road trip day 37: charleston, south carolina

As we made our way towards Charleston, everything we saw became more and more quaint and picturesque. We saw huge oak trees covered with hanging spanish moss and stately buildings in soft pastel colors. Charleston, needless to say, is gorgeous and dripping with southern hospitality. We spent the day wandering through the streets of downtown Charleston, gawking at the gorgeous homes. Everyone we saw in Charleston was impeccably dressed and groomed, reflecting the city's freshly scrubbed appearance. While we didn't do anything spectacular, it was just nice to walk around in warm weather and eat good southern food.

road trip day 32: brooklyn

We chose to explore Brooklyn rather than Manhattan because there was no way we were taking the Nugget to Manhattan and we've never been to Brooklyn before. I am thoroughly happy with our choice because Brooklyn was a lot of fun. We started our day over coffee and pastries (the best way to start the day if you ask me) and then set out to explore. We went to Coney Island first which was rather creepy because it was completely deserted. After Coney Island we took the train back into Brooklyn and started to explore the boroughs. We used Refinery 29's Badass Guide to Brooklyn as our guide and basically took off on foot. Here is what we saw (we made it to five neighborhoods):

 

 

We spent a few days in Manhattan last January. If you want to see our posts from then, click here! 

road trip day 28: salem, massachusetts

We couldn't have thought of a better place to spend Halloween than Salem, Massachusetts, home of the Salem witch trials. We were finally reunited with our friends and avid travelers, the Winters, who were going to spend the next couple of days with us exploring Salem and later Boston. We reunited and then got down to business comparing our trips and RV's. They are traveling in a Westfalia, and are definitely way more hard core than us at this traveling business! We broke down and stayed in hotels for a few nights, but they stayed at Walmart all along the way!

While in Salem we did the typical halloween touristy things...We went on a night tour of Salem, led by a real live witch (or so he claimed). We also did a haunted house, witnessed a few palm readings, and got accidentally caught in a witches circle (whatever that is).  It was all in good fun, but i'm pretty sure a majority of people there were claiming to be legitimate witches, although I would have been much more thrilled if they were all the Harry Potter variety of witches, waving wands and drinking butter beer while talking with their owls. No, none of the witches in Salem were even remotely interesting, they all just slunk around wearing polyester capes and waving sage in the air, I mean I could have even done that! Anyways, for Halloween we dressed up in the easiest possible manor. I was a cat, because I could wear yoga pants all day, which is always great in my book, and Brian was a pretty wicked Kurt Cobain. We pretty much had to dress up, because if you aren't dressed up in Salem, i'm pretty sure you would be on the receiving end of some bad omens or something.  Salem is definitely a trip, and at Halloween, its probably the weirdest spot on earth, but we had a great time, saw some great costumes, and enjoyed the company of our friends.

nantucket on bicycle

Road Trip day 26:

When we embarked on this road-trip, I didn't really contemplate the repercussions of sitting hours upon hours a day. Well needless to say, we could use some exercise, so it was nice to rely on our bikes to get us around. Nantucket in late October was a perfect place to bike. We decided to weave in and out of the narrow cobblestone roadways, all the while drooling over stunning "cottages" (aka mansions).

While we were in Maine, we discovered a delicious beer called the "Grey Lady," and came to find out that it was actually brewed in Nantucket. So we decided to go find the source! Bike three miles inland from the main town and you'll run into Cisco Brewers. It started as a vineyard and branched out into a brewery and distillery. The property is charming, with none of the pretense that sometimes follows tasting rooms. The bartender was two years younger than me and a local. We chatted with him while sampling pretty much every beer they had to offer. I'm not a beer person, but I am a huge fan of their beer! After getting nice and tipsy, we ventured over to the other building, the winery tasting room. We tasted wines with another nice bartender, who told us the grapes come from Yakima, Washington. Go figure! He also took us out back and showed us where they distill their $250 a bottle whiskey. He also let us taste the stuff, which was definitely smooth but probably more alcohol than we needed at that point. It was nearing dusk and after spending three hours drinking, Brian and I figured it was probably best to hop back on our bikes. After the first attempt to peddle, we realized we were both, without a doubt, hammered! Nothing beats a long walk home pushing your bikes to sober you up!

