I don't know that I have ever had a traveling experience that I didn't like. No, I have enjoyed every trip that I have ever taken. But I have definitely enjoyed some more than others.
Its not just the trip itself that I enjoy either, its the anticipation, the means of travel and the gathering of information and the arrival.
In the end, though, I often just have random memories of each trip. Something wonderful taken from each place. Crossing the mile-high swinging bridge at Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina when I was roughly 5. Climbing up the steps of the Statue of Liberty- I was 3, I think, and I climbed up every one of those stairs I remember this vividly because we taunted my brother saying "your little 3 year old sister is doing this, and you arent" (he's 11 years older than me). Helicopter ride the first time we went to Hawaii. My dad and brother riding the roller coaster that went underground when we were at Busch Gardens in Florida. Walking on the roads when we went to South Carolina the first time and watching turtle nests. The epic house that we stayed in when we went to South Carolina the second time- it had bathrooms that were reminiscent of public restrooms- there was a men's and a women's, we also watched a lot of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" it was the fun new, primetime show of the year. The wildfires of Colorado and Utah during our rafting trip, but also falling out of the "duckie" while going through a rapid- and losing a bottle cap and maybe my sunglasses. The Riverwalk of San Antonio. Being sick in Germany and having the strangest nightmares, but also walking through the Brandenburg gate. The windmills and tulips and Red Light District of Amsterdam, but the Anne Frank house, the canals and the train station too, of and the Van Gogh museum. The major square in Brussels and the Pissing Boy. Going up the Eiffel tower at night and sitting on the lawn in front of the Louvre watching Michael show-off his acrobatics. Watching Charmed in London on TNT, but also being in charge of getting half of our group home- because I was a master navigator. Watching the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, and visiting the Tower of London. Staying with really wealthy relatives in Seattle, and then with mom's roommate who she realized she no longer had anything in common with, the ferry and space needle and the famous fish market. The second trip to Hawaii- this time with my brother- some woman being harassed, Waikiki, unintentional bargaining with the street vendors and then the Big Island where the Volcano was kind of a bust. Getting car sick in Costa Rica- trip 1- while traveling on the horrible roads, but being woo-ed by Carlos who worked at the hotel, the hot springs. Riding horses and 4-wheelers in Costa Rica when we went with Brandon and Desi, not to mention getting scared out of our minds in the dark and riding in a 4 seater plane for the first time ever. Another Costa Rica trip- with Grandma and Bobby- my only memories are that I played cards with grandma at the little airport, I brought home a "green taco" for Wes and that Timmy was gone by the time I got home. I think there was one more trip with just me, mom and dad- but I am not certain. I remember going on a zip-line tour, it must have been our first trip, because it was before dad had the heart attack. Oh, going on a bike ride in Costa Rica but having to stop half way through because dad got sick- and this was after the heart attack, and maybe the first time we found out he had low potassium. The third trip to Hawaii we went to Maui, drove on roads that werent really meant for rental cars, stayed in an awesome 2 bed 1 bath house for $85 dollars a night, drove to Hana- where gas was over $4 a gallon and this was in 2006, and played in downtown Lahaina. The elderhostel in Canada where we saw a bald eagle on the 4th of July, kayaked in a glacier fed lake, climbed an actual rock wall and where I sprained my ankle. There is the elderhostel in Idaho where we also went to Yellowstone- which means we ventured into Wyoming and Montana. The Idaho trip also included "Craters of the Moon" park and getting $14 out of an abandoned vending machine at an abandoned rest area. Epic homesickness at soccer camp in Knoxville. Going to the St. Louis arch with Girl Scouts, and being in St. Louis with my Payton as we visited a friend who had just gotten a double lung transplant- we ate breakfast at a Waffle House before we said our farewells. Driving to Minneapolis for the vet conference with Payton- her first big trip. But we stopped in Champagne, IL and at the International Crane Foundation in Wisconsin. We also drove through the Wisconsin Dells. Driving to Chicago with ILEAP in elementary school and eating at the Rainforest Cafe and doing the tourist-y things. Driving to Chicago on the Monday before election day so as to see a special exhibit. Going to a 4H thing in New Jersey. Visiting the Titanic exhibit and something having to do with Ben Franklin in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Stopping by Pennsylvania Dutch area and Hershey. I took my first steps in Washington D.C. and then visited my over my birthday in 1999, again my first year of high school, the summer after I graduated and over a weekend just last year. Of the 1999 trip I remember going to the holocaust museum on my birthday, but having a surprise birthday party later. That first year of high school we were visiting friends of my mom's and we took a train from Cincinnati to DC I remember doing the touristy things but then staying up late watching strange movies. After high school, we visited those same friends and I got lost in the woods with the kid who is my age, we went to Harry Potter and visited mom while she was at the vet conference. Last year it was just an overnight trip, and I went with my grandma to visit my great-aunt, who has since passed.
