Summer Sunday

Day One: Superman, Elvis and other old friends

2010-01-11T16:42:00.014-06:00

Time to dust off the old blog to report on our travels. That's right, we are road-trippin' again.

We hit the road at about 5:30 am, then we went back home to get the sandwiches we accidentally left in the refrigerator. Then we went the wrong way in Illinois and had to turn around. Ha. So, we essentially hit the road at 6:30 am.

Our trip this time is going Southeast (we will hit IL, TN, KY, AL, GA, SC, NC, VA and WV), and our first stop was unplanned, but a LONG time in the making!

Metropolis - for pictures with the GIANT SUPERMAN STATUE! We tried to get this picture half a decade ago but battery issues and a whiny husband (boyfriend at the time) prevented it.

There was also a cardboard cut-out. We love those.

On to Nashville! Snacks in hand.

We had only a few hours to spend in Tennessee, so we decided to skip the country music museums and just walk around the city.

There was a lot of Elvis to be seen.

And a Spaghetti Factory (we did not eat there).

For lunch we stopped at Jake's BBQ (at the recommendation of someone from whom I am unlikely to take suggestions in the future). The place smelled great - and you have to have BBQ in Tennessee - so in we went. Despite the less-than-appealing set-up.

I got a turkey sandwich. For most sandwiches there were two sizes, regular and jumbo. For turkey you could only get jumbo. Bryan got a jumbo chicken sandwich. We split one side of potato salad.

I have several things to say about this place:

1) Jumbo? Really?

2) Who cures turkey? It had the consistency of ham.

3) Carrots do not belong in potato salad

4) Excuse me, is that a bone on Bryan's sandwich? How does one go about eating something like that?

After "lunch" we went to look around 'Hatch Show Print" which launched in 1879 and has done a ton of the show posters you have seen. They still do them with a hand press, it is pretty impressive. Their first print job was a poster announcing the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher! Also, they did the art work CNN used during the election.

We were walking up the street when we saw CMT - no celebrity sightings though.

And finally we played in a replica log-cabin settlement.

Having seen what there was to see in Nashville, we decided to hit the road a bit early. We used the wi-fi of a local coffee shop to Priceline a hotel for an extraordinarily low cost. The room is small, and the bathroom is tiny, but there is high speed and free breakfast, so I am not complaining.

On to Huntsville, Alabama where I had a reunion with Raheem Kirkland, an old friend (we had not seen each other since 1997). I got to meet his beautiful wife and adorable son. Unfortunately, I did not take pictures (what was I thinking???).

That is is for day one - stay tuned for day two, which includes some Ryan Montbleau.

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear...

2009-08-03T11:29:00.004-05:00

Okay, so it is not a reindeer, but it is close enough.

In my half-sleep I opened the back door to let my dog out, and what do I see? Just over the fence and into our neighbors backyard I see a pony. A real life pony.

Please note that the top of the car at the bottom of the picture is our car. That is how close the pony is.

Also, these are not the same neighbors with the chickens. I feel like we are out of the club. Maybe we will get a cow....

Where the Wild Things Are

2009-07-21T09:21:00.007-05:00

Those familiar with my blog, or my life for that matter, know that our move to the city has been riddled with not-very-city like things. We awoke on our first morning as city-dwellers to the undeniable sound of a rooster's crow, we have had raccoons stalk us - both inside and outside our home and we have had a litter of baby kittens in our backyard. Yet, even with all of that history, I was not at all prepared for what Bryan found hanging out by our back porch this morning...

That's right, we have chickens. What do you do with baby chickens? We considered calling animal control, but I was afraid they may meet some unkind end, and I was running late for work, ha, so we decided that Bryan would deal with it after her returned from taking me to work.

That ended up being a good decision. As Bryan got home the young man who lives next door was carrying one of our new found chicks in his arms while the others followed behind. He explained, as if his farm-living was completely normal, that the chickens had just been brought to them by some friends from Detroit (both the chickens and the friends were from Michigan), and that they were trying to "get them nice and fat." You can imagine why.

Poor chickens.

Quesadilla and Italian Green Beans

2009-07-07T12:58:00.004-05:00

Dinner tonight was very simple.

Chicken and Cheese Quesadilla:

I marinated my chicken overnight in Kraft Fat Free Zesty Italian Dressing and then threw it on the Foreman Grill. The Foreman only seems to emerge when I am eating shredded chicken in something. For this it worked just fine.

I cut the chicken into tiny pieces, put them on one of the tortillas, topped it with 1/4 cup shredded three cheese Italian blend and cooked it using an olive oil spray in a skillet.

For dipping I used fat free sour cream.

Italian Green Beans:

This recipe seemed to me like it might be gross, as I am not a huge fan of tomatoes, but it turned out well.

Heat 8 oz of tomato sauce in a skillet. Once heated through add a a packet of Good Seasons Italian dressing mix and some green beans (fresh or frozen) and cook for about 7 minutes. That's it!

Here is the result:

Pros:
- The green beans were good! Much better than just steaming or sauteing in olive oil
- Very quick and easy to make
- Low fat

Cons:
- The quesadilla was nothing to write home about. I have been resistant to adding salsa to my quesadillas in the past, but I might they that next time to perk it up a bit.
- The SODIUM. Oops. It was very high. Especially thanks to the tortilla and the Italian seasoning mix. I will have to find some low sodium alternatives.

Overall grade: B

Holiday Breakfast

2009-07-07T12:39:00.004-05:00

On Saturday, as we celebrated the anniversary of the birth of our great nation, I made a breakfast favorite from over a half-decade ago when Bryan and I were first dating. I don't know why I stopped making it - except that it is probably extraordinarily bad for you. But it is good. Very good.

1) Crumble and fry pork sausage
2) Heat the country gravy of your choice
3) Scramble a few eggs

Drain the sausage and then return to the skillet, adding the eggs and some shredded cheddar cheese, and cook on low heat until the cheese has melted.

Next, prepare the rolls. I buy the refrigerated tube of the Pillsbury jumbo crescent rolls and pull them apart as if I were going to roll them the normal way, then take a rolling pin to each piece, making it larger in each direction.

As each piece is ready, add a couple spoonfuls of the sausage-egg-cheese mixture to the center of the crescent and roll it up, folding the corners in and wrapping them around the filling to create a pocket.

Bake at the recommended temperature for about 6 minutes.

Top with gravy.

I served them with breakfast potatoes which came frozen in a bag. Lazy. Ha.

Here was the final result:

They were really very good. I might try something similar as a dinner option - like little pizza pockets?

Scared to near-death

2009-06-29T21:34:00.003-05:00

Everyone has those moments where their entire life flashes before their eyes. A moment when you are caught between the panic of the second and the stark realization that you are not in control. Often those moments come with slamming brakes and screeching tires or abnormal test results from a lab. No matter how long the period of uncertainty lasts, seconds while you regain control of the car, or days while you wait for the all-clear from a doctor, the fear that you are filled with is more real than most emotions you feel in the course of a day.

I had one such moment this morning, which in words on a page may sound small and silly - but just try to imagine explaining to someone the fear you felt when you almost got side-swiped on the highway. Strong emotions are hard to convey.

As you are all aware, we have a storefront area attached to our house which we use as a rec room, and which has an outside entrance. While getting ready for work this morning I was in that room getting pants off of a drying rack when I heard what sounded like someone messing with the doorknob. I immediately assumed that it was another animal scurrying somewhere in the room, which made me uncomfortable and anxious to get out! As I quickly surveyed my clothing options the noise was continuing, only it became clear that it was not an animal, but was absolutely someone at the door. I stopped for one second thinking that maybe there was a rational explanation - someone was selling something or delivering something; but it was 7:00 in the morning and, even if it weren't, a delivery person does not try to open your door.

Then complete panic set in. The person was obviously having trouble getting the door open. The awkward fumbling was getting louder and I ran as fast as I could toward the main part of the house thinking that if the person had a gun or weapon I would be safer on the other side of the particle-board door - the side where Bryan was, and my animals, and my phone. As I got to the landing of the stairs the door came opened and something made me pause and turn around to look. All I could think was that if we were going to be robbed I wanted to know what the person looked like. With my hand on the door at the top of the stairs I turned around in what seemed to be slow motion only to see BRYAN, who had evidently left our house through the front door and come back in through the Rec Room door to get his bike.

The whole thing lasted maybe 90 seconds, but I cannot remember a time in my adult life that I have felt as scared. I yelled at Bryan and then ran to the bathroom and cried.

It was exhausting and I have felt a little uneasy all day.

The Sky is Falling

2009-06-22T21:32:00.007-05:00

So, I live in a house which, despite its MANY flaws, I am in love with. I can't help it. It has charm and bright colors, old moldings and archways, high ceilings and wood floors. Most days I am completely delighted to live here. That said, the other days, the ones during which I am not delighted, are terrible. They are filled with raccoons and leaks and broken light fixtures. And falling ceilings.
Today we had a falling ceiling. The second in a year.
I should say that the ceiling in the kitchen has been cracked since we moved in, and we have had leaking, but the structure never seemed to weaken. Until yesterday. Somehow what was a crack a few days ago became a gap in the ceiling early yesterday. While both Bryan and I thought that it looked a bit unsafe, we were not overly concerned until late yesterday when the "gap" widened a significant amount.
This morning Bryan took the following pictures and sent them to the landlord for review.

Upon arriving home from work I found the ceiling looking more precarious. Bryan had decided to move the hutch, which is filled with all of our dishes, just as a precaution. Good move Bryan.

Not two hours after I arrived home, and only moments after leaving the kitchen, the ceiling fell. Seriously. See for yourself.

I am out of blogging time so I cannot write much commentary. The pictures will have to speak for themselves.

Fettuccine Carbonara

2009-06-03T19:02:00.005-05:00

So, today I made Fettuccine Carbonara - or at least a recipe called Fettucini Carbonara. The sauce was not as thin as carbonara usually is, and it is supposed to be made with ham instead of bacon. I used Jennie-O Turkey Ham.

This recipe was really very simple. Cook the pasta, adding the peas for the last couple minutes of cooking. In a sauce pan, mix low fat cream cheese, light Caesar dressing and and a bit of flour. Add milk and the turkey ham. Drain the pasta and peas and toss it with the sauce. Top with parsley and parmesan.

