been busy

For weeks now, I've had all sorts of beautiful blog posts in my head about the many wonderful things I've been able to see and enjoy. I guess I got too busy seeing and enjoying to keep up with writing about it.

For Mardi Gras, I enjoyed Endymion with my host family and took my first walk through the amazing City Park; I went to a parade in Houma just to see and got pelted with beads; I took a bike ride at 6AM on Fat Tuesday itself all over New Orleans, at first in search for Mardi Gras Indians but ultimately just to enjoy families out in their yards, wishing us a Happy Mardi Gras as we rode by...

My dear little sister friend Abi visited on Ash Wednesday through the end of the week. We explored the French Quarter, the Lower Ninth Ward and Lakeview. We planted trees in a big freshwater diversion. We enjoyed awesome jazz at Preservation Hall. Perhaps the least expected part was how we spent International Women's Day: celebrating my friend Kalpana at a traditional Indian baby shower, where the women sang and offered blessings and we feasted on seven different kinds of rice. It was so, so beautiful.

I attended a workshop at UNO called Building Resilience the following week, and met a lot of great scientists, public workers, community organizers, and coastal residents. We discussed physical and human resiliency along Louisiana's coast, which is good and all, but the real point was driven home by Cherri Foytlin, a journalist from South Louisiana, who said, "I don't want to be resilient, I want to thrive!"

I visited Isle de Jean Charles for the first time. What a stunning place, and the people there have been totally written off by the government, who won't acknowledge their nation and build a flood protection system that excludes them.


I don't usually dress up for field work. We went straight after church.

I went to VA and DC for Ecumenical Advocacy Days and, well, let's be honest, to visit some people I adore. Reagan Airport is definitely in my top five, for being easy to navigate, Metro accessible, and a very sweet welcoming committee:


(That's Arlo, watching my plane land. I LOVE HIM. And his parents!)

It was a whirlwind, as my visits to DC/VA usually are. I got to enjoy visits with camp friends, college friends, and one of my cousins. The conference was great, offering advocacy training as well as a chance to connect with others working on issues of eco-justice. I spent a day on Capitol Hill visiting my senators' offices. I even got to enjoy a pretty snowfall. I had a wonderful, wonderful visit.

And now I'm back in Louisiana. I've been focused on this policy brief thing that I'm contributing to, to be presented to the EPA in a week and a half. I was supposed to plant trees in Isle de Jean Charles today with a group of high school students from DC, but instead we had flash flooding and intense thunder and lighting. Slowly catching up as I get ready for a lot more traveling this spring...

yet another whirlwind roadtrip to VA/DC

My favorite things about whirlwind trips to VA and DC? Whirlwind. Roadtrip. Virginia. Washington, D.C.

Even better when it involves college friends, cousins and a Josh Ritter concert!

And even better yet when I get to start the weekend with a crazy soil survey in a glorious part of New Jersey, although let's be really honest for a second, I think just about all of New Jersey is glorious.

 

I met my soil scientist friend in Woodstown in Salem County to go dig and describe a few pits in a nearby wildlife management area. It was a gorgeous day. The sun shone strongly, but we worked under the cover of the forest so it wasn't too overwhelming. We didn't see many birds, but we definitely heard them. I saw clear evidence of a lot of the chemistry stuffs I've been reading about in a generally confused fashion.

After a good day of digging and texturing and trying to decide how to define the strange colors of the soils made of prehistoric fish poop, I drove to Virginia. It was so nice to already be halfway! I went out toward western Loudoun County, enjoying the Jeep bouncing down these lovely, unpaved, curvy country roads, winding and winding up to my dear friend JT's house in Purcellville. When I got out of the Jeep, I suddenly remembered what humidity is...

Good company, good pizza, good visit there, and the next morning brought me down more winding roads to my cousins in Nokesville, a town with one traffic lights and many horses. My cousins are great. We got to visit Janet at the greenhouse at school, where I acquired a Janet Spain original sweet basil plant that she grew for horticulture. Laura and her mother and I went out for lunch, and I even got to see their dad before heading onward and eastward.

This was my first time visiting Brittany and Adam's new place in Burke! I was really excited, not just because they're grownups and have a sweet townhouse, but because Brittany and I had some awesome plans for the evening.

And then the long drive back, so I could actually be home for Mothers Day, plus I had a beer to bottle, plus I needed to get to camp the next morning to begin another stint as Program Assistant.

But a very good weekend, as per usual. I love visiting Virginia.

Joy to me too!

 

Something I've been looking forward to for a while, was that Brittany got us tickets to see Josh Ritter and the Royal City Band at the 9:30 Club. So this happened last night.

There is exactly one thing in my life that I'm totally, hopelessly fan girl about. (All right, fine, that's not entirely true, but the all of the other things that get me giddy excited are stuff like champion trees, and charismatic geomorphology, and soil surveys.) I've been listening to Josh Ritter since the end of college, and went to my first show just about three years ago. This was my sixth time seeing Josh Ritter, fourth time backed by the full band. These shows are just awesome. Josh is a great performer, witty and gracious and always so positive. The whole band is brilliantly talented, and always look like they're having such a good time.

