A Place To Call Home
It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for (all three of you, that is)... our big decision on where we are moving.
Drum roll please.
Emily and Nick will soon be residents of sunny Oakland, CA. “Oakland?” you ask. Yes, Oakland. But don’t worry, we aren’t planning to get shot. Despite it’s bad reputation, Oakland has lots to offer.
We knew we liked the Bay Area, and even bought diamonds there to prove it. And just about when we had almost decided that the East Bay would be our new home, Nick’s old company offered him a new position in Berkeley — and that was the golden ticket to the Wonka land.
We are excited to live in a place with better weather, some of our city necessities (like vegetarian restaurants and art), and a “green” culture that is second to none. Our first (temporary) apartment is 2 blocks from a Trader Joe’s, 3 blocks from a farmer’s market, and 4 blocks from a Whole Foods (not to mention lots of other non-food things to do).
So, come early January, we pack up all our boxes (again), and drive another 3,000 miles across the country. And when we get there, we hope that every single one of you that hosted or befriended us, or just followed along with our blog, comes out to visit us and stays on our couch.
See you in Oakland.
Tour de USA
We saw so many beautiful things, met so many incredible people, reconnected with distant friends and family, and kind of fell in love with the diverse regions, people, food, and natural wonders of this country. We really want to thank everyone who let us stay on their couch, floor, bed, etc. We couldn’t have done this trip without our new Couchsurfing.com friends and family members who let us stay with them and munch on their food.
Here are some highlights from our trip.
By The Numbers
- Days Traveling: 98
- Miles Driven: around 15,000 miles (the oil change shop reset our odometer!)
- Hubcaps Lost: 1
- Hot Tubs Dipped In: 5
- States Passed Through: 35
- Provinces Passed Through: 4
- Couchsurfs: 9
- National Parks: 9
- BK Veggies: 4
- Breweries Visited: 5
- Food Co-ops Visited: 14 (and one that had closed down)
- Diamonds Purchased: 1 big one, 6 little ones, and a giant fake one
- Times We Forgot We Were Changing Time Zones: 6 (Did you know there is an Atlantic Time Zone in Canada, and that Arizona doesn’t follow day light savings?)
- Deers Hit: none (but one hit us)
- Days Spent Farming: 6
- Vegetarian Reubens Eaten: 5
- Pizzas Tasted: 18
Our Favs
- Pizza: Wells Brothers in Racine, WI — yum!
- Beer: New Belgium Brewery, we tried them all (even secret ones)
- National Park: It’s a tie! Both Yellowstone and Carlsbad Caverns were amazing.
- Small City: Portland, OR
- Large City/Metro Area: The Bay Area is for lovers
- State To Visit: New Mexico
- Favorite Host: You were all amazing
Back to Reality, Whoop, There Goes Gravity
As soon as the tires of our 2004 Toyota Corolla skidded onto the New Jersey Turnpike, a strange sinking feeling fell upon us. Suddenly, images of strip malls, Bon Jovi, power plants, Tony Soprano and jug handles flashed before our eyes. We were back in the United Suburbs of New Jersey and it was, well, depressing and amazing at the same time.
We were excited to hit up our favorite restaurants, see Nick’s parents, our cat, and our friends and be in one place longer than 3 days. But at the same time, our 3 month long journey into the wild was over. Null and void. Dunzo. Kaputz. And that was very sad. It was time to start thinking about jobs, money, holiday gifts, etc. instead of just where we were going to sleep the next night.
Our first stop back in the NJ was our friend, Jeff’s, new town home in Bordentown, NJ. Since Jeff can’t drive further North than exit 9 on the Turnpike, we knew this would be the only time we would be able to see him until we are all old and wrinkly. It was great to see Jeff and Liz and their animals, including the turkey they had cooked for our arrival. Actually, to be fair, we sprung our visit on them and they had already made the turkey for themselves, so we ate their cat instead. Jeff and Liz, thanks for the Reese’s!!
