From Sea to Shining Sea

I stopped by my parents place yesterday while passing through New York state on my way up to New England. I left around 10pm and just drove until I got tired. Lucky for me that wasn't until I reached the bridge for the Cape. So I pulled over and started shopping around for beaches without a terribly high number of signs prohibiting access after hours.

The beach I eventually found only had 1 sign prohibiting access after dark so I figured I at least had a modicum of Plausible Deniability if I were to get stopped..."what sign? I didn't see the sign".

I slept like a baby until 8am and then started driving out route 6 to Provincetown. Along the way I stopped at a few places key places to soak in the Cape Cod sights.

The Beachcomber bar in Wellfleet is probably the coolest bar on the island. Live music, raw bar, frozen drinks, a pinball machine, buck hunter, and a giant sandy beach...all the requirements for a good time. I now hold the 5th and 4th highest scores on their Pinball Machine. I'm sort of like a Pinball Wizard.

My next stop was the famous Cape Cod light house. I climbed to the top and took the tour. It's like one of those things you just "have to do". They actually moved this thing 450 feet further away from the beach because of the erosion. The spot where it once stood is about 10 years away from having waves crashing on it. The original light house that was commissioned by Washington stood in a spot that is actually under water right now!

I love visiting these types of places. They have been one of the high lights of my trip...excuse the pun. They don't cost anything, they are rich with history and I can see myself going back one day with one or two kids in tow.

One of the biggest regrets I have this trip is not playing a round of golf on the golf course out on the cape. I had booked a tee time for 4pm, but I got side tracked in Provincetown and decided to cancel it.

Provincetown was lovely. My pink shorts were a real hit. I knew I had to get back to Boston at a reasonable time, so I only stayed until 6 and then started making my way back to the mainland.

I'm in Boston now for the Horgan wedding/extravaganza. I'm looking forward to dancing like an idiot.

I've been practicing my "Gangnam Style" in preparation (See link below...it's worth it).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9bZkp7q19f0

New York State of Mind

I left Virginia around 9am and had to go to DC for a Burger Madness at Wisemiller's deli. This place wasn't on Diners, Drive-ins an dives, but it still has the best Sandwich I've ever had. We almost got the Burger Madness elected student body president at Georgetown...that's how good it is.

I drove around the capital for a little while and got a cup of coffee at "Uncommon Grounds" on campus. College is such an amazing place. I wish I could turn this bus around and go back.

Next stop was Alexandria, VA to stop by my friend Alex's bakery for some amazing cup cakes...they were terrific. If you are in or around Alexandria you should go to "Buzz" on Slater Lane.

I hit the road around 1pm and it was a fairly uneventful drive on my way back to New York. I laughed, I cried, I wept uncontrollably when I saw the NY Skyline.

But it's not over yet folks. I have one last Horahh! I'm shipping up to Boston for the weekend and going to spend a day out on the Cape.

From Sea to Shining Sea!!!


Stay thirsty my friends!

Meet Virginia

We are in the home stretch here folks of possibly the greatest road trip ever. I woke up yesterday morning around 6:30am and started making my way north through Virginia. I had big plans for yesterday.

I was going to climb Mt Rogers, go horseback riding and jump out of an airplane. As a symbolic gesture, i decided to leave a few things left undone this trip. Virginia is close enough that I can drive back there on a long weekend and climb Mt Rogers or go horseback riding or jump out of an airplane (I did really want to go Sky diving, but President Obama was flying to Richmond or something and they restricted the airspace in northern Virginia for the entire afternoon so they canceled my jump...I guess it wasn't in the stars).

Instead, I hopped back on the Blue Ridge parkway and connected with the skyline drive for one last scenic drive.

I also stopped at "Natural Bridge" state park and the Luray Caverns before making my way up to Plains, VA to stay the night with my friend Nick.

P.S. Coast to Coast, Nick had me covered. I stayed with him in San Fran and now I stayed with him in Virginia...thanks again bro.

P.P.S Anyone ever see a car explode?

I will fill in more details tonight...I just stopped for some coffee on my way up north.

1 man...1 day...3 mountains.

I last left you in Asheville, NC after climbing Clingman's Dome in TN at the break of dawn and my next stop was Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina.

