Road Trip Day 1: 420 Miles

Well, today was the beginning of my two week road trip from NYC to LA with my mom. Sounds daunting, doesn't it? But really, I am excited and I think it will be a great time. I am going to post every night about what we did (granted that our hotel/motel/holiday inn had wifi).

Today we started at my amazing apartment in NYC and somehow drove through New Jersey and then had lunch in Pennsylvania. How did we end up in PA, unsure, but that's just how TomTom got us there. We had lunch at Applebee's, which is literally my least favorite restaurant of all time. The food tastes awful, it is all overpriced, and the calorie content is astronomical. Needless to say, we vowed that it would be our one and only Applebee's stop of the whole trip. The only good thing to come of our lunch break was that they were selling Birch Beer.

Birch Beer!

Now, before you get your panties in a twist, Birch Beer is actually soda, not an alcoholic beverage.  I have to be honest with you, Birch Beer is probably my favorite soda, but it is also incredibly hard to find and equally as hard to describe. My first and only experience with Birch Beer previous to today was at my favorite restaurant in College Park: Marathon Deli. Marathon Deli is an amazing gyro hole-in-the-wall type restaurant, the best french fries of all time, and Birch Beer in their soda fountain. Birch Beer - if I had to describe it - I would say is a mix between root beer and cherry coke. I know that sounds disgusting, but it actually tastes delicious, if you ever see it, just try it! 

A two-week long road trip can be, putting it gently, BORING. So my mom and I have decided to make it as interesting as possible by adding different elements to our trip. As you may know, I love the food network (most of the shows at least), and one of my favorites is Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. If you have never seen it, it is basically Guy Fieri going around the country eating at random Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. My mom and I have decided to eat at as many Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives that overlap on our route - sounds awesome, right? 

Tonight was our first time taking recommendations from Guy. We went to the Lake Effect Diner in Buffalo, NY. 

Lake Effect Diner

Well, Guy was right, our dinner was delicious! We were so hungry we forgot to take pictures, but we will try to remember next time, I promise. My mom ate Haddock (fish), and I ate eggs (boring), and we shared griddled mac & cheese (delicious). Mac and Cheese is definitely one of my favorite foods of all time, so we obviously had to order it, and it's a good thing we did! 

Admittedly, today was a relatively boring day. We had to cover about 7 hours of driving so the only stops we had were to eat. Tomorrow is going to be a much more exciting day, but I don't want to give anything away, so more tomorrow, I promise!