49. Oklahoma

 This leg of our adventure was actually driven. We left after school and drove up to Oklahoma City, OK. After dropping off our bags at the hotel, we headed to Cattlemen's Steakhouse located in Stockyards City. There isn't much to the Stockyards in OKC so it was very easy to find, just look for the place with all the cars. The wait wasn't too bad and we waited upstairs for our pager to go off. We sat at a booth right under a picture of Walter Brennan, a cowboy actor from years ago. The USDA Prime Beef Blue Ribbon Special was a 14 oz. ribeye. I ordered mine medium rare and Dennis ordered the pepper steak he had heard about. Entrees are accompanied with salad, baked potato, and fresh homemade bread. We also selected a side of sautéed mushrooms. The salad was just how Dennis likes them, mostly lettuce. The salads were served with some thin, buttery, toasted bread slices that could be crumbled and sprinkled on top. To tell the truth, I didn't crumble mine, I just ate them since they were so good. The steaks soon arrived and we weren't disappointed. The ribeye was cooked perfectly and one of the best steaks I've eaten. It wasn't a seasoned steak, but one aged to perfection so the true flavor of the beef was prevalent. Dennis's pepper steak was a little under cooked for him but with all that thick, beefy gravy covering the sirloin you could hardly tell. The peppercorns on top made the difference with each bite. The sautéed button mushrooms were simple yet delicious. They reminded us of our all time favorite mushrooms we had many years ago that were served sliced in a small cast iron skillet. He thinks they were in Austin, I think they were in Waco. We'll just have o take a road trip down to the hill country to settle that discussion.
     The next morning we drove towards the Chisholm Trail to Okarche, Ok to taste some of the supposedly best fried chicken at Oklahoma's oldest bar, Eischen's. Everything we

saw stated they opened at 11am and we were happy to see when we arrived at 10:30 that they really opened at 10. We entered the bar and found a booth to sit at. I was surprised how many people were already there. The tables are reminiscent of a small country cafe. There are few options on the menu but that's fine since they are known for their chicken which is ordered as a whole chicken. We ordered one to sample now and one to take back to Texas. The only drink options are "beer, water, and pop" according to the waitress.

The couple sitting a few booths away ordered the Frito pie made with homemade chili and it smelled so good when they were served we ordered one to. It was good and would be even better on a cold day. Don't be in a hurry when you go here, the chicken is fried to order so it takes a little while. The whole chicken, cut in pieces, soon arrived accompanied by pickles, onions, and bread. The bread and butter pickles were some of the best we've had but enough about the sides, the chicken is what we came for. The skin was crunchy and a light golden brown, not at all greasy. This was true country fried chicken at its best. No marinating, just fried so the meat is tender and juicy. After sharing a couple of pieces we packed up our leftovers and headed back to Arlington, after all we had an LSU game to get to,
     When we crossed the Red River in to Texas we could officially state that we had been to all 50 states in one year. I wanted to count Texas last since that's where I live now. How appropriate it was to attend an LSU game in Cowboy Stadium which is located in Arlington, the city I live in now.

Leg 18

    1 day

       miles 

    = 1 state visited

                         Only Texas is left!

http://www.cattlemensrestaurant.com/index.php

48. Iowa

We flew into Des Moines and the first thing we saw after exiting the airport was corn fields. Everything was so green and the temperature was cool which was completely opposite of what we had just left. I had read that when in Iowa you should eat Iowa pork so we went to The Machine Shed to check out one of their infamous pork chops. The Machine Shed has been around since 1978 and antique farming implements decorate the walls. The guys from American Pickers would love this place. Sort of reminded us of a local Cracker Barrel. Hmmm.. I wonder which came first, The Machine Shed or Cracker Barrel? Before sitting down to dinner we took a ride on the John Deere tractor. It was a fun way to start the experience and we enjoyed it just as much as the other little ones on the tractor.

     We began with a combination of “Burnt Ends” and “Farmhand Battered Mushrooms”.

