Traffic Jam On Route 6? Let's Have A Bud!

Here we are folks, back on track for the last, and also longest part of the trip.

During this 10 days in Provincetown, I pretty much laid out the rest of the trip on paper with mileage and dates. According to my calculations, we should be back to Fort Lauderdale around September 3rd which officially will make this, a 98 days Road Trip across the continental U.S. and Canada.

It's been a long and wet day, the warm weather and the hot sun we had this past week are only something we can dream of right now.

We started this morning on the road around 11AM, about 180 miles to Merrimack, NH which was our first planned stop. Oh well, maybe I should say 192 miles since my navigator, being from "THE area" insisted on keep going on I95 where my trusted GPS was telling me to make a right on US3 (the new one). Long story short, I had to drive another 6 miles, and then of course, another 6 back to the exit I've been told to skip. So much for having a real navigator next to me, right? Learned my lesson, never trust the navigator, computers at times might be dumb, but they take you there, and my loyal GPS did what it promised: take me to the Anheuser-Busch brewery plant in Merrimack, NH.

I love beers, I've always been a huge fun of that hoppy, refreshing taste that beer, any kind of beer leaves in your mouth. So well, today we had the chance to tour THE brewery. Anheuser-Busch Company is the current owner of Budweiser, Michelob, and some other brands, not to mention the Busch Garden amusement parks.


The tour is for free (yes, no tricks here, everything IS really for free), and includes not only a complete tour of the brewing facility, but also a free sampling (you're allowed two) of their products. I had Budweiser Select, and Bare Knuckles, both on draft and both delicious. Hap had a Redbridge (MY favourite of the four batches) and Stone Mill, which is a USDA Certified Organic Beer.

We got to the plant around 3.30PM, thanks to the Massachusetts Highway Department, and the Travel Info 511 system who kept telling us there was no problem on Route 6 when we probably drove 15 miles in an hour.

Since the tour didn't start until 4.15, we had the time to go visit the Clydesdale horses' stable. More than a stable, it really looked like the Ritz-Carlton, only for horses! What really struck me is their overshadowing figure, they're absolutely huge!

We spent quite some time wondering through the stables, looking at horse until we got to "Luke". I'm not a doctor, but I know for sure Luke certainly has a gastrointestinal disease of some kind. As soon as I walked past him, he proceeded on letting some "fresh air" out of his sphincter. In a few words, for those of you who still haven't got there, the son of a b***h farted almost on my face. And that is exactly when we decided it was about time to go back to the main visitor center, I want to publicly thank Luke for stating his opinion so eloquently! ;-)

After we left the brewery, we needed some food, and that's why decided to go to Manchester, NH, where there's a diner called "Red Arrow Diner".

Now, am I the only one in here that watches the Food Network?
All right, let me explain. The Food Network has a TV show called "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives".
This afternoon we tried one of the Diners featured in an episode of his TV Show!

I was so thrilled to finally try one of HIS places, because they always make your mouth water when you see them on TV, and therefore, I wanted to try at least for once in my life to know what it feels like to have a meal in one of the 10 best diners in the US (That's what they say in the back of their TShirts).

The place is your average diner, nothing fancy or flashy, pretty small, with a long counter in the main "carriage" as I like to call it, and another small section with four booths.

All sorts of people inside, some shady individuals, but also some less intimidating.
I got the Burger Club, a club sandwich who has beef instead of ham, turkey, etc. I also had a side of french fries, and one of mashed potatoes with home made gravy which was good (but nothing to tell home about). The burger (and I'm a pretty good burger eater) was overcooked (I asked for medium), and didn't really taste anything better than the McDonald's next door, but hey, maybe I ordered the wrong kind of food!

Hap had crabcakes with eggs on toasted muffins (Benedict). He said he really enjoyed them, so perhaps I should convert myself to crabcakes, who knows! :-)
One thing is for sure, I was probably expecting a lot more from this place. I don't feel defeated yet, I have a whole list of diners to try, and some look pretty good from the pictures posted on their websites, so keep on reading, because we have some more crabcakes on the way! LOL

We're currently in Campton, NH, which is about 78 miles, 1 hour 50 minutes ride from where we we want to be first in the morning. The plan is to go to bed and pray tomorrow will be a nice day, then wake up tomorrow, have a nice (for as much as the hotel allows) breakfast, and then head out to Mount Washington, where we will earn our "This Car Climbed Mount Washington" bumper sticker. After that, we have another 179 miles, 4 hours drive to North Hero, VT on Lake Champlain, where we will join our friends Bob, Sam, Frank, and Stu. It should be fun, at least that's the way it's been planned!

