Happy 10,000 KM!

Hello all, 

    

      A lot has happened since we last spoke, so I’ll make it quick as I can. This one starts of a little slow, but don't fret, it picks up.

     After a couple hours of getting the Pajero fit to hit the road again, Natalie and I said goodbye to our friends in Lancaster and head south. That night we made it as far as Rehoboth beach and found another Walmart to sleep at. It went down to around 3 or 4 degrees that night so I was quite thankful for our little heater.

     The next morning we went into the little beach town of Rehoboth. This place was pretty cool; it was a lot like a Crescent Beach actually. Once again being off-season it was pretty dead. So Natalie and I wandered around and ate some famous THRASHER fries. We also came across a shop called Scandinavian Occasion, for Swedes. It reminded me a lot of my mom and got me excited for Christmas as a Swede!

     Next we swung by Ocean City. This place is a grade-A tourist town if I’ve ever seen one.  However, much like the rest of the North-East coastal towns, it was deserted. The craziest part about O.C. is that the population is around 7000, until the summer hits, where the population skyrockets to 400,000! Natalie and I walked the abandoned boardwalk past the locked up fair rides and the rows and rows of vacant hotels. It was a very similar feel to Coney Island. We caught a picturesque ocean sunset off the pier and took off.

You can't tell, but there is a batmobile in the garage. Not even kidding.

     The next day, further on down the coast, we swung by Assateague Beach, just outside of Chincoteague. For those of you who aren’t familiar, Assateague is a wildlife sanctuary that is the home of many different species of animals, but most famously having more than 300 WILD horses. We caught sight of some horses and Natalie was satisfied. Oh yes, we also got in for free thanks to an awesome wedding gift from Karlie.

     Excited to be free from our McDonalds reign of terror, we branched out and grabbed lunch at a tiny sandwich shack called SeaStar. While waiting in line a half-Newfie, half-Franch Canadien, living in the U.S. told us his life story. Then we got our sandwiches, which happened to be the largest and freshest sandwich I’ve ever had. The problem is, when I try to describe this sandwich, I know you’re all imagining a decently large but normal sandwich. But I assure you, this sandwich was nothing short of amazing. It was even worth writing for this long about. That’s how amazing it was. Unfortunately, words nor this picture can to it justice.

     Further south we came to the end of the very large peninsula that surrounds Chesapeake Bay. But instead of taking a ferry to reach the shores of Virginia Beach, we took an 18 mile, incredible combination of bridges and tunnels all the way through/over the straight. Just to put that into perspective 18 miles equals about 29 km! 

     In the next day or so, we entered South Carolina and suddenly everything became stereotypically “Southern.” There were palm trees, it was sunny, more restaurants advertised bbq and fried chicken, there were thick accents and I bought some fireworks just because. Due to some irregularities in the climate however, it was unseasonably chilly.

     Eventually we got to the town of Myrtle Beach, home of the world’s largest collection of  ”adventure mini golf locations.” When Natalie and I were back in Ocean City there were literately dozens of awesome looking mini golf courses that made us rubber neck every half a block. But, when we got to Myrtle Beach, we almost lost our minds in the name of mini-golf! Somehow we managed to agree on one course, and for my childhoods sake, as well as Maclean Carlsons, we chose Captain Hooks Adventure Golf. For about an hour, I was IN Neverland. You haven’t played minigolf until you’ve played Mytryle Beach.

Shoota!

     On a celebratory side note, Myrtle Beach was the 10,000 km marker of our trip! Exciting.

     That night we spent the night in an incredible campsite just outside of historic Charleston. On one hand it looked like a scene from The Waterboy, the kind of place you could easily imagine crocs in the ponds. But on the other hand they were setting up for their annual Christmas light display. 

     We had a great sleep and hot showers then spent the day touring Charleston on foot checking out huge plantation houses that date back as far as 1670! We also ate at the famous yet fairly priced, Hymen’s Seafood Co. On every table they have plaques of the famous people who had also sat there for a meal. I got John McCain and Kevin Costner, and Natalie got Blind Melon and Sandra Bullock!

     We slept at a Savannah Walmart, then went sight seeing in the morning; by car this time. We drove Patches and Hobby the trailer down narrow, rough cobble stone streets, lined with ancient taverns, inns and shops. From there we drove a long haul to sunny Orlando! Don’t worry Mac and Erin, we’ll save Harry Potter Land for you guys. So instead we’re going to DisneyWorld! 

     Sadly, Orlando also happens to be the furthest point away from Vancouver that we will be. This means it's homeward bound from hear. On the plus side, there are a lot of people I am looking forward to seeing and I am most definitely looking forward to Christmassing!

