Road Trip 2011: The Summary

When the only radio music choices available are Country or Christian rock, you know that the true road trip experience has begun. We ate at what could possibly be the most random restaurant in the world, chatted up some local color, and said hi to the Amish, Mennonites and other 'Plain People' in Lancaster County. I even bought an Amish inspired hat, which fits my head (size 7 5/8 sigh)!

I kept channeling Psycho...Psycho meets 35 flavors of chicken wings

It's kind of creepy how much my face looks like a sticky bun in this photo

After a quick stop at Hershey Park in Hershey, PA to ride the free Disney-esque ride that simulates the chocolate making process with half of the 1.3 billion Indians in the world (it rivaled those encountered at Niagara Falls), we drove to Chambersburg to bunker down for the night. Sadly, the only place open for 'food' was Ruby Tuesdays, which kind of completed the road trip experience. I cursed Guba's name as I once again got 5 ounces of crap broccoli cheddar soup.

Pure chocolate-y goodness

What really awed me, was the number of kids staying at the hotel. I guess I'm too

used to business hotels. This particular one was geared more towards families...families with kids playing in sports tournaments. It brought be back to the good old days playing in the Japanese Basketball league.

Finally after some shopping (sparklers were bought for the summer!) and a wave 'hello' to Gettysburg, we finally made it to St. Michaels, which is on the skinny peninsula part of Maryland. Quaint. It was really quaint.

Monday morning the real fun began...crabbing. The video says it all. Four hours and two bushels of Maryland Blue Crabs later, we called it a day and out our whole catch steamed. I REALLY wanted to bring live crabs home. I REALLY wanted to bring live crabs to work. But Captain Russell (letsgocrabbing.com) dissuaded me from what would surely have been a folly. Instead, I brought back two coolers full of cooked crabs--at least 100 of them. WTF.

But it's so worth it. I'm in crab cholesterol heaven.

Memorial Day Weekend and Soccer

WE ACTUALLY WON! What a great feeling, winning the last game in the regular season. And I almost scored a goal too...if only my foot would actually connect with the ball. SIGH! So instead of playing the first place team in the finals, we're playing the second place team! Maybe we have a chance...

Memorial Day weekend is upon us and thus starts the Great 2011 Road Trip filled with back roads, forests, crabs...mmmm crabs. Final destination crabs. Also those crafty Amish are going to be involved, along with a quick stop at Hershey's! To round out the trip I'm going to the HIGH GROUND, Gettysburg, to see eighth grade social studies come to life (or not).

Way too tired to be at all witty and must wake up in 5 hours. Time to shower and sleep. Pictures to come after the weekend.

New Years 2011

Did I ever tell you about my New Years? The following photos explains it all. Actually, they don't, but unless you want to listen to one of my 15 minute monologues about random events in my life, then be satisfied with the pictures.

Packing My Life

(Here's a random picture from Montauk since I don't have anything else to post right now!)

What do I really need for a month trip? Well hopefully not much more than I put into my Osprey Kestral 48 (s/m).

I decided to pack light this time, bringing only a few necessary clothes, potions and doodads, including:

- 1 pair of $10 jeans, blk (hey I'm not going to risk having my good stuff ruined while traipsing around)
- 1 pair of Uniqlo leggings, blk
- 1 Uniqlo Heatech, long sleeved, blk
- 1 Uniqlo Heatech short sleeved, blk
- 1 ridiculously bright Nigerian dress, long
- 1 purple/white Nigerian shirt, long and wide (think rectangle...)
- 1 Levi's cutoff jeans, 6 years old (HA I can still fit into them...sort of, I remember buying these from ghetto Chinatown)
- 1 men's button down long sleeved shirt, yellow
- 1 down vest, red/pink (ouch...this does not go with anything else I'm bringing...I know, I've been wearing it these past days in California...not good)
- 1 keffiyeh, b/w (bought in Egypt, made in China?)
- bikini, green
- pj shorts, blue
- and vegetables that will need washing through out the trip (for those who don't know what vegetables are, think unmentionables...thanks Kimi for the vocab word all those years ago)

HA! We'll see how I fare, but my reasoning, is that I can always buy things along the way!