In addition to being an all around beautiful person, Brittany has this uncanny ability to actually meet and speak with all of her favorite musicians-- Hanson, Rhett Miller, Ben Kweller, Joe Pug. So not only do I get to have a blast at a great show with this girl I adore, but I also have someone encouraging me to find and actually speak with Josh and company.

The show was awesome, as I expected. After, Britt and I waited for the crowd to clear out a little, scored a couple of Josh Ritter's guitar picks from the stage crew, and went to wait by the tour bus that we noticed parked on the side street when we walked in earlier. And after about an hour of standing around being giddy and ridiculous, we watched as Zack Hickman and Sam Kassirer (bass and keys, respectively) walked by, slightly aloof, trying to see what was going on around them but avoiding eye contact as they hurried on the bus. But then, there was Austin Nevins (guitar among other things).

He walked around the corner with a bag in his right hand, and shifted it to his left hand. Brittany's eyes lit up-- she took this as a sign! He must want to shake our hands! And he did. Austin stopped and talked with us for a while. Trying my best to not be totally anxious and awkward, and trying to keep the conversation going, I asked where were his favorite places he's played. I quickly realized in my head that I was asking that question looking for answers about places and travel, but kind of hoped he took it as a question about venues, because I didn't want to get all hyped up about geography and be even more anxious/ weird/ awkward. But he answered: Japan. Cuba. Europe.

Europe?! Europe is not just one country. And of course, I had to open my mouth and say something about that. And then rant on about people constantly referring to Africa like it's one country.

And just as Austin exclaimed with a smile, "Are you giving me shit about geography?!", Brittany laughs at me, "Less than five minutes before we're talking about geography!". Oh no. I am so weird. My stomach hurt. My brain was short circuiting at this point. Well, that's not entirely true. My brain was short circuiting the. entire. time.

So just as this is going down... Josh Ritter walks around the corner. We want to keep talking with Austin because he was really cool, but we also didn't want to miss this opportunity. Brittany and this other guy who was hanging out with us kept talking with Austin and-- something about being around Brittany made me really, really brave-- I reached out my hand as he walked past, and rambled nervously, "Wait, can I thank you? Can I thank you for your music?"

(Amazingly, this is a significant improvement in communication compared to the first time I saw him in concert, and ran into him on the stairs after the show, literally ran into him, and just kind of smiled idiotically and stood there in the way.)

And he stopped. And kind of paused. And shook my hand. And thanked me back.

Thank goodness for my wonderful, amazing friend Brittany. While I was being dumbfounded, she asked if she could get a picture. Josh put his arm around me and we got the other guy hanging out by the bus to get a photo of us with Austin, too. And this was all just happening, really happening.

I was really disappointed to lose Austin in the shuffle, because he was so kind to just stop and chat with us a while. But Josh was also kind, and just as gracious and joyful as I hoped he'd be in real life. Like, these are real people, who are really excited about what they do, and excited to talk about it with other excited people, despite how nervous/ anxious/ ridiculous/ etc. they were trying desperately not to be.

By "they" I mean me.

So awesome. So, so awesome.

adventures from the couch

(as opposed to adventures from couch to couch/couch surfing)

It's true, life has been quiet since I left camp. Well, maybe that's only partially true.


JACK did the Lighthouse Challenge again (and it was awesome again). It was pretty much the same except we were missing our vowel changed out route a little, starting with the first lighthouse to the north rather than the one that was farthest away, and ending in home territory with Barnegat Light.

There was a new stop this year: US Life Saving Station 30. It was AWESOME. Ocean City, NJ recently reacquired the site and the house that sits upon it. It has a long way to go with renovations but the amount of work that they've put into it already it impressive, including a ton of research on the people who served at that station and some comprehensive plans for funding the place. Go historic preservation!



I spent a week in Virginia/D.C. catching up with various college friends who recently returned from Peace Corps service and grad school abroad (as well as some who have just been in the D.C. area all this time who I haven't seen in a while). This included favorite things like visiting my alma mater in Fredericksburg, wandering around the National Mall, having a few good beers with a few good friends; this also included a few new adventures-- camping in Bull Run (I lit a beautiful one match fire!), visiting the Old Post Office Tower, and also Ballston (but there's nothing really to see there).



I took a trip up north to Florham Park, where my friend Becky and her awesome baby Arlo are staying for the time being. This was after the freak Halloween nor'easter snow nonsense, which here at the shore was nothing out of the ordinary (aka: no snow) but up north really did a number on the trees. Streets were lined with piles of branches that were almost as tall as me. Trees and huge branches were down everywhere. There were so many leaves left on the trees that the added weight of snow was just too much. However, the roads were clear and so I had an awesome visit with these people (aside from the mourning of some impressive trees).



I've taken three trips to Double Trouble State Park in the last week and a half, after a first trip that yielded me several cups of fresh cranberries. How much do I love eating fresh good things? So much. How much do I love New Jersey? So so much. You see how this became three trips. I've been sharing the cranberries far and wide, so it's not like I'm stockpiling tons and tons of them, but I probably picked about 50 cups of them. The state park used to lease the bogs to cranberry farmers, but no one has leased those bogs last year or this year, so they're just full of gorgeous little cranberries, free for the taking. So I did, and you should too. They're really, really good.