Wow, that took longer than I expected- both in time and space, and I didnt cover all of my trips I am missing a trip to Upstate New York, 2 to Maine which includes one to New Hampshire and Vermont too. I am missing Virginia Beach, anything in Indiana or Ohio. A trip to California, Nashville, Alabama and 2 to Georgia- well really 3- are missing. I didnt talk about Arizona, or Israel. And I think there are even a couple that I just cant recall at the drop of a hat.
But the reason I started this post was not to reminisce on ALL of my past trips but rather to comment and talk about how out of all the trips that I have taken, none of them resonate with me as much as my trip to Italy does.
I think about something from my Italy trip almost daily. Whether it be a memory of Venice, Florence or Rome, and sometimes I even think of Padova or Pisa. These memories flood me in the middle of the mundane parts of my life. They come to me randomly, and I always relish in the memories. I think about Venice, Florence and Rome far more often than I think about any of my other travels- combined. Now, I dont know why Italy resonates with me so much, but I love it. And I hope that maybe some day I can go back- perhaps share some memories and/or make new ones with loved ones.
Here's my last thought of the day: If you have a trip that you get to live often, dont squeeze those memories so tight that you lose them, but cherish them, handle them like a luxury, a newborn, something that has to be treated well.
Goodnight everyone, I'm off to dreams of Italy!
Friday, November 25, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Colorado
I absolutely am terrible at keeping this blog up to date.
I am currently in Colorado, and have been for the past couple of days.
What can I say?
The Denver Zoo is awesome! It will be even more awesome come May- so if you are looking to come to Colorado and like zoo's, just wait til then.
The rest of Denver, I could do without- its kinda stinky, has lots of manufacturing yuck and is just plain eh.
Boulder, however is amazing. One should spend lots of times in Denver- starting with Celestial Seasonings- such a cool thing.
Then you've got Rocky Mountain National Park- its amazing. Go to it, really.
Ok, thats all I've got- short and sweet, no? :)
I am currently in Colorado, and have been for the past couple of days.
What can I say?
The Denver Zoo is awesome! It will be even more awesome come May- so if you are looking to come to Colorado and like zoo's, just wait til then.
The rest of Denver, I could do without- its kinda stinky, has lots of manufacturing yuck and is just plain eh.
Boulder, however is amazing. One should spend lots of times in Denver- starting with Celestial Seasonings- such a cool thing.
Then you've got Rocky Mountain National Park- its amazing. Go to it, really.
Ok, thats all I've got- short and sweet, no? :)
Friday, July 1, 2011
My Maine Squeeze
June 15th my mom, grandma, and myself embarked on one of our 3 generation trips. We were headed back to Maine (we did Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont 2 summers ago) for my second cousin's wedding. He, a Harvard economics professor was getting married to an Education PhD candidate who also has a background in Economics and not only that she is Indian and the wedding was going to be a Hindu wedding. Thats really the reason that we went, I really wanted to see a Hindu wedding.
I was grumpy most of the time, but despite my bad mood we had a nice trip.
We went up a couple of days early so that we could spend some time in Acadia National Park, and let me say, if you ever get the chance to go, you should. Acadia is simply beautiful, stunning, amazing. Jordan pond and Cadillac mountain are my favorites, but Thunder Hole and the hiking trails are amazing too!
After our trip to Acadia we took route 1 down to Brunswick where the wedding was held. It was a nice 3 hour drive through the quaint little Maine towns, where veterinarian offices are at least 3 per town!
The wedding was a 3 day affair. The morning of the first day was family only, then we had the henna party (please excuse my non-technical terms!), Saturday was the wedding and reception and then Sunday was the send off, where guests were invited to some say goodbye to the bride and groom and have some pastries, fruit and drinks.
My description cannot compare to the "Trailer" put together by the videographers:
http://www.hdjeff.com/2011/06/anjali-rick-hindu-cinematic-wedding-film-trailer-next-day-edit-bowdoinham-maine/
Enjoy!
My next travels take me to Sweet Home Alabama.
I was grumpy most of the time, but despite my bad mood we had a nice trip.