Burnt ends are pork and beef smoked in a hardwood smoker for a long time and served with their own barbecue sauce. The mushrooms were some of the largest mushrooms I’d ever had fried. I selected the single cut pork chop and Dennis selected the chicken fried steak. Homemade bread, coleslaw, and cottage cheese were soon set down in front of us. They consider those items their family style fixins. The pork chop was one of the most tender, tastiest, roasted chops that I had ever eaten. It was so large I was glad I had only ordered the single cut. The sweet potato was good but didn’t compare to the one I had in Montana. Dennis’s chicken fried steak was smothered in gravy and served with his favorite, mashed potatoes.  For dessert we shared a slice of their Snickers Pie,

a sweet concoction of Snickers candy bars mixed in a sweet cream and layered on an Oreo cookie crust and then topped with peanuts, chocolate chips, and caramel. We definitely had our sugar fix, so much so that Dennis even missed the exit to our hotel. Of course, that could have been due to being on the phone with a friend of his explaining what a wonderful meal we had just eaten. The next morning we left Des Moines and flew back to Dallas. Des Moines might be a small airport but it looked like they were ready for lots of travelers. Their security checkpoint was as large as one in Vegas. We couldn’t resist taking a picture of it, that did, however, alert the security guard who wanted to know why we were photographing their security line. I just told him about my 50 states for 50 years and we were just motioned on through.

Leg 17

     1 day

     2 flights

        miles

   = 1 state visited

          2 more to go!

http://www.machineshed.com/index.html

47. New York

I had decided that I wanted to spend my official birthday in “The Big Apple”. Little did I know it would be an adventure just getting there. Our flight to LaGuardia ended up canceling so we started looking for other options. We sat at DFW watching flights cancel or fill up for hours. I wasn’t giving up; I had reservations for lunch at Peter Luger Steakhouse and tickets to Broadway. I was going and I didn’t care how we got there. Since it didn’t look like we would be able to fly into NYC we looked at flying into Baltimore or Philadelphia and then driving to the city. We finally boarded a plane to Philadelphia at 10:45 pm, after AA took two planes out of service and I was scared the crew would time out. We landed in Philadelphia at around 3:00 am, rented a car, and Dennis drove us through the fog to New York City. We watched the sun come up as we reached the city at around 6:00 am. We went to the hotel and after some maneuvering we finally got a key to our room. I had prepaid for the room and called to let them know we would be extremely late in arriving but not to give up our room. Supposedly if you don’t arrive by 3am they give your room up anyway and they had no more rooms. Well, the young man I had spoken to was new and didn’t inform the others at the front desk that he had assigned a room to us. Thankfully we had a room and a few hours to rest and shower before our nonstop day was to begin. We drove to Peter Luger Steakhouse, found a parking spot right across the street, and enjoyed the best steak. We ordered the steak for two with Luger’s special German style potatoes as our side. The steak is served on a platter that is so hot that if your steak is not cooked enough then rub it along the side and it will cook more. Now, I love a rare steak but just out of curiosity I seared a piece just to see if they were telling us the truth. They were. The waiters sang “Happy Birthday” to me as they served us a slice of New York cheesecake complete with their homemade whipped cream, “Schlag”, and a candle. Peter Luger’s has been around for over a hundred years and the form of payment has always been and still is cash.

    After a wonderful lunch celebration we drove to Battery Park where we boarded the

Miss Gateway for our harbor cruise. Time did not allow us the luxury of getting off and exploring Lady Liberty or Ellis Island but I had done that before and was just happy to be able to relax as we cruised around the harbor. Dennis had not been to New York since before 9/11 and I wanted him to see and experience the emotions of ground zero. The memorial was in its final stages before the opening in a few weeks and most of it was blocked off but I noticed an outdoor patio bar at a hotel just across the street that would have a great view of what was behind the fencing so we acted like we knew where we were going, got on the

 elevator, entered the bar and found the door to the patio so we could see the spectacular memorial. We also walked by the FDNY Ten House station which is home to the FDNY Memorial Wall. The firemen were enlightening and even put Flat Stanley in the fire truck.

