Category America

Of course the moment we hit I-5 and headed North we were struck by the most amazing rain storm. This only gives credit to the rumor that it rains all the time in Washington. I’ve tried to convince Mike that people over hype the rain, but every time the poor lad has been in Washington he’s been drenched to the bone. Bad timing or global warming?—Or could it just be that Washington is a rainforest of beauty that needs a bit of rain to keep it so wonderfully green. Mike prefers to think of it as vampire territory where everyone has blue-tinted skin and edgy dispositions (as well as an addiction to meth, cults and an affinity for collecting broken cars for lawn ornamentation.)

Washington, the Evergreen State, is just that—it’s green forever. No matter which way you look it’s hard to see a color other than green. Of course, if you cross the mountains and head East you’ll find a desert out near Spokane. But who would go out there when the rainforests, mountains and shores are to the West?

We spent several weeks exploring the many ways to stay dry in a rainforest. What we came up with was this—don’t go outside. If you do, you’ll get drenched. Even on a sunny day Washington is wet. They call it “liquid sunshine,” but of course it isn’t sunny, Washingtonians just don’t know any better, bless their souls.

We also spent a few great weekends in Oregon, which is just like Washington, but with more dedicated hippies. Eugene, where Nike has it’s headquarters, is full of vegan restaurants, dreadlocks and birthing centers covered in dream catchers. It’s a lovely place for anyone who votes blue (or refrains from voting because it’s too much a part of the establishment).

We took a drive up to Seattle one weekend and ended up visiting the Matador restaurant as well as the Kickin’ Boot. Both are awesome, by the way. And Seattle remains one of my favorite cities in the world. If it weren’t so expensive it’d be a great place to strike a claim. But alas, the land is so green, so beautiful that it’s much coveted and in that regard, unaffordable.

Between Grand Junction, CO and the beautiful Columbia River Highway in OR there is basically nothing but a litter box. That’s harsh. There is nothing but a litter box with a strip mall in it.

Believe it or not, our USA Lonely Planet boasts of Utah as being a well kept secret full of adventure, outdoor activities and wonton awesomeness. We’re wondering what Cool-Aid these writers were drinking. The long stretch of dull we drove through was like driving across a giant block or dirty butter. The guide book did mention some amazing rock structures to the south, but if you have to drive across more of the same dirty butter to get there, we weren’t interested. Perhaps that’s why it is such a well kept secret. Everyone turns around and gives up before getting to this mysterious awesome part.

Salt Lake City was a place I was interested in seeing. Having watched the Big Love series about the LDS church, polygamy and Bill Paxton, I felt I had invested a sizable chunk of time in seeing parts of a city I otherwise had no interest in. The Temples sounded unique and worthy of exploration. Sadly, our time in SLC was limited to a quick drive through town. We saw the temple, the streets paved with … pavement, and not a lot more. It was largely uninspired. More depressingly, the outskirts (which sprawled for hours!) were run down and beat up. I was reminded of the folks in the show who were outcast from the community. Thus, we pointed our hood away from the state and its mysterious, hard-to-locate awesomeness and headed North by Northwest.

Idaho can be quite beautiful in parts, and I spent a lot of time there as a youth with my lovely grandparents. But they lived in the hills and valleys—absolutely stunning. We drove through what seemed like one continuous potato field covered in a depressing layer of recession.

Our intention of driving from Colorado to Washington without stopping was foiled by exhaustion. We stopped in Idaho at a hotel that would have given us all hepatitis had we not slept on our own blankets. In the morning, we discovered a junk yard was the backyard of the lovely hotel. The front yard was the highway. What a charming spot for a center of hospitality. Onwards we went. And from here on out the geography began to get ever more beautiful.

Every time I drive through a chunk of land that looks like the bottom of a dirty work shoe I’m rubbed by a sense of curiosity I can’t shake. I wonder if the folks who settled there were part of the original pilgrims who headed west in search of land, gold or just adventure. I wonder if they know that they gave up in the desert when the oasis was just a mountain range away. IF their ancestors had kept trudging, they’d be in the grace of the forests, hills, rivers and lakes instead of a trailer on the edge of nothing. I thought about this a lot driving through Utah, Idaho and Oklahoma. If they had but continued on, they’d be on the coast! Instead they risked everything, left the comfort of the East Coast, and all to end up in a wasteland. Or, perhaps they find the wasteland beautiful and deplore the forests and the rivers. I’ll never know.

Merry Christmas one and all,

We’re thrilled to have you as a reader of our humble travel blog. Thank you for your readership over the years, and for making our adventure all the more enriching by allowing us to share it with you.

We hope you enjoy your holidays, wherever you are this season!

Love,

Mike, Lauren & Gwendolyn

Yes, that was a pun because pot was legalized in Colorado a week before we dropped by. Did we partake? No we didn’t. But it’s still a funny song for a legal state!

What we did do in Colorado was see Colorado Springs, Denver and Boulder before cutting through the amazing, breath-taking Rockies to see Vail and then Grand Junction. Did we love Colorado? Does the Pope have a funny hat? Yes, he does. Yes, he does.

Colorado Springs was not spoken of highly by our Colorado friends. Perhaps that’s because the hills surrounding it look like just that, hills, when compared to the stunning peaks visible from Boulder. But we did enjoy the quaint downtown area and walked around until our buns froze before heading to Garden of the Gods.

This amazing set of natural rock formations is quite stunning in winter, but I imagine it would be all the more bizarre in summer, surrounded by green trees that offset the orange of the rocks. We walked around for over an hour before our buns, again, froze. On to Denver.

We were on a mission in Denver to see the location of the next Matador Restaurant. The chain, which started in Seattle, will be opening a location in Denver and we had the inside scoop on it’s future home. After seeing this top secret spot we drove around downtown and, of course, strolled the lovely pedestrian street that bisects the city. Denver is stunning, but you can’t see the mountains from the city. Time to go look for a view of the mountains.

Boulder has it all. True, there are a lot of questionable folk milling about (have you ever played bum or hippie? You’ll lose in Boulder!). But the university brings in fresh cash and personalities galore. It’s a vegan’s paradise and the most important thing about Boulder is that you can see, smell and feel the mountains from the city. We walked around, drove around and then like a giant magnet the mountains pulled us Westward.