I highly recommend biking around Nantucket. Moving slower around the island gives you a real feel for the place and lets you discover roads and areas that are otherwise inaccessible in a car.  

road trip day 25: nantucket

I am in love. Nantucket is perfect. But before I start gushing, i'll bore you to death with the details.
To get to Nantucket, you must sell your first born child. I'm not kidding. This place will suck the dollars out of your wallet before you even open it. You have to catch a ferry to reach the Island of Nantucket, located 30 miles from southern Cape Cod. The ferry, for two walk-on's and bicycles was $98. I'm still not even kidding. In Washington, for a walk-on, the ferry would cost you less than $10! So we shed a few tears, and grabbed our bikes to hop aboard the ferry. It had been Brian's dream to visit Nantucket ever since he read the book, "In the Heart of the Sea," which is about the real ship wreck that was the inspiration behind Moby Dick. Nantucket for many years in the early 19th century was the capital of whaling. After the decline of the whaling industry, Nantucket became obsolete for almost a century until the first tourists arrived. Tourists haven't stopped coming since, and for good reason. Nantucket is charming, a mix of old-world cobblestoned streets and New-England charm. We decided to spend two nights on Nantucket at one of the island's inns. The first night, as we settled into a hot toddy at the bar of a cozy wood-laden pub, we knew we were hooked.

 

 

road trip day 24: cape cod

In the eastern most portion of Massachusetts, a piece of land shaped like a flexing arm juts out into the Atlantic Ocean.  Whenever I thought of Cape Cod, I envisioned it like the Hamptons, a playground for the rich and famous. In late October, Cape Cod seemed less like a wealthy vacation destination and more like a quiet New England peninsula, dotted with grey shingled houses (and a few empty mansions here and there).  A railroad once ran the length of Cape Cod, connecting Bostonians to a beach-front paradise. The railroad eventually fell into disrepair and was later turned into a 20 plus mile bike trail. We lucked out with a bit of sun and decided to finally get some use out of our bicycles.  We took off along the trail and kept going. By the time we realized that we were starving, we also came to the conclusion that our asses were positively numb and we had another two hours left before we reached camp again.  After we finished up with our days ride, we realized that padded bike shorts would have made a welcomed addition.  I highly recommend the rail trail, it's beautiful, but don't forget some extra padding!

At the extreme tip of Cape Cod is Provincetown, a little resort town with a colonial atmosphere. It is said that the Pilgrims landed here first and then sailed onto Plymouth a few days later. The town is pretty touristy and has enough raunchy t-shirt shops, fudge shops, and galleries to make even a first time tourist puke.  Once you get past that, or vomit, the town is kind of cute.

 

road trip day 20: we finally made it to maine!

Well let's just get the disappointing stuff out of the way shall we...the fall colors are gone! Totally and utterly gone and it is all the Nugget's fault! The impetus of this trip was to see the fall colors in Maine and we failed to do just that! I am seriously upset about it. Although not upset enough to lose my appetite. Brian and I cruised through Maine into Portland, absolutely crushed by the lack of crimsons and golds in the landscape and immediately turned to food for comfort. Sitting outside, near a harbor, eating lobster rolls and New England clam chowder, I began to feel my spirits lifting. Ahh nothing like being hangry (hunger + anger = hanger). After we settled down and came to terms with missing the fall colors, we explored Portland. Portland definitely pales in comparison the the one we are used to in Oregon. There wasn't food stalls, or quirky little shops filled with objects made from wood chopped down in someones backyard, or adult males with ironic mustaches.  There really wasn't much of anything, including people for that matter. The city was dead and creeping us out, so we found the nearest Trader Joes, loaded up on goodies and got the hell out of dodge. We landed in Freeport, Maine. Home to L.L. Bean and a large amount of outlets. I was thrilled. We spent the rest of the day shopping and the night in Freeport at an amazing campsite right on the water,  and our world was well again.

 

road trip day 11: mackinac island, michigan

We woke up around 5 am and headed straight to Mackinac Island at the tip of Michigan. It is a small car-free island on Lake Huron, that is a 16 minute ferry ride from the mainland.

We packed our bikes onto the ferry and enjoyed the sun rising up over Lake Huron. It was a chilly 40 degrees when we disembarked and we had no option but to hop on our bikes and start riding!

The historic Grand Hotel has one of the longest wrap around porches in the world. 

Once the sun was up, the island's temperature rose and we were happy to be on our bikes riding around this quaint little island.

It seems like Mackinac Island is frozen in time. A relic of the 19th century, which only adds to its charm. Most of the homes are gorgeous old victorians and most of the traffic is from horses. The island has a very innocent summer camp-y vibe and we are certainly going to come back to visit during the summer!