I think everyone who lives in this beautiful country needs to drive across it at least once. Here's the approximate route I followed cross country. (not all the intermediate points are stops... I just had to create them to make the route follow the correct roads).
Also, I created dedicated photo galleries for my time in Glacier NP and for the Dallas World Aquarium (two very photogenic spots that I couldn't come even close to showing all the photos here in the blog that I wanted to)
Glacier National Park (check out a cool feature here: At the lower left, there is a link that says "View map". Click that, then turn the Google maps mode to "Hybrid" and zoom way in to see where the photos were taken.
Dallas World Aquarium
Other than that, I'm ready to sign out of this summer's adventure and return to blogging at ny06jh.blogspot.com. Oh yeah... 4600 miles in a BMW without even getting pulled over, and the worst damage sustained was a small chip in the windshield. Not bad... I'd do it all again.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Day 19: Ithaca
Total Miles: 4617
Total States: 17
Well, all vacations need to have an end somewhere... Today was a relatively short drive ("only" 670 miles) from Louisville back home to Ithaca. There really wasn't a ton to note, so here's the normal log and photo compilation:
The drive from Louisville to Ithaca.
Mile 4032: Crossed over into the state of Ohio
4142: Went through Columbus
4360: Made it through Ohio (in its very longest direction) and entered Pennsylvania. My lowest average speed for any state was here in PA, where there were no less than three major road construction projects in the 38 miles I went though. Caught a few glimpses of Lake Erie.
4398: Entered good 'ole New York State. The drive along the southern tier (the southern row of counties along the base of NY) was the prettiest since Glacier by far. It's all tree covered hills with quaint dairy farms in the meadowed valleys.
Mile 4617: Arrived at my house in Ithaca. I'm not sure which is more amazing: the fact that my car made it 4616 miles without anything breaking, or the fact that I was able to drive up Stewart Ave with nothing breaking. (For those of you not around Ithaca, Stewart is a very (read: VERY) old brick street just west of the university that is not in the best shape. My best guess is that the street itself is on the historic landmarks registry or something, so they can't just rip it out and repave...)
Total States: 17
Well, all vacations need to have an end somewhere... Today was a relatively short drive ("only" 670 miles) from Louisville back home to Ithaca. There really wasn't a ton to note, so here's the normal log and photo compilation:
The drive from Louisville to Ithaca.Mile 4032: Crossed over into the state of Ohio
4142: Went through Columbus
4360: Made it through Ohio (in its very longest direction) and entered Pennsylvania. My lowest average speed for any state was here in PA, where there were no less than three major road construction projects in the 38 miles I went though. Caught a few glimpses of Lake Erie.
4398: Entered good 'ole New York State. The drive along the southern tier (the southern row of counties along the base of NY) was the prettiest since Glacier by far. It's all tree covered hills with quaint dairy farms in the meadowed valleys.
Mile 4617: Arrived at my house in Ithaca. I'm not sure which is more amazing: the fact that my car made it 4616 miles without anything breaking, or the fact that I was able to drive up Stewart Ave with nothing breaking. (For those of you not around Ithaca, Stewart is a very (read: VERY) old brick street just west of the university that is not in the best shape. My best guess is that the street itself is on the historic landmarks registry or something, so they can't just rip it out and repave...)
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Day 18: Louisville
Total Miles: 3946
Total States: 14
I spent the day in Louisville with Chris and Sarah, friends from UW. Chris is attending Southern Baptist Seminary, and they actually had started classes yesterday! Now that's early. Anyhow, I kinda of worked around their schedules since Sarah had to work. After classes, Chris and I went downtown to sync up with Sarah's lunch break, and we had some delicious subs at a little hole-in-the-wall place.
Louisville waterfront
After that, Chris took me on a little tour of the town. As far as small cities go, Louisville has got to be one of the nicest. Its right on the Ohio river, with all sorts of waterfront open space. The downtown itself has a lot of old buildings, but is in pretty nice shape. There are some modern skyscrapers, but a lot of interesting architecture and art. Even out of the downtown area, many of the buildings ans houses are historic and very interesting to look at. We popped over the river to Indiana for a few minutes (hence the additional state in the "total states" count above), and drove by some of the major attractions, like the Louisville Slugger museum.
