• College,  Family,  Friends,  Lee,  travel

    #Schummer14: Day 27-28 recap ~ the end of Summer of Schnyder 

    Our last two days of the Summer of Schnyder (#schummer14) road trip were spent driving through familiar territory – from Cincinnati, Ohio, we went across Indiana, Illinois (which we passed through at the beginning of the trip, although farther north) and then into my home state of Missouri and finally Kansas. We arrived in my hometown of Columbia, Mo., on Sunday afternoon in time to have dinner with my step-dad, my nephew and his wife and my sister-in-law at G&D, a small, family-owned steakhouse that opened a year before I was born. I remember having meals here every Friday night with my parents and aunt & uncle in the late…

  • Lee,  travel

    #Schummer14: Day 25-26 recap of Summer of Schnyder ~ Cincinnati, Ohio

    We made another change to our Summer of Schnyder itinerary by altering our route home. Instead of going through Cleveland, we went straight to Cincinnati because we realized that we didn’t really have time to do much there (and Lee had already been there for a baseball game). Lee had been to Cincinnati years ago and saw a game at the old stadium; I’d never been. But the main draw was that our friend Melissa had recently moved there and we wanted to hang out with her for a few days. We arrived on a Friday in time for a late lunch at Dewey’s Pizza, where we had tasty pizza…

  • Lee,  travel

    #Schummer14: Day 24 recap of Summer of Schnyder ~ the long drive toward home starts

    We have been fortunate on the Schummer of Schnyder trip to not have very many days of long driving with no stops – we pretty much went state to state here in the northeast. For example, we had breakfast in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and lunch in Portland, Maine, where we spent the rest of the day. Even driving up to our farthest eastern destination – Bar Harbor – was a slow drive winding along the coast of Maine with stops in many of the small harbor towns. So when Thursday, Aug. 7 came along we were prepared to suck it up and just drive. Well, Lee did…

  • Lee,  travel

    #Schummer14: Day 20 recap of Summer of Schnyder ~ Rhode Island

    After 376 miles of hurried driving the day before, we drove only 17 miles on Day 20 as we spent the day in and around Providence and Pawtucket, Rhode Island – the country’s tiniest state. We had a great breakfast at a small bakery called Pastiche that our friend, Charlie, scouted out in the nearby Federal Hill area (it’s the city’s Little Italy). I had a lemon cream tart with blackberry sauce and a spiced chai latte. Lee opted for munchkins from Dunkin’ Donuts – amazingly, it was his first stop there the entire trip (even though it often feels like there is a DD on every corner in the…

  • Lee,  travel

    #Schummer14: Day 15-18 recap of Summer of Schnyder ~ Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island, Maine

    A week before our visit to Acadia National Park, it was named as the Favorite Place in America by the viewers of Good Morning America. We’ve been to a number of national parks and this definitely rates as one of our favorites. What I liked best about it was the diversity and accessibility – you could be on a sandy beach, in a rocky cove looking up at a lighthouse, at the highest peak on the east coast (Cadillac Mountain – 1,530 feet), in dense forest or taking an easy walk around a postcard-perfect pond. This is one of the places along our trip that I hope to get back…