Holiday Travel Reading

   These are the books I got for Christmas. I can't wait to get into them and start looking for new and interesting places to visit!
   The books are:

• Route 66 Adventure Handbook by Drew Knowles
• Travel Route 66 by Jim Hinckley
• 1,000 Places to See in the United States & Canada Before You Die by Patricia Schultz
• Road Trip USA Pacific Coast Highway by Jamie Jensen
• Road Trip USA by Jamie Jensen
• Tennessee's Dixie Highway by Lisa Ramsay & Tammy Vaughn

2015 Year In Review

   In January, we took an extremely impromptu trip to Atlanta. Drove through downtown, visited Stone Mountain and historic Oakland Cemetery.

   In March, we went with Mom to visit family in North Carolina. Visited Wilmington, the Outer Banks-Kitty Hawk and Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, and eventually to Mt Airy, the real life Mayberry RFD.

   On May 10, Mother's Day, we took a little day trip down to Lynchburg, Tennessee. Didn't see the distillery, but stopped for photos in small towns along the way.

   On May 27 we left on one of our biggest trips as a family. We spent a week on a lightning tour of New York, Boston, Philadelphia and all over New England.

   Finally in October, we went to Gatlinburg and the Smoky Mountains. It was rainy, but we were visiting Mom so it didn't really matter.

How We Travel On The Cheap

   We try to go on one big road trip each summer. It hasn't always been possible but we at least go somewhere, even if it's only to the Smoky Mountains(three hours away). I thought I would answer some questions about the basics of how we do this as cheaply as possible. I have always been a penny-pincher and there was no way I was going to let my love of road trips take up too much of our budget. 

On The Road

   Yesterday I went to the book store and bought "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac. I've never read it but it is one of those books that feels like everyone knows about. And given the subject matter, I feel like it is something I should finally read. Honestly, I can't recall the last time I go so into a book that I couldn't put it down and read the whole thing. Maybe something from Stephen King about 15 or 20 years ago. This feels like it will be one of those books. My only problem is I keep stopping to search Google maps to see if any of these places still exist. Most of them do not.
   And my wanderlust is kicking in even harder.

My Bucket List

    I wrote a bucket list many years ago but I've lost that list and I can't really remember what all was on it. I have decided to redo the list, here on my blog, so that I will always remember where it is at. I will probably link it somewhere over on the side and will revisit the list should I ever actually DO something from the list. I suppose just about everyone should have a bucket list, and probably should not wait until they are my age to attempt to complete it.

Taking Photos from the Car

Trees, ugh.

   If there is a disadvantage to taking so many road trips it is that we cannot possibly stop at every interesting thing we see, despite how badly I want to stop. My head whips around and an "ooh!" escapes my mouth at every cemetery, old or abandoned building, interesting sign or rusty car. Therefore probably half of all of my photos each trip are taken from the car. Sometimes at very high speed. And taking photos from the car is not an easy thing to do.

Obsession With Salem, Massachusetts

   I was not feeling well when we visited Salem, but it did not detract from my feeling of awe when seeing it for the first time. The sadness of the Trials memorial. The awesomeness of The Burying Point Cemetery, this rich history, the sense of familiarity from having seen the area on so many television shows. There were times I would just stand and look around, trying to take it all in, hardly believing I was really there. I know that I really, really want to return.

Liberty Tour Wrap Up

   I called our quick trip this past May the "Liberty Tour" because we essentially started with the Statue of Liberty and ended at the Liberty Bell and included Boston, where our country was born. It was a quick trip, took a total of 5 days-though 2 of those was simply getting to and from Tennessee. The main point of the trip was really to visit those states marked in red above. It has always been a dream of mine to visit all 50 states. Missing all of New England was an area easily covered in a short time. Getting in those last 10, in the Pacific Northwest, is going to be a bit more difficult.

Liberty Tour Day 3: Maybe See a Lighthouse in Maine

 

   Leaving Salem, Boston and Massachusetts was sad for me. I'm not really sure that I could live there, but I absolutely want to visit that area again and again. But we were on a mission to visit all of the New England states, so on we went. 

Liberty Tour Day 3: Lost in Boston and Seeing Salem

   Bumper to bumper traffic at 6am going in to Boston, of course. Remember, I don't need no stinkin' gps, I got maps and instinct! Take Storrow Drive, sure, that sounds right. Charles River, ooh pretty! There's an exit for Fenway, take that! Oh, not Fenway Park...where are we? Wrong way, take a right at the next street, then another right, then a left, just a few more streets. I think. Yes! There she is, what a beauty!

Liberty Tour, Day 2: Anticipation

  Anticipation. The waiting. When you can not believe you will ever see such a thing in your own lifetime. That is how I have felt about New York City and Boston. This trip was taking me to places I have wanted to visit and never thought I would. And the waiting-as they say-was the hardest part.

