Brett, Julia and Data hit the road
I’ve assembled a collection of 51 photos that I think are my favorites from the trip. You can view them by clicking here. What do you guys think? Which ones have I missed? Which don’t deserve to be there? I am looking for opinions!
I am going to investigate the possibility of showing these photos at galleries in the area, a daunting possibility.
Julia came with me to the New York Times Travel Show today, which was great. We arrived just in time to speak with Mike, an associate editor at Fodor’s. He had some advice for us and gave us his contact information. We also attended a seminar on travel writing that was given by Max Hartshorne and Kent E. St. John from Go Nomad and Matt Link, an established travel writer and editor. The talk was very informative and they spent a lot of time answering questions, which was nice. Afterward, we spoke briefly with all three of them along with Ericka Hamburg, a writer/photographer who was in attendance. Despite being a busy day, everyone was happy to hear our story and offer their honest advice.
We did have a little time to explore the travel show as well. Julia especially loved seeing the penguins and sloth at the Busch Gardens / Sea World booth and the Cayman Islands booth brought back memories of when her family used to visit every year.
We weren’t able to spend as much time at the show today as we would have liked because we had to catch the 7:07 p.m. train back to Darien, but we are glad we were able to attend the show and it was a productive experience for both of us.
Be sure to keep checking in with our new blog for other stories and photos and keep checking back here for our “best of” post(s) which should be coming as soon as we finish re-reading every single post from the trip.
Here are a few photos from today. Click “there’s more to this” to see them all.
A penguin at the Busch Gardens / Sea World booth. Continue reading ‘New York Times Travel Show (Day Two)’
The New York Times Travel Show was intimidating at first. I received my press pass from the front desk around 11 a.m. and spent 30 minutes or so getting oriented in the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. My mission was twofold: to simply experience and photograph the travel show itself and to spend time talking with people in the travel industry (specifically travel writing and photography) about a possible career in the field or the possibility of publishing a book about our trip. I think I succeeded on both fronts.
At 11:30 a.m., I listened to a 90-minute talk by Reid Bramblett, the creator of ReidsGuides.com. He discussed the basics of maintaining a travel website to a group comprised mostly of members of the Society of American Travel Writers. He was scheduled to speak again at 2 p.m., so I spent some time cruising the show grounds. Things were still being set up for the public opening tomorrow, but I did have the chance to photograph the ribbon cutting ceremony at 2 p.m. As soon as the ribbon was cut, I hurried back to Reid’s seminar on more advanced website theory. The crowd was smaller this time around, but just as engaged. After he wrapped up his talk at 3:30 p.m. or so, I spent a few minutes speaking with him and a few other people from SATW or other organizations before making my way back out onto the show floor.
I did get to talk with a few organizations on the show floor as well, but most of the people I will want to talk to won’t be at the event until tomorrow, so Julia and I will be sure to go back. I haven’t shown the portfolios to anyone at the show yet, but there should be an opportunity or two to show them off tomorrow.
Meanwhile, here are a few photos from the show today.
The ribbon cutting.
An ethnic display at the show.
A sloth at one of the booths.
Sorry for the delay, but I wanted to wait until I was able to upload the interview before making this post.
Our interview went very well. We were on the air on Monday, February 18th from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., during which time we discussed the basics of our trip. An hour seems like a long time to talk about something, but we could probably blab about our experiences for a whole day without running out of material. Instead of writing out a story about the interview, I will simply post the interview in MP3 format.
Please note that the recording begins five minutes into the interview. We want to thank WHUS for having us on the air, it was a lot of fun.
Now, we are working on our “best of” post(s), which should be up in a few days. We are being very thorough, reading every post to make sure we don’t miss a thing, so be patient and keep checking in. Also keep an eye out for our experiences at the New York Times Travel Show on Leap Year weekend!
Here are some photos from the studio!
Julia in the studio.
“Deirdre,” our interviewer.