I also traveled to Edison for Friend Thanksgiving with some wonderful people who live in that area. There were several vegetarians in the crowd, so aside from the turkey, everything was veggie friendly, including stuffing! and gravy! Things that omnivores take for granted. This was the first time that I can recall since going vegetarian nearly 8 years ago that I've been so completely stuffed, I could barely function. It was good.



You know, I was going to write this post about all of the adventures I've had in my living room at home since not working. It really seemed like I've spent way more time on the couch in the past five weeks, so I thought I'd recount the little things I've accomplished in that time. However, as per usual, it seems I've been up to more than I realize.

Couch potato activities have mostly included rereading the Harry Potter series, but I've also done a lot of cooking (and baking things using those cranberries) and a lot of applying for jobs (but I don't want to talk about that because it's a little depressing). I purged my closet. I've been getting all of the regular checkups a person should while they still have health insurance. I'm having a nerve block tomorrow, and in preparation, I got several John Green books out of the library as well as the Teach Yourself Icelandic guide and the first season of Community. I'm singing in choir and working with the punky middle schoolers again. I've watched a lot of Big Bang Theory with my dad. I will start running again one of these nights.



So I suppose the adventure hasn't been so bad, nor has it been so confined to the couch. I am looking forward to figuring out what's next and having a little more structure to my days though.

Right, so my last post was abrupt and lacking details...

After Hurricane Irene, I was at camp without power, phones and occasionally water for a week. During that time I spent a great deal of time with the international staff who hadn't yet gone home. They talked me into a roadtrip they'd been planning. My bosses gave me the time off, so here I am, now 1000 miles into a 2600 sojourn around Kentucky. Seriously, that's about the only state we're not going to pass through in the next week and a half. Maciej (Poland), Jozef (Slovakia), Jakub (Czech Republic), Michael (England), Timi (Hungary) and I are on a pretty excellent adventure.

Day one, Tuesday 6 September: Arlington, VA/Washington, DC. Due to torrential downpour and a late start, we didn't arrive to the area till mid afternoon, at which point the rain held off long enough to wander the National Mall and all of the good monuments and memorials around it. We saw the White House and the Capitol. I love DC and it was a joy to show my friends around. We stayed with my friend Becky and her sweet baby boy Arlo.

Day two, Wednesday 7 September: After a walk through Arlington National Cemetery and spending some time in a few of the Smithsonian Museums, we drove to Harrisonburg via Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park. It was a pretty overcast day so we spend a lot of time driving through clouds and wondering what the views looked like. Late in the drive we broke through and enjoyed some lovely vistas and an incredible sunset. We arrived in Harrisonburg in time to have dinner with our friend, Gordo, who was hosting us for the night, and really just spent the night hanging out in his apartment with his roommates and Brendan, another camp friend.

The tree of the day would have been this incredible Post Oak found near the Eternal Flame in Arlington Cemetery, but it was taken out by Hurricane Irene. Thankfully Becky and I visited it earlier in the summer.

Day three, Thursday 8 September: Long drive from Harrisonburg to Knoxville, Tennessee, via the Blue Ridge Parkway and Roanoke. We were hesitant to take the Blue Ridge Parkway because it was once again overcast, but we took the chance and were thrilled by the views. It was a very peaceful, winding drive. We stopped in Salem, VA at Roanoke College and had a lovely peanut butter and jelly picnic lunch with our friend Sarah Gillette. Beautiful little campus and a very pleasant stop before several more hours of driving.

Tree of the day: the American Basswood we ate lunch under.

We arrived in Knoxville and promptly enjoyed some Waffle House for dinner. It was really awesome trying to explain a southern drawl to my friends and then having some really great examples for them to hear. It was a really great dinner, and our waitress had some ideas as to what to do in downtown Knoxville. We ended up walking all over down, finding it to be pretty empty but nice. It was a beautiful evening.

Day four, Friday 9 September (in progress): This morning we drove to Nashville and walked all over the place. We started at a Visitors Center and walked up 5th Avenue past some beautiful churches and historic buildings. We spent some time in the Tennessee State Museum, which was mostly interesting to me because the Civil War was explained with a slightly different perspective than I was raised learning in the northeast. We walked up to the Capitol Building and then adventured along Broadway, which is dotted with music shops and restaurants and pubs with music being played. The music changed every 20 feet. We came to our hotel to rest for a while and are now heading back out to enjoy the music scene here in Music City...

incidentally coincidental

Yesterday was a day of great timing and great happiness!

The original purpose of visiting Fredericksburg was to see my cousin Laura, who's currently in summer session at Mary Washington. We met up after her morning class ended and walked downtown for lunch. While the consensus between Taylor, Laura and I was J. Brian's (quesadillas! burgers! a nice porch on which to sit on such a lovely day!), we changed our minds at the last minute as we walked past Old Towne Grill, a hidden gem on Caroline Street. I always forget it's there. They don't have much in the way of veggie options, but I really love their spinach salad. AND sitting two tables over was Dr. Stephen Hanna, the chair of Mary Washington geography! I was ecstatic when Taylor noticed this and subtly pointed it out. We didn't get to speak for long as he was leaving, but I enjoyed the coincidence that lead to me seeing my all-time favorite lab instructor (cartography).

