Philadelphia Freedom!

(A few years ago, I went for my evening run. That song came on my ipod, and I got really enthusiastic about it, and totally wiped out, skinning my knees and hands. I still laugh about it, and can barely go to or talk about Philadelphia without adding "freedom" on the end of it.)



I've done some pretty crazy traveling. I've taken a 19 hour direct flight, and lived out of one carry on piece of luggage for two weeks. I once drove from northwestern NJ to Richmond for a day trip (680 mile round trip). I drove 3300 miles in ten days with a team of Europeans, traveling from NJ to visit Memphis and Chicago and everything in between. I drove from New Jersey to Seattle via Canada.

But I had never flown cross country for a single day before.

So when it became feasible to attend my good friend Amanda's bachelorette party in Philly from New Orleans (cheap flight+ savvy planning by her awesome maid of honor), I decided to do it. Not only would it make for a good story, but it would also probably be a really great trip.

I was at Louis Armstrong Airport before 6:00 AM CST on Saturday. Flight boarded on time, but got a late start taking off because it was excessively foggy. Turns out, a lot of flights had been cancelled the day before because it was too cold. They don't have de-icing equipment in New Orleans. As a result, it was a really full flight, which made it really fun when most of us were running late for our connecting flights in Atlanta, especially when one guy about halfway back in the cabin started yelling at everyone to get out of his way because HE had a connecting flight to make.

I had ten minutes to make it across an enormous airport that I'd never been to before. I made it. I ran onto the plane just before the closed the doors.

Landed in Philly a little late because it was actively snowing. Still made it to the hotel by 2:00 PM EST using a map I had drawn in my notebook of the few blocks surrounding City Hall. It was really great to catch up with friends while we waited for the bride, who was VERY surprised to see me-- I had told her I was going to be really busy on Saturday morning, but would talk to her in the evening during her party, which wasn't a lie, because I was busy trying to catch flights to Philadelphia.


We had a great view of the snow falling at City Hall!

We enjoyed dinner at La Viola, a lovely BYOB Italian bistro a short walk from City Hall. Amanda's almost husband has a gluten intolerance of sorts, so we try to pasta her up when we can. We spent the rest of the evening enjoying the lounge and the lanes at Lucky Strike, a bowling alley just a block or two from the hotel. After a while, the game stopped being about getting the most pins, and started being about playing for speed-- who could throw the fastest ball. We had a blast.


Jamie, Amanda and I with silly mustaches. They are also two of my bridesmaids, so I was stoked to see them!

The next morning, those who had spent the night had a full hot brunch in the hotel before taking various trains in different directions. I was exhausted but definitely had a great time seeing some friends and celebrating Amanda in a cool city!

As I waited outside on the platform at 30th Street Station waiting for the Regional Rail back to the airport, enjoying a little fresh, crisp, wintery air, I made two observations:

• The Saints hat that I was wearing because it was the only one I could find in New Orleans was probably going to get me in trouble after they knocked the Philadelphia Eagles out of the playoffs.
• I am so privileged that I can enjoy a breath of cold, fresh air before spending a day in airports and on planes. The gentleman asleep under the ratty blanket and pile of cardboard in the stairwell of the SEPTA station was probably not enjoying that same cold air.

Heading back to New Orleans via Atlanta, my layover was a bit longer. There are no real vegetarian options in that airport, which made it feel even longer. And then, after we boarded the plane, it actually got even longer, because a seat light needed to be repaired. I still made it home in New Orleans in time for dinner (thanks for cooking, Alex!).

So now that I have leveled up from "travel enthusiast" to "travel junkie", I'm looking forward to a few day trips to Baton Rouge in the next few weeks, a few days home in February for Amanda's wedding, the adventures that will certainly ensue with Abi visits in March, a conference in D.C. later that month, possibly another conference in Gainesville, FL in May... always on the go, this girl.


One of the other accomplishments of this crazy trip was to get my dress for Amanda's wedding to take back to New Orleans, since I failed to get it altered in December when I was home. Oops. Jamie kindly helped transport the gown, and left a little note for me. You know you travel a lot when: even your stuff has a travel itinerary!

It's a long way to heaven, it's closer to Harrisburg... or York...

Still pretty excited about recently meeting some of my favorite musicians on the planet, I was talking with my friend Abi in my office yesterday. Pretty much as long as I've known her, we've talked about catching a Josh Ritter show together. Jokingly, I asked her how far she'd be willing to travel for a show.

She said three hours.

