Another Fall Trip in The Land of America

One thing that never ceases to amaze me while traveling around America is just how vast it is. I am reminded of this every time I take a long road trip here. I was reminded of it while living in little old England for a few years, where you could drive across the entire country in the time it takes to drive to the next state in the USA. I was once again reminded of it during our latest fall family outing, which we’ll get to later.

The United States is just a big, big-ass country. It spans roughly 9.4 million kilometers. In terms of sheer physical mass, that ranks it behind only China (9.7 million km), Canada (10 million) and Russia, which takes the grand prize at a brain-melting 17 million kilometers.

Did you know you could fit about five Indias into one Russia? Well, now you do.

But I’m getting away from the main point….

The main point is that the United States is a big, big place, and seeing all of it is all but impossible.

My father has traveled to all 50 states. He’s the only one I know personally who has done that. It was a lifelong goal of his, and he reached it with my stepmother about two decades ago, after traveling to many states with his kids, my mother, his many friends and family, and all by his lonesome. He’s a youthful 92-years-old now, and he’ll always have that in his pocket – seeing all 50 states. I salute him for it.

I’m not sure I’ll get there. I’ve been to 39 of the 50 states, or maybe 38. I can’t remember if I’ve ever been to Idaho. I have a vague memory of renting a car and driving there back in the mid-1990s, when I attended a newspaper convention in Utah for a few days, and decided I didn’t want to spend all my time at a GD newspaper convention. So I blew it all off one day, rented a car, and went motoring through the salt flats to Nevada, where I hit a casino. I think I might have driven to Idaho, too. All three states are right there together. But I’m just not sure.

I know for a fact I have never been to Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas (North or South), Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Wisconsin or Michigan.

Minnesota and Wisconsin are on the bucket list. It would also be cool to see Montana and/or Wyoming. I would love to visit Omaha (Nebraska) for the College World Series. Alaska is a long shot. So are the Dakotas.

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A couple of weeks ago we took another fall trip that aligned with our daughters’ fall school break. Once again, we drove north, to upstate New York. We did the same thing last year, so I could visit the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., and the family could hit Saratoga, a fabulous village known for horse racing and rich tourists.

This year we went to Ithaca, another cool little upstate New York village best known for being home to Cornell University. We decided to go there so our oldest daughter could see Cornell. She’ll be in college in a couple years, so we’ve been taking her around to different schools. We figured Cornell would be a good school for her to see, because it’s one of the best in the country.

Alas, we came to learn that our daughter has no interest in Cornell – mainly because it is located in the northeastern United States, which is one of the coldest parts of the country. She was born and spent her first 8-plus years in the South, which is one of the warmest parts of the country.

We’ve been living in New Jersey for more than two years – and New Jersey is in the Northeast, where it’s cold. In any event, our daughter has discovered that she wants to go some place warmish for college.

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Our recent fall trip to upstate New York did have its benefits, though. For one thing, Ithaca is a nice place to visit. It’s one of those charming little towns that seem to dot the landscape in upstate New York. Its downtown area is very walkable, with a main drag that is blocked off from cars and has a bunch of cute shops and decent restaurants.

Cornell University is a vast and beautiful campus tucked up in the hills – and there are just a shitload of very steep hills here. You get some amazing views of the mountains and valleys. But man, all I could think about was how hard it would be to trudge up and down these steep hills during the dead of winter, between classes.

One day we took a road trip to parts north and west, mainly because I looked at a map and noticed that we were about a 90-minute drive from one of the Great Lakes. If you are not familiar the Great Lakes, they are five massive bodies of water that span from the Northeastern U.S. to the westernmost part of the Upper Midwest.

How do you remember the five Great Lakes? Glad you asked!

Just think of the word “HOMES.” It stands for lakes Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior (HOMES – get it?). I’ve known this since around the age of 6, and it still works.

Anyway….

As mentioned earlier, the USA is a big place. And even though I have lived here most of my long life, and visited 39 (maybe 38) of the 50 states, I had never seen a single Great Lake all the way up until November 7, 2025. That’s the date I decided the family should take the drive from Ithaca to the shores of Lake Ontario, about 90 minutes away. It was time to check that box off the list….

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One thing you learn, driving around big old America, is how little in common certain sections of the country have with others. Truly, there must be 40-odd different Americas.

I grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, a dynamic Southern city that seems to change its character about every five minutes. It has a very modern, 21st century vibe. The buildings are shiny new and the housing developments are shiny new, and the moment some development turns about 25 years old, it’s time to raze it and build something even newer.

In Charlotte, history is something you don’t spend a lot of time fussing over.

Upstate New York is the exact polar opposite. History hits you in the face everywhere you go in these parts and demands that you pay f***king attention.

Driving from Ithaca to Lake Ontario was like driving through a faded, yellowed old photograph from the early 20^th century, stuck in Grandma’s attic. Everywhere you looked there were old homes and old towns and old farms and old old old old old and older than old,

I can’t recall seeing a single new development. You definitely didn’t see any of the shiny, cookie-cutter neighborhoods that pop up like wildflowers every 10 minutes elsewhere in the country.

I hate to admit it, but I got a creepy feeling driving past all this weathered old landscape. It’s weird. When I lived in Charlotte, I often longed to see something old and weathered. But living up in the Northeast, I have an even greater longing to see something new and modern.

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On the bright side: On our drive to Lake Ontario, we passed through wine country. Man, what a beautiful drive it was. Much of it was along a stretch of two-lane highway right by one of the Finger Lakes (yes, they look like fingers). If you ever find yourself in these parts, do by all means take this drive.

On the way, we passed a farm with some cuter-than-cute alpacas, so of course we decided to take a photo:

We eventually wound up at our destination, Chimney Bluffs State Park, which sits shoreside to Lake Ontario. We parked the car and walked down a trail on a damp, fairly frigid November day. It was my first glimpse of one of the Great Lakes, and worth the drive.

I had always heard about what it’s like to see one of the Great Lakes in person, and how you can look over the horizon to the other side and not actually see the other side, because the other side is dozens of miles away.

In this case, the other side was Canada. I had never in my life been on a lakeshore where I could not see the land on the other side. It was like looking over a sea.

I can’t say exactly what I felt at the time, other than I was glad to experience it, with my family, at a late date in my life.

The USA is a big, big country. Seeing all of it might be impossible, but it sure as hell is fun to try.

Image: Some of our stops along the way.

Bonus images: As mentioned elsewhere in this blog, my wife is a fine amateur photographer who seems to capture things on camera that tell stories you simply can’t put into words. Here are a few recent photos she took in the other New York – New York City, another land of America — that I found particularly captivating.