Let me address the elephant in the room that I have not made a blog post for a while now. I’ve been going through some physical and mental health problems recently (I’m doing much better now) but I did not have the energy to blog often and therefore stopped doing it for a while. Luckily for you guys, I have a long blog for you to read about this time!
I recently went on a trip to Rochester, New York with my mom. She moved out there for a new job, so I decided to tag along to explore the United States and to help her move into her new apartment. It was a really long road trip, but it was a ton of fun!
Our first day we left from Sioux Falls around noon and were on the way to our first rest stop: Madison, WI. This was a six hour drive, which I was used to, but really wasn’t looking forward to. There wasn’t really anything too interesting on this duration of the trip, just lots of flat land with the occasional tourist trap that we would look at from the car on the highway. It was really nice to be out of the house on a trip for a while, but looking for flat land gets boring. Once we got to Madison, we checked into our hotel and got Chipotle, that being the closest thing to the hotel. We were both tired, and didn’t feel like finding a restaurant to sit down at. My mom and I ate our meals and got to bed for another long day of driving ahead of us.
Once we woke up, we got breakfast at Panera, since we were both in the mood for bagels, and the hotel breakfast buffet seemed sub-par. Our next stop on our road trip was Toledo, Ohio. I ended up doing a lot of driving on this day just because I didn’t want my mom to do all the driving on an 18-hour trip. We drove through Chicago (which was my first time seeing it outside of the airport) and got stuck in lots of traffic on I-90 (which was the worst). There was so much construction, or the accident here or there, and the lines for the toll booths were so slow, we were stuck waiting for 45 minutes at one of them in Indiana! Once we spent what felt like 12 hours in the car driving, we finally made it to our hotel about 10 minutes south of Toledo. We ate at this nearby restaurant called Carrabba’s. I just ate a light meal because I was getting a little sick from all of the traveling. Being in the car for that long for me starts to make me a little nauseous sadly. I contemplated swimming in the hotel pool but decided not to just so I could get some more rest.
We woke up on day three ready for our last 6 hours of driving. We stared our morning by going to a local cafe for breakfast. I got banana nut french toast, while my mom got a plate with biscuits, gravy, and eggs. Both were super good meals, and a perfect way to start off the morning. We then got on the road for our last leg of the trip. I was so excited to be almost done with this road trip, my legs were getting pretty sore! I didn’t drive much this last leg just because I was nervous of any traffic I’d experience in New York. People always talk about how it has such bad traffic and a lot of road rage (which I did experience a few times while there) so I sat back and looked at the scenery while my mom drove us there. Seven hours later, we FINALLY made it to Rochester, NY. A total of near 20 hours in the car was totally worth it because I loved the city.
I always love staying in cities like Rochester because there is lots of stuff to explore. While driving to College Town (the part of Rochester where our hotel was) I was looking down every street and taking note of every place that I wanted to visit. Once we got to the hotel, you can bet that my mom and I rested for the rest of the day. We were both exhausted, and wanted to have energy for the next few days of exploring the area.
We ate at a lot of different restaurants when we were there. I remember this one in particular: Roam. It was not too far from where we were staying, and the weather was perfect that day so we sat outside on this shaded road. I had some of the best pasta I’ve ever had. It was this cheese-stuffed pasta with a pesto base, and I wanted to eat all of it but decided not to so that I could have some leftovers the next day. Another restaurant we visited was this local burger joint which had an amazing BBQ bourbon burger and fries. Much better than any burger and fries I’ve had in South Dakota, if I’m being honest. I also remember eating at this very fancy restaurant in our hotel. I got their house burger and a literal MOUNTAIN of sweet potato fries. I’d love to go back to New York again just to experience these good dinner meals there.
We didn’t just eat good dinners. There were many other places where we had great food. I tried Insomnia Cookies for the first time and it did not disappoint. We went to an ice cream shop called Hedonist, and it had some great ice cream. I tried the dairy-free ice cream for something easy on my stomach, and it was super tasty. I had some crepes and breakfast platters at many diners in the area, which were always followed by walks around town to accommodate for how much food the both of us ate that early each morning. Sadly we couldn’t explore every food place that we saw, but now I have a list for what I need to visit the next time I go back to Rochester.
I promise we didn’t just go to food places, haha. We did a lot of touring of the city and some shopping too. I spent so much money getting souvenirs because I just love collecting things. I bought a poster, some socks with cool patterns (of course, like I always do), a sweatshirt, and just some other trinkets as memorabilia from this cool trip. I didn’t take too many photos on this trip just because I really wanted to live in the moment, but the ones I did take turned out really well.
After a few days of staying in the hotel in College Town, my mom and I were finally able to do what we came to Rochester to do: move her into her new apartment. I wish you all could be there in this apartment, it was an old factory building that got turned into a complex a while back, and it has these brick walls that are so pretty looking and just add a great touch to the apartment. My mom and I spent hours moving her boxes and other luggage up three floors, putting together new furniture, and making her feel more at home at this new place. Once we finally got everything put together we let out a huge sigh of relief and spent the night in her brand new apartment!
The next day, it was time for me to head back home to Sioux Falls. I had to leave my mom behind so she could start her new life and her new job, while I have school and work back here in SD. I said my goodbyes to her at the airport and looked for my flight. I was actually so nervous because it was my first time traveling alone, especially since I would be heading to one of the busiest airports in the US (at Chicago, if you’ve never been, it’s huge!). I got to my gate at Rochester (not before buying an “I <3 NY” sweatshirt), boarded and then landed at Chicago, strolled for probably 30 minutes in that giant airport, boarded my flight, and landed in Sioux Falls! You can bet I was totally exhausted.
So, that was my trip to New York! I definitely will be going back in the future to visit my mom more often, but won’t spend 20 hours driving there again, haha. If you have not been to New York before, the city or any city in the state, I HIGHLY recommend visiting! Thanks all and have a good one!
TC