In twelve days, we’re off to Delaware for a little brewery hopping. OK, actually there’s no hopping – we’re just going to the Dogfish Head Brewery (tip: they brew some of the best beer on planet earth). Mainly because I don’t know that there any other breweries in DE. In fact, after posting a Tips for DE, anyone?
thread on the Lonely Planet forums, I was quickly informed that DE offers NM (that’s not much to you laymen) in the way of fun and interesting things to do.
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In light of that, I’ve decided to post what I have learned thus far about Delaware in preparation for our trip:
- In terms of size, it’s the 2nd smallest state in the U.S. Second to RI, that is, which gives us Rhode Islanders a real feeling of superiority over them Delaware-ians-ites (???).
- According to Wikipedia, “The middle portion is the transition to the upper portion of the state …” which is good because at least the Southern DE’ers can visit their Northern DE brethren. Here in RI, our state is not connected, often requiring us to take plane over the ocean to jump South RI to North RI. It’s a real headache.
- 0.5% of DE-ites speak fluent Chinese as their primary language. This may or may not be a problem for us, I’m not sure.
- ING is headquartered there. I love those guys!
- Also according to Wikipedia:
The public transportation system, DART First State, was named “Most Outstanding Public Transportation System.
I wasn’t aware there was such an award, but believe you-me: I’m damned excited about riding the most outstanding anything! - DE has a population of 783,600. That’s a lot of freakin’ people for the 2nd smallest state!
- The USS Delaware was named in honor of Delaware. Did you know that? Well you do now.
- Delaware is the name of a native american group.
And that’s about as far as I got with my trip down DE’s Education Lane. A useful collection of tips for anyone longing for a trip to our fine first state.
According to Google Maps, we’re looking at about 780 miles round trip. A hike for sure, but we’ve got about 5 days total to get there and back. We’re also making a little stop off in Philadelphia – a city we both love – for a BNL and Mike Doughty concert. If the good lord himself didn’t see fit to put those two acts on the same ballot, I don’t know who else possibly could’ve masterminded it. Brilliant!
How this relates to our RTW trip? Well, I’m finding it easier to keep my sanity by focusing on trips which are weeks, rather than years, away. I can look forward to DE; when that’s over, I look forward to [next state here]; and so on. It’s a little easier for me to mentally tackle, rather than just thinking, Good god! Our RTW is 500 and how many days away?!?
We’ll get there, I know. But it’s taking a lot of mental stamina to keep my impulses and sanity in check.
Advice for the day to my travel-aholic brothers and sisters: take mini-trips. Keep your mind off of your next big RTW/extended trip by feeding your travel urge just enough to keep it satiated. Then start a blog and tell us about it!