    After sitting for a few minutes, I was exhausted, we headed towards Broadway. We had tickets to see Million Dollar Quartet. It was a great show and I highly recommend it especially if you love music. The show ended and we drove to Newark airport so we could return the rental car. We were so desperate to get a car we managed to rent one that did not have a drop off place in the city or at LaGuardia which is where we were flying from so we had to take it to Newark. Not a problem except at this time of night the only way to get back to our hotel was to call a car service. Our flight home on Sunday or I should say flights, were just as interesting going home as they were going to New York. We ended up flying from LaGuardia to St. Louis along with every other standby passenger only to find out the flight from St. Louis to Dallas was cancelled. We opted for our good ole standby, Southwest Airlines and took a flight from St. Louis to Little Rock to Houston and then finally back to Dallas. We started out on Friday afternoon and had planned to travel to one state, New York, by the time we got home on Sunday evening we had been in five different states not counting Texas. It was a trip we will never forget.

Leg 16

      3 days (only 26 hours in NYC)

      5 flights

         miles

      = 1 state visited (although we actually landed in 4 states and drove to 2)
                                  3 states to go!

http://www.peterluger.com/





46. Connecticut

 We arrived late into Hartford with not much time to do anything accept to drive around and see a few sights before driving to Meriden to eat at Ted’s Restaurant, home of the steamed cheeseburger. We drove by the Old State House, Mark Twain’s Home, and the State Capitol. By the time we reached Ted’s it was pouring. It’s a small place but we managed to find two seats at the counter.  The burgers and cheese are steamed. I had mine with the works that  included lettuce, tomato, sautéed onions, mushrooms, ketchup, and pickles served on Vienna rolls. Dennis ordered his with pickles. The burgers were so good and well worth the drive in the rain. We sat for a while and watched the cook as he would load the steamer with meat and cheese before we drove back to Hartford. It was a quick trip but one that was filling.

Leg 15
       8 days
      flights
      408 miles driven
      1 12 hour train ride
      1 boat ride

= 2 states visited

         4 more to go!

http://tedsrestaurant.com/index.htm

45. Alaska

     Alaska was probably our favorite state to visit on this adventure, I know it was mine. First, we visited as a family, probably one of our last family trips since Ben will soon graduate from college and living a life of his own. Second, the sights and scenery were magnificent. Pictures just don’t do it justice. There was so much to see and many sights were breathtaking. While we didn’t see the Northern Lights, what we did see were majestic snow-covered mountains, luscious greenery, wildlife that most only see at a zoo or aquarium, and the excitement on faces as we heard and watched nature taking its course as a calving glacier roared. Third, the food was superb. From crab legs to my new favorite fish, halibut, we were never disappointed. There was so much to do and we crammed in as much as we could in the short amount of time that we were there.

     Dennis and I spent the first day in and around Fairbanks while we waited for Ben to arrive. We were so close to North Pole, Alaska that we just had to go and see if Santa was too busy to see us. He was not. We even saw his reindeer. I couldn’t resist putting my hand through the fence to touch an antler. The reindeer wasn’t as thrilled as I was to touch it. We ate at Elf’s Den and this is where I had my first taste of halibut. The service was not that great despite there was only one other table eating besides ours but the fried halibut sandwich made up for any disappointment in the service or décor. The mild, white fish was delicious. After lunch we drove around and saw what one could only see in Alaska, a man weedeating his roof. Yes, that is correct and I have the picture to prove it. We have the wonderful ladies at the Visitor Information Center to thank for sending us in that direction. After a morning in North Pole we drove north to view the Alyeska Pipeline. Not much there but worth the stop to see something we had always heard about. We then drove to Chatanika, Alaska to see the relic of gold dredge #3.  The #3 camp is home to the Old Chatanika School as well as a restaurant with a very large coal cook stove that when burning would heat up the entire mess hall. Of course no trip would be complete without a stop at a local brewery so we stopped at the Silver Gulch, America’s most northern brewery.  We headed back to Fairbanks where we walked through Pioneer Park for a look into Fairbanks’ heritage.  After a full day of sightseeing and it was still daylight outside we decided it was time to get a bite to eat. We arrived at The Cookie Jar Restaurant right at closing but they sat us anyway.  My choice was their beer battered halibut topped with melted cheese and Dennis opted for the country fried steak made from prime rib complete with lots of gravy on top. The hot chocolate and homemade chocolate pie made for a perfect ending. It was almost 10:30pm, still light outside and time to pick up Ben from the airport. It was really odd and sort of hard to adjust to but it felt like dusk lasted forever.

