March of the crab
These guys don't look so happy to be cooked.
We went crabbing last weekend in Pacific City, on the Oregon coast, with Jonathan's family. While we took turns out on the river in the boat, Aunt Nancy and Uncle Bob set up a camping stove and cooked the crab we brought back. We ate it right there on the beach, tossing the empty shells into the bonfire, where they hissed a little. These are the ones we brought back home with us to give out to folks. The fog rolled in while we were out there, and it got quite chilly. My niece and I explored the sand dunes near where our camp was set up, and we found it was quite a bit warmer there, between the scraggly plants and sheltered from the wind off the water.
Yesterday, I visited friends on the coast where we used to live, and it was so joyful to walk barefoot on the beach with Salena and Connie, except for that one dog poop incident. We had lunch, took a walk and then found our way to the free 20 ounce coffees at the new Dutch Brothers in Newport. My Dutch Mocha was nice and smooth. After a quick stop at my old newspaper, I visited with friend Tara and her super-smart son Zac. Driving home, with the sunset just beginning in my rearview mirror, I felt free and crazily happy. Like I was out on the road again.
Our summer adventures have wound down and turned into regular, smaller adventures, closer to home. It's nice, but definitely something to get used to again. After a few more favorites lists, we're done writing about our big trip. Expect to see occasional blogs, instead of the nearly daily ones we were doing. After all, job hunting just isn't as exciting as going to Graceland.
Laura's favorite small towns
These are my own choices, and if my husband has anything to add, he'll do so when he comes home from the annual guys' camping trip.
Northampton, Massachusetts. It's a college town with lots of fun vintage clothing shops and restaurants and a great vibe. Emily Dickinson's home is in nearby Amherst.
Saugatuck, Michigan. It's a fun little town on the water with great people watching.
Montclair, New Jersey, and surrounding towns. My old stomping grounds have certainly grown trendier in recent years. It's especially lovely in that area. And you can't beat the bagels or the pizza.
North Hero, Vermont. This tiny town on an island in Lake Champlain charmed us when we visited longtime family friends.
Hyde Park, New York. A cheap movie theater, grand old mansions and the CIA flanked by Hudson River beauty. What could be more interesting? Rhinebeck was fun, too.
Saratoga Springs, New York. The food was great, the shopping was great, and that's all without even making it to the springs for rejuvenation. Yes, it's also a college town.
Newport, Rhode Island, the land of the very rich back in the day. It's affordable to go visit and take tours of the mansions, where every room in every house is exquisite.
Lake Pleasant, New York. It's one of the many small towns in the Adirondacks, and although it was pouring rain, its charm did shine right through the gray. Plus seeing my kindergarten teacher there made it all the more special.
State College, Pennsylvania. It's a happening, funky college town, surrounded by farmland and pigs and horses.
Oxford, Mississippi, home of Faulkner and a very cool little town way out there in Mississippi, which is a lot of fun to spell as far as states go. College town? You bet.
And the winner is...
Our final contest, about how many cities and towns we visited during our 10-week road trip is now over. The answer is 200 places. At least those were the ones we remembered to write down.
The winner is ikkinlala. Send me your mailing address at laurastanfill (at) hotmail.com, and I'll send a prize out to you. Congratulations!
Those 200 towns and cities were seen while we racked up nearly 14,000 miles. And there was still so much we didn't see. Amazing.
Best of the cities
We visited a lot of amazing places on our trip, and we were surprised to find some of our favorites are among those that turn up consistently in the best places to live guides. We liked them, too.
Here are our favorite big cities of the ones we visited on this summer's jaunt across America. They're listed in no particular order.
Ann Arbor, Michigan
New Orleans, Louisiana
New York City, New York
Burlington, Vermont
Providence, Rhode Island
Austin, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
Boston, Massachusetts
Boulder, Colorado
St. Petersburg, Florida
Favorite tourist attractions
Here's our next list, in no particular order, of our picks for best tourist attractions:
Schlitterbahn, New Braunfels, Texas. The massive, Bavarian themed waterpark offers all kinds of fun for all ages. We liked the tube rides down bumps and drops and landing down in the Comal River. The park uses untreated riverwater for its rides, which is especially cool. And for a hot Texas summer day, you can't beat the experience.
Rowan Oak, William Faulkner's home, in Oxford, Mississippi. It was beautiful. Even though we got there too late to take the tour. I really connected to the landscape in relation to what he describes in his incredible novels.
Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts. The history there is all so incredible. A visitor could spend days there learning about the American Revolution and reading all the plaques.
The Maker's Mark Distillery tour, Loretto, Kentucky. You, too, can dip your finger in a vat of fermenting alcohol in the middle of the Kentucky countryside.
Rockefeller Center tour (the history and architecture tour), New York City. Our guide threw in lots of anecdotes about celebrities, mixing history and art knowledge with fun comments.
Ben and Jerry's, Waterbury, Vermont. Free samples included! And the old flavor "graveyard" is hysterical:
Celestial Seasonings factory tour, Boulder, Colorado. Who knew that so much mint in the mint room could clear out sinuses so quickly? The full-size artwork that graces the tea boxes was also worth a look. And there were samples galore.
Scout's Rest, Buffalo Bill Cody's ranch in North Platte, Nebraska. The house is small and full of artifacts, but it's the outlying buildings, especially the horse barn, that were chock full of posters and other memorabilia from his traveling Wild West show.
Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee. What's an American road trip without Elvis? The green shag carpet on the ceiling of the jungle room was a highlight.
The Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Seeing his studio set up just the way it was and the huge canvases on the walls of the museum was a quintessentially American experience.
Honorable mention: Bill Clinton's presidential library, Little Rock, Arkansas. It's definitely an enormous monument to the man, complete with a spin on the scandals and a beautiful Dale Chihuly glass tree from one of the White House Christmases. It also boasts the only full-sized replica of the oval office in a presidential library.
