and I would drive 500 miles, and I would drive 500 more...

About a year ago, I made a whirlwind roadtrip to Williamsburg, Virginia and back, prompting my friend Paul to make a comment about how of course I'd travel 20 mph in my sleep, in response to me telling him I'd driven about 750 miles in 36 hours (see the subtitle of this blog!). The tradition continues.

From the time I got my driver's license, I have apparently been known as the girl who would drive a few hours to see someone for a little while. I didn't realize I'd been typecasted this way till this weekend, but apparently it's super true. Some of my earliest roadtrips were to meet up with some of my friends who I used to go to summer camp with (Dan, Greg, Sarah and Alice). The last time we all saw each other was New Year's Day 2004. Greg and I currently live closer than ever, and he recently challenged me to meet up with him before New Year's 2010. I accepted, and raised him one-- we get the band back together! (No, we didn't actually have a band, but that would have been awesome.) We tried our best, but the stars didn't quite align, mostly because Dan can't read a calendar, but we like him anyway and as a result, hung out with him.

I drove out to Abington, PA to meet Dan and Greg for lunch on the 26th. It was great to catch up! The weather was cold, rainy and overall miserable, and if the stereotype about me is that I drive a lot, the stereotype about Dan is that he's never dressed for the weather. That photo from 2004 is us pretending to be Mummers on Mummers Day. Please note, Dan is wearing a blanket that I often keep in my car, because on chilly New Year's Day, he did not have a sweatshirt or jacket. He met Greg and me for lunch and a beer and had a scarf, but no coat or umbrella, so we stayed at the restaurant for about 3 hours. Good visit!

Straight after that visit, I headed south to Fairfax, Virginia, to celebrate my college roommate Brittany's engagement to her longtime boyfriend Adam. Hooray! I ended up driving back to Toms River that night, total mileage for the day was just shy of 500 miles. The trip was planned poorly-- I expected to be meeting Dan on the 27th but he was flying out of Philly that day; I thought the party was in the afternoon on the 26th, so I didn't think it was totally ludicrous to drive back that night... ah well. I got home alive at 3.30AM. Poorly planned, but well enjoyed!

The next day, the rest of the stars aligned and I saw the rest of my old camp friends. I drove to the Rumson-Fairhaven area to pick up Sarah. This was a trip I made many times in high school-- Alice is from the same town. This, and me telling Sarah of the previous day's adventures, prompted her to inform me that yes, driving everyone and staying in touch with everyone is kind of my M.O. That's not the worst character trait ever, I think?

Sarah and I took NJ Transit from my apartment by Rutgers, and successfully got on the same train as Greg, who was coming from the Hamilton station. We met up with Alice when she got off work and headed down to the Village to a place called The Blind Tiger, where we enjoyed a few rounds. Small and loud, but good beer selection and great company!

Beers of the travels found here. Mostly wheat beers, which I really like!

Then I stayed still and caught up on sleep for a day.

Then was the annual Johnsonburg reunion. I did a little bit of volunteering this summer, and probably wouldn't have gone up, but I drove my friend Tim, who worked there the full summer and knew way more of the current summer staff than I do and also had an interview (same Timmy I visited in Minnesota). It was nice to spend some time with him since he has a short winter break. And I got to visit with a few other people who live at camp who I've missed. All in all, another good day.

Total mileage since Christmas: about 850. So not quite 500 miles plus 500 more, but definitely have not been sitting still. I'm heading out to my brother and sister-in-law's in Abington for New Year's and will be spending a couple of days in Virginia after that, so more travels on the way!

Snow, don'tcha know.

Ok, I haven't actually heard anyone here in Minnesota say "don'tcha know" but they do totally have exactly the accent I thought they would. I dig it.

So what am I doing in Minnesota, with a week left of classes and plenty of work to be done?

My friend Timmy attends St. Olaf College in Northfield, just a little south of Minneapolis. They have a super major Christmas music festival every year. He was able to score an extra pair of tickets and kindly gave them to our now retired choir director and myself. So I'm out here listening to incredible music left and right and generally hanging out for a few days.

Don't get me wrong, every time he has a rehearsal or something, I've been grading papers galore. I did a lot of work leading up to this trip, and am actually in far better shape than I thought upon my return to finish up the semester just fine. I opted to leave my laptop home (am currently borrowing Tim's while he sings in night 3 of Christmasfest, which his parents are attending) and have enjoyed the change of pace. St. Olaf is out in the middle of nowhere-- time seems to go a little slower (it also helps that my body just never adjusts to time change, even an hour difference).

Also, St. Olaf is such a great school. It's a small liberal arts school run by the Lutherans (Norwegian ones, to be specific). They have an outstanding music program (though much to my dismay there is no geography). It's got great campus dining. AND MY FAVORITE PART, CLEARLY: so environmentally friendly. Everyone seems very concious of turning off lights and recycling stuff. The sandwich place on campus serves everything on real plates, with real silverware. Their building renovations include a lot of local, renewable resources and/or recycled supplies. The bathrooms have those magic flush toilets that you have a short flush/long flush option (use your brain, you can figure out why). Also, all of the toilet paper, paper towels and napkins are made completely from recycled fibers. And finally, there is a very lovely wind turbine at the edge of the campus that apparently generates 1/3 of the energy for the campus (which makes me wonder why they don't just build 2 more, but at least they're trying!).

Other things about Northfield: it snowed the first two days I got here and the temperature hasn't been above freezing. The town motto is "Cows, Colleges, Contentment" even though there's way more corn than cows. Northfield is also home to the Malt O Meal factory. It smells like Cocoa Puffs here constantly!

Beer of the trip: Summit Extra Pale Ale. I'm not usually crazy about extra pale beers, but Summit is a Minnesota brew that my uncle had at Thanksgiving (in NJ) and it was fine then, so it was ok now too.

I fly home tomorrow morning to Newark Airport. My home church has its Christmas concert tomorrow night. I'll be up there in the alto 2 section singing Handel's Messiah and other carols, twice in a row. Intense. I have just enough time to get home, shower, and make it to warm up, assuming my flight isn't delayed. All along though, my choir director has joked that surely there wouldn't be a problem in Minnesota's end; if it snows, they know what to do. It's Newark that would fail under any sort of weather pressure. So Newark, listen up. I'm counting on you.

Despite going from 60 degree weather in NJ (yes, unseasonably warm) to 20 degree weather in MN, I am really enjoying this trip and it's allowing me to relax a little before the absolute final stretch of the semester. After all, after this I only have one semester left... it'll be a pretty busy spring semester so I'm not sure when I'll travel next!