Pros:
- The sauce was very tasty, I thought the Caesar dressing would be overpowering, but it wasn't!
- Very quick and easy to make
- Very filling

Cons:
The cons this time were almost all my fault.
- The pasta sat too long after it cooked and before I put the sauce on it, so it was clumpy and did not mix as well as I would have liked with the sauce and peas.
- The wheat pasta was a little much for the sauce. It would have been better if I used regular pasta, but I was trying to get more fiber into the meal.

Overall grade: B

I will add it to my regular menu, but will pay more attention to the timing of the pasta.

Tomorrow: Caesar Salad Sandwiches (I think)

The Return

2009-06-03T09:35:00.006-05:00

Disclaimer: This entry is not about food!

Let me set the scene:

Returning from a late night trek to Chesterfield, Bryan and Jennifer climb into bed. The time is approximately 12:15 am, and they are both tired and somewhat irritated (okay, mostly Jennifer is irritated). Laying with her head at the foot of the bed so as to be in better reach of the fan, Jennifer notices a large shadow moving downward on the outside of her mini blind-cloaked window.

Immediately she begins replaying the previous few nights in her head. Several times during the past week she has awoken to find the dog, normally a sound sleeper, with his nose pressed up to the fan placed in the screened window. Similarly, the cat had seemingly developed a new fascination with the general window area.

Certain she was exaggerating the movement of a large branch or plant of some kind, she ignored it and closed her eyes. For a second. Opening them again she saw the shadow moving upward, quickly at first, and then stopping.

She panicked, screaming "There is something outside the window!" to which her husband sleepily replied "what is it."

She yelled at him to turn on the light, which only made seeing that much harder, so she yelled at him to turn off the light! They then raised the blind to find:

THE RETURN OF THE RACCOON!

So Jennifer SCREAMED like someone was murdering her and let down the mini blind. She jumped back in bed and tried to pretend it was not there. Bryan watched it scurry up out of sight, likely to the roof, and then returned to bed beside his trembling wife. A brief conversation transpired between the couple about whether it was possible that the raccoon could get through the screen and the window fan, but they both agreed that was impossible, so they tried to go back to sleep.

About 15 minutes later the dog was back at the window. Not a casual walk-by either. He was standing on his hind legs, something he is rarely capable of doing, with his nose pressed against the fan.

Jennifer sprang from the bed again and raised the blind to find:

He was back. This time she knew it was serious. The raccoon had been up against the thin screen, likely plotting his entry by way of the small gaps around the window fan. The decision was made that the fan had to go. But when to remove it? The raccoon was daring them to give him an opening.After a staring contest of about three minutes the raccoon began his slow assent, presumably back to the roof to await his next opportunity.

Together Bryan and Jennifer opened the window just enough to dislodge the fan and slammed it shut.

Safe. For now.

Chicken Strips and Potato Salad

2009-06-02T19:23:00.013-05:00

So, tonight I was supposed to have chicken strips and roasted red potatoes, but I got home late from work, and the potatoes take 40 minutes to cook, so I substituted potato salad that I made on Sunday.

I should have said in my first food related blog entry that almost none of these recipes are mine in full or in part. Ha. That said, tonight's chicken was really my recipe - as is obvious in it's simplicity.

To start, I cut chicken breasts into strips, rinsed them in water and coated them with crushed crackers, Parmesan cheese and garlic herb seasoning. We found these 12-grain crackers at Trader Joe's that make the best chicken coating. They are like Ritz, but much better for you.

Then, I sprayed a cookie sheet with olive oil spray and put it in the oven for a few minutes to heat it up (so the chicken would not be soggy on the bottom) and then baked the strips for about 12 minutes. It was pretty easy.

The potato salad is one of my new favorite side dishes. Here is the exact recipe:

1 lb red potatoes
1/4 cup light zesty Italian dressing
1/3 cup Miracle Whip Light Dressing
1-1/2 tsp. Grey Poupon
1 hard-cooked egg, chopped
Sliced green onion - to taste

Boil potatoes just until tender
Drain, rinse with cold water until cooled completely
Mix dressing and mustard, add potatoes, eggs and onions; mix lightly
Refrigerate at least 30 minutes (the longer the better)

I like to serve side dishes in a glass - an idea I stole from a restaurant in Chicago (thanks Lauren). I used barbecue sauce (also from Trader Joe's) for dipping.

Here are the results:

Pros:
- The breading had great flavor
- The chicken was juicy
- Very quick to make
- I love the potato salad

Cons:
- The top of the chicken was not as crispy as I would have liked

Overall grade: A

I will add it to my regular menu.

Tomorrow: Fettucini Carbonara

Turkey and Vegetable Tostadas

2009-06-01T20:01:00.004-05:00

Tonight's dinner was Turkey and Vegetable Tostadas. I have been wanting to try this recipe for awhile.

In short, you simply brown the turkey, drain it, add tomatoes, zucchini, water and taco seasoning and simmer.

The tostada part was simple as well: spray the tortilla with cooking spray, sprinkle it with taco seasoning, and bake it a bit.

I added cheese and a tiny bit of my favorite parmesan ranch from Trader Joe's. Oh - and fresh cilantro. That's right, I garnish my own plate. Ha.

Here are the results:

Pros:
- It was tasty, though the taco seasoning on the tortilla was a little much
- A good way to sneak in tomatoes and zucchini, which are not my favorite foods
- Very filling
- Quick and easy, I cut up the ingredients while chatting with T-Mobile tech support

Cons:
- The tortilla itself did not have much taste, and the edges were too done while the center was not quite done enough
- A lot of leftovers which I am certain no one will eat.

Overall grade: C+

I would make it again, with some modifications, but not often.

Tomorrow: Chicken Strips with Roasted Red Potatoes

A new twist

2009-06-01T19:39:00.004-05:00

I have decided to take my blog in a new direction. That's right, I am holding on to the idea that my blog had a direction before.

Lately I have been trying out all these new recipes and find myself wanting to share, so I thought "what better forum than my own blog!" At least here people can read about my kitchen exploits at their own will. Or when I tell them to. Whatever.

The first post is coming this evening. Get your skillets ready!

The Year in Review

2009-04-22T19:50:00.001-05:00

Here is the post I finished about 6 months ago. Ha. It is still worth looking at the great pictures. Also, the formatting is regrettable. Don't judge me. Ha.

As 2008 came to an end (not a moment too soon), I thought it might be therapeutic to look back at the events of the year.

JANUARY

January began, as most new years do, with cleaning up the Christmas crap that we were too lazy to clean up in the preceding week. Also with a bit of torture for our pets. That is normal isn't it?

Although I hate people who keep their lights up/on after the holidays - this tree is an exception. It is in front of an amazing house in Kirkwood and I went out of my way to drive past it every day. I love it.

The final bit of Christmas celebration came in January when the extended family all came together. We were all there. I got a great gift. That is all I remember. Oh yeah - there may have been alcohol...

Although it may be under-represented in this retrospective, I spent a great deal of time this year working to get President-Elect Barack Obama elected. One piece of that was creating fliers for distribution in the neighborhood.

This part should really be on Bryan's blog, but because you have not seen these pictures, I thought I would include them here. As Bryan was out taking photos of historic St. Louis-y things, a person came out of the building below to ask why he was taking pictures, and offered to let Bryan come in an look around. It is a beautiful building.

After a resounding Obama win in Iowa, my mom, Bailey and I settled in for a nervewrecking and disppointing New Hampshire primary. Bailey dressed for the occasion.

FEBRUARY

Super-Duper Tuesday could not have come fast enough - and we were ready.

I took a picture of my ballot, which is evidently not allowed. Oops. Do you see Barack Obama's name on that ballot? How amazing is that?

I am not sure what we were celebrating, but here are the animals each getting a treat. We were honestly not racing them.

Bryan gave me this for Valentines Day. Isn't it adorable? And super soft.

For the first time of this year I had the chance to see Ramona and Peyton. He is getting so big!

I also saw my first Blues game. Well, second really, but I was serving drinks for charity during the first one.

During this part of the year Bryan was off on Mondays and Tuesdays, which made President's day the first day of the year that we had off together. In an attempt to do something fun and exciting we did what every young couple would do - we drove to the state capital! Ha. As it turns out there was very little to see. Also, we did not consider that we would not be able to get into any builings because it was a national holiday. Prior proper planning.

OMG - Look at this great gift from Audra. It remains perched nicely atop my monitor at work. Yes We Can!

Scout got into the toilet paper. I decorated him with it as punishment.

The highlight of February was seeing Barack Obama. I had a front row position, and I got to shake his hand and talk to him for a moment. It was incredible.

MARCH

March began with a lot of snow. A lot.

It is also, sadly, the month that we lost Chelsea. I am still sad about it, but she lived a very long time and we loved her. Bryan always called her Grandma. It was very cute.

By this part of the year my relationship with Di'Onna was in full swing. I enjoyed being a Big Sister. Here she is in prehistoric times - at the Science Center.

Next was a celebration of Kevin's birthday, complete with DDR (there is video - if you haven't seen it, you should!).

And a leap year party, Audra & Brad style. There may have been alcohol here as well.

And then (the very next, very hungover morning) a birthday celebration for my mom and Robbie.

APRIL

This month has one of the largest numbers of pictures because it contains a vacation - and a Ryan Montbleau concert! We spent about 7 days in Chicago and saw a LOT of museums! Ha.

We arrived the day of the concert and we were pumped! It was at the Beat Kitchen and Lauren came with us - her first RMB show.

We used the super zoom on our camera to get pictures of the song list so that we knew what was coming, and what to request. By request I mean scream the name of a song. Over and over.

And this is Lauren's love, Laurence.

And then they slept...

Through an entire day. Ha. This is the view from the roof.

The next six days were filled with museums, WALKING and funny pictures.

Bryan as Harry Potter.

This turtle was such a bully. He got a hold of this other turtle by the neck and would not let go. We almost got aquarium officials to intervene. I watched for more than twenty minutes.

The penguins at Shedd's.

