good times in the green mountain state

So, after a long day of driving, we arrived in Pittsburgh and spent a lovely evening and early morning with a couple of Joe's friends from Miami, Andy and his girl friend Erica. Pittsburgh, contrary to my previous assumptions, is a beautiful city. It is home to 7 colleges and universities, and since the steel boom happened in the late 1800s/early 1900s, the architecture is absolutely lovely. Andy and Erica had a comfortable (albeit narrow) couch, and Andy fixed us a beautiful breakfast. 

Then, after stopping into a market for some lunch and snacks for the road, we were off. We attempted to avoid tolls, since they had been quite expensive the day before, but this ended up making our route ridiculously indirect and longer than we'd anticipated. We left Pittsburgh around 10, and rolled into Burlington around 10:30. That drive tested our map reading and team working skills, and I am happy to say we prevailed awesomely. I cannot tell you how excited we were to see Vermont. 

Sunday morning, we got up early and I dropped Joe off at the UVM campus so he could check the place out and I headed over to Burlington Friends Meeting for my first Quaker experience of the trip. It was an absolutely wonderful experience and I even met someone who is currently in the program Joe is interested in. Then we met up for lunch downtown and afterwards headed out to Glover. When we arrived at Bread and Puppet around two hours later, I was surprised and comforted by how quiet it was. I saw Diana and Suzy stomping clay and said hi to them on our way into the museum, then I showed Joe around the farm. The New Building, the garden (which looks AMAZING), the print shop, the circus field, the pine forest... Along the way, I ended up seeing all of the current puppeteers (all gearing up for the internship, cleaning, and hanging out), and unexpectedly Jenn and Justin and their kids (a family of homesteaders from Maine who were around a lot the summer I was there and have come back so that Jenn can be the cook this summer). It was really amazing to share with Joe, since it was such a formative place for me and I reference my time there frequently. It was good to see everyone and let them know what I'm up to. It was wonderful and kind of delightfully anti-climactic. Strange to be in a place that hasn't changed much, when I've changed so much. That was somehow reassuring and gave me a sense of closure I hadn't known I'd needed. It was also so great to see Jenn and Justin, (who both remembered my name!) because they can participate in B&P but still have their own sense of reality outside it. 

Around 6, we headed over to West Glover to Parker Pie for some tasty pizza and then back in the car most of the way back to Burlington to stay at a lovely little pet friendly Bed and Breakfast in Caimbridge Village. It was a beautiful old victorian house with all original fixtures, and most importantly, a very comfortable bed. After a great breakfast this morning, we are on our way to Madison, New Jersey today to spend the night with my grandmother's cousin who lives there. 

Joe's currently talking with some professors at UVM, and we're going to stop in Hartford so I can check out UConn's puppet program. All in all it looks like another long day, but I couldn't be happier about my touring companions or itinerary. Tomorrow, we're headed into NYC to spend a couple of days with LJ and Dave, which I am beside myself excited about. 

Send us some good vibes for safe travel. Much love to all from the road!

All things go

A sunny day in Chicago is hard to say goodbye to. Joe and I have had a wonderful week here. Here are the highlights:

Joe's flight was quite delayed, but he finally got here around noon on Tuesday and we did lunch at the tasty vege-tastic Chicago Diner. He had to finish up final for his online econ final, so he met up with one of his bestest friends from Loyola, Brent and they went off to a coffee shop to work. We met up later and they showed me Loyola. It is such a beautiful campus. I loved the art deco architecture, and I wish I had had my camera with me. Oh well. Then we had some crazy good Indian food on Devan and then went to a hip hop show at the Abbey Pub. Meg and Moses joined us for the show but left before the headliner, Mr. Lif took the stage because they were spent. It was a really fun show, but my favorite was just watching Joe. I have never seen him that happy-- ever, which of course made me really happy.

Wednesday we got a bit of a late start, but had some amazing Ethopian  (yeah, we mainly ate... a lot here), and then he checked out a couple of Green non-profits he'd looked up and spent some time in Pilsen, his favorite neighborhood in the city (artsy leftist latinos). Then Meg and I cooked up a Southern storm for a birthday dinner for her. Fresh creamed corn, collards, cheddar biscuits, and black beans and rice. It was a feast! 

Then yesterday we hit up the infamous Soul Veg on the southside, and after all of Joe's testimonies, it really did change my life. Unfortunately, I got stuck in the WORST traffic on my way back up to the Northside (it took me 2 hours! blah). So, I just hung out at Meg's and did some stuff like book Scout's flight home. Then I took the El into the city, and met Joe and Brent for a live outdoor taping of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me in Millennium Park. I've enjoyed my time in Chicago, but I didn't really get it until I took the Brown line into downtown. It was so beautiful and vibrant. The radio show was super fun, and afterwards we went out for some deep-dish and then they showed me Wicker Park and Ukrainian Village before we crashed hard. 

