My Week with Girl Gone International

Last week, I got a very exciting email from Bonnie Rose asking me to guest post for Girl Gone International's Instagram account. How could I say no to that?! I loved the user engagement on the account (people actually answered the questions I posed in my captions!), and I found a lot of great new wanderlust accounts to add to my personal feed. For today's Travel Tuesday post, I wanted to share with you my posts at @girlgoneinternational from the past week:

Alcatraz Island: San Francisco, California

Welcome to Travel Tuesday, a weekly link-up for all things travel-related! Last week, Carly posted about her visit to Alcatraz Island in San Francisco, which inspired me to dig through some old photos and share my experience, as well. Warning: This trip was taken during my pre-blogger life, when I didn't understand the importance of taking 27 photos of one detail in order to find the perfect shot, so pickings were slim!

The Freedom Trail: Boston, Massachusetts

Welcome back to Travel Tuesday, a weekly link-up to share your travel experiences, stories and tips! Today I'm sharing some photos from my visit to Boston a year ago around this time. I visited Boston University as a traveling consultant for my sorority, and during one of my free afternoons I hopped the T to walk The Freedom Trail.

My favorite part of the tour was the guide. They really get into character. In fact, our tour guide told us he is not allowed to wear sunglasses or carry a water bottle because Bostonians didn't have those luxuries in the 18th century. He did have a nifty little canteen to quench his thirst, however. And, of course, he was very knowledgeable about all things Boston and the American Revolution in general.

A Drive on America's Most Scenic Highway

Welcome back to Travel Tuesday! Stop by every Tuesday to link up your recent travel posts and read about one of my adventures. Today I'm sharing snapshots of my drive down California's coastal Highway 1 earlier this month.

My fiance's family was camping in Pismo Beach two weeks ago, so we drove down to meet them for the weekend. It's only about a three-hour drive from the Bay Area to Pismo if you use the major highways, but we decided to head over to the coast for a more scenic road trip.

Travel Tuesday: Hearst Castle, California

Welcome back to Travel Tuesday! There is no suggested prompt today; simply link up with any travel post you wish! I'll be sharing photos from my recent trip to Hearst Castle, a State Historical Monument on the central coast of California. Hearst Castle was built for newspaper mogul William Hearst in the early to mid-1900s. I had been to the castle once before, in middle school, and gone on the typical "Grand Rooms" tour. This time, we elected to go on a specialized tour to see the private suites in the top floors of the main house, or "Casa Grande."

Travel Tuesday: At the Home of the King.

Welcome back to Travel Tuesday! After devising suggested prompts for the past two weeks, I thought I'd leave this week wide open regarding the topic. I already shared some Instagram photos of my trip to Tennessee last fall, but today I thought I would go into more detail and share some photos of our afternoon at Graceland.



Graceland, as you probably know, was the home of Elvis Presley. I have to admit, I had always expected a much bigger and more lavish home, and I was somewhat surprised when we pulled up to the exterior. It's not that the house was not large; I just picture something very different when I think of a "mansion," and the house looked fairly traditional from the front yard. The inside definitely did not disappoint, though, as each room was more eclectic than the last. The upstairs rooms are not open to the public, out of respect to Elvis and his family, but we explored the ground floor and the basement.

5 Historical Fiction Novels Set in the United States

I love historical fiction. (Are you surprised? No. Hmm ... you know me well.) Even as an avid reader of this genre, though, I typically imagine tales of the Tudors or stories of Holocaust victims when I hear the term "historical fiction," and I often forget how many great historical fiction books take place in my very own country: the United States. Therefore, today I bring you:

The Volunteer State on Instagram: Memphis & Nashville

As I mentioned on Saturday, I spent five days in Tennessee last weekend. My sister of the suitcase (a.k.a. fellow Alpha Delta Pi leadership consultant last year) got hitched in her hometown about an hour outside Nashville, and by some amazing miracle, every single one of the 2012-2013 consultants was able to attend! Not only was it a great reunion, but Jonathan and I took a few days off work to explore Tennessee, considering we were already making the long trip.

