Cross-Country Trip (2002), Part 5 - Bonus Coverage

As I mentioned in the last post, one of my regrets from my 2002 cross-country trip with my brother was that we never got a good picture of the two of us in any of the cool places we were visiting along the way.  What we did instead was buy a small figurine of The Simpsons' Bumblebee Man before the trip and take pictures of him in all these cool places.  So now, for your viewing pleasure, the adventures of Bumblebee Man:

Fallingwater in PA

Cleveland, OH

 Wrigley Field in Chicago, IL

Sears Tower in Chicago, IL

Gateway Arch in St. Louis, MO

Kansas City, MO

Denver, CO

Rocky Mountains in CO

Continental Divide in CO

Dinosaur National Monument in UT

Salt Lake City, UT

San Francisco, CA (Alcatraz in the background)

Grauman's (aka Mann's) Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, CA

Las Vegas, NV

Grand Canyon in AZ

Four Corners in UT/AZ/NM/CO

Houston, TX

New Orleans, LA

Myrtle Beach, SC

[ Part 4 - Dallas to Maryland ] <---

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 ]

Cross-Country Trip (2002), Part 3 - Los Angeles to Dallas

The next eight days of the cross country trip took my brother and I from California back east to Texas.  The Southwest US includes some awesome scenery and we got to see a ton of it.  I hope you enjoy my brother's logs of the trip and the pictures we took.

Day 17 - Los Angeles

We slept in and got a cab to Dodger Stadium to see the Dodgers play the Anaheim Angels.  At the game, Craig had two Dodger Dogs (the ballpark's famous food) and some peanuts.  Paul ate one Dodger Dog, a chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich, and peanuts.  The fans were very rowdy, especially after an Anaheim pitcher hit Shawn Green with a pitch and the benches cleared.  No punches were thrown but the Angels manager was ejected.  The Dodgers ended up winning 5-4.

After the game, we took a cab back to the hotel.  We ordered pizza from Pizza Hut for dinner.  We got sunburned at the game, so we went to a GNC in downtown LA to get some aloe vera lotion.  Later, Craig watched USA beat Mexico 2-0 in World Cup soccer.

Day 18 - Los Angeles

We woke up and watched the re-airing of the USA vs Mexico soccer game, so we didn't get out of the hotel until after noon.  We took a cab to Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.  Once we got there we walked around a little while, then got lunch at California Pizza Kitchen.  After lunch we walked to a Ferrari dealership and then to a couple other exotic car dealerships.  One of them even had a Michael Schumacher F1 car.

We then went to a gas station in Beverly Hills to get directions to Hollywood.  We bought a map also.  After looking at the map, we decided it was way too far to walk so we took a cab to Mann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.  We saw the hand and footprints and the stars in the sidewalk.

A man raising money for the homeless did a short comedic routine.  He was in the Cake music video for "Short Skirt Long Jacket."  We gave him $8.

While walking down the main road in Hollywood, we saw a big truck that hauls a car behind it so they can videotape a driving scene.  There was a man in the drivers seat of the car being recorded and a woman in the passenger seat.  The man was looking at the woman and talking/singing.  The car was old and light blue.  I think the man was the lead singer of Smash Mouth, which would mean they were shooting a music video.  Maybe we'll be in the background!

Hollywood seemed really dirty and trashy, with the exception of a couple of parts.  We took a cab back to the hotel.

Being in California, I (Craig) was insistent that we eat at an In-N-Out Burger.  We got a cab and the concierge at the hotel told the driver where one might be.  We went to USC, there wasn't one around.  After the cab driver got out and asked several people where one was, he couldn't get an answer for one nearby.  We went to the only one he knew of.  It was near LAX.  The cab fare for the trip to In-N-Out was about $55, and we gave the driver $70.  A handsome tip for his efforts.  The only things on the menu at In-N-Out are hamburger, cheeseburger, double-cheeseburger, and fries.  We ate at In-N-Out Burger and bought two tee shirts.  The total for the food and shirts came out to be $27 and change.  We finished eating (the food was good - way better than McDonald's), and called a cab to take us back to the hotel.  The cab ride was $37, and we gave the driver $40 because that's all we had in cash.  The total cost of the trip to In-N-Out: $137.