Cutting through the Rockies is like driving a car through a tunnel of awesome. We started our dissection around 4:00pm and by 6:00pm it was pitch dark in the mountains. You’d think that would ruin the drive, but instead the full moon lit an eerie and beautiful landscape of trees covered in snow and looming peaks. Pulling into Vail was like pulling onto the set of an expensive Hollywood Christmas tale. The lights were crisp and shed beams of wonder on the slopes, lodges and walkways. We strolled around Vail and munched on salads overlooking the ski slopes. I wished I could stay forever. But alas, only a Murdoch or a Trump could afford a random drop-by stay at a Vail lodge.

Grand Junction didn’t have much to offer and was a depressing port-a-potty of a town. Actually, we’ll never know if it was cool or not because after Vail anything would look like a cheap, swirling crap. Thus, we left Colorado on a Rocky Mountain high with a bit of nostalgia and, of course, some altitude sickness.

One of our last days in Beijing was spent seeing Oklahoma! A good friend of ours was playing the role of Jud Fry. He was a masterful actor/singer, and took the role to a new extreme (think: the Joker in the latest Batman series meets Syler from Heroes). We got a wonderful idea about the landscape and musical people of Oklahoma from the musical. So, when we found ourselves in Little Rock looking at a map and scratching our heads we decided to head to Tulsa to check out the panhandle state and see a few cowboys and cowgirls singing and line dancing together in the streets.

Funny story. Tulsa (at least the part we visited) looked almost nothing like the backdrops in the musical. Gone were the Western store fronts, the horses ties to hitching posts, the smoke houses and the creepy barns. In their place were Olive Gardens, A plethora of fast food options, and a sleazy nightclub called Blush whose pink flashing lights penetrated the windows of our hotel across the street. All is not well in Oklahoma, and it appears Jud Fry took over the place in a sinister scheme to modernize it and strip it of personality. Well done, musical villain!

Driving around Oklahoma one gets a sense of what it would be like to be on Mars. There is litter variation in geography and it becomes a battle of mind over reality. I imagine this is the exact feeling insane people have when locked in a padded, seamless room. On an more positive note, the world’s largest McDonald’s cuts over the highway in Oklahoma. I was worried about the structural integrity of the overpass with all the obese people waddling in and out of the restaurant. I hate to reference another movie, but Oklahoma isn’t far off from the characters in Wallie.

All of this being said, some of the most interesting, creative and intelligent people we know hail from Oklahoma. We didn’t meet them there. No, they were smart enough to get the hell out. But perhaps a barren geography and lack of entertainment means the people turn inwards and work on their own beauty and skill. Musicians, artists, thinkers and politicians are among the traits our Oklahoma friends have. Maybe there is something positive in the water.

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Regardless of your political views, the presidential libraries are an amazing asset to our country, and they offer a very biased view of each president’s life. Naturally you don’t get a lot of republican curators at democrat’s libraries and vise-versa. So the exhibits are very pro party, pro president.

Established in 1955, the Presidential Libraries Act provides government employees to maintain privately erected libraries. The act encourages presidents to donate their gifts, papers and records. The National Archives and Records Administration run each library and maintain the president’s artifacts and papers.

In 2009 we visited the George Herbert Walker Bush Presidential Library in Texas. That was an amazing treat. Located on campus, we’re told the former president and first lady have an apartment nearby and often stop by to chat with visitors. The library had a war plane, replicas of various White House rooms, and loads of interactive exhibits. It took us several hours to peruse the documents, artifacts and interactive exhibits.

This year, we visited the William Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock. In contrast, the library didn’t offer the range of interactive exhibits. The majority of the artifacts on display were documents, letters and the like. There was a row of gifts from visiting dignitaries and the like, but they were a small section of the overall library. The Clinton library holds the largest bulk of records and documents, we were told.

There is a replica of the Oval Office that is stunning. We were informed that each president redecorates to his or her (yeah right!) preference. You can see a certain upper-crust elegance in the Clinton Oval Office.

In 2006 I visited the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. This is not one of the official 13 libraries under the Presidential Libraries Act, but it was quite astonishing. The appeal here was its universality. The Clinton library was for serious research and a quick browse of the documents on display, the Bush library was about creating the image of a legacy, while the Lincoln library was a Hollywood-style production of a man that became larger than life. The tour opens with a multi-sense film called “Behind Lincoln’s Eyes” where we delve into the emotional/psychological study of the man. Cannon smoke fills the room during the Civil War section. The seats shake. I’d say it wasn’t an effective learning tool, but six years later I still vividly recall the visit.

Outside of the Bill Clinton Presidential Library sits charming Little Rock. It was a smaller town than expected, and quaint. The downtown area could be any small town in America, and the bars, shops and restaurants offered a certain southern elite charm. Situated right on the river, the library looks out over the river, the countryside and the town itself.

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By Al Green we do in fact mean the amazing, talented and smooth creator of “Let’s Stay Together” and “Love and Happiness.” He is one of gospel and soul’s biggest names and he recently went on tour. Sadly, we missed it. But we did hear that he was the reverend at the Tabernacle Church in Memphis, so we got up at the crack of dawn on Sunday and headed for Memphis, leaving lovely Nashville in our rearview mirror.

We drove by Elvis Presley’s Graceland, and were surprised at how rundown the area was, and how kitschy the place looked. I know it’s Graceland and it’s meant to be kitschy but wow! Not far from where tours leave for Graceland you’ll find the Reverend Al Green’s church.

We pulled into the parking lot and saw several people heading inside. We followed them in and opened the doors to the sanctuary to reveal that we were one of about eight white folks in the room. They were already well into the service (which started at 11am) when we arrived at 30 minutes after the hour. We took seats near the back in case our infant started to howl.

The music was amazing! Al Green wasn’t there yet, but his choir and choir leaders were stellar. They sang almost on improve and the live band was equally astonishing. You could tell they loved what they were doing. They sang their prayers.

At noon Al Green came out in white gloves and a black reverend smock. He swayed with the music and received applause and turned all the applause upward. He was very humble and deflecting of attention. His mother led the announcements, and his nephew gave the sermon. Al Green was the greeter, occasional singer and commentator. As we gave tithe he asked us where we were from. Mike said “Chicago” and he started singing “hello Chicago!” as we walked by. Nice guy, and a very friendly congregation. He even made a “Love and Happiness” reference. Nice.