Liberty Tour Day 1, the Long Drive

 Like many of our trips, I chart nearly every course. I like knowing roughly where we will go, how long it might take, and what interesting things are in the area to see. It's frustrating to get home and see that you were only a few blocks from some awesome thing and had no idea it was there. I make the routes ahead of time so as to avoid getting lost(though it still happens-wait for the day we went to Boston!). Also I just like maps in general and I refuse to use automated gps's.

The First Day: Long and Winding Road

  The first day of the trip was an unspectacular journey from one place to another: South of Nashville, Tennessee to Galveston, Texas. And there were few stops in  between. 

   We left at 6:30am and arrived in Galveston around 7:30pm. The only stops were for gas and rest stops. We ate lunch at the Louisiana Welcome Center. The bridge in the photo above is the Mississippi River Bridge in Baton Rouge. 

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Swamp Bridge, Atchafalaya Swamp, Louisiana

  We did stop at the Tiger Stop in Gross Tete where they have a live tiger in a cage(LSU Tigers, you know). But it was hot and the tiger wasn't easily visible. I felt sort of bad pulling in to see this, felt bad for the tiger laying there in the heat(though I suppose tigers are used to heat, aren't they?). 

   We cut south off of Interstate 10 to go through Baytown, across the Fred Hartman Bridge over the Houston Ship Channel as a quicker way to Galveston. 

  By the time we got our motel room and some dinner, it was dark-and they cut off the lights at the Pleasure Pier JUST as we pulled over and I got out with the tripod to get some shots! Disheartened, I took some really bad shots without the tripod of the ferris wheel, the only lights left on. 

   The first day was somewhat uneventful-but it was the only day that was. There are so many more photos to come!

Iconic Places, Iconic Faces

  Ok, ok, I couldn't wait to get to some of the places we visited by going day by day. Day one will be posted tomorrow, but honestly, there wasn't much to see on day one and I was anxious to show you some of the best places we saw along the way. 

   This is a teaser, if you will, then. A short photo essay to show off some of the iconic places and things we saw on our trip to the west. There are many, many more, but I thought these few images summed it all up pretty well. More info about each of these places will be posted when I get to the day when we saw them.

The Art of the Welcome Sign

While traveling through other states, one of our traditions is to get a photo of the "Welcome to 'Our State'" signs. No, not like many tourists, where you stop the car and have all the family pose in front of the sign-we don't have time for that sort of thing! But I get the shots nonetheless. And I love seeing how different states choose to welcome visitors who have arrived from their neighboring state.

"Welcome to Alabama the Beautiful" and an addition mentioning the current governor; Interstate 65. Short but sweet with a  nice little slogan and an extra sign that might have to be changed every few years.
Many more after the break....

Back In More Ways Than One!

    Yes, I am back. With so much to post, so much to say. Back from an illness that had me doing zilch from about April Fool's to mid-May. And then dealing with all the end-of-school-ness for the kiddo(OMG end of 8th grade, I'm the mom of a high schooler now! *faints*). And then finally back from a mega-vacation. Probably the best one we have taken, well maybe the best one of my life so far.

     It was the Wild West Trip, The Trip That Wouldn't End, The Trip to See As Much As Possible! We visited 12 states(not including our home state) in 9 days-west of the Mississippi-and 4 of those days were in Texas! I am going to post photos and comments day by day, just as soon as I get a chance to really go through all 3000 photos that I took. I hope to get a new post up every few days so keep checking back!

  Basics of the trip:

1. Tennessee to Galveston, Texas via Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana
2. Galveston to San Antonio, Texas via all over Houston where I grew up
3. San Antonio to Austin, Texas 
4. Austin to Pecos, Texas via Abilene and back roads
5. Pecos to Roswell, New Mexico via El Paso, Las Cruces, Alamagordo
6. Roswell to Cheyenne, Wyoming via Colorado
7. Cheyenne to Rapid City, South Dakota via Devils Tower, Mt Rushmore
8. Rapid City to St Joseph, Missouri via Iowa
9. St Joseph to Tennessee via Illinois, Kentucky

  So yes, many of my photos(again) are taken from the front seat of the rental car(such as the shot of the beautiful Rocky Mountains in Wyoming seen above). And somehow I have an extreme knack for getting shots of bushes and signs in so many of the photos I attempt! And every now and then I get something somewhat decent to show(even a blind squirrel finds a nut, blah blah blah).

  Prepare for photos from Galveston, San Jacinto Monument, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Manor, Eastland, Abiline, Midland, Pecos, Toyah, Las Cruces, White Sands, Alamogordo, Lincoln, Roswell, Denver, Cheyenne, Devils Tower, Mount Rushmore, Sioux City, and much more from the road.

  Stay tuned!

Finally a day trip!

  Hooray, we finally took another day trip! I will add some photos later this morning, but right now I want to write out our basic route.

  We started out driving the new full route of Tennessee State Route 840, which recently opened a new stretch to make it a complete half loop around Nashville.