We went to the Navy Pier (it was closed the last time we were in Chicago) and it was deserted. We were one of five people on the Ferris Wheel - but we got some cool shots.

Curiously, the toilet system required multiple plaques worth of explanation. I am not sure that I approve of the toilet guessing how much water will be required based on the amount of time I remain in the stall. I have nothing more to say on the matter.

More drinking ensued upon our return to Lauren's apartment.

And also a round or two of spoons.

And then off to another day of museums and walking. Doesn't Bryan look cute?

Here are our directions from Lauren. I could not get the mirror in my pocket...

I think this is a submarine... or maybe an airplane? It would be a roomy airplane I guess.

This replica of Chicago is awesome. It has the train going through it and everything!

I am not sure the significance of this... I look worried.

My worry is gone. We waited in line behind some kids to get up in this thing. I loved it.

Milking electronic cows, always enjoyable.

Clowning around.

This was old school for me. I wore a real one and was featured in the Daily Union in elementary school Who needs a cut out?

My first ever fried macaroni and cheese. Man was it good.

Lauren - is that green on your burger???

Here we are in the underground -

And posing as the most unusual primate...

I can't remember exactly where we were, but one giant section of it was filled with taxidermied animals. It was gross. Bryan liked it a lot.

I was super excited about the Freedom Museum, where I was able to picture myself as president. Literally.

And then we each got to vote for Obama again!

200 Days? That seemed an impossibly long time.

I should also mention that while at the Freedom Museum I recorded an audio time capsule about what I think elections mean - or something like that. It is likely available for review if you should happen to visit. Although, I would rather you didn't.

From Chicago we drove to Kansas City for another Ryan Montbleau show, at which we sold merchandise for the band. It was pretty great.

And then home - to shave!

MAY

These pictures are taken as I drove up highway 270 - I almost crashed the car trying to get them.

The rainbow pics were on my way to spend some time with on of my favorite kids ever. Peyton is so grown up!

Maureen graduated from high school this year - which is hard to believe. Hers was the first diaper I ever remember changing. Congrats to her!

This is just one of many YWCA functions that we attended this year. I chose this one because it had the best table tents. Seriously. Those are some nice tents. I wonder who did them?

JUNE

For the first time in our lives, we had things growing in our yard. Don't be too impressed though, they came in all on their own.

Is this me and Barack? Was I drunk? Was I crying? Was I on TV? Did Obama just accept the nomination of the Democratic Party? Is my hair completely crazy? Yes on all counts!

While I cannot remember the specific occasion, one day in June I came home to a surprise McDonald's cake. I love these things! Seriously. I had not tasted one since I was a "Birthday Party Hostess" at McDonald's in high school. They are exactly the same.

Quick, can anyone name the band? That's right - it is Ryan Montbleau! We were lucky enough to see them three times this year. This time we brought the clan.

And we drank a bit... ha.

Much of the month of June was spent preparing for Circle of Women, a YWCA event. I had to make centerpieces which may look simple, but were very time consuming. Thanks to everyone who lent a hand!

The flooding during the summer was crazy. I have never seen anything like it in my life.

JULY

On the first of July we signed a lease on a new house. I loved it. It is unique, and as you can see in the picture, it has a storefront. That could be fun!

We also chose that day to visit the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library! I had been there twice before, but Bryan had never been inside. It is amazing. Especially the show in the beginning.

And the gift shop!

Afterward we had dinner at a small place in Springfield - I cannot think of the name of it. They did have buckets of MGD for a very reasonable price. I am pretty sure the food was good.

Here are my family members settling in to the new place.

AUGUST

Bryan made me cookies.
They did not want to leave the tray.

Even Scout was excited about the impending election. He demanded that we only buy him toys which reflected that excitement.

Bryan is so cute.

The most exciting part of August was the Democratic National Convention. We went to a watch party at the Moolah and had a great time. And great popcorn.

Bryan was very serious about the business of the evening.

They were very organized and had call sheets for each person as they walked in. During the commercials we all used our cell phones to phone bank.

This is the best!!!

SEPTEMBER

I had my first opportunity to see Joe Biden in September. It was very exciting! My mom and I got there at the last minute, but we got great seats. It was an empowering speech.

We also had the unveiling of the History Wall at the YWCA Phyllis Wheatley Heritage Center. It is one of the most enjoyable of the YWCA events I have attended.

OCTOBER

October was a great month. We took an incredible vacation which lasted nearly half the month. (I will spare you the details of that, as I blogged it extensively at the time.)

Just before vacation we all traveled to Chicago for a NKOTB concert! It was awesome. Lauren was kind enough to host us in her newly redecorated apartment. The concert was great, alothough I ended up pretty sick from something I ate at the fabulous restaurant we chose. That is sarcastic. The restuarant was so bad it was funny - but funny is good. I have no pics from the show, as we followed the rules about cameras and did not bring one. No one else seemed to have seen the rule! In any case, here is Lauren's place.

I got back from Chicago on Sunday and on Monday morning we set off on vacation. When we got back we had a fun birthday celebration for Bryan's mom.

And saw Barack Obama again! This time he was at the arch grounds and it could not have been a better day. The number of people was aboslutely amazing.

And the very next day we got to see Bill Clinton! Thank you so much to Kathleen for pretending to be our mother so that we could cut in line and get a GREAT spot!

Bryan had to work on Halloween, but we still did our traditional pumpkin carving. As usual, our pumpkins did not turn out nearly as well as the stencils...

Bryan and Scout take a nap. Only Bryan does not have any idea that Scout is there.

Guess what comes next? Not Ryan Montbleau, but Joe Biden! This time Bryan got to see him with me, and we had a much better seat than last time. Front row!

NOVEMBER

Finally it was November! ELECTION TIME!

Here is the line at our polling place:

And here is my ballot!

And here is Bryan voting!

We went with friends and fellow Obama volunteers to the St. Louis Democrats election night party at the Chase Park Plaza. Despite the fact that my purse was accosted by a chair thief, the night was a HUGE success. Did you all hear about it? Ha.

The rest of November was largely filled with traffic tickets. I got pulled over twice for having a headlight out - and got tickets both times! I also got pulled over for throwing a cigarette out the window, only I don't smoke. Here is the picture that I brought to court to prove that I had fixed the light. I printed it on giant glossy paper. It was quite funny.

I arrived home from picking up Bryan at work, the same night that I was accused of littering and blackening my lungs, and found two giant (35 lb) racoons in my house. This picture does not do it justice. I had a 20 minute video of their eventual capture by animal control, but I lost it!

This is the damage that they did:

We hosted Bryan's family for Thanksgiving and had a great time. Every year our table looks a little better. This year it was all one height, so that is a distinct improvement.

I made a cheesecake and fruit filled, cinnamon and sugar cornucopias as an appetizer. Aren't they adorable?

Here was our feast. Look at my apple pie crust!

After dinner Bryan and Ronnie entertained us with their choreographed dance to "I'm in the Lords Army." It was pretty great.

DECEMBER

We ususally get our Christmas tree from Home Depot, mostly becuase it is closer and cheaper, but this year they had no selection and the atmosphere was not at all merry. So, we went to Ted Drewes and bought a GIANT tree. It was probably overpriced, but everyone there was happy and helpful and drinking hot chocholate, so it was was worth it.

Even the animals felt the joy of the season. This is the pictures I took for Scout's stocking.

Sometime mid-month I had the chance to spend some time with Peyton again. Bryan had not seen him in almost a year, which is like a lifetime for a baby. We had a great time. Bryan posed for pictures while I made a scene out of play-doh. I did not mix the colors - they are barely laid atop one another. I swear.

One of the highlights of the Christmas Season was our trip to Historic St. Charles. The go all out with people dressed as all of the holiday characters, decorations in every store, carolers, hot chocolate, misteltoe and roasted chestnuts. It was awesome.

We also suffered another loss this year. My poor Kia succumbed to a patch of black ice. I will miss it.

The cat loves the train - and to knock ornaments off the tree.

Our Christmas celebrations spanned two days and began with Bryan's Family at our place. We had a great time. Especially Scout.

We had round two at Audra's and round three at my dads. Thanks for hosting guys. Bryan and I both got a ton of great stuff. Thanks everyone.

Here are Bryan and I trying on Lauren's glasses. I look like Lauren in this picture! I think we could both pull the look off.

And that was 2008 - at least as much of it as can be recapped in photographs. I suppose it is lucky that you rarely have pictures of the hard times you encounter.

Obama Ink

2008-11-28T21:25:00.002-06:00

Day Ten: No More Walking, No More Learning

2008-10-26T23:51:00.008-05:00

The beginning of day ten was bittersweet. As much as we had enjoyed the previous nine days, I was a little bit tired of walking, and a little bit tired of learning. I was really looking forward to sitting and driving!

Although I had spent a lot of time planning the entire trip, I did not look at any of the details of the drive back, and it turned out that we got to drive through mountains.

Here is the Blue Mountain:

And the tunnel through the mountain:

The Kittatinny Mountain:

The Tuscarora Mountain:

Beautiful trees:

and the Allegheny Mountain:

And then we travelled through a few states:

Also, has anyone ever gotten a good picture of the Indiana sign? I keep trying....

The sky was pretty.

The only thing we planned to stop for on the whole trip home was dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Indiana. We got to Indianapolis in plenty of time, but it took me quite a while to change clothes at the local Wendy's.

Bryan dropped me at the door of OSF and left to find parking (which was remarkably difficult to find) while I took pictures of the area - but strangely not of the Old Spaghetti Factory.

Here is a picture of the restaurant courtesy of google:

On the way back to St. Louis we tried to listen to the presidential debate and were very frustrated with the lack of NPR affiliates - but we suffered through the static of KMOX. The trip seemed to go pretty quickly, and we stopped only once, running one at a time into the bathroom so that we could fill each other in on any questions/answers the other missed.

And that's it! I know it took me longer to blog the vacation than to take the vacation (thank you Audra), but what can I say - I had to spend some time getting a president elected. (More on that later!)

