall Street Bull and then into the trains for pizza slices up near Central Park. A short walk around in the lovely green to the Bethesda Fountain and the mosaic at Strawberry Fields, then on to the C train towards the main business of the day. Waiting and waiting and front row seats to see Jon Stewart and the Daily Show, then out from the laughter to walk over to 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Shattered and exhausted, so back to Brooklyn and a night cuddling an adopted cat named Ben. This morning spent packing and preparing and hoofing it to JFK, where we sit now waiting for the long night's flight on to London!" (MM)

US Road Trip Day 26 and Day 27 - Two days in Philadelphia to sell the car

"A blustery Wednesday morning of car and clothes washing, then getting the car appraised at the CarMax in Frederick, Maryland. Both of us tired, so along up to just outside the President's retreat at Camp David, where we found a great deal on the Hoover Cottage at the (vaguely) world famous Cozy Inn: a terrible movie watched from a jacuzzi, then dinner at the restaurant carve out of time next door. Thursday breakfast and flight booking in the Cozy, then up to Gettysburg, where I learned the difference between North and South, then over to stand near the footsteps of Lincoln. A long drive through Pennsylvania traffic and past Valley Forge to the oddly named (and, for a pedestrian, murderously designed) King of Prussia, where we had discovered our last chance CarMax. A ridiculous bit of looping around convinced Michael it was time to lose the car (and possibly the iPhone!!!), so we found a nearby hotel and took a bus in before Chinese noodles in Philadelphia. That taste of the City of Brotherly Love wasn't enough, so this morning we packed and Michael sold his long-faithful car before an Indian buffet and another bus into town. Walking up the Rocky Steps and through the streets of Philadelphia before ending at the Liberty Bell and the steps of Independence Hall. Back now under darkening skies, and tomorrow on to New York by Greyhound." (MM)

US Road Trip Day 23 - Washington DC

"This morning up and off to Fairfax, Virginia, where we said goodbye to our steadfast mattress (a sad casualty of a soon-to-arrive need to sell the car), and then in to Washington, DC ... with a massive and frustrating delay spent searching for parking so we could get on the Metro. To the White House and then down to the Washington Monument, accompanied by the pitter patter of rain. Over past the Second World War Memorial and on past the Vietnam Veteran's Wall, then to the end of the Reflecting Pool and up the steps to see Lincoln at his memorial. Back to the car and up north a ways until we crossed in to Maryland in the thick of rush hour traffic, taking us (if counts correct) to 17 states since we left. Bushwhacked by headaches and exhaustion, and a need to get on Skype, we've settled in to a little hotel for some takeout pizza and an early night somewhere near Fredrick, Maryland" (MM)

State count - 17

California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland

US Road Trip Day 22 - Shenandoah Skyline, Virginia

"More long hours driving the slow route up through the Smoky Mountains. Some more deer and a few turkey and even a wild vulture along the way, and more stops on mountain overlooks. Along through Virginia and on to the Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park, with a stop necessitated by a leaking jar of Tabasco olives. Another strange little campsite for the evening, with more rice and oddities cooked over coals and a bit of dried twig. An owl swooped through the trees as the dusk was falling, then we bedded down once more in the back of the car under the trees." (MM)

State count - 15

California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia

US Road Trip Day 21 - Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia

Dinner and a movie in the strange little town of Ashevile, North Carolina, then up to run around on Easter Morn to do laundry and prepare for a long day's driving. North on to the Blue Ridge Parkway (by way of getting briefly lost), and then along past deer and mountain views until we found a little town called Fancy Gap to camp for the night. A quick lesson in making rice in little tin takeout trays over smoking coals, then an early (and, for the larger of us, uncomfortable) night in the "boot" of the car. (MM)

US Road Trip Day 19 - Lafayette Cemetary and the bridge across Lake Pontchartrain

"We pack and drive to yet another graveyard, then over the 23 miles of Lake Pontchartrain and along the swamps and beaches to Biloxi, Mississippi. A direction change and over to Montgomery and the starting point of the fire that was the Civil Rights Movement. Yet another cheap hotel and over to the Rosa Parks Museum, right outside the stop where she refused to stand, and then on through three more states before nightfall, with me driving in the rains  of Georgia, South, and North Carolina." (MM)

US Road Trip Day 18 - New Orleans

"A day spent wandering New Orleans till our feet ached. Graveyards and frustrating busses and markets and streetcars and Anne Rice's mansion, hoo boy!" (MM)

US Road Trip Day 17 - Grand Isle, Louisiana then into New Orleans for the night.

