we’re back!

[Snowshoeing in Whitney Woods].

The trip has been over for about 4 months.  It’s crazy to think that it’s been that long, but the changing weather and longer days have been proof that time is passing since our trip.  Although we are no longer exploring the country, we are still exploring–mainly around New England.  As a result, we’re bringing the blog back to document some of our days trips.

Since being back we’ve taken numerous trips to help Ben find good surf spots, gone up to Maine, the Cape, New Hampshire, and once the summer rolls in we’ll be going even more places.

People keep asking us where our favorite place on the trip was.  My personal favorites are Washington state, Louisiana, Arizona, and California.  Washington has everything–dramatic mountains, sheer cliffs to the beautiful Pacific, an awesome city (Seattle), and some of the most friendly people we’ve met on the entire trip.  Louisiana is like going to another country and has such a mysterious and rich culture.  My heart belongs in the Southwest.  Driving at dusk with an endless horizon, the sun already set on one side of you and the sun still blaring in the sky on the other, you can really only get that in the desert.  California was one of my favorites just because we really took our time going down the coast and met some great people along the way.

Ben’s favorite places include Michigan and the Great Lakes region.  It’s such a cool place, but he can’t explain why he likes it.  South Dakota was also really surprising for him, it was the opposite of what he expected it to be.  Michigan, despite being so cold had a serene desolateness that made him feel like he was in the middle of nowhere.

Here are some pictures of trips we have taken since coming home:

A little hike in Ellisville.

The beach at the end of the hike in Ellisville.  We found a little sand dollar on the beach.

Walking on the pond at Wompatuck State Park with Lily and Lulu.  One of our favorite hikes that we do almost every weekend.

A huge boardwalk across a salt marsh in Sandwich.  Earlier that day we took the dogs to Beebe Woods and Peterson Farms.  The boardwalk leads to a beach on the Bay Side of the Cape.  On our way home we stopped by a seafood market called Joe’s.  We got a bunch of stuff:  rock crab (for bisque), steamers, and fish for around $20, nice and cheap and so fresh.

The beach at the end of the boardwalk was full of sticky peat and clay.  My shoes were so caked by the end of the walk.

Ben avoiding the sticky mud by going on the rocks.

A sweet surf spot we found on the North Shore.  There was one guy out there surfing, and we took a soggy foot path to get down to the rocks.  Once we got around the point, the waves were huge…the biggest I had ever seen them in New England.

Miles Standish Monument in Duxbury, finally made it out there.

More posts coming soon!

DC

One of our last stops on the trip was Washington DC.  It was a surreal experience to end up here after having driven across nearly all of the United States–where the entire country is governed.  Ben and I have always been of the belief that the U.S. is way too huge a country to have such a strong centralized government.  Being on this trip affirmed that belief. It is strange to think that somewhere in a large meeting room or a mahogany office in a monolithic building near the Mall in DC there is a congressman who represents the people who elected him/her hundreds or thousands of miles away.

We visited Arlington Cemetery, where Zarla’s great uncle Richard is buried.  He died at the age of 21 in an airplane accident over India during World War II.  The remains of his plane and the other passengers on board weren’t found until the 70s.

Arlington Cemetery is overwhelming.

The wreaths laid out on graves at Arlington.

Hail to the Chief!

Where the moneys gets handled.

We got to see all the huge monuments in DC at night.  What a sight.

Zarla’s favorite, the Lincoln Memorial.

On our way to Aaron Mehta’s company’s Christmas party.  He played the bass with his bosses, and we ate like kings.

El Capitole!

The amazing Library of Congress.  We saw a great exhibit about the Spanish encounter with Mesoamericans.  It was the most interesting exhibit we had both seen.

Oh Tannenbaum.

The capitol building.

South and North Carolina

King Street in Charleston.  We basically got an architecture tour of the area because the tour guide on the horse and carriage was talking loudly about all of the old houses, and we walked right alongside them the whole time.

Haunted river in Charleston…one of the two.  The fog was so thick that day.  Can you tell where the water and the sky meet?

The famous colored houses in Charleston.

Nearly all the houses have tiny gardens in between them.  Some of the houses have massive courtyards as well.

Sea urchin on Myrtle Beach, aka, Buffet and Beach Crap Capitol of the world.  Worse than Old Orchard Beach.

The waves at Myrtle Beach.

Moore’s Creek National Monument.  We stopped at a bunch of these random places on this trip, and this one was especially cool because it was where one of the first shots of the Revolution was fired.