Downtown Louisville
After Sarah got off work, we went out to dinner at an excellent Mediterranean place. When we asked what one of the sides tasted like, the guy went back and prepared a whole tasting platter with all the sides. Not bad service, there. After dinner, we went back to the apartment and Chris' twin brother (also attending the same school) dropped by, and then we played Settlers of Catan, a strategy board game that was popular with some folks back at UW.
It was a pretty short visit, but that was probably OK since they were juggling school and work at this point. it was really good to see them and make and "east coast/west coast" connection.
Total States: 14
I spent the day in Louisville with Chris and Sarah, friends from UW. Chris is attending Southern Baptist Seminary, and they actually had started classes yesterday! Now that's early. Anyhow, I kinda of worked around their schedules since Sarah had to work. After classes, Chris and I went downtown to sync up with Sarah's lunch break, and we had some delicious subs at a little hole-in-the-wall place.
Louisville waterfrontAfter that, Chris took me on a little tour of the town. As far as small cities go, Louisville has got to be one of the nicest. Its right on the Ohio river, with all sorts of waterfront open space. The downtown itself has a lot of old buildings, but is in pretty nice shape. There are some modern skyscrapers, but a lot of interesting architecture and art. Even out of the downtown area, many of the buildings ans houses are historic and very interesting to look at. We popped over the river to Indiana for a few minutes (hence the additional state in the "total states" count above), and drove by some of the major attractions, like the Louisville Slugger museum.
Downtown LouisvilleAfter Sarah got off work, we went out to dinner at an excellent Mediterranean place. When we asked what one of the sides tasted like, the guy went back and prepared a whole tasting platter with all the sides. Not bad service, there. After dinner, we went back to the apartment and Chris' twin brother (also attending the same school) dropped by, and then we played Settlers of Catan, a strategy board game that was popular with some folks back at UW.
It was a pretty short visit, but that was probably OK since they were juggling school and work at this point. it was really good to see them and make and "east coast/west coast" connection.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Day 17
Total Miles: 3946
Total States: 13
I got a pretty early start to the day and managed to peel myself away from the kids by 7:30. It was an incredibly fun visit... not only getting to see some interesting stuff around the area, but also having plenty of time to just play with the kids. It has been quite the break from the fast-paced, intense PhD program.
Anyhow, destination today was Louisville, Kentucky, where a couple of my friends from UW had just moved to attend the Southern Baptist Seminary. Here's the travel log for the day...
Drive from Arlington, TX to Louisville, KY.
Mile 3052: Left Arlington. Hit some traffic trying to get around Dallas that held me up around half an hour. Sometimes you just really want to get out of a city... and especially out of its traffic!
3250: Crossed over from Texas into Arkansas at a town called Texarkana. (It's anybody's guess where they came up with a name like that!)
3385: Went through Little Rock. In general, there isn't much of interest along the freeway in Arkansas. I did appreciate the fact that most of the state is wooded along the freeway (I hadn't driven through any sort of trees since I left Glacier), but that was about it.
3422: Crossed the Mississippi into Tennessee (Thats a lot of double letters right there!). The freeways around Memphis were horrible in terms of heavy traffic and the merging that was necessary (such as while going around sharp corners with narrow lanes)
3430: I took a half hour detour to hit Mississippi (the state) so I could cross it off my list and never need to go back. This took me right through Graceland, the hometown of Elvis, though.
3437: Mississippi. The first state I've come across that doesn't bother to put a "Welcome to" sign on the interstate as you cross in.
3765: Nashville, TN. Of course I didn't take time to stop, but it still looked like a nice city. In general, the drive through Tennessee was quite enjoyable. Most of it is tree-covered hills that are a tiny bit too steep to be called "rolling". There were even some spots where the rock of the hills had to be cut back for the interstate (as opposed to the terrain I've been in for the last week+)
3794: Crossed into Kentucky
3823: Bowling Green, KY. GM had a plant here for years (and still does?), but its best known because Corvettes were made here. There is a national Corvette Museum that I would have stopped in at if (1) it wasn't closed for the night and (2) I had more time.