We left Memphis after church. Driving around downtown proved that the city itself has a lot to be desired, especially after the beauty of downtown Nashville.

Arriving in Nashville is like driving into a time warp. The downtown area is crowded with hole-in-the-wall bars where musicians are playing live music starting early in the morning. We were there on a Friday with Lauren’s uncle. He took us to Tootsie’s, the most famous of the local bars, where a cowboy and his cowgirl crooned into rusty microphones over a rowdy crowd. It was 2pm and the beers were flowing and the crowd was hopping. We sat with a couple from New York who were fleeing Hurricane Sandy in search of fairer weather and cheerier sights. They couldn’t get over the $5 PBR cans.

Down the street at Layla’s we got PBR cans for $1 and watched an authentic hill cowboy and a lovely lady on bass really bring country music to life. They were no joke, and at 3pm in the afternoon they had a lively audience of diehards, cowboys and tourists.

You can buy cowboy boots and outfits for cheap downtown. Some boots sell three pair for the price of one. We looked but didn’t buy, and continued on down the way for the mid-afternoon bar crawl with our infant baby. Don’t worry, they still can’t smoke inside and Gwen loved the music. She stood on my lap and cooed along with the best of them. And she wasn’t the only toothless lady in the bar.

Nashville has a great dining scene. We were introduced to more southern BBQ at several restaurants and adored every delectable bite. It’s hard not to overeat when the food tastes like ambrosia.

Out on the streets you’ll find wildly talented people playing handmade instruments, dancing or playing guitar. There is so much talent in the city that it overflows into the streets. Record labels sign big named there, like Taylor Swift, and music celebrities mingle with regular folk without putting on airs.

We were lucky enough to have family in Nashville to stay with, and enjoyed a lovely birthday party for my cousin while we were in town. A great visit, an amazing family and a lovely city. I’d live in Nashville if I could. I’ve never been anywhere else where music was loved so much.

Winston-Salem isn’t a hotbed of tourism, and that’s great because it’s a well kept secret. It’s only a few hours to the mountains and only a few more to the beach, so it’s location is perfect for the weekend warrior vacationer. You’ll find a decent amount of trees in the area, in fact it’s the largest selection of diverse trees in the USA. For that reason, it’s also the hub for furniture in the country, and you’ll notice all kinds of furniture stores and outlets along the highways. Golfing is a big activity in the area, and loads of snowbirds flock south from the frigid tundra up north to enjoy mild winters in NC.

Of all the attractions in NC, our favorite was visiting with family. We were able to see a whole lot of family all at once. A fun, crazy, wild ride that included a trip to the mountains with one uncle and a trip to the beech with my mother. We also went to see Carmen in downtown W-S with one aunt, and were lucky to be able to stay with another aunt in her lovely downtown apartment. We visited friends in Wilmington, and had a party at another uncle’s place. We even got to see my aunt’s new restaurant outside of town. And of course visiting with my amazing grandparents was a joy. We got to enjoy so much family; it was a treat for us and for Gwen, who was, as always, the belle of the ball.

If you happen to find yourself in ol’ W-S don’t skip the historic old Salem area. This was pretty neat and included old structures from the original town that have been converted into nice shops. Downtown (the new part) was also thriving, and we enjoyed an amazing dinner at District, dancing at 6th and Vine and deep fried pickles at Finnegan’s Wake. W-S is great for food, and the finer things in life.

In terms of food, we ate so much southern cooking we put on several pounds in the month we were in North Carolina. We discovered Dickies southern style BBQ, the best BBQ on the planet perhaps. We also fell in love with Darel’s, more BBQ. And of course we loved Bo Jangles and all the chicken. I don’t know how anyone with constant access to this food remains slim.

We were very sad to eventually leave North Carolina and the fifty or so family members who live there. But the road is long, and we have miles to put on the car.

One of the best times to see DC is on a Sunday. Especially on a Sunday when there isn’t a big activity downtown. Here’s how we saw DC.

We drove right past the pentagon and around the bend into down town. We rolled into town without encountering any traffic around 10am. Downtown, there was virtually no traffic and all the lights seemed to turn green as we approached. We drove by the capital building, headed around the White House and drove past a few of the beautiful museums.

Granted, we had very limited time in the city and many miles to cover by nightfall, so we didn’t end up walking around. Instead, we drove all through down, winding up and down streets and passing by the city’s top attractions. We decided that DC is a city that deserves more time. However, if you have the time, free parking on weekends was available and spaces were readily available. I think so many people in the area are terrified of the traffic that they never even attempt to drive into town. If you’re of this mindset the park-and-ride is a great option but takes about half an hour from outside of town.

We also learned that you now have to apply to see the White House several months in advance and get early screening approval before you can show up. If you want to plan a trip to DC perhaps apply first and buy your airline tickets once your approval comes through.

Being surrounded by history isn’t something we’re new to. We’ve lived in China’s historic hutong alleys for the past few years. But being around America’s old history is new to us, and really cool. After our trip down Freedom Trail in Boston, we hit the road for Philadelphia without knowing what we’d see or do while in town. Turns out you need a few days to see all of Phily.

We started by checking out the Christ Church Cemetery, where Benjamin Franklin and a few other signers of the Declaration of Independence rest. This was a beautiful spot to call home for eternity. Aside form the throngs of tourists tossing coins on your headstone, that is.

From there we walked to the Liberty Bell. When I was a child I saw the bell in the middle of the commons, but now it is housed in a glass building surrounded by helpful signs explaining Philadelphia’s history and it’s position as the home of the American government. My favorite moment was when a Chinese man in line behind us commented in Mandarin on how inappropriate it was that there was a large poster of the Dali Lama making the peace sign in front of the Liberty Bell. Priceless.

We joined one of the tours through Independence Hall. You can’t go in without being tied to a tour, luckily though they are free. A friendly tour guide explained the historical significance of the structures to our group of around thirty as we strolled through the main building. Independence Hall is home to the room where our brave forefathers drafted the constitution. This is cool because it was literally a group of regular guys deciding what kind of nation we’d become. The room wasn’t preserved well, but it has since been recreated to look like it did at the time. Despite it being October, it was hotter than hell in the room. This made me appreciate the hard work of the creators of the Constitution even more. I can’t imagine being so optimistic in such a hot room.