"A morning spent on AirBnB nets us a Red Room in New Orleans, but no check in till 3PM sends us down the LA 1 to Grande Isle, passing a roadkilled gator along the way (with the deer, cougar, opposi, and armadillo so far, we've been building a collection of the tire tread dead sightings) ... past stilted houses and out to walk on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico with a flock of squabbling birds. Back up along the LA 1 and over to 'Nawlins', where we found our home for the next couple nights. A walk down to Bourbon Street and the French Quarter and African vegetarian and beignets and hot chocolate at the Cafe Du Monde. Back to a too-high bed in a too-red room." (MM)

State count - 10

California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana  

US Road Trip Day 16 - Into Louisiana, a very sad motel pool and the Tabasco factory on Avery Island!

"We continued up through Amarillo (where I tried to teach Michael about Tony Christie) and into Oklahoma, arriving in Altus (the place of Michaels birth) for a blustery evening of pizza and Game of Thrones spoilers. Another frozen dawn (but no tornadoes!) and on to Headrick, the near ghost town where Michael spent my first years. Then on a LONG road through Oklahoma and down to Paris, Texas. An Eiffel Tower chocolate in cowboy hat in hand, then off to terrible Chinese and Texarcana for a night straddling Texas and Arkansas. A very long road (strewn with ex-armadillos) in to Louisiana, where I tried my first Cajun. To Lafayette and then to Avery Island, where a tour of the Tabasco factory gets one of Michaels goofy dreams accomplished. Across the largest river swamp on Earth and down through Baton Rouge, giggling through tongue twisters (and my first shrimp Po'Boy) on our way towards a hotel somewhere on the Bayou before New Orleans." (MM)

US Road Trip Day 14 - Roswell, New Mexcio, Then a quick dash into Oklahoma via the corner of Texas

No trip to Roswell would be complete without a visit to the UFO Museum. Definitely one of the strangest places on this road trip and where we learned that there's nothing a weather balloon can't be confused for.

State count - 6

California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico

US Road Trip Day 13 - Carlsbad

State count - 6

California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico

US Road Trip Day 12 - Truth or Consequences, Lake Valley and Hatch, New Mexico

Truth or Consequences used to be called Hot Springs but chanced its name after winning a radio competition in the 1950's

State count - 6

California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico

Now a Ghost Town, Lake Valley was a silver mining town and has produced 180 tonnes of silver and had its heyday at the end of the 19th century. The last resident left in 1994 and it is a pretty interesting place to take a walkM

US Road Trip Day 11 - Santa Fe and The Very Large Array

Santa Fe was an amazing place to visit, the architecture was unique, even the multi-story car park and Mcdonalds

US Road Trip Day 10 - Bandelier National Monument

Banderlier is the site of the homes and territory of the Ancestral Pueblo People. Most of the structures date from the 12th to 17th centuries

US Road Trip Day 8 - Monument Valley and The Four Corners

"We loved the mesas, but bubble in the tire and low suspension means no driving the desert trail. On to Four Corners, where we took turns being in four states at once.  A Navajo Taco and the long road to Los Alamos, with me driving and dogs jumping willy nilly into our path. Finally a gas station, fit to burst, then on to night at a Michael's good friend's family house near the birthplace of the atomic bomb." (MM)

US Road Trip Day 7 - Leaving Las Vagas and The Grand Canyon

"Lazily off to (briefly) join Route 66 and fiercely compete on finding license plates from all the states. An odd air museum and a closed-eyed walk up to the Southern Rim of the Grand Canyon for me. Some deer / elk encounters and a late night drive into the middle of nowhere. Thoughts of sleeping in a non-existent truck stop, then through the dark to the edge of Monument Valley" (MM)

State count - 4

California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona

US Road Trip Day 6 - Death Valley and and overnight in Vegas

"Overnight in Tulare then onto Las Vegas, via Death Valley and it's shifting sands." (MM)

State count - 2 

California, Nevada

US Road Trip Day 5 - Yosemite

I was completely blown away by the beauty of Yosemite National Park. The day was spent hiking and hiding from bears. Many photos were taken, mainly of squirrels and the famous El Capitan. The drive out was though a blizzard, I was not prepared for snow in California. The preferable route was still closed for the winter.

State count – (still) 1 

California

US Road Trip Day 4 - Monterey to Yosemite

After hearing rumors of a Sun Fish from the long lost cousins and a revelation from Michael that he always wanted to go, we backtrack town the PCH to Monterey to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

State count – (still) 1 
California

The Monterey Aquarium

US Road Trip Day 2 and Day 3 - San Francisco

Only one day in to the road trip and we indulge in a few days taking in the sights of San Francisco

State count – 1 - California

The Golden Gate Bridge