The holidays proceeded smashingly. Eggnog was in great abundance. Cheer, joy, and family the whole shebang. We had that typical family Christmas: opened gifts, ate breakfast, went for a family run (all 6 of us), saw little miss sunshine (everyone should see this movie), and then went for Japanese food. We had our own little booth or closed off room. As a perfect example of my family, when our server left the great minds of my family all strived to find the best way in which to attach chopsticks to their person. "hehe....next time I'll knock....says the server as he enters.
A few days later.....I left for DINOHAUL 2007.
What's this dinohaul you ask? Only THE greatest dinosaur migration since they dropped out of existence. The dinosaur is a majungasaurous. This guy was important because he is the first evidence for cannibalism. Luckily, Ray and Kristi found him. Calling on their magnificent resources they chose myself and my cohort Krista as the most reliable and efficient drivers on the face of the earth for this very important task.
As a reward, I was able to fly out to visit friends and enjoy New Year's in New York City.
Here's how it went.....
Not wanting to miss out on the ongoing festivities at my house, I am dropped off at the airport with 30 minutes to flight departure. Just barely making the plane, I fly to Hartford, Connecticut. This is the closest airport to Amherst, Massachussestts where my lovely friend Leah lives. Amherst is a quaint little town that defies the current American trend of strip malls and defines quintessential New England. The town is surrounded by colleges and contains many delectable coffee shops. As a side note, this is also where ultimate frisbee was invented. Through visiting this town I better understand spirit of the game.... I also happened to stalk down one (julie) greene another frisbee invention of Amherst. It was a fun time....met all of Leah's friends. I tried to show them what drinking car bombs was all about but I think they saw through that when my pong strategy of underhand throws went horribly awry.
We took the amtrak to New York. The conductor was a kindly older gentleman. When he discovered I was going to NYC for the New Years, he said, "Don't let them take all of your money and behave." I thanked him for his advice and continued to report in that I had been behaving throughout the two hour train trip. The excitement for the New Year was building!
As Leah and I wandered about Penn Station yelling "ELI"....I discovered that New York truely is different than the rest of the United States. I would ask directions and people would answer in languages other than English.
Eli with the assistance of his friend Jakob the snake-ob, gave us a grand tour of NYC. We walked over the Brooklyn bridge and walked through neighborhoods people watching more than sightseeing....if I want to sightsee I can watch the Discovery channel.
We were also able to catch up with the infamous Zaxelrod and many other Macalester compatriots. Interestingly enough, Eli and I had been commenting on the fact that it would be amazing if shadow were around and lo and behold guess who shows up at this random Macalester gathering.....?
New Years Day:
After further exploration of the city and an expensive beer but cheap hat later....
We are prepared for the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah concert...the anticipation builds. Eli and I have both seen this band previously but concur that the environ that is NYC on new year's creates an entirely new base from which to build. As the opening bands open...the excitement can do nothing but wane....for some reason people came to see this band and don't even know who CYHSY are.
I had seen them before with Architecture in Helsinki and they were overshadowed but the minute they came on stage they captivated the audience....jamming out....new songs...old songs...balloon drops..confetti...screaming...encores....It was AWESOME!
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Sunday, January 14, 2007
The Adventure Begins
Hello All,
I've graduated! Woo-hoo! Now, I venture forth into the real world. With real being relative...... because the first thing I intend to do with this unstructured freedom is to travel around the world. I was trying to find someway in which to travel through Africa overland. I went to Ghana last summer and, as trite as it is, fell in love with the small chunk of Africa I saw and wanted to see more. In my online perusing I discovered a group The World by Road ( www.theworldbyroad.com) composed of Steve, Steve, and Duane who were attempting to drive around the world. What an amazing idea! I decided to see if I could join up with them. Success!
This blog is too keep those of you who miss me (note blog title) to keep tabs on my whereabouts and thoughts over these next couple of months without forcing you to keep hitting that delete button in your inbox. This does not mean, however, that I will not respond to emails....I look forward to them and find myself checking my inbox quite frequently. If you write, I will respond.
Phase 1: Acclimate to travel by inter United States travel
After leaving Macalester college following the truely Macalester-esque experience of a throat singing concert in the raquetball court, Andrew and I began driving to Colorado. The manageable 14 hour excursion turned into an inhospitable adventure at about the half-way point when I gracefully allowed Andrew to begin his driving segment. The rain turned to sleet, turned to snow, turned to white-out conditions. In the midst of conditions in which I was driving by looking out the side window ( attempting to keep myself about 5 feet from the poles lining the road) the windshield wiper landed with a thud on the hood of the car. We brought the brick of a windshield wiper in the car, dethawed it and reattached it. Shortly afterward we watched in dismay as the windshield wiper wings off into the snowy abyss. Andrew runs to the front of the car to attempt to take the passenger side windshield wiper and put it on the drivers side. I run back on the snowy highway to search for the wiper but hope of that is destroyed as a plow sweeps by. Luckily there are many lights to follow on this plow and the poor little front-wheel-drive toyota corrolla courageously fights through to Denver.
I think the roads were closed while I was on the way to Boulder where I was snowed in. Sound disappointing?....hardly....it's fun....difficult for it not to be with my good friend, Jimmy, and three feet of snow. With the accompaniment of Joe, Jimmy's friend, we hike about and eat at all these sweet places in Boulder. The joy induced by three feet of snow and resigning yourself to the fact that most businesses are closed and you just MUST enjoy the snow is quite contagious. Everyone was out skiing, snowshoeing, trudging, and sledding (Target ran out of sleds).
