Sean Blanda

This is the continuation of last week’s post about driving cross country.

The day after eating dinner atop the Space Needle (I had the chicken, and it was wonderful), we ventured to Pike’s Place market.  The market is home to many small vendors of food, clothes, and just about everything else you can think of.  The media nerd in me was fascinated by the Old Seattle Paperworks store.  Those in the print media industry may get a kick out of what I found.

We also saw the first Starbucks, lounged by the Puget Sound, and went to The Penny Arcade Expo where I saw a gown man in a pink dress outside smoking a cigarette.  This was after the Captain Hook and Mario and Luigi sighting.  I even passed Wil “Don’t Be a Dick” Wheaton.

One aspect of this West Coast city that stuck out in my mind as we drove around the streets of Seattle was how impatient people in the Northeast are.  On the flip side, the people of the West Coast could just be relaxed.

Either way, while driving we were the second car stopped in the left hand turn lane at an intersection.  Once the light turned green, the truck in front of us began to turn left, only to be cut off by crossing pedestrians.  In every city I have ever been to, a car in this situation would creep its way forward until there was a break in the pedestrians (or until the pedestrians would through caution to the wind and risk getting run over).  In Seattle, I saw no such urgency and the truck ended up never turning left and even backed up as to not “block the box”. Of course, our car of impatient Northeasterners was hooting and hollering.

Okay, we were cursing.

But to me this was a cardinal sin of driving: not moving the traffic along.  Perhaps we Northeasterners just need to mellow out?

The Trip Back

After three beautiful, rain free days in Seattle we packed up the car for our return journey.  Because we were on our own, we had time to stop at any place we saw fit.  After traveling with a time limit and then traveling while taking our time, I can’t speak highly enough of the open ended itinerary.  Every time we saw something interesting on the side of the road or in our atlas we were able to explore.

It was also good for doing those little things in life you always wanted to do.  Like touch the desert, see the stars 100 miles away from any city, and pet a cow.  In Washington we stopped at the top of a mountain to produce the lovely view you see below:

On the way back we stopped in Pendleton, Oregon looking for a truly local place to grab some lunch.  We found a place named “Rodeo Lanes” that had arcades (including the game Crusin’ USA – ha!) pool tables, bowling, and a small concession stand. Expecting standard roller rink fare, we ordered our food and prepared ourselves for something deep fried.

Boy were we wrong.  I’m pretty sure I had the best burger ever (two obnoxiously large patties with ham in between for 6 bucks or so).  One of the people I traveled with got roast beef and mash potatoes that were fit for Thanksgiving.  All in a place were you could play Frogger and lace up bowling shoes.

After Oregon and Idaho we dipped into Nevada were I decided to catch up on some sleep. At around midnight, I was awoken to the car reaching a complete stop.  By the time I woke up and looked out the window, all I could see was complete darkness.  No street lights, no city, no cars.  Nothing.  I wandered outside and looked up and saw the night sky unfiltered, undiluted, and pure.

After passing through Utah and Montana, we arrived in Nebraska.  It was Labor Day and we were looking for a place to swim.  After talking to the nicest Welcome Center attendant ever, we were directed to Lake McConaughey.  It was odd approaching the lake as we started passing marinas and jet ski dealers in one of the most land locked states in the union.

Lake Mcconaughey (or Lake Awesome as it is forever known) was a beautiful fresh water reservoir that was the perfect swimming temperature.  Families had driven to its shore and set up grills to relax and enjoy their prolonged weekend.  Suddenly, I didn’t mind being so far from the Jersey Shore.

That night, we ended up in Iowa and we were hours ahead of schedule.  For the first time all trip, we decided we should all get some sleep at the same time.  However, while the Nitro is large, four people can not sleep comfortably.  We ventured a few miles outside of Atlantic, Iowa down a residential farm road.  Here we pulled over, as two of us slept on the roof of the car, while the other two slept inside the car.

I imagine it was a strange thing to a passerby: seeing two kids sleep on top of a car with Jersey tags in the middle of Iowa.  One car stopped and peered in to make sure everything was OK, but largely we were undisturbed as we stared up at the night sky.