Today we're off to Pittsburgh (our half-way mark to Vermont), to stay with one of Joe's good friends from Miami. Yay!

Land of Lincoln!

I cannot express how much I am enjoying being in Illinois!

After a positively delightful lunch Friday with Carly and her lady love Jan in Iowa City, I drove to Normal, Il. James and Erica have a precious little house and life, and it was such a joy to spend the weekend with them. We ate good food, visited the farmer's market, ate good food, walked, read, knitted, ukulele/guitar played, napped, ate good food, and had some great conversations (did I mention that we ate well?). Since we spent Labor day at the cabin three years ago, Scout and their dog Jack were already buddies. Their lovely fenced in back yard was like a vacation for Scout! I could tell he was very much enjoying not being in the car too. 

Yesterday afternoon I drove up to Chicago listening to Sufjan Steven's C'mon feel the Illinois! and thinking more about the shadow puppet show I'm doing for my grand parent's 60th wedding anniversary party in Austin. It is so SO flat here! Kind of ridiculous. But! I arrived around 3 and got a little lost finding Megan's apartment, but no worries. SO good to see her and be here! I haven't seen her since B&P tour ended a year and a half ago! So we walked around her neighborhood and at a cute little outdoor cafe. I met her bf (who as it turns out has a startling amount in common with Joe...) and we got to gush about being happy.

This morning I cleaned and organized her apartment as a gift for letting me stay here and am now off to walk Scout and explore the neighborhood! 

(aaaaaaand Joe will be here tomorrow and I'm beside myself excited.)

boo couchsurfing and rich folks, yay trees and visiting people!

So, my couch surfing karma was not with me this week. Jon and I had lots of positive experiences using couchsurfing.com on tour this year to hook up places to stay, but I had two people fink out on me at the last minute this week. The guy in Boulder never gave me his contact info, so at 9 o'clock at night frustrated and confused, I just drove away from Boulder. Granted, Scout and I had a good day in Boulder. It's a pretty little college town nestled in the mountains. We hiked a bit, but mostly just lounged around and visited the farmer's market. I realized though, that, and I hope this doesn't offend anyone, but I don't really like rich people. My first reflection was that I didn't like rich liberals, which there are plenty of in Boulder, but no, I just don't like rich people in general. After spending time in Jackson and then Boulder, I was thinking about it a lot. It just makes no sense to me that someone can spend $1,000 on a handbag or a coffee mug or whatever when there are folks who don't have food. Or healthcare. I guess I'm more of a socialist than I thought. 

I got to Fort Collins and stayed in this precious little road side motel that reminded me of something out of It Happened One Night. Small and shabby but clean and cheap ($50!), it was a total find. Then, since my couchsurf from Omaha took a last minute trip to Vegas with her sister (whatevs), I drove all the way to Des Moins last night. That means that, yes, I drove ALL the way across Nebraska yesterday. It's funny, because I'd been dreading Nebraska in particular, but enjoyed it MUCH more than Wyoming or Eastern Colorado because it had trees! Lovely little trees across the farmland that made it much more bearable to look at. 

Today, I'm off to Iowa City to have lunch with my friend Carly from Athens and then onto Normal to visit James and Erica! Yay reunions!

Oh, and on a side note, I haven't held all that well to the not drinking thing. I realized that what I don't enjoy is getting drunk. I had a glass of wine last night after driving for 10 hours and it was quite lovely. That is all. Carry on.

wyoming: not a fan

I drove across Wyoming yesterday. Talked to Momma and LJ on the phone who both informed me that they were crazy jealous of what I was doing, which I didn't quite understand at first. That is, until I felt like singing and pumped up and belted out some Dar Williams as I covered the plains. That was a pretty amazing feeling. Overall though, Wyoming = not my favorite state. I can appreciate that there are still places in America that there are stretches of great big nothingness, where you have to be careful and get gas when you can because the next station may be 60 miles down the road... but... for example: I tried stopping for dinner in Laramie, because I was thinking, "Okay, all I  know about Laramie is that Matthew Shepard was brutally killed here for being gay, but it's a college town, so there must be at least a decent place to eat." NO. One of the most depressing little towns I've ever driven through. I got to Cheyenne before I could not drive any more and watched the National Spelling Bee finals on ESPN. 

Today is a vacation day. I'm driving the hour and 1/2 to Boulder, and just hanging out. I've got a couch surf lined up for tonight and will be headed to Omaha tomorrow. Here's to vacation!