I can't really wait to get on the road and reach the top tomorrow, let's hope it doesn't rain (although I see already a 60% chance of T-storms). As we say in Italian, che sara', sara', whatever will be, will be, I'll tell you more about it tomorrow.

That's all folks, have a good night and thanks for bearing with me up to this point,
Nico

The East Coast

An Italian Across America is currently stopping for 10 days in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

I thought you might have been interested in some facts and numbers about this trip so far.

This is the distance covered from Florida to Massachusetts:
2,700 Miles or 4,320 Kilometers.

Days On The Road:
17

States visited: 13+1
Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, plus District Of Columbia.

Gasoline Tanks used to cover this distance:
8 for a total of $400

And last but not least, a Google Earth Image of the main points covered on the first leg of this trip:

Providence, Rhode Island!

Here we are, in Rhode Island, the Ocean State (and here I personally always add “Job Lot”!); so anyway, here we are in Rhode Island, NO, wait a minute, we’re in Massachusetts, turn the car around, but no, can’t you see the sign, it says Rhode Island!

This is the way I picture someone travelling on I95 on any other road across the border from Rhode Island to Massachusetts! I lost the count, I don’t know how many times we went past that imaginary line humans have established to create boundaries, and put invisible limitations that sometimes might have a great impact on our lives, like taxes, or gas (since it is so “en vogue” right now to bi**h and moan about how gasoline prices are going through the roof).

We started off from Mystic, CT and headed east on I95, final destination “Fall River, MA”, where we spent roughly two hours wondering through Main Street and its local shops. We then headed back to Providence, RI where I visited the Johnson & Wales – Providence Campus for the first time. I also visited their bookstore, because I was in desperate need of a sweatshirt! LOL The temperatures here in New England have been desperately dropping, 75F to 59F, and being the Floridian I am, I started feeling like I was getting a little bit too cold! LOL That’s $39 right there for my hooded sweatshirt, but what the heck, at least I’m contributing to support my Alma Mater.

We hung around the Providence Downtown Mall (yes, just in case you’re wondering, today we were both in “Shopping Mode”), where we investigated the option of switching from Verizon to AT&T (for several different reasons), but also bought each one new pair of Puma Shoes. I found myself a pair I had my eyes on for ages, but always had to give up because they didn’t come in half sizes, and I’m a 11½! It’s a brand new pair of red leathered Puma sneakers with the Ferrari brand symbol on the back outer edge of both shoes, so so cool! ;-) Hap bought himself a pair of white sneakers, similar to the ones he had already and automatically destroyed because he liked them too much and always had them on!

At around 5PM we went to Newport, RI, a place that will always have its charm, even in the blistering cold. All right, I understand for you Northerners 59F is not that cold, but hey, this has been the coolest temperature I have been since last November! And guess where that was….Yeah, you got that right, it was November in Rhode Island!!! It makes me want to write: DUUUUUUUUHHHH

At 7PM we joined our good friends from Florida AND Rhode Island Normand and Tom. The picked up a very nice spot in downtown Newport called “Yesterday’s”; nice food, nice atmosphere, great selection of beers (I’m a beer lover), but most of all, great company! We had so many thing to tell to each other that it’s been great to have the chance to sit down and talk for a few hours enjoying an excellent meal. Therefore, thank you guys for such a wonderful evening together.

Tomorrow we’re heading to Cape Cod where we will be staying for the next 8 to 10 days, before starting the next leg of our adventure, going up north to Burlington, VT, Montreal, Quebec, Toronto, Ontario, and then come back down to see Niagara Falls, and finally head out west to National Parks, and Seattle, Washington State

To me it sounds like a lot of fun, I’m sure it will.

Good night from “The Ocean State”
Nico

Driving Through The "Big Apple"!

Hello Everybody!

This has been a fairly long driving day.
We woke this morning to a cloudy day. There was a light mist outside when I went to the car to take from the backseat one of my chocolate protein bars that I usually have for breakfast.

Fran and Lynn had a special treat for me, knowing that I like hot chocolate for breakfast (yes, being Italian has its advantages...), I found waiting for me a cup of hot chocolate/vanilla cappuccino to die for.



I also need to thank them for the directions they gave us, it proves that humans are still better than GPS, although I couldn't certainly move without mine, that's for sure.



Doylestown, PA is only a two hours drive from Manhattan, NY which made it pretty easy for us to get down to Battery Park for our first "Stop", Lady Liberty! She's always beautiful, and patient, she's been standing there for quite a long time! But before visiting with Miss Liberty, I drove past Ground Zero. I still find it hard to believe what happened there that day, and that big empty space that they're now leaving in the Manhattan skyline...