I had to stop on the lawn where our nation’s freedom was announced to change a dirty diaper. Afterwards we grabbed the customary Phil-cheese steak sandwich for an outrageous $7 and headed to the oldest continually dwelt-upon street in the USA. It’s quaint and adorable and normal people live there, despite the constant string of tourists. It reminded me of our home on Nanluoguxiang, in Beijing, right smack on a historical lane.

Philadelphia was a great city and, perhaps because it was such a beautiful day and a beautiful, history-rich city we were tempted to just stay put. But there was more to see…..

We decided to head to Boston to see do the freedom trail. This is a fairly short walk through all the major landmarks in Boston related to historical events. The route is conveniently marked by a double row of red bricks and along the way there are signs explaining the top sights. There are a few amazing things to see along the way that are not marked with red bricks, like the USA’s oldest continually operating pub. Yes, we had a few pints there. It’s historical research!

As a heads up, parking in Boston is a rip off. We paid over $30 for the privilege of spending slightly over two hours walking around Boston in the rain. That’s enough for a low budget hotel. What a scam! We’re told there is cheaper parking, but downtown we sure couldn’t find it. On the upside, we spent $30 to see all of downtown Boston and be close to the car for our pre rush-hour escape.

We started the walk by checking out the oldest school on the coast. Pretty fancy for a bunch of pilgrims turned city-folk. Then we saw the site of the Boston Massacre and the town hall. A wee bit depressing but it really brought the whole story into reality for us. You can picture angry residents in the square demanding more rights, and then the inevitable shooting that occurs whenever young soldiers are stressed and confronted with a situation they weren’t trained for.

The oldest pub, the Bell in Hand, was amazing. A bit on the tacky side once you get inside for a pint, but the prices are reasonable, the ale is good and the story behind the pub is worth the visit. Nearby the Green Dragon was the home to inciters who helped launch the American revolution.

Ben Franklin was born in Boston, and his statue graces a few corners and nooks throughout the city. It’s also home to the late, great Paul Revere. We visited his home, a cute little place right down town.

Boston is a beautiful city clothed in red brick, surrounded by clean, green-tinted water and full of friendly people. We leave you with a picture of Town Hall, behind which the Boston Massacre occurred.

Okay, so we’re not sure what the top sights in New Hampshire really are, but we’d be happy to tell you what we saw!

Mount Washington Hotel and Resort is a beautiful retreat away from the bustle of the East Coast. It’s a self-contained mini paradise. We’re talking spa, pool, tea room, bar and dining room, wine room and of course amazing views of the mountains as well as the gold course. I assume there are great hiking trails nearby and the concierge would be happy to point the right direction. One of the greatest amenities, though, was the massive fireplace in the center of the lobby and the board-game room behind it. This is the largest indoor fireplace I’ve seen, and I imagine a bottle of wine and a good book would be great accessories for it.
We also got to see the former home of the late celebrity actress Betty Davis. Yes, she did summer in New Hampshire, as did many of the rich and famous once upon a time. Betty Davis lived in a small cottage in the woods off the beaten path outside Frankonia. Her home was made of wood, and has a secret passage way between the two bedrooms (tsk, tsk Miss Davis!). A beautiful arches wooden ceiling was the main highlight, and the new addition to the home stayed true to the time period, adding appeal and even more old-world charm. Of course the walls are covered in Betty Davis memorabilia.

Downtown Littleton is another great reason to visit New Hampshire. We were impressed by the world’s longest candy bar at Chutters. The oldest surviving building is indeed quite old, and beautiful as well. The whole downtown area is just as quaint as a postcard. My favorite shop was the Little Herb Shop where the owner was incredibly friendly and kind, and she carried a great selection of herbs.

But of course the most famous thing to see in New Hampshire are the leaves in fall, and we hit that perfectly. Driving up to the overpasses to see rolling red, orange and yellow hills was a joy no East Coaster should miss.

Leaving Niagra Falls, we headed into New York on the I-90. For those who don’t know New York, like we didn’t, I-90 is a toll road. We ended up paying thirteen dollars for the privilege of using the road. Once you’re on I-90 you’re somewhat trapped. They have stop-n-go centers along the route that have overpriced gas and food, but one teller confided in me that gas prices were higher by about 8 cents on the toll road.

I-90’s toll ends and the toll road turns into I-89. We got off the toll road with lighter wallets, and hit the 787N to the 7. This is where New York finally got interesting for us, but also where we exited New York in general. Coincidence?

Entering Vermont was a nice transition in terms of getting off the toll road and finally seeing some back roads and character. Farmhouses emerged out of the woodlands and those pastures gave way to mountains that bore small resorts, B&Bs and winding roads with stunning autumn views. Night fell as we entered the Green Mountain Forest, where around every precarious bend one finds another small shire of homes, small businesses and more stunning outlooks over fiery orange hills.

Eventually we hit the interstate on Vermont’s eastern border. This N-S highway boasts the worst drivers we’d encountered so far. Fair enough, they were distracted by stunning trees in transition, as were we. We followed I-91N until we saw exits for Littleton, New Hampshire. If you’re traveling along this route keep in mind that exits are not marked with what’s behind the trees so if you’re hungry you mind as well start swallowing your spit because it’s not easy to find the right exit for food. Here’s where a GPS would be of massive assistance.

New Hampshire is apparently sales tax free. That’s pretty amazing considering you can purchase stuff there and save yourself about 6%. We bought diapers for our sweet baby, but didn’t take advantage of that deal for much else. We were now set to spend the next week with family outside of Littleton.

See more photos of the trip on the Photos page.

Our road trip began in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Why does Michigan own the U.P? We don’t know. It borders Wisconsin- but they can’t have it, and it borders Canada- but they can’t have it. Alternatively it doesn’t touch Michigan at all and they had to construct a giant bridge to even get over to the U.P—but they can and do have it. Odd. I bet there is an interesting story there.

We drove along the length of the U.P heading east and stopped along Lake Michigan for fresh air and a wee leg stretch. Our tiny tot Gwen was eager to watch the waves and of course vomited profusely on herself when she was returned to her car seat.

