Lily and I spent the past four days Santa Barbara, California, and we both really enjoyed our time there. The city has beautiful beaches, a nice pier, lots of cool stores, and some pretty good restaurants downtown. A couple days ago we went to a great farmer's market right on State Street downtown, and apparently there's a farmer's market every day of the week in the Santa Barbara area in a different place each day! Last night, we had a good, reasonably priced dinner downtown at a place called Opal. All in all, it seems like a pretty good food town. There's a lot going on for such a small city - it's too bad that housing rates are among the highest in the country here. Santa Barbara is on the short list of places we've visited so far on this trip that we would consider moving to when we're done with this trip - if we can afford the rent.
We weren't even sure we'd be able to stay in Santa Barbara for more than one night, but thanks to a new discovery, we were able to stay, have a great time, and meet some new people. For a couple weeks now, we've been having problems finding cheap or free places to park the camper overnight during our travels through southern California. Someone pointed us to a website called couchsurfing.com, which is a very large community of people from all over the world who partake in couchsurfing, whether it be as travelers, or as hosts. Basically, generous people open out their homes and lend their couches to travelers who do not have a place to stay or people to stay with. It's a fun, cheap way to travel, and you get to really get to know new and interesting people along the way. While we do not need couches to sleep on, we do need places to park, plug in, fill water, ect.
We didn't know anybody in Santa Barbara and just discovered couchsurfing.com, and on very short notice, a really cool guy named Kyle emailed us and took us in! He let us plug in, hang out at his pad with his roommates and friends, and use his shower and bathroom. He and his friends told us what to do in town, where to go for dinner, and more, and of course we returned the favor by cooking for them.
Tonight, we got to San Luis Obispo, which is about halfway between Monterey and LA and again another couchsurfer responded to the short-notice request and let us park in his driveway! After spending a lot of time basically by ourselves between Denver and Las Vegas, it's nice to actually socialize with people for a change, and get to know new people.
We really wish we had discovered this sooner!
-Ben
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
LA - NOT a tourist friendly city (but at least Marilyn is here)
You'd think that Los Angeles, being home of the stars and thus home of star-watching, would be a city that would do its best to welcome tourists so it could make as much money off them as possible. But if you're a visitor to LA, you're really on your own as far as figuring out how to get anywhere.
LA is known for its legendary traffic, but it also has exhorbitant parking costs, so what visitor is going to rent a car here? Better to take the public transportation and get where you want to go for a lot cheaper. There's still a problem with that plan though! There are at least three different cities operating public transportation around the LA area: Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Culver City (which, incedentally, is just a part of west LA). On top of that, many of the bus numbers overlap from city to city, so when you want to get on the Metro 2, you might end up on the Blue Bus 2 instead (since they stupidly pick up at many of the same spots along their [very similar, but not similar enough] routes!). As for the LA Metro, there are Metro Local buses, Metro Rapid buses, Metro Express buses, and then just three or four Metro Rail lines for the entire city.
The public transportation has been a source of frustration for us for the past few days, and we realized how much we loved the simplicity of Boston's MBTA. We also have a greater appreciation for New York City's extensive subway system, as well as all the crosstown and up/downtown buses. Even the public transportation in LAS VEGAS was easier to deal with than here. At least in Vegas, all we had to contend with was the lack of expediency, but we always knew where we were going. In LA, the buses are slow, fares are not constant through the three seperate systems, and many of the buses have different AM/PM routes.
The biggest issue is that the vast majority of Los Angelenos drive their own cars, so there is really no motivation to update, consolidate, and streamline the current public transportation. There really needs to be a Los Angeles Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority, but LAMATA doesn't really roll of the tongue.
Good news (for me anyway): Yesterday we visited the cemetary where Marilyn Monroe was buried; we saw her Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame Star; and we saw the concrete slab in front of Graumans Chinese Theater where Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell immortalized their handprints and shoeprints for the premiere of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in 1953. We also had a lovely dinner at Campanile, courtesy (mostly) of Ben working there for a couple days!
