"I'm writing to catch you up on places I've been"

Disclaimer: Please ignore the writing style or lack thereof in this post. It's pretty much just stream of consciousness.

As my the previous post mentioned, I went on a road trip with Emily to help her move back to Wellesley. I took Friday afternoon off and we hit the road after a quick lunch at Arby's around 2. We headed up US-1 to I-85 to I-95 en route to DC. We were leary of the traffic we'd hit around rush hour; however, it wasn't bad. We expected grid lock but as we grew closer and closer to the city we just ran into a little slow stuff but nothing out of the ordinary for any city. After figuring out where we were we drove around downtown in search of a place to park. We ended up in a parking garage around 6, unfortunately it closed at 9 so we didn't have much time. After parking we were both hungry so we sat off on a trek to find food. You'd think in a big city there'd be plenty of places to eat but apparently not in downtown. We walked several blocks and every restaurant was either an expensive chain that was actually open or a small chain restaurant that was closed. We were searching for local but finally settled on a deserted food court in the North Farragut Metro station. Dinner was disappointing and as my sister said, "sketch" but we made the most of it. After dinner we headed toward the mall and after a lot of walking arrived at the Washington Monument. We both attempted to take pictures but quickly realized that we needed a tripod. Below are a couple of my blurry shots which appear to be close to the proper exposure but just shouldn't have been hand held. Anyway, after a few shots of the monument we started walking toward the Lincoln Memorial and walked through the WWII Memorial which is what I wanted to see. Emily was excited by the Lincoln Memorial and enjoyed taking pics there as well. When were ready to leave we noticed we'd be cutting it very close to 9 if we walked back so we caught a cab and luckily refound the parking deck and retrieved her Tribute. After the sightseeing we hit the highway and drove north of Baltimore and got a room at a hotel for the night.

Saturday morning we got an early start and headed north on 95. Saturday brought 4 new states for me: Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. We considered driving through NYC but I decided that I'd probably have other chances to go for a visit so we made the decision to stop in New Haven for lunch and see Yale. We made good time around NYC and through the Bronx where there are cool, huge brick retaining walls around the highway no stinkin' concrete. We arrived in New Haven around 11:30 and drove through the campus and hit up Bulldog Burritos in downtown. We should have searched a little harder for a restaurant but whenever burritos are at stake Emily heads that way. After lunch we checked Barnes & Noble at Yale, Tech's version is way better. We then hit the road again and headed north on I-91 where the first sights of snow appeared just north of New Haven. We arrived on the Wellesley campus around 5 and then it seemed like Emily saw everyone she knew at Wellesley in the span of 5 mins (actually everybody knows her). She has a sweet dorm and I think is excited to be back. It was also good to finally see her campus for more than an hour and get a tour of the beautiful buildings.

We went to dinner in Harvard Square at her favorite pizza restaurant, Pinochio's and then stopped at Toscanini's for ice cream and sat on some chairs outside. Yes, outside in Boston in January. It was perfect weather in the mid-40s. Emily showed me her favorite places she discovered while living and working at Harvard two summers ago. I found the Car Talk studios again and got a tour of Harvard Yard. I just wish we would have had time to find the current This Old House house which is really close to the Square.

Sunday morning I flew from Boston to Atlanta and then Atlanta to Raleigh on Airtran because it was cheaper. I was dreading the flight over Raleigh but I took a nap and enjoyed having 3 seats to myself. The ATL to RDU leg was full as usual but with my window seat I just leaned against the wall and took a nap while listening to XM Classical and Clemson vs. NC State. After all the traveling I went to bed at 8 and got about 10 hours of sleep last night. Overall it was a great time even though I think we both got on each other's nerves regarding driving.

Photos from the trip

Updated Visited States Map