Day Nine: Amish Buggies and Chocolate Bars

2008-10-26T17:48:00.031-05:00

In our final day of sightseeing (to be followed by a full day of driving) we were set to see Amish Country, and to tour Hershey Pennsylvania. In all candor, this was the day I was looking forward to the most. We woke up ON TIME, and hit the road. The drive to Lancaster County was not too bad - and I was glad not to have to do any serious walking. We made reservations for a buggy ride through an Amish area with Aaron & Jessica's Buggy Rides, which seemed to be in the heart of the community. Driving in we were surrounded mostly by farms.

I LOVED the signs - do you think they had similar signs when horse-drawn carriages were the primary mode of transportation?

As we drove in we caught a glimpse of some of the carriages. Luckily, we had been warned by the above pictured signage, so we were exercising caution. Ha.

Once we arrived at the store (from which the buggy rides departed) we were asked to sit on these benches and wait our turn (I will not talk about how an older couple cut in line - but they did). According to the website buggies were supposed to run every five minutes, but in practice they seemed to leave every 25 minutes. We ended up waiting just under an hour - but it was a nice day and we got to look at the horses.

I love this picture:

And this one as well:

And then it was our turn! Here are our horses.

The amount of food that is grown in this area is pretty impressive. This happens to be grapes.

There were also a lot of dairy farms. They said a huge percentage of the corn grown is used as feed for the cows.

I had been warned about this before we left, so I was not surprised, but about halfway through the ride we stopped and these too adorable children approached and tried to get us to buy cookies or pretzels. It was hard to say no because they were so damn cute. It did seem like an odd exploitation.

A few people bought things, but most people passed, and then we hit the road again.

Here we are in the buggy. The woman who took the picture seemed to be confused by the camera. I think she was looking for a dial to turn to advance the film... Also, yes, we are wearing stickers proclaiming that we did indeed ride a buggy.

I love this picture also.

At this point in the tour my camera battery was dying, so I snapped one picture from afar of the school. It is a two room school house for grades 1-8. The Amish do not believe that children should attend school after 8th grade.

Due to the dead battery, I have no more pictures of the tour, but I did learn a few interesting things. The tour guide was young and did not seem Amish at all. It turns out that when Amish kids turn 16 they are given the freedom to live a "normal" life, with no limitations on modern conveniences, until they decide whether they want to be Amish or not. They can take as much time as they want to decide, but once they make a decision they cannot take it back. If you decide to be Amish, and then you change your mind later, you are excommunicated. You can no longer do business with the Amish people, you cannot eat a meal with your family, etc. Our tour guide decided NOT to be Amish. He is in college studying to be a veterinarian.

The other thing that I did not know is that the Amish cannot have a land line because of the unnatural way it "connects people" - but they can use cell phones. They can also use "electricity" if it is powered by gas or coal or whatever, just not from power lines. I wonder if that follows the "spirit" of the rules. They cannot have cars, but if they have businesses they can buy cars under the company name and have the teenagers who are exempt from the rules (prior to deciding whether or not to be Amish) drive them. Crazy.

After the tour we bought handmade pretzels. They were so good. I have craved them every day since. I even went to Auntie Anne's to try to get over it - it did not work.

Next it was on to Hershey World! The drive was very pretty.

Here is the entrance!

So, I thought that were going to tour the actual Hershey Factory - turns out that is not possible. The "Factory Tour" is essentially a ride through a mock factory with large animatronic animals. More on that later.

The building itself was super cute.

The main thing that I wanted to do in Hershey was the tour of the city - so first up was buying our tokens for that.

Then we loaded into our cocoa-bean-shaped train car for our tour of the "Factory." It seemed that there was real chocolate being made, but I think it was just constantly recycled through the machines.

The tour began at the very beginning - with the dairy cows. They were singing dairy cows!

Next was the cocoa beans across the assembly line.

And the cocoa bean processor? (I may have made that name up)

Here we are in our cocoa-bean car.

The cows are back...

At this point it really began to smell like chocolate.

The production chart was cool. Supposedly it was tied to the real factory -but who knows.

The final stages:

As we were leaving that section of the tour we were stopped by a woman who worked for the Hershey marketing department who asked us to taste test for them! I taste tested dark chocolate covered raisins, and Bryan tested chocolate covered Starbucks coffee beans. They gave us crackers and water to clear our pallettes, and then we were given a survey and asked toanswer questions about the candy. It was very good!

The giant Hershey store was filled with giant Hershey candy, all of which was too expensive to buy, but not too expensive to play with!

Outside of the gift shop was the "Factory Works" exhibit, which was advertised as a an interactive experience during which you could "package your own Hershey Kisses!" There were two options:

1) A free tour (paper hat included)

2) A $10.00 tour, for which you were given the aforementioned hat, an ID with your name on it(!), and a certificate.

We opted to go the free route which ended up being a good choice. As it turned out, the term "exhibit" was very generous - it was a two-tiered conveyor belt. No kidding. You can see it in its entirety in this picture:

We started by putting on a paper hat and grabbing a gear shaped blue plastic container, pulling it open and placing it below a chute. We then stepped on a pedal, causing hershey kisses to drop into the container. Next we were asked to close the container and shake it - which was fine - except then we were directed to dance with it, and to spin around. No Kidding. I did not dance, nor did I spin. The big finale consisted of placing the blue container into a machine for "wrapping." It was advertised that you could purchase your Hershey Kisses after you had wrapped the container, but they had a very obvious box of pre-wrapped containers which they offered us for $10.00! In good news, I got a sweet (no pun intended) picture of a Kiss in motion.

The part of our time in Hershey that I enjoyed the most was a trolley tour through the town. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and he had a ton of corny jokes, which I thorougly appreciated. I really liked the trolley.

This Was Milton Hershey's boyhood home. We learned as we were taking this tour that Hershey, PA is not an official city or township. It is actually called Derry Church, PA.

And this is Founders Hall. It is on the campus of the Milton Hershey School. The story of the school is really interesting. You should read about it!

Milton Hershey built this mansion for his wife. When she died he moved out and never lived there again. It is now the Hershey Country Club.

It is interesting to see the 'Hershey' name on everything.

Even the amusement park is called "Hershey Park." The city is a little like "The Truman Show" in that Milton Hershey built it for his employees. He opened the plant and the built all of the things that his employees might need. He built housing, hotels, swimming pools, hospitals and schools. The amusement park was at one time (when there were far less rides) for emplyees only. I can't even get my employer to get me a new desk chair and they got an amusement park? There is a zoo attached to the park which is included with your park admission.

The rest of these pictures were taken after the trolley tour. I took a hundred or something - I loved the area. I think that it is all so cute.

Despite the family-friendly nature of my blog, I have to include this picture. I do not mean to make fun of this woman in any way, except that she was wearing NO underthings. And she bent over further than this pitcure shows. It was not at all pretty.

Here is Bryan as we were leaving.

At the recommendation of TripAdvisor, we decided to have dinner at Feniucci's, and on the way I took pictures of the famous Hershey Kiss street lamps. They line the entirety of Chocolate Avenue.

Fenicci's ended up being a very good restaurant. It used to be called DeAngelis Restaurant, and before that is was the H.B. Reese Candy Company.

The Hershey Kiss lights were even cuter in the dark.

The hotel we got outside of Hershey was very nice - I was worried about it because I had booked it at the last second through priceline. In the end it was one of the nicest we had stayed in. It was a Wyndham Gardens Hotel and it had some ammenities that others had not. Notably, a very comfortable chair with a laptop table and an ice "bucket" that looked like my Brita pitcher. I am easily impressed.

P.S. My pictures are formatted all crazily in this post. I cannot get them to fix. I have tried for two days. Blogger.

Day Eight: Philadelphia and Fun with the Founding Fathers

2008-10-26T16:11:00.024-05:00

So, day eight got off to a rocky start. We got up late, took longer to get ready than we anticipated and were on a pretty tight schedule. There were a lot of things that I wanted to see in Philadelphia and a long drive to get to any of them. From the moment we got in the car we knew we had to cut somethings - like the penitentiary tour, which I would imagine to have been pretty interesting. In any case, the trees were gorgeous!

And, we drove through part of New York. I had no idea we would be so close to New York City, but as we crossed of the George Washington Bridge we could see the city in the distance. Unfortunately it went by too quickly to get any good pictures. I did like the bridge. I have way too many pictures of it...

When we got to Philadelphia we got tickets to tour Independence Hall (we were too late to take the tour we had already made reservations for), and then headed to the Constitution Center.

I really enjoyed the presentation at the beginning of the Constitution Center tour. It is hard to describe, but it centered around a woman who told the story of the constitution and its progress throughout history. The seating was stadium like and the woman stood on the floor in the center. As she told the stories they used lights to highlight passages from the constitution and photographs that were on the walls around the seating area. I am sure I cannot do it justice, but it was really compelling.

The actual museum was smaller than I would have thought, but it had a variety of displays about the freedoms guaranteed in the constitution, and about the presidents. Here are Bryan and I as Ronald Reagan.

And here we are debating the issues of the day.

And practicing being president.

The best part of the Center was the final room - a replica of the constitutional convention, with life-sized bronze statues of those involved. Bryan was excited to be taller than someone!

This is Independence Hall.

The first room that we went through in Independence Hall was the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chamber. The box in the center is where defendants would stand while their case was being tried - a setup which gives us the term "standing trial."

There is a coat of arms on the back wall which the tour guide (who was GREAT) pointed out had been changed when the colonies declared independence. A replica of the original coat of arms is pictured below - it represents Great Britain.

This is me.

Across the hall is the Assembly Room. For those of you who watched John Adams, you will recognize this as the room where the second continental congress met in May 1775 to write the Declaration of Independence. It is also where the constitution was written in 1787 - each colonial delegation has a table. It is also worth noting that when the British invaded they used the state house to house their soldiers.

This chair is the only original piece to the Assembly Room. The other items are original to the period, but not the room. This was George Washington's chair.

We have a lot of pictures in front low-rising railing.

I thought this stairway was awesome. I would like to have it in my house. I would stand atop it and make declarations everyday.

This guy looked like Benjamin Franklin!

I like the clock.

I could not use a flash to take pictures of the Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, but I was able to use the video function of my camera to get short, somewhat readable videos of them. This video is a compilation of those. Please feel free the annoying museum worker who would not stop complaining about his last job to some woman who looked trapped.