We'll be heading up the coast again on Sunday or Monday. Trip Stats: we've surpassed 5800 miles, we're holding steady around 9.5mpg, and our cost per mile at this point is down to 36 cents/mile! Yay cheap gas!
-Lily
LA is known for its legendary traffic, but it also has exhorbitant parking costs, so what visitor is going to rent a car here? Better to take the public transportation and get where you want to go for a lot cheaper. There's still a problem with that plan though! There are at least three different cities operating public transportation around the LA area: Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Culver City (which, incedentally, is just a part of west LA). On top of that, many of the bus numbers overlap from city to city, so when you want to get on the Metro 2, you might end up on the Blue Bus 2 instead (since they stupidly pick up at many of the same spots along their [very similar, but not similar enough] routes!). As for the LA Metro, there are Metro Local buses, Metro Rapid buses, Metro Express buses, and then just three or four Metro Rail lines for the entire city.
The public transportation has been a source of frustration for us for the past few days, and we realized how much we loved the simplicity of Boston's MBTA. We also have a greater appreciation for New York City's extensive subway system, as well as all the crosstown and up/downtown buses. Even the public transportation in LAS VEGAS was easier to deal with than here. At least in Vegas, all we had to contend with was the lack of expediency, but we always knew where we were going. In LA, the buses are slow, fares are not constant through the three seperate systems, and many of the buses have different AM/PM routes.
The biggest issue is that the vast majority of Los Angelenos drive their own cars, so there is really no motivation to update, consolidate, and streamline the current public transportation. There really needs to be a Los Angeles Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority, but LAMATA doesn't really roll of the tongue.
Good news (for me anyway): Yesterday we visited the cemetary where Marilyn Monroe was buried; we saw her Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame Star; and we saw the concrete slab in front of Graumans Chinese Theater where Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell immortalized their handprints and shoeprints for the premiere of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in 1953. We also had a lovely dinner at Campanile, courtesy (mostly) of Ben working there for a couple days!
We'll be heading up the coast again on Sunday or Monday. Trip Stats: we've surpassed 5800 miles, we're holding steady around 9.5mpg, and our cost per mile at this point is down to 36 cents/mile! Yay cheap gas!
-Lily
Monday, December 8, 2008
San Diego - Our kinda place
San Diego's got a lot going for it. It's got very nice weather, beautiful beaches, a nice city park, and lots of good Mexican food. It's wonderful to be able to enjoy the weather and do outdoorsy things at this time of the year. I guess that's one of the big advantages to full-time RVing - we get to drive to where the weather is nice.
We were lucky to find a great RV park to stay for a few of our nights in San Diego right on Mission Bay called Campland on the Bay. For 20 bucks a night, we were able to enjoy a spot just a couple hundred feet from the beach, and just a thirty second walk away from the pool/jacuzzi, with all the necessary RV hookups that alone usually cost $40/night. There were a ton of big RVs there, and a lot in San Diego in general, and I can see why.
We visited a couple beautiful beaches close to where we stayed. Mission beach is a thin strip of land about two hundred feet wide with the ocean on one side and the bay on the other side. We parked the RV, hopped on our bikes, and biked north along beach on the wavy ocean side and then back south along the back on the calm bay side. We also had lunch on Ocean Beach, which is a dog beach (dog park on the beach), and visited the ritzy town of Coronado Beach, which is near a U.S. amphibious Navy base where you can see Marines and Seals training from the highway.
We spent our last afternoon/night in San Diego at Balboa Park, which is the world's largest urban cultural park. There are 15 museums in the park, all of which normally cost money, but we happened to visit on a night when they were having a holiday festival, and all of the museums were free! We had a great time biking and walking around the park, and then enjoyed visiting a couple of the museums amongst the throngs of local festival go-ers.
