The Road to Klaipėda

10 Reasons to Visit Lithuania:

1. Rare opportunity to surf the Baltic Sea
2. Figure out why women 65 and older outnumber men in the same age group by nearly 2:1
3. Visit the home where Charles Bronson's dad grew up
4. Meals are still family affairs, with no one leaving the table until all are done eating
5. No reality TV
6. The nearest McDonald's is somewhere in Poland
7. It is the geographical center of Europe
8. One-third of the country is forested!
9. The capital, Vilnius, is almost 700 years old
10. The rural speed limit is 130 km/h seven months out of the year (that's almost 81 mph to you and me!)
11. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby (with Dorothy Lamour, of course) had planned a Lithuanian road movie, The Road to Klaipėda, in 1955. However, traveling buddy films to Soviet-occupied states just aren't so funny. And neither wanted McCarthy to blacklist them.

OK, that last one is a fabrication. Still, a country that is over 240 miles and an international border away from the nearest Golden Arches has got to be worth getting away to!