The next stop was Congress Hall, a tour led by the Benjamin Franklin look-alike. Congress met at Congress Hall when the nations capital was in Philadelphia. This was also the site of George Washington's swearing in ceremony at the start of his second term, and of the swearing in ceremony of John Adams.

Benjamin Franklin died before the Congress met for the first time, so they put a bust of him above the entry way in hopes that he would watch over them.

Again the furniture is all from the right period, but is not original to the chamber, with the exception of the chair behind podium.

The Congressional seating area is largely the same setup as it is today (minus the laptops and other conveniences). It is remarkable that things still operate much in the way it was designed so many years ago.

This is the gallery where the public could gather.

Somehow the Liberty Bell made its way onto the list of things we had to cross of our list due to time constraints. I was able to take pictures through the glass. Better than nothing!

The final stop on the Independence Mall was the Old State House, which was the home to the first United States Supreme Court. The Second Continental Congress met here, the Articles of Confederation were drafted and ratified here and sessions of the Constitutional Convention were also held here.

You will not beleive it, but here we are in front of a railing.

The city, much like Boston, has a balance of old and new buildings that make the street views very impressive.

Again we could not settle on a place to eat! Everything was crowded, loud or closed, and we wanted to have a quiet dinner (I know, we are old). Also, Bryan wanted a philly in Philly. We ended up at The Nodding Head Brewery and Restaurant, which boasted on its outside sign a South Philly Pork Sandwich.

As with most breweries, this one served only beers crafted in house, and I did not like any of them - Bryan found one that was okay. For dinner I got a half sandwich and a salad with house dressing, which ended up being a beer dressing, made from the beer that I did not like. Bryan ordered the Philly, only to find that they did not have it anymore. All in all, not the best choice for dinner.

We got a great deal on our hotel just outside of the city, and it had the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in. I wanted to stay!

Tomorrow is Amish country and Hershey! Stay tuned.

Day Seven: Upper Crust, Cannon Hugs and the USS Constitution

2008-10-26T14:57:00.015-05:00

On the subway trip from the Alewife station to downtown Boston we passed Harvard, and decided to stop in. A quiet Sunday in Harvard Square seemed like it could be relaxing and fun. Then we got off the subway and realized that it was Oktoberfest. You could not see around the people. We spent about 45 minutes there and I do not think that we even saw a sign that said Harvard.

So - we got back on the subway and headed back to the city. First up was lunch at Upper Crust Pizza (thanks Audra!). The restaurant is very small, and it was SO crowded. I had to wait outside while Bryan folded himself into the corner to wait for our name to be called. We ate on the bench outside, which was much better than trying to get a seat inside.

I LOVE that they deliver them on bicycles.

This is the Old South Meeting House again (see yesterday).

When I was in Boston the last time I was told that some pillars on the side of the Meeting House were markers of the places that the victims of the Boston Massacre were killed. That was entirely false. The actual place that it happened is in the middle of an intersection.

I truthfully cannot remember who this is a statue of. Anyone?

This McDonald's has a Walk-Thru. Isn't that awesome? Actually, I could not find the walk-thru - but the sign says there is one, so I bet there is.

I should also mention that I went into that McDonald's to use the restroom and you had to have a token to get in the bathroom door. Customers only! McDonald's is my go-to place for bathrooms. Luckily no one followed the rules and everyone just held the door open for the person behind them.

It is a good thing that we had great weather because the walk to the North End was very long. The area was cute - almost as cute as Beacon Hill.

This is also where Paul Revere's house is. We did the tour - though it was only half as long as it used to be. You could not see the kitchen anymore - I remember that room specifically because when I was there last time I tripped and my arm went over the rail and set the alarm off. It was pretty embarrassing. Maybe they only closed that part off because I was coming. It was the same ticket woman who was working at the Old South Meeting House when we bought tickets there - she must have sounded a warning. Much like Paul Revere. You have to love a story that comes full circle.

This is where tiny people enter this house. Maybe Dobby?

Next on the agenda was the Old North Church, from which Paul Revere announced that the British were coming.

We had to walk across a bridge over the Charles River to get to the northern end of the North End.

This (as the tablet says) is where the Battle of Bunker Hill took place.

Near the end of the Freedom Trail was the USS Constitution. There were two options for touring the ship, a quick self tour, and a longer guided tour. Mostly because we were tired of walking, we decided to have a seat and wait for the longer tour. I think it was worth the wait.

The guided tour included some stops on the lower decks of the ship, which, if nothing else, provided some excellent cannon-hugging photo ops. It is also worth noting that despite the nickname "Old Ironsides," the ship is made of wood.

It really was pretty cool to see how people lived on the ship. It is actually still a commissioned war ship. As a matter of fact, it is the "oldest commissioned vessel afloat in the world." There is still a crew assigned to the ship, and they give the tours - that seems like a safe assignment.

This is where the crew would have slept. Comfy.

In the back of first deck were the officers quarters. They were nicer, with nicer beds.

The ceilings were very low. We had to go down backwards on rope like ladders to get in, and I hit my head!

The crew stationed at the USS Constitution have housing in the immediate area.

I asked Bryan to move this anchor out of the way of my picture of the ship - he was not successful.

After the tour we walked back down to the Charles River, across the bridge and into Little Italy, where we went in search of dinner. Mostly because we were both starving and a little crabby, and because my feet hurt worse than at any other time in my life, we could not find a single place to eat that sounded good to either of us. I think we were both over-hungry. We walked back down to Beacon Hill where we had seen quite a few good places the night before, but did not find anything there either. Seriously, in BOSTON we could not find any food that sounded good. So, we went back to the subway and back to our car, and drove to a restaurant near the hotel called "Joe Sent Me." It ended up being kind of a hidden gem. The food great and the service was exceptional. We did not take any pictures, but here are some thanks to google.

Tomorrow is Philly - and a story about a philly.

Day Six: Falling Into a Freedom Trail

2008-10-14T20:33:00.042-05:00

We began day six on the "T" headed for the Boston Common and the start of the Freedom Trail. It was a Saturday morning and the subway was essentially empty. In an attempt to save money we stayed outside of Boston at a very nice hotel that was only a 10 minute drive to the Alewife station, where we were able to park for just $5.00 a day. I was nervous about not staying close enough that we could walk to our hotel, but it worked out extremely well and saved us close to $300.00.

The Boston Common is the oldest city park in the United States. In the early 1600's families used to graze their cows there, and it was used as a camp for British soldiers before the Revolutionary War.

When we arrived at the Boston Common we discovered that there was a huge anti-war demonstration going on. Although it is hard to see, this picture is of a group of the protesters, 3 dressed as soldiers and one dressed like George W. Bush - he even has the W. mask. Bryan ran to get in front of him to get a better picture while I went to scout out a map, but they were movin out. Otherwise the park was filled with happy people having picnics and meditating. Seriously. Meditating. I should have gotten a picture of them.

I have been to Boston one other time, but I do not remember the Freedom Trail being as long as it is. This is stop number one, with a life-size "you are here" marker.

This is the Massachusetts State House. You can go in and take tours I think, but we did not know that until later in the day.

Much like Salem, Boston is filled with very old cemeteries - only in Boston they contain the graves of people who were not hanged for witchcraft! This one, the Granary Burial Ground, has some of the more famous Bostonians.

Paul Revere

John Hancock

Robert Treat Paine

Samuel Adams

The victims of the Boston Massacre

And most importantly, Mother Goose.

The Kings Chapel has a box pew where George Washington sat for at least one service. It is the one with the books.

This is as close as Bryan and I have been to church together.

I thought this was pretty.

The Old City Hall was next on the trail -

I waited a long time to take my picture on the donkey in the courtyard, and then it turned out like this:

Bryan's turned out much better

I like that the roads are curved - it is like most of the buildings are old enough that the streets had to be cut in between them.

I think that these pictures were taken at the Old South Meeting House. The actual tea from the Boston Tea Party is pretty awesome.

After all that learning I needed a little play time. It was like recess at the Old South Meeting House.

The Quincy Market was just as full of people as I remember it being. The kid on the tubs was pretty impressive.

This guy got his entire body through a tennis racket. He is double jointed in nearly every joint.

More curved streets. You have to love it.

This is Beacon Hill - my favorite part of Boston.

We went to the Cheers Bar for dinner. I know it is typical tourist, but we wanted the souvenir glasses.

From there we went to our hotel. Exhausted. The hotel was very nice and I kind of wanted to take the bed home with me. At least I wanted to take the pillows.

Day Five: On a Witch Hunt

2008-10-14T19:45:00.056-05:00

Of all the places that Bryan and I have travelled together, never have we been to a place that we instantly liked as much as we did Salem, Massachusetts. It was a very laid back day and there were only a few things that we wanted to make sure that we saw. The rest of the day was devoted to walking around and seeing the town.

The first thing that we definitely wanted to do was to have breakfast at a diner called "Red's Sandwich Shop." At first glance it was a typical diner, an order at the table, pay at the counter kind of place, but the breakfast food was very good. It was a great place to go to get a feel for the locals, kind of like South City Diner.

From there we walked through the town. There were old brick buildings lining the streets and it was remarkably clean. I would imagine the some of the charm was due to it being October in Salem - the entire month is called "Haunted Happenings" and it has to be the only tourist season for them.

On the agenda were: the Witch Dungeon Museum, the Witch House/Corwin House, the House of Seven Gables, two cemeteries and some monuments.

The Witch Dungeon Museum was first on the agenda. It started with a trial reenactment, which was pretty interesting. While we waited for the show to start we played around in the stocks.

The inside of the building was awesome. It was old and all dark wood and brick.

After we watched the presentation we went to the dungeon which was a recreation of the cells in which those accused of witchcraft were held. It was far too dark to take pictures, but suffice it to say, it was creepy. Many of the cells were not tall enough to stand up in, and there were all sorts of torture devices. I learned a lot about the trials in general. I had never heard that the whole thing was likely due to money and greed. It seems that when someone was accused of being a witch and they entered a plea, guilty or otherwise, their property was automatically forfeited and typically split between the sheriff and the judge. It was largely wealthy people who were accused.