3893: Birthplace of Abe Lincoln. I forget the name of the town. Much like TN, KY is mostly rolling hills carpeted with trees and dotted with horse farms.
3946: Arrived in Louisville just after 10:00 pm.
Again, neither the BMW nor I had any problems with a day-long drive. We stayed up a little while talking, but both of them had to be up early the next morning. The trip is rapidly drawing to a close. I'll spend a full day and another night here in Louisville, but then its a quick 10 hour drive back to Ithaca.
Total States: 13
I got a pretty early start to the day and managed to peel myself away from the kids by 7:30. It was an incredibly fun visit... not only getting to see some interesting stuff around the area, but also having plenty of time to just play with the kids. It has been quite the break from the fast-paced, intense PhD program.
Anyhow, destination today was Louisville, Kentucky, where a couple of my friends from UW had just moved to attend the Southern Baptist Seminary. Here's the travel log for the day...
Drive from Arlington, TX to Louisville, KY.Mile 3052: Left Arlington. Hit some traffic trying to get around Dallas that held me up around half an hour. Sometimes you just really want to get out of a city... and especially out of its traffic!
3250: Crossed over from Texas into Arkansas at a town called Texarkana. (It's anybody's guess where they came up with a name like that!)
3385: Went through Little Rock. In general, there isn't much of interest along the freeway in Arkansas. I did appreciate the fact that most of the state is wooded along the freeway (I hadn't driven through any sort of trees since I left Glacier), but that was about it.
3422: Crossed the Mississippi into Tennessee (Thats a lot of double letters right there!). The freeways around Memphis were horrible in terms of heavy traffic and the merging that was necessary (such as while going around sharp corners with narrow lanes)
3430: I took a half hour detour to hit Mississippi (the state) so I could cross it off my list and never need to go back. This took me right through Graceland, the hometown of Elvis, though.
3437: Mississippi. The first state I've come across that doesn't bother to put a "Welcome to" sign on the interstate as you cross in.
3765: Nashville, TN. Of course I didn't take time to stop, but it still looked like a nice city. In general, the drive through Tennessee was quite enjoyable. Most of it is tree-covered hills that are a tiny bit too steep to be called "rolling". There were even some spots where the rock of the hills had to be cut back for the interstate (as opposed to the terrain I've been in for the last week+)
3794: Crossed into Kentucky
3823: Bowling Green, KY. GM had a plant here for years (and still does?), but its best known because Corvettes were made here. There is a national Corvette Museum that I would have stopped in at if (1) it wasn't closed for the night and (2) I had more time.
3893: Birthplace of Abe Lincoln. I forget the name of the town. Much like TN, KY is mostly rolling hills carpeted with trees and dotted with horse farms.
3946: Arrived in Louisville just after 10:00 pm.
Again, neither the BMW nor I had any problems with a day-long drive. We stayed up a little while talking, but both of them had to be up early the next morning. The trip is rapidly drawing to a close. I'll spend a full day and another night here in Louisville, but then its a quick 10 hour drive back to Ithaca.
Day 16
Today was a pretty low-key day with not a ton to report. It was my last day in Arlington, TX with relatives. We went to church, then cooked up some burgers for dinner. Then I spent the better part of the afternoon sorting pictures from the previous several days. The rest of the evening was spent packing and doing all the last-minute things that kids wanted to do before I left. After some jumping on the trampoline (after dark, when the temperature dipped down towards 90), I finished packing stuff and turned in for the night.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Day 15
Total Miles: 3052
Total States: 9
Today the whole family headed out to the Texas Soaring Association, where one of my cousins is pretty involved flying gliders. These are the type of gliders that are towed up a few thousand feet by a tow plane, then catch the thermals to stay up longer. I got to go up on a half-hour demo flight with one of the instructors. Man, he was a character. Turns out he flew fighters in Vietnam (some pretty crazy missions!) and is actually currently a test pilot for Lockheed Martin. So, needless to say I had a fair amount of confidence in his ability to pilot a simple glider!
