Keep on Driving

WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY


Yellowstone was quite an interesting place to visit! We ended up driving around the park for about eight hours to get from the east entrance to the west entrance on Wednesday. By the end of the day, it would be an understatement to say we were tired. Before going to Yellowstone we were most excited to see the wildlife (if you didn't know, we LOVE bears!). And did we ever see a bear! We saw a bear, plenty of deer, and buffalo/bison (did you know that buffalo and bison are actually the same thing)?

A Bear! 

A Bison!

An Elk! 

Our second day in Yellowstone was much more exciting - we saw old faithful and took a hike! Old faithful was awesome and we were pretty silly on our hike.

Hiding in a Cave

Jumping off a Log

Mom jumping off a Log

We also managed to get the cutest picture ever of the two of us! 

My mom and me at Yellowstone! 

After we left yellowstone we drove to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to have dinner through a little town called Moose, Wyoming. My mom and I have a little inside joke about moose from our first road trip my senior year of high school. Lucky for us, we saw moose in Moose!

Moose in Moose! 

We then spent then night in Salt Lake City, Utah.

FRIDAY 

On Friday we ate at yet another Diner, Drive-In, and Dive. We ate lunch at The Red Iguana in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is a mexican restaurant that is known for their seven variations of mole sauce. It was pretty good! We then drove to Bryce Canyon, Utah, which is in the southern part of the state. We got in early, but too late to really see anything, so we ate an early dinner and went to bed. 

SATURDAY

On Saturday we explore Bryce Canyon National Park and it was amazing! It might even be my favorite place that I have ever been! We did a three mile hike, then got lost, and ended up having to walk an additional two miles back to the visitors center to get back to our car - womp womp. 

Mom at Bryce

Me at Bryce

The sign for our hike!

My favorite thing about Bryce Canyon were the strange land formations known as Hoodoos. Hoodoos are strange formations that look like icicles sticking up from the ground made out of rock. They are bright orange and they are awesome! 

Hoodoos! 

After we explored Bryce we drove about two hours to St. George, Utah. In St. George we ate another incredible dinner by sheer luck and the help of the internet. We ate at Xetava Gardens Cafe which ended up being incredible! My mom and I shared an appetizer of fried avocado and fried artichoke hearts with a basil pesto sauce. It was amazing and I can totally replicate it if I bake it instead of fry it - panko crusted vegetables, so easy. For our entree we shared a New York Strip with avocado and potatoes with a veal demi glace. It was SO GOOD. 

yummm

We were the last customers in the restaurant, there an hour after the restaurant closed, and we really couldn't resist ordering dessert because we were so thrilled with our dinner. They are known for their bread pudding, but my mom and I are chocolate people, so we asked if we could have a half portion of two desserts. Our wonderful waitress said yes, but then surprised us and gave us two whole desserts and only charged us for one! And to let you know, it took us two separate occasions to finish all of this dessert.

Double yummm

TODAY/SUNDAY

Today was another amazing day. We drove forty-five minutes to Zion National Park from our hotel. My mom and I decided to be super courageous and go on a hike while through a river. We rented waling sticks and had a blast. We hiked one mile to the river, and one mile back. We think we made it about a half mile in to the river, and a half mile back. We wanted to go further but thunder started to roll in and we were urged to turn around due to a flash-flood warning. Regardless - it was the coolest thing we have ever done! 

Mom in the Water

Me in the Water

Mom Again

Me

Mom is so strong!

 We were even lucky enough to see some animals on our hike today!

Deer

Squirrel 

Tonight we had a pretty low-key time just hanging out in our hotel room. Tomorrow we are very excited to drive to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon! I will tell you about it tomorrow, hopefully. 

Road Trippin'

Hi Friends,

I am so sorry for not posting in the last week. I have SO much to tell you.

THURSDAY

Last Thursday I saw Niagara Falls for the first time ever - and let me tell you - it was incredible and I loved it and I hope I get to go back one day.

Awesome Niagara Waterfall!

