Ok so what have we learnt about America so far?
They drive on the wrong side of the car and the wrong side of the road. “Gas” is really cheap. A torch is a “flashlight”. The weather changes quicker here than it does at home. There is police presence at every set of roadworks. Hotel continental breakfasts aren’t that great. Traffic is literally insane at times! It’s incredibly hard to find my souvenir pens from the states we visit. Even if the weather is hot, it won’t be when you’re camping in the middle of nowhere! Always wear suncream when walking round in 29 degree heat. Parking is ridiculously expensive in the big cities. Where on earth are all the post offices/mail boxes?
I think that covers off some learnings so far on this trip. We’ve only been away a week so I’m sure there will be many more! Sunday consisted of a nice chilled out day driving toward Washington DC, with me trying to figure out the difference between a dodge and a mustang. “Is that a mustang?” “no that’s a dodge.” And vice versa. We didn’t go to Washington though we stopped in Maryland. I don’t think I have ever seen so many broken down cars on the side of the “freeway” “highway” “bypass” “interstate” whichever road it was we were on. Recovery companies certainly have their work cut out in Maryland! You can probably guess what I googled from the passenger seat…yep you guessed it. “Where is the Maryland cookie factory?” Turns out the main one is in New York so kinda misleading don’t you think??
We drove to the hotel but couldn’t check in until 3 so we decided to get some lunch at Outback Steakhouse. Now, there is a major culture shift from where we had been up in Vermont or Philadelphia for example, to coming into Maryland. I’m not joking when I say that we were the only white people in this restaurant. And by the time we left, the restaurant was full! Our waiter was called Troy and bless him, he was lovely, but not the best waiter in the world.
He took our order of Alice Springs chicken with mac and cheese for me and baby back ribs for Nathan as well as a Diet Coke and red wine. (Didn’t get ID’d this time so I clearly look over 40 😔). I may be mistaken but when in a restaurant you expect everything to come out together right? Not here! Diet Coke…check. 10 minutes later the wine arrived. Now for the best bit. Look at this picture and tell me what’s wrong with it…
Funny right? I had actually got my meal and eaten it all before Nathan had got his 😂 (no I wasn’t waiting as I was hungry, plus it would have gone cold). There must have been about 10-15 minutes between us getting our food. May as well have sat at separate tables! Then mine turned up with the food of the devil on…mushrooms (yes I had asked for it without), but Troy was the only one serving in the bar area so I didn’t want to send it back so I picked them off! Give him his due, he was working hard juggling all the tables, whilst his colleague just stood talking to the table in front of us.
Anyways, that was lunch and whilst Nathan was waiting for his he googled the nearest shopping outlet and we headed there. They had all kinds of shops from Michael Kors 😍 to Lindt 😍 although it was 31 degrees so I do hope they had air con on in that shop! Our target…get us some new “kicks” (see I am totally down with the American lingo now!) I got a luuuuush pair from Adidas for just $30 and a couple of loose tops as it is so darn hot here, so now I look like I’m constantly going to the gym. If only looking like it counted as going 😂. We then rocked into Skechers where we picked up 2 pairs, with the second pair 50% off. Genuinely, I hate shopping, but I was actually ok walking round here. Some shops had 70% off! Utterly crazy!
Admittedly when we got to the hotel I was so tired so I set myself an alarm for an hour to have a “power nap.” 4 hours later I finally wake up. Whoops. Apparently Nathan tried to wake me up twice but I don’t remember that 😂.
312 miles driven and a good night sleep needed after camping ⛺️
Today’s agenda…Washington DC 😊 until later….