The Glider we went up in...
We got hooked up with a tow, then sailed around a little looking for thermals in the near vicinity of the glider port. We caught a few, then he let me take the controls for a while. I've flown a little Cessna plane briefly before, so I had used the whole joystick/yaw pedal arrangement before, but not near enough to "feel" things. It was the same here. The controls all gave the inputs I expected, but I definitely did not feel connected with the glider. A few more runs and I'm sure it would come though. Then I relinquished the controls, and got a nice roller coaster ride with some pretty high G's and some spots getting pretty close to zero G's. It was a fun experience... flying with a great view through the bubble canopy without any engine noise or anything.
Getting a tow on up to 3500 feet
The glider port from the air
I got some good video clips of taking off and landing, so one of these days I'll take the time to upload some of the videos to Youtube so I can embed them here in the blog.
Total States: 9
Today the whole family headed out to the Texas Soaring Association, where one of my cousins is pretty involved flying gliders. These are the type of gliders that are towed up a few thousand feet by a tow plane, then catch the thermals to stay up longer. I got to go up on a half-hour demo flight with one of the instructors. Man, he was a character. Turns out he flew fighters in Vietnam (some pretty crazy missions!) and is actually currently a test pilot for Lockheed Martin. So, needless to say I had a fair amount of confidence in his ability to pilot a simple glider!
The Glider we went up in...We got hooked up with a tow, then sailed around a little looking for thermals in the near vicinity of the glider port. We caught a few, then he let me take the controls for a while. I've flown a little Cessna plane briefly before, so I had used the whole joystick/yaw pedal arrangement before, but not near enough to "feel" things. It was the same here. The controls all gave the inputs I expected, but I definitely did not feel connected with the glider. A few more runs and I'm sure it would come though. Then I relinquished the controls, and got a nice roller coaster ride with some pretty high G's and some spots getting pretty close to zero G's. It was a fun experience... flying with a great view through the bubble canopy without any engine noise or anything.
Getting a tow on up to 3500 feet
The glider port from the airI got some good video clips of taking off and landing, so one of these days I'll take the time to upload some of the videos to Youtube so I can embed them here in the blog.
Day 14: Dallas
Total Miles: 3052
Total States: 9
Today is Friday, and my uncle took the day off work, so we all went in to Dallas for the day. The main destination was the Dallas World Aquarium. Its right in the West End, which is the more historic downtown of Dallas. Despite a rather unassuming translucent glass exterior, the inside of the three story building was a big, open rainforest with real trees, tropical birds flying around, and a lot of well-integrated exhibits. It was almost as much a zoo as it was an aquarium. There were many above-ground animals such as a jaguar, spiders, chameleons, birds, etc.
Various pictures from the Dallas World Aquarium
Total States: 9
Today is Friday, and my uncle took the day off work, so we all went in to Dallas for the day. The main destination was the Dallas World Aquarium. Its right in the West End, which is the more historic downtown of Dallas. Despite a rather unassuming translucent glass exterior, the inside of the three story building was a big, open rainforest with real trees, tropical birds flying around, and a lot of well-integrated exhibits. It was almost as much a zoo as it was an aquarium. There were many above-ground animals such as a jaguar, spiders, chameleons, birds, etc.
Various pictures from the Dallas World AquariumAfter the Aquarium, the two older cousins and another friend stayed in Dallas for coffee, hangout, dinner, and just to walk around. We ended up at a Spaghetti warehouse for dinner, then walked through the old town to the Reunion Tower, which is kind of the iconic tower of Dallas (think Seattle's Space Needle). The views were great, even if the weather was a little warm. (It's been over a hundred and high RH!)
Reunion tower in Dallas
View of Dallas from the Reunion Tower
Reunion tower in Dallas
View of Dallas from the Reunion Tower
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