We went up a couple of days early so that we could spend some time in Acadia National Park, and let me say, if you ever get the chance to go, you should. Acadia is simply beautiful, stunning, amazing. Jordan pond and Cadillac mountain are my favorites, but Thunder Hole and the hiking trails are amazing too!
After our trip to Acadia we took route 1 down to Brunswick where the wedding was held. It was a nice 3 hour drive through the quaint little Maine towns, where veterinarian offices are at least 3 per town!
The wedding was a 3 day affair. The morning of the first day was family only, then we had the henna party (please excuse my non-technical terms!), Saturday was the wedding and reception and then Sunday was the send off, where guests were invited to some say goodbye to the bride and groom and have some pastries, fruit and drinks.
My description cannot compare to the "Trailer" put together by the videographers:
http://www.hdjeff.com/2011/06/anjali-rick-hindu-cinematic-wedding-film-trailer-next-day-edit-bowdoinham-maine/
Enjoy!
My next travels take me to Sweet Home Alabama.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
As usual, my updates have fallen to the wayside
I will try to get everything in, but I will absolutely forget some things, and for that I am sorry.
May 10- We arrived in Venice around 11 am. From the airport we took a water taxi- really 2- to our hotel. Boy am I glad I brought my backpacking backpack- makes for more weight on my shoulders but I dont have to deal with the lifting and lugging of the wheeled bags. Our hotel rooms weren't ready so we were sent out to explore, and explore we did. Venice is expensive, has lots of little alley ways and if you get lost you just turn into a different alley and you will probably find a sign to either Per S. Marco or Per Rialto... and from there you can get where you need to go. The first stop on our expedition was to the atm, everyone needed some euros! We walked across the Rialto bridge and got lunch- I got a Gondola pizza- yep, a pizza shaped like a Gondola and a Sprite. And by then we could check into our rooms. We then set out again and just wandered around with no real destination. We caught sights of several churches and the San Marco square. The class came together again as a whole around 6:30 and our tour guide- Marco, led us around to give us a bit of an orientation. While he was nice, Marco was distracted. He was no older than 30 (probably more like 25) and he was constantly on his phone or talking to Dr. Cochis in Italian. Dinner and then bed, we had been up for almost 24 hours!
May 11- We have free breakfasts at all of our hotels, so that was the first order of business on Wednesday. Then we went to the San Marco Basilica, the Doge Palace, and to a glass factory where we got to see a glass blowing demonstration- the guy made a Pegasus, and we did all that as a class. After that Katrina, Mindy, Dr. Bob and myself went to 6 other museums- all free thanks to our ticket from the Doge Palace. If you think that is a lot, you should have been there. All of the museums are fascinating, I am in awe at least once in pretty much every building I go into, but as I write this - on the 15th- I am getting slightly burned out. Too many museums. I am glad for this morning off, but lets get back to topic. We saw a modern art museum, a natural history museum, a biblioteca, archeology, and the Correr museums. A LOT of museums. But also it was nice to get some of the mix of the new and the old, both. It makes for great comparison, or just something different. Too much of one thing can be exhausting to its nice to mix it up a little bit. Again, we had lunch on the go- it seems to be the way to do things around here. And dinner was with a bigger group- 8 of us went together, but the snack bar that we went to seemed to just heat their food in the microwave- I had lasagna... it was eh.
May 12- On this day we went to Scuola de San Rocco- which was more of a museum, sort of. It had many paintings, covering EVERYTHING, including the ceiling! Thats another thing about Italy, one best be checking out the ceilings to make sure they dont miss something cool! Then we branched off again, and one group went to the Jewish Ghetto and to the museum that is there. That was really cool, I guess I hadnt realized that Jews had been discriminated against in the late 1400's into the 1500's... Silly me! Another quick lunch and then we had to meet the group to catch a Vaporetto (basically water bus) to the Islands of Morano and Burano. At Morano we got to see a glass museum- wow, glass is kind of awesome! And OLD some of the relics were from the 1-3rd century B.C.E.- WOW. We had a little shopping time on Morano and then off to Burano we went, we were having our first meal as a class here- it was ok, not wonderful. And again silly me, I didnt realize that seafood was something that Italians would have a lot of- umm DUH Jessie, they are a peninsula- IN the Mediterranean Sea! I had chicken this night, thank you very much! :) So after dinner we had a nice sunset Vaporetto ride back to the greater Venice islands. And again, I kind of fell into bed... exhausted!
