Cross-Country Trip (2002), Part 4 - Dallas to Maryland

The final leg of the cross country trip with my brother took us to New Orleans, Myrtle Beach, then finally home.  It was awesome to visit New Orleans, and it was cool seeing the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean having already seen the Pacific and the Great Lakes as part of the same trip.  For as great as the trip was though, we were definitely glad to be back home by the end.

Day 25 - Dallas

Slept in, skipped lunch, and drove into downtown Dallas at 1:30pm.  We went to the West End Market, but there wasn't much to do there so we walked around for a little while then left.

We then walked around for a few minutes before deciding to visit the 6th Floor Museum which talked about the Kennedy assassination and had the area restored where Lee Harvey Oswald sat to fire the shots.  They had the boxes set up the same way they were when Oswald fired the shots.  It was strange to be in the book depository that is talked about so much.  The 7th floor of the museum was an exhibit of the Pulitzer Prize winning photographs over the years.

We left the museum at 5:20pm to go to a double-header at The Ballpark in Arlington.  Because of traffic, we got to the park at 6:15pm and it was the 4th inning in the first game when we got in.  We had aisle seats in the club section.  The four guys behind us were also Orioles fans.  Texas won the first game 8-4.

It rained between games, but only for a short time.  There was no delay in the second game.  We went to our seats after walking around between games and there was a Rangers employee telling people not to sit in the open because of lightning.  We stood in the walkway for a few minutes with a bunch of other people from our section until a security guard told us we could sit down because it was a fire hazard to block the walkway.  The Rangers won game two 3-2.

The food at the park was nothing special, but we did order hot dogs right to our seats (in true club section style).  We got back to the hotel around 12:30am.

Day 26 - Dallas, TX to Houston, TX - 244 miles

Left the hotel in Dallas at 10:30am.  Arrived in Houston at 2:30pm.  The Ramada Limited is the worst hotel we have been in so far.

At 4:30pm we left the hotel to go to downtown Houston.  We parked near Minute Maid Park and got our tickets from will call then walked around downtown Houston.  Everything in Houston is under construction, it seems.  Buildings, sidewalks, parks - everything.  We went back to Minute Maid Park at about 6:00pm so that we could find our seats and get some food before the game started.  They played with the roof closed because it was raining just before game time.  The Astros won 7-3 over the Diamondbacks, making the home team 5-0 in the games we were at.  Got back to the hotel around 11:00pm.

Day 27 - Houston, TX to New Orleans, LA - 437 miles

Left Houston at 10:15am.

LOUISIANA

We did a scenic route from one of the scenic roads book called Bayou Byways in Louisiana.  We saw old plantation houses.

Arrived in New Orleans at 7:30pm.  The hotel is the Prince Conti Hotel on Conti Street, a half block from Bourbon St.  The hotel is very upscale.  The rooms have 15 foot ceilings and ceiling fans.

After watching some TV we went to Poppy's Diner just off Bourbon St at the suggestion of the woman at the front desk of the hotel.  After dinner we walked up and down Bourbon St before returning to the hotel.  It's mostly clubs that we can't get into because we aren't 21.  We got back to the hotel around 1:00am.

Day 28 - New Orleans

Slept in and then left the hotel to walk around downtown at 12:30pm.  Went to Cafe Du Monde at to have coffee and beignets.  Beignets are deep fried bread pieces covered in powdered sugar.  Twice while we were eating, groups of people came by asking us to take a picture of one of them pretending to eat a beignet.  They needed the pictures for a scavenger hunt.

After that, we walked up and down Canal St past the aquarium and got snowballs.  Then we went to a movie theater at the mall and saw Minority Report.

After the movie, it was raining so we went to the hotel before going to dinner.  At 8:00pm we went to the Cafe Pontalba to get some authentic New Orleans dinner.  The restaurant is located in the first apartment building in the U.S.  Anywhere in New Orleans where there are open walls in a restaurant, there will be pigeons in the restaurant, and they will be the rattiest looking pigeons you'll ever see.

After dinner, we walked up Bourbon St and back to the hotel.  We decided the next day we'd drive straight to Atlanta instead of stopping in Alabama.  At 11:15pm, we went back out to Bourbon St to get a picture of Bumblebee Man and to walk up and down Bourbon St one last time.  We got back to the hotel at midnight.

Day 29 - New Orleans, LA to Atlanta, GA - 506 miles

We left New Orleans at 8:20am.

MISSISSIPPI

ALABAMA

Had lunch at a gas station off I-65 in Alabama that had subs and pizza and tables to sit down and eat.  They had tee shirts in the gas station, one of which had a confederate flag on it and said "Til Death Do Us Part."

