As promised, a summary of my year-long cross country road trip.

Metrics

• Total miles driven: 42,884
• Total miles walked: 2,488
• Miles walked per day: 6.7
• Weight when I left Seattle: 174.6 pounds
• Weight when I returned to Seattle: 173.6 pounds
• Total number of DSLR photos taken: about 25,000
• Total number of iPhone photos taken: about 4,500
• Total number of photos shared on my blog: about 5,700
• National Parks visited: 13
• National Park Service sites visited: 63

Food

• Best food experiences: BBQ. There’s so much more to BBQ than pulled pork sandwiches and smoked ribs. Some favorites were the pulled pork with spicy vinegar in North Carolina and both the beef brisket and cheddar/jalapeño smoked sausages in Texas.
• Most disappointing food experience: Maryland blue crab. Smaller and much blander than west coast Dungeness, which is why they usual are made into crab cakes or steamed with a bunch of Old Bay. Give me Dungenness every time.
• Long Island sound oysters are every bit as good as PNW oysters.
• At lots of bison, which, in a burger or French dip, tastes just like beef. However, I had a bison NY Strip in Denver that was definitely not beef. A bit richer, a hint of gaminess and quite good.

Fridge Magnets

• 49 states (still need Alaska)
• Washington, D.C.
• Canada (Niagara Falls)
• Mexico (Ensenada, via cruise ship)
• Jamaica (via cruise ship)
• Grand Cayman (via cruise ship)
• Disneyworld
• National Parks: 9 of the 13 I visited. Didn’t start collecting these right away. Good excuse to go back!

Favorites

• Favorite city: Charleston, South Carolina. Amazing history and culture, friendly people and fantastic food. I did not have a bad meal in Charleston. Some runner ups are Duluth, Minnesota (lots of smoked fish), Burlington, Vermont (very lively food and craft beer scene), San Antonio, Texas (with its downtown riverwalk is sometimes referred to as the Venice of the US) and the food and culture of New Orleans, Louisiana.
• As expected, the big cities did not disappoint: NYC (Manhattan and Brooklyn), Chicago and Boston. Fabulous all.
• But, by far, my favorite experience of the entire trip, and ironically, my last touristy stop, was Yellowstone National Park. Spent 3 plus days in the park and was fascinated by everything I saw. Definitely a place to visit again (many times, I expect).

Thoughts

• Every preconceived notion I had about places I had never been to before were wrong.
• Every city had some pleasant surprise to offer and I enjoyed everywhere I visited (exceptions: Wichita, Kansas and Cheyenne, Wyoming).
• When traveling back roads instead of interstates, be prepared for long stretches of travel with no food and no restrooms.
• Lots of future travel plans will involve visiting National Park Services sites. There are well over 400 sites, including 58 National Parks.
• Final thought: No regrets, this was absolutely a trip of a lifetime. It’s better to spend money on experiences than on things. I’d do this again in a heartbeat.