One of my favorite signs down this strip said, "First chance for a drink. Next chance 25 feet."

A Day in Monterey with Any Way the Wind Blows

Today I'm happy to welcome Sarah from Any Way the Wind Blows! She is sharing her itinerary for a fabulous day in the coastal California town of Monterey, so if a trip to the west coast is in your future, be sure to read on after the jump for great activities and eats.
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Hey guys! I'm Sarah, and I blog over at Any Way the Wind Blows.

The Historic Santa Fe Plaza.

I promised you pictures of my "tourist" excursion to the Plaza on Memorial Day, and here they are. As I've said before, I don't mind if you pin my photographs as long as you link them back to this specific post and not my blog home page. Thanks. :)

Travel Tuesday: Week 10

Hello, and welcome to another edition of Travel Tuesday! In honor of National Park Week (which ended Sunday), this week's topic is: Which is your favorite national park? What parks have you always wanted to visit? What are your favorite activities to do in a national park? As always, you are free to write about anything travel-related; don't feel obligated to answer my prompt. And, of course, don't forget to link up below!

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My favorite national park is, without a doubt, Yosemite. I mentioned it a little last week, so this week I wanted to share some photos from when I climbed Half Dome two summers again. It was also No. 43 on my to-do list. (I added it after I had already made the climb, but hey, it was something I had always wanted to do! So I wanted to cross it off my list.)

This is Half Dome! Pretty cool, huh?

Travel Tuesday: Week 9

Hello, and welcome to another edition of Travel Tuesday! Today's suggested topic: What are some great day trips that you've taken? What has been your favorite domestic travel experience? Do you think domestic traveling is really traveling? As always, you are free to write about anything travel-related; don't feel obligated to answer my prompt. And, of course, don't forget to link up below!

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It's no secret that I never really cared for my California hometown. I mean, I did move 2,000 miles away for school, and I didn't even apply to any California schools. I just wanted to get out of there! But as much as there was to dislike about where I grew up, we did have this really nice little travel radius around us that was jam-packed with day trip options. I could drive two hours in pretty much any direction and be in San Francisco or in Sacramento, at the beach or in the snow, hiking in Yosemite National Park or riding roller coasters at Six Flags or wine-tasting in Napa—you name it, I could probably get there quickly. Today I will mostly share pictures from these day trips, but I'll add links for good places to eat or fun things to do in each area, as well.

Date Night(s): Rapid City

Last week, I visited my boyfriend in Rapid City, South Dakota, where he goes to school and stayed to work over the holidays. I think those four days were the longest we've spent together since last winter break! (Long distance can be tough, but I know it could be worse. At least he's not overseas.) During the time we spent together, we went on some pretty amazing dates. So if you're ever in Rapid City, here are some fun things to do (and good places to eat!):

Ice Skating

Rapid City has a fun new square downtown, complete with an ice skating rink! It was pretty cheap, too, at only $15 for both of us to rent skates and get all-day passes. After we were done skating, we went to a '50s-style diner right by the rink (I think you can actually skate up to the order window) to share an Oreo milkshake. And yes, we had two straws for one milkshake. Disgustingly cheesy, right? :)

Sorry for my squint; it was actually really sunny! We were wearing sunglasses, but we felt silly

wearing sunglasses and ice skates, so we took them off for the rink.

Good Food, Good Wine, C'mon, Let's Dine!

For most of our meals, we decided to go out and try some new restaurants. My two favorites were both located on Main Street, right across from the ice skating rink....

Travel finds: Unusual hotels.

While perusing my Google Reader today, I stumbled upon this awesome slideshow of weird hotels compiled by Budget Travel. The amazingly weird hotels included one in Bolivia made completely out of salt, a colorful retro hotel close to home in San Luis Obispo and - perhaps weirdest of all - a hotel in France with rooms that will make you feel like a hamster. Despite the wide array of choices, I was able to narrow it down to a couple favorites that I would actually love to stay in one day:

Bulldog traditions: University of Georgia.

My brother and I on the UGA campus.

"You yell 'Go Bulldogs,' and then you bark," my brother told us.

