So, S., where have you been in the United States over the last nine years?

You want me to tell you all the states?

Yeah.

OK, Wisconsin. Indiana. Ohio. Pennsylvania. New Jersey. Florida. New York. Illinois. Uh, I don’t know if I’ve been to Michigan. Do you think I’ve been to Michigan?

I don’t know. Do you think it’s a hole in your life that you haven’t been to Michigan?

I want to go to Michigan. I want to go to [my friend's] lake house. I think she’s inviting me over the summer.

Do you enjoy the drive you guys do from Illinois to New Jersey every summer?

Yeah. I like spending time with family and stopping at gas stations to get food.

What’s so good about gas station food?

It’s junk and good food, chips and snacks for along the drive. And [at gas stations] bathroom breaks.

I hope I recorded everything. I haven’t been typing because I’ve been listening to you. We may have to redo parts of this.

Uch.

So what’s your favorite thing you’ve flown over? And what’s your favorite from driving?

I like seeing all the baseball stadiums when flying over. I like seeing the Statue of Liberty. It looked so small on Saturday. And we saw like the little ferry going out. And [when driving] I like seeing all the tall cliff things somewhere…Pennsylvania or Ohio. I can remember everything.

What’s your favorite place to visit in the U.S.–besides, of course, here and me?

Wisconsin. I don’t know. Not Wisconsin. Illinois. Chicago. It’s busy and there’s the Sears, blech, Willis Tower. It took forever in line. It took a hundred days to wait.

Was it worth it?

Yeah.

Why?

Cause you’re like standing on top of the buildings.

What does travel do for you that you don’t get out of your regular life?

It makes my life more interesting.

How?

I don’t know.

What does it do?

I see stuff.

And, at this point, the conversation spun out of control when the interview subject started reading my notes and telling me what I was allowed to write. I decided to explain the term “off the record” for future interviews. The subject knocked me on my head twice and, interview now clearly over, we went to McDonald’s.

Our guest contributor is Chicago-based writer Lisbeth Levine, one of our most stylish friends. Among other things, Lisbeth writes about style and travel, and she’s co-author of The Wedding Book: The Big Book for Your Big Day.

Photo by Lisbeth Levine

The aroma is comforting, tantalizing and exotic. It reaches out to greet you, inviting you inside. The Spice House in Chicago is one of my favorite escapes and one of my favorite places to buy gifts. It walks the line between decadence and necessity.

Buying the best cinnamon from Vietnam feels like an indulgence, even at just $5.29 for 4 ounces. So does trying to decide between French artisan salt smoked over Chardonnay oak barrels and red sea salt from Hawaii. Chicago spice blends include Hyde Park Seasoning, which contains ingredients from Hawaii and Africa in a tribute to President Barack Obama.

A clerk scoops out and weighs your order, giving you as much or as little as you need. The other day I left only $7.32 poorer, but the half hour I spent there enriched my entire day. – Lisbeth

By Von der Lende

There was almost too much to look at inside the Tamarack Gallery in Omena, Michigan. Almost. But owner Sally Viskochil fill the walls and the tables and the pedestals with pieces that really make you stop, look, enjoy (and think). So it’s not just a giant swirl of color. Though the artwork itself is just 3″ by 3″, I got pulled right into this piece by painter I-don’t-know-her-first-name Van der Lende. A gentle world in there, eh? I also snagged two wacky paintings of fishing scenes by folk artist Wesley Merritt. Mine mine mine! Happy. Can’t wait to shop there again.–Jenna

Photo by Sophia Dembling

The giant ice cream cone out front was the mother of all impulse purchases for Heidi Chapman, owner of the Cloverleaf Boutique in Ardmore, Oklahoma. Appropriately, since the Cloverleaf is crammed with potential impulse buys: vintage this-and-that, kitschy the other thing, purses and penny candy, toys and t-shirts, sunglasses and a cat named Sophie (not for sale) among other quadrupeds. Animal loving customers also may donate to help feed the feral cats that hang outside. To reach the Cloverleaf, turn at the giant pink ice cream cone, drive along painted-bicycle way, pass through the yard-art portal and enter the land of impulse. You will smile. – Sophia

Husband Tom takes a lesson from Smokey.

Sophia: I’ve been to Smokey Bear Historical Park in Capitan, New Mexico, I’ve done paid my respects at Smokey Bear’s grave, and I got the T-shirt at the chock-full-of-goodness gift shop. I love Smokey’s retro look–I hope they never update him—and considered surprisingly-well designed pins, patches, and hats before settling on a gray ringer T with nothing but Smokey’s instantly identifiable mug on it. I particularly like the fact that it doesn’t advertise anything but fire safety (and who can argue with that?), and I’d rather wear Smokey than Mickey any day.

Photo courtesy of the Illinois Bureau of Tourism

Matt: Considering my love for marine mammals, most of my favorite gift shops focus on whales and dolphins. My favorite is at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. I was a volunteer in the facility’s marine mammal department when they upgraded the gift shop in 1996, and remember capitalizing on my 25 percent discount like a house-flipper in the current real estate market. Whale puzzles, mobiles, posters–I bought ‘em all. I gave the trinkets as gifts. I hoarded them. And I used the heck out of them. All that remains is one little mug. I’m drinking coffee from it right now.

Photo courtesy of bbaunach via Flickr.

Jenna: Of all the museum gift shops I’ve ever visited, none has ever felt as much an extension of the physical space and mission of its museum mama as the one at The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston. It’s all light, glass, and excellent things to look at–and, of course, buy. I want want want that folding bicycle! I swear: I could decorate an entire apartment with the goodies in there. Oh for the bucks to do it.

Have a favorite gift shop–or gift shop-related memory–from your U.S. travels?