June 27, 2001

Hiho! I'm several days back from Disneyland, and boy was it fun! I'll post muchly about it later, but I wanted to jump in quickly and ask you, dear BrainLog readers, for a little advice. After I lose my job on Friday, I have two weeks before my next job starts. Despite having just had a great little vacation, I'm now quite obsessed with the possibility of a cross-country road trip. I'm currently thinking an arc through Salt Lake City, Denver, St. Louis, and Chicago (a nice failsafe point, with a direct route back to Seattle). Then Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont and/or Connecticut, time willing. With a one-way rental car, flying back, I should be able to hit a bunch of stuff and still have a good time in the two weeks that I have.

So my question is, what cool stuff must I absolutely try to see along the way? The route is very tentative, and I'd be interested in diverting it to catch cool events or must-see items. Staying very flexible along the way will help make this fun. I'm already disappointed that I don't have enough time to see everything America has to offer, and the route I just described passes by another dozen road-trips' worth of cool stuff that I'd be tempted to detour into. I'd really like to see the southern states, but I cannot pass up the opportunity to see the northeast, if I can even get that far. I already have the advice of travel guides and web sites (including some excellent road trip web sites which I will blog soon), but any personal recommendations would be taken to heart.

And hey, if you'd like to have lunch or something while I'm in your area, let me know!

comments...

If you do end up in NY, make sure you head up north and don't waste all your time around NYC! If you're going to Vermont too, you should take the easy route and go up the Northway in NY and then take a ferry over Lake Champlain into Vermont. That's always fun and you get to see the more scenic parts of NY without getting too lost.

If you hit the land of the silent C, I suggest you head to Southington, CT



There's a park there, and if the mountain is open go to the top to see the tower. You can see for miles. ^^

the arc sounds like a good plan. here in st. louis our science center just opened up its old wing - a building shaped like 3/4 hourglass. almost. and then there's fitz's root beer brewery/restaurant. nothing but rocks.



then cruise 55 north to chi-town (or the other route, through champaign - i can't think of the highway now...) and visit all the coolness up there: planetarium, aquarium, natural history museum... but more specifically: earwax record store/coffee shop. i cry now when i think about it (i used to live in chicago and went there about every day). then there's the lakefront. too much to do! either way: goodbye...

Chicago! Chicago! Chicago! Easily my favorite city to visit. You could easily spend your entire two weeks there. But if you have to condense everything into one or two days, these are the must-sees:



1) A sketch comedy show at Second City

2) The Art Institute

3) Field Museum

4) A walk down Michigan Ave

5) A show at the Steppenwolf Theatre, if you can get tickets...

If you make it to NYC, I'll buy you lunch/dinner.

if you make it to Vermont, I'll kill and clean a woodchuck, just for you.

It was nice meeting you at the DC Webloggers gathering tonight!



-scully