Second stop, Times Square, top down, wind gently caressing our hair, it doesn't get any better than that; oh well, maybe a little bit more sun would have been nice, that's for sure.


Taking the "bug" to Times Square was my main objective, and we took care of that; I can't describe what it feels like to drive through the streets of New York City, it's pretty amazing!


After our stop (not because we actually stopped, but only because traffic was so heavy we moved at the speed of 1yd/h! LOL) in Times Square, we went to Central Park, and we drove through it from 51st Street to 72nd, which is the only portion of the park where I believe cars are allowed.

The last stop, after driving all the way down back on 5th Avenue to 34st Street, has been the Brooklyn Bridge, where I had never been before. The bridge is beautiful, I kept looking at it and dream about it while chewing for many many years "Brooklyn Chewing Gums" (Le cingomme del ponte di Brooklyn!), and to actually be there today driving over it, well, there really are no words to describe it. As you can see, I'm very fond of New York City, it is such a cosmopolitan place.



We're currently in Mystic, CT, yes, that same Mystic of the movie "Mystic Pizza", and NO, we haven't had dinner there, I went online and didn't actually read anything positive about it, so after such a long day we actually decided we wanted something worth the wait.

We ended up going into this Chinese/Japanese Restaurant called Peking Tokyo, a small but nice place in a strip mall not too far from exit 90 on I95.

The Hotel is also located on exit 90 on I95, it's a very nice and inexpensive Comfort Inn, fairly good size room, spotless, and my guess is that it has probably been recently built (a few years in business I would say). For $59.99 we really got a great deal, also considering that we called every other hotel around, and they were all in the $89/139 price range.

Tomorrow we will get to Rhode Island, and the day after to Massachusetts where we will stop for 10 days in order for me to plan the "Western Route" to Seattle, WA and Vancouver, Canada.

Hope you all had a great day,
Nico

New Hope, PA - We "Landed"!

It’s been quite an easy day today.

Woke up early (early is relative to your sleeping habits in this case) in the morning, to a great sunny day. Bob, our host, was kind enough to give us a free parking pass to leave the car where it was parked outside of his place in Society Hill, and for a moment I felt like I was living a real life “Monopoly” situation! LOL Knowing that the car issues was taken care of, all we had to do was have breakfast (loved my South Beach Diet Protein Bar, and my Orange Juice), and go out clothes hunting! I needed a new pair (well, to be honest more than just one) of slacks, so we went to H&M, where, for the first time in my life I set a new record: I walked out of the store with purchasing anything. I can’t believe how commercial they got, and where their prices have gone, basically through the roof! I still remember the old days 6 or 7 years ago in central London on my “shopping weekend” getaways when I used to go visit my dear friend Andrea, and at the same time go to H&M in Oxford Circus to buy clothes! Jeans for $29.90 when in Italy I would have probably paid no less than $180!

Anyway, other than the big disappointment from my favorite store, the day went by pretty fast and in the nicest possible way.

I need to thank Bob for his hospitality, letting us stay at his “urban castle” in Society Hill is always quite an experience; not to mention that the story he has to tell combined with his culture and experience make it for an even more enjoyable situation.

Another view of the house:

We left Philadelphia, PA around 2PM heading north on I95 towards Doylestown, PA where Fran (Hap’s brother) and Lynn (Hap’s sister-in-law) live. They have a great place in a very nice neighborhood, a nice house with a fantastic outside area, pool entertainment included. Together we went to have drinks at some other friends house, Kitty and Jackie’s place. They also have a magnificent house, and let me tell you, their backyard screams “Let’s Get This Party Started” all the time…! LOLWe went together to a very nice restaurant called “The Landing” in New Hope, PA, where we had a good time all together, and experienced some good food. I seemed to have some problems with the cooking time of my burger, but that’s another story, you all know how fussy I can get! LOL (I’m actually kidding, about me being fussy, that is, but they really screwed up my burger big time, the first time it came VERY well done, I sent it back with the waiter totally agreeing with me, and the second time, when one would think they would get it right, well, I basically got it the same way! LOL).

On the way to the restaurant, being the Italian I am (LOL), I’ve been told about the fact that there was a chance of encountering “Bambis” (Deer) on our way to the restaurant. You can imagine how thrilled I was considering that from where I come from they’re almost extinct. We didn’t see any in the daylight, but we did manage to see two on our way back home on the grass next to the road, they’re nice animals.

I still can’t find the words to say how much I appreciate Lynn and Fran hosting us for this evening and making us feel like home, there really are NO words to say how much I appreciate their attitude and what they’re doing, so there you go, thank you Fran & Lynn for your hospitality.