Next and last stop on this odyssey was at Nick’s parent’s house in Cranford, NJ, where we would be staying for the next month before we move to….. stay tuned for the answer! Back in Jersey, we unpacked the car, ate some of Nick’s mom’s famous rubber cake (it sounds bad, but tastes really good), picked up our feline friend Computer (thanks again Pulia! We still owe you big time), drove to Delaware to get Nick’s brother Andy from college twice (along with veggie turkey subs from Capriotti’s each time), celebrated with some friends, and for the first time in 3 months, fell asleep worrying.
I've Got Two Tickets to Paradise...But It's Cold and Cloudy There
Our last overnight stop of our 3 month long journey was in Virginia Beach, VA, at a nice Bed & Breakfast called Barclay Cottage. We were greeted by the smell of the salty Atlantic and a tour of the inn from our gracious innkeepers. We stayed in the Lighthouse Room…a room that was filled with even more lighthouse paraphernalia than my mom has. Pretty amazing.
After we settled in, we headed out to seafood restaurant, Taotog’s, for some dinner. We had a mediocre crabcake and tuna melt and some pretty good wine. Then, we walked it off on our way back to the inn (stopping only for trashy gossip magazines to get us back “in the loop”). Then, it was off to bed.
The next morning, we were drawn out of the bedroom by the wonderful aroma of breakfast cooking. We sat down to coffee, sugared apples, muffins, eggs, veggie sausage and potatoes. Way more than I could eat that early, but still very delicious. We also met a nice older couple who eloped in Jamaica and urged us to do the same.
After our gluttonous meal, we drove north over the amazing Chesapeake Bay Bridge and then into Delaware for a delicious veggie turkey sub at Capriotti’s. Next on our agenda was a stop at Dogfish Head Brewery. We arrived about a half hour before the tour and walked into a huge warehouse with no signs of life…until a guy walked in and we asked if they were doing a tour. “Yeah,” was the reply and that was it.
We waited around and finally, the tour started. The tour itself was probably 8 minutes long with some beer samples at the end. The samples were, of course, the best part. Though buying the beer at the brewery was way more expensive than buying it at a beer store…weird. I was the designated driver so I only tried a couple of the tame beers while Nick got loaded. Haha.
Mostly, we spent this last day thinking about the fact that our trip was basically over. We seriously could not believe it. Before we left, three months seemed like it was going to be a really long time. But we were realizing that, although it was an amazing trip, three months is really not a long time to see an entire country. And with a strange mixture of homesickness and the sadness that snapping back into reality creates, we headed into New Jersey.
Asheville, Not Nashville
The furthest west we decided to stray on our way back up the East Coast was to a cute little Appalachian mountain town…Asheville, North Carolina. We had read about Asheville a bunch before heading there. One article voted Asheville the most veg friendly small city in the US. We were pumped.
As we drove North from Charleston, we noticed the fall colors and the changing landscape. It was pretty pretty…up until we actually got to Asheville where it was frigid and snowing and we remembered that winter was upon us. After sitting in the car for a few minutes, we mustered up the courage to brave the cold and ran to the first veggie restaurant on our Asheville list, The Laughing Seed.
I ordered some Yerba Mate to warm me up and Nick ordered some coffee. Then, I opted for a fake sloppy Joe and Nick got a tropical seitan creation. Both were delicious but a little spicy. So it goes. The last course was a yummy vegan mint chocolate cake that defied both of our expectations.
After dinner, we headed to our Couchsurfing host’s lovely log home. Unfortunately, our host, Chall, was sick that evening and his girlfriend, Lucia, was working late so we chatted for a bit and then all headed to bed. The next morning, we bundled up for the freezing temperatures and headed out for a cup of coffee and sweet potato scone. Then, warm and satiated, we stopped at the local food co-op to look around.
Next it was time for us to check out what the downtown was all about. We popped in and out of stores, warming up just a little in each one. Then, it was time for lunch. We ate at another veggie place called Rosetta’s Kitchen. We split a veggie Reuben and sweet potato fries. I guess sweet potatoes were the theme that day.