We walked all over town after lunch, first down to Carl's, a frozen custard stand slightly outside of the immediate downtown area, then up the canal path to campus, then over to the new Eagle's Landing area on the other side of Route 1 (Mary Washington people totally know what I'm talking about, except who knew that it was called Eagle's Landing?). I don't feel like I've been gone long enough for there to be so many changes, but Laura was patient enough to give a tour and at least pretend to ignore my constant shock and amazement. Those places are nice. It's more like a hotel than a dorm. The apartment kitchens are lovely and there's a nice lobby area on her floor and there is a ROTUNDA. Why does a dorm need a rotunda? With glass windows all around it? And a fireplace with columns and a big ol' flat screen TV? It struck me as excessive, but definitely nice. I hope the students respect it. Laura seemed happy to be living there. I don't blame her.



Taylor and I parted ways with Laura and walked back down campus. He wanted to stop by the bookstore, which I didn't think was super necessary but didn't really mind. However, that little stop lined us up to be walking past Trinkle Hall at the exact moment my beloved undergrad advisor/general mentor, Dr. Melina Patterson, was walking out the front door and down the steps. And she said it was her laziness in taking the elevator that put her out the door at the exact moment too. So many coincidences. So awesome.

So we stopped to talk for a while on the lovely, lovely day, when off in the distance, Taylor spots a third Mary Washington Geography professor, Dr. Joe Nicholas. Joe offered to take us on a tour of the almost fully renovated Monroe Hall, where the Geography department was housed when we were there. Turns out it's not as near completion as it's scheduled to be; they're supposed to move in in three weeks, but there aren't floors and there's a lot else that's still woefully incomplete.

It's looking great though! The Geography department is quite different, with offices where there used to be our main classroom, and the old cartography lab split into two halves with a pollen lab where the work room used to be. It's going to be awesome. Also, there's a fourth floor where storage used to be! It's got nice skylights and you can see some of the original brickwork. I thought it was nice to kind of embrace the history of the building in that way.

After this we hit the road; we were meeting friends at the Sculpture Garden at the National Gallery of Art for Jazz in the Garden, a free thing that happens on Fridays in the summer. It got packed and became difficult to hear the music, so the group of us that assembled went out elsewhere for food and drinks. The second place we went to smelled like a dudes' locker room, so Taylor, Emily and her friend Alyssa peaced and went for a walk around the National Mall instead.

The Mall is pretty at night, and very peaceful. We walked up to the Washington Monument, through the WWII Memorial (which remains one of my favorites), up to Lincoln before parting ways to head home via Metro. Busy day, very wonderful.

Farragut North, Dupont Circle, Mad Fox

Shortly after my last post, I was able to get in touch with my friend Emily, who just moved to D.C. following some time in West Africa with Peace Corps and some time back home in Illinois near St. Louis. She's doing an internship near Farragut North, which is a stop that I don't believe I've really been around before yesterday.

She was still working when I managed to get there from Vienna via bus, the orange line and the red line. I spent some quality time at Au Bon Pain sipping iced coffee (still can't handle hot coffee since Mexico after getting so miserably ill from the milk) and enjoying Nelson Mandela's autobiography. She eventually joined me and we sat under an umbrella outside, just catching up. This is the first time I've seen her since before she graduated from Mary Washington in 2009! We talked about the similarities and differences between our respective regions of work in Africa, about books, about beer, about work, about grad school... it was so so great to see my good friend again!

We wandered to Kramerbooks and Afterwords, an awesome book store/cafe/bar closer to Dupont Circle, where we browsed books for a good while before getting a beer: Flying Dog Coffee Stout, which was really strong but really good. It was a really beautiful day and we sat on the back porch with our newly purchased books and beers (I got John McPhee's Silk Parachutes, she got something about the French language) and just enjoyed everything.

I was having such a great time catching up with Emily that I lost track of time and was late getting back to Northern Virginia for dinner at Mad Fox Brewpub with Taylor, Alison and Scott, which was also wonderful and a half. That restaurant is mad good and it was more wonderful company.

All of the adventures seem to be catching up to me; I crashed early last night. Subsequently, I woke up early this morning (almost an hour ago). Today's adventure: Fredericksburg!

Urban hiking with Becky is the tree's knees!

Yesterday was a beautiful day on the verge of spring in the Washington, DC area. I took the Metro to Rosslyn to meet up with my awesome friend Becky for some urban hiking.

We started with a stroll to Roosevelt Island. I'd never been there before, but it was quite lovely despite the lack of leaves. I'll have to go back when it's green again. Tree of the day: bald cypress, which I was able to identify despite its lack of foliage by the knees in the dried up wetlands. I first saw this tree when driving through the Inner Banks of the Carolinas en route to a geography conference in Charleston during senior year of college. Because of that, I was surprised to see this tree so far north, but it turns out its native range is from the Delaware Bay to the Gulf of Mexico. So cool (or dorky, whatever, but I'm excited about it)!



After a loop of Roosevelt Island, we walked over the Key Bridge into Georgetown down a busy street. After a few blocks, we cut down a side street, which was surprisingly silent in comparison, crossing the C & O canal (which we have vowed to bike some of together sometime) and walking along the Potomac for a while.