Tomorrow we're off to "the North", planning on leaving Philadelphia around 10AM and going through NYC, more specifically Manhattan, with the main goal of taking a picture of the "bug" in Times Square! LOL Hope we can make it...

We'll certainly have the top down so that we can take video and pictures of the vertical city; just remember, sky's the limit, at least in the city! After NYC we plan on either going to Orient Point, NY on Long Island, and from there get on the ferry boat to Connecticut, or most probably drive around Manhattan, go through the Brooklyn Bridge, and then up to Connecticut where we're planning on spending the night before getting to Rhode Island on Thursday.

Good night,
Nico

The City Of Brotherly Love...

Here we are in the "City Of Brotherly Love".



Anytime I come to Philadelphia, it is always the same, I have to stop at my favorite pizza place on South Street (Pizzeria La Fourno), and have some authentic Italian style pizza with Stars and Stripes. We went back this evening and it's still exactly the same way it was last May when we last visited, soft and crunchy at the same time, thin crusted marvel of the old world. My pizza was a triumph of color in an orgy of taste, hope you get the concept, it was really good.

I want to thank our friend Bob in DC for being once again such a wonderful host, for the great southern meal with Michael on Saturday, and for the Mexican fiesta with Pat, Bill and Jim at "La Placita" on Sunday night, it was nice meeting Jim, and it was great to see Pat and Bill again after more or less a year since we had last seen them.

Today we visited the Arlington National Cemetery as planned.

Another place that can really send shivers down anybody's spine. I had been in similar places before, especially in Italy while I was attending the Air Force school to pay my tribute to those who fought to free the Italians in WWII, but I had never been to such a beautiful, nicely maintained cemetery who could, even with all the grief and pain people that pass through those gates for a funeral go through, transmit such a sense of peace.

This is exactly what I've experienced today, a strong sense of peace combined with something that I have hardly found anywhere else in the world, and that is a sense of belonging to the same community, with one flag whose stars and stripes Americans wear anytime anyplace. This is what makes America such a beautiful country.





We had the time to visit President JFK Memorial, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (God Bless them all), the monument for the astronauts died in the two separate accidents of the Space Shuttle "Challenger" and "Columbia", the amphitheater, and walking back towards the Visitor Centre, many other monuments commemorating the sacrifice made by these brave soldiers in all the battles fought by the United States of America.





After we left the cemetery, our next planned stop should have been the other Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, VA, but we decided at the last minute to go straight to Philadelphia because of time calculations in order to avoid rush hour here in Philly. Needless to say, we did avoid rush hour but at the same time got involved into a pathetic traffic jam that took us about 30 minutes of stop and go because of a totally destroyed truck on I95 some 3 or 4 miles away.

Anyway, we made it to Philadelphia right on time, which is good.

Today we started our journey in the District of Columbia, and visited four states: Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania.


Maryland:

Delaware:



Pennsylvania:

Tomorrow we're off to Doylestown, PA where Fran and Lynn, respectively Hap's brother and sister-in-law live. We're going to have dinner with them and some other friends, I'm looking forward to seeing them again as they left Florida almost a month and a half ago while I was still busy with school.

I think this is it for today, good night from the city of brotherly love my friends.

Cheers,
Nico

DC Is Always DC...

I've been to DC so many times, and I've always loved it. There's nothing to do about it, DC is always DC.

Today I've seen a Washington I had never seen before, mainly because of my being against doing "touristy things".

As I told you yesterday, we visited three museums today, the Holocaust, the Air and Space, and the Natural History. We left the house at 10AM and we only got back around 5.30PM. It's been exhausting but very fulfilling, I'm very happy we did it.

The Holocaust Museum:

The Air & Space Museum:



The Museum of Natural History:

Tonight we had Mexican food, I love it, although I know that the Mexican food we have here in the US is very different from the REAL one the have in Mexico; and then, Mexico is such a big country anyway, how can we call something Mexican, when even in Italy we have so many regional dishes! I'm sure you know what I mean. We had a good time, food was good, and service was even better, the only problem was that they obviously had a problem with the kitchen today as we probably waited 90 minutes to get our food! LOL Thank God we had four pitchers (for six people) of Margarita to help us wait our food, and thank even more to the restaurant who didn't charge us anything for our drinks to balance with the wait.

Tomorrow we're leaving DC heading north to Philadelphia, PA, another city we've been to many times already. But before we do that, we're going to visit the Arlington National Cemetery to pay our respect to all of the people buried there, and through them to all of the people who gave their lives in the wars we fought; afterwards we'll be going to the other Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, VA, and the subsequently head north to Philadelphia. We have big plans for the next few days, keep tuned to know the latest about the trip.

Peace everybody!
Nico