In the evening, we met Chall at the movie theater to see Lars and the Real Girl, a movie that didn’t look too promising, but ended being really good. Then it was off to a local bar for some beer, billiards and darts. Nick and I shared a delicious Gingerbread beer and tried not to hit anyone with our darts. (Actually, Nick is pretty good at both darts and pool…I knew I picked a winner.) When everyone got tired of watching me scratch, we headed back to the house for our respective beauty rests.
The next morning, we bid farewell to Lucia and Papa (their super cute doggy). We had already said goodbye to Chall who had to work early that morning. It was so much fun staying with them in their cozy library of books…I was even able to bring one home with me. Thanks for everything, Lucia and Chall!
From there, we headed to Sunny Point Cafe for a gigantic and very delicious brunch. Nick had huevos rancheros with veggie chorizo and I had an egg and tofu bacon croissant. And we both indulged in the endless supply of coffee. After our hearty breakfast, we took a ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway, stopping at a great Folk Art Center on the way. The Parkway was beautiful though we couldn’t go very far because they had closed part of it for construction that day. We were there after peak leave color season, but it was still very vibrant.
Then, we stopped at a cafe for some, you guessed it, coffee…and WIFI, of course. Finally, it was over to Keith and Laura’s place. They were our second couchsurfing hosts in Asheville since Chall and Lucia could originally only host us for two nights and we wanted to see more of the city.
We were warmly greeted by Keith and Laura and clicked with them right away. We all pitched in to help with dinner (mini eggplant pizzas and risotto). YUM! Then, we headed out to see Keith play some tunes at the Root Bar, a bar with a fantastic beer selection. Nick, of course, loved it. The bar is famous for Root Ball, a game that was created there and then patented. Sadly, it was too cold to play. We played some games of pool, one we actually won, and then headed back to Keith and Laura’s cute apartment.
We found ourselves up late chatting with our hosts (who are soon setting out on their own longer version of our trip). We made sure to give them pointers on how to avoid hitting deer, national parks to see and other road trip ideas. We hope they have an amazing time on their journey…and we hope they will visit along the way.
The next morning, we were off early, headed towards Virginia Beach for a night before our trek back to the NJ. We were so fortunate to have met such amazing people in Asheville. We hope Keith, Laura, Chall and Lucia will visit us wherever we end up!
East Coast, What?
After a drive across the widest part of the state of Florida, from Pensacola to St Augustine, we were finally back on the East Coast after leaving almost three months earlier. It finally hit us that we’d be back soon, a very odd feeling somewhere in between relief and nervousness. While we spent the last three months mostly thinking about the places we would be in a few days, we were now forced to think about all those life decisions we had put on hold, like which city we would be moving to when all this was over (and unlike we originally thought, our traveling did little to help us come to a conclusion on that).
We arrived in St Augustine, America’s oldest city, in the early evening to check in to our pirate-themed hostel, the Pirate Haus. Then it was on to PizzAlley’s for guess what… pizza! We read some promising reviews, and I really liked it but em was not a fan (I can dig me a big ole’ crust, but she’s a thin crust lady).
The next day we enjoyed Pirate Haus’ signature pancake breakfast — with pirate shaped pancakes of course. Then it was on to check out St Augustine’s interesting and very old (by American standards) architecture. We wandered around the Castillo de San Marcos, a big fort on the waterfront, then started to make our way to St Augustine’s main attraction, the Fountain of Youth. For those of you who don’t know, I was in a band called ‘Ponce de Leon’ for a while, so the Fountain holds a special spot in my heart (even though Ponce himself wasn’t such a great guy). The Fountain of Youth was the cheesy tourist destination we expected, and seemed like it hadn’t been updated since in 1950’s (they claimed to have the oldest manually operated planetarium in the US, not sure if I’d brag about that though).