Day 19 - Los Angeles, CA to Las Vegas, NV - 282 miles

Left L.A. at 10:45am.  We had planned to do the Rim of the World Scenic Byway, but forest fires around Cajon Pass kept us from doing that.  After we got out of L.A. and were driving on I-15, we saw acres and acres of charred land.  We could even see some flames from the forest fires.

NEVADA

Arrived in Las Vegas at 4:00pm.  Our hotel was a Travelodge on the south end of the Strip.  Since there were two scenic byways nearby and it was over 100 degrees outside, we did the Red Rock Canyon Loop Drive.  We left the hotel at 5:30pm.  Just after entering the loop, we saw wild donkeys walking around near the road, so we pulled off to the side.  One walked right up behind the car.  It was so close that it could have stuck its tongue out and licked the spoiler.

We got back to the hotel around 8pm and got dressed up to walk up and down the Vegas Strip.  We started by going all the way to the south end, which wasn't very far from the hotel.  At the south end, we crossed the street and started north.

We went into New York New York and walked past all the slots and gaming tables to an area that was set up to look like a New York street with a bunch of New York style restaurants on each side.  There was even a brick walkway instead of carpet.  We decided to eat dinner at ESPN Zone in New York New York.  We got a table in the room with TVs at every table and two big screens at the front.  We ate dinner and watched TV, then went upstairs to the game room and played games until we ran out of points on our cards.  Paul won 8-7 in our 15 competitions (3-1 in air hockey, 1-0 in kart, 1-0 in CART Fury, 1-0 in Cruisin' Exotica, 1-2 in Virtua Striker 2, 1-2 in Super Shot, 0-1 in ESPN College Hoops, 0-1 in bowling).

We left ESPN Zone at 12:30am and continued north on the Strip.  We walked in a couple casinos and weren't stopped by anyone, but we never stopped and tried to gamble so there was no reason to kick us out.  There were a lot of kids younger than us running around.  We stopped at the Frontier near the north end of the strip to get a soda and sit down for a few minutes.  After that, we decided to take a cab back to the hotel.

We grabbed Bee Man and walked to a good place on the strip near the hotel to take a picture, then went back to the hotel [this will be explained in a future post].  We got in at about 3:00am.

Day 20 - Las Vegas, NV to Grand Canyon, AZ - 438 miles

We slept in after the late night and didn't leave Vegas until 11:15am.  We started by going north on I-15 so that we could do the Moapa Valley Drive.  The drive took us past Lake Mead (created by the Hoover Dam) and through the Valley of Fire (a group of red rock formations jutting up from the ground).

One point of interest was a group of Native American petroglyphs high on one of the rock formations.  There is a stairway up to the preserved petroglyphs so that visitors can get a good look at them.

After the scenic byway we got back on I-15 towards Las Vegas to get on the way to the Grand Canyon.  Four hours after leaving, we saw a sign saying that we were eight miles from Las Vegas.  We could see the Strip again from I-15.  We got to the Hoover Dam at 4:15pm, paid $5 to park and walked around.  The visitor center was closed and neither of us wanted to walk all the way across the dam , so we took some pictures, walked around a little, and left around 4:45pm.

ARIZONA

We arrived at the Rodeway Inn - Red Feather Lodge at 8:30pm MST.  We found out in the hotel that Arizona does not do daylight savings time.  The hotel is in a small town near the Grand Canyon called Tusayan.  We walked next door to the Tusayan Cafe for dinner, but it was taking too long to be seated, so we went next door to Wendy's instead.  After that, we walked across the street to McDonald's for ice cream.  We were back in the hotel before 9:45pm.

