Last summer the husbandito and I spent July zigzagging across the country on our first-ever road trip. He and I have been together for 15 years, married for 7 and just felt it was time to really put our wedding vows and sanity to the ultimate test by locking ourselves inside a baking vehicle and driving 8,000+ miles together.
We had such a grand time that I started plotting a second trip for this summer while we were on the way home. I’m thinking a more southerly route this year and Graceland is definitely in our future. The husbandito sounds less than enthusiastic…though he warmed slightly when I mentioned we would visit some filming locations from one of his favorite movies, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a true cinematic masterpiece from what I understand.
Last summer I placated him with stops at the Monroeville Mall outside of Pittsbugh, filming site of Dawn of the Dead, and several stops in the Los Angeles area that were featured in the Halloween movies. Also, we took a special tour at Universal Studios so he could get off the little tram thing at the filming site of the Psycho movie/Bates Motel. Ahhh, the things I do for love.
Well, I just listed his highlights of our 2007 trips…so now I must give fair play to mine. Here are a few of my favorite stops/stays in no specific order:
1. Tubing down the Yellowstone River in Montana. Mind, we are not very outdoorsy, but we soldiered down the river despite an onslaught of bugs and raging rapids. Fun!
2. Visiting Yellowstone and staying at the Lake Hotel and The Old Faithful Inn. Don’t forget to read Lee Whittlesey’s Death In Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park before departing. It’s a sobering account of all the horrific ways that people have met their untimely and unnatural end in the park.
3. The Mitchell Corn Palace, Mitchell, SD. This you must see for yourself.
4. Helping Barry Williams(Greg from the Brady Bunch) dodge crazy fans at a hotel in Wisconsin. As the hotel elevator door was closing, Williams rounded the corner at a sprint, locked eyes with me and begged me to hold the elevator for him. He was grateful and breathless as the doors shut and ferried him away from the throngs. Husbandito had no clue who he was.
5. Wall Drug–it’s 1,678 miles from my house to Wall Drug.
6. Cody, Wyoming: The Chamberlin Inn and the World Famous Rodeo. Yee Haw!
7. The Madonna Inn, San Luis Obispo. Possibly husbandito’s favorite stop. Provided hours of nonstop mirth. Don’t miss the steakhouse!
8. The Emerson Cultural Center: Yum and Cool! Let’s eat at the Emerson Grill and shop at Tart!
9. Sleeping with wolves. Who dances with them? We slept at their house! See Howlers Inn, Bozeman, MT.
10. Baked goods from La Farine in the Rockridge section of Oakland. (Also, visiting my oldest and dearest friend who lives in the neighborhood…but I think the croissants and chocolatine may have edged her out!)
For 2008, I’m thinking DC, Nashville, Memhpis, New Orleans, Houston, Grand Canyon, Santa Fe and Taos.