After we gained eternal youth — don’t worry, we brought some home for my parents too — we checked out more of St Augustine. We refused to pay the $15 to see the Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum, then went to see the oldest house in the country and some other old buildings. This town was actually really interesting to walk around in, but was probably one of the worst tourist traps we have been to. If you’re into ghosts, St Augustine has over 100 different ghost tours — they will of course cost you an arm and a leg though. All the walking around to see things we couldn’t afford was getting us hungry, so we decided to get some good seafood at O.C. White’s. Then, I couldn’t resist the beer list at the bar JP Henley’s next door, so we stopped in for a drink. There, we tried a drink that we fell in love with: a “Chocolate Covered Raspberry” — fill a glass halfway with framboise (Belgian raspberry ale), then top the rest off with chocolate stout (we had Young’s) — a dessert drink worth it’s weight in gold. Emily of course wasn’t satisfied with just beer for dessert, so we got some more desserts at a local hotel restaurant (we were living large).
The next morning we chatted with the Pirate Haus owner, finding out that he was also on Couchsurfing and we could have had some free accommodations (that doesn’t seem to make much business sense to me, but to each their own). Then, it was up the Eastern Seaboard to visit Savannah, GA, home of Southern hospitality. Our first stop was for lunch at a chain all over the south called Mellow Mushroom. I don’t know why they haven’t exported this veg-friendly eatery to every college town in the US yet, but we loved the veggie pizza, tempeh hoagie, and my organic Lakefront ESB beer. We also checked out local artists at the Savannah College of Art and Design store, got some excellent cupcakes, and walked down to the river front. Walking around Savannah, it reminded us of our old home base in Jersey City (and my childhood home of Park Slope, Brooklyn). Lots of beautiful brownstone buildings, with tree filled squares – or mini parks – every few blocks. Plus, everyone was extremely nice, and walking into a store meant getting into a 20 minute conversation. If only we could afford to live in an expensive place with very few jobs.
After a few hours in Savannah, we headed further up the coast to Charleston, SC. There, we met up with our couchsurfing host Lee, and another couchsurfer Yang who was staying there as well. We all headed into downtown Charleston to grab some dinner at the famous Jestine’s Kitchen (visited by Rachel Ray – it’s cheap!). We chowed down on some fried okra, corn bread with butter and honey, a shrimp po’ boy (much better than our Nawlins version), mac n’ cheese, pecan pie and Coca Cola Cake (weird but good). After that, Lee gave us a quick driving tour of the city.
The next day, Yang left for New York, and we headed back into Charleston. On our way in, we stopped by the Charleston Coffee Roasters which we looked up online, but found out quickly it was actually just their corporate headquarters. We still ended up buying a bag of organic coffee, but had to go elsewhere for our immediate caffeine fix (and we also ran into the guy we met there a couple hundred miles away at an Earth Fare natural foods store). We wandered around town checking out some landmarks like the fountain and waterfront at Battery Park, and the City Market. Then, it was on to a great soup and sandwich restaurant called Five Loaves hidden inside a music store (odd place for a restaurant). And we wouldn’t be satisfied without dessert, so we got our second batch of cupcakes in two days.
That night we went with Lee and some of his coworkers to trivia night at a local bar. Our luck was down in the first round, but we ended up getting first place for a $25 free tab the next round. Unfortunately we had already paid (enjoy it Lee – and pour one out for your homies).
Thanks so much Lee for an awesome time in Charleston. Emily will be thinking of you when she goes skydiving.
Now, onto Asheville, North Carolina.
Sun of the Beach
We made it to Mom and Tim’s place in sunny Pensacola Beach in the early evening and celebrated with some Domino’s Brooklyn style pizza and a few Tivo’d shows that I am totally out of the loop with. It was great to relax and hang with the fam.
The next day we took our R & R to the next level with a walk on the beach, a dip in the pool and all the magazine reading we could handle. In the evening, we had a great dinner at Cabo Grill, a cute Mexican/Seafood place on the boardwalk. But, best of all, we hopped over to Flounder’s for a to-go order of their Key Lime Pie. Okay, this is no ordinary slice of pie…it’s actually three slices stacked on top of each other. When you get it to-go, it’s basically half of a Key Lime Pie for about $6. Delicious.