From the U.P we drove to this magical connection bridge. In Michigan everyone who lives south of the bridge is called a “Troll,” while everyone who lives above the bridge is called a” Yooper.” Residents of both areas take an odd portion of pride in this. After crossing the bridge and paying the troll our $4.00 toll we found ourselves in surprisingly dull territory.

The scenery looked almost identical to the mind-numbing drabness that is the American Midwest. Dead fields, dead trees and a sprinkling of depressing farm houses facing mega highways and signs for fireworks and casions. The bridge into Canada from Michigan boasts one of the single most depressing views of a lake I’ve ever seen. Dozens of factories lined Lake St. Clare spewing foam, smoke and foul aromas into the air and sea. Not a good billboard for tourism to either area.

Entering Ontario was east. It’s always easier to get into Canada than out. Drivers in Canada must really fear the Mounties, because they don’t speed. It’s odd because I doubt a horse with a burly Canadian on it’s back could catch my car, especially the way I drive.

We learned that the Canadians are not the most creative town namers. We hit London, Paris, St. Thomas and Waterloo, and that’s just in the tiny peninsula of Ontario between Michigan and New York. And while I’m on the topic, Buffalo isn’t the most creative city name, either. Eh, Canada?

Some of the major highways in Canada close for construction at night. That means major detours for lost Americans whose GPS systems don’t have Canadian maps. Yup, that was us. We were detoured more than an hour out of the way, with ill-marked signs and of course following the world’s slowest truckers. Still, at least the detour wasn’t for a major accident, and that’s always a plus.

Niagra Falls is a unique city. It’s both the name of the falls and the city on the Canadian side, and it’s situated in a cozy and industrially convenient location. More on Niagra Falls later. For now, we leave you with this advice: Don’t travel in Canada at night. Who knows when the roads shut down for the evening.

If you’re following our road trip then you know we hit the U.P via Wisconsin from Rockford, Illinois. This after a long stint in Beijing. Beijing is home to twenty million. The U.P has less than a million in the whole massive area. Needless to say, agoraphobia set in as soon as we hit the dimly populated area. One nice comparison is that there are probably as many birch trees in the U.P as there are people in Beijing.

Having come from a massive city, we found the U.P to be a delight. The people are tough, and remind us of the characters in Northern Exposure. They tell stories that end in “eh” and involve bear hunting, being snowed in for months on end or else hilarious tales of drunken debauchery as they were snowed into the tavern for the night. A great sense of humor and thick skin are prerequisites to living in the U.P. But more than that you need to love the outdoors, because they creep in, and in the U.P there is no contest about which side would win- humanity or nature.

While in the U.P we baited bear, went fishing, hiked around waterfalls and up on the golden hills, and watched the leaves go from green to yellow to vibrant fire red.

See more of the epic photos of the leaves in transition on our photos page!

The American Midwest is a strange land. Daniel Tosh says middle America is for those who have given up on their dreams, and to some extent that’s what the scenery looks like. Lonely farm houses dot the highway, they face the road instead of their fields almost as if longing to jump on the road and escape the monotony of their farm life. Don’t get me wrong, living off the land and farming sounds like it could be amazing, but somehow in the Midwest they make it look draining and miserable. At least that’s how it looks from the window of a car.

We started our road trip from Chicago, having landed there from China in September of 2012. From Chicago we rented an SUV and burned fossil fuels to Rockford, IL. This town has, the residents told me, the highest per capita crime rate in Illinois. Nice claim to fame. A quick drive in the wrong neighborhood and I understood why. What was once a thriving industrial blue collar town has given way to massive unemployment as jobs were shipped overseas. Ingersoll was once based in Rockford, supplying thousands of jobs. They were bought by a Chinese company and moved abroad. Our last week in China we spotted an Ingersoll-Rand road paver. So Rockford went from a thriving industrial hub to a quasi wasteland of unemployment and quiet depression. Moving on.

We then drove through Wisconsin to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. But the scenery along the way bears mention. First, Wisconsin has some odd ideas about traffic diversions when roads are under construction. Narrowing a four lane to a one lane seems like a poor idea, Wisconsin. Just an observation. Also, your people are fat. Might want to take out the escalators and elevators and put scales at the bottom of the stairs as motivation. Just an idea, Wisconsin.

Michigan, you have some work to do as well. In 2008 the whole country kept a weary eye on Detroit wondering what would happen if the auto industry failed. Detroit no doubt suffered an unfair amount of the burden during the worst of the financial crisis. Luckily, we skipped this city and instead headed to the U.P. This undiscovered land is home to amazing beauty as well as hardy people. More on that later, Amy dear TC readers.

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this short story about our arrival into Chicago from China. Upon landing in the US we were met with friendly smiles, helpful attendants and about the nicest car rental agent in the Midwest. This was a stark contrast to the rudeness in Beijing, and was a welcomed occurrence this side of the Pacific. Thanks, Chicago, for making our homecoming so warm!

The photos here were only one month apart, and we were up in beautiful leaf country for the transition!

By bear baiting we do in fact mean we’re baiting a bear. Bear baiting consists of taking a bunch of fish guts, molasses-dipped bread and other smelly stuff and tossing it in a pile in the woods. Then you take big logs and toss them on top. When the bear gets hungry he pulls apart the logs and eats the mess beneath, and the hunter can tell if the logs were moved and the chow consumed. You apparently bait a bear for a long time, and then when bear season opens you go sit in a tiny metal chair strapped to a tree and watch for the bear.

In addition to bear baiting, we’re also doing a spot of fishing. So far we’ve only caught tiny perch, walleye and a few small mouth bass, but most of them are not keepers, and the few that are keepers are tiny. No luck there, but it’s such a beautiful thing to be out in nature, rocking in the boat and watching the sun go down. We’re not at all bothered that the fish aren’t biting.

And I, for one, and happy that the bear keeps outsmarting the hunters.

It may come as a surprise to you, but the more vacation you take the healthier you’ll be. Or, so says a study done in the UK to promote healthier living. What shocked me about this study was that Americans get an average of 14 days of holiday a year and use 12 of them. We’re already getting far less than most other first-world nations, and yet we’re not using two of our very valuable days off. The study goes on to show depression decreases with increases in holidays, but surprisingly so does productivity. So businesses would benefit from making their employees take some R&R.

