Road Trip Wrap-Up

Hey Y’all. So this is going to be my epic wrap-up for blog posts. I have a sizeable collection of photos and stories from the remainder of our trip back north.

I left off in Charleston where we had an excellent lunch for my 2 Year Business Anniversary. After that, we continued on our way to North Carolina to spend some time with my cousin’s.

Kara and I stayed with my cousin Adam and his wife Lauren in Durham, NC. Adam made a delicious dinner for us and we got to check out their photos from a recent trip to Ireland. It was nice to check out someone else’s photos for a change! Add that to our list of future travels.

In the morning Lauren took us to the Duke Gardens.

After our morning stroll, we headed into campus. I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were walking through Hogwarts.

This is Duke Chapel. It felt more like the Sistine Chapel.

And one of the strangest coincidences from our trip – we happened to cross paths with Kevin in his first week of class while walking around campus. Kevin stayed with my sister-in-law Kirstin’s family while attending St. John’s Prep. He just started his Freshman year at Duke and Kara spotted him walk right past us so we had to take a photo.

My Aunt Tricia made us an enormous home-made dinner with roast pork, potatoes and two tortes to top it all off. It was delicious and we got to spend the evening catching up with my family.

The morning after we hit the road for DC. But first, we had to stop at the Lemur Center at Duke. Everyone told us this was a must-do while we were in town so we visited some of our primate relatives in the morning.

Kara’s favorites were these two brothers. They do everything together.

Do your time homie, don’t let the time do you.

DC!

I think it’s poetic that our final stop also happens to be our nation’s capitol. We celebrated the end of our trip by sleeping in and getting some pop tarts made from scratch.

Ted’s Bulletin was a great call for breakfast. I forget who recommended it but it was excellent.

Our last day in the sun was full-on summer. 95 degrees in the shade, felt like 110 in the sun. We decided to go towards the National Mall and museum-hop to stay cool.

First stop was the Renwick Gallery – all kinds of artwork & installations.

This is actually a bracelet.

This chandelier has hundreds of LEDs that light up in patterns continually.

Museum of the American Indian.

I love this, it’s a sculpture from an old fable about the Raven That Stole The Sun.

I also thought this mayan calendar sculpture was gorgeous.

Outside the Capitol we passed by the Mine Worker’s union who were marching to get healthcare for retired Miner’s.

After lunch we headed to the Natural History Museum. This is one of the coolest museums I’ve ever been to. 10-year old me would have lost his mind here.

The North American Pika face to face with a bull moose.

Sugar Gliders in flight

At this point the museums were closing down and we had to brave the heat. It didn’t actually cool off at all during the day, it was just as hot when we got back outside at 5:30.

We took a little rest in the shade of the Washington Monument. I wanted to venture to the top but it’s closed for elevator maintenance right now.

It didn’t feel right to come all this way and not go to the reflecting pool & Lincoln’s Memorial so that was how we wrapped thing’s up.

WWII Memorial at the edge of the reflecting pool.

And that’s pretty much a wrap on our trip. Kara insisted that I take some photos on our last road day, especially once we saw a sign for Salem. Hard to believe it’s been 6 weeks!

I joked with Kara that once we drove by Albany we could always go left and go once more around.

This was one of the most fun adventures I’ve taken in my life. I feel incredibly lucky that we had the time to take this trip now as well as the support, generosity and hospitality of so many friends and family we joined along the way. Most of all, it was an amazing experience to share with my best friend who also happens to be my wife.

My favorite thing about travel is every time we go somewhere new it makes me want to keep going further, keep exploring. The country is wide and full of adventure!