Four Months in Santa Fe.....

Pilgrimage to Taos

2007-11-05T22:25:00.000-07:00

'Twas the weekend of visitors for the fellow-fellows; Jonathan had Agnes and Eric, the French friends from D.C. and Chris had Leslie, the charming Anglican priestess from Oxfordshire. And so, after a pleasant Friday evening dinner at Jonathan's casita de parties, a field trip was in order, and we all decided to rendezvous in Taos on Saturday. I'd not yet been to Taos and so was eager to go, especially via the high road and all its famed beauty.

I picked up Leslie and Chris in Tesuque and, picnic in hand, we began our day. We took the back roads to Taos--incredibly lovely--and I can't even begin to explain the sudden changes in landscape at every turn. You gaze out the window and see mountains that appear and disappear, replaced by dirt hills of numerous hues, followed by pine forests and then the stunning Rio Grande. The incredible vastness is so striking. On the way up we stopped at the charming Santuario de Chimayo, a pilgrimage site that the Archdiocese describes as the "lourdes" of America. Built in the early 1800s at the site of an appearance of a mysterious cross, the church is famed for it's sacred healing dirt, which visitors scoop up by the bagful in no end of creative containers--plastic, paper, metal--and my personal choice, one of the pockets of my purse. The church itself is really sweet and filled with thousands of pictures, crutches, baby shoes, mini-shrines and no end of the detrius of people's prayers. Touching really, the tangibility of belief. It's clearly a sacred space both inside and out, and surrounding the church, one finds stone crosses under archways, and candles and makeshift shrines everywhere, like the one below. It was a peaceful place, full of visitors and families, and we stayed for quite awhile, finishing off the journey with a snack at the restaurant. While Leslie and I went with the traditional tamale, Chris felt the need to eat a polish sausage burrito with cheese, guac, and green chile and while he claims it was quite good, I have my doubts.

We left the parking lot and headed to the small town of Dixon for the annual open studios. Dixon is a "middle of nowhere" kind of place, but was absolutely rockin' on the sunny Saturday of the open studios. The artists all had their homes and studios open and people wandered in and out, and we saw quite a bit of "good" art as opposed to the giant metal horse statues and southwest kitsch filling the galleries of Santa Fe. After talking to painters, photographers and weavers, we hit the local church's thrift store where, for ten cents I purchased a plastic salt and pepper shaker from an Indian school fundraiser still in the package as well as a fabulous "Massachusetts" glass with a red pilgrim hat and musket embossed over a white outline of Massachusetts. Amazing what a dime could buy. We left Dixon and headed up the high road to Taos and took in the somewhat surprising scenery.

Upon reflection, the road to Taos was far more striking than the town itself, which I found a bit touristy and cheesy, but I think my initial expectations were a bit high. After shopping around a bit we decided to go to the Pueblo, a world heritage site, but it was closed for a ceremony. We decided instead to go to the Taos art museum, which was the former home of the Russian painter Nicolai Fechin. The house, I thought, was far more stunning than any of the art it held because Fechin hand carved the wooden beams, railings, and all sorts of closets, shelves, doors and decorations throughout the house. We all agreed we would move in at any time--especially into the large sunny bedroom on the 2nd floor. After wandering through the house we ate our picnic on the patio and then went and wandered the shops and the central square of Taos. Chris was dead set on me finding some redeeming qualities in Taos, and when we visited Mabel Dodge Luhan's house on the way to dinner, he succeeded. Luhan, a rich eastern transplant and patron, attracted many artists to Taos and New Mexico (including O'Keeffe) and her house is the strangest of pueblo structures. It's now a bed and breakfast--one I'd happily stay in.

We went to dinner at El Monte Segrado (Sacred Mountain) which was actually a big hotel with mountains in the background and cottonwood trees in the courtyard and had a surprisingly good dinner in the strangest of surroundings. I finally married the burger with green chiles (and spicy ketchup)--a happy combo--but the highlight of the meal, for everyone, was dessert as we watched the French couple battle over every bite on two plates and Chris and I shared the most delicious churros swimming in pistachio creme anglais. The ride home was a long one, but it was a lovely full day. I'll reserve judgement on Taos until I return again and go to the Pueblo, but one thing is clear--don't take the highway, take the high road!

Pic. 1: El Santuario de Chimayo
Pic. 2: One of the Outdoor Shrines, Chimayo
Pic. 3: The inexplicably beautiful evening light at Mabel Dodge Luhan's house, Taos

A Weekend of Hiking in Santa Fe National Forest and Bandelier National Monument

2007-10-28T20:09:00.000-06:00

It was such a lovely weekend in Santa Fe and since I didn't feel like doing any work, I decided to do some exploring. On Saturday afternoon, after searching the internet for some "easy" hikes in Santa Fe, I headed back up toward the aspens at the ski basin to the Chamisa Trail in the midst of the Santa Fe National Forest. Now the internet warned me the first 1/4 mile would be "steep" and the rest "level"--yeah right! After climbing the steep part, I followed the narrow trail of rolling terrain through a pine forest looking off into the mountains. It was lovely but strenuous as I got as high as about 8700 feet. I definitely have not overcome all my altitude issues. Having gone about 1.75 miles I decided not to climb down to the Tesuque Creek (next time), but when I got to the top of the trail a sign told me "You are here--breathe deeply." I did my best to follow instructions and made my way down--which was far more pleasant except when the scary mountain bikers drove past. So, an hour and a half later I had much more hike than I bargained for, but it was an experience. I rounded out the night going to see the movie "Lars and the Real Girl" (which I liked) with my friend Chris who afterwards made us some amazing late night carbonara! Watching the sox win game 3 rounded off the evening nicely.

This morning I decided to make the hour drive out to the Bandelier National Monument at the slope of the Jemez mountains, home of the cave dwellings of the ancestors of the modern pueblo people. Nestled in Frijoles Canyon, the cliff dwellings were inhabited about 600 years ago and are extremely cool. The major trail (mostly paved) started at the visitor's center and wound 1.2 miles around ruins and up many stairs to peer in some of the cave dwellings. Wooden ladders were placed at the base of some of the caves so you could climb up and look in. I was surprised at how many people did not actually climb up the ladders, but just walked past them. There were also some incredibly interesting petrogylphs carved into the rock formations, so I spent quite awhile trying to pick out shapes--a dog, a bird, some swirls, a river, and some interesting faces. It was a beautiful day--sunny and around 68, so I decided to extend my explorings and walk the extra mile through a lovely forest to the Ceremonial Cave House. The sign warned me about heights, ladders and stairs, but I decided to assess the situation when I got there. I was really scared to climb the 500 feet up to the cave on wooden ladders and stairs, but decided to overcome my fears and just do it. The experience was worth it, but I don't know if I would do it again. You can see the ladders and the ceremonial cave from the ground looking up in the pictures below. I spent about 3 hours at Bandelier and would highly recommend it to anyone visiting. Bandelier is only 6000 or so feet above sea level, so it was much easier hiking for me than yesterday's 8000. I was happy to use the National Park Pass I bought for the roadtrip again, saving me a $12 entrance fee.

I really do love the New Mexico landscape--the mountains and the sage brush and all the interesting rock formations, but don't think I could permanently live in the desert. I miss the ocean. Aside from my bandelier adventures, it was a typical Sunday--laundry, grocery shopping, football (the Pats are unstoppable)--and now the red sox. I ate my first purple potato at the farmer's market on Saturday, so I bought some and made a purple potato hash for dinner--delicious.

Back to work in the morning!@!

Pic 1: Cave Dwellings, Bandelier National Monument
Pic 2: Dog Petroglyph
Pic 3: I climbed 5 big ladders and a bunch of stairs to get to the Ceremonial Cave--scary!!
Pic 4: The Ceremonial Cave is the opening at the top of this wall
Pic 5: The woods surrounding the Monument

Among the Aspens

2007-10-21T08:33:00.000-06:00

Yesterday (Saturday), I decided to do some things I've been wanting to do since I got to Santa Fe but haven't done for any number of reasons. So, after the Saturday morning ritual of the farmer's market (a ginger apple muffin, mixed greens, 8 apples) and a quick workout at Fort Marcy, I drove down Cerrillos Road in search of Jackalope. Jackalope is a very strange store, more of a mercado, where alot of Mexican imports, antique furniture, and huge planters are sold. I wandered around for a bit, and was very good about not buying anything except a few cards. After Jackalope came shopping for the week at wholefoods--I am trying to eat as organically as possible down here--and then I decided to take a drive up to the Santa Fe Ski Basin. The Ski Basin ride is a lovely one--about 15 miles each way--and the starting point is just a few quick turns from my casita. The ride is famous in the fall for the explosion of yellow as all the aspens turn. I gather, from my ride up, that I missed the full flowering of the aspens by about a week as many of the leaves had already fallen. It was, nonetheless, an absolutely beautiful ride up a very windy road through the Santa Fe National Forest and a few state parks along the way. Lots of people were out and about--hiking, biking, walking dogs--and next time I venture up, I will check out some of the trails. When you are at the top, there is a lovely view of Santa Fe and the mountains in the distance. The pictures below will give you an idea of what I saw along the way, and some of the stunning vistas. Being from New England and used to all of our lovely fall hues, seeing just yellow leaves was strange, but no less beautiful. I didn't really know what Aspens were, but their bark reminds me of birch trees, and they are just as handsome without their leaves. It really was a lovely day (in the high-60s) and so after my ride up and down the basin trail, I decided to visit another Santa Fe hotspot I'd not yet ventured to--Tara's Organic Ice Cream. Hidden away on Second Street, Tara's was a little hard to find, but worth the wandering. This ice-cream store is famous for its uniquely flavored homemade icecream. I had a combination of Rosemary Pear and White Pepper Chocolate Chip. Savory, and strangely delicious. Well worth the adventures.

Today's adventures will not be so exciting I think. I've just cooked a big pot of turkey veggie chile and am off to the research center for a little reading and note-taking before heading over to Fort Mary for a workout.