Next we went to the Witch House, which is actually called the Corwin House.

It was built sometime before 1675 and Jonathan Corwin lived there while he served as a judge for the witch trials. The house was much like other old houses I have toured, filled with interesting things from hundreds of years ago - it made me grateful for modern conveniences.

After the witch house we explored the rest of the city, saw Old Town Hall:

Some land that once belonged to a someone who came to America on the Mayflower:

And then we walked up to the river and saw "The Friendship of Salem." It was an absolutely gorgeous day and there were not many people out so everything was quiet and peaceful and a welcome break to all of the driving and rushing we had been doing.

There were birds EVERYWHERE. It was a bit scary.

We took pictures of each other at the lighthouse and at the waters edge.

As we were leaving the pier area there was a woman sketching the "Friendship of Salem" ship. It was remarkably good, but admittedly hard to see in this picture.

The trees in salem were even more impressive in color than the ones in Canada.

I know nothing about the House of Seven Gables at all. I have not read the book and I did not pay the $15.00 per person to go in, but it is old, and we did walk up to see it from the outside.

Even more impressive than the buildings that were on display were the homes in the neighborhoods. Most have a sign indicating the year they were built.

This is the oldest candy store in America. We bought gibralters (which we have not yet tasted) and halloween peeps for Bryan's mom.

This one has nothing to do with Salem, but it is pretty great anyway.

For the rest of the afternoon we walked around, in and out of each of the shops along the adorable little streets.

In one of the little shops Bryan tried on all of the funny hats we could find, and I took pictures, until I got yelled at by the shop owner. There are NO PHOTGRAPHS ALLOWED!

The cemeteries in Salem are very old and the first one we visited had graves from the 1600's. Bryan was enthralled by the graves - I thought that it was neat at first, then I was bored by it. I mean really, how many headstones can you look at?

Outside of the cemetery was a memorial park dedicated to those who were killed during the witch trials. It is a series of benches, each inscribed with the name and method of execution. The one for Giles Corey says he was pressed to death - this was because he refused to speak when he was told to enter a plea. As long as he did not answer the charges one way or the other no one could take his property. In an attempt to get him to speak they laid him on the ground, placed a door on his chest and piled it with rocks. It took almost 3 days to kill him using that method.

We forgot to take pictures of the hotel from the outside earlier in the day, so we did it as we walked around.

The town was all decorated for Halloween

Even the restaurant had a giant witch.

One of the things we were looking forward to most was the "Salem Night Tour." As soon as we finished dinner we headed over to meet our guide. I was not sure what to expect because some places called it a "ghost tour," but overall it was entertaining and interesting, and I learned a lot. I did not take many pictures because they were not coming out very well, but I got a few.

This is a picture of the Old Salem Jail (I know you can't see it, but it is there!) which was open and functioning as a jail until 1991 - and NEVER had any running water or electricity. There were some infamous people who did time there. I cannot think of any though...

According to our tour guide there was a murder that took place in this house. Supposedly the person was killed by a candlestick in the hall and served as the basis of the American version of Clue. I tried to find more about that online, but have not been able to substantiate any of it.

When the tour ended we headed back to our car and drove about 15 miles outside of the area to a our next hotel. Tomorrow is Boston!

Day Four: Waterfalls, Flat Tires and Haunted Hotels

2008-10-13T22:22:00.060-05:00

Okay, just FYI, we are home now, but I still want to share our vacation with you, so here is day four.

Can anyone guess how day four started? If you said: "You woke up late" you are right! Today was worse in that regard than any day so far. In fairness, we had been up pretty late the night before and we were still adjusting to being an hour off of St. Louis time. In any case, we hit the road sometime around 10:00 am.

As we left Toronto we snapped some pictures of the city... These are from a fast moving vehicle, so they do not do it justice.

This is one of the sites that every website suggested that we see - evidently it is the biggest, or oldest, or some "-est" retractable roof stadium in the world? We did not visit, but we saw it from the highway.

The colors of the trees were awesome... as is NOT evidenced in this picture... ha. I am not sure why they look so dull, but trust me, it was beautiful.

I should issue this warning to any so inspired by my pictures of Canada as to want to visit themselves: Google Maps are not nearly as reliable in Canada as they are in the United States. Really. Get an actual map. Everything started out okay, although we realized immediately that the directions were not going to be much help. We made it to the highway with very little problem, and then we set in for the longest stretch of the trip. After about 86 km (about 50 miles) we stopped for gas and I asked the clerk about how much longer we had before we reached Niagara Falls. She pulled out a mini file box filled with directions to various destinations, organized by landmark name, and gave me a copy. It turned out that we had gone the entire 86 km in the wrong direction.

We took a deep breath (and expelled some obscenities) and turned around. Very frustrated. We got about 15 miles when we started to feel strong vibrations. I figured it was the road, but then it got worse and we pulled over to check the car. We had a flat tire. It was a BRAND NEW TIRE! Here is Bryan changing the tire at km 60.4. We had to take all of the luggage out of the trunk to get the spare out.

It was time to reevaluate our plan. According to the schedule we were supposed to be done with Niagara Falls and heading to Salem by this point, and we had only scheduled a half a day in Salem as it was. New goal: Get to Salem by nightfall, spend the entirety of day five there, and go to Boston for only two days instead of three.

So, we hit the road again, at the 50 mph maximum allowed by the donut tire, destined for Niagara Falls.

The falls were beautiful. I cannot imagine that the pictures here will do it justice.

The area around the falls is very commercialized, but I didn't mind.

Outside of the few streets shown above, there is a walkway and a park that go along the side of the falls. We did not have a lot of time to spend in Niagara so we paused to take a few pictures and then found the ticket booth for the Maid of the Mist.

Using my awesome zoom I was able to snap this picture of the U.S. side of the falls.

The boat in this picture is the Maid of the Mist. It looks tiny but it really is pretty big.

Here we are in line waiting to board...

Then we got these great ponchos that were like trash bags with hoods. I think we rocked them out pretty nicely.

This is just a pretty picture. That is all there is to say about it.

I had to decide whether or not to take my camera aboard the Maid of the Mist - it seemed that about half of the people did and half did not. The people who appeared to have come off of a tour seemed dry, so I decided to go for it. I am still not sure it was a great idea, but I got some great shots.

At this point in the tour we were dry and all was safe.

Then we rode right into the spray of the falls. Seriously, the water was so strong you could not really open your eyes and I got soaked. I was trying desperately to keep the camera dry, putting it under the plastic of the poncho, but the water was running down my clothes and I was SOAKED. Luckily the camera survived.

Every time the ship turned a rainbow formed. I took great risk in taking this picture, and Bryan almost killed me for taking the camera out again in the middle of the torrential waters, but look how cool it was!

These birds were scary.

We were no longer dry at this point.

Also, there were Cuban cigar shops all over. Canada must not have any trade sanctions with Cuba.

And the concrete that held the trees lining the road had maple leaf imprints.

It was funny to see a sign to the U.S.A, like it is a highway exit.

Here is the aforementioned bridge, connecting America to its hat.

A word about border crossings: When we crossed into Canada (see Day two) Bryan was driving. We approached the window and the agent said to Bryan "citizenship?" - to which Bryan replied with nothing more than a blank stare. The guard repeated himself, "citizenship?" - and Bryan's blank stare continued. So the guard said "Did you still not hear me?" Fearing that he might think I was kidnapping Bryan and forcing him into Canada, I leaned over and said "We are United States citizens." He asked for our I.D.'s and then asked why we were entering Canada and where we were going, to which Bryan - no lie - raised his hands, palm-up, and shrugged, as if he had been transported to our Kia from the planet Melmac. Seriously, it was hilarious.

That being said, when we crossed back to the U.S., Bryan was driving again. This time it went smoother, though I jumped in with answers before much silence could elapse.

So, we entered New York in search of a place to buy a new tire. I was nervous about doing it in Canada because I would have no consumer protections there. Is that ridiculous? I can't decide. In any case, that is what we did.

It was a scenic drive on the highway, although by now I bet all of our pictures of water look about the same. (and there are more to come!)

We got off of the highway in Buffalo, home of the late Tim Russert (I kept thinking of him while we were there) and took our car to Mr. Tire. Oddly enough, I did not take any pictures of Mr. Tire. They checked out our old tire and said it could not be repaired (of course), so we bought a new tire and got back on the road, our wallet a little lighter.

We did pass the University of Buffalo.

After getting gas and re-icing the coolers, we started on the long trek to Salem. We had reservations at the Hawthorne Hotel, which Bryan thinks is haunted. I am sure that he will post his own entry or comments about that aspect of Salem. The hotel was very pretty, and very old. They have different room types and the prices of each type vary widely. We got the cheapest type (the next one up was over $200.00 more) which boasted views of the parking lot and other walls of the hotel, and a stall shower. It ended up being very nice. VERY SMALL, but very nice. We did not arrive until 11:30 pm anyway, so we just took a look around the hotel and went to bed.

At the elevator on each floor there was a hutch filled with books which you could borrow. It said in our room that we were welcome to take a book home with us to finish it, so long as we mailed it back. It was all on the honor system - I wonder how many people do it?

That was it for day four. A full day in Salem tomorrow.

Day Three: Monkeys, Payback, and Kansas City Blues

2008-10-11T01:59:00.003-05:00

We awoke late again on day three, (Spoiler alert: we woke up late on days four, five and six as well) but it turned out to be just fine. We made it to the African Lion Safari in Cambridge, Canada about 45 minutes before it opened, and there was absolutely no line. We bought our tickets, cleaned our windshield and side windows and waited for the gates to open. It is worth noting that although I did pack a cleaner for window cleaning purposes, it turned out to be bleach kitchen cleaner and thus we were left trying to catch the washer fluid on paper towels as it sprayed from the jets. I was DETERMINED to have clean windows because I had read online that you cannot open your windows and I did not want my wild animal shots speckled with smashed bugs and dirt!

We were warned that the Safari took no responsibility for damage to our vehicle or our person, and then we were allowed to enter!

Things started out pretty tame... there were some birds (for me they were in some ways the scariest of the things...) which I quickly took pictures of.

The excitement quickly picked up as we encountered some sort of bull-like horned animals...