May 13- Our last full day in Venice, we started with a group trip to Accademia museum of Venice as a class- again more old Baroque paintings. If nothing else, my Art History class has given me a better appreciation for art, and while I still kind of run through museums, I appreciate everything much more. And I dont mean that I run through and miss things, I just mean that apparently my art appreciation is faster than everyone elses. I dont like reading all the little signs, I like seeing the pictures, and if I feel like I have to read all the signs I miss out on really looking at the pictures. Maybe its just me, but thats how I see things. I can either look at the pictures and appreciate them, OR I can read all the captions, I do not have the ability to do BOTH! :) Again the groups broke off and did their own things. Lee, Katrina, Mindy and myself broke off and went to the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, which has more modern art, which was another great way to compare and contrast the stuff that we saw as a group, you know the older Baroque and sometimes Renaissance paintings. After the Guggenheim, we had a Gondola ride, and though the canals of Venice are stinky the ride was very relaxing. Our driver man told us all about becoming a Gondoleer? Apparently one has to have several years of apprenticeship- and doing the turns takes a great deal of practicing because the turns are different during the different tides or depending on if there was more or less traffic. Gondola drivers have definitely studied and practice an art- one that is not something that may always be talked about. After the Gondola ride it was lunch/shopping time. We decided to get our lunch from the farmer's market that is around apparently every day! We got some lunch things and then since neither Katrina nor I had eaten we were both a little grumpy and when I asked a question she got irritated, which made me irritated, and so we blew up at one another. She went back to the hotel, while Mindy and I were on a mission to find a bread that she had to have. Once we got back to the hotel Katrina and I were fine- little undercurrents still, but mostly fine. Katrina and Mindy went out to dinner at a fancier restaurant, and I ate with some of the people I hadnt eaten with before. It was time for a break I think.
May 14- Today we had to get up early to eat, pack up and catch a water taxi to the bus station to grab our bus to head to Padova and then Florence. Bear in mind this was the first time that we have seen CARS, automobiles since we left the airport in Venice, it was kind of shocking! We caught our bus, said Arrivederchi to Marco and Cio to Katia. And already she is much better. She had a map of Padova to show us everything that we were going to do, and we did a lot in a time period of about 4 hours! It was hot though, very hot. We saw the University of Padova, where Galileo taught for 18 years, the center of the city, which is a nice oval field but the person who made it happened missed Venice so he built a canal going through it. And a nice Chapel, or 2. haha. Lunch was cafeteria style, but fairly good and then it was back to the bus for a 2-3 hour drive to Florence. We drove through, literally through mountains, there were lots of tunnels. But the countryside of italy is beautiful- at least the parts that I saw, I slept and read a lot on the bus! We arrived in Florence around 5:30 or 6 and then met at 6:30. It was during this meeting that we discovered that several Museums had free entry from 7pm-1am. So guess what we did?! We went Museum hopping! And got in at 11:30ish. Most of us went to 2 museums while some of us went to 3. I cant remember the name of the first museum, oh wait it started with a B. But it was nice, there were some carvings in there that were OMG amazing, how could a person be so detailed? Just took our breath away. And then we went to the Accademia, where Michelangelo's Davit is.... WOW is he impressive... just amazing, really no words can express the wow factor. This museum also had a little music museum in it too! And it was funny because I was just thinking about the history of a Piano... I dont know why but I felt like I should know about it and that it was probably fascinating, and low and behold but this museum had one of the first PianoForte's... COOL!!! And then we came back, I got on the FREE WIFI for an hour or so and then bed... glorious bed.
May 15- Hey thats today! Well so far I have gotten up, eaten breakfast and updated this blog. We are meeting as a class at 2:30 and we get to see the Duomo, San Croche and the Baptistry. But for now, its 11:15 and I get some time to relax! :)
May 10- We arrived in Venice around 11 am. From the airport we took a water taxi- really 2- to our hotel. Boy am I glad I brought my backpacking backpack- makes for more weight on my shoulders but I dont have to deal with the lifting and lugging of the wheeled bags. Our hotel rooms weren't ready so we were sent out to explore, and explore we did. Venice is expensive, has lots of little alley ways and if you get lost you just turn into a different alley and you will probably find a sign to either Per S. Marco or Per Rialto... and from there you can get where you need to go. The first stop on our expedition was to the atm, everyone needed some euros! We walked across the Rialto bridge and got lunch- I got a Gondola pizza- yep, a pizza shaped like a Gondola and a Sprite. And by then we could check into our rooms. We then set out again and just wandered around with no real destination. We caught sights of several churches and the San Marco square. The class came together again as a whole around 6:30 and our tour guide- Marco, led us around to give us a bit of an orientation. While he was nice, Marco was distracted. He was no older than 30 (probably more like 25) and he was constantly on his phone or talking to Dr. Cochis in Italian. Dinner and then bed, we had been up for almost 24 hours!
