Wednesday 29 February 2012

Travel Series: U.S.A. part 1




The first time I visited America was during my world trip with Dad in 1998. We had already driven across Australia and seen much of New Zealand's north island, but next up was my very first trip into the U.S.A., about which I was extremely excited! I've got family in the U.S., but it's also the country that spawned/reared some of my all-time favourite musicians. To my teenaged self, it would be amazing just to set foot on American soil (still is to my adult self, actually!).

Dad taking a photo on the way to Chicago
- and that's our Chrysler!
We flew from Auckland to L.A., where a lot of my mum's family lives. In Mar Vista with family, I got the longest night of sleep I've ever had in my life (18.5 hours or so). Once we'd recovered from our jetlag, we set about arranging the next leg of our journey, which was where Auto Driveaway came in. We didn't know where we'd be going, but that was half the fun of relying on driveaway cars. After turning down the first car we were offered (it just wasn't fancy enough for our liking - yep, even soon-to-be homeless hobos can be auto-snobs sometimes), we wound up with a beautiful Chrysler Cirrus. This car, which went fast and smelled new (and had a CD player, man!), was bound for Chicago.

If you look closely, you can see Dad lying in the road,
taking yet another photo!
We had three days to reach Chicago. By Dad's calculations, this gave us a bit of leeway to take our time and enjoy the trip. During that trip we passed through the Death and Monument Valleys, Zion National Park, and the Grand Canyon National Park (stopping at the Canyon itself, on a day when it was snowing). We drove through countless towns, small and large. We paused at a lot of truck stops and slept in the car each night. Sometimes we slept parked by fields of snow, other times amidst semi-trailers. All in all, it was an amazing drive.
Crand Canyon, 1998
 - you can't tell but it 
was snowy 

I was still most excited to reach Chicago, though, since I'm a huge Smashing Pumpkins fan. Part of my seventeen-year-old self did daydream of bumping into Billy or D'Arcy or James or Jimmy while in Chicago, even though I knew we'd only be there a few hours before moving on (it was general policy that we wouldn't linger overlong in any one place). But I still took in the tiny part of Chicago I did see with a sense of wonder. I glimpsed Lake Michigan (which Dad pronounced "Lake Mitch-i-gan") and daydreamed of rock stars.

One of the roads Dad practised rally driving on.
On the advice of a local woman, we headed for Chicago's Green Mill bar where apparently Al Capone used to hang out. A band was playing jazz, and I think we got some Mexican food from a place next door. Outside the Green Mill, I met a homeless guy who was collecting money. I gave him a dollar and asked his name. "Lester!" he said, and I responded, "Really? My dad's name's Lester!" When Dad appeared, I introduced the two Lesters, and took a photo of them with Dad's camera. Sadly it turned out really dark and you can't see much (or anything, really).

Finally, our time in Chicago ended. We had a new driveaway car and a new destination - Philadelphia. But true to our style, we weren't exactly going to drive straight there. I'll write about the drive from Chicago to Philly next time. :)

22 comments:

  1. Cool post. The last picture is my favorite one.

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  2. I've never been to Chicago. I'd like to. I think it would be a fun experience. Driving cross-country would be a blast!

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    1. It was amazing - but the part I've talked about was only the first part, there's heaps more. haha

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  3. I went to Chicago once, on my 20th birthday, it was a huge let down. My husband and I were travelling the country in a minivan and we expected all these great things for that day. We couldn't find half of them, ended up getting gas at a station with bars over the windows, and me crying in the back of the van by the end of the day. Sounds like your Chicago adventure was much better :) That last picture is awesome!

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    1. That sounds like it wasn't the most fun. I can relate though - I was in Europe with Dad (which I will write about later in this series :D) when I had an emotional breakdown from being around him too long & ran off home, cutting my trip short. That was certainly an emo teen moment! ;)

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  4. I went to Chicago for 36 hours once and it was a great experience, though the city is a bit too crowded for me and since I'm from small town Iowa... I'll stick to living here. :)

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    1. I love big cities...but I can appreciate the (sometime) tranquillity of the country too. Also, I recently read about small town Iowa in that book about the library cat, Dewey. hehe

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  5. Sounds like it was a fun trip. :)

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  6. 18 hours of sleep is sounding pretty darn awesome right now! (I'm currently surviving far too little) I really want to visit the US one day. Looks like you have some incredible memories! Thanks for sharing the photos.

    PS - and thanks for checking out Guardian's quotes!

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    1. I know the feeling about too-little sleep - I'm having that problem myself right now. Last night my cat was to blame. Actually, many nights he's too blame. Damn attention seeker!!

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  7. Too bad about the picture. I had a poor picture taking experience when I went to Europe (20 cities in 21 days!)- wound up with only a handful of pics. I was so bummed!

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    1. Ouch, that's painful. I had 1 day in Turkey of taking photos, after which my camera was stolen - so I missed out on a day's photos. I still lament that loss to this day!

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  8. You are SO LUCKY to be able to travel like that. Zion National Park is one of my all time favorite places to take a short trip to. (Short for me). I am DYING to see the Grand Canyon. I am trying to be a patient while my youngest gets another year or two under her belt. I worry about tiny kids at that big canyon, but I can't wait to see it. And I hear Chicago is awesome. Love your story! Keep 'em coming!

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    1. Well, I will be travelling again this year, but I truly hope that's the last time for a while I go anywhere. I need to spend money on other things for a while. I do so love to travel though!

      Zion was gorgeous, but we didn't venture far.

      Can't wait to hear about your adventures when you're ready to go on them!

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  9. Hey Trisha,

    GREAT STORY :) I'm originally from Ireland, and have criss-crossed the US five times now and I absolutely LOVE cross country road trips.... SO great that you got to do it with your dad (I did it once with my Uncle Tom and I'll never forget it :)

    PS... You said you're going to Ireland... you should sign up for my Got Green? Blog Hop, write about what you THINK Ireland is going to be like, and then after your trip, come on by and update us... see if the Blog Hop post was close to the actual experience :)

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    1. All right, you suckered me in! i've signed up for your blog hop thingy :) Your suggestion for how to approach it is a good one! hehe

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  10. I SO want to go to Australia and New Zealand! We use to take two week driving trips across the US. I loved it. The Grand Canyon is amazing.

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    1. The US is gorgeous to traverse! and I hope someday you get to visit this area of the world. And stop by Perth :D

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  11. Driving out west in the U.S. is the best. So gorgeous!

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    1. Agreed! It's an amazing landscape! but I like the whole country (the parts I've seen anyway). So many different places on offer!

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Thanks for your words, me hearties! and don't forget to leave a link to your blog somewhere I can find it!