Hope all are well. The offer of coming to visit stands until December 21 when I leave!

Re-Settling In

2007-10-19T15:36:00.000-06:00

Hi All. I've been a very lax blogger as of late, but October has been a whirlwind month. I flew home to Boston last week for a multitude of reasons: a wedding, a birth, a funeral, putting a house on the market--sounds like a bad British comedy, I know. It was a hectic and stressfull week in Beantown despite a number of nice chats, visits and events. The visit started off with the craziest Southwest flight I've yet been on, and never care to repeat. The plane stopped in: El Paso, Austin, Baltimore, and then, finally, after 8 hours, Manchester, NH. Ugh! But all worth it when I saw the smiling face of Steve in the waiting area.

I spent the week hastily gathering research at BC, running around for the house, seeing friends, and scrubbing. It was strange to return to BC and not have any sort of affiliation there. Students, friends and former colleagues looked like they had seen the ghost of Libby past, it was funny. I do miss teaching though, and will (somewhat reluctantly) leave Santa Fe for the wilds of Maine winter around Christmas time. I did get to write my first real academic department memo this week, which was a fun experience!

Although it rained in Boston all week, Kate had a lovely day for her wedding--sunny, crisp and cool--the epitome of New England Fall. A good time had by all, except for Chrissy's smashed window in the parking lot of the international. Mr. and Mrs. William Travis Morgan are currently vacationing in Bora Bora, and I wish them well!

Our house is now on the market--feel free to purchase it--it is a buyer's market as they say! So Steve and I (though Steve had done the bulk of the work by the time I got home) scrubbed like Cinderella and moved yet more useless possessions to the storage unit to get ready for our open house which had a grand total of 3 visitors--competing with upwards of 70 open-houses in Framingham that given Sunday. Good times. We'll just keep our fingers crossed and pray to the St. Joseph statue that my mother has promised to bury in the yard.

It was funny how stressful it was to return to reality--all of my organic eating, non-diet coke drinking, gym going habits went out the window. The challenges of incorporating the ease of my Santa Fe life into my "real" life will be many, I think. But it is easy living here, and save the absence of Steve, I am really very happy in SF. I couldn't ask for better colleagues than Chris and Jonathan, and we have a lot of fun together, coming up with new dishes--like O'Keeffe Apple Cobbler (from the tree outside), pear cake (from Chris's casita pear tree) and my experimental Southwest baked ziti with roasted green chiles from the farmer's market. I like the various types of people who wander the streets of Santa Fe--always something to see. I need to start up on sightseeing again, which I've been kind of lax about since working. A drive to Taos is on the agenda soon, and the scholars are being treated to a trip to O'Keeffe's Ghost Ranch on Halloween (how appropriate)! This weekend, I think I will head up to the ski basin and go for a little hike among the aspens before all of the leaves fall.

It is most definitely fall here--very chilly and breezy with many yellow leaves. It tends to be in the 30s in the morning and at night, and then rise into the 50s and 60s during the day. Lovely weather, really. Nice to be wearing sweaters again, though it is rather funny to see all of the Santa Feans wearing winter hats already--I mean, come on, I just put my flip-flops away!

Have Happy Weekends. Go Sox. Go Pats!

My What a Bad Blogger I am....

2007-10-01T19:12:00.000-06:00

Typical Libby. Starts out with great gusto documenting new adventures and then gets so wrapped up in new adventures that she forgets to write them down. Ah well, such is life. At least I can report that I am being a diligent scholar--revising an article, writing a chapter for a book and researching a new project! Life at the research center could not be more pleasant. Our new fellow, Chris, came today from Pennsylvania and he is a delight, along with Jonathan. We make quite the trio and the staff tells us that we are atypical scholars in that we like to talk to one another and talk about things other than academia. I am happy to be an exception.

I cannot believe that today is the first of October and that I left Framingham nearly six weeks ago. But, I return home on Saturday for a week to be in Kate's wedding on the 13th and to see my husband whom I miss terribly. Big shout out to Steve who is single-handedly getting our house ready to be put on the market. Anyone need a house in Framingham?

The weather in New Mexico is turning to fall. The sage is blooming yellow and makes a lovely contrast with the purple lavender. The aspens, I am told, up in the ski basin will turn yellow in a few weeks as well. The weather is in the 60s and 70s and cooler in the mornings and it's been raining quite a bit as of late, as it is while I am typing this. It's not the same as New England fall with its multicolored leaves and crisp burning smell and football everywhere, but it's pleasant in its own way. The baloon fiesta begins next week in Albuquerque, but I think I miss most of it, having chosen to go home and visit.

I hope all are well and I send my heartiest congratulations out to Derek and Petra, proud new parents of Benjamin Henry Peplau, their beautiful son born on Friday. He's adorable!

More frequent posts promised in the future.

All Aboard the Georgia O'Keeffe Express!

2007-09-17T09:38:00.000-06:00

Good Morning,

It seems, sometimes, that weekends are too short. Such was the case this weekend, with so much going on in sunny Santa Fe. Jonathan and I, as fellows, got invited to come along on the annual "summer picnic" for the museum staff. This year, as it's the 10th anniversary of the museum, the picnic was a special event. We boarded an historic train in Santa Fe and left for Lamy, an hour train ride away (not because Lamy is far, but because the train only goes 25 mph). The train ride itself was interesting, as most people had never been on this train, and for some, it was their first time on a train ever. Trains are not nearly as common out here these days as on the East Coast! The ride was very scenic, through a lot of wide open space, and the trainride itself was a lot of fun--with old fashioned seats, a club car with a bar, and a general party spirit. We arrived in Lamy to go to, literally, the only place in town, the Legal Tender Saloon. The Saloon, had been closed for a decade, until recently it was restored and revived. It was a neat old building, with a lot of history and cowboy stories of Billy the Kid, poker games that ended in death, and general mayhem. It's a bit quieter today, mostly a stop for tourists who take the rail ride.
We had a BBQ buffet dinner, with bandannas for napkins, played horshoes, line-danced (NOT me!) and generally had a good time. It was nice to meet some new people from the museum outside of the work setting, and definitely a fun excursion.

The rest of the weekend was spent reading, watching movies, going to the gym, and at my favorite Saturday morning activity, the AMAZING Santa Fe Farmer's market. I did a better job of keeping my purchases in check this week. Buying only some delicious little grapes, some Mediterranean flatbread, some orange and purple dahlias, and a breakfast calzone. But, it's always fun to walk around and take in all of the sights and smells. Were I able to pass on via this blog the smell of roasting green chiles, I would, because it's such a unique and wonderful smell--one that's often in the air around here because it's high chile season. I find myself being able to eat spicier and spicier food here--especially the chiles--which are made into a sauce that is ladled over everything from eggs to enchiladas!

But, now, on a gray Monday morning here, it's time to hit the books as it were and get back to business. This is a busy week here as a new show is opening--the women of the Stieglitz circle. The opening is Thursday night, and should be a lot of fun. Hope everyone is well! I miss New England Fall--I can only imagine the lovely weather and the leaves beginning to turn.

Pic 1: Chiles are in season and they are EVERYWHERE!
Pic 2: Chiles Roasting--I've become quite fond of this smell
Pic 3: The Bounty of the Farmer's Market
Pic 4: The train we took from Santa Fe to Lamy

Routines...

2007-09-12T21:16:00.000-06:00

Three weeks in, and I've finally settled into a bit of a predictable routine. It's strange relearning the nuances of living solo, even if only for four months. I typically spend from 8:30 to 6ish at the Research center, hit the gym, cook dinner, watch a movie (to settle my brain down) and go to bed. After so many months of Netflix, it's also strange to be going to a video store again, but it's good people watching and the staff enjoys being slightly rude to all of their customers. Might I recommend "The Painted Veil" and "Starter for 10." Life's fairly predictable, save nights like last night when the power goes out for a few hours. My 4 year old neighbor Drew brought me candles--it was adorable. I like my gym here alot because it's a community center so there's always a lot going on. I've learned that men's basketball leagues take their games surprisingly seriously :-). Lots of rivalries. It's extremely cute how many wives and girlfriends and little kids fill the bleachers to watch the games. The swimming is best late at night, when the lights are dimmed and it feels like you are swimming outside at night.

We had our first bi-weekly "Scholars Tea" today outside on the patio. It was fun to hear stories about the museum. The director is really vibrant and funny. There's a new exhibit being hung this week, opening on the 20th. It's about the women of the Stieglitz circle who preceeded O'Keeffe. I am really looking forward to seeing the Gertrude Kasebier photographs. She was a good friend of Day's. I also got to meet Max Weber's daughter who lives here in town this afternoon and look forward to chatting with her about her father's connections to people in my circle like Clarence H. White. Most of the time I like the quiet of the research center--the uninterrupted spans of work time--but I miss being to walk outside the office and stroll around chatting for a bit when my brain is fried. And I miss answering questions from students, strangely enough. I worked for 9 hours straight today revising an article and wished a bit that someone would knock on my door and ask me an advising question, just to break it up. However, it would have taken me two weeks to get the same amount of revising done while teaching, so maybe the uninterrupted quiet is good for working :-). Jonathan, my scholar neighbor, is good company though and we're going to check out Santa Fe's famed breakfast joint, the Tecolote Cafe on Friday. We also got invited to the Museum's 10th anniversary staff party on Saturday, where we board a train at the Santa Fe railyard headed for a saloon. It promises to be an adventure.

Santa Fe has settled down considerably after fiestas ended on Sunday evening and the weather is cooling off nicely as we head into fall here. I can't wait to see snow here--it just seems so strange to think of snow in the desert.
Any and all visitors welcome in the casita (one at a time however--that's the rule).

Farmer's Market!!