May 11- We have free breakfasts at all of our hotels, so that was the first order of business on Wednesday. Then we went to the San Marco Basilica, the Doge Palace, and to a glass factory where we got to see a glass blowing demonstration- the guy made a Pegasus, and we did all that as a class. After that Katrina, Mindy, Dr. Bob and myself went to 6 other museums- all free thanks to our ticket from the Doge Palace. If you think that is a lot, you should have been there. All of the museums are fascinating, I am in awe at least once in pretty much every building I go into, but as I write this - on the 15th- I am getting slightly burned out. Too many museums. I am glad for this morning off, but lets get back to topic. We saw a modern art museum, a natural history museum, a biblioteca, archeology, and the Correr museums. A LOT of museums. But also it was nice to get some of the mix of the new and the old, both. It makes for great comparison, or just something different. Too much of one thing can be exhausting to its nice to mix it up a little bit. Again, we had lunch on the go- it seems to be the way to do things around here. And dinner was with a bigger group- 8 of us went together, but the snack bar that we went to seemed to just heat their food in the microwave- I had lasagna... it was eh.
May 12- On this day we went to Scuola de San Rocco- which was more of a museum, sort of. It had many paintings, covering EVERYTHING, including the ceiling! Thats another thing about Italy, one best be checking out the ceilings to make sure they dont miss something cool! Then we branched off again, and one group went to the Jewish Ghetto and to the museum that is there. That was really cool, I guess I hadnt realized that Jews had been discriminated against in the late 1400's into the 1500's... Silly me! Another quick lunch and then we had to meet the group to catch a Vaporetto (basically water bus) to the Islands of Morano and Burano. At Morano we got to see a glass museum- wow, glass is kind of awesome! And OLD some of the relics were from the 1-3rd century B.C.E.- WOW. We had a little shopping time on Morano and then off to Burano we went, we were having our first meal as a class here- it was ok, not wonderful. And again silly me, I didnt realize that seafood was something that Italians would have a lot of- umm DUH Jessie, they are a peninsula- IN the Mediterranean Sea! I had chicken this night, thank you very much! :) So after dinner we had a nice sunset Vaporetto ride back to the greater Venice islands. And again, I kind of fell into bed... exhausted!
May 13- Our last full day in Venice, we started with a group trip to Accademia museum of Venice as a class- again more old Baroque paintings. If nothing else, my Art History class has given me a better appreciation for art, and while I still kind of run through museums, I appreciate everything much more. And I dont mean that I run through and miss things, I just mean that apparently my art appreciation is faster than everyone elses. I dont like reading all the little signs, I like seeing the pictures, and if I feel like I have to read all the signs I miss out on really looking at the pictures. Maybe its just me, but thats how I see things. I can either look at the pictures and appreciate them, OR I can read all the captions, I do not have the ability to do BOTH! :) Again the groups broke off and did their own things. Lee, Katrina, Mindy and myself broke off and went to the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, which has more modern art, which was another great way to compare and contrast the stuff that we saw as a group, you know the older Baroque and sometimes Renaissance paintings. After the Guggenheim, we had a Gondola ride, and though the canals of Venice are stinky the ride was very relaxing. Our driver man told us all about becoming a Gondoleer? Apparently one has to have several years of apprenticeship- and doing the turns takes a great deal of practicing because the turns are different during the different tides or depending on if there was more or less traffic. Gondola drivers have definitely studied and practice an art- one that is not something that may always be talked about. After the Gondola ride it was lunch/shopping time. We decided to get our lunch from the farmer's market that is around apparently every day! We got some lunch things and then since neither Katrina nor I had eaten we were both a little grumpy and when I asked a question she got irritated, which made me irritated, and so we blew up at one another. She went back to the hotel, while Mindy and I were on a mission to find a bread that she had to have. Once we got back to the hotel Katrina and I were fine- little undercurrents still, but mostly fine. Katrina and Mindy went out to dinner at a fancier restaurant, and I ate with some of the people I hadnt eaten with before. It was time for a break I think.
