Unique digital nomad travel adventures from around the U.S.
R and I spent five and a half days driving around and exploring São Miguel Island in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. Locally, it is referred to as The Green Island. I just called it stunning. Turns out the Azores make a great micro …
See our travel tech tools review of five types of technology we used on a recent trip. While travel is pretty basic (i.e. go somewhere new and see how it is), the tools we use while we travel are constantly changing. It seems like every …
Last July, B and I ventured to St. Louis, Missouri, to attend the Antiques Roadshow. While there, we were pleasantly surprised by several attractions and left with a very positive view of this city, which, to be honest, we weren’t expecting much out of. This post will discuss five St. Louis things we saw and did so next time you find yourself randomly in St. Louis, you’ll have as nice of a time as we had. (To be fair, I’ll leave the highlight of the trip, the Roadshow, off this list because it isn’t a permanent fixture.)
From our downtown hotel, we hopped on the St. Louis Metro Red Line and headed to the Delmar Loop. This is a hip, groovy part of town that is chock full of restaurants, entertainment and funky shops. We walked up and down Delmar Boulevard and enjoyed looking at the different stars in the St. Louis Hall of Fame (kind of like in Hollywood, only these are St. Louis people). I was especially pumped when I found Nelly’s Star. To be perfectly honest, I was singing Country Grammar all weekend.
In Delmar Loop, we did one of our favorite trip rituals of wandering around a local grocery market. This particular one had a very robust section of Asian goods…not sure why. We also saw our first example of a quick, cheap place to eat in St. Louis that we did a few more times. At several grocery stores, there is an excellent selection of prepared foods. Not the gross kind like a Tornado at a gas station, but good quality. Instead of a sit down restaurant where you have to wait and pay a tip, you can pick what you want and get sushi, barbeque, sandwiches, etc.
We also found a few cool shops and enjoyed spending our money on interesting local items before the heat and humidity finally did us in and we had to catch the train back downtown. Sadly, last month Delmar Loop was the site of vandalism after a what-had-been peaceful protest. Several of the shops that we had visited in July had their windows broken. Hopefully, by the time you visit, the Loop will have been restored to how it should be.
It seems like most regions of the south are known for their barbeque. To be honest, I don’t have a refined enough bbq palate to be able to distinguish what city does it best. I can say, though, that barbeque down south just tastes better than it does in Idaho. After we finished up at the Roadshow, we walked down the road from the convention center and B found a highly recommended place on her phone called Sugarfire. So we decided to stop in. It was around 3:00 in the afternoon, so we walked right into the establishment, ordered our bbq and took a seat. It was quite delicious, so much so that I was in no mood for dinner later that night.
If you are going to hit up Sugarfire, you might want to get there during in a non-peak hour. We had no idea we had lucked out the first time with no line; whenever we walked past this place around meal time, the line was out the door.
The St. Louis Arch is iconic, and all other times I have been to St. Louis I have made a point to go to the visitor center and get a stamp in my passport and one time, I even took the elevator to the top. However, when B and I visited St. Louis, I got a new appreciation for the Arch. Instead of being a destination, we enjoyed it more as part of the landscape. We took a walk around the park that begins at the Arch and runs along the Mississippi River. Then we sat at the base of it and watched the tour helicopters take tourists on quick flights around the city while eating pizza in the plaza in front of it. Most magically, we watched the sunset set it on fire from the roof of our hotel.
The Arch was built in 1965 and was dedicated to the American people. I hadn’t fully appreciated how cool the Arch was until I looked at it as something other than as a structure–this trip helped me think of it more symbolically, as a representation of ingenuity and ambition.
I have seen the New York Mets play baseball at 90% of the major league games I’ve attended. I’ve seen them in San Francisco, New York, Washington D.C. and even interleague in Baltimore. So it came as no surprise to me that when we decided to see a St. Louis Cardinals game, they would of course be playing the Mets. (This would all be cool if the Mets were my team..they aren’t.) ANYWAY, we weren’t sure if we were going to be able to make a game so we didn’t buy tickets beforehand. This made our experience at the stadium even more magical. Here’s how it went: we showed up and bypassed the ticket office line by purchasing tickets at an electronic kiosk. The machine spit out our tickets, receipt and coupons for free hotdogs and drinks (Miracle #1).