One of the biggest concerns with only have two weeks of vacation (and using even less) is that Americans are not able to travel abroad as easily with such limited time. Factoring in travel time (two days) and jet-lag (a half day on each side) you’re looking at losing three days if you go abroad. For many, this is deterrent enough, but factoring in airfare can make the decision to stay stateside seem obvious. The less Americans travel the less they know about the real-world situation on the ground in other countries. This isn’t great because frankly many Americans still believe we have the best system in the world. Perhaps we do, in some cases. But a trip to Sweden or Norway might reveal some real advantages to the way they live, govern themselves and stabilize their economies. Assuming our way is the best without looking at other options is a bit childish. The American republic is an amazing thing, and we’re a very free and lucky nation– but we need to keep evolving or we’ll go the way of all great empires.  One way to move forward is to constantly observe what is and is not working in other nations, and to implement the practices in our own nation that have proven logical, time-tested improvements. For example, the train systems in Europe and Asia provide revenue to their respective governments, are efficient, technologically advanced and provide a solution to many people’s transportation woes. Additionally, it has the added benefit of decreasing pollution, congestion and benefits the environment. It’s a solid infrastructure investment yet we’re lagging behind other first world nations, and embarrassingly enough several third world nations have better transportation technology than the USA. To the left is an image of the subway in Shanghai, to the right is an image of the subway in New York. One of them needs updating.

To show an even more embarrassing disparity. China now has the fastest train in the world, which whisks people from Beijing to Shanghai in five hours. FIVE HOURS! That’s the distance from Seattle to San Fransisco. We could use that on the West Coast. What do we have instead? Amtrak. Below are two pictures. An Amtrak train and a normal, high-speed train (not the new bullet train). If we don’t update our infrastructure soon we’ll be left behind, and an update will cost more, involve a steeper learning curve and ultimately result in years of lost revenue.

Above in an Amtrak Train. Below is a normal high-speed train in China.

A few pictures say more than words will, and that’s one reason why Americans need to travel more, to get more time off work to explore and to see that high-tech systems are going in all over the world yet we’re languishing behind driving old cars, using old, worn down trains with poor routing, and taking fewer personal and vacation days. Why?

A friend sent me this photo recently and as many of you know, this is an issue we’re pretty passionate about. There is crap public transportation in America, and yet we pioneered using the railway to link our two beautiful coasts. Apparently we haven’t updated our trains since they were first rolled out on the tracks. It’s disgusting. Every time I take Amtrak in the states I feel dirty, but the trains are basically the only way to get from place to place without flying or owning a car. Why do they have to be so horrible?

That Russia has super sweet trains and we don’t is a bit shocking. But even France can get it together. Wow. Low blow. China and Japan are at the forefront of technology with trains and while China has suffered a devastating crash on it’s high-speed train, that was ruled human error and everyone is moving on (with trepidation). Japan’s trains are one of the only ways to get around the country, which is super cool.

Imagine how much more time you’d have to play angry birds if you didn’t have to drive? You could just plop down in a seat and read or work on your laptop or finally figure out how 90% of the iPad works. Driving a car is fun, and necessary if you live out in the countryside in the USA, but for most people traveling form say New York to DC should involve sitting on a nice, clean, high-speed train for an hour or two while perfecting your aim at digital paper toss.

I’m still fuming about France’s sleek train.

In our travels around this pretty blueberry planet we’ve only ever seen one train as horrible and unmentionable as an Amtrak train– and that was in Kazakhstan where we witnessed cops climb on board, take off his cap and pass it around the cabin as all the passengers filled it up with cash. When we got to our destination we saw people un-tape bags of ______ from their chests and clamber down the ancient stairs. That was horrible. HOWEVER, on one Amtrak trip a lady asked me to watch her screaming baby while she went to the bathroom. An hour later the thing still howled and screamed and the lady wasn’t back. The cabin attendant finally found her in the bathroom with a needle in her arm. Not that different, really. And yet the trains in Slovakia were awesome, clean, sleek and super shiny and no one O.D.-ed in the bathroom or had ____ taped to their bellies.

I’m all for spending a few of my tax dollars on better, faster, less embarrassing trains. And while we’re at it (don’t get me started on this) better roads. The German autobahn doesn’t have potholes filled with black tar all over the place. Why can’t we build a decent road? AGHHHH!!!!!!

Many people think of Florida as the place to go if you want to escape to theme parks in the blazing hot sun. While the Sunshine State is the kind of place that you take a holiday with kids and grown-ups alike to enjoy Disneyworld, SeaWorld, Universal Studios and others, people may rather enjoy the other sights and sounds of the area when they book a villa on the Florida4Less website.

The Everglades

Daytona Beach

Florida boasts some of the most phenomenal natural areas of the world. The Everglades describes all areas affected by subtropical wetlands, covering everything from Orlando at the northernmost tip to the base of Florida Bay, right at the southern tip of the state. The Everglades National Park protects the site in the southernmost 25 per cent of the area and has been declared a World Heritage Site. Consider getting a fanboat and seeing the wildlife, or just taking in the beautiful scenery.

Key West

As the southernmost point of the continental US, the island of Key West is a wonderful getaway that gives you a true escape from the hustle and bustle of life. In the late 1950s, the area boomed after its salt lakes were filled in, doubling the size of the island and bringing in all kinds of houses, bars, restaurants and interesting sights. Serving as the one-time home to Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams, it is rich in heritage and has a remarkable Cuban influence on its food and drink, giving it a whole different vibe from much of the mainland.

Cape Canaveral

Shuttle Launch at Cape Canaveral

On the east coast is Cape Canaveral, home to NASA and the huge John F Kennedy Space Center. While it made its final launch this year, the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building – still the fourth-biggest building in the world, and the largest with one floor – is a sight to behold, as are the wide range of museums. These include the Space Center’s visitor complex as well as the Air Force Space & Missile Museum, which cannot be missed by any travellers to the state.

Daytona Beach

As the self-styled “most famous beach in the world”, Daytona Beach is a mecca of motorsports and hosts a remarkable number of racing events and is home to NASCAR, Grand-Am, the International Speedway Corporation, the LPGA and the United States Tennis Association. On top of this, it’s a beautiful location to kick back and relax.

Visiting these places will give you the perfect chance to take in plenty that the state has to offer – you won’t regret investing in that perfect villa experience.