May 14- Today we had to get up early to eat, pack up and catch a water taxi to the bus station to grab our bus to head to Padova and then Florence. Bear in mind this was the first time that we have seen CARS, automobiles since we left the airport in Venice, it was kind of shocking! We caught our bus, said Arrivederchi to Marco and Cio to Katia. And already she is much better. She had a map of Padova to show us everything that we were going to do, and we did a lot in a time period of about 4 hours! It was hot though, very hot. We saw the University of Padova, where Galileo taught for 18 years, the center of the city, which is a nice oval field but the person who made it happened missed Venice so he built a canal going through it. And a nice Chapel, or 2. haha. Lunch was cafeteria style, but fairly good and then it was back to the bus for a 2-3 hour drive to Florence. We drove through, literally through mountains, there were lots of tunnels. But the countryside of italy is beautiful- at least the parts that I saw, I slept and read a lot on the bus! We arrived in Florence around 5:30 or 6 and then met at 6:30. It was during this meeting that we discovered that several Museums had free entry from 7pm-1am. So guess what we did?! We went Museum hopping! And got in at 11:30ish. Most of us went to 2 museums while some of us went to 3. I cant remember the name of the first museum, oh wait it started with a B. But it was nice, there were some carvings in there that were OMG amazing, how could a person be so detailed? Just took our breath away. And then we went to the Accademia, where Michelangelo's Davit is.... WOW is he impressive... just amazing, really no words can express the wow factor. This museum also had a little music museum in it too! And it was funny because I was just thinking about the history of a Piano... I dont know why but I felt like I should know about it and that it was probably fascinating, and low and behold but this museum had one of the first PianoForte's... COOL!!! And then we came back, I got on the FREE WIFI for an hour or so and then bed... glorious bed.
May 15- Hey thats today! Well so far I have gotten up, eaten breakfast and updated this blog. We are meeting as a class at 2:30 and we get to see the Duomo, San Croche and the Baptistry. But for now, its 11:15 and I get some time to relax! :)
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Venice, Day 1
Well, its been a whirlwind and I am just getting some downtime. Our flights were smooth and we arrived this morning 10 am Italy time, 4 am home time and spent the day wandering around. Our big group of 16 students actually broke into 2 groups of 8, or at least 1 group of 8 and perhaps other groups of other numbers! The hotel is nice, though a little cramped. I dont think this will be too big of a problem seeing as we arent getting much room time. My feet are a little sore, I am exhausted but I am happy to report that I am not overly exceedingly homesick.
Yes, the past 2 days I've worried about being homesick, worried that I am going to Italy with no one from my family and Oh my god, will I be able to make it? So far so good. But again this is just day 1/2.
I am going to keep this update short, seeing that I am exhausted and my roommates are headed to bed themselves... so for anyone reading... Goodnight! :)
And, I will try to keep this updated as I go along, hopefully at least one post a day, but no promises!
Yes, the past 2 days I've worried about being homesick, worried that I am going to Italy with no one from my family and Oh my god, will I be able to make it? So far so good. But again this is just day 1/2.
I am going to keep this update short, seeing that I am exhausted and my roommates are headed to bed themselves... so for anyone reading... Goodnight! :)
And, I will try to keep this updated as I go along, hopefully at least one post a day, but no promises!
Friday, January 14, 2011
Oops
I didnt update with my free wifi... And then I didnt even talk about my second trip. Trip 2 was to Hawaii.
So, with apologies, here are my thoughts from that Washington D.C. trip:
Visiting DC.
The morning started out well enough, grandma woke me up at 4:25, when I told her I would wake her at 4:30, but this was hardly something to put me in a bad mood. No I had decided that I was going to do my very best to keep things from annoying me, it just wasn’t worth it not today. I felt that this journey was a very important journey for me to take with my grandma. First of all, it’s a quicky! Secondly, I think my grandma worries that I don’t love her or appreciate her or something like that, and this was my way to say “hey grandma, you don’t particularly like to travel alone, and you will be worried about your sister, so why don’t I come to be a travel buddy for you and hopefully make things a little easier.” So that’s why I am here. But, don’t let me make myself out to be super unselfish, no, in all reality I was itching for a quick getaway, I had been in a rut, yes mostly because of the male population, and I needed something different, something spontaneous in my life.
The trip:
We made it fine checking in. Security was a breeze, the person checking my ID and boarding pass made conversation:
“Transylvania University (I was wearing a Transy sweatshirt), is that a real school?”
“Yes, sir, its in Lexington, right near UK.”
“Oh, well being from Louisville, I should have known that.” He looks at my ID for a second time: “Bullitt County, huh? I am from Bullitt County, well Northern Bullitt County.”