Last night there was a show in York, PA, which is 2 hours and 50 minutes from camp.

Too bad it was sold out.




Sometimes I wish I could take a step out of my own life and watch it, because it doesn't feel real. I sent a message to the band's guitarist, Austin, half-jokingly asking why the show was sold out. He actually responded shortly thereafter letting me know that he put me on the guest list, so I should come out. Wait, what?

For whatever reason, I'd gone to the office an hour and a half early yesterday morning, and this was so crazy and exciting that the powers that be didn't mind me leaving early. We quickly showered off the incredible humidity that has already overtaken this part of the state and left Johnsonburg about 4:30. We made it in just about three hours, just in time for doors-- slight rush hour troubles but overall a pretty pleasant drive together that did not feel nearly that long. That's what happens when friends take roadtrips that they are excited about, I suppose. I joyfully reflected on the absurd amount of Pennsylvania that I've seen in the past week.

Historic Downtown York was kind of pretty, and really quiet. We actually didn't go too far into downtown, just to the Strand Capitol Theatre, which had a parking garage right across the side street from it. Everything was old and made of bricks though, which I think Fredericksburg, VA (did you know there's one in PA too? I did not, though I did know about the one in TX, I digress...) really made me appreciate.

The theater was lovely. We checked out the merch table and asked their guy where we needed to go with said passes. And he said, "Oh! You're Austin's friends."


Yeah we were!

The show was great (duh, that's why I keep going). We were surprised they didn't play Harrisburg, since we drove past Harrisburg to get there, but I guess that would have been too predictable. One of the things I love about seeing this band (aside from the fact that they are just. great. performers.) is that I keep seeing them in different places with different friends. I'm so thankful for my friends who get me into great music, and it's so much fun to be on the other side of that, too.

So then, after the show. Right? We had these after show passes that we didn't know what to do with. Poor Austin, I sent him about a million messages before we left camp (ok, really, like three) begging for further instructions because I am just not the cool kid. I don't get put on guest lists for concerts. I don't know what to do! But, Austin was busy setting up or eating dinner or whatever, so we just waited after the show until someone told us to keep waiting-- ok, we were good at this part. And of course, the longer we waited, the more my stomach turned in knots and the more my heart raced and the more I contemplated leaving and letting Abi enjoy everyone's company with me-- and then in walks one Mr. Josh Ritter.

There were two other couples left in the theater, so we gave the first one space while they spoke, and then he came over and said hey. And when I explained how excited I was to get Abi to see him, and that I saw him in D.C. with my roommate about a week and a half before, he actually kind of remembered our conversation and guessed where I was from within about 20 miles (so we know which member of the band actually has geography skills). We talked about summer camp. We got pictures. It was awesome.


This guy just smiles and smiles and smiles. He is so cool. 

 

But of course, Austin was no where to be found! Seriously. The guy hooks us up with tickets to a sold out show and then hides from us. Josh had one of the crew members go look for him on the bus, and he did actually come out to say hello. We'd interrupted his meal, but he assured us it needed to cool anyway and spent some time talking to us. This time I didn't give him any crap for geography, because instead he asked me the geography questions (where are you from? to which I replied, my gypsy ass?). I mentioned that I was moving to New Orleans so we talked about that for a while.

I swear, soon I will talk about New Orleans here. But not now. Except that we talked about NOLA for a while and he recommended a vegetarian restaurant and promised it'd be a cool place to live (not that I doubted that, but I am a little nervous about moving).


I wouldn't smile much either if someone interrupted my miso soup, but he's still a pretty cool dude.
 

Abi and I were exhausted but excited. The drive back definitely felt way longer, but we made it alive into the very humid, foggy hills and forests of Warren County. We barely slept before we needed to get up to work, but we survived the day and are still riding high on the fact that we got to hang out with these people-- and again, for me. How awesome is my life? So awesome. Seriously.


Route 22 at 2:45AM 

That brings the mileage total to about 2000 in 11 days, a lot more time spent on highways in Pennsylvania than I would have predicted, but well worth the time and gas (and besides, those last 300 were on Abi's car). My gypsy ass indeed.

Red Oak

Remember my little trees? I once rescued a trio of kittens from the woods and then named them after the local biogeography: Hemlock, Tulip Poplar and Red Oak.

For various reasons, Red ended up in a shelter near Pittsburgh a few weeks ago. She was originally dropped off with a three legged, half blind orange cat called Simon, for whom she'd been acting as a seeing eye guide. It took me a few weeks, but I found them on the shelter's website, listed as Jewel and Jersey.