2007-09-08T09:56:00.000-06:00

Today I spent the morning at the Santa Fe Farmer's Market which is easily the best Farmer's Market I've ever seen (click the title of this post to check it out). It happens every Tuesday and Saturday morning from 7-noon in a shopping plaza about a mile away from my house. The market is so successful that the city is in the process of building a permanent indoor/outdoor market building on the outskirts of town. I think it's such a great way to keep small family farms up and running.

There were probably about 50+ vendors of all kinds this morning: baked good, fruits, vegetables, flowers, candles, soaps, fiber arts, spices, herbs, honey, plants, all kinds of things....The market itself was packed, all sorts of people milling about, some relaxed, some definitely on a mission. You can tell people have their favorite vendors for just about everything. The smell of roasting green chiles (the New Mexico specialty) was everywhere. What a fun morning. I can't wait to go again, and to cook something with all the veggies!

A list of my purchases (money goes FAST at the market)!

Cranberry Scone (that's already gone)
Raspberry Ginger Red Chili Jam (delicious)
Calabacita (a strange round zucchini)
Haricots-verts
Nectarines
Asian Pears (four for ONE dollar)
Golden Delicious Apples
Lemon Cucumbers (these are the strangest looking things--can't wait to try)
Fingerling potatoes
2 Broccoli Florets
A Sweet White Onion
A sage stick (for burning--love the smell)
A beautiful bunch of zinnias (I miss mine at home in the garden)

I'll take pictures next week; the camera battery was dead :-(.

Fiestas continue through tomorrow, and I think after I go to the gym, I will stroll down to the plaza and see some dancing and listen to some music! Have good weekends!!

Zozobra!

2007-09-06T21:52:00.000-06:00

So it's really hard to describe Zozobra, and I am not sure I am up to the task. I'll just give a preview, and the pictures can give you a better idea. Zozobra, or "Old Man Gloom," is an 83 year old Santa Fe tradition. Each Fiestas week in September, since the 1930s, old man gloom has been built and burnt as a sort of community cleansing. Begun by the artist Will Schuster, he bequeathed the enterprise to the local Kiwanis chapter when he died. So, every year, upwards of 20,000 Santa Fe residents and visitors trek up to Fort Marcy Park to watch the burning. Gates open at 2pm; the burning happened at 8:45pm. I arrived (with my new scholar friend Jonathan) around 6:15 and took in the scene. Lots of little kids, teenagers, hippies, and residents of all types were spread out on blankets, picnicing, listening to music, eating from vendors, buying light sticks and getting ready for "the burn."

As it got darker, the crowds swelled and swelled and by 8 you could tell that people were getting restless. Chants of "Burn Him" began (a little too reminiscent of "Lord of the Flies" crossed with the scene where the Deatheaters come out at the Quidditch World Cup in Harry Potter IV) and got louder as the time came closer to the Burn.

The Burn began with the stadium lights going out, and people pressing their way to the front, chanting louder and louder. Dancers began a pagan ceremony up and down the Aztec temple style stairs that led to Zozobra, running around, throwing fire sticks, and cueing the fireworks to begin. This pre-burn activity lasted way too long, but you could tell it was just to get people more and more riled up. Little kids were screaming, adults were calling for the burn in the kind of scary, intense voices that only come out when it's dark and no one can tell who's yelling. The pot smoke grew thicker and thicker, and finally, after the red flame dancer came out, the burn began. Zozobra, about 40-feet tall, and a working marionette, is filled with gloom messages: divorce papers, speeding tickets, and gloomy thoughts written on scraps of paper loaded into the bottom of the structure. I think it would've been more "cleansing" without the screaming and the incredibly loud amplified moaning of Zozobra himself. The burn was pretty spectacular, and over very quickly. Getting out of that place was a little scary--masses and masses of people trying to crowd over very small wooden bridges, but back to the casita safe and sound.

I don't think I'd go to Zozobra again, but it was pretty cool (and so strange), and quite the experience!

Viva la fiesta--festivities continue through the weekend, with all state offices closing at 2pm tomorrow.

Time for bed!

Pic 1: Zozobra by daylight
Pic 2: Zozobra right before the burn, with the pagan dancers
Pic 3: Zozobra burning!!!

10,000 Waves

2007-09-05T21:32:00.000-06:00

So on Monday, after hearing my neck pop while doing some pilates, and having the day off from the museum, I decided to make use of Kate's birthday present, a gift-certificate to the renowned Santa Fe Japanese Spa, 10,000 Waves. What an incredibly beautiful place. You'll see below the pictures of the grounds on the walk up. The Spa is known for their Japanese baths--sort of like a hot-tub, but oh-so-much nicer. They have communal men's and women's tubs, in addition to private tubs. They are all enclosed, with rain showers, cold plunges, saunas, teak decking, and the blue sky and many trees above. I'm having a hard time thinking of a more relaxing place. If you come to Santa Fe (and please do!), you must spend a day here. Better yet, I'll take you. It was fun talking to people on vacation, some who postponed leaving Santa Fe, just so they could spend another day here at the spa. My massage was decent (I still have bruises on my back from Pyara's elbows), but I'm a discerning client :-) so you have to be a pretty good masseuse to impress me...and it was good, not great. When I go back (and I will definitely go back) I'll go for the special Japanese pressure point massage. It's so interesting to be in carefully cultivated environments like this one--they've taken much care (open since 1984) in really making a truly quiet and relaxing space that's not really snooty like most spas are. All sorts of people were there--alot of locals too--as they give a hefty New Mexico discount. Everyone walks around in Kimono's and sandals, and somehow that seems almost normal. Almost...until you drive out of the driveway back into reality. But "reality" Santa Fe style is nothing to complain about, so I won't.

I am really settling into work at the museum now--there in my office most days from 8-5:30 ish. Windows open, speakers playing music, me in my comfy grey plush chair taking copious notes on yellow legal pads. It's truly amazing how much work can actually get done in an office when no one comes to knock on your door. Don't get me wrong, I miss my students and teaching terribly, but this gift of time and silence is truly amazing. I've been reading lots of primary and secondary stuff on Stieglitz and Day, shoring my foundations, so I can go on to put Day back into the leadership role of the fine art photography movement. I've rediscovered the critic Sadakichi Hartmann and some key phrases of his from the 1890's like "Day and Stieglitz are the only photographers that should even be looked at by serious "art" critics." All synapses are firing and my brain is back to making connections beyond whatever I am teaching on a given day. Maybe it's all the Gingko Biloba I have to take for the altitude issues--maybe it's the peace and quiet--maybe it's the fact that I know I better make the most out of this four months, because it's back to reality in January. Either way, I am remembering how much I love to research (if not the part that comes after), and that's a sentiment I've not felt for ages.

Life here has settled into a routine--museum, gym, eating healthy, listening to Cds, not watching TV--I have one, but rarely turn it on--there's nothing I really need to be distracted from. I do find that I miss people (my husband especially), but the solitude has its benefits, and there are plenty of nice people to talk to at the research center when I get tired of putting pen to paper. The guards are particularly informative and amusing. It is, I must admit, SO strange not to be at BC after 11 years, but I am getting plenty of updates from my old students and advisees, which I am grateful for!

Tomorrow is the burning of Zozobra, which I am excited for. I mean, who doesn't want to see a 40 foot tall Old Man Gloom go up in flames with 30000 other spectators. I'll be sure to fill you in :-). Good Night!

Check out 10,000 Waves: http://www.tenthousandwaves.com/

!Viva la Feista!

2007-09-02T17:28:00.000-06:00

This Labor Day weekend is the start of the week-long fiesta in Santa Fe that occurs during the first week of September each year. The Fiesta commemorates the Spanish reconquering of Santa Fe (from the Indians) in 1692, led by Don Diego De Vargas. It is both a religious celebration and a party, with a strong mix of Native and Catholic elements. This weekend, the first events included a huge Arts and Crafts fair on the Plaza, entertainment last night in the Capital park (mostly mariachi and dancing), and the annual Night Light Parade. It was lots of fun to wander among the many vendors at the Arts and Crafts fair--it's really amazing to see the unique things people make--both useful and not. I curbed my tendency to buy things and just had a strawberry lemonade agua fresca as I strolled around. I then wandered over to the park to listen to a few hours of very varied mariachi--some great, some not. Santa Fe's first all-girl mariachi band was fabulous; the self-promoting "Jenna" not so much. There was also traditional dancing on the center stage, and the little girls all running around in their fancy dresses, petticoats and cowboy boots were absolutely adorable. When darkness fell completely, around 8:30, the parade began and I walked closer to home to watch it, as the procession went right past my street. As the parade began--floats and marching bands all illuminated with Christmas lights and other glow in the dark paraphanelia--the heavens opened and it started absolutely pouring, thundering and lightning. I watched the parade, got soaked, and felt very bad about all the costumes and floats getting ruined; such is life.

Today, I decided to go to the Indian Arts and Crafts festival at the Santo Domingo Pueblo, about 20 miles south of Santa Fe. It was neat to go and explore the Pueblo and also to visit the literally hundreds of tents filled with jewelry, pottery, and weavings. It was even harder to contain myself (and my wallet) at this fair as the array of turquoise and other shell and stone jewelry was stunning. Though I wanted a $200 necklace, I settled on a very cool $20 bracelet and a lunch of roasted green chile covered Indian Fry Bread. The bread is sort of like fried dough, but better. I brought my camera, but no pictures were allowed in the pueblo. This was too bad as I would have loved to take some shots of the traditional Indian dances that occured throughout the morning. It was incredibly hot at the pueblo, so after a few hours, I headed for home and for a swim workout at the Fort Marcy pool. The altitude sickness is better thanks to copious amounts of water and hefty doses of Ginkgo Biloba.

Fiesta continues all week, the highlight being the burning of Will Shuster's Zozobra (Old Man Gloom) at Ft. Marcy Park on Thursday night. All year long, people collect their bad thoughts, old speeding tickets, divorce papers, etc. and put them into the huge Zozobra to be burned. This ritual, done since the 1930s, is supposed to rid Santa Fe of gloom and bad thoughts. Apparently it's quite the sight, with more than 30,000 watching. I've already got my ticket, and the park is right behind my casita, so I am looking forward to it. There's also lots of entertainment on the plaza next weekend. Maybe I'll have some new friends by that point, as at least one other scholar is coming this week :-).