We then walked through the gates and a ticket checker handed us our commemorative St. Louis Cardinals baseball caps so we could support the hometeam (Miracle #2). We then found our way up, up, up to our cheap seats. You’d think we’d be sad about our nosebleed seats. However, because our seats were so high, we were in the shade. Yes, instead of roasting in the heat and humidity, we were the first row of shaded seats (Miracle #3). We didn’t anticipate we would last long at the game because of the heat, but we ended up watching the whole game. The Cards won and we were fed and clothed for a very inexpensive ticket.
A few months before I found out I had been selected to get tickets to the St. Louis Roadshow, I came across an article about an ancient culture in the southeastern United States. I was astounded. How is it that I have a degree in American History and have dragged B halfway around the world multiple times to see ancient structures and I had never heard of this in my own backyard? So embarrassing! I resolved to visit at my earliest convenience. Fortunately for me, I did get tickets to St. Louis so I knew I’d be adding this piece to the Roadshow trip.
The Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site is located a short 15 minute uber ride across the Mississippi River into Illinois. The grounds are about 3.5 miles and look like a very well manicured lawn, with some hills every now and then. I had purchased a Groupon to the site, so B and I each got our own ipods and could learn the history of the place as we climbed the hills. The Site is very well managed and we learned so much about the people that lived here a thousand years ago who had decided to carry bucket upon bucket of dirt to create hundreds of these mounds. If you visit St. Louis, the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site is an absolute must. I’m quite surprised that this park is only a National Historic Landmark and not a full-fledged National Park.
I would feel remiss if I didn’t mention the fine establishments in St. Louis called Insomnia Cookies. One day we weren’t quite hungry enough for a proper dinner so we popped into an Insomnia Cookie and had a delicious ice cream cookie sandwich–which we did manage to eat most of before it melted in the sweltering heat of a Missouri summer. This bakery delivers cookies ’til 3:00 a.m. Guaranteed the students at local universities make good use of this place.
St. Louis has a pretty bad reputation. Yes, we did see some rough areas and wouldn’t have felt comfortable in a lot of places after dark. That being said, B and I were pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable a time we had there during a long weekend. There’s always good places mixed in with bad. So if you find yourself in St. Louis, don’t stay locked up in your hotel room. Explore!
Travel-size toiletries usage can be tricky. But we tested them out and here is how long they really last. Note: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you buy something through one of these links, we may earn a small commission, at no extra …
Planning a Bali spa day is something we highly recommend. However, there are some key things you should know, which we share below. Last week B’s friend K came into town and they had a great time catching up and comparing past travels and adventures. …
Girls’ weekend getaways and micro trips are the best. Wouldn’t you agree? As part-time travelers and single ladies, our lifestyle is quite conducive to mini vacations. So we take full advantage of that whenever we can. Below are 10 ideas for a girls’ weekend getaway or micro trip. I recommend you grab your girlfriends and start planning ASAP.
Well, its anything from a weekend to a week (or more) spent with your closest friends. It’s a time to try something new. Or enjoy an old tradition. The whole point is to vacate your regular life and bond with your girlfriends. Honestly, what you do is not nearly important as actually getting away together.
Okay, so not everyone likes to camp. But for those that do, camping is a fun and affordable girls’ weekend option. We are blessed here in Idaho with an abundance of places to pitch a tent. We even have some good places to go glamping. Once you have all the gear you need, it is simply a matter of packing up, gassing up and hitting the road. The hardest part is deciding where to camp. North, south, east or west, the great outdoors is just waiting to be explored by you and your girlfriends. This summer, make plans to spend at least one girls’ weekend camping.