While I definitely appreciated the orange cat being called Jersey, I could not live with my little Red being called Jewel. What is this, Lillith Fair? No. No no no no no.

I needed to adopt these cats.

I called the shelter to inquire. "Jewel" was listed as having this brother Jersey, but he was not listed on the site. The woman who answered the phone seemed kind of startled that I was able to so accurately describe him to her, but alas, he'd already been adopted.

What kind of person adopts the three legged, blind, weird cat?!

A good person, I suppose, and I'm glad to know he's in a good home.

Somehow, this did not deter me. My original intention was to keep. them. together. But knowing Simon was adopted, possibly as Jersey, possibly renamed again, I still couldn't get Jewel Red out of my head. Mike and I had talked about getting cat(s) after he gets back to Arizona from his summer break back east, and I just really, really, really wanted this cat back.

So I did it. I adopted her. The people at the shelter were actually very kind and actually listened to my story, and did not think of me as a crazy cat lady (or at least, did not act that way to my face or over the phone). And so: roadtrip. Because driving to Virginia over the weekend wasn't enough driving.

It made sense to take the last two days off from camp, now that I'm back working there, because stuff was going on this weekend. Thankfully, all of these years of working at camp have left me with a pretty great network of friends scattered all over, including the amazing Emma Neischloss out close to Pittsburgh. She was a wonderful host and we had a great evening catching up. Visiting her made me feel slightly less crazy about driving a 700 mile round trip for this cat.

Man, I am not helping myself here. I sound like a crazy cat lady.

I hadn't done quite this drive through PA before, and it was strange to me to see mountains covered in grass and trees after my experience with mountains out west this year.

Whatever. Red is great. She is a sweet little love, and slept almost the entire drive home. She is happily exploring her new digs, and not deterred by her less than warm welcome from our other cat (who I kind of thought liked other cats, but I guess she's still a bit confused and lost over the recent changes to the population of my parents' zoo-- the addition of a very loud small dog and the loss of a cat who, as aloof as she was, was kind of her friend). I went back and forth with feeling silly about the effort I have made to rescue this cat, but it's going to be really nice to share this with Mike, and to know he has some company out there, and have this little thing in common as we spend the next year apart.





 

Oh yeah, I still owe an explanation of New Orleans. I promise it's coming soon. Really.

multiple trips, part 1

This was totally crazy, but I did two mission trips back to back this year.

This all started because Katie, Mike and I were thinking about going to where the Sr. Highs would be and camping for a few days, visiting them on their half day off, because those all used to be our Jr. Highs and they asked us about a million times if we were going with them. If we went with them, who would go with the Jr. Highs? Well, it so happened that the organization we go on mission trips with needed volunteers for the Walpole Island, ON trip that our Sr. Highs were going on. Specifically, worship leader... and after a lot of thought, I auditioned. And got it. And talked them into taking on a few extra site coaches so I could drag my friends into this with me...

Week one: Jr. High trip to Irwin, PA. The Pennsylvania Turnpike was basically the same as always, and Irwin is a typical rust belt kind of town, just a little outside of Pittsburgh. My assignment for the week was to paint a shed and repair some porch steps and paint a porch and its ceiling for a very sweet elderly woman. My crew was super awesome and hard working, so we finished that project early and were able to talk the organization into letting us stain the neighbor's deck.

It was a good week. Our middle school group is a bunch of really good, hilarious kids. They attempted at one point to create some drama for themselves, but quit as soon as the adults called them on it. We had a lot of fun together. Our leadership team was pretty stellar, four men and then my dear friend Katie and me for the girls.

Week two: Sr. High trip to Walpole Island, Ontario. We had managed to keep it a secret from the high school group that we would be there, and really the only chance we had left of them finding out before their arrival was if their younger siblings on the Jr. High trip called/ sent a text when they got home. As the Jr. Highs prepared to depart on the bus, Katie and Mike and I did not board, explaining that Katie and I get too carsick to handle the bus, so would be riding with Mike. Didn't lie, just didn't tell the whole truth.

In fact, when they were dragging their feet getting packed up and on the bus, we started joking with them that they were being SO ridiculous, we should just drive to Canada instead. None of them noticed our jokes. It was 6 AM.

So to Canada we went. We drove through northern Ohio, stopping at a bird reserve and the Toledo Botanical Gardens, as well as a Waffle House (probably the best stop we made). Walpole Island is a First Nation Reservation just across the river from Algonac, Michigan, just a little north of Detroit. We took a short ferry ride to get there, across some very blue water.