I am enjoying it here--it's very cool to see so many new and different traditions (new and different to me anyways). Enjoy the rest of your weekends. I cannot believe it's the end of summer.

Pics 1-4: Images from the start of the fiesta on the Plaza yesterday.
Pic 5: The little Casita I live in....

I need an Altitude Adjustment....

2007-08-31T17:46:00.000-06:00

So, I was all proud of myself for joining the Fort Marcy Community Recreation Center this week so I could swim and work out, but even the best of intentions need a little adjusting. I swam a mile yesterday, felt fine while doing it, and was actually a little psyched that 3 weeks out of the pool did not undo all the hard work I put in at the good old Plex this summer. And then....I went home, cooked myself some dinner (gnocchi with spicy tomato sauce), and went to stroll around the Plaza and got a horrible headache, the headache that just won't quit.

I, apparently, am having some difficulty with Santa Fe's altitude--a totally common affliction--but a huge annoyance. Apparently you eventually get used to it, but in the meantime, I must drink obscene quantities of water, take some aleve, and hope for the best. Some toned-down workouts are also in future plans. Santa Fe is roughly 7000 feet above sea level and, for east-coasters, a bit of an adjustment. All the people I've told about this episode have nodded knowingly, and told stories of what happened to them when they first moved here. Some people still have difficulty sleeping throught the night because their throat dries up. Thankfully I've no sleeping problems, but I am more fatigued, and guess I will just grin and bear it, as there's no real cure unless you get really sick and have to go to the hospital for a prescription.

The headache is starting to subside, but I seriously think I've had more than a gallon of water today. All else is well. I went over to the museum itself today to view the show that's about to come down "Circling Around Abstraction."
(http://www.okeeffemuseum.org/visit/current.html) The Museum itself is lovely and well-organized and the show was extremely interesting. I especially like O'Keeffe's early work from the teens and twenties, and it was well represented in the show. I've always liked her work, but reading her bio. in conjunction with being at the museum has been really fascinating, and I've begun to get some more ideas together about Stieglitz. I also had my research library introduction this afternoon, and Eumie, the librarian and co-director of the Research center, could not be nicer, or more helpful. It's going to be a productive fall!

I can't believe it is Labor Day weekend already, and it feels strange not to be home, or going to the beach. Ah well, we adjust. I am thinking of going to check out Taos on Sunday and maybe go to an Indian festival at one of the nearby Pueblos.
Now I'm off to find my local movie theatre. More Water!!

R.I.P. 2002 Silver Ford Taurus....

2007-08-30T12:20:00.000-06:00

The adventures never end in this part of the world. While driving home from the Albuquerque airport on Tuesday afternoon after the San Francisco weekend the Taurus decided to behave really badly--engine light flashing, evil sputtering sounds, no acceleration, etc. So, I decided to try to make it to the nearest dealership, Capitol Ford in Santa Fe, and see what was wrong. I left the car and took a ($25!!) cab back to the casita (note to self: cabs in Santa Fe=bad idea) to await the fate of my vehicle.

I strolled around the Plaza, trying to get a better idea of where I am (and to forget that the car was broken), and had a nice dinner at Il Vicino, a local favorite pizza and salad place. I, of course, also located an amazing paper store-Papergami-which reminded me a lot of home and the Paper Source in Brookline on a much smaller scale. After watching a documentary I bought ages ago about Stieglitz (An Eloquent Eye), I fell asleep. I decided to walk to work on Wednesday morning, a lovely 10-minute stroll, and checked in at the Museum Research Center. Monica, the curatorial assistant, showed me around, and I am thrilled at the whole set-up, especially my amazing office (see below). As I was unpacking books, I got a call from Capitol Ford, letting me know that cylinder #1 in my engine was dead, equaling a $4000 new engine. Steve and I decided (seconded by Vincent the service guy) that there was no way we were putting a new engine in the p.o.s Taurus and so looked at other alternatives. Totally disheartened, I strolled around the Santa Fe car park, inquired about long term rentals at Enterprise ($700/month) and in the end, decided the solution was just to get another car.

So, me being me, I made my decision quickly (which is the antithesis of everything Steve believes in--car research would have taken him at least a month) and decided upon a 2007 Suburu Impreza Outback Sport (see below!). I knew I didn't want another Ford (sorry Dad!) and had been dreaming of Outbacks for awhile, so this little silver sporty version seemed the perfect choice for Maine. It was the last of it's kind on the lot, a standard, and drove really well. So, Robin, my hilarious salesman (Jarrett, if you are reading this, he reminded me SO much of you--same voice!), set me up, got me a reasonable deal, and I spent the better part of the afternoon (four hours) at the dealership purchasing, financing, registering and insuring my car! It's so strange to do this in another state. For instance, in NM, there are no state inspections, you just have to drive the car to the insurance agent and he looks at the odometer. Also, you need to purchase protection against uninsured drivers as more than 40% of drivers in NM are illegal and not-insured. Crazy! So, I will, in a few days, have New Mexico plates, which I think is hilarious. I am enjoying my new ride thus far. And, I would just like to reiterate to Steve that I DID NOT purposefully sabotage the Taurus engine despite earlier threats that I was going to just leave the car on the side of the road in NM before returning home. I guess the 4300 miles we put on the car coming out here was just too much for its delicate sensibilites. Ah well, RIP Taurus, and the impressive $100 trade-in value you brought to me. Honestly, I would have paid the dealership just to dispose of it.

So, back to work in my lovely office. Files are all unloaded, and so, no more excuses, it's time to start writing. Hope you all are well. Drop me an email and let me know what's going on in your parts of the world. Happy Labor Day Weekend and Good Luck to those getting ready to go back to school!

Pic 1: The New Suburu Outback "Sport"
Pic 2: The courtyard of the Research Center
Pic 3: My incredibly beautiful new office!

Settling In....

2007-08-27T10:25:00.000-06:00

We arrived in Santa Fe late Wednesday afternoon and after a few wrong turns found our way to the 610 Paseo Corto casita, a very sweet little (and I mean little--there's a reason it's a 'casita') place that I will call home until Christmas-time. After unloading books and endless amounts of clothing from the car, we decided to consult the roadtrip book one last time for a dinner suggestion. Once again, it steered us in a very pleasant direction and we had a great southwestern dinner at the Shed. I've never seen garlic bread served with mexican food before, but it was a nice twist and we enjoyed our "last meal" together. Back at the casita, not wanting to unpack, we watched a little TV and fell asleep. On Thursday, I took Steve to the Albuquerque Sunport to fly back to Boston--truly the end of our cross-country trip and back to old and new realities for both of us! Steve's already back at work, and I check into the O'Keeffe Museum to get shown around and move into my office on Wednesday of this week.

After I dropped Steve off at the AP, I managed to miss the turn back onto Route 25 to take me back to Santa Fe (an hour's drive from ABQ) and drove around aimlessly for a bit trying to find my way. Eventually I did, hindered only by a crazy accident, and my extremely poor sense of direction. I always think that it will somehow improve or get better with age--it never does. I used to forget how to get from my house to high school back in the day. I decided to use Thursday as an unpacking and shopping day, so I found all of the local hotspots--Trader Joes, Target (on a street named Cerrillos, leading out of the city, reminding me a lot of Rt. 9 at home) and proceeded to set up my new digs. Not loving the comforter already on the bed, I found myself a more Libby choice, and stocked the pantry. I also had to get a small bookshelf at Target for all of my Maine reading materials in preparation for teaching in January, and I was lamenting the loss of Steve's presence, because I am terrible at following directions and putting things together. I managed to get it done, however, and the place is starting to look a little more homey. My neighbors, the owners of the guesthouse, are quite nice and have two very cute kids. It's just a short walk to the Plaza and to the museum--neither of which I've explored as of yet--having saved the "fun stuff" until the more practical things were done. I found a great local hangout near Trader Joes, "Cafe Santa Fe," where I will happily bring anyone who comes and visits. I found the laundrymat (I thought those days were done for me...alas)! And I found that my day passed rather quicky and I went back to the Casita and packed Kate's Bachelorette weekend in San Francisco.

The Bachelorette weekend was great fun, the highlight being a trip to Napa Valley on Saturday where we had lunch, a tasting and a tour at the Flora Springs winery. The winery, http://www.florasprings.com/, was lovely, quiet (we were the only people there) and I found that when served in such a setting, taken straight from the oak barrels, and with a good bit of explanation, that I quite like wine after all! It was so much fun to see all Kate's friends from Notre Dame, her family, get to know William's mother and sister, and to spend a weekend in San. Fran. is always a treat! I head back to Santa Fe tomorrow (Tuesday) and am excited to go exploring. From what little I've seen of the city thus far, I think I am going to love it and feel very at home there. Best of all, I'm going to get alot of work done. I am halfway through Roxana Robinson's biography of Georgia O'Keeffe (which I thought was only fitting) and will finish the rest this afternoon. It's a wonderful read and her early life was alot more complex than I imagined. It's also helping me understand a great deal more about Stieglitz and his approach to Gallery 291. It's such a treat to think only about my own work, and not about starting school, and so I'll take advantage of what I know will be a rare prospect these next few years. More later!

Pic 1: Slide Rock State Park, Sedona--so much fun!
Pic 2: Lunch at Flora Springs Winery, Napa Valley

Days 12 and 13: The East Rim, Bryce Canyon and Hiking with the Hoo-doos, and Sedona!

