Where to start? That is the hardest part. Not only is the country huge in terms of distance, but there is also a great range of culture, at times separated by mere miles. Somewhere between Carolina and DC the famous Southern Hospitality vanishes, replaced with something more brash and unforgiving (though with less abrasive politics). The same car journey took us from shopping at Whole Foods to holding a baby gator. From the Californian desert to the Bayou to the Appalachian Trail.

I started with a brainstorm. It’s very likely you’ll find your train of thoughts weaving in one direction and completely forgetting about the plains of Montana, the distilleries of Nashville the bright lights of Vegas or Monk’s Cafe. To keep the entire USA in focus all at once is a difficult exercise. Reading about other peoples travels and the experiences of locals on personal blogs was crucial. I never would have known about Lake Fausse Point if it weren’t for a particularly clever nettle. Flickr provided a rabbit hole to browse almost mindlessly, flying from image to image until I found something striking to follow up on. I was also more than willing to learn from the travels of others and took in US travel in shows from Anthony Bourdain, Alton Brown & Stephen Fry.

No matter how you get started on the tricky planning part, there’s more than enough adventure, culture and beauty to take in from LA to NYC.

Here’s an index of all my road trip blog posts, broken down by region:

It seems everyone who has heard of Edward Gorey holds a great deal of affection for his books. He was an author and an illustrator, but his categorization seems to end there. His picture books aren’t graphic novels. Some may resemble children’s books, in a way, but in many other ways don’t. Depending on where you’re shopping may simply be found in the “gift/humour” section. Gorey made a life long career out of small picture books in a way that few have outside of children’s literature. I adore his work, and it’s mix of dark and whimsical. He crafted a seamless, convincing Edwardian-type world where his characters existed.

The Edward Gorey house is located at no. 8 Strawberry lane in Cape Cod, MA. During our visit it was manned by friends of the man himself. The collection on display ranged from his personal items, to original artwork from unpublished books and props created in honor of his works – the Gashlycrumb Tinies were one of my favourite themes running throughout the house. Even the resident cat is rather absurd, much in the fashion of one of Gorey’s cartoon cats.

The rather curious character of Edward Gorey is enough to drive the interest in the museum, which is run with care and adoration. In honor of the magnificent artist and storyteller I’m posting some photos from our visit.

Inspired by a beautiful weekend without any work* and impressed by Willow’s photos, I got stuck into dealing with a few sets of photos that had been on the back burner for a while. It’s one of my favourite ways to spend a Sunday afternoon.

*Without work still included a few emails and a wrap party, but close enough.

Happiness is the Taco Truck.

Miss Jackson we visited twice, it was around the corner from where we stayed and we left feeling there were other menu items we still needed to try. The service here was great! (Pictured: steak sandwich, blueberry crumpets and pear crumble with yogurt)

I felt Milkwood served up the two best food photos of my trip, rhubarb topped porridge and mushrooms on toast.

If you’re visiting Melbourne then I highly recommend a visit to Sonido!. The arepas were delicious, fluffy and light – something I’d never tried before. The Colombian hot chocolate leaves me jealous to this day! And their fresh lemonade was the most refreshing drink ever.

Best in show goes to Cumulus Inc., a place I’d love to eat again. Their take on the Croque Madame using smoked salmon hit the spot, but the black pudding (made in house) was the best I’d ever tasted. Cumulus did us a big favor, we’d planned to visit them on our last day, before leaving Melbourne. Kate was down with a cold and we ran late, we phone ahead and squeaked through the door 2 minutes before the close of breakfast (which does seem strict) and they seated and served us happily. Chef, forgive the friend who ran in and ate with us a few minutes later!

Though Melbourne is on the same latitude as Wellington the nicer days still felt much like a Summer getaway. Maybe it was just the effect of categorically being in Australia, or perhaps the lack of hills – Melbourne has such a large sky.

During our week long visit we caught up with friends new and old; ate a great deal of food, walked from burb to burb and hung out in museums. I’ll keep you posted on the food sitch next time.