Determinizing Travels

This here is the time of the year that we make all our upcoming travel plans. We know we'll going down to Georgia twice, once in February for a delayed holiday celebration, and again in October for some exchanging of the vows between Kevin and Mariah. Then we have my side of the family's group getogether, which is looking like it'll fall in September sometime, probably right after Labor Day. Good time to hit the hot spots out on the shore. November and December are usually off the table as far as taking a vacation because of all of the holiday madness. Too much to cram into a short period of time. January is almost over as far as I'm concerned. And March is looking like it's gonna be the month that I have to make that long-planned, oft-delayed work trip which could be anywhere from 3 to 5 weeks. So that leaves mid-April to August an open slate and the world our dartboard. Well, at least the American midwest to the east coast. We probably won't be boarding any planes as a trio just yet. Talks are already under way to make it out to Chicago and hit some lake Erie and Ohio/Indiana family on the way to and fro. That would probably take place sometime between Laura's birthday in mid-June and Yuula's in late August. But we'd also really like to head north, as far as time will take us. Awesome people, great cities & too many sites to list. The options are kind of limitless. Southern Connecticut and Boston are obvious destinations but we're yet to hit the Vermont/New Hampshire leg and Maine seems like a distant planet. But nothing a nice week-long roadtrip couldn't cure. A day here, a night there, maybe camp out at that spot where we can be the first ones in the country to see the sun come up, sounds like a plan. Keeping on the move but stopping long enough to take in the moment. And all this could take place in early spring when it's still chilly at night so we can wear sweaters near the shore and warm during the day so we could drive with the windows down. This along with all the "local" daytrips that assuredly take place and I think that without much effort we've given ourselves and pretty extensive itinerary. We should start packing.  

Thru Cows, Corns And Horseheads

Home from Toronto. Took the scenic route and got rained on pretty hard. Had to stop by grocery since we knew all the food on fridge would be spoiled. On account of the power outage. On account of the hurricane. That of which would be the cause of the decrease in frequency, the recent lack of presence on my continued attempts at chronicling life's finer moments. That and the extra charges incurred upon accessing the interwebs from foreign airwaves. Much to tell. Do tell. Tomorrow. Tell.

She now sleep eats...

By Way Of The Impala

Going well. We left the rental place at 8:40 and drove til Yuula woke up round noon in Maryland. We stopped to de-turd her, fill the tank and eat some turkey sandwiches. Laura is driving now, thru Roanoke and down to 77 south. We should be knocking on Budd's door a little before ten. I think he's gonna make us watch that Tim Allen as Santa Claus movie.

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Two States Down

three to go

Up In Me Air

--- -- - I don't remember taking these

The Owl & The Palm Frond

It's hard to distinguish between each visit down to what my friends call "South Beach". They can be very routine and therefore blur into one another. But I have a feeling that this one will stand out, for numerous reasons. Possible, potential numerous reasons that are yet to be divulged.

A lovely sight at Newark airport. You'd be crazy to give up this life of travel.

Anyhow, Lopez & Matt picked me up from the uncharacteristically frigid Miami airport at 1am, which was already a change from Daniel or Alex being 2 hours late in the blistering January heat, so that was nice. And spending some time catching up with two of my favorite people was also a pleasure, even if it was semi-comatose at 4am over black berry Red Stag.

This is a rare photo of Lopez's face. He thinks photos steal your soul and usually covers his face. I am serious.

I was there to teach tho, and early Saturday afternoon that's just what I did. Braddock's putting a show about the last hours of Jesus on the floor this year. Pretty heavy material, but I didn't let it weigh me down. I had my very first "WWJD" moment and all of the sudden I was halfway thru the rifle feature. Amen.

Daniel showed up late Saturday evening from his HS to approve my displays of mediocrity, and I got to make some jokes with my kindred spirit Keith, a pasttime I will miss once it's gone.

Once it's out of me, I'm pretty much done, so I spent the remainder of the rehearsals snapping some shots around the school including a session with a little silver owl who may or may not have threatened my life.

Mark, Daniel & I saw a film Sunday night; Up in The Air. While it was ultimately just a little disappointing in the end, I can't help but feel that the defeatist motif throughout put a slight damper on the rest of our evening. I tried to lighten the mood by posing with Alvin, Simon & Theodore, but to no avail.

When that didn't work I had to pull out the big guns and abduct a fallen palm frond from the parking lot and present it to Daniel as a gift. Getting it home in the already crowded 2-door was a challenge, but we proved were up to it after a red light transition from passenger window to sunroof without even unbuckling.

And I think it really ties together the room.

What's that? You wanna know if I had Chicken Kitchen?