2007-08-22T09:59:00.000-06:00

Right now it's day 14, the last day of the roadtrip and I am sitting on the balcony of the Matterhorn Inn in Sedona, Az, looking out to the red rocks the city is so famous for. We arrived here yesterday late afternoon after a 310 mile jaunt from Bryce Canyon in Utah. Bryce Canyon is a truly incredible place, and some of the most spectacular scenery I have yet to witness. It's really like you are on another planet when at the canyon. We arrived at Bryce Canyon on Monday afternoon, after leaving the Grand Canyon via the East Rim (worth seeing--some great views, and a few cool landmarks, like the watchtower below) and headed toward Utah. We were on Route 89 seemingly FOREVER, and it's no accident that parts of that road, through Arizona into Utah, were some of the last places to be mapped in the entire United States. Desolate is the only descriptive I can think of, and even that does not do it justice. Utah is weird; I've no other way to describe it, just plain weird, and Steve and I are still trying to get over our encounters with the local residents of Kanab. A few more marks of civilization begin to emerge as you approach Bryce Canyon, but upon entering the park you just forget about all the desolation of the previous miles. We set up camp at our North Campground site--the basics: a tent, picnic table, fire grate and nearby bathrooms (no shower) and decided to see a few viewpoints before an excellent dinner at the Bryce Canyon Lodge.

The park is known for the tall skinny rock formations known as hoodoos (see below) and the vistas are really amazing and very different in different lights. I honestly thought Bryce was way more interesting than the Grand Canyon, but maybe it's because the whole experience was less crowded and not as commercialized. After dinner we went to Sunset point to, yes, you guessed it, watch the sunset, and then headed back to camp after exploring our options for hiking the next day. The night sky at Bryce is stunning. Whereas because of light concentrations in more developed areas you can only see about 2500 stars, at Bryce you can see 7500. We hiked up to the rim of the canyon near our campsite and stargazed for a bit.
The next morning we woke up early (the timezones keep changing on us), packed up camp, and went on our hike. Steve, the old boyscout, was very gung-ho about this, so I went along with it. We walked the Queen's Garden Trail and the Pueblo loop before heading back to Sunrise Point. It was a 3-mile hike and I was extremely glad we went in the early morning before it got scorching hot. The way down was fine, but the way back up was incredibly challenging. Worth it for both the stunning views and the workout. We were both stunned as to the poor footwear choices of people clambering down (ie the lady in the gold sandals) as well as the lack of people carrying water, and figured they just didn't read the guidebook or realize what they were in for on the way back up. It was a very cool experience, and one I'd repeat despite the knowledge of the awful ascent! If you've not been to Bryce add it to your list!

We headed out after the hike and made our way to Sedona, another very strange and beautiful place. It's very artsy and new-agey here with LOTS of rich people. We went to some galleries yesterday where the minimum pricetags were in the 1000s. Nevertheless, we had a great dinner at a Mexican Cantina, and, since just about everything in Sedona closes at 6, we decided to go to the movies. We saw "Superbad," which was incredibly funny and well worth the price of admission. Go see it!!
Today, after a little more sightseeing in Sedona (surrounded by a plethora of national and state parks and forests) we head to Santa Fe. Steve flies back to Boston tomorrow morning--I can't believe two weeks have passed so quickly! Here's a list of the states we've driven through/visited:

Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah....16 in 13 days--pretty good!

Pic 1: My favorite of Grand Canyon signs
Pic 2: The Watchtower on the East Rim
Pic 3: Bryce Point at Bryce Canyon, Utah
Pic 4: Looking up from the Bottom of Bryce Canyon during our hike
Pic 5: Moon over the red rocks of Sedona

Day 11: The Grand Canyon

2007-08-20T13:06:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the blogging delay, but no wi-fi in the 1950s wigwam (hey, the cable box channels were changed by hand) or in the Yavapai Lodge at the Grand Canyon. So now I am in some Days Inn parking lot somewhere in the middle of nowhere between Arizona and Utah!! We ventured into Winslow, Arizona after leaving our wigwam. We ventured all the way to Winslow, because there was no breakfast to be had anywhere in Holbrook! You wouldn’t think an entire town center could be based around one small lyric from an Eagle’s song, but apparently “Standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona” is the thing to do there. And you stand on the corner with a life-size bronze cast of Don Henley. Steve was having none of it! We finally found the long-sought Falcon Café and enjoyed some delicious (if rather slowly delivered breakfast). Steve’s homemade chorizo in scrambled eggs was particularly good. Today was a relatively short journey, a bit under 200 miles, and we arrived at the Grand Canyon around noon. Upon entering the park (yay, the pass worked again) we realized just how many people visit the Grand Canyon in the summer—thousands!! At Mather Point, the first vista, there was nowhere to park, and rather than wait for a space, we decided to drive on further into the village inside the Canyon, have some lunch, and check into our Lodge. All went smoothly and we decided to follow the park’s suggestion and take the free shuttle buses from viewpoint to viewpoint. After hitting the Visitor’s center we followed the green line out to Yaki point and walked back along the rim trail a few miles to the village. The rim trail is paved and our walk was a quiet one; we hardly saw anyone. We then headed west on the shuttle to see Hopi and Mojave Points, where you could view the Colorado River. The Canyon itself was absolutely stunning and definitely something everyone should see at least once in his or her lifetime. It’s hard to really fathom the depths as you look down. I am not sure I would bring small kids here, as it is really easy to get close to some sheer edge drops. There are more (right now) non-Americans than Americans here, and it’s neat to hear all of the different languages being spoken and to see various cultures ideas of “hiking wear.”

If I came here again, I would either sign up for the white water rafting trip down the Colorado River, or prepare for a hike into the Canyon. It was really surprising to me how pleasant the weather was here today—in the mid-80s, but not humid—and really cool after sundown. I have to say (and this feels a little sacrilegious) that this was not my favorite of the National Parks we visited. I really loved the Painted Desert and the Great Smoky Mountains. Don’t get me wrong, it’s amazing, and I am looking forward to the East Rim views tomorrow as we head to Bryce Canyon in Utah, where we will be camping. Off to bed; I can’t believe the trip is coming to a close so quickly. Driving cross-country has been great and I would totally do it again.

All Pics: Some of my favorite shots from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon!

Day 10: Wigwams and Petrified Wood

2007-08-20T12:58:00.000-06:00

We left Amarillo relatively unscathed after a lovely stay at the Drury Inn, and began another long day of driving—500 miles to be exact! We were helped in our travels by driving through two time zone changes, gaining two hours for ourselves. Our destination today was the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. To get there, we drove ourselves out of Texas (no more speeding tickets), and through New Mexico, into Arizona. Driving through New Mexico was such a change from the plains of Texas and we saw stunning scenery essentially the whole way through. I can’t wait to see more of it during my four-month stay, and I am happy to have any fellow explorers who want to come visit and join in! Sunflowers line route-40 west, and we also traveled some historic Route-66, which is alternately charming, quaint, and extremely busted. We stopped for lunch in Old Town Albuquerque and ate some fine Southwestern cuisine at La Hacienda. Steve enjoyed his first sopapilla (which he described as a cross between a dinner roll and fried dough) and my mouth burned for hours after my encounter with some green-chili sauce, a New Mexican specialty. We then drove past miles of rest stops and “Indian Shops,” stopping at our fair share.

We arrived at the Petrified Forest National Park around 2:30 and checked into the visitor center. I was finally able to use the National Parks pass I bought for the trip and skipped through the $10 entrance fee. This is an absolutely amazing National Park, and one I would highly recommend to any traveler. It’s a 28-mile drive through the park with many stopping points and opportunities to walk around and explore. The vistas are really stunning, as you can see by some of the pictures, but what was most striking was the way the landscape kept changing. We went from the roses, pinks, orangey-browns and greens of the Painted Desert, to the black, blues, and purples of the “tepee” formations and then into the many-hued chunks of petrified wood. We spent about four hours in the park, ending at the Rainbow Museum where we watched a 15-minute film about the park. The best part of the movie was at the end when a man was shown being arrested for stealing some petrified wood, and where a little girl read her letter as follows: “Dear Park, I am so sorry for stealing your wood. You can have it back. Love, Me Me.” At the Rainbow Museum end I spent some time reading letters from people who stole petrified wood and sent it back. Either the theft wore too heavily on their consciences or they had extreme bad luck while possessing the wood. Apparently, around one ton of petrified wood gets stolen every month from the park, mostly in the form of pebble-size pieces. Rest assured, we did not take any!! We then made our way to Holbrook where we spent the night at the Wigwam Motel after having a late dinner at the famous “Joe and Aggie’s” Café. The Wigwams were surprisingly comfy and old school despite the small bed. Off to the Grand Canyon tomorrow.

Pic 1: The Painted Desert
Pic 2: Petrified Wood from the Painted Desert
Pic 3: Lib and Steve at, you guessed it, the Painted Desert
Pic 4: Ancient Petroglyphs—I think these are so cool!
Pic 5: Wigwams! We slept in Wigwam #1

Day 9: 600 miles, hay bales, rain, a speeding ticket...and 72 ounces of beefy goodness!

2007-08-17T20:32:00.000-06:00

Howdy y'all (I must hear this word 50 times a day in the South). As I write this I am in Amarillo, TX, home of the "Big Texan Steakhouse," snuggled under covers in my large and clean room at the I-40 Drury Hotel and Suites. It was not an eventful day for the roadtrippers. We departed the Rosemont Bed and Breakfast (lovely, I would totally stay there again) after a breakfast of fruit salad, sausage omlette, and amazing biscuits in Little Rock around 9am and hit the road for our longest driving day of the trip. 600.1 miles: we spent many hours in Arkansas, many in Oklahoma, and a few in Texas. All of these hours, albeit a few brief food excursions, were spent on Interstate-40 West, a two lane highway populated with trucks, 70 mph speed limits, and lots of Jesus signs. When entering into Texas, we were treated with a sighting of the largest cross in the Western Hemisphere. Awesome. Otherwise, really not that much to report, just sweeping plains, hay bales, a huge windfarm and cows. We ventured into Fort Smith, Arkansas for lunch (not a cool place!) and it bummed us out, but we followed our USA guide for a food recommendation and were not disappointed. We had a lovely $12 lunch at Tammy's Tamales and scooted back to the highway, stopping only for gas, a delicious Sonic diet coke, and when I was pulled over for speeding in Texas. Ah well, I'll take it slower. Fun fact: Texas speeding tickets do not tell you how much they are for, you need to call a judge for a "payment plan" which I will do on Monday. Again, Awesome, thanks Texas. We made our way into Amarillo in time for dinner at the world famous Big Texan Steak House. We were skeptical, but the atmosphere was inviting (and cheesy) and the steaks were excellent. They are famed for the "free" 72 ounce steak (if eaten in an hour) similar to the Old 96-er in the "Great Outdoors" for you John Candy fans out there. Then off to the hotel, where we will be until we head to the Painted Desert tomorrow and our Hobrook, AZ Route 66 Wigwam sleeping adventure. Good Night!