Day 21 - Grand Canyon, AZ to Farmington, NM - 368 miles

We woke up and left the hotel at 10:15am to go to the Grand Canyon.  Admission was $20.  We parked at the South Rim, walked maybe a half mile down the trail, took some pictures, and walked back.  At one point on the trail we saw a sign saying that "most people" who die at the Grand Canyon go beyond the fences or railings.  That did not inspire confidence.  Also on the trail, we saw a squirrel cooling itself on the shaded rock the same way our cat does on the tile floor.  People were walking right up to the squirrel, but it would just stare back at them and not move.  We left the Grand Canyon around 11:30am.

After the Grand Canyon, it was on to the scenic drive at Monument Valley.  We had lunch at the starting point of Monument Valley at a Blimpie.  The area where we ate lunch looked strange because the sky was almost tan with sand being blown everywhere.  Monument Valley is a bunch of bright orange rock formations in the middle of an otherwise completely flat area.  At one point, we were able to see where the picture was taken for the front of the Road Atlas, and we got a picture of our own.

UTAH

As we drove towards four corners, visibility became low (not dangerously low) from what seemed to be smoke.  It may have been smoke from a forest fire that was in Durango, CO which was northeast of us at the time.  We went to Four Corners on the way to Farmington, NM.  It is located in a Navajo Indian Reservation, and I'm assuming the money goes to them.  Admission was $4.  We took some pictures of the marker showing the division of the states, walked around it to be in all four states, and stood in the middle before we left.

UTAH / NEW MEXICO / COLORADO / ARIZONA / NEW MEXICO

We arrived in Farmington at the Days Inn at 8:00pm MDT.

Day 22 - Farmington, NM to Albuquerque, NM - 213 miles

We woke up at 6:00am to watch the USA vs Germany World Cup game.  Craig stayed up to watch it, but Paul did not.  USA lost 1-0.  We left Farmington at 10:45am.  Went to Aztec to see Native American ruins.  We used receipts from previous parks to get a National Parks Pass for free (normally $50, valid for one year).  The town is named Aztec because it was assumed that the Pueblo in the town could only have been built by the Aztecs.  It was later realized that the structures were built by the Anasazi.  It's strange to think that every brick had to be shaped by hand out of rocks, and that it was done 900 years ago.

Left Aztec before noon.  Arrived at the Howard Johnson Express in Albuquerque at 5:00pm.  Left the hotel and drove to Old Town Albuquerque.  We walked around old town but most of the stores were closed.  We ate dinner in Old Town at a place called Casa de Fiesta.  It was a small Mexican restaurant with a guitar player walking around.  The chili con queso was so hot Craig went through three Cokes before we even got dinner.  We left the restaurant around 7:30pm and drove down US-66 through Albuquerque to Nob Hill (near UNM) and then back to the hotel.  There was not much to do in Albuquerque.

Day 23 - Albuquerque, NM to Lubbock, TX - 340 miles

Left Albuquerque at 9:30am.  No scenic routes today.  Had lunch at A&W in Clovis, NM.  Across from the A&W, some high school girls in bikinis were having a car wash and were trying to get us to get our car washed.  As we drove away from them, one yelled in a whiny voice, "Come on!  We'll wash it ourselves!"  It was humorous.

TEXAS

Arrived at Hampton Inn in Lubbock at 5:00pm CT.  At dinner at IHOP near the hotel.  The waitress kept saying "y'all."

Day 24 - Lubbock, TX to Dallas, TX - 396 miles

Woke up and watched the F1 European Grand Prix.  Rubens Barrichello won.  Left the hotel in Lubbock at 10:30am.  Arrived at the Wyndham Garden Hotel in Dallas at 6:15pm.

[ Part 2 - Denver to Los Angeles ] <--- | ---> [ Part 4 - Dallas to Maryland ]