Birmingham, AL

We spent 2 nights in Birmingham as a stop between Nashville and NOLA. We chose Birmingham for its rich history. We arrived very early after making good time getting out of Nashville.

Our first stop was the Southern Museum of Flight. It was reasonably sized with some fantastic aircraft including the A-12, the precursor to the S-71. It had a whole section dedicated to the Tuskegee Airmen, who were the first African American squadron in WW2. They also had lots of low fidelity simulators which kept me and Moose busy.

After we checked into our hotel. It was an “Extended Stay” chain. Situated on the main highway, sandwiched between better looking hotels but next to a Walmart. The check in was smooth and it was at the front desk that you “ordered” your ammenities. I booked the hotel because it had a kitchen. Upon reading the reviews it was clear that it was empty! At the front I got plates, bowls and cutlery… for 2! Even though we were clearly 4! Alas, it was a decent size room, didn’t smell like smoke and was dirty cheap. Plus it had free breakfast. And by breakfast they mean a pot of coffee, some Nature Ways bars and some dirty packaged muffins. Still, really cheap!

The next day we hit up the farmer’s market, finally one worth going to! Also the first one we went on a weekend. It had tons of local fresh produce, meat and treats. We bought dinner including fresh pasta, Shiitake mushrooms, smoked pork sausages and multicoloured peppers. The Shiitake mushroom stall also had logs for sale that you could just harvest the mushrooms off. The multicoloured peppers were a bit of a dud. Turns out small purple and yellow peppers are more bitter than green ones! Moose was unimpressed.

After the market we went to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. This was a free entry because Hanika scored us memberships to the Winnipeg Art Gallery which offered reciprocal entry. The museum was fantastic. It was an honest and confronting testament to the brutality of racism that existed/exists in the US and especially the South. It’s easy to forget that MLK, sit ins and the Freedom Riders happened only 50 years ago. Of course there we parts dedicated to MLK, Rosa Parks and prominent Black businessman AG Gaston. The museum in Montgomery AL came highly recommended but we didn’t make it there.

It was a short stay in Alabama but we saw a lot. We packed up and headed for Jackson MS.

Bluff City, TN

We spent 3 nights in Bluff City on our way to Nashville. Why? Not a clue! Bluff city isn’t known for anything. It was only marginally bigger than Chester VT which didn’t pretend to be a city. It had one gas station, one diner, no grocery store and two sets of lights.

It was close to Bristol, a 3 city complex spanning Tennessee and Virginia. For those of you not familiar with it, Bristol is famous for the fastest short track in NASCAR. It’s a 160 000 seat track situated in a town of 27 000!

Just our luck that on our second day there was a race on! Not NASCAR but big rig racing. I’m not sure if there’s anything quite as American as this. The day started with an open track and a meet the drivers event. Moose was unimpressed and repeatedly stated that “Lightening McQueen is faster”. Then there was the typical salute to the troops and first responders followed by a moving rendition of the Star Spangled Banner complete with $50 worth of fireworks. To really immerse myself in the moment I got a Bud and nachos with liquid cheese.

The racing was alright, no crashes though. The stadium was woefully empty, perhaps only 2000 people. More people were filing in when we left (after the heats).

The following day we went to the Bristol Caverns. They’re a naturally formed cave system discovered by accident in the 1920’s. I’ve never been into caves before so this was quite impressive. The tour was quite good and the guide seemed knowledgable about the stalagmite formations.

Clearly this is Honest Abe

The next day we made the big drive to Nashville which is my new favourite city.

Lynchburg, VA

We spent two nights in Lynchburg, VA to break up the drive from DC to Nashville. It was a random choice made by looking at google maps and a suitable place on AirBnB.

It was our first introduction to the real South, though not quite as intense as I had prepared for. A few Trump signs, a lot of Baptist churches and Liberty University. I didn’t see an Confederate flags though.

We wandered around downtown and went to the community market. Unfortunately, most of the stalls were closed midweek. We did find a nice little coffee roaster run by a Canadian expat, Grains of Sense Coffee Roastery. Adequately caffeinated we set off down a walking trail to Percival’s island, home of a disused rail yard for a picnic lunch. We had dinner back down at the river at a delicious pub.

Our travel days have been spread out. We’ve decided it’s not worth spending just one night somewhere, so the new minimum is two. It’s worked well so far and it gives us a full day to wander and explore and tire the kids out.

We drove out via the Smokie’s to Bluff City TN.

Washington

We spent 4 nights in DC, our longest stop of the trip so far. We stayed a bit north along a metro line (not as far as Maryland) in an AirBNB.

