I know this whole road trip has been a drawn out process. As much as I hate being behind on the blog, I must admit that it's been kind of nice to have this hanging over my head. It makes me feel like the trip isn't over yet. It's not that I'm having a hard time letting go of our travelling lives, I just like to reminisce about the great times we had. Ok, maybe I am having a little trouble letting go, maybe there is a large part of me that wishes I was back in Alaska, but I know in my heart that I wouldn't fully appreciate all of our adventures if we didn't come full circle and come back to where it all began, where our families were ready to welcome us home, and where our life-long friends had warm wishes and cold beers waiting for us upon our return.
So here it is, at long last, the dramatic conclusion of our road trip across America.
After exploring the depths of Carlsbad Caverns, we headed east into the Lone Start State. Our initial plan was to drive as quickly as possible across West Texas because we thought there wasn't much to see. However, our relatives Jim and Ann O'Malley (who live in Houston, TX and will be making an appearance shortly) advised us to take our time and enjoy the ride. So we did as we were told and slowed down a bit. We made our first stop in Junction, TX for food and sleep. Here, I experienced my first taste of Texas cuisine when I ordered a chicken fried steak. Apparently you can't leave TX without eating one of these delicious, but artery clogging dishes. Fortunately, my heart survived the meal, but I'm pretty sure it took a good 2-3 years off of my life just by eating it.
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| Steak, breaded, and pan fried in oil used to fry chicken. Covered in gravy and served with mashed potatoes. No good can come from this. |
If you haven't noticed, I will point out that we have not posted any pictures of West Texas itself. This is because there was nothing worth photographing in the left half of the state. Sorry West Texas, but we were not impressed by your dust, stumpy shrubs, and oil rigs. However, we did enjoy ourselves thoroughly in our next stop, Texas' River City, San Antonio.
Running was how we started and ended our San Antonio experience. While in Junction, I randomly stumbled across an ad for the Rock and Roll Marathon Runner's Expo being held at the Alamodome and thought, "I've just found a way to get a free trip inside the Alamodome, a free swag bag, and free afternoon entertainment. Sign me up!" So even though we had no intention of running the marathon, there Amanda and I were, touring the expo and collecting as many bags of granola, energy gels, and fruit drinks as we could. Not to mention we educated ourselves on the latest running gear while trying out all sorts of exercise accessories. Life was good!
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| Free fun at the Alamodome |
We then headed from the Alamodome to the actual, historical, Alamo. What's great about visiting the Alamo is that it is right in the heart of downtown San Antonio. Amanda and I really knew nothing about the Alamo, other than it was a popular historical sight. We certainly got a lot of education regarding the origins of the Spanish Missions, the issues between Spain, France, and Mexico that culminated in the battles waged in this area, and the fight for Texas' independence. It's a bit of a complicated history, but the Battle of the Alamo in 1836 is a classic story of perseverance against all odds that includes such characters as Davey Crockett and yielded the battle cry of "Remember the Alamo!" which resonated with Texas' freedom fighters at that time. Since we had not experienced many historical sites along our adventures, this was a nice change of pace from our usual outdoor adventure craziness.
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| Remember the Alamo! |
An interesting detail about the Alamo. The iconic façade seen in the picture above is how most people recognize the Alamo. However, this is not what it looked like during the Texas revolution. The look we see today was achieved in the mid 1800's when the structure was taken over by the U.S. Army who built a pitched roof and began storing munitions inside the Alamo in preparation for the Mexican-American War.
Once we completed our Alamo tour, we set off along the River Walk. This is a network of walkways, shops, and restaurants that follow the banks of the San Antonio River for miles through the city. The river levels are controlled by a series of gates and two small dams which prevent floods in times of heavy rains. After a devastating flood in 1921, plans were initially drawn up to dam the river, divert it's flow away from the city, create a sewer along its previous path, and pave over the sewer. Fortunately this plan was defeated and instead you have the current day River Walk.
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| This is WAY better than a paved sewer |
It is a beautiful and relaxing area where it is easy to forget that you are in a major city. We walked along here most of the afternoon and evening, only stopping at Blue Star Brewing Company for a refreshing beverage and a local Mexican restaurant for dinner. The air was cool, the birds were chirping, and active people were out and about. It was an amazing night in the city.
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| The River Walk at night |
We returned to the Alamo the following morning to conclude our time in San Antonio with the River City Run. This is a running tour of the city where you learn about the people, places, and events that have shaped this city. It is organized by a husband and wife team who love two things: Running and San Antonio. There were 19 stops along the 5k route where our guide stopped us to spout out all sorts of fun facts. Sweaty, tired, and with a new t-shirt, we finished our run, hopped in the car and made our way to Houston, TX to visit Jim and Ann O'Malley.
