The Perfect Cross-Country Road Trip (Part 2)

In my last post, I talked about the West coast portion of my dream cross-country road trip, ending with Montana, and of course, no cross-country road trip would truly be cross-country if it were limited to the West coast, so this post, we continue the road trip on the East coast!

7) North Dakota
Jk lolz. Nobody likes North Dakota. It's just South Dakota without Mt. Rushmore. Moving on.

7, for reals now) Chicago
I have only been to Chicago like three or four times, and most of the times I went, it was winter and freezing cold out, so we didn't really get out much, but the times I have gone and not been a hermit have been pretty interesting. I would definitely want to hang out at Lake Michigan and get some good deep-dish pizza (I had this once and it was delicious) while visiting Chicago.

8) Cleveland
I know, I know, what the hell's in Cleveland, right? Well, my family, for one, and my grandma is a doll, so I would want to visit her. Plus, last time I visited my family out there, we visited some Amish country and it was actually really interesting; they had these kittens running around and really good food and you got to ride in a horse and buggy sort of thing. Maybe I'll hit up some Amish country with my Grandma!

Some lovely ducks I saw on my trip to Ohio Amish country.

9) Vermont/New Hampshire/Maine
I think it would be amazing to visit any of these states in the fall, just to see all of the leaves, even though it is probably a mosquito hell. I visited Dartmouth (which is in NH) with mi amiga Sage last year, and I loved the whole old colonial thing they had goin'. I would also want to stay in a B&B in some town on the coast of Maine, because I think that would be really cute.

10) Boston
I have been to Boston a couple of times, and I absolutely love it. I love the style of all their buildings, and all the cool colleges they have there, and their food is simply *kisses hand and mwahs like an Italian*. I once ate myself into a cannoli coma in Little Italy there.

Side note: If you ever go to Boston, go to Mike's Pastry. Their cannolis are heaven rolled up in a crunchy little waffle thing.

Cannolis are love, cannolis are life.
Image Courtesy of: Oderi's Italian Bakery

11) New York City
I love New York. I love the sirens, I love the lights, I love the skyscrapers and the food and the subway and the people with all their different stories and the fifty-five gajillion languages you can hear walking down the street. Needless to say, New York would most definitely be one of the stops on my East Coast road trip.

12) Washington, D.C.
Museums, monuments, and memorials, oh my! Actually, I kind of hate all of those things, and I just wanted to make that really nice play on words while I had the chance. Anyways, D.C. is a pretty cool place. There are a lot of really cute, old neighborhoods (I love Georgetown) and hipster restaurants and what not. And, my uncles live there, so that's a plus.

DuPont Circle is the adorable D.C. neighborhood where my uncles live.
Image Courtesy of: Wikipedia

So that pretty much concludes my cross-country road trip, as anywhere below the Missouri Compromise Line is not of much interest to me (and yes, I realize that includes D.C., but it is towards to the North-ish, so I'm not counting it). Hope everyone is having a great break! Let me know what you have done/are doing!

The Perfect Cross-Country Road Trip (Part 1)

Who doesn't love road trips?! Fifteen-hour car rides through miles of corn fields, forests, and deserts, eating Twinkies and watching Monsters Inc. way too many times are some of my best childhood memories. Although commercial airlines are nice to get you from point A to point B quickly, I think there is a lot to say for driving; driving exposes you to parts of the country you would likely not ever see if not for road trips and is kind of like a vacation on the way to a vacation! One thing that has been on my bucket list for years is taking a huge road trip across the US, so this post I will be highlighting some of the places I would love to stop by.

1) San Diego
In my dream road trip, I would start off in the lovely San Diego. San Diego is pretty dang close to being the southwestern-most (is that a word?) point in the US, so it gives you the opportunity to maximize the amount of the country you can see. From San Diego, I would rent a convertible (preferably blue, of course) and drive up the California coast. I actually did this for about 100 miles with my mom in 7th grade, and it was gorgeous, so I definitely want to try again to get as much of the coast in as possible.

How fricking gorgeous does that drive look?
Image Courtesy of: Federal Highway Administration

1.5) San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo is one of the cutest towns I have ever been to, so on my trip up the coast, I would be sure to make a stop here and maybe stay in a B&B for a night or two.

2) San Francisco
As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I LOVE San Francisco. This wonderful city would be the next stop in my dream road trip. I mean, who's gonna drive all the way up the California coast and miss out on San Francisco?! I would be sure to stock up on peace, tea, and killer Asian food for the rest of my road trip here, too.

3) Yosemite
I have vague memories of visiting Yosemite as a little kid, but I can remember absolutely loving it (probably because we went with my first grade boyfriend)! Yosemite is gorgeous and I would definitely want to spend a while camping here on my road trip. (Fun fact: My parents got married in Yosemite, and that is how I got my name, cuz it's in the Sierras, get it?).

My sister and I road-tripping to Yosemite whilst trying
to pull out my tooth. We were weird children.

4) Portland
Next stop on my dream U.S. road trip would be the lovely little city of Portland, OR. You don't ever want to pass up Portland, with all of its food trucks, bookstores, and bearded guys!

5) Seattle
After Portland, I would head over to Seattle. I haven't been to Seattle for a while, but I would love to visit while taking my road. Maybe I'll take a ferry over to Orcas Island, one day, too.

6) Somewhere Nature-y
For the past few months, I have been dying to go on a hike in Montana. I don't know why; I've never even been to Montana and I kind of hate hiking, but I've had this vision in my head of me hiking somewhere all nature-y in Montana, so maybe I'll hit up Yellowstone or Glacier National Park on my road trip, as well!

Hopefully, this can be me one day... if I don't have an
asthma attack or get eaten by a grizzly bear on the way up there!
Image Courtesy of: All Trips Missoula

So this pretty much covers the West coast portion of my dream road trip, so next post we'll head over to the East coast and finish there!