This is a guest post.  The content above does not reflect the ideas or opinions of www.AbandontheCube.com

There are over 300 million Americans. Less than 30% of them have passports. That means Americans are not traveling abroad. And 50% of those who do leave the USA are traveling to either Canada or Mexico. So, why is it that Americans are not traveling overseas in larger numbers?

Realistically, money and time are the two biggest factors in our estimation as to why Americans don’t travel abroad. Airfare is costly and flying is a hassle. Meanwhile, Americans on average get around two weeks of vacation a year– not enough to get abroad, get over jet-lag and start enjoying another country. In reality, many of those vacation days are used here and there for extensions on Thanksgiving, for family birthdays or other small events, and that results in, usually, less than two weeks in one chunk for travel. Its not surprising that Asia or the Middle East seems out of reach to Americans who have around 7 days to travel, explore and return. That doesn’t sound like a vacation, it sounds like a gauntlet.

In contrast, the average worker in Europe gets around a month of vacation. By law, all countries in the European Union must allow all workers four weeks of paid vacation at a minimum. Even part-time workers who have worked more than 13 weeks are entitled to their month of paid vacation. This isn’t accrued, its a right. And that doesn’t count public holidays, which are paid days. Americans get 13 days, on average, though some companies have adopted even stricter vacation plans for entry-level employees, like the company Mike worked for in Minnesota. They told him his two weeks of vacation were “To ambitious for an entry level employee.” To which Mike said “audios!” (Chart above shows average PAID vacation days by country)

Meanwhile, workers in the USA have longer daily hours, on average, then their European counterparts. This is interesting because the average salary (even taking into account cost of living) is lower in the USA on average. For example, countries in Europe have a standard 40 hour work week and depending on the country there are laws in place to put a cap on how many hours of overtime per week and year an employee can log, according to the Federation of European Employees. And although the 8 hour day wasn’t always in place, it wasn’t until 1937 that the Fair Labor Standards Act was signed into law and the 8 hour work day (44 per week) in America became accepted as a baseline for a new standard. (Chart above shows average work week by country and gender).

Granted, there are social implications to these differences in Europe and the US. For example, Europeans are taxed at a much higher rate and companies have to sell products at higher prices to follow labor laws. However, the work-life balance in Europe does seem to be more balanced than in the USA, where success is more important that enjoyment to many. Still, the differences are drastic, and many health related problems in America are stress related, possibly stemming from overwork and lack of holiday time.

Along an entirely different chain of thought, perhaps one reason for the shortage of Americans traveling is fear. American movies constantly have foreigners as the ‘bad guys’ and a general lack of knowledge about other countries and their cultures in the US may lead many to think it isn’t safe anywhere abroad. When the media constantly cover problems abroad in uniquely terrifying language, its no wonder people think the entire world is dangerous. Meanwhile, Americans don’t speak a second language, and this limits their capacity to travel abroad with confidence. Luckily, English is the language of travel, but to many places (Africa and Asia) even English won’t suffice. The American education system should require students to learn a second language fluently by the time they graduate from High School. What language they learn should be their choice, naturally, but it holds people back from traveling, working abroad or even understanding a second worldview when they are limited to one language. Ideas are only as solid as the language in which they are expressed, so learning a whole new language is like learning a second culture, a second way of viewing the world. Americans (myself included) miss out on this when they don’t learn a second language as a child.

CNN Travel recently did a story on the surprisingly low number of Americans who travel abroad. We were excited to see they quoted several of our fellow international travel bloggers, folks like Nomadic Matt and Everything Everywhere.

US citizens can learn how to apply for a US passport.

Folks are talking about the environment in a new way. Global warming, greenhouses gasses, Co2 emissions, and our dependency on a depleting oil supply, dependency on mass produced and imported foods. While there aren’t many people out there who think how we treat the world we live in is acceptable, there are very few willing to do anything meaningful about it. Buying carbon credits to offset your usage may be the world’s dumbest idea. So, if you’ve decided to abandon your cubicle and you are looking for a meaningful way to escape from society for a while, why not consider a year in a commune? America has many independent, organic and otherwise less harmful communities where you can exchange your labor for food and lodging. Simply put, you get to escape the cubicle but also society as you know it, and decrease your damage to the planet in a drastic way.

For starters, check out Natural Communities Magazine, where you’ll find articles on natural living, health and general well being as well as environmental protection and appreciation. “As more and more people are seeking natural health, Natural Communities will be an indispensable personal resource for people on the path to a healthy, natural lifestyle, bringing positive solutions to life’s challenges.” Based in the Mid-west, this magazine is a good place to start thinking about joining a commune or at least living a healthier lifestyle.

GrowFood is an organization that connects farmers with people who want to learn about organic and sustainable farming. Their mission is to “help grow a community of 50 million new small-scale organic farmers. That’s how many it will take to break America’s dependency on factory food.” Dependency on mass produced and imported foods has caused sicknesses to increase because people are not utilizing the foods and medicines grown naturally in their area. Meanwhile, mass produced stuff is never of high quality. GrowFood can teach you all about the problems in this area and even offers the hands on chance to learn a better way.

The WWOOF, which is the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms is a group dedicated to offering people around the world the opportunity to learn.  “In return for volunteer help, WWOOF hosts offer food, accommodation and opportunities to learn about organic lifestyles.” This is great because the average person probably can’t identify some of the plants, herbs and vegetables they eat on a daily basis in their natural habitat. If an emergency ever occurred, would you be able to find food, grow food, or raise your own meat? Less dramatically, a self sufficient farm is a great way to ensure you always have food available, and reconnect with nature.

The Fellowship of Intentional Community, although somewhat of a cult-like name, is simply “an inclusive term for ecovillages, co-housing communities, residential land trusts, communes student co-ops, urban housing cooperatives,  intentional living, alternative communities, cooperative living, and other projects where people strive together with a common vision.” You’ll find information on whats available out there in terms of places to escape from society and reconnect with community and nature. An organized directory offers the exact information you need to get started.

Should you abandon the cube, abandon society and move to a commune? I can’t answer that for you, but I do think spending some time learning about natural living, or a healthier way to look at the world is useful. Even a day trip to a commune to see another concept of community and environmentalism would be an eye-opener. While Al Gore cries about global warming, he lives in a mansion and drives a car, uses air-con, flushes toilet paper and so on. Why not try a method of actually returning to nature rather than buying your way out of a guilty conscience?