Our favorite part of the night was the San Diego automotive museum. This place is full of beautiful exotic, classic, and vintage cars and motorcycles. But the highlight was a car and trailer from 1954 that broke (and still holds) the world's endurance non-stop record across the United States. For seven days, three men drove in five hour shifts drove over 7,400 miles from Anchorage, Alaska to Mexico city, re-fueling on the run from trucks on airport runways along the way. The custom car/trailer refilled the radiator and changed oil on the run, and even had hydraulic jacks with wheels attached that enabled the passengers to change a tire while still driving! The trailer holds 230 gallons of gas, 15 gallons of oil, and 30 gallons of water (50 more held in a tank in the car). At the back of the trailer is a tiny table for eating with a nation-wide mobile phone (in 1954?), and the men used a catwalk attached to the bottom of the war to walk outside and climb onto the trailer while moving. The story behind the car/trailer was also very cool - a man named Louis Mattar built it over seven years as a hobby with $75,000 of his own money, with no sponsors.
If anyone reading this visits San Diego any time soon, you should definitely check out that museum. The Mattar car was a lot of fun to see and read about.
We just got to LA, and we're staying with Lily's uncle Bob's brother Art. I'm going to work at one of the city's great restaurants while we're here. Then it's up north along the Pacific Coast Highway towards our next week-long stop, Monterey.
-Ben
We were lucky to find a great RV park to stay for a few of our nights in San Diego right on Mission Bay called Campland on the Bay. For 20 bucks a night, we were able to enjoy a spot just a couple hundred feet from the beach, and just a thirty second walk away from the pool/jacuzzi, with all the necessary RV hookups that alone usually cost $40/night. There were a ton of big RVs there, and a lot in San Diego in general, and I can see why.
We visited a couple beautiful beaches close to where we stayed. Mission beach is a thin strip of land about two hundred feet wide with the ocean on one side and the bay on the other side. We parked the RV, hopped on our bikes, and biked north along beach on the wavy ocean side and then back south along the back on the calm bay side. We also had lunch on Ocean Beach, which is a dog beach (dog park on the beach), and visited the ritzy town of Coronado Beach, which is near a U.S. amphibious Navy base where you can see Marines and Seals training from the highway.
We spent our last afternoon/night in San Diego at Balboa Park, which is the world's largest urban cultural park. There are 15 museums in the park, all of which normally cost money, but we happened to visit on a night when they were having a holiday festival, and all of the museums were free! We had a great time biking and walking around the park, and then enjoyed visiting a couple of the museums amongst the throngs of local festival go-ers.
Our favorite part of the night was the San Diego automotive museum. This place is full of beautiful exotic, classic, and vintage cars and motorcycles. But the highlight was a car and trailer from 1954 that broke (and still holds) the world's endurance non-stop record across the United States. For seven days, three men drove in five hour shifts drove over 7,400 miles from Anchorage, Alaska to Mexico city, re-fueling on the run from trucks on airport runways along the way. The custom car/trailer refilled the radiator and changed oil on the run, and even had hydraulic jacks with wheels attached that enabled the passengers to change a tire while still driving! The trailer holds 230 gallons of gas, 15 gallons of oil, and 30 gallons of water (50 more held in a tank in the car). At the back of the trailer is a tiny table for eating with a nation-wide mobile phone (in 1954?), and the men used a catwalk attached to the bottom of the war to walk outside and climb onto the trailer while moving. The story behind the car/trailer was also very cool - a man named Louis Mattar built it over seven years as a hobby with $75,000 of his own money, with no sponsors.
If anyone reading this visits San Diego any time soon, you should definitely check out that museum. The Mattar car was a lot of fun to see and read about.
We just got to LA, and we're staying with Lily's uncle Bob's brother Art. I'm going to work at one of the city's great restaurants while we're here. Then it's up north along the Pacific Coast Highway towards our next week-long stop, Monterey.
-Ben
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Las Vegas - Bring Money
After two weeks visiting national parks in Utah, Lily and I were more than ready to return to civilization. We bypassed the Grand Canyon for a variety of reasons, mainly because we would have had to drive at least a few hundred miles to get there. We were ready to be back in a city - if that's what you want to call Las Vegas.