Pic 1: Tammy's Tamales, over 70,000 sold, and today was "free cookie" day
Pic 2: Being serenaded with "On the Road Again" at the Big Texan, how appropriate
Pic 3: Steve surrendering to his 21-oz steak....
Pic 4: Me in the big chair, at yes, the Big Texan
Pic 5: What awaits you in Amarillo....

Day 8: Country Music, Gibson Guitars, and 100+ degree heat!

2007-08-16T20:48:00.000-06:00

Greetings from Little Rock, Arkansas, where we are happily ensconced in the Rosemont Bed and Breakfast, watching HBO on-demand and catching up on Entourage. Yesterday's 100 degree night (it was still 96 at 10 pm) in the breezeless Nashville KOA campground seems but a distant and unpleasant memory. Today was all about the music. We woke up to stifling heat in Nashville and decided we should see something more than the campground in the dark, so we headed to the Country Music Hall of Fame. Now, neither of us are fans of the country music, but the museum is pretty amazing and well worth the visit and the $16 price of admission. We wandered through exhibits on the history of country music, hillybilly music, bluegrass, etc. I enjoyed seeing all of the instruments--especially the steel and the pedal steel guitars and listening to all of the old records. The Hall of Fame portion itself was a bit creepy--too much "never let the circle be unbroken," but there was a fantastic exhibit on Ray Charles, and after about 2 hours, we headed out and drove off towards Memphis.

We were a bit wary about stopping in Memphis as this week is "Elvis Week," and, as billed, the biggest Elvis celebration "ever."
But, we said, what the hell and decided to make a quick run-through. Steve wanted to visit the Gibson Guitar factory, so we called ahead and booked a tour, and headed into town. The Guitar factory and showroom is right next to the infamous "Beale St.," home of the blues, birthplace of rock and roll. SO, while Steve headed in to his tour, I decided to make a trip to the Rock and Soul Museum across the street. It was about this time that we both figured out that the time zones had switched from Eastern to Central, so we had a little more time in Memphis than we thought. The Rock and Soul museum was also well worth it, especially for the more than 100 songs you have access to on the audio tour. I enjoyed seeing Al Green's costumes, and Isaac Hayes's amazing diamond and emerald crusted piano watch next to his giant mink coat. There were some great artifacts in there--guitars, albums, costumes, old jukeboxes and radios and a really well-done history (thanks to the Smithsonian affiliation) of blues, country, and rock-and-roll born in Memphis. Really fascinating. I then met up with Steve, who thoroughly enjoyed watching the factory workers build hollow body electric guitars (this is one of 3 Gibson factories in the country). Fun fact: the factory uses 900 gallons of water a day to keep the factory's humidity at 50%.

We took a quick stroll down Beale Street, marveled at the amount of people from all over the world in town for Elvis week (an Italian guy at the Gibson factory asked to take his picture with Steve b/c he looked like one of his buddy's from home), saw an impersonator or two, and drove out of Memphis. We made a quick stop at the Lorraine Motel, sight of MLK's assassination, but were too late to go to the museum. The hotel balcony itself is amazingly poignant, definitely sends shivers up one's spine.

We then headed off to Little Rock, home of all things former President Clinton. We've spent quite a bit of time on Route 40 west since leaving Asheville--and the Arkansas stretch was lovely in parts and scary in parts. The religious billboards took a scare tactic turn in Arkansas, warning us never to commit adultery and asking us if we died today, where we would be spending eternity? Not on route 40, that's for sure! It took us about 2 hours from Memphis, and once we checked into the
B+B, we headed down to the River Market district to grab a little dinner at a Pizza pub and sports bar hangout. What little we saw of Little Rock was pretty cool, but we have a very long day of driving tomorrow (600 miles from here to Amarillo) so off to bed!

Pic 1: The Atrium of the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville
Pic 2: It's Elvis week in Memphis, the 30th anniversary of his death...need I say more!
Pic 3: The Rock and Soul Museum, Memphis
Pic 4: Gibson Guitar Museum, Memphis
Pic 5: The Lorraine Motel, Site of Dr. Martin Luther King's Assassination

Day 7: On Top of Old Smoky is NOT covered with cheese, but Dollywood is full of it!

2007-08-15T21:15:00.000-06:00

Today was a long and really eventful day as we really covered quite a bit of ground! After a wonderful breakfast of strawberries romanoff, sausage, and baked apple french toast and some comparing of Asheville sightseeing notes with the other guests, we headed off on our adventures. We decided to eschew Biltmore (sorry Vanderbilts) because Steve wasn't really that in to Gilded Age robber baron ridiculous displays of wealth and instead decided to drive through the Rocky Mountain National Park on our way to Nashville. If anybody in the blogosphere ever wants to visit Asheville and Biltmore, I am in!

We entered the National Park in Cherokee, North Carolina and it's about a 40 mile straight shot across to Gatlinburg, TN. We took the detour to Clingman's Dome (7 miles off the main road) so we could climb the 1/2 mile to the top of Old Smoky, the highest elevation in the park. Not an easy climb despite the paved walkway, but we made it and were rewarded with some striking views. The park is really incredibly gorgeous and I would like to come back and really hike and explore more some day. We then made it to the other side, in Gatlinburg, and decided to do a little bit more detouring, so took the 8-mile driving nature trail through the park's south end and were rewarded with a bear sighting, which was pretty cool since, when I got out of the car to take a picture, I was only about 10 feet away from the little guy. Fun fact: the park is known as the Salamander Capital of the world with over 30-different species! On this trail we were near a rushing river (not so rushing without a lot of rain) the whole time and saw quite a few old houses and mills and such. It was a very cool drive, and had the possibility for lots of little side hikes, which I would like to come back and do.

We then headed down 441 on to Nashville. It was about 3pm and we debated how best to spend our time and so we decided to go to DOLLYWOOD--Dolly Parton's downhome amusement park in Pigeon Forge, about 5 miles away from Gatlinburg. We paid the $47/each admission and began the experience. So worth it. I've secretly wanted to check it out since I saw the "So Graham Norton" special on it a few years ago. It was brutally hot, but we were able to ride most of the major attractions--my favorite was the mountain slide, a cool water ride, and Steve really liked the Tennessee Tornado. He made me go on it and I was way too scared--too many loops and upside-down time for me. The real kicker was having my $100 sunglasses fall off into the great beyond at the very end. Ah well, Dollywood was very, well, "Dollywood" and we figured we would never be there again, so why not live it up. Steve ate the biggest cheese danish I've ever seen in my life and we both got this amazing green Dollywood tee-shirt. It would have been better to spend the better part of a day there, but we really did accomplish alot in the 3 hours we had until park closing . We then realized, while driving out of Pigeon Forge, why people would spend a whole week in the "Gateway to the Smokies." On the glorious Rt. 441, there were more mini-golf adventures, arcades, dinner shows, go-kart tracks, airbrushing workshops, and helicopter rides than we have ever seen anywhere else. It looked like a seriously fun place to be and we were sorry to leave, but Nashville beckoned, and so we drove onwards. Of all the places we've been in the past week--both of us agree that we would visit both Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge and the Outerbanks again!

We got to our campsite in Nashville around 9:30pm after dinner at a Mexican place in Knoxville, and set up camp. It was hotter than I have ever felt at night before in my life, and it was an awful sleeping experience (why didn't we buy the tent fan at the Target in VA??????). We learned the next morning, while checking out, that Nashville reached 105 degrees that day, a new record, and that it was still 96 at 10pm!!!! Awful. We took some cold showers in the morning and headed into the gloriously airconditioned Taurus and into downtown Nashville!

Pic 1 and 2: The Great Smoky Mountain National Park--the North Carolina side. So beautiful!
Pic 3: The bear!
Pic 4: Proof that we went to Dollywood!!!!
Pic 5: The ride that scared me to pieces and stole my awesome sunglasses :-(.

Day 6: A New Windshield, Lutheridge, and Asheville

2007-08-14T18:21:00.001-06:00

Good Evening,

I am lying in my extremely comfortable North Lodge B+B "Library Room" bed as I write this and Steve is out in the lounge reading some super-nerdy book about Hacking Google that he found on the shelves. To each their own! While blogging, I am listening to the luscious tunes of "The Reminder" by Feist, a new disc I picked up today while tooling around downtown Asheville (Zajack, if you don't have this one, get it, and Steve also picked up Midlake at your suggestion!)

We got started a bit later than planned today due to the whole windshield replacement thing, but eventually the fine gentleman from Triumph Glass (below) took care of business and we were on our way out of Clemson around 2pm. We spent the morning hanging at the Zajacks, chatting with Mark, learning some new shows ("Psychic," "Survivorman," "Dog the Bounty Hunter"), and having some great sandwiches from the local deli. My turkey on a croissant was certainly more appealing than the scorpions, ostrich egg, and locusts I saw survivorman eat in the desert--gross!! The drive to Asheville was a pleasant one, only about two hours, three megachurches and countless crosses from Clemson. When we got close to Asheville we started to see advertisements for a variety of Christian retirement communities. We happened upon one of these communities named, rather appropriately I thought: "Lutheridge." The crosses on the side of the road today got more graphic (writing not image) and had a lot to say about the saving power of the blood of Jesus. I've no problem with people professing their respective faiths, but it is so strange to see it so openly proclaimed around every corner. Christian condo complexes abound! We saw no offramp signs to the future today, but we did see one to the "Bat Cave," and alas, did not venture off, not knowing if Alfred would welcome us to Master Bruce's lair.