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| Running hard! San Fernando Cathedral was one of the many stops on our River City Run. |
We thought it was hot in San Antonio, but it was disgustingly hot and humid once we got to Houston. Fortunately, we were greeted by two of the nicest and most welcoming people you could ever meet, Jim and Ann O'Malley. Jim O'Malley is my dad's cousin and even though he lives in Texas, he made the trip out for our wedding. So Amanda and I were excited to see his end of the world as we travelled through Texas. After sitting down to chat with Jim and Ann, we were once again in the car as they took us on a tour of their home town. We were going to tour the Johnson Space Center, which is where the space shuttles used to land (hence the phrase "Houston we have a problem"), but it started to rain. Since most of the tour is outside, this was now a no go. We did the next best thing though and saw the movie Gravity. It was not what we had planned, but we were all thoroughly entertained.
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| Just as good as the real thing |
Ann is a fantastic cook and prepared us some awesome meals for dinner that night and breakfast in the morning that were exactly what we needed. After so much time on the road eating at restaurants and supplementing meals with our stockpile of granola, beef jerky, and PB&J, a home-cooked meal never tasted so good.
Unfortunately, we managed to leave our camera hidden in our car the whole time we were in Houston so we don't have any pictures. We will always remember Jim and Ann's hospitality though and think back fondly of the time we got to spend together.
Back on the road, yet again. This time our destination was Gulfport, MS to visit Missy our good friend from PT school. That's right, the one and only Missy from Mississippi. She recently got married and lives in Gulfport with her husband, Nick. Right down the road from their house are her parents, who took us out to dinner upon our arrival. Now it was time to dive into southern bayou eating. Over the next two days in Gulfport, MS and New Orleans, LA we had crawfish, alligator, beignets, and a myriad of other southern treats. I ate my face off. I have always wanted to go to this area for the Cajun cooking and I certainly got my fill. When we weren't eating, we were touring around Gulfport and spent Monday walking around New Orleans. We saw all the sights from the Superdome, to the French Quarter, to Café du Monde, and St. Louis Cathedral, among others.
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| World famous Bourbon Street |
Did you know that Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop & Bar bills itself as the oldest bar in America? The oldest bar in America in new Orleans...I never would have guessed that. Missy and Nick showed us a really great time and it was great to catch up with Missy since we hadn't really seen her since graduation.
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| Thanks Missy and Nick for the southern hospitality! |
After eating all of the good southern food we could get our hands on, we were now fueled up and ready to head north on the final leg of our journey. Initially we planned to stop at both Great Smoky National Park and Shenandoah National Park on our way back to PA, but after this much time on the road we said to heck with it and planned our last major stop to be Great Smoky. Great Smoky is a National Park located on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee. It got its name from the blue-ish mist, caused by the mountains' location in the jet stream, that hangs over the peaks and valleys in this section of the Appalachians.
As the sun was setting, we made our way along the main highway that runs through Great Smoky National Park. This made for some breathtaking views at the overlooks as we worked our way to Gatlinburg, TN. In town we avoided as much of the carnival-like atmosphere as we could, got some good BBQ, and rested up.
The next morning we set out on a series of great hikes intended to let us see as much of the park as possible in the limited time we had. First we hiked to Grotto Falls, a beautiful series of waterfalls, one of which you can walk behind, as seen below:
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| Not as wet as you'd think. |
Next we headed up to Clingman's Dome. This is a man-made lookout located at the highest elevation in Tennessee at 6,643 feet. It is also the highest elevation along the Appalachian Trail. The weather was spectacular and we could see in all directions for miles and miles. The blue mist was also present, giving us the full viewing experience.
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| THIS is why they are called the Great Smokies |
I didn't want to leave, but there was one more stop to make. Our final destination in the park was a tour of Mingus Mill, a grist mill built in 1886. This mill used a water turbine, not to be confused with a water wheel, to grind corn into cornmeal. It was really interesting to see the ingenuity of those times. They were able to divert water from the river, build a very efficient turbine, and use it to power machinery. Pretty impressive considering the calendar hadn't even turned to 1900 yet. It also allowed us to get in touch with the historical side of the park, since there used to be people living on these lands before it became a National Park.
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| High tech for 1886 |
Sadly, it was time to say goodbye to the last National Park of our 22+ month journey. We set off for Asheville, NC, the last stop before our triumphant return to Pennsylvania. We went out with a bang in Asheville. Well, maybe out with a twang is a better description. We decided to go to "Old Timer's Night" at Jack of the Wood for the last night of our road trip. This was basically a huge jam session for local folk music artists in the Asheville area. There were fiddles, banjos, guitars, upright basses, and any other folky instrument you can think of. We sat for hours listening to the music while we talked about what the last two years had meant to us. I couldn't have picked a better way to spend the last night of our road trip together.
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| The last drink of our month long road trip |
In the coming weeks I hope to reflect back on this experience as a whole and I'll be posting a short quiz to see who has been keeping up with the blog. The winner gets a sweet prize that we brought back with us from Alaska, so study up! As for us, we are now back in the real world dealing with everything that goes along with that. As a reminder of how we got back here though, below is the summary slide show from our massive road trip. It was, without a doubt, the trip of a lifetime.