The main attraction that our hike was based on was an India exhibit at the Kennedy Center that was supposed to be opening yesterday. We got there and found that aside from a few beautiful saris on display, the exhibit was still being set up and there was very little to see. However, I did learn that saris are six yards long (apparently quite a lot of which is just folded up to form pleats at the bottom-- Becky has experience in this department from her time in Peace Corps and her world traveling thereafter). We sat on the roof and enjoyed the sun for a while, ate lunch, and continued on our way.

We kept walking along the waterfront, passing behind the Lincoln Memorial and walking over the Arlington Bridge. We walked through the cemetery (while jogging is prohibited out of respect, apparently it's ok to just stroll through... it is kind of a strange feeling to have this sacred burial space being so open to the public as a park). I thought about our last living WWI vet's passing earlier this week. He'll be buried at Arlington with so many who have gone before him. It's amazing how history just rolls on. Becky showed me that on the back of one of the headstones toward the end of the cemetery was a plaque-- he was one of the men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima. We would cross the street and walk near the Marine Corps Memorial next on our way back to her lovely home.


View Larger Map

Beautiful day, over 7.5 miles of excellent walking. Back at Becky's place, we spent some time looking through her gorgeous photos of India and hanging out with her husband Dana. So wonderful.

After a while I went on to meet a few college friends at 51st State for happy hour. I was exhausted but it's always great to see everyone. It was also funny to take the Metro to the same area I'd walked earlier. Beer of the day: 51st State's Amber Ale.

Good day, good company, good weather, good night's sleep.

real (not-so) long distance

Hello from Hyperion! I love this place. I am having the best day ever in Fredericksburg, the town where I once decided that I should at least try to have the best day ever every day. About three years ago, during my final semester of college, I dropped Chinese 102, took History of Jazz pass/fail with some friends, and just generally enjoyed my life a lot more than the previous seven semesters in which I took 18 credits. I don't think I was ever super negative, but I've definitely been a much sunnier person since then.

Anyway! Why is today the best day ever? It really began last night when I went to see Josh Ritter in D.C.. Well, maybe a little earlier hanging out with Luke. He's cool, despite some of the funny things he says sometimes. But Josh put on an excellent show, as always. He's kind of a sunny, happy person, which is probably at least half of why I like him and his music so darn much.

I was also amused by a brief contemplation of space. Yeah, I'm a dorky geographer. Before heading to Virginia on Sunday afternoon, I stopped by the hospital at home to visit my pastor, who was in for a little re-hydration following a bout with the flu the previous week. We had a good conversation about the greater Presbyterian church and how it's functioning (or not). He believes the future may hold Presbyteries that are less geographically-restrained, since we have the technology to overcome such differences more effectively than in the past. This is true of many things-- I mean, my thesis is about how we've broken down geographic barriers and allowed plants to grow in places that aren't always convenient. This idea was also evident at Josh Ritter's show. A few weeks ago, he invited those attending his "Valentine's Day Brawl" shows this week to submit dedications to people they were going with. It was actually a pretty cute concept-- lots of people professing their love and crap, one dude even had Josh propose to his girlfriend for him. I was really touched by one message from a soldier in Afghanistan who sent a message to his brother who was in the crowd. It's amazing how we have these ways of being connected from so far away, kind of blurring the entire concept of distance. (And yes, if you're wondering, I am a totally awesome and super romantic girlfriend and Josh Ritter totally read my dedication.)

So, back to the best day ever. Today I went to Fredericksburg to visit with my beloved undergrad advisor, who I had lunch with at the awesome Soup and Taco. I had somehow never been there before despite my love of downtown Fredericksburg. It was really great to catch up with her and get some ideas about moving forward with the thesis and job hunt. After visiting with some other professors in the geography department and my old boss at the auditorium, I parked myself here in the coffee shop to do a little work until my good friend Jeremy gets off work. We'll get dinner somewhere downtown before I head north again. It's a lovely sunny day and I am totally delighted.

(This entry's title comes from this fun song by Josh Ritter and the Royal City Band.)

cool as a cucumber

It's been a lovely week thus far in the D.C. Metro Area. I've been here since New Year's Day, and I've seen a few new places in Northern Virginia and been able to catch up with a lot of wonderful people.

On Sunday evening, Taylor and I met up with JT and Riley at Vintage 50, a brew pub in Leesburg. I'd never been that far west in northern VA before, but it was a lovely evening catching up. It was dark out, so I didn't have much of an impression of the area other than enjoying the restaurant and company and waffle fries. I did notice earlier in the day while running errands with Taylor that the landscape is a lot more rolling than I expected-- I spent much of the car ride with my eyes shut to quell the queasiness that subsequently ensued.

On Monday, I accompanied my good friend and source of the infamous toothbrush quote Becky back to Leesburg for some necessary shopping-- the whole reason I'm in Virginia in the first place this week is to attend a wedding this weekend, for which I didn't have a dress to wear. I was correct about the landscape, lovely and rolling, but it was nice to see slightly less development as we drove west of Fairfax County. We had a successful day and actually also ate at Vintage 50, meeting up with one of Becky's awesome college friends and her very cool son Charlie.