I don’t know why he felt that he needed to really announce that he was from Northern Bullitt County, I mean really its just a suburb of Louisville. Everyone knows that Southern Bullitt County is where its at! And honestly I don’t see why living in Louisville means that you should know about that tiny vampire school in Lexington, it is after all 70 miles away, and I bet, being from Northern Bullitt County, you probably don’t venture over to Lexington that often, but that’s my opinion and it doesn’t matter so much.
And then we got to the gate, gate A3. Grandma notices that her bag has a rip in it, it was after all one of those free bags that the Sierra Club sends out if you donate $25 dollars or so. I do not mean that this bag is of lesser quality than other bags, but it doesn’t quite hold up to “security checkpoint” standards! However, being the well prepared girl scout that my grandma is, she whips out a needle and a piece of thread. The thread though is not evenly cut at an end, and is therefore a pain in the butt to try and thread the needle with, luckily my grandma is not only prepared but smart. Turns out the nice people at the gate desk check in area have access to scissors, granted they are kiddie scissors and are locked in a cabin, but hey they did the job. The needle was threaded, the rip sewn and away we go.
Our second adventure of the day happens as we land in Atlanta. First of all, we had a 40 minute layover in Atlanta- short layovers like that always make me nervous and secondly, we were delayed in Louisville and took off 15 minutes later than scheduled. But that’s not the kicker, nope. I get on my Blackberry- thank goodness for smart phones- and I check the status of our connecting flight. And what do I see but big red words highlighted that say “Canceled”. I mentally groan, “CANCELED? WHAT? Ugh, well it’s a good thing I came with grandma. Ok, so we get off the plane and we talk to the nice people at the gate desk check in area, maybe we can get on another close flight. Oh, good look there is one at 10:40. Shew!” But to grandma I say: “It looks like our flight has been canceled, but we will talk to the people at the gate desk and see what they can do, lets not worry about this now, on the plane, there is nothing we can do at this moment in time.” To which grandma says “Lets call Delta.” I sigh and explain that really I think it would be better if we talked to the people at the Atlanta airport rather than the company on the phone, don’t worry they wont leave us stranded. Long story short, we get off the plane, get put directly on the 11:20 flight and then go to the gate of the 10:20 flight and are listed as standby. We, or rather grandma, makes it up to #3 on standby, so alas, we take the 11:20 flight. We arrive in DC by 1:07, catch a taxi, with a drivers name of Jae Woo Kim. He takes us to Woodbine, the nursing home where my great aunt Stella is staying.
We meet with Stella from when we get there at 2 til 7 pm. Poor lady, shes 90 years old, mind you, is exhausted. Grandma chattered at her the whole visit, in the way that only my grandma can, and yes, I realize this sounds like I am scolding my grandma but really I am not. I envy her ability to talk about anything and everything under the sun like it’s the most interesting thing in the world. Seeing her smile though, with her sister, that, that took my breath away; here I was, in the midst of 90 years of history. And sure my great aunt Stella isn’t doing so well- which was the whole point of our trip- but she, for most of our visit was lucid, checking on me, sharing stories with grandma. And oh, yea, both of those women stubborn and hardheaded, I totally see where I get it now. At this point though, I was exhausted and wanted nothing more than for my second cousin Alex to pick us up, take us home and drop us into bed.
But things never turn out the way we plan, right? Alex picked us up, in her pick-up truck- a little extended red Ford Ranger, that could very well be the twin to the blue Ford Ranger that mom and dad own, and loan out- my brother is currently driving it- and brings us home. Where we chat for an hour or two; here there was more magic. I identify so much with this second cousin, who in fact identifies so much with my grandma. Wow. Who knew that I had family traits, who knew that I wasn’t just an oddball of goody goody.
And with that my day ends: I am thankful to be on this trip, seeing these people, and realizing that yes, sometimes blood does run thicker than water.
So, with apologies, here are my thoughts from that Washington D.C. trip:
Visiting DC.
The morning started out well enough, grandma woke me up at 4:25, when I told her I would wake her at 4:30, but this was hardly something to put me in a bad mood. No I had decided that I was going to do my very best to keep things from annoying me, it just wasn’t worth it not today. I felt that this journey was a very important journey for me to take with my grandma. First of all, it’s a quicky! Secondly, I think my grandma worries that I don’t love her or appreciate her or something like that, and this was my way to say “hey grandma, you don’t particularly like to travel alone, and you will be worried about your sister, so why don’t I come to be a travel buddy for you and hopefully make things a little easier.” So that’s why I am here. But, don’t let me make myself out to be super unselfish, no, in all reality I was itching for a quick getaway, I had been in a rut, yes mostly because of the male population, and I needed something different, something spontaneous in my life.
