Posts Tagged “pennsylvania”

Nothing interesting to report today; we drove through rain, we sat in traffic, etc. Just wanted to let you all know we got home safe and sound!

For this journey, we decided to wait until we got home to do a route log. This was a much smaller trip and didn’t seem to require daily updates. It ended up being a little more involved that we initially planned, but that’s okay—that’s what’s fun about a road trip. You may have to view the larger version of the map to actually see where we went.

Isabel and I have now each visited 42 of these 50 states (we were together for all of them except Texas and Florida). The states we haven’t hit so far are: Alaska, Hawaii, North Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kentucky. If we’re feeling ambitious, we could knock out three to five of those states on our December trip. I never had a goal visiting all 50 states before, but now I totally do. Looks like we could do it pretty easily now. Wonder what we’ll shoot for next?

On a somewhat unrelated note… after traveling thousands of miles and seeing the most fascinating things this country has to offer, I’m left with one burning question: New Jersey, what’s your deal? Do you really not trust me? Are you worried that I’m not smart enough to handle the complex operation that is pumping gas? Is this task really so complex that you must leave it up to a professional? Twice I have nearly run out of gas to make it over the state line so I can fill my own gas tank. Maybe I’m a little crazy, but I like to be in charge of my own petrol. Besides, I have no idea what tipping etiquette is for those guys and that’s enough to make me break out into a sweat. End rant, start log:

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We left Milford this morning and headed over to Norwalk, Conn., because we had heard of this place called Stew Leonard’s, reputed to be the World’s Largest Dairy Store. When we got there, we were kind of disappointed to see what looked like just a regular grocery store from the outside, but we decided to venture in anyway, just in case. We were not disappointed! Stew’s houses its own milk bottling plant right inside the store:

And as if that weren’t enough, it also houses a variety of animatronic figures that sing and dance while you browse for groceries. For example, there is singing animatronic butter:

There’s also a band of singing milk cartons, a lobster trapeze artist, singing lettuce and bananas, a talking cow, etc., etc., etc. The other cool thing about Stew’s is that they have information readily available about where their products come from with photos of the farms and the like. They also have a live video feed of their own dairy farm:

As Brian said, that’s transparency!

So after that, we got on the road and went through several states, starting with New York:

Then, New Jersey:

Then, briefly, Delaware!

Then, Pennsylvania:

In Penn., we made a stop at the Herr Foods snack factory to take their factory tour.

It was a great tour — one of the best we’ve done. We learned all about how Jim Herr started the company with, like, a single kettle and a potato peeler, and we saw pretzels, popcorn, and chips being made. We were the only people on the tour at that point (we totally dodged a bullet because an entire busload of schoolchildren had been on the tour before ours), so that was really fun. Our tour guide went onto the manufacturing floor towards the end of the tour and filled a giant bag of freshly cooked potato chips just for us! They were still warm and everything. Obviously, we are now obsessed with Herr’s. Check out our giant potato chip bag!

Thanks, Herr Foods!

After that, we continued into Maryland:

We met up with some friends for dinner, which was fantabulous as always, and then we headed home. We’re back in D.C. now and have about a week to recover before we get back on the road again!! We have a lot to do this week, of course, but we’ll try to check in, especially if there are any balcony updates.

Our final day took us through a record (I think) five states and one district. Whew. When we decided it was time to get home, we went for it. Sure, there were a few other spots on the map that we considered dropping in on, but we decided to save them for one of the three(!) more trips that we’re making before the end of the year. The last three days of this trip were pretty brutal driving-wise. We drove from Georgetown, Colo., to DC with only a very few minor stops along the way. Have a look at our last day’s route below. We are dedicated!

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Today was all about the drive, obviously. The good news for you is that I have a record number of state signs for you to enjoy! But first, we had an exciting find in Indiana:

That’s right; it’s the other Hagerstown. Thanks, Indiana!

Before we knew it, we were back in Ohio:

Look what happened while we were gone!

Then, Pennsylvania!

Then, West Virginia!

Then, Maryland!

Ahem. I lived in Maryland for 18 years, and I had to go to California to see a bear. I feel totally ripped off!

We drove through Sideling Hill:

What’s Sideling Hill, you ask? Wikipedia answers!

The Sideling Hill road cut is a 340-foot deep road cut where Interstate 68 cuts through Sideling Hill, about 6 miles west of Hancock in Washington County, Maryland. It is notable as an impressive man-made mountain pass, visible from miles away and is considered one of the best rock exposures in Maryland and the entire northeastern United States. Almost 810 feet of strata in a tightly folded syncline are exposed in this road cut. Although other exposures may surpass Sideling Hill in either thickness of exposed strata or in quality of geologic structure, few can equal its combination of both.

We enjoyed more foliage:

And then, this glorious moment:

Welcome home, us.

Here’s the path we took today. As Isabel mentioned, we didn’t quite make it to Traverse City, but we came pretty close. I would think we’ll be there sometime tomorrow in the early afternoon. We did make it considerably farther than yesterday, though, so that’s exciting!