Tuesday involved me spending a lot of time in the library working on thesis while Taylor and everyone else I knew was at work. I accomplished quite a bit before meeting up with various cut-ups and cut-up associates in Arlington. I always like visiting Arlington because it tends to involve awesome people and I like being able to walk from place to place-- on this night it included Earl's (delicious) and Galaxy Hut (also delicious) (except for the Bourbon Stout-- beer of the day would probably be the IPA from Cricket Hill in NJ, which I always see more of in VA than in NJ).

I met up with my college roommate Brittany for dinner on Wednesday (joined by Taylor after he got off work), but spent the day at the mall and library in Springfield, which is another area that is surprisingly hilly. I guess I've only spent time in the flat parts of northern Virginia previously. Good thing I know how to drive my stick shift reliably.

So after spending the entire week thus far around northern Virginia, I finally made it into D.C. itself today, having another wonderful visit with the aforementioned awesome Becky. We volunteered at D.C. Central Kitchen this morning, cutting cucumbers and lettuce for hours to be put into salads and sent to various shelters and schools around the city. What an awesome program-- locally sourced food, training former criminals to be chefs, feeding many people in need. It was incredibly relaxing to just cut veggies all morning.

After finishing at the kitchen, Becky escorted me to purchase a SmartTrip-- her contribution to convincing me to move to the area. Whether or not I find work and move here any time soon, I will be sure to visit, especially now that I have my way cool SmarTrip card!

Tonight I head to Richmond to kick off wedding festivities!

another whirlwind trip to VA

This past weekend I made my 8th trip to Virginia this year, this time to help celebrate the marriage of my awesome college roommate Brittany and her awesome husband Adam! Of course, I spent a few extra days before and after, visiting with other friends in the area as well.

First, I have to say, Northern Virginia continues to charm me. Well, the traffic is still not charming, nor is the overdevelopment, but I keep finding new things that I enjoy. First was Jammin Java in Vienna. I traveled down on Thursday night so that I could just wake up and get to work on some thesis things Friday morning. However, I beat the librarians to the local library, much to my chagrin. So I wandered down two blocks to Jammin Java, which is awesome for reasons including, but not limited to: good selection of teas (and all of the coffee type beverages that coffee drinkers would appreciate), they were playing my favorite Radiohead album when I walked in, they apparently had Dogfish Head on tap (it was 9.30 in the morning, I didn't find out what brew in particular), well priced, nice staff... sweet little music venue, I imagine. I also later found out that the owners are from Jersey. Of course it was awesome. I happily worked here for a few hours before hitting the library.

Also very charming in Northern VA: Mad Fox Brewing Company in Falls Church, where my dude and I met up with my beer buddy and his girlfriend. My full review is here. The short version: AWESOME.

However, beer of the day probably goes to the incredible Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout, acquired at The Big Hunt in D.C.

Not the tree of the trip: that awesome mulberry tree. Taylor and I had planned on going back with my tree measuring tape (I know I'm a dork) to figure out how old it is, but I forgot the tape. Argh.

The wedding was on Saturday in Fairfax at Historic St. Mary's chapel. What a lovely little church, and a really sweet wedding. I lived with Brittany from sophomore year onward and really enjoyed getting to know them both through those years. It was awesome to see them finally make it official! It was also pretty sweet to catch up with the rest of our sweet suite.



On Sunday morning, I went to Kitty's with Taylor for brunch and English soccer. Brunch was good, and I fulfilled a life goal to consume Guinness before noon (clearly the beer of the day, as a result). I don't think I have a drinking problem, but I was jealous when I received a text message from my beer buddy during the World Cup saying he was enjoying a game with a Guinness... at about 9 AM. We ended up heading into D.C. to hang out with Luke for a while before eventually meeting our friends Scott and Alison for an excellent dinner at Dishes of India. It was great to catch up with them over such a delicious meal.

On Monday, I headed back to Jersey, specifically my office on Livingston Campus of Rutgers University in Piscataway, which I took a rather inefficient route to reach, avoiding tolls and touring things aside from I-95. It was a productive afternoon and evening in the office after taking my sweet time getting there. Always tough to get back to work after such a great weekend, but that thesis is calling, and it is again right now...

sanity and insanity

So I went to that rally that's been in the news lately.

Actually, I did more travelling than that this weekend. And when I discussed it with a friend of mine, and someone within earshot of our conversation asked why I was leaving the state, my friend replied, "Because that's what Colleen does!"

I began in Philadelphia, visiting some of the historic/tourist sites for the first time since... class trips in elementary school, I believe. We spent some time around Independence Hall, seeing the Liberty Bell (and hearing Sousa's march a zillion times-- as a French horn player, I'm not Sousa's biggest fan, never having played anything but offbeats). We also stopped by the Christ Church cemetery, where Ben Franklin is buried, where I took pictures of ginkgo leaves in senescence (clearly the tree of the day).



Also, we spent some time at Yards brewery. Beer of the day: probably the George Washington Tavern Porter.

Like I said, I went to the Stewart/Colbert Rally in D.C. yesterday. It was difficult to get there-- we left later than we should have and every train was packed. We eventually got on the Metro at Courthouse, getting to the Mall just minutes before the National Anthem. It was a lot of fun, though we couldn't hear some of the time and were definitely not anywhere near the stage but got the occasional peek at a jumbo screen a bit ahead of us. There were so, so many people there. It was a bit crazy, but a beautiful fall day to spend outside.