We arrived at our Bed and Breakfast, the Northlodge on Oakland, around 4pm, checked in, got the tour, got settled and decided to see a little of downtown Asheville. I am a huge fan of B+B's--Steve not so much--and this one is lovely. We strolled around downtown Asheville for a bit. I like the city--it's small, funky, and very artsy. We peeked in some galleries (suprisingly reasonable art prices); patronized the local music vendor; and, then went to eat at Tupelo Honey, a restaurant chosen because Kate sent me a gift certificate to it in my birthday package :-). The food did not disappoint. They do Southern with a twist (the twist being local, organic, and slightly healthier). Steve chose the pork loin, and I had the nut-encrusted fried chicken. It was all delicious, but the biscuits with peach butter and raspberry jam were the highlights for me. We intended to do some more strolling in Asheville, but shops close early, so we headed back to the Northlodge. It's been extremely hot in the Carolinas these past 2 days--over 100 both days, so hopefully it cools off soon. Asheville really doesn't seem like the South. The city has a lot of left-over Art-Deco flair from the 1930s (Kate and William, you guys would be big fans of the vibe and the architecture), and a lot of hippies, both young and old. It's likely the artsy influence, and the lovely Great Smoky Mountains backdrop. I've no idea what tomorrow brings. We're trying to decide between the Vanderbilt's mansion--Biltmore; Dolly-wood (seriously); and the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We'll be sleeping in Nashville tomorrow night, camping again, but that's all that I know for certain. We'll see what the morning brings. Be Well!! -Lib

Pic 1: Getting a new windshield in the Zajack's Driveway
Pic 2: The Northlodge B+B on Oakland--our digs in Asheville
Pic 3: The local Asheville music store
Pic 4: Where Kate sent us for dinner...yum, and thanks!
Pic 5: Clarke Kent was nowhere in sight....

Day 5: 70 m.p.h, "Jesus Saves," and Geddy Lee in Chapel Hill

2007-08-13T19:54:00.000-06:00

Hello!

Today we traveled 501 miles, so there's really not a whole lot to report--just a long day of driving. We packed up camp and left Camp Hatteras around 9am and got ready for the drive to South Carolina to visit the Zajacks. We saw many things of interest on the highway today and as Steve drove the whole way (I did offer...)I had plenty of time to observe. A few highlights:

In many spots, the speed limit was 70 mph--this was a first for both Steve and I!

We saw an exit ramp to the "Future" but were too scared of what we might see there to get off....

The Carolinas LOVE Billboards. They are everywhere on the highway--lots of advertisements for discount cigarettes, XXX shops, world's largest fireworks emporiums, and churches. In case you didn't know, "Jesus Saves," a fact I was reminded of every 300 yards.

Most churches have neon signs and crosses directing you off the interstate and into the congregation.

We saw gas prices as low as $2.40/gallon, and cigarettes for $2.10/pack.

There is a giant BMW factory in Greenville, SC.

We decided to get off the highway for lunch in Chapel Hill, NC to check out UNC (lots of light blue everywhere) and to visit one of the restaurants our Roadtripping USA book recommended. We drove around campus, found Franklin St., and headed into Peppers Pizza. Much to Steve's delight, on the menu was a slice named "Geddy Lee." Now, gentle reader, if you don't know who Geddy Lee is, he's only the bassist for Rush, the Canadian power trio and one of Steve's favorite bands! The Geddy Lee was artichoke hearts and sundried tomatoes, a combo that stymied Steve until he inquired of the waitress. She told him that toppings are by the number and so while artichokes are "21," sundried tomatoes are "12," hence "2112," the album title. Awesome. You can see Steve enjoying his slice below. We then headed back to the highway, arriving at the Zajack's lovely Clemson home around 7. We were treated to a super homecooked meal, where Steve decided he did like cous cous after all. Wonders never cease! Day 6 will bring us to Asheville, NC, and we will be departing for that fine city as soon as the friendly windshield man comes to repair the crack from the CT rock!

Pic 1: Peppers Pizza Menu in Chapel Hill, NC (note the "Geddy Lee")
Pic 2: Steve eating a slice of Geddy Lee
Pic 3: The sign on the stairs at the Zajacks in Clemson, SC
Pic 4: The Zajacks

Day 4: Lighthouses, Dunes, and Uncle Paulie...OBX Style

2007-08-12T15:28:00.001-06:00

Good Evening,

So here I am, 10pm, sitting at the picnic table under the stars and blogging at the campsite. You can check out our digs below. Tomorrow we fold up the tent and head out to Clemson, SC to visit the Zajacks, friends of Steve from Colgate. It's a cool 500 miles from here, but the drive promises to be lovely and we do get to go through Roanoke (lost colony, anyone?), so I am looking forward to seeing all of that route 12 national seashore in the light of day. I've made the Zajacks promise some sort of home-cooking as eating out 2-3 meals a day is starting to get to me.

We began our day early, just kicking around the campsite, writing postcards (in my case) and lyrics (in Steve's case) until it started to get hot. We (well, really "I") decided that going to see the Cape Hatteras lighthouse (also below)--the tallest brick lighthouse in the United States--would be a cool thing to do since we were within 20 miles, so we went. It was a really lovely National Park site. I tried to use the $80 National Parks Pass I bought from the US government, but to no avail. The rangers told me it will work "out west;" that remains to be seen--this thing better get me into the Canyons. We paid our $7 fee/each to climb to the top of the lighthouse, all 269 steps to the top, the equivalent to a 12 story building. I heard the ranger tell a visitor that the lighthouse itself was made of 9,000,000 pounds of bricks--a pretty amazing feat of engineering for the mid-nineteenth century. The lighthouse was added on to on a few occasions because the beacon is a particularly important one. It warns sailors of a few very tricky currents, and the waters off of the coast are referred to as the "graveyard of the Atlantic," site of more than 600 shipwrecks. Oh yeah, and the Outerbanks is all about pirate stories--no shortage of skull and crossbones flags. The view from the top was really lovely and it was a completely clear day so you could see both the Atlantic and the Pamlico sound sides for miles and miles. We then travelled to the end of Hatteras Island (any further and we would have had to get on a ferry to Okracoke) and turned around, hungry for lunch and eager for the beach.

Two subway sandwiches later (Steve being a former sandwich artist at the Jersey shore), we headed back to Camp and to the beach. The beach exceeded both of our expectations. You can see the image below, but it was an enormous expanse of shoreline, with big breaking off-shore waves, soft sands, a good breeze, and very warm water. We spent the afternoon there, frolicking in the waves, reading, and trying to remain shaded from the sun (thank you neutrogena sunblock)! The early evening saw some studying from Steve, some laundry from me, and dinner at "Uncle Pauly's East Coast Surf Grill." Here's one of the many things I don't understand about North Carolina: you can still smoke in a restaurant, while eating dinner, or drive through a liquor store, but state law prohibits restaurants from cooking hamburgers anything less than well done. So strange. Nevertheless, a pleasant dinner, followed by a parking lot run-in with Uncle Pauly himself, quite the character. Uncle Pauly (maybe about 50) grew up in Kitty Hawk (of "first flight" fame) right down the road, dropped out of school at 15 and ran away to New York city and became a Union guy, a welder for boilers specifically. He's now back home, running his very strange restaurant. I could go on, but I'll spare you, just picture lots of gold jewelry, a New York accent, a dark tan, a harley hat, and wildly gesticulating hands--that's Uncle Paulie. An ice-cream cone and a shake from the Conery later, we were back at Camp Hatteras. Steve wanted to try out the pool, so we went night swimming, just getting back a few minutes ago. After seeing the beaches, I truly understand the appeal of the Outerbanks, and would definitely come back. Life in the South is a bit slow for me, but it's a fine pace for vacation. Time to get back in the tent, enjoy the ocean breeze and crashing waves, and get ready for tomorrow's long day in the car. Life is good.

Pic 1: Home Sweet Tent, Camp Hatteras
Pic 2: Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
Pic 3: After the 259 step climb to the top of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
Pic 4: The beach at our Campground (seriously)

Day 3: Pancake Houses and Time Travel--Williamsburg Style

2007-08-11T20:14:00.000-06:00

Pic 1: Ye Olde Pepsi Machine--I wasn't aware such things existed in the 18th century....
Pic 2: Libby helping the colonial cause by stomping clay at the brickyard
Pic 3: Steve in the Stocks
Pic 4: This is for you Derek. This picture cost me $72 admission!

Greetings good sirs and ladies,

May I begin the evening by asking, as I sit in my camp chair, in front of my tent at Camp Hatteras in Rodanthe, North Carolina, in the heart of the Outer Banks (or OBX if you're cool): is it really 'camping' if you can be blogging on your computer? Well, it is completely dark, and the girls in the site next to us are roasting marshmallows over a fire, so I suppose I must be camping.