Regarding doodads:

- pad lock and bike cord/chain (oh gosh, but it'll be my security system for my nylon backpack...)
- Pentax K1000 + 13 rolls of b/w and color film (woot)
- (hopefully) 1 silk sleeping bag liner--I asked for it for xmas :)
- And some other stuff I probably don't need

Out of all of that, the two items I never travel without is a scarf that can double as a towel, beach towel, blanket, head wrap and a men's long sleeve button down shirt that can keep you warm and cool depending on the climate.

Sigh I can't wait!!

I'm BAAAAAAAAACK

And no I'm not a dinosaur!

I'm finally yanking up my roots and getting the hell out of this country. After a terrible flight back to California (Seriously Delta, I hate you. Fellow travelers, do not get conned into sitting in row 19 on transcontinental flights. It's not an exit row...the window seat SUCKS, especially when icy cold water is leaking into the plane. Wet socks are not fun), I'm one step closer to India!

By the way, the craptacular flight attendant has re-enforced my opinion that sometimes Americans suck. Perhaps I expect too much out of my fellow compatriots, but still.

After months and months of waiting, my departure date for India is right around the corner! I have everything planned out, meaning I have absolutely nothing planned out except for where I'm landing and departing. Ooo I picked up the wedding gift (good thing I made a list of things to do), and got my manual SLR in the mail (we'll see if it actually works. Unfortunately, I don't have time to test it out before I go...) and I'm ready to explore the sub-continent.

I know, I'm not supposed to eat food of the street. I know that it's a sure fire way of getting extremely sick, but the pictures of street cart vendors in my Lonely Planet look amazing...and if Lonely Planet says it's a must try...wellllll....

Okay, so I'll try to update this blog over the next month whilst away. Internet, email, and phone will be severely limited. But feel free to email me. I always like to know what's going on in the real world.

Mattituck: Home of the Magic Fountain

If anyone was wondering how my Long Island North Fork adventure turned out here are a few highlights.

1. DRIVING!! The longest trip I've driven to date. about 2 1/2 hours there (Got lost in New Jersey for half an hour). An hour or so around and in North Fork. and 3 hours back. Everything went smoothly until I whipped around in horror back to the parking garage where my car was parked, headlights a-blazing. I KNEW I'd do that. Of course I had dropped the keys in the after hours drop box three minutes earlier.

2. Getting to Pindar Vineyard only to be told that the sunflowers we had traveled out so far to see had already bloomed and died and got razed the day before (I have a funny feeling that we should have checked to make sure...funny feeling)

3. Petting goats at the random of random goat farms NYMag suggested we check out. I have absolutely NO idea it was a feature.

4. Eating New England clam chowder. YUM

5. Taking a long, sunny nap on Kenney Beach after said clam chowder (parked at East Elbow, as the parking along the beach is all permit parking) and watching a family catch mini fish with a big o' net.

6. Treating ourselves to Mattituck's finest ice cream and Home of the Magic Fountain. Fun flavors to try: Goat cheese (it's like sweet cold goat cheese), avocado coconut, honey cinnamon

7. Getting out of the city for the day and exploring something new

Adventures on the horizon: well besides attending my first ever bachelorette party (woot), camping!! I have my tent, sleeping back, pad, mosquito repellent...need a fishing pole. Suggestions for a location would be appreciated.

The Vagabond Vagabonds On

It's weird. It's the summer and I'm in New York. This has not occurred in a number of years. I should be traveling. Needless to say, I'm a bit antsy. My biological clock knows something is off. No moving back or forward a few hours.

Oh just you wait clock, just you wait. Because soon enough I'll be the closest to East Asia than I've ever been before. Okay, actually I'm only doing a pit stop in Hong Kong on my way to INDIA! INDIA! INDIA! Oh yes India!

Twenty-eight days (29 1/2 if you could travel time) in INDIA!

Okay so this actually isn't happening until December, but I'm already preparing myself for a full sensory overload. Scents, colors, heat, damp, light, beauty, pain, grit, dirt, tastes, all.

CANNOT WAIT