Friday, March 26, 2010

500 things to eat...1000 places to see...Is it really possibly to do this?

Many years ago I bought 1000 Places to See Before You Die. I was obsessed with this book. I sat down with a trusty highlighter and marked off those places I had been fortunate to visit. A few years later, I was at a Cracker Barrel (a favorite place of Marshall and I, you know the food will be the same whether it is California or Alabama) and I saw it. 1000 Places to See Before You Die, US and Canada Edition! Oh my gosh! I resisted the urge to purchase the book and begin highlighting while waiting for my chicken fried steak/blueberry pancakes (my two go-tos at Cracker Barrel, don't remember which I had). It was a very anticipated Christmas present from the best husband in the world, later that year. So of course, the highlighting began later that day.

Any trips that ensued after finding these great books, meant that I had to pull out said books and find out where we were going. Unfortunately, most of the places listed are hotels, hotels that are out of my price range. Oh well, if its an attraction, or something to look at, I will find it! (And you better believe every time I travel, I look to see if its in the book, and mark it off.)

This past year for Christmas, mom got me 500 Things to Eat Before Its Too Late (they didn't want to go into the morbid, before you die?). This book is interesting, and instead of breaking the food up by state, it is categorized by type of foods in regions of the country. The best relleno (stuffed chile pepper) can be found at Chope's south of Las Cruces, NM-FYI.

When I decided to spend my Spring Break visiting my brother and his family in Nebraska, of course, I had to pull out the books. Surprisingly, Nebraska is not listed in World edition of 1000 Places. And the US/Canada edition did not make Nebraska seem all that interesting- sand dunes, Omaha Steaks, but the Henry Doorly Zoo, was everything it was made out to be. I can cross that one off the list! The 500 Things to Eat was also a wealth of knowlege. Okay, so maybe "wealth" is not exactly right, but a little restaurant (and it turned out to be quite little) called Stellas in Bellevue, outside Omaha, was touted to have one of the best hamburgers in the country. And I would have to agree, it was pretty damn good!

I have never been lead astray by these books (or any of my other numerous travel books), so I will continue to consult them before any and all travels.