"Like, really bark?" I asked. "Ruff ruff or ark ark?"

"Megan, you sound like a seal." (This from my sister.)

We were trying to learn the University of Georgia student chants and cheers before the football game on Saturday, and all Michael could tell us was that we had to bark like bulldogs. Well, let me tell you, during Georgia's 19-10 victory over the Kentucky Wildcats, we perfected that bark. And it was more of an "hoo hoo hoo," but in a deep canine-like voice, if that makes any sense.

After learning to be a Georgia football fan, of course I wanted to learn about the other traditions and/or superstitions around campus. When we returned to Athens after Thanksgiving to drop Michael back off at school, we took another tour of the campus.

First, Michael showed me this arch, which is rumored to be cursed. If you walk under the arch, you won't graduate in four years. Well, I was arrogant enough to walk under it because I'm not graduating in four years, so ha! I beat that system. Michael says he hasn't walked under it yet.

After the arch, we visited the bell tower. After the game the previous Saturday, there had been a huge line, so I figured I would just wait until our return trip to participate in this particular campus tradition. Unfortunately (as you can see in the below picture), the rope was tied up so I couldn't ring it. :( But I did get to read about the history of the tower on a nearby plaque, which is included in the below caption.

Originally used to call students to classes, chapel services, and special events, the University of Georgia chapel bell was cast by George Holbrook of Medway, Massachusetts in 1835. The bell's arrival on campus is shrouded in mystery, but it is believed to have replaced an earlier bell between 1903 and 1911. Now primarily used to toll Georgia football victories, the chapel bell has weathered stolen clappers, rivalries, and a brief career as a World War II air raid "siren." The bell has been housed in its present location since circa 1913. The tower and bell restoration were completed in August 2008.

Note: I have recently added a new goal to my "bucket list": to visit 100 college campuses (#21). It's fun stories like these that make me so interested in visiting universities, so I hope I am able to share many more posts like this in the future as I complete this new item on my list!

Back to the South.

Every year at Thanksgiving, I am fortunate to be able to visit my grandparents in North Carolina. This year, that tradition was preceded by a quick trip to Athens to visit my baby brother at school.

We left Athens on Sunday morning the day after the Georgia-Kentucky game for the five-hour drive to my grandparents' mountain house in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I used to call it cabin, but apparently this doesn't qualify as a "cabin" for some people (including my grandparents):

So ... I guess this isn't a cabin?

Our time at the mountain house was filled with card games, board games and four Redbox movies. It was a relaxing few days with a gorgeous view!

The siblings! The river is only a short walk from the house, with a cute

little gazebo near the bank.

My first SEC game.

As you might know, the University of Missouri recently moved to the Southeastern Conference. This means beginning in 2012, my school will be playing my brother's school, the University of Georgia, in the SEC East. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend my first Georgia game, which is also the second-to-last football game during which Georgia can be my favorite SEC team (because of course, beginning next season I'll have to root for my Tigers).

My sister, dad and I all flew into Atlanta on Friday night and drove out to Athens to start our Thanksgiving Break. (The school is much further from Atlanta than I had previously thought - almost 80 miles instead of a mere 45 minutes.) We picked my brother up bright and early the next day (bright and early for a college freshman, that is) and headed to Waffle House for breakfast. Kickoff was scheduled for 12:20, and we made it into the stadium only a few minutes late.

My brother, Michael, headed off to the student section while Abby, Dad and I headed up to our seats in the nosebleed section ... on level 600. I had heard Missouri would have to do a $40 million renovation to our stadium to be in the SEC, but I wasn't sure what that would entail. Now I'm wondering, maybe that entails building our stadium a few levels higher? These seats were insanely high. The stadium also seats well over 92,000 people, so I'm sure the seats have to built that high just to fit around the field. When my dad sent his girlfriend a picture of the field from our seats and joked about how awesome our view was, she texted back:

"Yeah, you and the Goodyear blimp."

As you can see from our view, my dad's girlfriend was pretty accurate.

I loved the pretty autumn colors outside the stadium.