See, to me, Las Vegas is more of a giant adult-themed 24-hour amusement park than a city. It's lots of fun, but it's best when you have lots of money to blow. We were there for a few nights, and since we didn't have much disposable income (or any income at all), we spent just one day/night doing the fun things one generally does in Vegas. We had a lot of fun that night, and as a result, not so much fun the next morning. Still, we enjoyed our time there, and will be happy to return if/when we are floating in money.
Now we are in San Diego, enjoying the ocean. I still can't get over the fact that it's December, and we're wearing shorts and T-shirts. Today we biked along Mission Beach and had lunch on Ocean Beach. It's 70 degrees in December - I think I could live in a place like this.
Our camper, on the other hand, is becoming more and more of a pain in the ass to live in. The system of piping leading from our freshwater tank to the water pump decided to leak after thirty years. Today is the first day we've been able to enjoy ourselves - we've spent the past three days attempting to find a solution for a thirty year old system of water piping. I am happy to gloat that we did fix the problem, and are very proud of ourselves for figuring it out. I can guarantee you one thing: the next camper we own will not be older than we are.
-Ben
See, to me, Las Vegas is more of a giant adult-themed 24-hour amusement park than a city. It's lots of fun, but it's best when you have lots of money to blow. We were there for a few nights, and since we didn't have much disposable income (or any income at all), we spent just one day/night doing the fun things one generally does in Vegas. We had a lot of fun that night, and as a result, not so much fun the next morning. Still, we enjoyed our time there, and will be happy to return if/when we are floating in money.
Now we are in San Diego, enjoying the ocean. I still can't get over the fact that it's December, and we're wearing shorts and T-shirts. Today we biked along Mission Beach and had lunch on Ocean Beach. It's 70 degrees in December - I think I could live in a place like this.
Our camper, on the other hand, is becoming more and more of a pain in the ass to live in. The system of piping leading from our freshwater tank to the water pump decided to leak after thirty years. Today is the first day we've been able to enjoy ourselves - we've spent the past three days attempting to find a solution for a thirty year old system of water piping. I am happy to gloat that we did fix the problem, and are very proud of ourselves for figuring it out. I can guarantee you one thing: the next camper we own will not be older than we are.
-Ben
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Views from the road
Denver was a nice city, but not exactly what I had expected. It was great getting to know Lily's brother Sam. He brought us to some fun places: a great amusement park, the real Casa Bonita that inspired a South Park episode, a huge skate park, and we got to see his comedy routine at an open mic night at a bar. All in all, we had a great time with him.
Still, my experience getting work in Denver made me ready to head back on the road earlier than planned. I had to essentially jump through hoops while job hunting, only to land a job at a sub-par restaurant which frustrated me. More can be read about the fiasco on my food blog.
Nevertheless, my mood changed for the better by what we've been seeing in Colorado west of Denver and in the beautiful state of Utah. We've been to five national parks in the Beehive State: Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, and Zion, in that order (pictures to come, Arches photos are now up on Lily's photo blog). We've taken scenic byways wherever possible, which has provided some truly memorable rides. Here's some of the views from the road:
A view of the Rocky Mountains from a pull-off on I-70
Entering a canyon just west of the Rockies
We drive past the "Three Gossips", just inside Arches NP
A shot of the road at the bottom of one of the many canyons we drove through near Escalante
An ordinary sight on the road through Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
Our first sight of a group of hoodoos as we approach Bryce Canyon NP
Still, my experience getting work in Denver made me ready to head back on the road earlier than planned. I had to essentially jump through hoops while job hunting, only to land a job at a sub-par restaurant which frustrated me. More can be read about the fiasco on my food blog.
Nevertheless, my mood changed for the better by what we've been seeing in Colorado west of Denver and in the beautiful state of Utah. We've been to five national parks in the Beehive State: Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, and Zion, in that order (pictures to come, Arches photos are now up on Lily's photo blog). We've taken scenic byways wherever possible, which has provided some truly memorable rides. Here's some of the views from the road:
A view of the Rocky Mountains from a pull-off on I-70
Entering a canyon just west of the Rockies
We drive past the "Three Gossips", just inside Arches NP
A shot of the road at the bottom of one of the many canyons we drove through near Escalante
An ordinary sight on the road through Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
Our first sight of a group of hoodoos as we approach Bryce Canyon NP-Ben
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Pugs!