We expected a few days of rain so we spent the first day wandering from the Whitehouse down the Mall to the Washington monument and through the memorials dedicated to various famous people/presidents.

If you’ve been to DC you’ll know the Whitehouse is a bit of a let down, regardless of who occupies it. It’s not a very big building and it’s multiple fences to keep people away. I guess it’s Canada’s/Britain’s fault for burning the first one down. We went to the Washington monument but missed the day’s tickets to get to the top. It didn’t stop Moose from dancing in front of it!

The rest of the monuments were fantastic. We saw the Lincoln, MLK, FDR and Jefferson monuments. My favourite was probably the Vietnam Memorial with its haunting sculptures.

On the way home we stopped off at the local grocery store called “Save a lot”. It really highlighted the lack of access to fresh and nutritious food even in a large metropolitan area.

The next day we had a lazy morning before setting off to museums. Hanika went to the Newseum with Ollie and I took Moose to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. Neither of the kids were that impressed so we both dashed through without being able to take much in. We met up with an old friend of mine for a BBQ dinner.

Our last day was equally lazy. I took the kids to a park so Hanika could relax and she returned the favour by letting me go to the Air and Space museum by myself. There are two sites, one in DC and one in Virginia.

The downtown centre is much smaller and under a lot of construction. Still, they had a version of the Apollo lunar lander used to prepare the astronauts, a life size Hubble and a full size Apollo/Soyuz docking.

We headed out via Arlington National Cemetery. Unfortunately Moose spat the dummy so I took him back to the car and saw nothing. Our last stop was the Air and Space museum in Virginia. It’s connected to Dulles Airport so is both massive and able to take planes directly from the tarmac. Not only planes but also Discovery, the space shuttle! It was an overwhelming sight. So far, a highlight of the trip for me. It also had an SR-71, the Enola Gay and a Concorde.

The next destination is Nashville with two stops in Virginia and Tennessee to break up the drive.

Philadelphia

We decided to stay 2 nights in Philadelphia to break up the drive from NYC to DC. Originally I had booked us in a Motel 6 just outside Philly. Our experience in NYC made me cancel that and get an Air BNB instead!

We had an uneventful drive out of NYC after picking up some Hungarian baked goods and delicious coffees. We arrived to our Air BNB in South Philly and settled in. Now, I don’t know much about Philadelphia apart from what’s sung in the Fresh Prince theme song. I can only surmise that he didn’t sing about South Philly is because no one leaves! It’s certainly a gritty area and a quick Reddit search confirmed Hanika’s suspicions. On street parking wasn’t possible so I ended up finding an overpass to park under, 2km away, at night. Good thing I had clanging beer bottles to alert everyone to my presence! In all honesty though I’ve felt less safe in Joburg and Winnipeg.

Our full day was spent wandering around the historic downtown. We had Philly Cheesesteaks for lunch which were great despite not being from Gino’s. It’s a beautiful city full of history and beautiful buildings. I’d suggest a few days to soak it all in. On recommendation of Cathy in Ottawa we went to the Mutter Museum at the Philadelphia College of Physicians. It has an extraordinary collection of pathology specimens including Einsteins’s brain! Moose was oddly taken by the congenital deformities section. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take pictures.

The next day we left to DC with a stop in Lancaster to visit an Amish farm. Moose had a blast petting and feeding all the animals. We grabbed some smoked ribs for dinner and set off for DC.

New York

We arrived from Boston in the afternoon to spend 3 nights in NYC.

For those who don’t know I’ve tried to work out a reasonable budget for this trip. Well, boy was I feeling smug when I found NY accommodation at 80$ a night within walking distance of Central Park! Now imagine my disappointment, and that of Hanika, when we walked into what can only be described as a closet. Let me paint a picture for you. The building and surrounding neighbourhood were fine. There was 24 hour reception which I thought sounded good. The room… dear God the room. Below is a video showing the room.

In front of the chest of drawers was the sink (not located in the bathroom). There was barely enough room to move let alone have kids roaming! Not quite sure what I was expecting. On the bright side the bathroom was spotless. I can’t say the same for the rest of the building. I think it functioned as a long term hostel for being doing it tough. There were signs about for case managers to assist their clients. There were shared “kitchens” with signs warning not to brush teeth in the sink but instead to use the shared bathrooms. Again, we had the ensuite so we were fortunate.

The location was convenient too. It wasn’t the downtown NY experience that Hanika was looking forward to but it was a grittier, more real NY experience of West Harlem. We were 3 blocks from a subway stop, 2 blocks from the grocery store and only 3 blocks from parking.