Cute Ducky from the Gift Shop

After Niagara Falls (the New York side), we went to our second Diner, Drive-in, and Dive in Buffalo, New York. We ate at Restaurant Sophia's for Brunch. While Guy may have eaten a fried bologna sandwich, I certainly did not. I learned that Guy will not eat eggs under any circumstances, so if you were ever wondering why there were no egg dishes on his show, that is why! 

Restaurant Sophia's

Eggs and Pancakes!

As you can see, we ate eggs and pancakes. My mom ordered a vegetable egg scramble with beef and I ordered sunny side up eggs with chicken souvlaki. We shared apple-maple-walnut pancakes, yum! It was also probably the first time I have ever ordered pancakes in a restaurant - that's the truth. 

Immediately after brunch we drove to Cleveland, Ohio. Now you might be asking yourself, Cleveland, really? But yes, really, and let me tell you why. One of my best friends from college is a super genius and has started medical school at Case Western Reserve University. How could I resist going to see her? (I'm not going to tell you her name in case she doesn't want all 10 of my readers knowing her name, so let's just call her "P"). It also helps that my mom adores her so she couldn't really object. While we were in Cleveland we managed to eat at our third Diner, Drive-in, and Dive in a twenty-four hour period. 

We ate dinner at a restaurant called Melt Bar and Grilled in Cleveland not too far from the campus. This restaurant only serves variations of the grilled cheese sandwich - basically a dream come true for me - I love grilled cheese! Of all three DDD's we ate at, this was definitely the best (although it might have been the company). 

MELT!

Yum!

Mom, P, and Me with our MASSIVE grilled cheese!

Well, let me tell you what the food is you're looking at up there. I ordered the July fish special sandwich that had cheese, fish, okra, and some sort of garlic sauce on it. It was the most amazing grilled cheese I have ever had. My mom ate a grilled cheese with grilled vegetables (boring but she said it was delicious). P got a grilled cheese that had pierogies in it! It was crazy but she loved it! 

FRIDAY

On Friday my mom and I drove from Cleveland, Ohio to Chicago, Illinois. But before we zoomed out of cleveland we were sure to stop by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Since we had gone to the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, TN we decided we couldn't pass up the opportunity to go to another music hall of fame. It was quick and fun and then we were on our way.

We decided to go to Chicago because my father has relatives in a Chicago suburb and we wanted to see them! Now, let me tell you something about my mom, she remembers everything, it's crazy. The last time we were in Chicago was almost three years ago for one of my cousin's bar-mitzvah's. During that weekend three years ago we ate at a very good italian restaurant which I had pretty much forgotten about until my mom reminded me of it. She remembered exactly where it was and how to get there without any directions! I was so impressed. So on Friday we ate dinner at The Next Door Bistro in Northbrook, IL. It was just as good as I remembered!

SATURDAY

I must admit that Saturday was a relatively boring day for us. We spent the majority of the day visiting with family in Chicago which was really fun and relaxing. We didn't end up leaving the Chicago area until almost 5pm - oops! We then drove from Chicago to Des Moines, Iowa and went right to bed. 

SUNDAY

Something I did not realize before this trip is that the majority of places in this country are closed on Sundays. Who knew? So while Des Moines actually appeared to be pretty cute, nothing was really open for us to see or enjoy. What we did find, however, was Zombie Burger. Now to be honest, I don't really care much for zombies, but most of my friends do, and we thought it was funny, so we decided to eat there. 

GRRRR

So Zombie Burger was fun, but here is my only advice - order a burger! I was silly and ordered a portabella mushroom salad, and my mom ordered a grilled chicken salad. What were we thinking? I'm not really so sure. 

If you are ever in Des Moines you should make it a point to be the capitol building because it is really quite beautiful. We then drove to Sioux Falls, SD and spent the night there (not much else to do there). But before we got to South Dakota we decided to take a detour to Omaha, Nebraska to say we ate a steak in Nebraska. 

Welcome to Omaha!

Welcome to South Dakota!

