Category: USA

  • Boudin & Alligators

    Boudin & Alligators

    When we booked our room in Acadia (Cajun country), we only 2 things about the area: the food and the bayou. After 2 nights, we still only really know 2 things. Driving in on the highway, one of the first signs you’re in Cajun country are the billboards for Boudin and Cracklin’ stores. Boudin is…

  • Grocery Shopping in New Orleans

    Grocery Shopping in New Orleans

      Whenever we travel, we tend to spend the first week figuring out the basics: best corner bar, simple language skills, where to shop for food. Traveling in the USA makes these tasks easier with review sites in our native language and far less cultural boundaries. The main challenge in New Orleans has been finding…

  • Boulder is for Beer

    Colorado produces the most beer in the country. Like all good beer-lovers, we challenged ourselves to average a new brewery a day for our month in Boulder. We almost succeeded. (But if you count duplicates, we passed with flying colors.) Thanks to the Pittsburgh beer scene (especially Wednesday tastings at Carson Street Deli), we were…

  • 2 More Things to Do in Missouri

    Driving across the country, we received recommendations to see the arch in St Louis and stop for a BBQ lunch in Kansas City. The problem with many mid-sized cities is no one really knows anything about them beyond a kitschy tourist highlight. While the arch is huge, and Kansas City has great BBQ (worth way more…

  • 4 cities in transit

    In Budapest, we have a train to catch at 5:15am. The first trolley bus that will take us to the station arrives at 4:50am and takes about ten minutes. We weren’t really worried though because it always runs on time. These vehicles are a cross between a bus and a tram, plying the roads with…

  • Bourbon and Bluegrass in Kentucky

    You always plan a vacation with perfect weather in mind. This tends to not include the hottest day of the year or a meandering tropical storm. But if this happens, you enjoy yourself anyways because you’re on vacation. So we did. Like many cities trying to attract people downtown at night, Louisville has a First…

  • Gin and Beer in Milwaukee

    Long before dueling piano bars and the second-coming of the martini, a guy named Angelo played the trumpet and opened a bar in Milwaukee. The taps may have been kicked since the last time Tony Bennet walked through the door, but gin and vodka are the drinks of choice. This is Angelo’s Piano Bar. There…

  • Why Buffalo?

    Coworkers and friends scoffed at our plans for a weekend trip to Buffalo. So did the friendly residents of Buffalo who couldn’t fathom why we were there. Living in Pittsburgh, we’re used to this dismissive attitude, and we didn’t let it slow us down. We weren’t in Buffalo to see the eerily empty downtown, cop…