Tree of the day: this incredible mulberry near the Washington Monument.



Leaving was ridiculous. Every Metro train was absolutely packed. Thankfully we were only taking it to the third stop in Virginia... passing it later on the highway I saw it was still absolutely jam packed. People were being really impatient self centered about it, too. Despite the conductor announcing at every station, "Keep in mind, you might not be able to get on this train, more are coming!" six people would try to replace every two that got off, and then would complain about how tight it was. Very frustrating, and very uncomfortable. I'm not a huge fan of crowds but occasionally overlook that in favor of some interesting adventure. I definitely enjoyed the day, especially the signs, but the insanity of the Metro was kinda lame.

Driving back early this morning, I had the joy of watching the sun come up in the Pine Barrens, so I guess the tree of the day is a repeat: pitch pine!


foggy morning in the Pinelands National Reserve

How to Lie with Maps was kind of cool to read after the fact. (It's also the title of a really great book I had to read in my undergrad Cartography course.) I'm not a conservative hater (I'll respect anyone's opinion as long as they can back it up), but I think Glenn Beck is kind of out of his mind.

a brief but awesome interruption in Malawi stories and life in general

I woke up Tuesday morning believing that my day would consist of teaching two sections of Human Ecology, taking the train into the city to meet up with a few friends from college and possibly have dinner with another friend before heading back to my car at Rutgers and driving home to Toms River.

Shortly after the first section ended, I received a phone call from Taylor. He and Justin had driven up from Virginia late the night before and stayed with our friend Brendan in Ocean Grove. The three were going to see Pavement in Central Park and we were all going to meet up for a while first, as far as I knew. Except Taylor told me they were on the Turnpike, how do they get to my classroom?

Within half an hour they had successfully found parking and navigated the Rutgers bus system and were standing outside of my classroom door. At this point, I learn they have an extra ticket to the concert, so the plans changed to us all going into the city together from New Brunswick. Sweet! As much fun as it would have been to have them sit in on my second class, I sent them over to the grease trucks on College Ave for lunch while I taught. Afterward we met up and got on a train to NY Penn Station.

Once in the city, it should have been easy enough to get to Central Park and find this concert. I had never been to the Rumsey Playfield in the park before but we figured it all out. Someone had been "injured" further up the line from where we needed to go, so there were huge delays and we ended up having to switch trains. Brendan had insisted the concert was at 5.30 which sounded a little strange to me but we went with it. I didn't know better since I hadn't planned on going until it was too late to check the details myself. Doors were 5.30; they were still setting the stage. And we foolishly went in, rather than killing time elsewhere. At least it was good company and a totally gorgeous day.

The concert was great!


group shot waiting for the subway train

We got back to New Brunswick close to 1AM. Justin and Taylor both had work in the morning in Virginia, and Brendan still needed to get home. What am I responsible for on Wednesdays? Little to nothing (besides working on that thesis, of course). And so, after driving 60 miles to Rutgers, teaching, then spending the rest of the day in the city, I drove Justin's car first to drop off Brendan in Ocean Grove (about 40 miles), then to get Taylor and Justin back to VA while they caught a few hours of sleep. It was about 225 miles to Taylor's in Northern Virginia, and I drove all of it, arriving a little before 6AM. We decided it'd be cheaper for me to take a train from Washington, D.C. and Justin was rested enough, so he drove the last two hours to Richmond, practically straight to his office. I took the Metro to Union Station, Amtrak to Philadelphia 30th Street Station, SEPTA to Trenton, NJ Transit back to New Brunswick, Rutgers bus back to the campus where my car was, then drove home a very tired girl. Very tired, but feeling fulfilled by another excellent adventure.

geography adventures

Adventures inherently involve geography-- that's kind of the point of this blog. However, I spent the last week in the Washington, D.C. metro area attending the American Association of Geographers annual meeting. I did quite a bit of couch surfing (thanks to Paul, Scott, Alison and Scott) and quite a lot more catching up with good people.

I drove down on Wednesday morning with a few friends from the Rutgers Geography department. We checked into the conference, which was up in lovely Adams Morgan in the city. We wandered around the National Mall a bit after registering.

The rest of the week was a mix of catching up with excellent people-- a bunch of my friends from college came into D.C. on Friday night to go out with another friend from college who was at the conference and me. I got to catch up with old professors as well, which is always awesome.

On Monday, I visited my dear alma mater, Mary Washington, in Fredericksburg. My friend Hilary had just gotten back to Virginia from Utah late the night before, and joined me to wander around campus and town. It's amazing how much changes in such a short time! Renovations everywhere, new developments across the highway from the original campus block, the geography department is in "diaspora" mode following the movement out of their home building into trailers, and their movement from those trailers upon them partially collapsing under all the snow this winter into other random offices and buildings. It was lovely to see town.

I had a really nice visit to my favorite commonwealth! It's always good to see old friends and enjoy the lovely region. I'll be returning twice more in the next month: once for the Muddy Buddy during the first weekend of May, and again a week and a half later to see two friends coming into Richmond from much further away than I'll be coming.

failing to plan is planning to... have an excellent adventure!