Location: West Norwalk, CT
Today represents the official end of the trip. There will be a few more posts to come, and they will be big ones (so stay tuned), but this will be the last daily recap post.
We got out of bed around 11 a.m. and began the day by driving to a car wash in Enfield. After struggling to find a bunch of dollar coins, we spent 15 minutes thoroughly vacuuming the inside of the Suburban, which was empty for the first time in nearly seven months. There was an unbelievable amount of brown dog hair packed into every imaginable cranny of the car, but we managed to clear it all out. After a quick run through the car wash, the Suburban looked like a completely different car – especially without the Thule top.
After the car wash, we picked up a few things from Petco before returning home. After putting Julia’s stuff back in the car, we got ready to head back to West Norwalk. Data and his mom (Joey) got a chance to romp around for a little while. We also brought Manny, my mom’s pomeranian with us for a visit.
The difference between the feel of the car without the Thule top is noticable, but not as dramatic as I had expected.
After arriving in West Norwalk, we spent some time talking with Julia’s parents and visiting with her neighbors, who also have a pomeranian, before ordering a very good dinner from Pasta Fair. Now, we are relaxing with Data, thinking about the best things to say to close up this trip.
Here are photos from today. Click “there’s more to this” to see them all or visit my SmugMug.
Hair in the Suburban. Continue reading ‘Day 211: Full Circle’
As the road trip ends, I want to personally thank all of you across the country that were generous in welcoming my little boy Brett and his girlfriend Julia into their homes and who shared meals with them. Not only have you made this trip more meaningful and fun for them, but you’ve also helped control the budget. We all appreciate that!
For the past 210 days I’ve started each morning logging onto my computer to check out “Data on the Move” for news of the travelers, for the fantastic photography, and for my Data fix. One of my favorite things on the blog has been the stories and portraits of the people Brett and Julia stayed with or joined for meals along the way. My, you are a motley group! But the pictures, along with your interesting comments (especially you, Coral) have made me feel like you’re all family.
So please, remember the indebtedness I feel towards you! When it comes time for you to make your own road trip, or even just your own visit to New England, there is always room for more people in West Suffield, CT, about half way between New York City and Boston. As long as you don’t expect me to cook, you – and your pets – can stay as long as you want. I’ll be happy to welcome you here!
Location: West Suffield, CT
Julia took care of today’s post, so I’ll just stick to photos. Click “there’s more to this” to see them all or visit my SmugMug.
The Suburban, moments before being unpacked. Continue reading ‘Day 210: Inventory’
Location: West Suffield, CT
Julia had a doctor’s appointment this morning, so she was up and out pretty early. Upon her return, we visited her neighbor, Jenn, for a little while. Jenn’s son, Dylan, wasn’t feeling very well and her daughter, Morgan, was napping. It was nice to see Jenn again and I know Julia really liked being able to catch up with her. At roughly 3 p.m., we packed up our things and hit the road. We had hoped to avoid getting stuck in traffic, but things were slow at first.
We first stopped in Manchester, where I bought a 500 GB external hard drive for my brother, his birthday present. We met my brother, his friend Sean and my mother for dinner at Chuck’s Steakhouse & Margarita Grill near the University of Connecticut campus. The food was good and Jared liked his presents. Everyone got a chance to see Data, and he was extremely excited by the familiar faces. Before leaving the area, Julia and I swung by the Daily Campus, the UConn newspaper. We met with our friend, Melissa, who gave us a few copies of the paper that featured our road trip on the front page (click here to read the article).
Following our time at UConn, we saw the 10:30 p.m. showing of Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins at a theater in Manchester. As we’ve traveled the country, one thing we’ve noticed is the fact that theater popcorn is almost universally unsatisfying. This theater has always had the best popcorn I’ve ever tasted, so seeing a movie there was a treat just for that reason. The movie itself was better than I expected. There were plenty of laughs, though I still wouldn’t call it a great movie.