What I didn't initially realize from the lovely old bookstore/coffee bar that I was blogging from, is that Asheville is like the hippy haven for the south. I think the south might actually have a yearly purge where they round up all the hippies and send them to Asheville. It's like the hippie surplus store was running a going out of business sale and Asheville bought the entire inventory. Needless to say, the city is long hippies...big time. And not just the granola eating, whole foods shopping, well-to-do, self-conscious guilt-laden hippies from San Francisco either...these are the waste of life, patchouli oil coated, nappy headed, hemp necklace wearing homeless hippies that play kitschy instruments like Accordions and Djembes and Kazoos.

It wasn't bad enough to ruin a good city, but you could be sure that the madras shorts/pink polo wearing New Yorker driving the BMW turned a few heads. It's like they sense an evil force or something. They start stuttering and shaking as I walk into their stores...I'm like hippy cryptonyte.

After getting some lunch at the Lexington Ave Brewery, I made my way over to the summit of Mt. Mitchell...the highest mountain east of the Mississippi. This one sort of felt like cheating. It was only a 1,000 foot walk to the summit from the parking lot...hence I'm wearing a pink polo shirt in the pictures. I'll go back some day and climb it using the Appalachian trail segment. I was running behind schedule though and I felt like driving some more of the Blue Ridge Parkway...it really is a pretty spectacular drive (It's also possible some of the laziness rubbed off on me from all those damn hippies in Asheville). I didn't expect that I would get another one of those really scenic drives in this trip but the Blue Ridge Parkway put up some vistas that were just as spectacular as some of those along the Pacific Coast and Great Lakes. Nobody was on the road either so I had the whole thing practically to myself for about 70 miles.

Next stop was Black Mountain, Kentucky. If I was going to get the trifecta, I'd have to bag this one in the dark because I didn't leave Mitchell until 5:30pm.

This one was a bit tricky.

For starters the mountain is made of coal and hence owned by the Penn-Virginia Coal company.

It was also a very dark night and my head lamp batteries are a tad low.

So I got the grounds of the mining company and started looking for the access road to the summit. However, the FAA North American Communications tower and broadcast center is on the summit, so the Kentucky state police were dispatched to arrest me for trespassing.

Officer Wilson was rather shocked when I produced a waiver from the Penn-Virginia Coal company granting me access to their property in order to tag the highpoint. He was also impressed with the tales of my travels so he led me up the access road and helped me recruit one of the FAA security guards to scour the summit of this mountain looking for the plaque and a 4" USGS Marker.

Finally, after hiking up yet another access road by foot (it was too dicey for my car at this point) I found what I was looking for right before midnight.

Success...oh it was so sweet.

The Great Smokey Mountains

So what did I do yesterday. Well...I slept in. For the first time this trip, I slept past 9am. I didn't get in until like 2:30am from my night out in Nashville and I woke up with a bit of a hangover.

After a stiff cup of coffee, I went to "Arnold's Country Kitchen" for lunch and had a pretty good Roast Beef sandwich. This was the first DD&D location that was just "good" and not fantastic. Unfortunately, I followed it up with "Pizza Palace" when I got to Knoxville. I should have known it wasn't going to be good with a name like Pizza Palace and the fact that it was the ONLY DD&D location in the entire city. It wasn't terrible...but it wasn't good either. Disappointed, I started making my way to Gatlinburg in the Smokey Mountains.

On the way to Gatlinburg I drove through what appeared to be a mini Las Vegas meets Seaside Heights, NJ in the middle of the Mountains. It was one of the most commercialized areas of the country that I have seen the whole trip. We are talking miles of souvenir, fudge and t-shirt shops.

I stopped into the Smokey Mountain Moonshine Distillery for some free samples and I picked up a jar or two to bring home. I met a local in there that showed me around town a bit and we threw back a few at the brewery. I've discovered that almost every single town in America now has a local Brewery/restaurant. I've also discovered a love for "Gentleman's Jack"...it's a extra mellowed version of the normal Jack Daniels blend.

Some other highlights...
I went to some knife store that was the size of a department store. They had some pretty ridiculous stuff there.

I also went to the Hermitage (The home of Andrew Jackson) out side of Nashville. This is the third presidential home I've been to this trip.

After leaving Gatlinburg last night, I decided to drive up to the trail head for Clingman's Dome around 1am and camp about a half mile from the summit. I woke up to the sun rising over the mountains and I hiked up early this morning.

I'm in Asheville, NC right now to climb Mt Mitchell. It is a pretty cool town so far. I'd say it has potential to make it into my top 10.