Unless you are new to our blog, you are well aware that R and I attend a lot of concerts. We enjoy live music and support our favorite artists whenever they come to town. We also plan a lot of trips to see the bands we love. These trips often result in a full-fledged girls’ weekend complete with a road trip, a new experience or two and a meet up with a friend who loves the music as much as we do. If you are looking for ideas for a girls’ weekend getaway or micro trip, just check your favorite bands’ tour schedules and start planning.
We live in a big old country with lots of places to see and explore. I recommend you get a map out and see how many places are within a four-hour drive of where you live. How many of them are new to you? Start there. After you have exhausted your road trip options (if that is even possible), look into flying somewhere new. R and I recently explored St. Louis (check out our post for our top five things to do in St. Louis). It was a fairly easy flight and we were both surprised by how much we enjoyed everything St. Louis had to offer. It made for a most-excellent girls’ weekend.
Leaving the country is best suited for a micro trip. An extra-long weekend is definitely enough time to explore some close-but-foreign lands and have an epic girls’ weekend. We have enjoyed short girls’ trips to both Puerto Rico and Iceland. Do I wish I had had more time there? Of course. But any time spent with my girls in a foreign land is better than no time at all.
I am not a big fan of losing money, so casinos are not my first choice of fun. But they really do make good girls’ weekend getaways. You and the girls can catch a show, eat delicious food and bond with total strangers at the craps table. You can read about our weekend getaway to the casinos of Jackpot, Nevada.
Nothing says girls’ weekend like a spa day. This past summer, I flew to Florida to spend a long weekend with some girlfriends. It was a fairly packed weekend, but we made time to get a massage and lounge about in white robes. I would have had a good time regardless of what we did. But my spa treatment sent me home feeling relaxed and very thankful for my girlfriends.
The Pendleton Round-Up is one of our very favorite girls’ weekend trips. We have actually spent many weekends going to rodeos. They are fun. The people watching is great (especially if you love cowboys as much as I do) and the food is delicious. Of course, there are plenty of rodeos held here in Idaho. However, getting out of town is what makes it a girls’ weekend instead of just a night out.
Living in Idaho, we are surrounded by good options for skiing. But a good girls’ weekend calls for something other than a trip to your usual ski resort. Perhaps you can drive to a neighboring state. Utah’s ski resorts are definitely road trip-able for us. However, I am not a fan of the price of their lift tickets. If I am going to spend that kind of money, I would rather make a weekend out of it somewhere new. That is exactly what R and I did one May. We flew to Canada and did a little spring skiing in Whistler. We got to ski, see and explore someplace new—all in one, fun-filled weekend.
We do not live real close to the ocean. However, it is not hard at all to get there. In fact, R, C and I recently flew to Sacramento, rented a car and spent some time on the Northern California Coast. It was lovely and made for a relaxing girls’ weekend. If the beach is too far to drive, look into a quick and cheap flight to your favorite seaside destination.
As mentioned before, R is a big National Park buff. My visits to our nation’s parks have increased tenfold since she and I became friends. One thing R’s love of National Parks has taught me is that they make excellent girls’ weekend getaways. For example, one weekend we traveled to Washington to hike and explore North Cascades National Park. Another weekend, we took a road trip to Yellowstone. If your girlfriends are into nature, check out the National Parks near and around you. In addition to having fun, you will get to see something real purty.
Girls’ weekends and micro trips are a great way to unwind and have a little fun. We’ve shared our ideas for a girls’ weekend, but there are plenty of activities to choose from. And does it really matter what you do when you are spending time with friends? I say no. So pick a weekend, pick an activity, grab your girlfriends and go have fun.
Welcome to the all fifty states club part 3! Parts 1 and 2 got us most of the way through the all fifty states club of America. This last post will pick up where we left off in North Carolina and highlight interesting/fun things I …
Work brought me to Kansas City twice in the course of one month. Lucky for me, I have a good friend (we will call her AA) who lives in and loves KC. She provided me with helpful hints and suggestions about what to see and …
The all fifty states club part 2 picks up where we left off in the first part of this series. This series explores interesting things to see and do in all fifty of the United States of America. (You can also go here to read part three.) We will now pick up with the middle. Incidentally, have you ever noticed how many of the states in the U.S. begin with the letters ‘M’ and ‘N?’ Except for Louisiana, this post will focus solely on states that begin with these two letters. Weird.
