travel

July 4th Road Trip: Day 2

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Today we got up and drove over to Macalaster College where we spent the morning in an information session and taking a tour of campus. By 11:15am we were on the road, heading northwest out of Minneapolis/St. Paul on I-94.

At 2:15pm we made a stop in Fergus Falls to see the library sign and continental divide markers (thanks to Roadside America). We also made quick roadside stops in Moorhead, MN to see a replica viking ship, and then across the border in Fargo, ND where the wood chipper from the movie “Fargo” is kept. At 4:15pm we had a late lunch/early dinner at the Mediterranean Grill before getting back on the interstate.

We also made a stop in Jamestown, ND to see the world’s largest buffalo and check out the Buffalo Museum. This turned out to be a really cool stop, and we caught a glimpse of Dakota Miracle, calf of the albino buffalo White Cloud.

Just before getting to Dickinson, ND as the sun was setting, we spotted Geese in Flight marking the start of the Enchanted Highway. According to Roadside America this is a pretty cool set of large sculptures along 32 miles of a county highway. Unfortunately, it heads directly south and wasn’t along our way so we only saw this first sculpture. By 9:00pm we were in Dickinson and checked into our hotel for the night.

Tomorrow is the Fourth of July, and we’ll spend most of it in the car. 🙂

July 4th Road Trip: Day 1

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Today we kick off another family road trip over the July 4th holiday. The next seven days will see us through seven states and three college visits!

This afternoon we flew to Minneapolis on Delta. Somehow we ended up with two aisle seats and a middle in the exit row. I tried changing the one aisle to the window so we could all sit together but for some reason the system wanted to charge me $35 for that seat even though it was in the same row and I had already paid for the exit row seats! I tried last night online and at the airport but couldn’t get the seat changed (and I wasn’t going to let Delta gouge me more). By the time we got to the gate to talk to a rep, the seat was already assigned. Oh well. Other than that, the trip was uneventful (always good).

After getting our bags and picking up our one-way rental car for the week (a Nissan Rogue), we checked into our hotel for the evening across the street from the Mall of America (we were last here back in 2010 for our Mount Rushmore/St. Louis road trip). By now we were hungry for dinner so we walked over to the Mall. Unfortunately we forgot it was a Sunday evening (vacation time!) so most of the retail shops had closed at 7pm, but luckily the restaurants were still open (we ended up at CRAVE).

After dinner and a brief walk around the (now empty) mall, we drove out to get supplies for the road trip. We went to three places (Target, Walgreens, and Wal-Mart) and were unable to find a simple styrofoam cooler so we had to buy a smaller (and more expensive) soft-sided cooler to hold our snacks and drinks for the drip.

Tomorrow, the road trip begins!

Southwest Road Trip: Day 4

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Since we rode the Tramway yesterday we slept in a bit this morning and then went over to the Anderson Abruzzo International Balloon Museum. Then we drove down to Old Town where we had lunch at Hacienda del Rio on the square (which inadvertently happened to be the same place we ate back in 2000) and then did some shopping.

Later in the afternoon, we drove past UNM and Kirtland Air Force Base before turning in the rental car (1,086 miles driven total!) and taking the shuttle to the airport, er, I mean, Sunport.

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Spring Training 2017: Day 1

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It’s been two years since I’ve been out to the Cactus League to watch my Cleveland Indians at Spring Training … but it’s time! The tech arsenal is pretty simple this year: my Surface Pro 4, iPhone 7 Plus, Canon PowerShot SX710, and FitBit Charge 2 (I also brought my trusty Garmin nüvi GPS but ended up not using it because the rental car didn’t have a CD player so I couldn’t use my magnetic slot mount and hadn’t brought the beanbag dashboard mount … oops! So I ended up using Waze on my iPhone).

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Thanksgiving 2016 Road Trip: Day 9

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We’re finally home, back in warm, sunny, Florida.

At 8:15am we were checked out of the hotel after breakfast and on the road for the final time. We were worried there’d be heavy traffic on I-75 South around Gainesville due to the UF/FSU game in Tallahassee yesterday, plus students returning to school after the Thanksgiving break, but it turned out to be fine. We made a brief stop at Busch Gardens to pick up our annual passes (my daughter is going on a field trip there for Physics Day later this week) but were home by 11:45am. Whew!

Driving stats: 3 1/2 hours; 211 miles

This was quite the road trip:

Total drive time: 53 hours
Total miles driven: 2,955
Average MPG: 25.7
Total fuel cost: $240
Colleges visited: 5

 

Thanksgiving 2016 Road Trip: Day 8

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Today was the long haul …

We were on the road at 9:00am, continuing our drive south on I-75 through Kentucky. Around noon we crossed in Tennessee and finally saw the sun again (after three cloudy, gray days in Ohio). About an hour later in Knoxville we started encountering heavy traffic. According to Waze there was a bad accident on the interstate so we took some back roads to route around it. This allowed us to stop at a Whole Foods and pick up a healthy lunch to each in the car.

At 5:00pm we were driving through Atlanta and we stopped for dinner in Tifton at 7:30pm. Our original plans had called for us to stop in Valdosta again, but we decided to push a little further and get as far as Lake City. We checked in by 10:00pm and were done for the night.

Tomorrow, we finally get back home.

Driving stats: 11 1/2 hours; 736 mi

Thanksgiving 2016 Road Trip: Day 7

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Yesterday we spent Thanksgiving with family but today it’s back on the road as we start heading for home.

We had loaded most of our stuff into the Highlander the night before and at 8:00am we were back on the road. Being the weird road trip people we are, we started driving north, to go south: we took I-90 West towards Toledo and then I-75 North (again!) toward Michigan. Since we didn’t do our Frankenmuth trip on Wednesday, we were doing it now. We crossed the border into Michigan around 10:00am and by noon were pulling into the parking lot of Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland.

After doing some Christmas shopping in the Black Friday madness of the world’s largest Christmas store, it was finally time to head south. We took US-23 South and, keeping with our college visit theme, took some time to drive around the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. (The next day, the Ohio State Buckeyes would defeat the Wolverines in double-overtime).

We left UM around 2:30pm and crossed into Ohio two hours later. Then it was back on ol’ familiar I-75 South. At 7:00pm we stopped just north of Cincinnati to meet some old college friends for a leisurely dinner (at Marion’s Piazza again!). Afterwards, back on the road, we stopped at Graeter’s in northern Kentucky around 9:45pm for dessert since we had been snubbed on the way up. 45 minutes later we were checked into our hotel for the evening in Florence (y’all). Tomorrow will be our longest driving day.

Driving stats: 10 1/2 hours; 606mi