And then there was a roadblock of llamas, which prompted an impromptu performance of the song "Me and My Llama."

After sitting a moment and waiting for the lamas to clear the road, we approached a sign that caused us just a second of pause.

And they were not kidding! Around the next bend we found another roadblock, one that could eat either of us for dinner! Lions were just roaming freely, acting as if it were not at all unusual that a Kia optima with two Missourians were traveling toward them humming "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." At one point I had to wonder if they were animatronic.

Next on the tour were the cheetahs. In the picture below you can see a fence behind them, but what you can't see is that contained within the fence are horses. The cheetahs paced the fence, passing each other by, watching the horses. At this moment the song in my head changed to "The Circle of Life."

You are given the option to bypass the baboons because they have been known to climb on your car and do some damage, but I really wanted to see them, so we drove right past the bypass.

There were about 5 baby baboons, and they were adorable. I wanted to scoop one up, but I thought Scout might be jealous. Also, I am not sure Bryan would have let me back in the car.

After we sat there and watched the baboons for awhile, one decided to have a seat on the hood of our car...

Then his friend joined him and they had lunch, right there on my windshield.

As if to tempt me, the baby decided to join the others! He loved my side mirror.

As cool as this was, and as much as we enjoyed watching the baboons,after about 2 minutes there were 7 or eight on the car, and others surrounding it. The cute baby had my windshield wiper in his hand and we were beginning to panic. We tried moving only a foot or two each way, hoping it would startle them and they would jump down, but they were not phased. Bryan sounded the horn hoping to get some help from the closest ranger, but they were equally indifferent. Eventually the largest monkey jumped off an all the others followed. I cannot describe the sigh of relief that overwhelmed the car!

Taking a deep breath we turned a new corner and saw and ostrich repeatedly pecking at a van that was ahead of us. I could not wait to get there.

Sure enough as soon as we pulled up the ostrich (note: the song changed to "Ozzie the Ostrich") came up the street toward the car, blocking our path.

It came to the passenger side and began trying to peck through the glass. Over and over it rammed its beak into the window. It was terrifying and very cool.

We would have been satisfied that our $50.00 in tickets had been worth it at that point, but then we came to the giraffes, zebras and rhinos. The giraffes were incredible. They were so close to the car, and SO TALL. The baby giraffes were very playful and were running back and forth across the road in front of the car.

(If you are wondering what is all over the windshield in the giraffe picture, it is a monkey paw print. I love it.)

There was the most adorable donkey...

Some animals I cannot identify, perhaps tahrs???

Some of the cutest deer I have ever seen...

And finally a herd of bison... think "home on the range"

From the Safari we made our way to Toronto for what was to be a walking tour of the city...

We checked into our very colorful hotel -

And then it began to pour. I mean really, you could hardly see through it. But having only one day to see the city, we grabbed an umbrella and headed out. We made it as far as the subway, took the train one stop, got off, took come pictures under the cover of the umbrella, and made our way back to the hotel. I believe Canada was trying to get us back for our bad-talking it...

At the recommendation of some friends, and some members of tripadvisor, we made reservsations at "The Reservoir Lounge" for dinner. It is a speakeasy and was as great as we thought it would be. The music was awesome (standards and great blues), the food was unique and the atmosphere was fancy but understated and comfortable. It was a perfect way to end the day.

(Please note that I had straightened my hair 15 minutes before this picture was taken... then it rained. A lot.)

By the time we left the rain has stopped. Toronto was nicer at night.

Even the subway was quiet...

Our hotel looked very much like an apartment from the hallway. I am not sure what the building used to be, but I would imagine it was some sort of temporary housing.

And that was day three. Stay tuned for days 4 - 10!

P.S. We have video of the baboons, the ostrich and the giraffes! I will post them later!

Hold on to your hats (no pun intended)

2008-10-08T23:24:00.002-05:00

I cannot blog day three because the internet service in our hotel is ridiculous... It was an exciting day and I cannot wait to share it! Hopefully tomorrow will be better!

Day Two: In search of a Crystal Pitcher

2008-10-07T23:51:00.001-05:00

Day two began a little late. We had our wake up call scheduled for 6:45 am, but I am not certain that I took that call... We rolled out of bed at about 8:00 am, packed our stuff, had some breakfast in the hotel lobby and hit the road, destined for the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum. We have been to a few other presidential museums (we will go to one more on this trip!): Eisenhower, Truman, Lincoln, etc., and I LOVE them. The Ford museum was no exception. It was not quite as impressive as the others, but then Ford was only president for like 10 minutes.

Outside of the library Bryan groped an astronaut. You'll have to ask him why.

Inside was an awesome replica of the oval office. It looked just like The West Wing - which I presume looks just like the real thing... I wanted to jump over the little gate they put up to keep you from getting carried away and touching things. It would have been so much fun to sit at the desk. It's not fair, George Bush gets to do it. So does Martin Sheen!

We were also able to stand at a teleprompter and read one of Gerald Ford's speeches. Truth be told, we did not read the speech. Instead we tried to center ourselves on the screen and the camera... We were not entirely successful.

The last part of the exhibit was a replica of the cabinet room. We took pictures sitting in the presidents chair. Bryan was especially getting in to it.

Downtown Grand Rapids was bigger than I imagined it would be.

For lunch we stopped at Schnitz Deli (thank you tripadvisor), and Bryan parked in a tree.

The further east we travelled the more impressive the fall colors. This picture is a little blurry, and dirty where our windshield was dirty, but captures the general look of the highway.

The highlight of "Day Two" was meeting up with Crystal and her mom for dinner in Port Huron, MI. Crystal was my first best friend and I had not seen her in twenty years. Port Huron was a very cute town with a lot of character. Too many McCain/Palin signs for my comfort, but nice anyway. I should mention that I had to change clothes and could not find a restaurant or hotel at which I could, so I went to the local hospital. When asked why I was there, I told the guard I was meeting someone at the gift shop (?), and made my way, outfit in tow, to the bathroom.

Here we are: Nancy, Crystal, me and Bryan.

I enjoyed seeing them very much - it was nice to talk about the past, but also interesting to see that even after all this time we still seem compatible. It is like I made a new friend, and who doesn't need good friends?

From dinner in Port Huron, we drove to Cambridge, Canada. It was pretty fun to cross the border. We declared the alcohol we had on board, inquired about toll roads, and entered the "hat."

Other than stopping at a gas station (where I again changed clothes, and lost one of my shoes, only to be found in the foyer of the station), we drove straight through to Cambridge, where I logged online to recap my day (for my three readers), and found a different Google!

So, I ended the night blogging, and Bryan ended the night eating cheese doodles in bed. Thank god for vacation.

Day One: The Long haul to Ford in a Kia

2008-10-07T22:37:00.015-05:00

In preparation for our Fall 08 roadtrip, Bryan and I deccided to divide our snacks into individual servings, so as to make them easier to eat on the road. After almost two boxes of baggies, we were ready. Actually, if we extended our vacation for a month I think we would still have more than enough food to survive. The cheese puffs and candy corn are not mine. Really.

So, snacks (and every piece of clothing we have) in tow, we hit the road. The drive through Illinois was uneventful - and familiar given my weekend trip to Chicago. Veering off into Indiana, we tried to snap a picture of the sign welcoming us. It passed very quickly -

Finally we reached Michigan. Our hotel was great! It was a Residence Inn and was like a small apartment. Bryan was surprised...

There was silverware in the drawers, dishes in the cabinet, microwave popcorn and a dishwasher.

Unfortunately we were too tired to partake in any of these luxuries. We slept.

I cannot blog politics

2008-10-07T21:37:00.003-05:00

Before I begin blogging about my vacation, I wanted to say that I cannot blog about politics - there is too mcuh to say and I can't ever seem to find a starting place, so ignore my previous entries which indicated that I would be talking about this election...

The only thing I can say is Obama 08.

Now on to vacation...

Key Note Addresses

2008-09-03T21:06:00.003-05:00

I am watching the keynote speech, being delievered by Frmr. Mayor Rudy Giuliani. It is infuriating. I will grant that I am not as receptive to their message as some - but I am watching, which has to show some level of open-mindedness.

Rudy Guiliani, smug as he always is, had been speaking for some time now and I cannot wait for him to finish so that I can carefully read the transcript - but at this moment I am SHOCKED at how childish and petty the tone of the speech has been. I will address the specific problems that I have with his assertions when the transcripts become available.

I am not sure I can sit through Sarah Palin. I am going to try.

And the nominees are...

2008-09-01T18:14:00.003-05:00

If political campaigns are unique in American life, presidential campaigns are even more distinctive still. Imagine having to do your next job interview on international television, with the search committee following you twenty four hours a day - judging aloud your every move, your every word, your every blog entry. Questioning your family, your co-workers and the girl who you once made fun of in elementary school. Imagine doing all of this for nearly two years without any assurance that you will be given the position, without any chance of a silver medal for second place.

I say all of that so that it will be widely understood that I admire ANY person willing to sacrifice so much in the hopes of making the lives of their fellow Americans just a little bit better. I think that it is preposterous to question the patriotism or motives of those running, and I think that personal attacks are repugnant.

Elections should be about issues and political philosophy, platforms and perspectives. They should be about an understanding and appreciation of the past, an intricate knowledge of the plight, prosperity and promise of the present, and a vision of the future that energizes citizens to become involved in improving their own lives.

When elections are about these things decisions become easier to make. Strip away tag lines and talking points and consider carefully the candidates from whom you can choose.

That is what I have done. Over the last two years, despite my immediate affinity for Barack Obama, I have tried to carefully and critically look at the entire field - at their records, their remarks, their reasoning, their resume and their character.

For the next 62 days I will try to highlight the reasons why I believe that Barack Obama should be the next president of the United States. I will not be "fair and balanced" to be sure, but I will do my best to be right.

I drink from the keg of glory

2008-08-27T23:20:00.006-05:00

Today is a day of jubilee. It is a day of victory and we are the victors.

Bring me the finest muffins and bagels in all the land.

WE HAVE A NOMINEE!

History was made tonight. 67 days to go...

