So what happens when three food writers set off on a Boston road trip? We come back with a ton of stories and a scant amount of pictures. A normal weekend usually nets me a minimum of 200 pictures. This weekend? I barely scraped a hundred. And forty or so of those were from the ride home. The laughs and the characters we met along the way, however, more than made up for it. And when I say characters, I mean characters.
That’s Joanne from Eats Well with Others and Patsy from Family, Friends and Food, by the way. If you’re not a reader of their web sites already, do check them out.
On the way to pick up Joanne in NYC, we may or may not have made a wrong turn. Twice. I blame the music. And Patsy. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Our next picture didn’t happen until we reached the Mass Pike. A pathetic excuse for a freelance photographer I am. This time, Joanne was in the car too, so I’m blaming both of them. Too much talking! We sadly missed every “Welcome to…” state sign on the whole ride down. Three states. Three signs. I’d like to say we made up for it on the ride home. We kinda didn’t.
My Dad works in engineering, so when I saw these pastel-colored storage tanks as we neared our destination, I had to take a picture for him. Well, actually I stopped on the highway so Patsy could take it. You know, Safe Driving 101 and all.
After two days with me, the girls might be now used to my “wait, we have to stop everything and take pictures of the sky” problem fascination.
Just no getting away from Mystic.
What do three food writers eat for dinner when they head to Boston for a food conference? Lobster? No. Chow-dah? Nope. Steamers? Negatory. Homemade granola bars and strawberries brought from home. At 10:30 pm. I wish I was kidding, but the best food we had all weekend was likely the roasted vegetable wraps from the rest stop on our drive home. Sad. Very sad. But great fodder for blog posts, coming to a web site near you.
Let’s play “Can You Spot the Food Writers?”
Objects in the photo may be larger than they appear. This Citgo sign was seriously gargantuan.
Necessary tools when attending a conference: notebook, pen, Vegetable Cheddar Scone and BlackBerry for massive day-long Tweet fest.
Yes, at the networking social last night, I took pictures of food bloggers’ shoes. Well, not all of them, just three. I didn’t get her name, but I did get the deets on her shoes. Like ’em? You can see me scouring the racks at TJ Maxx for them. Her toenail polish actually matched her sweater. Too cute!
The sky was super cool on the ride home last night. We might have made screeching stops along the shoulder on 95 no less than three times.
Finally, a state sign pic! We made a crazy effort for the New York one, but it kinda of leapt out at us out of nowhere, on the right side of the highway when we were on the left side and if I ever want Patsy and Joanne to road trip with me again, I had to bring them home safely. But we tried. We really did. We also made the unanimous decision that someone should take the time to list the exact location of all the “Welcome to…” state signs so we can be better prepared and catch them all in the future. Because I always did think that was one of the highlights of a road trip. For my honeymoon, The Ex and I drove to Orlando, Florida and got a snap of each one along the way. Of course, now divorced those pictures hold slightly less weight in the fun bucket.
I do believe that this is my favorite picture of the whole weekend. It might even be my favorite picture for the whole month. It just screams happiness. Warmth. Summer. Sunshine. Heading to an Etsy shop near you. Oh wait. There it is! Buy one for you. Buy one for a friend. I’m buying one for my foyer. Big.
July 25, 2011 – Bonus Photos
I couldn’t wait to see the littles when they woke up this morning. Unfortunately when I got home last night, they were fast asleep and all I could do was just kiss their cheeks and tuck them in a little tighter. Even though it was just a day and a half away from them, I missed them terribly. Those tearful phone calls certainly don’t help. ‘Twas all made better by a declaration of “I missed you most of all” this morning. My heart? Melting.
I just wanna take a little nibble of that golden inked arm.
I know what you mean about missing the kids – even though it was only a day and a half! I couldn’t wait to get some hugs in when they woke up this morning!
It was a fabulous time… and now, I think I need a bigger bag so I can make sure I have my camera ready when I’m driving down the road and see the perfect shot! And, the wrong turns were not all MY fault… you were chatting, too! ;)
Looks like a great time! Glad to hear it.
This was definitely a trip to be remembered, that’s for sure! And at least we had the granola bars…otherwise we would have had to break into the vending machine room and eaten M&M’s for dinner! So glad we did it. Not only did we get to laugh for one and a half days straight…but we also got some seriously fab blog material. Double win.
Sounds fun! I bet your tummy hurt from all the laughing.
I love road trips! That one sounds like a blast!
After traveling with kids and husbands, taking a road trip with like-minded people has to be one of the best experiences:) I love my family, but only with my oldest daughter can I thoroughly enjoy any trip. And nothing feels better than those exciting hugs and sloppy kisses after some time away.
I am also somewhat obsessed with Welcome! signs, so I can understand your anguish:)