Blogs from United States, North America - page 6840

Sean: The next part of the story isn’t nearly as fraught with danger and excitement as the previous one. After leaving New Orleans, we boogied fairly quickly across this great nation, eager to get back to the Northwest as soon as possible to spend time with family (and not to mention that we had just driven across the country less than an month before). Hurricane Rita (about to make landfall in the Lone Star State) convinced us to alter our route and not travel across Texas. We definitely didn’t want to keep arriving late at night to “No Vacancy” signs. So this time we went straight north out of New Orleans and spent our first night in Memphis. Then it was up early to make the loooong leg to Sioux City, South Dakota. We stopped briefly ... read more

Florida is one the places that I love as its a good shopping paradise, nice beach, lovely people, good foods, cheap accommodation and amazing Disney World! I headed to Miami from Boston and spent 2 days 1 night on the bus and met few people on the bus, some of them were weird and some of them were normal. I met this guy from west africa and I think he was kinda weird cause he wanna change his ticket to come to Miami with me when he found out that I travel alone, he wanna keep me accompany and he kept saying "Jess, you have beautiful eyes and you are so beautiful..." blah blah blah. I think something wrong with him as my eyes are not beautiful and I looked normal and I don't think I'm ... read more

So I’m riding to school along my favorite bike path in Norfolk (the one with two hills!) when I encounter a ten year old girl wobbling towards me on a bike and in a helmet that she has yet to grow into. “DING! DING!” I tap my bell a few times to get her attention as we meet beneath the highway overpasss, and I thought nothing more of it until I rounded the corner and met (presumably) her kid sister and father. Sis was wearing a helmet that was color-coordinated to her training wheels, but the gentle breeze off the Elizabeth River tugged at Dad’s receding hairline, unobstructed by any helmet. “So where’s YOUR helmet?” I called out as I passed Dad, hoping that maybe I would plant the seed for future daughterly nagging. After all, ... read more

FRESNO. I complete my fast food tour with a 'massive meat sandwich' breakfast from Burger King. - Fantastic! I am sure that the reason for the 'obesity' epedemic is the availability, abundance, and low cost (relatively) of the fast food restaurants. They are everywhere and they are cheap, but most importantly - you don't have to tip! Starbucks for coffee again as we have given up looking for anywhere else (it just leads to disappointment) and when we explained to the young girl at the register where we were from and where we were going, she asked (with the most bewildered look on her face) 'What made you come to Fresno?' (even the locals dont see the reason to visit, it seems). We explained that we were driving from Yosemite to LA and ran out of ... read more

My neighbor’s sprinkler makes a gentle patter on the sidewalk, tapwater meandering through the cracks and channels towards the gutter and the nearly-dead, oxygen-deprived Elizabeth River. Who knows? Perhaps a Tru-Green ChemLawn makes for a Tru-Green Chesapeake Bay. The sky glows pink and orange as clouds drift by low enough to reflect our streetlights back in an earlier glow punctuated by patches of pre-dawn azure blue, and the crepe myrtle stands in shadowed contrast, the alien trees engulfing human-scaled street lamps. The hum of air conditioners (It’s 64 degrees people, open your windows!) is accented by the constant buzz of cicadas and the odd mockingbird. It’s a good morning for a bike ride. It’s just another morning for a drive. There’s a connection that’s maintained with the world (natural or manmade) that is lost in a ... read more