Everybody needs to go to New Orleans at some point. When I am traveling I usually lump together big cities as basically all the same in my head. Well, this generalization doesn’t work for NoLa. It is one of a kind. I have been here two times in the last few years and I can recommend a lot of things: cemeteries, ghost tours, WW2 museum, French Quarter, American Quarter, jazz festivals, the list can go on and on. But what I want to highlight here is the swamp tour B and I took.
We arrived at the swamp after about an hour driving from downtown New Orleans. We piled on a boat and for the next few hours, our tour guide powered us around swamps, pointing out gators, homemade fishing bobbers made of milk cartons and empty plastic bottles, and the interesting plants and birds native to this habitat. My favorite part of the experience was listening to this guy; I had no idea that Adam Sandler was spoofing people by the way he talked in Water Boy. But sure enough, our guide sounded exactly like that. Classic.
A few years ago, B’s and my work trips to the East Coast fortuitously occurred around the same time. Like we’ve said in previous posts, when work takes you places you really should make good use and take the opportunity to explore somewhere new. We did this and took a trip around the Northeast. Maybe not so fortuitously, it was the middle of February and the Northeast was experiencing a crazy snow season. I’ve never seen snow that high! It was as higher than I am tall. When we got to Acadia National Park, it was gorgeous, albeit a frozen tundra. This state was really cool and I definitely want to visit again in different conditions.
On an different work trip to Washington D.C., I rented a car and drove along the mid-Atlantic seaboard. I had watched a program on PBS about the wild horses found on this skinny island that stretches for 37 miles off Virginia and Maryland and wanted to see these guys in person. After driving around for awhile, I turned a corner and there they were. I was on the Maryland side of the island at this point, so the horses are managed by the National Park Service. Their population is kept in check by contraception; on the TV show I was watched someone shot a dart into the bum of a female horse so she wouldn’t get pregnant that year. Talk about crazy jobs! On the Virginia side of the island, cowboy types round up some of the horses once a year and auction them off.
Martha’s Vineyard is an island off of Cape Cod, the part of Massachusetts that juts out into the ocean. Like a lot of Cape Cod, it is known for swanky houses, democrats and people who wear sweaters tied around their shoulders. I spent a week visiting my dad in Cape Cod and took advantage of the handy ferry schedule that takes you the seven miles or so to and from the island. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to be that impressed since I assumed it would be uber pretentious, but I was pleasantly surprised.
I rented a bike and cruised around a few of the towns. My favorite part was the Victorian cottages in the town of Oak Bluffs. These adorable and very well preserved houses look like colorful gingerbread houses. They are small and intricate and frilly, if houses can be frilly. Definitely worth the trip over from the mainland.
When I was getting close to finishing up all 50 states, I realized I couldn’t come up with a memory of Michigan. This seemed improbable because I had driven from Massachusetts to Idaho and it is on the way. But to be true to my 50 state list, I decided to make a special trip to this state. My experience of choice was the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation in Dearborn. I figured this museum would be all about cars and while it did have a lot of that, it had so much more. I saw JFK’s limo, Abraham Lincoln’s chair from the Ford Theater, and unrelated to assassinated presidents, the bus on which Rosa Parks was riding when she opted to change American history.
I really like fairs and try to go to the Western Idaho Fair every year. I mistakenly assumed other state fairs would be on the scale of Idaho’s. Definitely not the case in Minnesota. I’m pretty sure this fair is one of the signature events of the year in this northern state. And why wouldn’t it be? I ate fried cookie dough, saw two lumberjacks race each other to cut down a tree using chainsaws, and listened to Sturgill Simpson, Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard (may he rest in peace) sing. It was, all in all, a magical evening.
