I NEVER WANT TO LEAVE NYC! CONT.

I NEVER WANT TO LEAVE NYC!

DE - NJ - NY!

We're in the Big Apple! Yesterday we made the short (relatively...4 hours) drive from Baltimore to Manhattan, and even managed to find street parking 2 blocks from our hotel! $25 in tolls? Eek! Saving $140 by finding street parking = smile.

Cute Bitsy somehow managed to get us upgraded to a $350/night room in our hotel (which is BEAUTIFUL. Wine and cheese every evening? Bulgari bath amenities? Yes please!) and she got a much needed bath this morning, as the big city had started turning her white parts and pink paws to black!

Mitra and Bitsy have been shopping and exploring a ton while I have been museum hopping at the New Museum, Whitney, and some recommended galleries. No one so far has asked how it is possible that I am enrolled as a full time student in California, but I am ready to answer them - "it's Spring Break!" if they don't cough up the student discount! It's true ;)

Will do picture blogs tomorrow!

MD

The Baltimore Bakeries!

(Maryland is our 8th state!)

MD

Yesterday we drove through D.C. into our Baltimore 'burb called Linthicum Heights. It's quiet (even though we see planes flying in and out of BWI), businessy, and just about 10 minutes from the city. We like it here. Mitra says she can see herself living here near the harbor in an old brick house. The weather reminds her of San Francisco and the skinny residential streets remind her of London!

The first afternoon/evening we trotted along the touristy parts and had a seafood (what else!) dinner right on the harbor at a place called Shuckers. We sat outside with Bitsy and our Alabamian waiter brought her cookies and her very own water bowl (it's the Southern hospitality!).

I was excited to take nerdy pictures in front of Charm City Cakes (Food Network's "Ace of Cakes") and try some of the foodie things that Duff raves about on the same network's "The Best Thing I Ever Ate." From the Totally Fried episode, we got to try the fried shrimp heads! Kinda weird, we both decided. And today we went to Dangerously Delicious Pies, also featured on the show with their Baltimore Bomb Pie - so so delicious! If you're ever in the Federal Hill neighborhood, you must try it!

Here are some snapshots!

more VA

VA!

I'm so sad to have left our dear friends in Virginia, but we had a wonderful time together and I suppose the road trip must go on. :( Northeast, here we come!

Days 7-10: There were definitely enough tight hugs, good long talks, uncontrollable laughs, and decades old stories to go around. I love the Jentz' more than anyone else ever and am so glad we got to spend those days together. We very much enjoyed catching up, playing with the 3 dogs, and watching the wildlife around us at their lovely home, but we also went out with the Colonel to see all the historical sights around town. We drove along the oldest road in America, went to the Civil War battle field at Malvern Hill, visited a 400 year old church, and shot four different guns (I'm a good shot! I'm a good shot!)! Here's the proof!

TN - VA

It’s official. We love the south! “Meat & 3’s,” southern accents, and rivers everywhere! It feels like we’re looking through Huck Finn’s eyes and are in another century. Seeing Hummers and occasional litter brings us back to 2010!

(Sorry this is a few days behind, we’ve had bad internet connections lately!)

Day 5: After exploring Nashville and eating at a fantastic local gem called Arnold’s, we went to a quaint historical suburb called Franklin to further wander and eventually sleep! There was a statue of good ol' Benjamin in the center of town and several cute specialty shops (toys, paper, and for some reason LOTS and LOTS of attorneys at law).

Days 6 and 7 were spent heading to our favorite people! The Jentz’ in Virginia! We're finally here and I'll post stories and pictures as our days together progress.

I leave you with a few pictures of Tennessee!

AR - TN (i love germantown, tennessee and want to move here.)

TX - OK

AZ - NM

CA - AZ - NM

did you know arkansas' abbreviation is ar? that arizona isn't just red desert? and how to spell albuquerque? (maybe we shouldn't admit...) we didn't! learning new things every day!

i seem to have forgotten my usb camera cord so we'll be making a special stop at best buy (lifesavers) in amarillo, tx to pick one up so we can upload pictures! but for now, a couple iphone shots will have to suffice.

DAY 1:

623 miles, estimated travel time: 10 hrs. 25 min. (actual travel

time...a lot longer)

we drove by innumerable crop circles, smelly cows, drove by bitsy's home town (bakersfield), and had our first chick-fil-a sandwiches (mom's first ever! i think she was more excited about the purple mountains in the mojave desert). we arrived at pit stop #1 just before sundown and slept hard.

DAY 2:

467 miles, estimated travel time: 7 hrs. 17 min.

today was amazing - well, snow is amazing and today involved a lot of it! i-40 took us through the kaibab and coconino national forests which had elevations climbing up to the 7,000's. there was snow on the side of the interstate for a bit before we quickly decided to go off road and explore (love my mom's car for that!) we found this small lake that bitsy quickly became friends with and then we introduced her to snow! she jumped around like a rabbit and kept shaking it off, then rolling in it,

then shaking it off, rolling..shaking...it was adorable. we eventually left the forests and drove by red rocks for a long time until we crossed the new mexico border, lost another hour (how do i get all these back?), and drove halfway through the state to albuquerque. oh and at some point in nm, we stopped at a casino because of it's approximate 800 enticing signs. it was pretty cool. they don't have sales tax.

okay it's 11, even though it's 9, but we have to wake up in about 7 hours and hit the road again soooo we're going to try to sleep. tomorrow i am going to just have a picture frenzy and not write anything. be stoked.

the packing begins.

here we go.

the pill counting, dog food measuring, and q-tip counting has begun! bitsy has 5 big ziplock bags packed with dry food.....pretty sure it will be a small victory every time we make it through one and can toss the greasy bag.

here is my zippy of one-a-days, fish oil, flax oil, calcium, fiber, and a few advils for good measure.

that's probably around 250 pills! yum (dear pills, thank you for supplementing my poor diet that will consist of chick-fil-a and nothing else).

this morning i booked our first hotel room in arizona (am considering sneaking bitsy into every hotel so we don't have to pay an extra $20 per night...hmm!)

oh! i named this blog 26 states because (let's use our brain power here....) we will be hitting exactly 26 states! now, that includes dc, even though it is pretty confused about its state-ness. look forward to lots of pictures, stories, and general adventuring!

seat belts on!