     If you’re going to take a trip of a lifetime then you really should do it up right. I had booked us on the Alaska Railroad’s GoldStar rail service from Fairbanks to Anchorage. It is a little more expensive to have the GoldStar service but well worth it. The train departed at 8:15am and would travel south through Denali National Park and reach Anchorage at around 8:00pm. The comfortable dome car seating was a must for the 12 hour ride. We walked through some of the other cars and knew we had made the right choice. The outdoor viewing deck along with the dome windows gave us an up close view of the beautiful landscape and wildlife. I anxiously awaited to see the first moose sighting and of course that first sighting would occur while I was in the ladies room. Luckily there were more sightings. When we stopped in Denali

we noticed everyone waiting for the train was bundled up. It was 34°.  The landscape was green and lush and the excitement was contagious every time someone spotted some sort of wildlife. We sat on the right side of the train and I followed the detailed guide with anticipation of what was to come next. There were many times that I stood inside or on the outdoor viewing deck only to go inside to warm up a bit. It was too overcast to see Mt. McKinley and that was the only disappointment on the entire trip. The meal service was absolutely delicious and considering the fact that Dennis and Ben ate both breakfast and dinner onboard was a testament to the food. We arrived into Anchorage and settled into our hotel room ordering a pizza to be delivered.

     To get the most from a short amount of time we took an Anchorage City Trolley tour so we could familiarize ourselves with Anchorage and make note of places we wanted to revisit. Our tour guide was entertaining as well as knowledgeable. We went back to the floatplane base so we could watch the planes takeoff and land on the water. A late lunch took us to Glacier Brewhouse where I had to have steamed crab legs.

 The drive south to Seward was breathtaking and we couldn’t help but stop at McHugh Creek for some photo opportunities. Actually Dennis and Ben sat in the warm car while I ventured along the trail to photograph the stream and waterfall. We arrived in Seward and looked for our lodge. Good thing we had directions because it wasn’t as easy to get to as we thought. The road looked a little narrow and dangerous but we finally turned into the lodge area. To find our room, we only had to look at the welcome sign which told us our room number and where it was located. The view from our suite was magnificent. So beautiful that we tried to book it for an additional night, no luck, if we wanted to stay an extra night in Seward we would have to find alternate arrangements. The next morning we set out on our small group whale watching and glacier tour. The small group tour hosts no more than 15 people, lasts all day and was probably the highlight of our trip. Well worth the extra money.  Captain Tanya and First Mate Kendra were the best. They went out of their way to make sure everyone had a great time and saw plenty. We never felt hurried. A bald eagle was perched near the entrance of Resurrection Bay as if to bid us farewell and safe journey. It wasn’t long before we started seeing otters and other wildlife. We saw otters, eagles, harbor seals, humpback whales, puffins, sea lions, and even a porpoise or two.  We enjoyed a light lunch at Holgate Glacier while enjoying the sounds and sights of a calving glacier. As we headed back we searched for more whales as we discussed what a memorable day it had been. When we arrived back into the harbor the eagle was 

there to greet us as if to welcome and congratulate us on a safe voyage. We didn’t want to drive back to Anchorage so we had arranged to stay in town at the Hotel Seward. After a little shopping we dined at the hotel’s restaurant. Gene’s Place is small but they have some rooms sat aside, each individually decorated. We selected the Christmas room to dine in. We ate crab cakes, Resurrection Bay salmon and Cook Inlet salmon. No complaints from this group. We walked around the town a bit since it’s hard to go to sleep when it’s still light outside.

