Goodbye New York

Friday, August 10th, 2018

I can't say that anything particularly remarkable happened these first two days of travel. We left my office at about 1:30ish, making it most of the way to the main highway (I-90) before we realized that I had left my phone in my desk. PSA: When taking a cross continental trip, make sure you have your phone.  Only delayed us another 20 minutes or so. The rest of the day was just spent driving---we  switched on and off to drive, only stopping for bathroom breaks. Eventually we made it to Buffalo, the far end of the beautiful New York State. As per a suggestion from one of Cameron's friends, we grabbed a quick bite at Pearl Street Grill and Pub.

It was a beautiful example of the industrial, rust belt architecture with its iron bars, exposed brick, and multi-story warehouse look. It was lined with draping flower baskets, adding pops of color to the monotonous colors of the restaurant. It was here that Cameron let me take our first "trip selfie" together, because apparently traveling in NY didn't count? We sat on the patio, basking in the perfect weather, listening to some live music and wolfing down some mediocre sandwiches and quite delicious chicken wings, spiced medium and something else I don't remember but it was damn sure unique. To quote my brother, "Isn't all chicken in Buffalo 'Buffalo Chicken?"

The wait staff was pleasant, but I did experience a bit of odd sexism that surprised me more than offended me. As we were about to sign the credit card receipts with one of the two pens given to us (one pink one blue), the waiter told my brother to "Give [your sister] the girly pen." Cameron defiantly handed me the blue pen and I proceeded to tell the waiter that blue was in fact the color that was originally the indicator for a baby girl.

After dinner we hit the road, and drove as far as we could until our eyes could no longer see the road in front of us. We made it to Cleveland, Ohio. We arrived at the hotel just after 10:30, and while I immediately made best friends with a king and the pillow, Cameron decided to make new friends with the pool for a little while....

Strangle Brother Tally - 0

Saturday, August 11th, 2018

Cameron and I had agreed upon an early wake up time so we could hit the road as early as possible. 7:00am, we decided, would allow us to be on the road by 8:00-ish. By no means am I an early riser. As a matter of fact, I hate mornings and would much rather sleep in. I'm a grump in the morning too, and there's no way around that. I don't really drink coffee. So you can imagine my annoyance when I found myself awoken by a "GOOD MORNING!" chirp from Cameron. Rolling over with a dramatic grunt, the clock read 6:40am. Why. Would. You. Wake. Me. Up. I did roll out of bed after a failed desperate attempt to rekindle the last remaining minutes of my all-too-short rest. Cameron said he was going to go eat breakfast in the lobby. I was annoyed he wouldn't wait for me, especially since I hate eating alone and I hate being watched when I'm eating. THEN after depriving me of the first travel selfie when I left work yesterday, and after waking me up before the alarm, he dares to deny me the first out-of-NY-travel-selfie. :(

But there we were, out the door by 8:00am, just as planned. Driving, driving, driving, with our goal being to make it to the Windy City by lunch. We did make it, and it was cool to see a sign that actually told us that we entered a new time zone. We tried to make some last minute lunch plans with a) a friend of mine who just so happened to be in Chicago all the way from Texas on the same day that I was and b) some cousins who live in the city, but to no avail. Instead, we got a great lunch recommendation for some authentic deep dish pizza (Thanks, Ben!) and thoroughly enjoyed those slices.

Deep Dish at Giordano's in Chicago

We stuck the leftovers in a box and later had those for dinner in the parking lot of a rest area in Black River, Wisconsin. Cameron liked the pizza better cold. I think he's crazy. Nothing compares to hot melty cheese pulls. It's food porn, I tell you. (Side note: sitting in the car I saw these trucks. What an optical illusion, it took me way too long to figure it out). We left that stop with the windows open, some oldies playing, and a bright red perfectly round sun sinking into the haze.

Black River, Wisconsin

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Optical Illusion Trucks

We decided to stop in Minneapolis (instead of St. Paul), just to say we did. Cameron picked a random exit and just drove in the direction of downtown, taking us straight past the Twins' stadium. We found ourselves briefly at a big "block party" sponsored by a pizza place. Live music. Beer. Getting frisked by police officers. Everything your city party needs for good fun. Cameron had a beer and I just stood there for a bit, enjoying it all the same.

Block Party in Minneapolis, MN

Now we are in some hotel in St. Cloud, Minnesota. I am looking forward to the rest. I need to give my ears a break from the constant flow of terrible puns from my brother's grinning face.Tomorrow, we might just find ourselves in our friendly neighbor to the north. But first, we still have Fargo, and at least I can say I've been to the Midwest.

Strangle Count: Probably 3.

Playlist: Alternating between The No Sleep Podcast and Adam Ruins Everything: The Podcast