It's the only reason I go.

Reason For A Roadtrip

One of the big things Laura & I are trying to plan to for 2010 is a road trip, and we're not talking a measly jaunt to the beach or a days ride into the woods. We wanna pack up the car and leave, for two maybe three weeks. On first thought we would try and make it out to Santa Fe. Our friend Curtis lives there and we've been promising to come out for years now. He swears we'd love it there and I know he'd show us a good time.

But we wouldn't just go straight there and back. There'd be a great deal of zigging and a moderate amount of zagging along the way to complicate things, but really isn't that the reason for road trips.

One of the places on the potential list is Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa. An entire town designed to make life stress free, this place harnesses ancient Indian spirituality in all areas of life; the restaurants, schools, homes and businesses are all aimed at increasing your inner peace. Each of the 1,200 residents must practice Vedic Natural Law, an ancient Indian science focusing on transcendental meditation - a mental clearing and physical peace practiced for 15 to 20 minutes twice a day. Other laws enforced in this spiritual haven insist that all food served must be organic and all buildings must be constructed facing east. Our house faces east. We could spend a couple days here.

The Grand Canyon, I have never been, and just seven short hours from Santa Fe, well it's just too close not to go. If we make it that far, what's another 500 miles. Plus I think we get to ride a little Route 66 in there somewhere. And once we get to it, what's to keep us from going down in it. I'll ride a donkey into the rocky abyss. Sore ass be damned.

You gotta have some short highway pop-offs and that's why Alliance, Nebraska is on my list. Alliance is the home to Carhenge, and since I've already seen Stonehenge and was quite impressed, I can only imagine Carhenge doing the same for Laura, for the time being. Plus Alliance is just a short distance from Mount Rushmore, another national attraction with which I've never had the pleasure.

Taos, New Mexico is just a hair north of Santa Fe, and would be a nice place to stop for an afternoon to check out the Earthships. That's right. Earthships. This place is a town made almost entirely of recycled materials, mostly of bottles, cans, tires and dirt. This eco-conscious community is the largest self-sustaining town in the entire world. It began as only 10 earthships but has now grown to over 80 residencies spanning over 637 acres. A self-sufficient abode that makes its own solar electricity, harvests its own rainwater, heats and cools itself without any fuel, and contains and treats sewage on site. Plus they look so nifty.

There's some planning to do, but we gotta see how things pan out over the next couple months. It's all up in the air. The air's all up in it.

Airs Over Buffalo

flying into Buffalo
November 15th 2006 @ 4:09 pm
three years ago today

The Winter Kickstart

I've filled up the iPod with all sorts of new thrills and I'm off to Miami to kickstart another impending winter season full of drama, intrigue, mayhem and apathy. I do enjoy spending time with that crew, Daniel, April and Greg is coming down this weekend so it promises to be good times. Daniel & I usually teach a little, watch as many movies as we can and eat Chicken Kitchen for breakfast, lunch & dinner. I don't see anything wrong with that come to think of it. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmustard-curry.

Bring on winter!!

A Bad Day Turned Better

I had to go down to Lancaster the other day to take care of some paperwork so I could get paid for work I did back in the summer. FBI fingerprinting, child abuse clearances, legal citizen stuff to make sure I'm not a danger to the kids. Good to know they're taking care of this months after I first stood in front of a kid. Anyhow...

We decided to not make a total wash of one of Laura's precious off-days and both go down and maybe make it enjoyable. We planned to go on a covered bridge tour, but we found so much more than covered bridges. How lame does that sound? Pretty. And that's fine.


You can smell the cows coming.

Laura acts like she built this.

Ne'er a greener field found.

The Amish do play volleyball. Their ball actually rolled into
the road in front of our car. I got out and threw it
back to them. They were quite receptive.

The last of the bridges.

Checking structural integrity.

We hope to one day live near a covered bridge that runs over a stream that flows thru our backyard, like this place...

Think it's for sale?

Now we were hungry. The tour led us into downtown Lititz. We went to Danner's Deli and had what else, pretzel sandwiches.

Always on the hunt for the perfect jelly cupboard.

This one comes close. Only thing wrong was the price tag.

We found some inspiration for kitchen redesign.

We did.

We did this too.

Like a kid in a candy store. I got chocolate covered coconut clusters and she got butter toffee peanuts. They're already gone.

Yup that says kangaroo. You ever eaten kangaroo?

I have.

Ducks!! Wonder if they're hungry. Good thing there's a duck food dispenser nearby.

They're thinking about it. I did get one to eat right out of my hand.

All of the sudden there were thousands of ducks. We fled the scene.

Which one is real?