Help

2008-08-24T15:49:00.004-05:00

I need a blog redesign. I need help to do it. Only two people read my blog. One of you should help me.

Hardball Withdrawal

2008-08-22T23:42:00.004-05:00

I am suffering from a condition which I have coined "Hardball Withdrawal." This condition is brought on by cancelling cable service and the DVR that comes with it. I am in my second week of suffering.

I have a lot of extra time, which I fill with a variety of things, but tonight I have found myself troving (is that a word?) for video clip segments of MSNBC shows. It is hard to sleep without knowing what Chuck Todd thinks about the veepstakes.

All of this is to say that I may begin using the time that I am not spending watching Countdown to blog. No promises. I am not very consistent.

A day of firsts

2007-12-02T22:10:00.000-06:00

Today was a day of firsts. It was the first time that I attended a Rams football game. Truthfully, it's the first time that I have watched a Rams football game in any capacity. I got tickets through Big Brothers Big Sisters, so I got to go for free, and I got to go onto the field! It was a great way to experience football for the first time. We were very close to the cheerleaders - maybe too close.

It was also my first outing with my little sister, Di'Onna. Here we are on the field.

It was the first time that I have been welcomed to anything on a jumbotron.

It was the first time that I tried out my digital zoom in a sports arena.

I was the first time that I have seen six year-olds in full makeup and short-shorts. You should have seen the mothers getting them ready. I wanted to scream.

And finally, it was the first time that I have enjoyed killing time by walking in circles around the stadium. It really was a lot of fun.

Road Trippin' - Day Six

2007-11-17T18:10:00.000-06:00

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jigg.

Day six began with great service at the hotel breakfast buffet. The waitress remembered our drink order from the morning before! We were quite impressed.

After breakfast we hit the road. Although we had planned to get a hotel in Kansas City on the way home, we were feeling rested and decided we would try driving straight through to St. Louis, an almost 14 hour trip.

With the exception of stopping to find a restroom and stretch our legs, we made it all the way to Salina, KS, where I had made plans to have a late lunch with Becky, a friend from middle school. It is amazing how reunions with people from your past can make you think about how fast time flies. Although I have been married for three years, I still do not feel nearly as adult as I do when my peers get married and have kids. Becky is married to a guy who seems to be genuine, kind and a great father to their adorable baby. I am so glad that I was able to meet them both. Here is a picture of Becky and I with our friends on my 13th birthday, and a picture of Becky and I yesterday.

After lunch we forged on. Despite and unexpected detour in Kansas City, we made good time and got to Barnhart where we picked up our dogs (thanks mom) and were in bed by 1:00 am.

In total we drove an estimated 2,408 miles. Here is what that looked like:

Until next time, it's good to be home.

Road Trippin' - Day Five

2007-11-15T19:40:00.000-06:00

It is day five, and the last day of sightseeing before we being our journey home. We got up a bit later than we planned, but this time it was a concious decision. A decision clouded by a comfortable mattress and warm blankets, but a decision nonetheless.

Today was a beautiful day in Colorado Springs. I would imagine that the temperatures were in the low-to-mid 60's, and there was not a cloud in the sky. It was the perfect day for Pikes Peak and the Royal Gorge, the two things we planned to see.

Here is the view from our hotel room this morning:

We had breakfast (complimentary) in the restaurant at our hotel. It was a hot breakfast buffet, and it was pretty good. It saved us some money, so that was great.

Then we hit the road, headed for Pikes Peak.

This is a house, up on a mountain. Where do they go when threatened by a tornado? A flood? When they really, really want a cheeseburger, or PSL (that's for you, Audra)?

After about 40 minutes, we arrived at the entry gate of Pikes Peak.

You should all note that we took A LOT of pictures. Many of them look the same, so I have tried to pull only a small, representative sample.

This is a view of the mountains as you head up Pikes Peak Highway:

There was snow! We were surprised.

Us on the windy mountain side.

These are the breathtaking views looking down as we drove up.

In addition to mile markers (the climb is 19 miles total), there were also elevation markers. We were getting close to the top here -

And then we reached the summit!

And here are the spectacular views from the top.

Part of the road was paved, but even that part had a steep drop off. It was hard to capture with the camera, but you can see it a bit here. Both Bryan and the car handled the drive well.

The top of the peak was cold, they said 14 degrees, but it seemed a little warmer than that to me. It was VERY WINDY, and difficult to breathe, so we only stayed for a few minutes. The travel down the mountain was easier than we thought it would be. And it was faster. The whole trip was about 2.5 hours, and we had a great time.

Next we went to the Royal Gorge, which is the world's highest suspension bridge.

Here we are at the entrance to the Royal Gorge

The Bridge, as photpgraphed by Bryan, positioned at Inspiration Point.

We took an incline train down the Gorge. It was at a 45 degree incline. Seriously, straight down. It was awesome. Here is a view through the gated cage we stood in.

We also saw the gorge from a tram, which traveled six miles an hour from one side to the other. This is a view of the tram from the bottom of the Gorge. It made us a bit apprehensive about getting in line for the ride.

The Arkansas River runs through the Gorge, and it was rushing over the rocks today.

I am not sure what I was doing, perhaps thinking of a nap.

This is the bridge from the other side.

The warnings here (inside the tram car) gave me pause. So did the ladded stored in the car. It was like a 12 foot ladder. What would that do in the event of an emergency? Who knows.

After the tram ride we walked back toward the bridge through the "animal area."

It seems that the animals are not domesticated, as the warning indiciates they will "charge the fence." I would think that if a buffalo charged a chain link fence the person on the other side of the fence would die, and they would close this particular part of the attraction, but it seems this laminated sign in sufficient for avoiding tragedy.

You can see the tram from the animal area, kind of a cool shot.

A deer with antlers that look very much like the branches on the surrounding trees.

Here are the buffalo. A black one and a white one. I do not discriminate.

This big horn sheep was staring at me. Seriously, just staring. It was kind of crazy.

Here is a baby...

This is called Kennedy Mountain. If you look, it does kind of resemble Kennedy's face, if he were lying on his back. My thanks to Bryan for helping me see it.

A railroad, and the Arkansas River.

Here we are on the bridge. There was no one to take our picture, so I got our shadows. It is at least proof that we were in fact there.

I am not sure why the names of the states are on the bridge, but they are. Here is Bryan, feeling at home with Missouri.

The bridge itself is wood pieces, which did not make me very comfortable. There were some large gaps.

The cable car, ready to board the next group of passengers.

Walking back to the car we were exhausted. I thought about taking a picture of us as we practically crawled to the car, but I could not find the energy to push the button.

So, we returned to our hotel to call it a night.

And for those related to me, LOOK AT THE RESTAURANT NEXT TO OUR HOTEL. We ate at Denny's instead. I had a coupon.

Well, Bryan has fallen asleep next to me, sitting up as if her is still watching the basketball game, so I better go. We have an early morning. Time to head home.

(Disclaimer: I am too tired to re-read this for spelling or typographical errors, so please just ignore them.)

Road Trippin' - Day Four

2007-11-14T22:07:00.000-06:00

I know that I have posted about day three just moments ago, but I have a moment to post about day four, so here it goes.

Guess what? We woke up late. We went to bed late, and woke up late. In any case, we took showers, packed our stuff and headed for downtown Denver at about 10:00. Our only real agenda item was lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory, which opened at 11:30, but our goal was to be on the road to Colorado Springs by 12:30, which left only 90 minutes to see what Denver had to offer. It turns out, we did not need that long.

As you drive in, Denver is very pretty. It is a bit like Boston in that the roads curve around the buildings in certain areas.

Denver looked a lot like St. Louis. There were a fair number of retail stores, which seem to be missing from our downtown, but the large old buildings were very similar to those you would find on Laclede's Landing. The homes looked a little run down, and if you were not looking to shop, there was not much to do. The stadium looks an awful lot like the new Busch Stadium.

We did get out and walk through the "16th Street Mall," which was unique and interesting.

Ans then we were off to the Old Spaghetti Factory. It was cool to see the differences between the Denver store and the St. Louis one. The people were nice, the service was decent and the food was very good. The pesto dressing was too tangy, but otherwise it was great.

After lunch we talked about rushing to the Royal Gorge, but we were afraid to miss the last tram, which is part of what the $23 entrance fee pays for, so we decided to leave it until tomorrow, and to check out Seven Falls instead. We actually kind of stumbled upon it.

These first two pictures are on the way up to the falls, on what is called the "most scenic mile in Colorado." It was really much more impressive than I was able to capture in these pictures.

To see the falls at the best angle, you ride up an elevator that is in the mountain. To get to it, you walk though the very cold cave below. Bryan was shocked by the cold.

Thye Falls were pretty, but Colorado is experiencing a drought, which has caused the amount of water in the falls to decrease significantly. It was more like trickling water than rushing water. The pictures from the landing at the top of the elevator were still pretty cool.

And here we are, crowding together for warmth.

We met some trout. They do not seem to move at all. You can feed them if you have a quarter to buy the food. We wanted to try so that we could see if they were truly alive, but we did not have a quarter. Now we will never know.

Bryan has the wingspan of a Golden Eagle.

This stone is very cold. The water is rushing behind us. I really had to pee.

Here is a small fall.

It seems that in Colorado, Hardee's is Carls, Jr., and they have tacos.

After Seven Falls, we headed back through Colorado SPrings, which was cleaner than Denver, but certainly less populated.

I think this was a sign welcoming Bryan. Or maybe it was a construction company...

Although it was early in the day, we decided to head back to our hotel and relax for awhile. We are staying next to the Airforce Academy at the Academy Hotel.

When I tried to check in there was no one at the desk. I waited 10 minutes and when no one came I opened the door to the managers office and found him reading a book. He got someone to check us in, but when we got to our room we had twin beds! I had to call and fight with the friendly front desk kid, get transferred back to the manger who I had interrupted only minutes before, and go back to the desk to exchnage keys, but we eventually ended up in a nice room with a king sized bed.

We then went to the bar downstairs for the $2.00 happy hour, where we had beer and appetizers, and then retired to our room for some television watching. This is what that looks like:

We are all settled in for a long night of Law and Order. Here is what that looks like.

Until tomorrow, sweet dreams.