Chicago

The next morning around 9 a.m. we arrived in Chicago.  Thanks to my dad, most of the visions I had of Chicago were through the movies Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.  So, dammit, I was going to reenact as much of that movie as possible.

First up was our quest to get that famous Chicago pizza.  While I don’t think we got the deep dish the town is known for we got the largest pizza slice ever known to mankind.

Next stop was the Sears Tower.  I’ll admit that I am a big sissy when it comes to heights, but I did manage to snap few pics.

Then a river ride.  Although I have never seen the movie, one of my friends was obsessing over doing this as it’s done in My Best Friend’s Wedding.

Afterwords we managed to fit in a quick swim in Lake Michigan, where it is surreal to be at a beach, turn around and see a city skyline.  Afterward, we threw on our Phillies gear and headed to Wrigley Field for a Cubs v. Astros games.  Because the Phillies had just finished up a four game series with the Cubs, we got a few heckles but nothing major.  A TV crew even came up to us and asked us if we were Cubs fans.  Foolishly we said no.  I would give anything to take that back as the following exchange could have been possible:

Anchor: So what are you most excited about in this game?

Us: Well, I think the Cubs bullpen … GO PHILS! *running away screaming*

Attending the game at Wrigley Field was only the second time I viewed a sporting event outside of Philadelphia (Camden Yards being the other one).  People always comment on how nasty Philly fans are.  If Philly has the meanest fans, Chicago certainly has the nicest.  In one at bat, Jim Edmonds quickly ran to count up to 0-2.  There were two outs and two men on base. In Philadelphia he would have been booed relentlessly for swinging at two bad pitches.  At Wrigley, they gave the man a standing ovation as a show of support.

He struck out.

After doing some math we knew we couldn’t sit through the entire game as some of us had work the very next day in Philadelphia.  So shortly after the 5th inning, we ran to the car and raced home.

In retrospect, I’m glad I got the chance to travel across the entire US, but I wish I could have done so at a more leisurely pace.  But I highly recommend if you have a few weeks of vacation time, a decent vehicle, and few hundred bucks that you take the plunge.  At the very least it will make two semi-interesting lengthy blog posts.

10 tips on driving cross country

As promised, here are some tips for making the trek across our amazing country:

1. Take your time - On the way out we ruhed, and on the way back we took our time.  Guess which way was more fun?  If you have a limited time span, pick a few states to spend some time in and view the rest from your window.
2. Whenever possible, venture off of the highway – When you look at the route you are taking, is there a state or county road you can take that will go in the same general direction as the interstate?  You can’t really get the character of a place from the highway.
3. Whenever possible, avoid the truck stops – After my sixth of seventh cherry coke / Subway sandwich meal we all decided to try and eat at a local place.  At the very least, eat at a chain that can only be found in that part of the country.  After all, you can eat Subway anywhere, but how many places can you get a slice of pizza bigger than your head?
4. The driver is boss – We had a policy that the driver has final say on music, rest stops, and routes.  It turned any backseat driving into mere backseat suggestions.
5. Use the buddy system – With four people in car we had a counter clockwise rotation of seats.  So the passenger would be the next driver, and the driver would move right to sleeping after being finished driving. This worked out well as there was usually a person awake to keep the driver entertained and awake.There were a few times where someone was the lone person awake on the car, and it was a dangerous thing to do.
6. Seriously, it gives you wings – Everyone has different feelings on energy drinks, but they probably saved our sleeping schedule on numerous occasions.  If you aren’t adverse to do doing so, I’d recommend stashing a few away.
7. Pack some stand-up comedy – After a while all of the music just sounds like same.  Spice it up with some comedy.  Also, talk shows and comedy keep you awake easier than even the heaviest of metal.
8. Orange Juice – I was in a car with three other people, and they all got sick.  I didn’t.  The difference?  Lots and lots of OJ.  Seriously.
9. Have a point-and-shoot handy.   With video if you can swing it.
10. Don’t let anyone drive longer than 200 miles or 4 hours. They’ll go nuts.

Now back to standard journalism/media posts.  I swear.