The desire to get out has been building long enough. The girlfriend and I want to get out of our native city (Rochester, NY) to see some shit and potentially find a new place to call home (& even if disaster strikes and we split, I'm still getting out of here ). Our lease is up on May 1st, 2015 so that's our tentative departure date.
Since we are thinking of this not only as a vacation type deal but researching a new place to live, we'd like to stay at our destinations for a couples days at the least to get a feel for how shit is in each city.
I'm posting this thread for a number of reasons:
tips for long distance trekking/living on the road (*cough*Eric!*cough*);
suggestions for places to go, things to see, where to eat (!), etc.;
& to find any ILFers who wouldn't mind giving two weary travelers a place to wash their smelly feet and lay their heads
Well, it was a crazy fucking summer. Made it back to home base a few days ago.
Drove approximately 14,200 miles in just under 4 months.
I had a good amount of support from ILF along this journey and I couldn't be more fortunate. Everyone's responses in this thread guided me to some cool places (mainly New Mexico, seriously y'all that recommended that are the best, that state is fucking beautiful), not to mention all y'all that hung out with me and let me crash at your place. Seriously, y'all fucking rock. Shout outs to y'all!
We have a fairly rough route planned out visiting cities and towns where we have friends & family to crash with, and we're definitely looking into national parks for hiking and other outdoorsy activities as well. We'll also be researching some opportunities for Woofing so that may change our course somewhat. Here's the tentative route:
Rochester, NY
Centralia, PA
Philadelphia, PA
Newport News, VA
Atlanta, GA
New Orleans, LA
Huston, TX
Austin, TX
(gap)
Davis, CA
The (gap) is kind of up in the air mainly because I have no idea about anything in the south west. I might have a place to stay in Colorado but I won't know until my step-bro gets out of the service this winter. There's also a few parks in Utah on our minds. SoCal isn't really on my radar, but perhaps someone could persuade me otherwise.
After Davis it gets a little hazy. Continuing north to Portland, OR and returning to Seattle, WA is something I'd really like to do. At this point I'm not super keen on returning to Rochester indefinitely, but if we head back that way I'd like to hit Chicago and Detroit, other than that
& I'm realizing that my list is full of major cities, so if anyone has suggestions of mid-sized or smaller places to check out, that would be awesome.
D.o.S. wrote:I'm fucking stupid and no one should operate under any other premise.
When in doubt, quote Silence of the Lambs - Baltimore can be quite a fun town if you have the right guide.... If you looking for some place inexpensive to live, that has an up and coming art scene, access to top notch health care, relatively easy access to larger cities when wanted/needed(45-60mins to the 9:30club in DC to catch whatever bands skip baltimore), some of the best cinemas on the east coast (SENATOR Theatre, The Charles), add BMore to your list. Even if you're just passing through, get some pit beef - I like Jakes (best sauce in town) or Chaps (but should be avoided if your lady has issues with strip clubs). Paper Moon for late night (although call/google ahead, last I heard they aren't 24/7/366 anymore), or fried chicken @ Royal Farms.
New Orleans. My favorite spot in the US. All the best stuff is outside of the quarter. Hit City Park, Frenchman Street, Willie Mays Scotch House (GO EARLY, and be ready to eat, can't remember but it might still be cash only), Cochon (don't be too macho and not order the "girly" moonshines or you'll be missing out). See June Victory play if you can - if you can see him playing with June Yamagishi it's a must see gig. Worth hitting Kermit's mother in law's place, come early and stay late; hit Buffa's if you need more food and tunes after.
Portland. Go. If you don't come back, send us a postcard.
You're route is probably gonna pass through so spend some time in New Mexico. Beautiful country. Walter White put ABQ on the map, but I prefer Santa Fe. Try to aim to be there in August for the Tribal feast days - the reservations will be open to the public, there will usually be dancing sometimes a public meal, if you're really lucky you may be invited to eat in the home of a local family. My wife and I visit the Santa Clara reservation a few years back, wonderful transformative experience. Worth going if at all possible. Even if you can't make it to the res, still place to visit. Go to the restaurant behind the gas station across the street from the Walmart in Santa Fe for breakfast, order christmas style. Also, don't leave the state without eating as much posole/pozole as possible. Barelas in ABQ is a fav.
doomcatmeowbert: Thank you for the suggestions! We were considering hitting somewhere in New Mexico and your description makes it even more appealing. I'll probably hit you up about more NOLA details in the future, my aunt lives there so I'm hoping to spend a good chunk of time there.