    The next morning we woke and started our trip back to Anchorage. We stopped at Exit Glacier and made the hike to get as close as we could. Tanya and Kendra had suggested a place to see salmon swimming so we ventured toward the salmon hatchery and searched until we found them. Mission accomplished. There was one last place we wanted to eat so while we waited for the restaurant to open we ventured to Ship Creek for some King Salmon watching.  Simon and Seafort’s was our final destination before leaving Alaska. We started with some steamed King Crab legs and Ben is not one to pass up French Onion Soup. My entrée of Seafood Etouffee was not what one from Louisiana would expect. It consisted of sea scallops, tiger prawns, mussels, clams, andouille sausage served atop cheese grits. It was delicious. The steak we ordered was covered with onion  strings and cooked to perfection. It was the perfect ending to a perfect trip. We’ve already decided that we will return to the great state of Alaska. 

http://www.santaclaushouse.com/

http://cookiejarfairbanks.com/

http://www.glacierbrewhouse.com/

http://www.alaskasaltwaterlodge.com/alaska_whale_watching.htm

http://www.hotelsewardalaska.com/

http://www.simonandseaforts.com/page/home

44. North Carolina

 It wasn’t a long drive till we reached North Carolina. I decided a beach restaurant would be the best so we drove to Sunset Beach, NC. I was still in the mood for seafood. Little did I know that while there were plenty of homes and quite a few people, there weren’t many places to eat. In fact, if you’re thinking of opening a restaurant, I would recommend this town. We had a hard time finding anything to eat and it was starting to get late. After driving back across the bridge we noticed a sign that pointed to a house-like structure. It said seafood so we decided to give it a shot. Luckily they were still open for lunch, albeit a late lunch. They were extremely hospitable even though it was obvious we were going to be the last of their lunch patrons for the day. They showed us to a table upstairs where we started with an order of hush puppies. I’m not sure if they were that good or if we were just famished but we devoured them while waiting for our main course. Dennis had a shrimp po-boy and I had a tilapia and shrimp combo, both of which were served with fries and cole slaw. Nothing like a little coastal southern hospitality. While we dined we could see people fishing in the waters next to the restaurant and could just imagine them fishing for our food. After a delicious lunch we drove back towards Florida to spend the night before our flight to Texas the next day.

Leg 14
     2 days
     2 flights
       miles
   = 3 states visited
           6 states to go!

http://twinlakesseafood.com/

43. South Carolina

 The drive to Charleston was only a couple of hours north of Savannah. Here is another southern city that is full of charm and history. Fort Sumter, sight of the beginning of the Civil War, is located in Charleston Harbor. Our restaurant for the evening was located in an old house downtown. Little did we know that it is a haunted house. Poogan's Porch, named after the neighborhood dog, Poogan, who used to greet guests, is one of the stops on the local ghost walking tour. Legend has it that a former resident still walks the halls and kitchen making her presence known.  We began our dinner with the pimento cheese fritters served with green tomato jam. Oh my – fried mozzarella or any type of cheese is not even in the same category as this delectable dish. Pimento cheese fried to a golden brown so that the cheese just oozes out. We split the combination seafood platter which was more than enough food for the two of us. The picture is of my half and I couldn’t even begin to eat it all. The combination was served with catfish, shrimp, oysters and scallops. The peanut encrusted catfish was the best

catfish I had ever had. Our waitress said it was farm catfish and that’s why it is so tasty. If that’s the reason, then I need to find a catfish farm around Arlington and fast. I think that might have a little to do with it but being lightly fried in peanut oil didn’t hurt. I couldn’t leave without trying their bread pudding. While exiting the house a ghost walking tour was making their stop and reciting their spiel so of course we just had to linger on the porch so we could listen. I do believe next time we will have to stay at The Mills House which is across the street. Maybe we’ll see a ghost or two.

    The next morning we drove across the harbor to Sullivan’s Island where we toured Ft. Moultrie, went to the beach and saw a wonderful old lighthouse. We had an excellent view of Ft. Sumter and while walking on the nearly deserted beach we spotted a few dolphins. What a fabulous end to our visit in a charming southern city.

http://www.poogansporch.com/

http://www.nps.gov/fosu/historyculture/fort_moultrie.htm