A day later and many plow hours later, the roads reopen and Jimmy and I make our way into Denver. When we pull up to Steve and Steve's house where they have just finished skiing from behind their truck all over the streets of Denver. An idea many have had but most have not been brave enough to pursue. Luckily we were able to live vicariously through their video footage later on that evening. We also went out to eat at the red room...a nice dining experience. It was actually pretty considerate of them to stay open as many dining venues had closed to the inclimate weather. On the way into the restaurant we jumped a couple of snowbanks only to realize that one was actually a vehicle. It was a good evening and it only makes me more excited to travel with them.
On the way back, I was driving on some pretty bad roads. Jimmy was asleep. The semi in front of me starts fish tailing, the semi next to me is about to start fish tailing...I have almost no control over the car.....JIMMY...(I yelled him to consciousness so that at least we would die together) but as you ARE reading this blog we made it.
Along the way back the muffler decided to take leave and almost did. We pulled over to the side of the road. A truck happened to be there and happened to contain luck in the form of Kevin and Linda. This couple had tools and reattached the muffler...drove us to a hardware store bought the pieces to really fix us and then insisted on taking us to lunch. I messed up by eating before we prayed. This just goes to show you that half of luck is the kindness of strangers.
The highlight of driving through Nebraska was the stop at Mr. Keith Graul's house. It happened to be his sister's graduation party and there was a three tier chocolate fountain and more food than 100 people could possibly eat. We met a lot of his friends and he gave us the royal tour.
Unfortunately, the visit was short. Pressing family holiday obligations (fine food, relatives, presents) dictated an early departure. Jimmy and I arrived safe and sound back in a Madison for a not-so-white Christmas.
I've graduated! Woo-hoo! Now, I venture forth into the real world. With real being relative...... because the first thing I intend to do with this unstructured freedom is to travel around the world. I was trying to find someway in which to travel through Africa overland. I went to Ghana last summer and, as trite as it is, fell in love with the small chunk of Africa I saw and wanted to see more. In my online perusing I discovered a group The World by Road ( www.theworldbyroad.com) composed of Steve, Steve, and Duane who were attempting to drive around the world. What an amazing idea! I decided to see if I could join up with them. Success!
This blog is too keep those of you who miss me (note blog title) to keep tabs on my whereabouts and thoughts over these next couple of months without forcing you to keep hitting that delete button in your inbox. This does not mean, however, that I will not respond to emails....I look forward to them and find myself checking my inbox quite frequently. If you write, I will respond.
Phase 1: Acclimate to travel by inter United States travel
After leaving Macalester college following the truely Macalester-esque experience of a throat singing concert in the raquetball court, Andrew and I began driving to Colorado. The manageable 14 hour excursion turned into an inhospitable adventure at about the half-way point when I gracefully allowed Andrew to begin his driving segment. The rain turned to sleet, turned to snow, turned to white-out conditions. In the midst of conditions in which I was driving by looking out the side window ( attempting to keep myself about 5 feet from the poles lining the road) the windshield wiper landed with a thud on the hood of the car. We brought the brick of a windshield wiper in the car, dethawed it and reattached it. Shortly afterward we watched in dismay as the windshield wiper wings off into the snowy abyss. Andrew runs to the front of the car to attempt to take the passenger side windshield wiper and put it on the drivers side. I run back on the snowy highway to search for the wiper but hope of that is destroyed as a plow sweeps by. Luckily there are many lights to follow on this plow and the poor little front-wheel-drive toyota corrolla courageously fights through to Denver.
I think the roads were closed while I was on the way to Boulder where I was snowed in. Sound disappointing?....hardly....it's fun....difficult for it not to be with my good friend, Jimmy, and three feet of snow. With the accompaniment of Joe, Jimmy's friend, we hike about and eat at all these sweet places in Boulder. The joy induced by three feet of snow and resigning yourself to the fact that most businesses are closed and you just MUST enjoy the snow is quite contagious. Everyone was out skiing, snowshoeing, trudging, and sledding (Target ran out of sleds).
A day later and many plow hours later, the roads reopen and Jimmy and I make our way into Denver. When we pull up to Steve and Steve's house where they have just finished skiing from behind their truck all over the streets of Denver. An idea many have had but most have not been brave enough to pursue. Luckily we were able to live vicariously through their video footage later on that evening. We also went out to eat at the red room...a nice dining experience. It was actually pretty considerate of them to stay open as many dining venues had closed to the inclimate weather. On the way into the restaurant we jumped a couple of snowbanks only to realize that one was actually a vehicle. It was a good evening and it only makes me more excited to travel with them.
On the way back, I was driving on some pretty bad roads. Jimmy was asleep. The semi in front of me starts fish tailing, the semi next to me is about to start fish tailing...I have almost no control over the car.....JIMMY...(I yelled him to consciousness so that at least we would die together) but as you ARE reading this blog we made it.
Along the way back the muffler decided to take leave and almost did. We pulled over to the side of the road. A truck happened to be there and happened to contain luck in the form of Kevin and Linda. This couple had tools and reattached the muffler...drove us to a hardware store bought the pieces to really fix us and then insisted on taking us to lunch. I messed up by eating before we prayed. This just goes to show you that half of luck is the kindness of strangers.
The highlight of driving through Nebraska was the stop at Mr. Keith Graul's house. It happened to be his sister's graduation party and there was a three tier chocolate fountain and more food than 100 people could possibly eat. We met a lot of his friends and he gave us the royal tour.
Unfortunately, the visit was short. Pressing family holiday obligations (fine food, relatives, presents) dictated an early departure. Jimmy and I arrived safe and sound back in a Madison for a not-so-white Christmas.
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