I decided to book parking ahead of time online. It almost as much as the hotel to valet park the car. Sounds fancy but what it means is once the car goes in you don’t have access to it until you take it out days later. It was still a great idea.

Anyways, after settling in we went for a walk in search of an authentic meal. I got the brisket and Hanika had a burger (not so unique to NY). We ordered enough for left overs the next day which was great.

The following day we did the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We reserved tickets ahead of time which meant we jumped the queue for security. If you don’t know, which I didn’t, you have to clear airport like screening to get on the ferry to go to the island and again to enter the statue! Our reserved tickets allowed us to bypass the security line to get in the boat which probably saved us 30 minutes, well worth it. We paid to get to the pedestal of the statute which gave a nice view of the city. The crown had sold old and in peak season needs to be booked months ahead of time. The whole trip takes 4-5 hours and we raced through Ellis Island unfortunately. We wandered back up via the 9/11 Memorial pools.

That night we got another babysitter and headed out to dinner with more McGill friends. The poor sitter was accustomed to tiny NY properties so wasn’t too shocked with our “hotel” room.

The next day we wandered around Times Square before catching up with Martin and walking the High Line Park. It’s a disused elevated freight rail track. It was a bloody hot day, 35 degrees in October! Moose gave up for most of it so I ended up carrying him and a backpack on my sweaty shoulders. We stopped for lunch at the Chelsea Markets for a NY bagel. We spent the afternoon in Central park before catching up with friends again for a pizza dinner.

As usual we didn’t spend enough time in one place and the next day we headed to Philadelphia.

Boston

We set off from Chester to Boston for 3 nights. On the way we stopped at AT&T (see last post) and Springfield MA.

The Dr Seuss museum is located at the Springfield Museums. They’re a member of the Association of Science-Technology Museums so that meant our Montreal Science Museum card got us in for free! Nothing better than saving $60 before lunch! The museum was small but good. As to be expected it was highly interactive. They had a floor that was furnished with his furniture to remake his studio and living room, complete with both Emmys.

We arrived in Boston (Forest Hill) and checked into our Air BNB. It was a lovely 3rd story suite with 1 bedroom, full kitchen, futon for Moose and off street parking for the van. I headed out to meet up for dinner with Arun who I met during orientation at McGill and have remained close to ever since.

The following day we headed out to to explore the harbour side. We stopped off at the Boston Tea Party Museum for a dry scone and sub par coffee (should have tried the tea!). Next we went to the highly recommended Boston Children’s Museum. I know there are only so many things that can keep a young child entertained but I must say that this was almost a repeat of the Ottawa museum! Moose didn’t seem to care though and had lots of fun running around.

That night we got a babysitter (another online agency) and I took Hanika to Legal Seafood. I ordered what turned out to be an platter clearly meant to feed a family! It did come with a appetiser of chunky clam chowder though. Hanika still isn’t sold on clams though.

The next day was slightly less productive. We made a late start after our traditional Sunday morning pancakes. After we wandered around the harbour and caught up with Arun and his family for a drink. Moose had a go on the carousel and was insistent on riding the grasshopper.

The highlight of the trip from Hanika, as far as I can tell, was finding coffee that was finally up to par with Australian standards! Clue, it wasn’t Dunkin Donuts.

We made good time packing up and set off for NYC.

Verizon… FU

I’m hoping this is the most frustrating part of the trip.

Both Hanika and I have unlocked iPhone 8s, bought outright from JB Hifi. I’ve used my in Canada and Thailand with new SIM cards without issue. After a bit of research I figured Verizon would be the best carrier for us given their service coverage and store locations.

We cruised into Vermont and went to the closest Verizon store we could. I paid $120 USD to set up two prepaid plans WITHOUT having any credit on my account. They wouldn’t accept payment in store and told me to call their 1800 number to finish the process.

6 hours later I still couldn’t activate my phone. By this time we were in another town and after an hour they said it was sorted and I should be good. They gladly took another $100 USD. Cash only though because they wouldn’t accept my USD credit card because it was from Canada (on a prepaid!). By the time we got to Chester it was clear things were not working as they should. I spent over an hour on the phone with Verizon and Apple, both blaming each other. Our phones were certainly compatible with Verizon (CDMA and GSM).

The next day I called back and got an assurance, though it was made abundantly clear it wasn’t a promise, that my $100 credit would be reimbursed. As for the $120 set up fees I’d have to visit the chain of stores I went to originally (resellers not actually Verizon). They refused to give me a refund over the phone for some garbage reason.