We finally left Denver a few days ago, and will be posting an update with pictures soon. For now here are a couple pictures of Sam's pugs!
Here's Moo Shu looking so incredibly cute (don't forget to click the picture for the full size image - she's a lot cuter when she fills your entire screen!):
And Butters chewing on one of his favorite toys, a plastic hanger:
We will be posting more soon. We've been hanging out in Moab, UT and Arches National Park for the past couple of days and we took nearly 400 pictures already...!
-Lily
Here's Moo Shu looking so incredibly cute (don't forget to click the picture for the full size image - she's a lot cuter when she fills your entire screen!):
And Butters chewing on one of his favorite toys, a plastic hanger:
We will be posting more soon. We've been hanging out in Moab, UT and Arches National Park for the past couple of days and we took nearly 400 pictures already...!
-Lily
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Kansas is Beautiful, not Boring
Ben and I have been driving through Kansas the past couple of days, and everyone we spoke to said we were going to be thoroughly bored by the state. Although we have definitely driven through endless acres of cornfields and cattle pastures, it's not like anything either of us has experienced before. Part of the point of this trip for both of us it to see and experience people and places that are unfamiliar to us. And for that reason, we actually found it to be beautiful and enjoyed ourselves very much. Saturday night we stayed in a state park, and on Sunday we biked around the park and went swimming. We liked it so much there that we didn't end up leaving until about 5pm. We drove for just two hours and stopped at another state park. It was just as pretty there, but it was too cold yesterday to swim again. We finally made it to Colorado yesterday, but we still have yet to see any mountains! Today's drive will be through the mountains into the city of Denver, and we're hoping Inigo will make the climb well.
Below are some pictures I took on Sunday evening while Ben was driving on Rt 36 through Kansas. The sun was going down behind some clouds, and it was an incredible sight.
-Lily
Below are some pictures I took on Sunday evening while Ben was driving on Rt 36 through Kansas. The sun was going down behind some clouds, and it was an incredible sight.
-Lily
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
St Louis -OR- How to have more fun than anyone else.
The best way to have more fun than anyone else is to go to the City Museum in St Louis. It's basically a huge playground for kids of all ages, and the only people having as much fun as you are the other people there with you. There are a ton of slides and tunnels and caves and everything you can imagine. There is actually a seven-story spiral slide you can go on, but you have to climb up seven flights of stairs to get there of course. The museum is housed in the old International Shoe Co. building, so the seven-story slide is actually a leftover "shoe chute" - like a garbage chute (what I thought it was at first) but for shoes (I probably didn't need to explain that). We did too much there to describe everything, but I'll just say that it is a must-see place for anyone visiting St Louis. Even a quadriplegic could enjoy themselves purely for the visual interest.
While in St Louis, we had dinner at Niche with our new friends Bredon and Carolyn, and enjoyed the hell out of it! I arrived a few hours early to take some pictures in the kitchen, which I will post at some point. It was pretty quiet in the kitchen, but everyone I met was really cool. For dinner, we all decided to let the kitchen send whatever they wanted, and Ben eventually had to tell them to stop because it was just so much food. Ben will write more about it, but highlights for me were: (a) eating the raw tomato slice in the tomato consumme; (b) eating RAW fish for the first time; (c) eating the entire piece of grilled trout; and (d) really liking all of the above.
The next night, Ben and I also at An American Place with his cousin Barry and Barry's wife Laura. Again, we were all very full by the end of an awesome meal. The next night we went to eat at Zia's on "the hill", the Italian area of St Louis, and it was pretty decent, but not nearly as good as the previous two nights. The best food that evening was when we went to Ted Drewe's for frozen custard. Damn it was so good, and I was really regretting having filled up so much at dinner.