We were originally going to stay for a few nights, but, due to a few circumstances (the sun, sand, warmth, bed to sleep in, TiVo, and cuteness of my mom), we decided to stay for a whole week instead. I guess we were really feeling the need to plant some roots somewhere (even if the roots only had a week to grow). A lot of that week was spent lounging around, relaxing, and picking out stucco colors for the beach house, but there were some great highlights.
Highlight 1: We had a great dinner get together with some beach neighbors, Beverly and Gregor. Over some veggie lasagna and salad, we chatted about sailing, carbon credits, building houses and hip replacements (you know, the normal dinner topics).
Highlight 2: Again, revolving around food, we had another yummy meal with family friends, Dave and Mary, to celebrate our engagement and catch up on some details of our trip. It’s always good to see them…however short and sweet.
Highlight 3: We also got to relive some of my childhood memories by going to see the Blue Angels fly across the sky and do crazy tricks. And I guess that I’m still an 8 year old at heart because I was pretty impressed. Apparently they fly with their wings less than a foot away from the next plane. Scary. Check out the videos.
Highlight 4: A nice lunch (with a view!) on the boardwalk followed by a tasty ice cream cone in the sun.
Even without all these Florida highlights, it was just really nice to get to spend some time with my fam. We can’t thank my mom and Tim enough for helping us get enough rest and recuperation to conquer the rest of the stops on our list. Next stop, St. Augustine, FL…back to the eastern seaboard.
Alligator Soup
We yodeled back at our cowboy homies in Texas and cast our lassos towards Louisiana…New Orleans, to be specific. But before we made it to the big bayou land, we stopped at a Cracker Barrel for a cheap dinner. Mmmm, biscuits.
We arrived at our hotel (booked through Bookit.com) to find out that although the online special reflected free parking, they were out of spots in their garage and we were out of luck. Bummer. Then, for some reason, we were charged twice (by the website and then by the hotel) which meant our first night in the Big Easy was spent on the phone trying to get a refund for our cute but moldy and damp hotel room. And, the streetcar wasn’t yet functional near our hotel (though it said it was on the website). We decided to shorten our stay from two nights to one.
We checked out of the hotel the next morning and headed over to the French Quarter for a free morning tour led by a National Parks Service docent. The tour was fantastic and taught us a lot about the early New Orleans settlers and the beautiful historic buildings that line the streets. We also stumbled upon a house (an old Spanish style cottage) that was for sale for a measly 2 million dollars.
Next it was over to the famous Cafe du Monde for beignets (french donuts with tons of powdered sugar on them) and a chicory cafe au lait. We also bought a batch of beignets to bring to my mom, but they get stale pretty fast and then just taste like sweet rubber. As we chowed down, Nick ran down the street to catch up with a parade of Ferrari’s driving around (yes, he’s a dork). After our coffee and sugar kick, it was time to walk around and check out some neat stores (the Nawlins Cookery School, a voodoo store, and a few Bourbon Street souvenir shops).
All that shopping worked up an appetite, so we headed to The Gumbo Shop, a NOLA eatery popular with tourists, for lunch. We ordered a shrimp po boy and a bowl of seafood gumbo…both were pretty bad. We probably just didn’t spend enough time looking for a place to eat. Lesson learned.
Our last stops in Nawlins consisted of a cemetery visit (but, alas, it was a Sunday and the place was closed) and a candy shop visit where we bought some pralines and one of the best caramel apples I’ve ever had.
Altogether, despite our bad experience with accommodations, New Orleans was a vibrant city with a ton of history and culture to offer. We didn’t see much damage left from Katrina since we didn’t really visit the areas that were most affected by the storm (the poorer, non-tourist areas were hardest hit). We originally planed to try to help with some rebuilding efforts while we were there, but didn’t end up with enough time or planning far enough ahead. Despite that, it was amazing to hear how much our tour guide loved the area and we know people like her will help Nawlins continue to be such an amazing place.