GEORGIA

Back in the Eastern Time Zone!  Arrived at the Fairfield Inn in Atlanta at 7:00pm.  Decided for our final route back we'd go to Myrtle Beach instead of along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Day 30 - Atlanta

Slept in, then went to Underground Atlanta, a large underground shopping mall downtown, at 12:30pm.  At lunch at the food court, then went to World of Coca-Cola near Underground Atlanta.  Admission was $6/ea.  We saw exhibits about the history of Coke, including that it was only a nickel for the first 70 years of its existence.  We were also able to sample Coke products from around the world.  There wasn't a whole lot do in downtown Atlanta, so we went back to the hotel and got delivery pizza for dinner.

The car is burning oil and the fan in the laptop isn't working, so we decided we'd go to Myrtle Beach the next day then all the way home the day after that.  That would get us home on July 1st, two days earlier than expected.

Day 31 - Atlanta, GA to Myrtle Beach, SC - 381 miles

Left Atlanta at 8:45am.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Arrived at the Econo Lodge at Myrtle Beach at 3:45pm.  Went to the beach and sat on the beach until 6:00pm.  In the evening we went to Broadway At The Beach, an outdoor mall similar to Pier 39 in San Francisco.  We walked around for about half an hour before getting dinner.  Walked around Broadway At The Beach for a little bit more after dinner, then got back to the hotel around 11:00pm.

Day 32 - Myrtle Beach, SC to Laurel, MD - 486 miles

Left Myrtle Beach at 11:00am.

NORTH CAROLINA

At lunch at McDonald's.  Got gas and continued towards HOME!

VIRGINIA

MARYLAND

Arrived at home: 8:08pm.

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed going through my brother's logs of our cross country trip and looking through all the pictures we took.  The trip was a once in a lifetime opportunity to take a whole month off before getting wrapped up in work and life responsibilities and I'm really glad we did it.  Driving across the country is such a great way to see the U.S.  You get to experience the changes in landscape and scenery and the sheer space that you don't get just by jumping in a plane and finding yourself at your destination.

It's funny to think about how different the trip would be if I was doing it today.  Some of the challenges of the trip - directions from place to place, finding decent restaurants, booking hotels, finding fun stuff to do - are all so easy now with smartphones that you forget that those resources once weren't available.

There are a few things from the trip I wish we had done differently.  There are times when we spent huge stretches in the car only seeing the world through our car windows, which can begin to feel a bit disconnected from the world around you.  I wish we stopped a little more and got out and smelled the air and felt the ground under our feet and gotten a little more immersed in what we were seeing.

I also wish I had spent some time back then jotting down more of my thoughts on the trip (more along the lines of my West Virginia trip).  I certainly appreciate my brother being in charge of all the logging and photography while I was doing all the driving, but our 20-year-old selves didn't really have the forethought to capture a whole lot more than just times and places and where we ate every meal.

My biggest regret from the trip, speaking of our dumb 20-year-old selves, is that we never got a good picture of the my brother and I together.  Literally the only shots of my brother in the hundreds of pictures we have is when he just happened to be visible in the side mirror while taking photos out the side window.  But, I guess that's all hindsight and if we had waited until we were sensible adults with lots of forethought before doing this trip... well maybe we'd still be waiting.

All those issues aside, it was still the trip of a lifetime.  We visited a ton of cities we had never been to, saw amazing national parks with some of the most beautiful places in America, and drove on fantastic driving roads in every part of the country.  In the nearly twenty years since then, I still see pictures of various places across the U.S. and think "I've been there!" all because of that trip.

I'd love to pick one thing that stands out as the top highlight of the trip, but with a trip that long there are just so many.  Coming over the other side of the Rockies and seeing the drastic vegetation change, since it was our first time that far west, was certainly neat.  Driving on fun roads through California was awesome.  Seeing the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time was particularly special because it was this thing that, as people growing up on the East Coast, you see on TV and always just think "that's a long way away."

I especially enjoyed and appreciate all the time I got to spend with my brother - listening to the same CDs in the car over and over, figuring out how to get where we were going, joking around and passing the time on all the long driving days.  My favorite memory - maybe from the whole trip - is one my brother won't even remember: driving through Arizona towards the Grand Canyon, the sun setting on a long day of sightseeing and driving, the dark horizon against the beautiful last bits of light across the sky, and my brother in the passenger seat sleeping.

[ Part 3 - Los Angeles to Dallas ] <--- | ---> [ Part 5 - Bonus Coverage ]