I finally gave up and went to AT&T and sorted us both out within 25 minutes for a fraction of the cost! They had no issue taking my credit card in store.

Over 6 hours and $220 wasted! Travelling without a phone these days in nearly impossible. We don’t have paper maps anymore and our van doesn’t have a built in GPS. We relied on free wifi from the parking lots of restaurants to load up Google Maps and download offline maps and the next set of directions.

Lesson learnt: Verizon sucks.

Vermont

After Montreal we spent 3 nights in Chester Vermont. Why Chester? No reason really. It seemed half way to Boston and the Air BNB was the right price.

We left Montreal and headed straight for the Ben and Jerry’s factory for a tour and tasting. They had an informative propaganda film that exalted the values of being bought by Unilever. Saying that, they must be better than Nestle! We had a couple of ice creams before getting back in the car to find Chester. We were without cell phones at this point (more on this in another post) and arrived after dark to our little cabin in the woods.

In the morning we were greeted by wild turkeys running around and beautiful tree covered mountains. We spent the day getting groceries (beer) and walking around the forest. The next day we had a 1 hour train ride through the hills and got treated to some early foliage.

On our last day we did a self guided walking tour through Chester. We stopped at a local cafe for lunch, a tasting flight of beers and picked up more at a local beer shop. Vermont is famous for its selection of craft breweries and we weren’t disappointed.

Our cabin was fantastic. Nestled amongst the trees, completely secluded. It had a full kitchen with a washing machine and oven. It was almost completely baby proof and even had baby gates. The finished basement had a ping table which occupied Moose for hours.

After Vermont we went to Boston to catch up with more friends!

Montreal

Back to my second home! I’ve always loved Montreal and it’s still the only place I’d move back to Canada for. We spent 3 nights here.

We stayed downtown at an Air BnB apartment. It had a late check in at 1630 so I risked it and arrived at 1600. It was a self check in process and I found the door open with the keys inside as promised. I also found the place in a tip. The sheets were clearly used, all the towels were piled up and there were still dishes in the sink! I grabbed the keys and sent a message to the host to let them know. In fairness they had 30 minutes before I was supposed to check in. We used that time to get some groceries. We arrived back closer to 1700 to find the cleaner at work! I thought I was well prepared for Montreal being functionally bilingual. What I didn’t prepare for was trying to speak Spanish! Luckily I took one year in high school… The poor cleaner looked surprised to see us in the apartment and worked as fast as he good. Hanika sat in the hallway with the boys while I shuttled our bags out of the van. Our babysitter arrived (we were due out for dinner) to find the kids crawling around the halls! We managed to get the kids dinner and settled before we darted off to join friends 30 minutes late!

We ate at a delicious French restaurant called “Grenadine” in the Latin Quarter. 3 of the group ordered the 6 course degustation. Much to my surprise we were all given different meals for each course! I had a mouse foie gras creme brulee, horse and a rum and sorbet pallet cleanser. Other people had rabbit and deer.

After dinner we went to Benelux which was our old regular brew pub where I worked after graduating for a few months. We had a great night going through some old and new beers and catching up.

The next day Alex hosted brunch at his place, complete with Cesars (which is a Bloody Mary with clam juice added). I seem to remember the metro to be much easier to ride when I was single and childless! The metro system is not very pram friendly, especially after using Toronto’s subway. I had originally planned to take the family to Tam Tams but time got away from us and we headed for a quick nap before dinner with family friends (I first met them in Thompson in the early 90s).

The follow day we went to the Science Museum to pick up our memberships. The exhibits were alright and kept Moose occupied but I don’t rate it as highly as the one in Ottawa. As a bonus we got free parking for being members which saved us $30! We had St Viateur bagels for lunch, a superior bagel as compared to any we’ll get in NYC! We had a classic poutine dinner at La Banquise to finish off the day. It was dreary and raining all day so that limited our time outside. I walked around McGill with Ollie but the whole campus is covered in scaffolding.

What we’ve learnt so far is that we need about twice as much time as we had planned to do things. That means we should be spending a week or so in each city. We’ve booked the next few major cities already but I think this will influence how long we spend in places after that. Also, packing is terrible! Hanika’s made it her goal to make us more efficient at short stays instead of dragging all our belongings out of the van every night.

Kids and busy days don’t lend themselves to long transits on public transport. We drove a lot more than I had planned but found parking easily enough. There’s no way the kids would have tolerated a 40 minute journey plus walk at 8pm!