I unfortunately didn't get out and about as much as I'd have liked, but did get to see a bit of the island and meet some of the residents. Interesting people, and a good range of people who were happy to welcome visitors and share their culture and history, and people who think that all people who are different from them are only on this planet to screw them over. It was very sad to talk to them. One of my favorite people I met was a woman who wanted to tell me about her trees. She was very proud of the Crimson King she had planted on the property before she could even afford to build a house there. Crimson Kings have very dense foliage and make wonderful shade trees. It was pretty glorious. Tree of the day, for sure.

If I say it's ridiculous...

...you know it's pretty ridiculous. So: It was ridiculous.

Day 10: Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Morgantown. 320 miles.

Woke up in the Toledo area. Headed to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

I enjoy the Rock Hall. I think it meant more to me than my travel companions because I knew more of the inductees, being mostly American singers and bands. There was an exhibit on the women of rock, which I kind of enjoyed from a weird, confident woman kind of perspective. It was cool to see all of their dresses and stage outfits and realize that many of them ate food on a regular basis. Another amusing observation for the day: Ringo Starr is the only Beatle not inducted into the Rock Hall for his solo work. I'm not saying I'm surprised, I'm just saying that I noticed it.

From Cleveland to Pittsburgh. We were chasing a really awful storm front the entire day. It had hit us in Toledo the night before and left things a chilly 44 degrees when we left in the morning. We caught up to the clouds in Cleveland, and again on the way to Pittsburgh, but fortunately caught a break and had some cool sunshine to walk around a little bit with another mutual camp friend, Kate (or Lifeguard Kate as she was often called this summer, even though she was the only Kate on staff).

Pittsburgh observations:
1. Parking is a nightmare. Oh my goodness.
2. Not as hilly as I remember, though perhaps it was in a part of town that I refused to venture because I didn't want to have to park again.
3. Definitely remember it having so many bridges though. Lovely views.

We walked over to the Cathedral of Learning and the Heinz Chapel, both of which were very beautiful. At the Cathedral, we checked out a few of the international rooms-- rooms that were designed and decorated by different nationalities when the funding for the building ran out. The Heinz Chapel was very beautiful, with stained glass so detailed it kind of blew my mind. We got pizza from a place on Kate's street and ate it on her roof, a very peaceful picnic. It was great to see our sweet friend again!

From Pittsburgh to Morgantown. This was my bright idea mostly because I wanted to see my friend from undergrad, Jessica, but also because I was hoping we'd be more ahead of schedule and actually get to see some things. Not the case. We drove in after dark, partied with Jessica and her cool boyfriend Josh till the wee morning hours, crashed for a little while, then got up and drove out of West Virginia again before sunrise.

Morgantown to Johnsonburg: ~360 miles. It was ridiculous.

Well, dawn was breaking as we headed into Western Maryland, which I learned is quite a lovely place! The drive was really beautiful, but I had to hand over the keys and take a nap for a while. We missed an exit in that time, so whatever, we looked at the atlas and chose a different route to head home. We ended up driving through Harrisburg and then the Lancaster area before making a beeline for Johnsonburg, as Jakub had a flight that evening from JFK. In fact, we hit some traffic and took a slower route than we should have, so we didn't leave a very big window for Jakub to make it to the city and up to the airport.

And so we all piled back into Arlo the Van for one last journey, in which we basically circumnavigated New York City because I thought driving for 2 hours was better than sitting in 2 hours of traffic going back the normal way across the George Washington Bridge. While the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and Jamaica Bay are lovely and scenic, I do not recommend doing this, as we got to pay the $8 toll over the GW into the city and the $13 toll out of the city via the Verrazano. Didn't really think about it, just didn't want to sit in the intense outbound traffic we saw as we crossed the George Washington earlier.

We arrived back to camp safe, alive and well, but missing Jakub. Michael left with his girlfriend that night; Timi the next morning, Jozsef that Sunday and Maciej on Monday. The last of our staff is gone and summer is really over.

Doesn't mean I'm not brainstorming my next adventure...

Rutherford farm market, VA via PA, DE

Yesterday's camp adventure: Rutherford farm market. I knew the town was in Bergen County, New Jersey's northeastern most county, but I failed to pay attention to how far south in the county it is... right by my grandma's house. I was a woman on a mission yesterday though, so I just need to make it a point to get back over there and say hello to her another time soon.