*edit: Oh! and I started reading the Sookie Stackhouse southern vampire series the last couple of weeks on the road, until I realized they were thoroughly mediocre but I was willing to keep reading because I wanted to find out what happened next and then I realized that's how those sci-fi bastards keep you reading a series and I walked away. Phew. (As a side note, I find the HBO series TrueBlood based on the books, highly enjoyable and a huge improvement. It's amazing what Alan Ball can do with a good idea). So, when I walked away from Sookie, I (yes, I'll admit it) went to hear what all the Twilight fuss was about, and let me tell you they are awful. I say they, because of course I got sucked in to reading the second book and the third on audio even though they thoroughly piss me off. The gender dynamics, (I'm a girl, I'm weak and annoyingly self-depreciating, and whiny and fragile I need a big strong dead man to take care of me), view of love (I would DIE without you), sexuality (I want it, but we can't because I'll die) BARF. Thankfully, Laura Jean to the rescue found me this site: http://stoney321.livejournal.com/317176.html so that I could read with sardonic glee that a) I was not the only one who felt this way about these books, but just had to keep reading and b) I do not have to suffer through the fourth book just to find out what happens. I'm back on Neil Gaiman and feeling very good about it. I'm listening to Neverworld right now, and downloading American Gods for later in the trip. 

Sorry about that, but what is a blog for if not a good rant?

yellowstone, cloudy tetons, and jackson

So, as planned, I drove through Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks yesterday. For some reason in my mind, I had confused Yellowstone and Yosemite and was expecting El Capitan and got Old Faithful. Meh. I remember being relatively unimpressed by the stinky, although beautiful, hot water last time I was here (what, 15 years ago?) and spent most of my time in Yellowstone taking pictures of buffalo. 

Speaking of Bufflao, Scout and I were pulled over on the side of the road checking a rather large herd out and they make this funny almost mooing sound. Well Scout didn't know what to make of that and growled, and barked! Okay, maybe not barked, but tiny "roof! roof!"s that were a trip. Ah, my silly dog.

Then Grand Teton National Park was underwhelming as the mountains were completely socked in. It was a nice drive, but because it's raining today, I've decided not to go back to the parks and head on down the road instead. 

Jackson is a precious little town. An interesting mix of old neon and Eddie Bauer, antlers and boutiques. From what I gather, a lot of rich liberals, ski bums, and a artsy folks live here. I really like that it's a town of less than 9,000 people, but they have a beautiful arts center, lots of biking, and a neighborhood just behind downtown fully of tiny cute houses. I think small houses are underappreciated and they make me happy. 

So, I'm headed to Boulder. A day ahead of schedule, I may just take it easy and stop somewhere along the way if I get tired. I have secured couch surfs in both Boulder and Omaha, which is awesome! I've enjoyed a couple of days and nights to myself, but it will be nice to be social. 

I'm settling into being on the road. It's so completely different from work. It's very relaxing, and liberating, and only the nights are lonely. I can appreciate that though. I'll have plenty of company soon enough, and being able to snuggle with Scout makes up for a lot. 

Love to all!

good morning idaho falls!

So, after an anxious night's sleep, eeeearly breakfast with my Quaker girls on my sunny front porch, and good byes too my roomies, I got on the road around 9:15 yesterday morning. It was a beautiful day in Portland and I listened to the Avett Brothers as I drove out 84. I was planning on staying with a friend's parents in Caldwell, but to my surprise, arrived there around 4:30 and wanted to keep on down the road. I got to Mountain Home, consulted my atlas (EXCELLENT last minute purchase from Powell's) and decided to head on hwy 20. Turns out, there's not a whole lot between Mountain Home, ID and Idaho Falls, ID other than big stretches of pretty nothingness. And a trippy place called Craters of the Moon that, yep the name is rather descriptive, looks like the surface of the moon. So I drove on to Idaho Falls, putting me about a day ahead of schedule as I'm now only around 2 hours from Yellowstone. I've decided to head north on 20 and enter Yellowstone from the north west entrance and then spend the day driving south to Jackson. Then tomorrow, I'll have a whole day to go back and explore more or head on to Boulder if I want. I've spent the morning trying to arrange last minute couch surfs in Boulder and Omaha. Then Friday, I'm looking forward to some familiar faces; lunch with college buddy Carly in Iowa City and a couple of days with my hs drama teacher and his wife in Normal, Illinois. Scout is a fantastic traveling companion as always and I'm already enjoying the delightful changes in scenery of this beautiful country. Yesterday the Gorge melted into desert of eastern Oregon, and then the flat plains surrounded by lovely mountains of Idaho. Lots of beautiful farmland, blue sky, and mountains, mountains, mountains. Yay for excellent beginnings! 

(*and to all who are worried, I'm safe and sound and the car is running great... if that wasn't immediately obvious from above post. quit yer frettin')