The trip:
We made it fine checking in. Security was a breeze, the person checking my ID and boarding pass made conversation:
“Transylvania University (I was wearing a Transy sweatshirt), is that a real school?”
“Yes, sir, its in Lexington, right near UK.”
“Oh, well being from Louisville, I should have known that.” He looks at my ID for a second time: “Bullitt County, huh? I am from Bullitt County, well Northern Bullitt County.”
I don’t know why he felt that he needed to really announce that he was from Northern Bullitt County, I mean really its just a suburb of Louisville. Everyone knows that Southern Bullitt County is where its at! And honestly I don’t see why living in Louisville means that you should know about that tiny vampire school in Lexington, it is after all 70 miles away, and I bet, being from Northern Bullitt County, you probably don’t venture over to Lexington that often, but that’s my opinion and it doesn’t matter so much.
And then we got to the gate, gate A3. Grandma notices that her bag has a rip in it, it was after all one of those free bags that the Sierra Club sends out if you donate $25 dollars or so. I do not mean that this bag is of lesser quality than other bags, but it doesn’t quite hold up to “security checkpoint” standards! However, being the well prepared girl scout that my grandma is, she whips out a needle and a piece of thread. The thread though is not evenly cut at an end, and is therefore a pain in the butt to try and thread the needle with, luckily my grandma is not only prepared but smart. Turns out the nice people at the gate desk check in area have access to scissors, granted they are kiddie scissors and are locked in a cabin, but hey they did the job. The needle was threaded, the rip sewn and away we go.
Our second adventure of the day happens as we land in Atlanta. First of all, we had a 40 minute layover in Atlanta- short layovers like that always make me nervous and secondly, we were delayed in Louisville and took off 15 minutes later than scheduled. But that’s not the kicker, nope. I get on my Blackberry- thank goodness for smart phones- and I check the status of our connecting flight. And what do I see but big red words highlighted that say “Canceled”. I mentally groan, “CANCELED? WHAT? Ugh, well it’s a good thing I came with grandma. Ok, so we get off the plane and we talk to the nice people at the gate desk check in area, maybe we can get on another close flight. Oh, good look there is one at 10:40. Shew!” But to grandma I say: “It looks like our flight has been canceled, but we will talk to the people at the gate desk and see what they can do, lets not worry about this now, on the plane, there is nothing we can do at this moment in time.” To which grandma says “Lets call Delta.” I sigh and explain that really I think it would be better if we talked to the people at the Atlanta airport rather than the company on the phone, don’t worry they wont leave us stranded. Long story short, we get off the plane, get put directly on the 11:20 flight and then go to the gate of the 10:20 flight and are listed as standby. We, or rather grandma, makes it up to #3 on standby, so alas, we take the 11:20 flight. We arrive in DC by 1:07, catch a taxi, with a drivers name of Jae Woo Kim. He takes us to Woodbine, the nursing home where my great aunt Stella is staying.
We meet with Stella from when we get there at 2 til 7 pm. Poor lady, shes 90 years old, mind you, is exhausted. Grandma chattered at her the whole visit, in the way that only my grandma can, and yes, I realize this sounds like I am scolding my grandma but really I am not. I envy her ability to talk about anything and everything under the sun like it’s the most interesting thing in the world. Seeing her smile though, with her sister, that, that took my breath away; here I was, in the midst of 90 years of history. And sure my great aunt Stella isn’t doing so well- which was the whole point of our trip- but she, for most of our visit was lucid, checking on me, sharing stories with grandma. And oh, yea, both of those women stubborn and hardheaded, I totally see where I get it now. At this point though, I was exhausted and wanted nothing more than for my second cousin Alex to pick us up, take us home and drop us into bed.
But things never turn out the way we plan, right? Alex picked us up, in her pick-up truck- a little extended red Ford Ranger, that could very well be the twin to the blue Ford Ranger that mom and dad own, and loan out- my brother is currently driving it- and brings us home. Where we chat for an hour or two; here there was more magic. I identify so much with this second cousin, who in fact identifies so much with my grandma. Wow. Who knew that I had family traits, who knew that I wasn’t just an oddball of goody goody.
And with that my day ends: I am thankful to be on this trip, seeing these people, and realizing that yes, sometimes blood does run thicker than water.
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