We're now in Kansas City, and although we thought we were going to stay here for a couple of days, we realized that there's only one thing we are actually interested in here: going to Arthur Bryant's for BBQ. So we'll do that tonight, and then hit the road again tomorrow to head towards Denver.
We filled our gas tank yesterday for a ridiculous price of $3.229/gal. Then yesterday evening we saw it for $3.199/gal. I was sad we hadn't waited to save even more, but not as sad as today when we saw it for $3.119/gal! I don't know why the hell gas is so cheap here, but I am really not complaining.
Current Trip Stats: 3605 miles; 378 gallons of gas; 9.54 overall mpg
-Lily
While in St Louis, we had dinner at Niche with our new friends Bredon and Carolyn, and enjoyed the hell out of it! I arrived a few hours early to take some pictures in the kitchen, which I will post at some point. It was pretty quiet in the kitchen, but everyone I met was really cool. For dinner, we all decided to let the kitchen send whatever they wanted, and Ben eventually had to tell them to stop because it was just so much food. Ben will write more about it, but highlights for me were: (a) eating the raw tomato slice in the tomato consumme; (b) eating RAW fish for the first time; (c) eating the entire piece of grilled trout; and (d) really liking all of the above.
The next night, Ben and I also at An American Place with his cousin Barry and Barry's wife Laura. Again, we were all very full by the end of an awesome meal. The next night we went to eat at Zia's on "the hill", the Italian area of St Louis, and it was pretty decent, but not nearly as good as the previous two nights. The best food that evening was when we went to Ted Drewe's for frozen custard. Damn it was so good, and I was really regretting having filled up so much at dinner.
We're now in Kansas City, and although we thought we were going to stay here for a couple of days, we realized that there's only one thing we are actually interested in here: going to Arthur Bryant's for BBQ. So we'll do that tonight, and then hit the road again tomorrow to head towards Denver.
We filled our gas tank yesterday for a ridiculous price of $3.229/gal. Then yesterday evening we saw it for $3.199/gal. I was sad we hadn't waited to save even more, but not as sad as today when we saw it for $3.119/gal! I don't know why the hell gas is so cheap here, but I am really not complaining.
Current Trip Stats: 3605 miles; 378 gallons of gas; 9.54 overall mpg
-Lily
Sunday, September 14, 2008
A Sidewalk in Memphis Gave Me the Blues
We spent last night on Beale street in downtown Memphis, enjoying some drinks and some live blues, jazz, soul, and funk music. Our night was cut short when we got off the trolley at one point and stepped onto the sidewalk, where my clunky new shoes and mild inebriation caused me to roll my ankle pretty badly. It's still hurting a lot this morning and I'm going to try not to put any weight on it today. I'm pretty sure nothing's broken, though - it feels like a really bad sprain, and I'll probably be fine in a few days.
We had a great time yesterday. We went to Interstate Bar-B-Que for lunch, one of Memphis's temples of pork. Then we went to Sun Studio, where Elvis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, B.B.King, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and others recorded early in their careers in the 1950's. We made it just in time for the guided tour, which was a lot of fun. In between explaining the history of the studio and the exhibits displayed, the tour guide played a lot of music, including the first, unreleased recording of Elvis, and some songs from a few legendary blues musicians from the 50's. It was a great time.
Yesterday (Friday) we noticed a bizarre phenomenon with the hike in gas prices due to Hurricane Ike slamming into some Texas oil refineries. Gas prices were very low in Tennessee on Thursday - usually under $3.50/gal. On Friday, we saw an Exxon selling gas at $3.99/gal, right next to that a BP station selling gas at $3.44/gal. That's a difference in 55 cents a gallon, right next to each other! That particular BP was a day behind the other gas stations in raising their prices, but hey, the lines of cars vying for time at their pumps were almost out onto the street. Another gas station a mile down the road was selling for $4.19/gallon. That's two gas stations one mile apart, with a 75 cent difference in price per gallon!