Achtane wrote:DUDE IF YOU VISIT NEWPORT NEWS WE ARE HANGING OUT
One of Marla's best friends lives there SO GET READY TO BRO OUT
Wes Mantooth wrote:Well Minneapolis is great in the summer. So if you change your mind and are swinging through MN at all, you're more than welcome to crash at my place
Awesome dude! It's a city that was semi on my radar. Is winter brutal there?
D.o.S. wrote:I'm fucking stupid and no one should operate under any other premise.
Awesome dude! It's a city that was semi on my radar. Is winter brutal there?
Not going to lie, it sucks if you don't have a car. If you've got a warm car and don't mind shitty traffic and being inside more, it's not too bad. The past couple winters have been cold as shit and the snow stays til April but we also have real easy ones sometimes. That may be relative though. I love grim winter days though.
Otherwise the city is pretty great. Awesome music scene, solid transit options. Not too expensive and there's tons of lakes and parks. If you do end up stopping here, let me know! We can drone out in my basement
Always in for a good droning your description of winter reminds me of Rochester. I uswd to love winter bit my love has been waning the past year or two.
D.o.S. wrote:I'm fucking stupid and no one should operate under any other premise.
kbithecrowing wrote:doomcatmeowbert: Thank you for the suggestions! We were considering hitting somewhere in New Mexico and your description makes it even more appealing. I'll probably hit you up about more NOLA details in the future, my aunt lives there so I'm hoping to spend a good chunk of time there.
Please do and feel free. Santa Fe is a good base for further exploration. Plenty of stuff in town, yes, but you can also go out to the reservations (when welcome/appropriate), drive out to Taos, head up to someplace like Cimmaron if you're into hiking, easily get lost on government property and live out any repressed x-files fantasies.... And great food.
If you're doing Portland and Seattle, try to budget a couple of extra days and go up and over onto Vancouver Island. Take your lady for a day (saturday) at Butchart Gardens, spend the afternoon wandering the grounds and what not, have dinner, bring a blanket and drink some canadabrau on the green and stay for the fireworks - which are like NOTHING you've ever seen. Fuck Disney, fuck Dick Clark, fuck em all - you have not seen fireworks until you've gone to Butchart.
Your itinerary is pretty loosey goosey right now depending on what you're really looking for.
What do you Like about your location and what do you Hate about it? Do you like four seasons or is it meh? Do you hate snow? What are you looking for in a commute? Lots of factors when it comes to visiting a place with intentions of visiting and intention of living?
For instance:
I have a lot to say about Grand Rapids as a place to visit and a place to live. It's great city if you enjoy beer and art. It's burgeoning and probably on the edge of some very awesome things. Plenty of job opportunity. Huge medical field. Lots of farm to table foodie culture. Craft brew out of your fucking ears. Gets a fair deal of music but not every major tour. Is near-ish to Detroit and Chicago. Technically you get cheap transportation to both via Mega Bus if you're into it. You're approximately 30 min. from Lake Michigan which is fucking incredible. Plenty of awesome ass shit in the upper peninsula and even upper lower peninsula. Those are pros on both ends. But if you hate lake effect snow it's a tough city. If you don't want to drive then it's a touch city as public transportation is limited to bus and while it's getting better and expanding it doesn't offer total coverage. Outside of bars downtown and food places downtown can sort of shutdown on many evenings. And the there is a weird sort of liberal vibe mixed in with conservative christians.
Lots to like about the place. I've been here six years. I like my job and I love a lot of people here. I met my wife here. We bought a house. i've gigged. I've seen gigs. I have a bad ass dog.
It's tough, on the other hand to just be like... well here's everything awesome about my city. If you hit up Chicago then I think you do a disservice to yourself to not hit up Grand Rapids, MI. If you're doing the sort of east coast/down south/west coast thing then hitting some spots in the middle west can be tough. Rent seems pretty favorable out here. housing market seems good. Lots to love but there are probably cooler places, too.
). Our lease is up on May 1st, 2015 so that's our tentative departure date.