Lofted Organic Home, by Doornob Designs (image)

The State of the Union Address was January 25th, 2011, ATC reviews the plans behind President Obama’s speech.

Transportation:

One issue we’ve always been open about at ATC is transportation in America. While traveling around the world, we found America to be one of the most difficult places to travel due to poor infrastructure in terms of non-air modes of transportation. Plans to expand the rail network

Previous articles on ATC about transportation include: Amtrak- An Open Plea to the Government. USA Travel Options- Choices in Futility. The Empire Builder. 3 Things I Didn’t Miss about America. Transatlantic Options. Across America by Land.

Education:

Traveling around the world has taught us something else. Americans are not considered to be that intelligent.  This seems to be a nearly universal opinion. Obama’s speech indicated that he might agree with those internationally accepted opinions. Education in America has serious problems that need to be addressed.  I think teachers should be required to have a masters in their field as well as advanced training in teaching methodology and technology. Why not aim to be the best? We have high unemployment and a strong need for teachers, this is a great time to require more education for 1-12 teachers and to reward teachers who went out of their way to get their masters degrees, or who have learned to use technology in the classroom.

Students in Europe are way ahead of US students in many regards. They speak multiple languages and have a firm grip on science, math and geography– three of American student’s worst subjects.  In the chart they US is ranked well after Estonia, which is ironic because the average American probably couldn’t find Estonia on a map, proving my point. American students need to learn a second language fluently by the time they graduate from High School. 12 years is plenty of time. Students in Europe study for around 8-12 years learning English and as a result sound like native English speakers. In China, students go to classes all day and then spend their limited spending cash on English tutors because they know education is key. That is a lot to compete with. We need full immersion schools in the US, and teachers who are bilingual. As Obama noted, the baby boomers will be retiring soon, and its a good time to enact new laws to better the education system. Next time I travel through Europe I would love to see a young American speaking the local language and causing people abroad to reevaluate their opinion of Americans.

Finances:

Americans have a spending problem. Nobody is debating this anymore. Our debt is out of control, our spending seems to be endless and yet our infrastructure can’t compete with that of Western Europe. We have a culture of instant gratification that has resulted in an acceptance of poor-quality goods and a lack of appreciation for high quality goods you have to save up for. I don’t think Americans should have to deal with a ‘credit score’ system that rewards people who buy before they have the money to pay for the items they’ve purchased. Paying in cash by saving up in advance should be rewarded, not punished by harming your credit score. the score means that you can put yourself in debt to a larger entity, you enslave yourself into a cyclical system. I think this system needs to be re-imagined to reward people who can plan ahead, save ahead and can live without the companies that charge ridiculous filing fees, high interest and who hold the deed to your home like a mob boss until you pay up. This system needs to be re-imagined as well, so another housing bubble doesn’t result in more people losing the homes they can’t afford. I think this should have been better addressed in the 2011 State of the Union Address.

Articles ATC has posted on finances and money include: Poor Journalism & American Debt. Should you Look for Work in China- ATC Responds. China versus America: A Conversational Comparison. Why I Hate Wal-Mart.

We left the Brooklyn docks in the intense heat index of 110 degrees F on July 6th.  Hauling our backpacks, chalked full of (almost) everything we needed for the Mongol Rally – ranging from clothing and safety equipment to Russian phrase books and a toilet seat.  Needless to say, we were a rare sight on the Cunard’s Queen Mary II.  The very first day on board, we headed directly to the ship’s library and I perused the nautical history section in detail.  I read through early pirate history along America’s coastline, read about the crossing of the Titanic – White Star is now Cunard, and I also came across a great book about the Mayflower and a history of the pilgrims before they left the England and Holland.

Attending lectures by John Maxtone – Graham, author of The Only Way to Cross and Liners to the Sun, by day and

concerts and balls by night, Lauren had our entire days outlined by 8:00 the previous evening.  Graham gave extremely interesting portrayals of the History of Cunard, the building and crossing of the Titanic, and life on-board crossings during the 19th and early 20th century.  These lectures and histories really opened our eyes to the amazing way we started off our journey, which would / will eventually take us to Europe, Mongolia, and eventually Southeast Asia.

I eagerly watched the satellite image of the Queen Mary II cross over the final resting place of the Titanic 2.5 miles below our feet.  I walked up on the deck of the ship and looked out at the water realizing how much difference 3 months makes when cruising the North Atlantic.  I looked out over a foggy fairly calm sea in a humid 74 degrees Fahrenheit.  We had fog, but practically no fear of icebergs in July.  In April of 1912, we would have seen our breath in the cool air and the icy waters below.

After crossing over the sunken wreck of the Titanic, I read daily about the preparations the pilgrims made to come to America.  I read with great interest as I learned things which I had never been taught in school about the pilgrims crossing.  There had originally been two ships one was called the Speedway, which was purchased by the exiled pilgrims in Holland when they grew impatient with the negotiations with “sponsors” in England.  By the time they had arrived, a company called the Merchant Adventurers had purchased a ship called the Mayflower for their voyage.  There was great turmoil between the pilgrims and the Merchant Adventurers, who aimed to profit off the fishing around the new colony.  My previous understanding had been that they simply could go where ever they pleased in the New World, however in fact, they had to get land patents granted by the crown.

There were also accusations that Holland, who had claimed a right to Manhattan Island, attempted to delay the pilgrims and keep them away from the New World because the Pilgrims’ land patent was at the mouth of the Hudson River, which was too close for comfort.  There were many more facts which I will spare you that I found interesting about their voyage.  It was slightly amusing as I pulled my head up from the book, reading about how the Mayflower was in a turbulent storm in the mid-Atlantic and how the crossing took 60 plus days.  I, on the other hand, looked around took a sip of beer and listened to children laughing in the pool in front of me and was also in the Mid-Atlantic after just 4 days.

Once we arrived in Southampton, I discovered it was only a short walk with all of our gear (in much cooler weather than in Brooklyn a few days ago) to the Mayflower monument. We headed that direction and a wave of fascination swept over me as I looked up at the giant stone monument to the Mayflower crew. Strangely, there are bronze signs for many people on board but not for my ancestor, William Bradford. Hopefully after the rally this is something I’ll be able to remedy.