Girl About the World

1. Remind me never to take a red-eye and then schedule an activity immediately after I land.

2. Remind me never to venture out into a city without a map.

After landing in Chicago at 7:30 a.m. with a whopping three hours of fragmented sleep behind me, I got to my hotel and immediately set out to find City Segway Tours (more on that in a later post). I found the street I was looking for but wasn’t sure which way to head, and with just a few minutes to go, I called the tour company for directions. They told me to head toward the lake. Having no idea which way the lake was, I took an educated guess — and ended up at the river, about a million blocks out of my way. (Which calls into question how educated I really am.) I ran the whole time. About two miles. Did I mention it was in the 90s with unbearable humidity and that I do all my cardio (when I actually do cardio) in the comfort of an air-conditioned gym? And without a purse? And with workout clothes on? And my hair up?

When I realized my mistake, I pretty much wanted to cry, but I was too dehydrated to shed tears. Three hours of sleep was not enough to power my brain through this, and the fact that I hadn’t eaten or drank anything since the day before wasn’t helping. But I turned around and started walking. And walking. And walking. And … you get the idea. Forty-five minutes late, I arrived at my destination.

Some time later, I realized that in that purse that was a nuisance to run with was my phone, a phone that contains a magical little device called a GPS, a GPS that would’ve been happy to point me in the right direction. C’est la vie. Life’s about the journey, right? My navigational skills just make it so my journey usually takes a little longer than everyone else’s.

Location: Jessieville, Arkansas

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I’m in the middle of house-hunting, and one thing I’m really craving is a community — I love those neighborhoods where you can walk to shops and restaurants, you actually know your neighbors, and the houses have personality. A few weeks ago, my mom saw an article in a magazine on Seabrook, Washington, and I knew I’d found one such place.

With my three cousins, sister, mom, and aunt in tow, I headed there this past weekend to check it out. Seabrook is on the Washington coast (for those familiar with the area, near Ocean Shores and Pacific Beach) and was founded in 2004 on the principles of New Urbanism, which champions walkable neighborhoods, mixed-use buildings, and sustainability. It’s the antithesis to urban sprawl.

It’s absolutely adorable — old-fashioned houses with big porches sit close to their neighbors, there are a number of community-use fire pits throughout for s’mores anytime you’d like, bicycles are available free of charge to cruise around on, and you can walk to the beach or anywhere else in town in less than 10 minutes. Of course, there’s not much yet to walk to, save the beach, a cafe, a grocery store, a pottery shop, and — well — that’s about it. As Seabrook expands, it’ll have a wine bar, coffee shop, theater, bowling alley, shops, and more, but houses aren’t built until someone asks for one, and businesses aren’t started until demand supports it. For now, Seabrook is largely a community of second homes used as vacation rentals. When all is said and done, they plan to have 1,000 homes (they’re at a little over 100 now).

While only 35 full-time residents and a two-plus-hour commute to the airport might keep me from packing my bags and calling it home, my family’s already planning to go back for a stay. Life is simpler in Seabrook, and that’s not a bad thing at all.

Growing up, I loved to camp, but lately, I haven’t been so good at it — I’m a big fan of sleeping indoors, in a bed, without bugs buzzing in my ears all night long. But now that I’ve discovered a bunch of cool camping gadgets, I’m ready to try it again. From a tent that sets itself up in two seconds (seriously!) to toe warmers for those chilly nights to an app that tracks your route and a grill you can fit in your pocket, this gear is guaranteed to enhance your wilderness experience. Check out the story I wrote about the gadgets here.

Location: Austin, Texas

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Cruises tend to elicit strong feelings — people either love them or hate them. I can see the downfalls of the seasick, cramped feeling, but I for one am a fan. Here are six reasons why:

1. The low cost. It’s pretty tough to get to multiple countries for less than $500 on anything but a cruise — never mind having all your meals and accommodations covered.

2. The towel animals. Yeah, I’m an adult, but coming back to your room and finding a different animal every night (how do they do it?) is fun times.

3. The entertainment. Where else can you watch a musical, see a comedy show, hit a concert, sing karaoke, play trivia games, dance, and climb a rock wall all in one place? I got to fulfill a lifelong dream by participating in a “Singing Bee”-type game, and I was totally cruising to a victory until they pulled out a Paula Abdul song no one knew, then gave the next person something classic like “Margaritaville.” Whatever. I did win the version where you wrote the lyrics down on a piece of paper, so my competitive thirst was quenched.

4. The unlimited food. I’m not a big eater, but there’s something so lovely about being able to get pizza at midnight and not even have to pay for it. (Never mind the fact that I should not be consuming that many calories at midnight.)

5. The dressing up. I like wearing dresses, but I work from home, so I mostly wear sweats. And pajamas. And sweats that I use as pajamas. So I fully embrace the opportunity that a cruise ship affords to dress up every evening.

6. The schedule. When I travel, I usually pick a few things that are musts and then leave the rest up to spontaneity. But there’s something about that little itinerary you get every day on a cruise that I adore. There’s an element of suspense, and it has a camp-like feel to it, and who doesn’t love camp?

Every theme park aficionado knows this: At some point, you must ride the rides at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio.

I don’t recommend starting here, because it’s better to warm up first. That would be like entering the Olympics before you’d ever competed locally. It’d be like jumping in the deep end before you’ve learned to swim. I went to college with a guy from Sandusky who said all other parks disappointed him, and that’s no fun. But once you’ve been to a nice array of parks, a trip to the Roller Coaster Capital of the World is in order.

Before making the pilgrimage, I’d been to amusement parks in California, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, England, and some places I’m probably forgetting. During a summer working in Ohio, I was finally able to make the trip, and fortunately, my aunt, uncle, and cousins were able to join me — they like a good thrill ride as much as I do, and they’re the hardcore type that line up before the park opens and close it down at night, so we always maximize our ride time.

Top Thrill Dragster is the star here, once the tallest and fastest coaster until it was narrowly beat out by Kingda Ka in Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey (where I went a year after this trip, but said coaster was broken at the time), but my favorite is Millennium Force. Overlooking Lake Erie, it’s one of the tallest steel coasters in the world, and one of the longest (the only ones that are longer are both located in Kings Island in Ohio, another great park that I’ve also had the joy of visiting). And when you’re standing in line for who knows how long, a coaster with some length to it (so you don’t feel like you’re done in 10 seconds) is much appreciated. Huge drops, airtime hills, and the sensation of your stomach flying into your chest are what make this — dare I say it — my all-time favorite ride.

There are great coasters all over the country, but for the highest concentration of them, nothing beats Cedar Point.