MONDAY

On Monday we drove to Rapid City, South Dakota so we could see the famous Mt. Rushmore. Well, let me tell you, it took us a lot longer than anticipated to get to Rapid City. We decided to make our first stop at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. 

Now let me explain to you what exactly the corn palace it. It is literally a giant building that is decorated on the outside entirely with corn. Yup, that's right, the murals pictured above are created out of ears of corn and corn husks. It was not quite as exciting as we were hoping for, but it was ok. 

After the corn palace the next place of interest was the Badlands National Park. We drove around the national park for about an hour and were blown away at how beautiful it was. The craziest thing was that the badlands used to be entirely under water and dinosaur-era fish used to live there! 

Ta Daaaa

Shadow Fun

Me and my Mom!

All along the interstate were countless billboards and signs for a place called Wall Drug. So we had to go! It was the most overwhelming place I have been since India (I would say ever, but that would be a lie). Second most overwhelming place I have ever been. Anything you could ever want, they had. I was able to finally buy my first pair of cowboy boots! I was, and still am, very excited because I have wanted cowboy boots for ever. They are cute, comfortable, and surprisingly affordable - score! 

Rapid City has been the nicest city we have been to so far. We decided to google the best restaurants in Rapid City, South Dakota and stumbled upon Tally's Silver Spoon. It is my new favorite restaurant. We got in last night (we called ahead) and they stayed open late to serve us because we called (bonus points). We then found out it was late night happy hour so we got two for one glasses of wine (bonus points). The most amazing thing was what they called the "indecision menu." If you don't know what you want to eat, you pick how many courses you want to eat for a flat rate, and the chef's are in total control of what you eat. The catch? Everyone at the table has to eat the same thing, and the chef's will honor any dietary restrictions that you may have. We got a two-course dinner that consisted of a beet and arugula salad with baked apple and apple chip salad for the first course. Our second course was coal fish with locally grown roasted vegetables. Everything was so amazing that our waiter talked us in to dessert. We got a flourless chocolate cake with avocado-orange pudding and ginger glaze. It was pretty much the best dinner I have ever eaten, and I'm not exaggerating. We liked it so much that we were shown the breakfast menu in case we wanted to come back in twelve hours. YUM. 

TODAY/TUESDAY

As you probably could have guessed by this point, my mom and I went back to Tally's for breakfast this morning and we were not sorry that we did. Their breakfast was incredible! Something fun about Rapid City is that they have statues of a lot of past American presidents. So obviously we had to pose with them! 

After breakfast we finally made it to Mt. Rushmore!! 

Mt. Rushmore!!!

Mt. Rushmore was so cool! We didn't spend very long there because it was 100 degrees out - but we were amazed at how truly awesome this was. How did they carve those faces with dynamite and ax's? I don't know but I was sufficiently impressed (who wouldn't be). 

After Mt. Rushmore we went to Custer, SD because I hear there was a pink and purple building there.

Purple Pie Palace! 

I was in heaven - a colonial house painted in pink and purple! I don't even like pie and I was delighted to be there!

We then drove through the state of Wyoming to get to Cody, WY. 

Welcome to Wyoming! 

We drove through the state of Wyoming on back country and mountain roads and were surrounded at times by beautiful forests and at others by boring flatlands. Tomorrow we start to explore Yellowstone National Park! 

I promise to update before next Tuesday!

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!

Moving

Hi Readers,

Sorry for the crazy delay in my posting - I will fill you in on what has been going on. I have been moving! As some of you may know, I am in the process of moving to New York City to attend graduate school at Teachers College of Columbia University. As one can imagine, I am very, very excited. Since I have returned from India I have been setting up my very own apartment with my mom in Manhattan!

Well - I'm not going to tell you where I am living in case you are a crazy stalker (which I hope none of you are), but I will show you some pictures of my bedroom.

My Bed

The Wall Above My Bed

My Tapestry From India

The Sunset View From The Roof

Isn't it cute? I think so :-)

Anyway, other than moving we have been finding ways to keep ourselves busy. Last week we went to go see Newsies on Broadway. It was great! I definitely recommend it, and let's be honest, when has Disney ever put out something that is not fantastic? 