As B and I drove through the southern states we noticed a crop we weren’t familiar with. We decided to pull over and check out what the fluffy white stuff was and discovered to our delight we were looking at rows and rows of cotton. We (of course) took pictures and were (rightfully) embarrassed when a nice southern gentleman stopped his car to make sure we were okay and our vehicle hadn’t broken down. No sir, we’re fine, just some yankees who hadn’t seen cotton before.
Okay, truth be told, I had already been to Missouri before we went to the Antiques Roadshow in St. Louis. But it is just one of my favorite memories, so I am going to put it down as my favorite experience in the state of Missouri. You can read all about it in this post, but suffice it to say I had a great time at the Roadshow and was impressed with the host city of St. Louis to boot. I hadn’t expected much beyond an Arch, but we really had a good time exploring this city.
When my brother and his wife decided to get hitched at Glacier National Park, it seemed very fitting. Also fitting is the fact that in Montana anybody can perform a marriage ceremony. Ha! And so it was that a small group of us hiked down a trail and my dad presided as they became a spousal unit. BTW, Glacier is gorgeous. I highly recommend visiting this special park, especially because the glaciers that the park is named for are supposed to melt in the next few decades.
For anyone driving through Nebraska, you should know it takes a loooong time to get from one side to the other. I drove through from east to west and close to the border I stopped in at Scotts Bluff National Monument. It was at this point that I stopped feeling sorry for myself and how long it was taking to get across Nebraska; you see, Scott’s Bluff is on the trail that a hundred and fifty years ago people walked or rode in wagons to get across as they were slowly making their way to Oregon, Utah and California.
Nevada: The town of Reno, Nevada, is in between Boise and Northern California. As such, I have driven ol’ I-80 more times than I can remember. We would always pass through Reno and before we started climbing up towards Donner’s Summit we would turn off and visit Boomtown. When we were younger, we would play in the robust kid’s area. But when I reached 18, I started hitting the slots. Early on I hit big and won $250. I probably have lost almost that over the years, but I still like to pop in while I’m driving through.
New Hampshire’s license plate reads, ‘Live Free or Die.’ We had only been in New Hampshire for a few minutes when we understood why New Hampshirans picked this motto. We were driving up to a red light when we saw multiple cars treat the read light like a stop sign, stopping and then proceeding through the red light. It was clear from oncoming traffic, and even though the law said stop, New Hampshirans made up their own minds and went. Respect.
Many moon’s ago, my friend and I visited New York City for about a week. Instead of staying in Manhattan, we stayed with her family in New Jersey and caught the train into town (along with all the other big whigs who work in the Big Apple). For several days we explored the hustle and bustle of the big city and at night settled into a comfortable suburban home. At the end of the week, I could kind of get why people would spend two hours commuting instead of living in smaller houses closer to the big city. Kind of.
In South Central New Mexico, there is a strange desert whose sand is white instead of the normal tan color. This is because the sand in this area is made of gypsum; in fact, this is the largest gypsum sand dune in the world. If you visit you should go on a hike, but make sure you don’t get lost and wind up next door on the military’s White Sands Missile Range.
On the aforementioned trip I took to New Jersey/New York, I saw and did lots of great things. It’s hard to narrow down to my favorite, but I think it would have to be splurging at a New York Mets baseball game. My friend’s uncle was very generous and took us to see the Mets. He went all out and we ended up with seats just above the Mets dugout. I got to see Mike Piazza up close and personal as I chowed down on a doctored up hot dog. That was my first experience with major league baseball and even though I have yet to get as good of seats, I always make sure to eat a big league hot dog at every game I go to.
The states in the middle of the alphabet were a pleasure to visit. Have you been to or is one of these your home state? What has been you favorite experience visiting the Middles? Stay tuned for the final segment in this series to hear about U.S. states. Quick–what is the last state of the 50 states alphabetically?…Wyoming.
I have been thinking about bringing new life to old adventures lately. I do not enjoy doing the same things over and over again. That is why I always choose to go somewhere new instead of to the same vacation spot year after year. I …