We started the day out in Williamsburg at the "charming" Super 8, and had our pick of no fewer than 15 local "pancake" houses to choose from for breakfast. We chose the Capitol pancake house simply because of proximity, and, once inside, we knew we were truly in the South. Maybe it was the mullets, maybe the fanny packs, maybe the votive candles with names on them for sale, maybe the pitchers of mountain dew at the table behind us, or the Nascar shirts....I am not sure what exactly tipped us off. Steve opted for blueberry, me for banana, and after enjoying our fill we decided to visit actual Colonial Williamsburg, for no other reason than who knows when we will ever be there again. As someone who has chosen history as a profession, you'd think I would have been more into the experience, but truly, the appeal was largely lost on me. You drive into the visitor's center, which looks like any John Hughes movie high school, pay your $36/person admission, hop on a shuttle bus, and are supposedly transported back in time. Actually, you are transported into a zoo of humanity--people from all over the world looking around not quite sure what they have paid to stumble into. Reenactments, restored houses, people in costume, colonial souvenirs....I never didn't feel like I was still in 2007. Some highlights were the cabinet maker's shop, as well as the coopers and the brick yard, where I took off my flip-flops and stomped around in the clay for 10 minutes. Derek requested a picture of Steve in a tricorner hat (see the best of them below), so we tried on a few, watched the fife and drum corps process to the parade ground, and walked back to 2007 via the 1/2 mile path to the visitor's center. I think that it would be nicer in the fall, with fewer people, but I am quite confused how people manage to plan a whole vacation around it. The colonial highway, a veritable smorgasboard of motels and pancake houses, led us to our next stop, Mini-golf USA which boasted itself as one of the 10 best courses in the USA, according to USA Today. Now, I have never set stock in USA Today, a glorified tabloid, but their credibility is now totally shot. It was a decent course, and a very reasonable $6/person, and it did have pin flags, but it was no "10 best." Steve would like you all to know that he won, 45 to 48, but I would like you all to know that I was leading up until the 17th hole.

We then decided to head South to OBX and our camping adventure, so back in the Taurus we were, heading to North Carolina. A mere 150 miles from Williamsburg, it was about a 3.5 hour drive. Once we hit North Carolina, confederate flags were a flyin' and we were inundated with billboards every 10 yards. I saw my first drive-through liquor stores, and lo and behold, we found a "Sonic." Now, anyone on the east coast who watches TV has seen the Sonic commercials, but the elusive drive-ins are nowhere to be seen in the North. We decided we had to give it a try and were not disappointed. I have found the perfect diet coke. Now, for me, a dc connossieur, this is no small feat. Sonic prides itself on being drink specialists, mixmasters, if you will.....Large diet coke, crushed ice, "lime flavor"-four real limes, and a styrofoam cup. Amazing. Steve's cherry limeade was pretty good too. We'll be back. It was still many more miles to Rodanthe and once we hit rt. 12 south, a one lane highway going through the National seashore, we knew we were going someplace cool--20 miles and not a soul or a light in sight, all duned beaches, which I look forward to seeing in the daylight tomorrow.

Well, it's getting late, and I've never camped before, so it's time to go join Steve in the tent and go to sleep to the sound of crashing waves. More tomorrow. Thanks for reading! -Lib

Day 2: Indians and Space

2007-08-10T20:52:00.000-06:00

Greetings,

I must say, I am a bit surprised that the Super 8 even has wireless, but so it does and here I am. Super 8 is no hotel George, that's for sure, but I'll pretend I'm snuggled in down and air-conditioning, so here goes....And oh yeah, Williamsburg, VA is 'definitely' the South.

We started the day in DC on the later side, sleeping off the long drive of yesterday and deciding to go put in a quick workout at the hotel gym. I enjoyed the "bus girl" episode of Dawson's Creek on my private screen while on the elliptical machine while Steve sweated his way through yet another tee-shirt. We then (after showering of course) decided to hit the town and head towards the Washington Mall for a day of museums. We were starved for that meal that comes before lunch if you skip breakfast (brunch?), and so headed out of the oppressive August heat and humidity into the sweet, sweet, airconditioning of the new Smithsonian American Indian Museum. The museum is absolutely enormous--designed sort of like an Adobe Guggenheim--and beautifully landscaped. Our first stop was the cafeteria (remember, I am travelling with Steve), where we were overwhelmed at the selection. They've designed the cafeteria to feature the native foods of different regions, and so while Steve enjoyed a buffalo burger from the Great Plains, I tucked into a chicken enchilada and blackbean salad with quinoa cakes from the southwest. The food was extremely impressive and not really cafeteria like. We then headed to the fourth level to work our way down.

The exhibits were very well designed and informative and I really appreciated the work they did on the ramifications of contact with the Spaniards and other Europeans from the 14th-18th centuries (history nerd alert for most of the rest of the post), but most especially on the difficulties of preserving native and tribal culture today. I also like the choice of including native peoples from Mexico, Canada, and the Carribbean as well. What was really stunning was the fact that most of the museums collections (some 800,000) artifacts, were from ONE collector, a New York investment banker named George Gustave Heye, who died in the 1950s. I like the way that the curators decided to display many of the artifacts in large groups (like the cases with guns from the 15th to 20th centuries) but it sometimes took away from the power of individual artifacts. I highly recommend a visit to the museum if you've not been. After a few hours in the museum we wandered next store to the Air and Space museum, which, upon reflection, really has not changed too much since I was there in 1995.

Steve, preferring "space to Indians," happily wandered from exhibit to exhibit, learning about space flights, jet engines and turbines. Some of the exhibits were cool--like seeing the Spirit of St. Louis, or the old WWI planes. Since the Museum of American History is closed, the Air and Space museum houses a few rooms full of famous American objects, so I headed among the crowds in there to see: Lincoln's top hat, Prince's yellow guitar, Louis Armstrong's coronet, George Washington's Uniform, R2D2 and C3PO, an original Edison lightbulb, etc. We then watched a 3-D imax space station movie, narrated by the creepy Tom Cruise, before heading back out into the oppressive Washington Heat. It was really interesting to see the thousands of people at the Space museum in contrast to the fairly uncrowded Indian museum--telling, I think. We also saw no fewer than 3 kids get some part of a shoe stuck in an escalator in the museum, prompting some freakish situations and rescues. Too many people.

Strolling across the mall, towards the Capitol and the Hotel, we stumbled upon the memorial to the Japanese Americans interned by the US government during WWII. Having taught a great deal about internment the past few years, I knew the monument existed, but had never before seen it. It's tucked away in a remote spot on the way toward Union Station, but the monument setting is much larger than I thought, and extremely moving. The centerpiece is a large crane (for peace) bound with barbed wire, and surrounded by walls engraved with the names of the "Relocation Centers" and the thousands interned there. It was incredibly moving, and really something everyone should see. This was a blight on our history (and maybe I was feeling it more so because of the hours at the Indian museum), and more attention should be paid in order to never forget.

We made it back to the hotel in one piece, picked up the car and luggage, and headed off to Williamsburg. Approximitely 160 miles from Washington, we thought it might take us 2.5 hours to get there, but no, due to some freakish 95 South traffic, it took more like FIVE HOURS. That's a roadtrip for you. We had our first Crackerbarrel (the country store and restaurant) experience, which was better than expected--chick'n'dumplings were good as were biscuits, etc. We finally made it to Williamsburg around 10:30, safe and sound, and ready for bed. Tomorrow, a bit of Colonial Williamsburg, and a drive to the Outerbanks of North Carolina.

Pic 1: Our nation's Capitol, literally....
Pic 2: The bound crane.
Pic 3: The Museum of the American Indian
Pic 4: Steve didn't believe I saw them in the exhibit he refused to go into, so here's proof!
Pic 5: One of the many amusing signs I saw today, this in the Air and Space toystore.

Day 1

2007-08-09T18:43:00.000-06:00

Greetings,

The trip began at 8:30 this morning in Framingham as we pulled out of the driveway slightly behind schedule for our drive to Washington DC. Wait, what schedule--we're on vacation!! All went smoothly until Connecticut when an errant rock hit the windshield and started a bit of a crack--oh well, not like the Taurus doesn't have other dings on it. We spent more time than necessary in New York as the George Washington bridge traffic was backed up for an hour for no apparent reason (shocker). This allowed plenty of time for me to play the license plate game--only one day into the trip I already have 22 different states--and for Steve to listen to all of the Rush songs playing on sirius radio (3 at last count--3 too many). After finally crossing the bridge, Steve and I remembered (with good reason) why we hate New Jersey Turnpike Reststops after an extremely lackluster BK cheeseburger (cold) and salad. New Rule: no more rest stop lunches! After miles of electrical wires and the random cornfields and stop and go traffic we smiled as we exited NJ and crossed into Delaware, Maryland, and then, finally Washington DC around 5:30. We checked into the super cool Hotel George not far from the Capital and were greeted with a box of chocolate covered fruit treats (thanks Kate), two glasses of wine (thanks hotel george), and the news that it was restaurant week in DC, allowing us to be able to afford to eat in the very swank Bistro Bis attached to the hotel. So, we munched on grilled pork and steak frites (banishing all thoughts of Jersey rest stop cuisine) and watched all of the Washington-politicos work the bar crowd. Now, in an airconditioned room (finally!!), under a down cover and watching pre-season football, day one comes to a close. I think Steve's right that you don't stay in the nice hotel first. Somehow, I don't think the Super-8 in Williamsburg is going to hold a candle to this place. Tomorrow we plan to kick around DC--hitting the air and space museum and the Smithsonian.

Pic 1: Steve telling me to stop turning his head to take a picture when he was trying to drive.
Pic 2: The George Washington bridge traffic--more than an hour of glorious truck fumes.
Pic 3: Thanks Kate!!
Pic 4: Who doesn't love when a room comes with zebra robes--Steve relaxing after a 9-hour drive!

I Hate Packing!!!

2007-08-05T18:13:00.000-06:00

We leave in three days for a 15 day trip across the USA, ending in Santa Fe and I am stressing. The trip will be great; I am just having problems wrapping my head around the fact that I am going to be in Santa Fe until Christmas and then moving to Maine. New adventures are exciting, but leaving Boston (and BC!!) after 11 years is bittersweet. Yikes, so much to do. What to bring? (What not to bring?) How to see everyone before I leave? I think I will delay answering any of these questions and instead watch my favorite night of TV--how can you beat John from Cincinnati, Entourage, and Flight of the Conchords on HBO? You can't!!

This is my Research.....

2007-07-27T20:40:00.000-06:00

It's coming too!

This is Fred....

2007-07-27T20:32:00.000-06:00

He's the main reason I get to go to Santa Fe in the first place. Thanks Fred. I love your photographs.