I have been told there are a lot of free things to do in The City that I should be exploring. Last weekend we met up with one of my closest friends from high school and walked along the High Line in the Meat Packing District. Basically, the High Line is an old elevated train track that has been converted and preserved as a public park. It's pretty awesome.

Joel Sternfeld, 2000

From there we walked all the way to SoHo and stumbled in to a Crate and Barrel. Lucky for me they had dishes on sale!

My Dishes!

So cute, right? I love them. Well, I basically love anything bright but these are exceptionally fantastic!

We have also been eating at a variety of New York restaurants that have been quite delicious. I will share a few highlights with you. My favorite restaurant EVER is called Celeste - it's incredible. Fair warning- if you go it's cash only, so be prepared, but you can get delicious pasta for about $12. We also ate at 5 Napkin Burger simply because the name was catchy, but were pleased with the yummy Ahi Tuna Burger. Per my cousins recommendation (they went to Columbia) we tried Absolute Bagel, which they proclaimed to be "the best bagel ever." Was it the best bagel ever? I'm not sure. Was it a good bagel? Absolutely. My favorite place that we have eaten so far definitely has to be the Hummus Place. I love Mediterranean food of all sorts and I definitely love hummus, but the best part is I can afford to eat here on my own AND it is a chain all over the city... score!

Now we are visiting some family in the Hamptons before we start our two-week road trip across the country. Don't worry, I will be posting as often as I have internet about our trip. 

Being Brave

I am a big chicken. We should all know this by now. But I must tell you that you should all be extremely proud of me because I was super brave the last couple of days.

On Saturday I was planning on being super lame to stay in and do my homework (right?) but then my class decided to go see a Buddhist monastery in New Manali. Well we actually went to a Buddhist temple first and then we went to the monastery. The temple had a two-story statue oh Buddha. Woah.

Courtesy of GoogleImages

Cool, right? The temple was also surrounded by prayer wheels. Now to be honest, I had never heard of a prayer wheel before. It is a ritual from tibet and the idea is that the wheel is always spinning (you have to push it) and then you are always praying. It was cool, we walked around the entire building and must have spun over one-hundred prayer wheels. 

Courtesy of GoogleImages

Then we went to the Buddhist monastery. In America I have seen a lot of people wearing shirts that say "Free Tibet," but I have never really researched why those shirts exist. I found out in a harsh way why people are trying to "Free Tibet." So as I understand it, China occupied and took over Tibet in an attempt to abolish Buddhism. As a result, a lot of Buddhists, including the Dalai Lama, moved to Himachal Pradesh, India, which is where I am right now. 

At the monastery there was a poster detailing a kidnapping by the Chinese government of a young Buddhist boy. The Dalai Lama named Gedhun Choekyi Nyima the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama when he was three years old. Three days after this announcement, the Chinese government kidnapped him and his entire family in their attempts to squash the Buddhist religion. Recently, when the Chinese president came to visit India, a Buddhist teenager burned himself alive in protest of the Chinese government. I found this incredibly interesting and sad and thought I would share with you all. 

On to happier things - 

On Sunday I went white water rafting. I was so scared and nervous before we did it that I almost chickened out (like everything else in my life) but I actually followed through with this and am so glad that I did. It was so fun! But really, I think I will always take up the opportunity to go rafting from now on. Last year on fourth of July, I also did something terrifying to push myself out of my comfort zone - I went tubing.

ME Tubing at Deep Creek Lake, MD

Now, to be honest, tubing is WAY scarier than rafting. But we were also wearing life jackets and helmets while we were in the raft. It was a level three course, and I think there are five levels of rafting courses. 

My group rafting on the Beas River in Kullu, India

Today was a pretty boring day. I got my hair dyed with henna at a real salon, so hopefully the red will show up better now. I'll let you know after I properly wash it and see it in the sunlight. Tomorrow I am getting my feet and hands henna'd for my trip back to the United States. 

I hope all of my friends and family in Washington D.C. are safe from the storms and have power - I have been thinking of you all <3