Rutherford is a smallish town with a main street that's apparently on the upswing. It was dotted with small fast-ish chains like Dunkin Donuts and Blimpie, but the farm market was situated in this big patio area behind a bunch of local shops and next to a movie theater that advertised current movies but didn't appear to be open. I was told the area had definitely seen some decline but was improving more recently. I liked it.

The farm market was fine, just very hot. I'm still learning this farm market thing, and came unprepared. Well, I brought my big water bottle, but I didn't bring a tent for shade. Now I know for the future, at least. I was at least in the shade for most of the day, under what I believe was a pin cherry tree (I didn't have my book, otherwise I'd declare it tree of the day). The market manager offered that I could come back next week; this was their first week back open so it was a little slow, but I definitely spoke to more people than I did in Trenton. If the weather cooperates, I'll go back and bring my tree book!

My adventures continued last night as I drove back to camp, picked up my friend Catherine, and continued west into Pennsylvania to try a new route south to bring her home to Wilmington, Delaware. The Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike was further west than I thought, but still a very efficient route. Part of the efficiency may, however, be due to the fact that there seems to be NOTHING off that road. No food options. We didn't eat till pretty late, when we hit I-95 and found a Wawa several miles off the interstate, south of Philly.

Interstates are boring, but we made good time. I got Catherine home by 9:30, took a half hour to eat fresh strawberries with her family, and then continued on to VA, where I am presently plotting more adventures...

je ne sais PA

Busy weekend. Lotta driving.

Part 1: camp to Bethlehem, PA: My good old friend Tim got married to a really cool girl this weekend, and I was honored to be there. The drive wasn't too long or too bad, although despite my several years behind the wheel of a stick shift vehicle, I still struggle not to cry or barf or die when I come upon a large, steep hill that I have never come to before. Well, apparently Bethlehem is hilly. It wasn't too bad for the most part except for one hill at a stop light. I did make it without stalling though.

The wedding took place in a beautiful historic church in a very beautiful historic part of town. I found Bethlehem to be a really nice mix of post-industrial city and gorgeous old town. Really old brick and stone buildings that have been kept up very well with old steel mills in the distance. And hills. Plenty of those. And a fun wedding!


Tree of the day: the tulip poplar that I stood under as I took this in front of the church

Part 2: Bethlehem to my big brother's place: This drive was boring, but let's talk about where my brother lives. I was initially frustrated by a very long road without any house numbers (my first time to his new place), but I found it and enjoyed a pleasant evening out with some friends and then back home on the back deck enjoying the fresh smells of lots of plants. What I would find the next morning was an incredible yard with many lovely trees and flowers.

Tree of the day here: Honeysuckle tree. I've only ever seen honeysuckle as a bush but my nose was extremely happy to find this tree. Also, driving out of his town, I found it to be full of historic farms and beautiful stone walls and old houses. Quite nice.

Part 3: Philadelphia area to Haddonfield, NJ: I took many small roads from my brother's place to get back to I-76 and New Jersey, ending up on a tiny side street that reminded me of Pittsburgh given the extreme incline. I was thankful it was early in the morning and there weren't many people around to A) stop me on one of those intense hills or B) witness the terrified look on my face as I made it over each one (successfully, thank you). It wasn't a bad drive, and I was amused by the narrow and steep roads leading me into Philly to pick up the interstate. The rest of the drive was boring major roads, till I got to Haddonfield, where this weekend's church visit was.

Haddonfield surprised me. I expected some kind of suburbia (outside of Cherry Hill, Camden, Philly) but not what I found. The church I visited, First Presbyterian, was very beautiful and very old. And huge! Stairs and doors everywhere. I was so lost. The sanctuary itself was more of an ampitheater, and an older woman sitting behind me told me the windows were Tiffany's. Yikes. It was quite lovely. I had a nice visit.

Part 4: Haddonfield back to camp: Leaving town, I was in the mood for a bagel, but let me tell you there are no bagel shops on the right side of the road between Haddonfield and camp. I drove down the main avenue and enjoyed all of the little shops all close together, a nice walkable area with obviously huge and old houses on the fringe. I took I-295 to Route 31, which was more boring than I remember. And I was exhausted at this point, so it felt like it took seven years to drive back to camp, even though there were no traffic issues. The one bagel shop I found on the right was closed. Lame.

But, another weekend with a lot of driving and a lot of sightseeing. Not sightseeing like my Grandma calls it (aka being lost), but just seeing new and different places, which I obviously always enjoy.