Until next time.

New York Minute

After that frigid night at Wal-Mart, we were on our way to visit the Martin family in Lancaster, PA. Carrie and Corey are again old YWAM friends and live in a sweet 100+ year old row home in downtown Lancaster. We had a blast hanging out with them and their very entertaining children. They even brought us to a legitimate barn party out in the country. This party had everything a harvest fest might ask for. Hay rides, pumpkin carving, caramel apples, a bonfire, Mario cart projected on the barn wall, food galore, and a border collie. We were able to leave our trailer at their house and make the journey by train to the great NYC.

We entered the city with apprehension and a tad of anxiety. We managed to find our hostel via subway to the upper west side. We shared a room with 10 other people, mainly Frenchies and Germans. It was all right. We were then faced with the problem of where to even begin in a place like New York. We were only staying for 2 nights and we had to get it all in. We decided our safest bet was going through Central Park then having a walk through of the famous Plaza hotel. I have never seen a more glitzy hotel and recognized many of the scenes from my friends Blaire and Serena on Gossip girl. 

 It was starting to get dark so we went to Times Square. It was then that I was hit by a very unfortunate migraine. If there is one place you don’t want to be when you have a migraine, it is Times Square. We headed back to hostel and things weren’t looking very optimistic for the next day. We were both not feeling well, we were overwhelmed by the city, and we were sleeping in bunk beds.

However, the next day we awoke feeling refreshed and ready to hit the city. We then embarked on what I have coined, “The poor man’s tour of NYC.” We began by buying all day subway passes for about $8 each. Our first stop was to the NBC building at Rockefeller Center to get free standby tickets to be in the studio audience of the Jimmy Fallon show. They basically give out standby tickets incase any of the regular attendees don’t show up. We were the first ones there and were issued standby tickets #1 and #2. We were stoked! We thought our chances of getting in were guaranteed. We explored Rockefeller Plaza a bit more, taking in the famous pieces of artwork, the skating rink, and watching the Today Show from outside.

From there we took the subway to Battery Park and looked out at Miss. Liberty as we enjoyed the sunshine and some donuts from a street vendor.

creepy

We walked back up to Ground Zero and watched the construction of the September 11^th museum going up. It was only in that moment that I wondered what the hijackers of the planes had really been thinking, or if they had ever been to New York, or if they had any idea of what they were even about to do.

We sat in a park, eating gyros from a street vendor as the pigeons threatened to attack us for our food.

Our next stop was Coney Island in Brooklyn. Both Luke and I have this thing about Coney Island, mainly from old movies like the Warriors. Coney Island is home to a boardwalk right on the Atlantic, complete with an nostalgic amusement park and beachside shops. But being that it was not summer anymore, the park  and the shops were closed, giving the boardwalk an eerie feel.

We realized that we had to bet back to NBC by 3:15 and that we would most definitely not make it back by then. This was our one chance to go to a show in New York! What followed was a very intense Subway ride, complete with dashing through the station and sprinting through the taxi filled streets of New York. Think Home Alone 2. We were about 10 minutes later then our tickets said to be, but all the NBC dude said when we saw our #1 and #2 tickets was “Nice!”

I don’t even know how to describe the following hour of what happened next, but it involved being told that we would get on the show, then a lot of waiting around, and then saying that our chances were very slim, and then a lot more waiting. In the end we were the only standby’s let on the show! Jimmy was killing it that day and he had awesome guests;  Zach Galifinakas, Danny Boyle and Kid Cudi! We laughed our heads off and were soooo stoked when Jimmy came around with high 5’s for everyone!

Success!

 But the day was still not over! We rented some skates and went for a glide on the iconic skating rink at Rockefeller Plaza. Think any Christmas movie you have ever seen that takes place in New York. It was unreal!

But the day was still not over! We wandered over to Times Square again, grabbed some hot chocolate, and pet some police horses. All the while quoting Sienfeld and perfecting our best "Neuw Ye'ork" accents. I think what we did in one day would probably be nicely done in about 4 days, but it was such a blast. There is something about New York that is magical. It’s like the city is not trying to be anything it’s not, it just…is.

The next day we eagerly checked out of our stinky hostel room as one of our French room mates thought it was a really good idea to do push-ups and spray a ton of cologne really early in the morning. We wandered around the East Village and then headed back to Penn Station to buy our train tickets. It was sad to leave the Big Apple, but I know I will be back!

From here we go…well we don’t really know! We are sticking the coast, heading south and hoping for warmer weather.

Until next time!

Natalie and Luke