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Today’s journey took us through some very pretty parts of Pennsylvania:

And Pennsylvania thanked us when we left:

Then we were in Ohio!

Like PA, Ohio boasts lots of pretty farmland:

But I think what I will remember the most about Ohio is seeing the service plazas off the Ohio Turnpike shaped like Ralph Wiggum’s head (Brian’s words):

Right? Incredible likeness:

The other thing I noticed in Ohio was that many farms had a private pond, often with a little dock and/or diving board. They were all pretty awesome, but they only seemed to come up when I put the camera down. Sorry!

We also drove near Toledo! This is the first city we’ve actually really been able to see well from the highway since we left Virginia:

Anyway, then we got to Michigan!

We made a quick stop in Ann Arbor so we could go to Zingerman’s:

For the uninitiated: Zingerman’s is kind of the Zabar’s of the midwest (sans housewares). It’s an awesome deli with a ton of local products, gourmet food, things made with care, etc. It’s also a really interesting company with (apparently) good core values. So I’m a big fan, and so is Brian (in fact, going there today was his idea). Hooray!

We did run into some rain tonight, plus we had a silly little detour due to… construction, I guess (it wasn’t clear), so we had to backtrack a bit. We’re staying at the Knights Inn in Saginaw, Michigan, which is about 3 hours from Traverse City (though the detour may be an issue). We got in quite a bit earlier than we did last night, so we’re hoping for an earlier start tomorrow…

So we were innocently driving along the Pennsylvania Turnpike today when we decided to exit to take a break for nature. We stopped at the first place off the toll plaza that seemed promising… the omnipresent McDonald’s. Sure, it seemed normal enough:

But… what is that in the window?

Could it be… A GIANT BIG MAC?!?!?!

YES!! It turns out this is no ordinary McDonald’s. In fact, it’s the Big Mac Museum Restaurant. Score!

In addition to the World’s Largest Big Mac, the Big Mac Museum also boasts a wide array of Big Mac paraphernalia (collectible Happy Meal toys, old packaging from Big Macs of bygone days) on display as well as souvenirs available for purchase, such as these glorious Big Mac Christmas tree ornaments:

You can also learn all about Jim Delligatti, the creator of the Big Mac:

…and the legendary (!) sandwich’s journey through time all the way up to the present day:

Nice. This is why I love a road trip. We didn’t intentionally go to the Big Mac Museum, but it was such an awesomely lucky find and we were both thrilled to stumble upon it. I have to confess that while I’m generally fairly anti-corporate in most of my leanings, there’s something I love about insanely self-referential corporate shrines (such as the New World of Coke in Atlanta… so awesome), even for companies I’m not particularly fond of (I cannot believe how much I was into this McDonald’s, but what can I say?). I also love factory tours! So perhaps I enjoy quirkiness and company pride, or maybe I’m just morbidly fascinated with wretched excess. Either way, I can’t get enough! Bring it on, America!

I thought it might be fun to post maps of the distance we cover each day. That way everyone can see where exactly we are and how we got there.

The first leg of our trip was to Ocean City, Md. (and back to DC).

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Next we drove from Arlington, Va., to Somerset, Pa.!

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Today the plan is to get as close to Traverse City, Mich., as possible. Hopefully the little blue line will be a little longer for that leg. The maps are dynamic, so feel free to zoom in or move around just as you would with Google Maps. If I get ambitious, I might start adding points of interest to them in the future.

As planned, we left directly from my class this afternoon (in Arlington, Virginia) so we could get a few hours of driving behind us. We’re heading towards our first destination of Traverse City, Michigan, recommended to us by the best dentist in DC the universe. Our journey today took us through a bit of Arlington, so we got to enjoy some DC-area sights, including the Pentagon!!

We took the GW Parkway to the beltway. I was really glad Garmin took us this way because something about the GW Parkway really feels very Virginia to me. I guess it’s all the trees.

We stopped at some scenic overlooks along the way.

When we were here I commented that before we come back, all these leaves will have turned for autumn! Crazy.

Then, Maryland!

Our journey took us up through Frederick, Maryland, where there is another scenic overlook that feels really Maryland-ish to me, or at least Western Maryland-ish:

We also came close to Brian’s hometown:

By the time we reached PA, it was dark.

We enjoyed an excellent stop in the unincorporated town of Breezewood, Pennsylvania:

Unfortunately, none of the photos we took really convey the intensity of Breezewood, but please trust me: it is very intense.

Now we’re in the Super 8 motel in Somerset, Pennsylvania, and it’s one of the nicest inexpensive just-off-the-highway motels I’ve ever seen (which is saying something). Bonus points for free wi-fi; well done, Super 8.

Tomorrow the plan is to get as close to Traverse City as we can. We really wanted to get some miles behind us these first couple of days, but I hope I can have some more interesting photos (beyond state signs) to share soon. We have some pretty exciting places on our list for Michigan. Woo hoo!