My Seattle friends will tell you that I am an expert crazy plan maker. I come up with them, and get a few steps, and the cold fist of reality smacks me back into place. I have, however, planned myself into a somewhat-less-crazy-than-usual plan, that actually seems likely to happen! It's a great, career advancing graduate program, complete with relocation and a vacation type trip!
I'm asking for some help, here. This is a map of the "return to the big east" trip, and it includes some family and friend destinations. People who I assume are okay with my cadre of four humans staying and visiting for a day or two. (Or six. Sorry Gramma and Bebe! And sorry Kacie! Your kindness is repaid with visitors!)
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The question I have is this: we wish to do some camping (it'll be spring) and visit some fun locales. (Fun locales for the Barker family mostly mean nature and farmer's markets.)
Any ideas? We'll be rolling across the country in April or May. Savvy, well traveled folks that my friends are, I imagine you have a better idea on this than I do. I haven't traveled over this country since returning from Japan in 2003, and I'm woefully ignorant of most of the middle of the country. And the south. And the north.
We're not positive this is all going to come together, but that's what planning is for. If we get some good ideas together, if money issues coalesce, if many ifs, we'll be making a cross country trip this spring. One can hope and dream. Dream along with me! You know you want to!
6 comments:
Personally, I'd take US 50 through Nevada. And avoid interstates at all costs. But with two small kids, I'm just not sure.
There aren't a lot of farmer's markets out there. But in April and May there *is* a lot of snow. So be really careful when planning when to cross the Rockies. I ran into snow in Arizona in June and freezing temps in Montana in August.
Stay off the interstates and you'll have small towns to get food (maybe). The interstate will only give you truck stops and flatulence.
Congrats on getting into school! I'm sad you're leaving Seattle though. I'm not sure why, we'll probably see you just as often if you move to NY, but I associate Seattle with the Huelse-Barker's, it won't be the same w/o you! Anyways, just stay here in CA with us. Who wouldn't want to live in a ridiculously expensive area of a state that has no money? Ok, bad idea, but you guys are welcome to visit for as long as you want.
herc- we're hoping to avoid interstates a lot. i mapped out a few routes avoiding them. it'll be a bit of a balance, since we do need to get places quickly and avoid kid meltdowns. our current plans involve a leisurely pace, however. we may avoid most interstates.
joel- yeah california is calling! just for a visit though. don't tempt us, it may be a long visit! you can always pawn us off on aaron and emma in san rafael!
Yes, I would be honored to plan your trip. It would probably be rerouted back to Seattle, but it would be a fun journey.
One nice thing about small towns is that the parks and swings are VERY easy to find. US 50 is just amazing though. It is baron. There's a little (well-kept) side road to that. It's Nevada Route 722. It's an old routing of US 50 (and thus the Lincoln Highway). One of the top 5 roads I've ever been on.
I've crossed Nevada on I-80. It was horrible. So bad. So amazingly bad.
Here's my post on it...
http://www.littleblackstar.com/blog/2008/06/07/day-38-pony-lincoln-and-fifty/
Ignore the dirt road, though the old fort is fun, it's not the road I was talking about.
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There's and old, old, hillbilly song that goes like this: when you go through life make this your goal: watch the donut and not the hole. When back as a kid I'd hear this on the radio at times and think this to be an awfully crazy, and foolish song. Even so, today, which are many years later, I feel that song does include a lot of wisdom.
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By looking at your map, you will be going right by Fort Collins, CO home of the RAMS! Just a little south of that is Rocky Mountain National Park. There is tons of camping around there. Go to Estes Park, Go to Horsetooth Lake, Go to New Belgium Brewing Company, but mainly GO!
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