I'm happy to say Georgia won, 19-10, despite the few obnoxious Kentucky fans that were heckling the crowd in our section and periodically announcing the score of the Kentucky basketball game, in which the Wildcats were faring a little better (wrong sport!). The game ended just in time for me to follow the Missouri vs. Texas Tech game on my phone while we went to dinner (more about that later), and I was able to watch our victorious end back at the hotel! We also watched Oregon lose to USC, so those few games combined with Oklahoma State's loss the night before made for one heck of a college football weekend and a great start to Thanksgiving break!

Unfortunately, we didn't quite leave ourselves enough time in the morning to attend an actual tailgate outside the stadium, so I can't cross that off my list yet. But, I can cross attending an SEC football game off #20. Whoop!

Around the United States in five minutes.

This is the coolest video I have seen in a long, long time. Photographer Brian DeFrees created this timelapse video using pictures taken at automatic intervals from inside his car as he drove around 32 states, from New York to California to South Dakota and back to New York again.

Click here to read the full story (and see another gorgeous timelapse video of places DeFrees stopped along the way, including less cars and more sunsets) by Outside online editor Joe Spring.

P.S. - I really want to download that song now.

Travel finds: United States.

I follow quite a few travel blogs on my Google Reader (22 as of right now, but the list is constantly growing). A few weeks ago, National Geographic Traveler posted a list of 10 fun, free tours available in the U.S. That post inspired me, and I've been collecting a list of other interesting American tours I've happened upon since then (mostly through my Google Reader). Here's a short list of some of my finds:

Photo via Pinterest.

Tour an Olympic Training Center in California.

Visit the world's only Salt and Pepper Shaker Museum in Tennessee.

Stroll through the Pedway in Chicago.

Play at The New Museum in New York City.

Drive from San Diego to Sonoma on the California Missions Trail.

A Moment of Being: 09.11.2001

In my Advanced Writing course this semester, we discussed "moments of being." These are moments during everyone's life in which very detailed memories are formed. These can be moments of pure bliss, deep tragedy or any other drastic change or emotion in your life. Sometimes, you don't know why a particular memory has become a moment of being because you're not quite sure what you're supposed to have learned from it ... yet. Regardless, these moments are ingrained in your mind, from the things you saw and heard to the way you were feeling and even the way something smelled. Every nuance is recorded in your memory.

There is also such a thing as a "national moment of being" - a moment during which everyone can remember where they were and what they were doing when said moment occurred. For an older generation, this might have been the assassination of JFK. For those a few years older than me, it could have possibly been the Challenger explosion. For our generation, and so many above ours, it was most certainly 9/11.

Source: google.com via Megan on Pinterest

I lived in California in 2001, so it was fairly early in the morning when the television stations began broadcasting the attack on the Twin Towers. I remember my mom waking me up and telling me to come downstairs to her room, where the small television screen at the foot of her bed was filled with smoke and screams. I didn't quite understand then why something happening 3,000 miles away was such a big deal, yet when I walked outside to go to school a few hours later, I half expected the horizon beyond the cornfield outside my house to be similarly filled with smoke.

At school, the coverage continued to be played in the library and in our classrooms. Friends and teachers inquired about my family members in Pennsylvania after Flight 93 went down. I became worried; at 11 years old, I wasn't quite sure which county my grandparents and cousins lived in. But wouldn't my mom have told me if something had happened to them? (Don't worry, they didn't live near the crash. And my cousin who lived in New York City at the time was out of the state visiting friends, so I'm fortunate to not have any personal tragedies related to the attack.)

I know there were probably a million blogs posted today about September 11, and I don't presume to think my post offers any insight that another blog wouldn't. But I do remember that day, and I will remember it until the day I die. It was truly a moment of being, for myself and an entire generation.

I did stumble upon this gem today, however, which offers a new and interesting perspective on 9/11 and the lack of social media that existed to perpetuate the tragedy. If a major terrorist attack happened in America today, I'd hate to think of the unnecessary rumors and violence that would come out of the Internet's prominence in today's society.

What are your thoughts?