I really don't do this every weekend, just last weekend, and this weekend... and some other times... everything turned out rather nicely considering I didn't really plan anything past arriving in Virginia around noon on New Year's Day...

I spent New Year's Eve with my older brother and his wife and some friends just outside of Philadelphia (a mile from where I went last week!). They're pretty fun, although they don't exactly encourage a good night's sleep... we watched the Jersey Shore "marathon" (3 episodes does not a marathon make, especially when I knew the Twilight Zone marathon was on...), which could be an entire post in here about how it's not actually about us here at the shore, just the crazies who come visit in the summer... arghrghhh.... but anyway. Lovely time in Willow Grove!

The good night of sleep would have been useful the next morning, when I drove to northern Virginia, but I made it safely to Alexandria where my friends Alison and Scott live. (Last time I saw them was their wedding weekend! Hooray!) We went down to Fredericksburg together to enjoy lunch at my favorite Chinese food place (where the waiter still remembers me and wanted to know where all of my music department friends were, and what I was doing there...) and eventually meet up with our friend JT, who is home for his short winter break from his grad program in Nottingham, England. We snacked at the new University Cafe because all the awesome places I love were closed on New Year's Day, but eventually Capitol Ale House opened, where we had dinner and a drink. Beer of the day: Terrapin's SunRay Wheat.

After a good visit, I spent the night at Scott and Alison's and headed into D.C. for the following day. None of my friends were awake/functioning when I first headed in, so I went to the Smithsonian African Art museum by myself and wandered around for hours, really taken by the current exhibit of Yinka Shonibare's work. He does a lot of interesting things with headless mannequins, Dutch wax printed cotton, and political statements of sorts. My favorite was called Scramble For Africa. It's a dozen of said headless mannequins (representing the mass beheadings of the French Revolution and/or various rulers not using their heads and brains) dressed in late Victorian clothing made from said Dutch wax print cotton, arguing around a table with a map of the African continent on it. It was pretty cool.

Also, I found a random weird tree near the Smithsonian Castle. The Wollemi Pine. It's considered a living fossil, and scientists thought it was extinct until the mid-90s! Tree of the trip. It was about 20 degrees with wind chill of single digits in D.C. due to gusts above 40mph, so it's not like a whole lot else was green and identifiable during this trip (though this tree had a little sign next to it, explaining its significance, truthfully).

Eventually, people woke up. I met with a few other former Mary Washington Geographers and associates, Taylor, Scott Z. and Tim. We went to the National Building Museum and went through two exhibits: one about the history of the parking garage, and one about the development of the city of Washington, D.C. It was pretty cool, but we were mostly baffled as to why such a small set of exhibits was in such a huuuuuge building-- turns out it's the former Pension Department, which we still question as to why it was located in such a huuuuuge building. Interesting, though mostly being utilized as an indoor park in the chilly weather. Kids everywhere playing with blocks and toys.

We took the Metro to the Court House stop and had an early dinner at a sweet place called Earl's. I am liking Northern Virginia more and more all the time. I had the Mona Lisa, which is eggplant with mushrooms, peppers, provalone and pesto mayo on fresh bread. So good. I metro'd back to my car and drove back to New Jersey, total mileage around 550 if you include Scott and Alison driving me to Fredericksburg and back from Alexandria... this entry could be subtitled "the 500 more". Good weekend!

a more crystal clear image of NOVA

Live, from Northern Virginia!

I'm in Virginia for the weekend for a wedding (Alison and Scott, Mary Washington Geography 2007). They are lovely people and super wonderful together, and I couldn't be happier for them!

But it was also a great excuse to visit Virginia again. I love New Jersey. I love New Jersey a lot. But there will always be a special place in my heart for Virginia.

ANYWAY. My good friend Paul was kind enough to put me up for tonight here in Alexandria, VA. In fact, he took a half day so we could hang out in Washington this afternoon. We walked to the Metro from his apartment and didn't do much in D.C., just took a long walk around the mall and up to The George Washington University before taking the Metro back to NOVA to meet another friend of ours, Jill, in Crystal City for happy hour. Beer of the day: Backdraft Brown Ale. Really, really good. And Crystal City Sports Pub is really nice. Beautiful ADD inducing setup for games. Good food. And most importantly, decent selection of drafts.

ANYWAY. I've always had this rather negative perception of NOVA. In fact, I frequently say that if I end up in Washington after I graduate, I would live in Washington if at all possible rather than northern VA. The traffic is terrible. There's too many people. It's too expensive. Too suburby. I hated driving through northern Virginia to get to Mary Washington, and that was cutting through as quickly and quietly as possible. Well, shame on me. I'm always the one telling other people to avoid the interstate, and here I am, delightfully surprised by Paul's neighborhood.

He lives just a few minutes away from the interstate, between the really hoity toity area and the really opposite of that area. His digs are nice and his rent is reasonable for what he's got. There are food establishments within walking distance. Very awesomely, he is only a block away from the Metro, which means easy access to lots of other really wonderful places in the D.C. Metro area. I still view the overwhelming majority of NOVA to be really overwhelmingly crowded and expensive (weird, since I come from Jersey), but am happy to discover a more walkable, quiet area hiding in the midst of it all. Maybe I could handle something like this someday? But in the meantime, I'm grateful to my friend and his couch.