Following the movie, we returned to my house in West Suffield. Data immediately busied himself by investigating scents familiar to him from 209 days ago and was very excited. Julia and I brought the essentials inside and settled in for the night.
Tomorrow, we are going to fully unpack the car and prepare our final posts, which will either come tomorrow night or Sunday.
Here are a few photos from today. Click “there’s more to this” to see them all or visit my SmugMug.
Julia and Dylan. Continue reading ‘Day 209: Home, But Not Quite Done’
Location: West Norwalk, CT
Julia has already posted about her day, but since we spent four hours doing very different things, I am going to post as well. I will only cover what I did while she was at her internship.
I walked through Central Park, which was fairly empty, but still nice. I wound up in Columbus Circle, where I was harassed by a group of CareerBuilder.com people, so I ducked into the subway. I stopped by the CSTV to visit Adam, who was surprised by my appearance, but spent a few minutes showing me around his office anyway. I then took a quick stroll around the Chelsea Piers area before heading south to Battery Park. From Battery Park, I was afforded distant, but impressive views of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. After walking around for a little while, I began to make my way back uptown. Julia asked me to buy her some cheap flip flops, which I found at a K-Mart in Midtown Manhattan. I reconnected with Julia at 4 p.m., at which point we caught the train back to Darien, CT.
I want to extend congratulations to Julia’s parents as they celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary and thank them for a wonderful meal tonight and generally being so supportive of our trip.
Tomorrow, the trip continues as we meet my brother and mother for dinner in celebration of my brother’s birthday.
Here are photos from today. Click “there’s more to this” to see them all or visit my SmugMug.
The Statue of Liberty reflected in a sculpture in Battery Park. Continue reading ‘Day 208: Happy 30th!’
Location: West Norwalk, CT
While I slept in, Julia woke up relatively early to run some errands. She got a manicure and visited the dentist before returning to her house. After having chocolate croissants for breakfast, we brought Data and Lucy to a nearby dog park. Data happily romped with the handful of other dogs while Lucy spent most of the time hanging out around Julia. Lucy was probably a bit nervous because the other dogs in the park were all large, but I’m sure she was also feeling lazy due to the fact that she has become quite plump.
Once the dogs were able to get some exercise, we welcomed a bit of downtime. I began work on a new blog, which will be basically a continuation of this blog to which we will post after the trip. It’s progressing nicely, but there is still a lot to do. Speaking of the end of the trip, the final day will either be on Saturday or Sunday, depending on when we are able to fully unpack the car and complete our final posts. Said posts will be very comprehensive, so be sure to keep checking for them and read our new blog once it is up and running!
At 7:30 p.m., we went to Taste of Asia, a nearby Asian restaurant, for dinner. The vegetable spring rolls were probably the best I’ve ever tasted, but our dinners weren’t spectacular, though they certainly weren’t bad.
We stopped at a grocery store, where we bought cake and two other special items. Back when we were in Yosemite National Park (click here to see our post from that day), we found Martinelli’s Sparkling Apple Juice, which is supposedly slightly different from the more common Sparkling Cider. We decided to buy both the sparkling apple juice and cider and conduct a simple taste test to see whether or not we could tell the difference between the two and which was better. Julia, her parents and I participated. There was a visible difference between the two, with the juice being more orange and the cider having noticeably more froth. Taste-wise, they were very similar, but the cider left more of a tingle. I think we all agreed it was slightly better, which is fine considering the cider is far more common anyway.
Tomorrow, Julia has orientation in New York City for one of her internships. I will accompany her and wander around the city until she is done. Afterward, we are going out with her family at the Melting Pot. It will be a joint celebration of our return and her parents’ 30th wedding anniversary.
Here are today’s photos. Click “there’s more to this” to see them all or visit my SmugMug.
This is why dog parks are hilarious. Continue reading ‘Day 207: Taste Testing’