-Wax
We had a great time yesterday. We went to Interstate Bar-B-Que for lunch, one of Memphis's temples of pork. Then we went to Sun Studio, where Elvis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, B.B.King, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and others recorded early in their careers in the 1950's. We made it just in time for the guided tour, which was a lot of fun. In between explaining the history of the studio and the exhibits displayed, the tour guide played a lot of music, including the first, unreleased recording of Elvis, and some songs from a few legendary blues musicians from the 50's. It was a great time.
Yesterday (Friday) we noticed a bizarre phenomenon with the hike in gas prices due to Hurricane Ike slamming into some Texas oil refineries. Gas prices were very low in Tennessee on Thursday - usually under $3.50/gal. On Friday, we saw an Exxon selling gas at $3.99/gal, right next to that a BP station selling gas at $3.44/gal. That's a difference in 55 cents a gallon, right next to each other! That particular BP was a day behind the other gas stations in raising their prices, but hey, the lines of cars vying for time at their pumps were almost out onto the street. Another gas station a mile down the road was selling for $4.19/gallon. That's two gas stations one mile apart, with a 75 cent difference in price per gallon!
-Wax
Friday, September 12, 2008
Down South
We had a great time in Atlanta while we were there. It was great spending time with family, and we got to see a bit of the city when we stayed with Lily's uncle Bob for a few days. We went to the Georgia Aquarium, the largest aquarium in the world, where we saw whale sharks feeding and beluga whales having fun and showing off. Lily will post pictures soon in her photo blog.
Last night we arrived in Memphis, where we're staying at the Elvis Presley Boulevard RV Park. We took route 72 through Alabama and northern Mississippi on our way to here. Man, there's nothing as far as the eye can see in northern Mississippi. Route 72 is a very straight road with very predictable hills through forest with the occasional dreary looking farm. I could see about five miles ahead of me and behind me and I rarely saw another car on either side of the two lane highway. It makes for a boring yet peaceful drive. As we go west, I'm sure we'll start to encounter more and more of this.
Today we went to Graceland, because hey, it's Memphis and we're a few blocks away. Since it's so expensive ($29 to see it all), we decided to see Elvis's automobile museum. It was small, but pretty cool. Elvis really had a great taste in cars. Lily took pictures, which I will bug her to post. It bothers me how much Elvis is exploited at Graceland - all the museums are expensive, and there are tons of gift shops selling some really lame stuff that I can't believe people actually buy. But Elvis is and was larger than life, so why not celebrate his life by throwing money in the garbage.
From where we've been so far in the south we've notices some interesting, some troubling trends. There are churches everywhere - in really rural areas along some of the local highways it seems like half of the buildings we see are churches. Also, there are lots and lots and lots of fast food joints in the towns. I'm going to write more about that in my food blog. College football is HUGE in the south. Oh, and for some reason there are a ridiculous amount of subdivisions down south. Even though there is so much unpopulated land down here, sometimes it looks like over half the population is living in very close quarters in the same looking quarter-of-a-house. I would estimate that %75 of the buildings we see are churches, fast food restaurants, or subdivision housing.
Well that was a crabby blog...
-Wax
Last night we arrived in Memphis, where we're staying at the Elvis Presley Boulevard RV Park. We took route 72 through Alabama and northern Mississippi on our way to here. Man, there's nothing as far as the eye can see in northern Mississippi. Route 72 is a very straight road with very predictable hills through forest with the occasional dreary looking farm. I could see about five miles ahead of me and behind me and I rarely saw another car on either side of the two lane highway. It makes for a boring yet peaceful drive. As we go west, I'm sure we'll start to encounter more and more of this.
Today we went to Graceland, because hey, it's Memphis and we're a few blocks away. Since it's so expensive ($29 to see it all), we decided to see Elvis's automobile museum. It was small, but pretty cool. Elvis really had a great taste in cars. Lily took pictures, which I will bug her to post. It bothers me how much Elvis is exploited at Graceland - all the museums are expensive, and there are tons of gift shops selling some really lame stuff that I can't believe people actually buy. But Elvis is and was larger than life, so why not celebrate his life by throwing money in the garbage.
From where we've been so far in the south we've notices some interesting, some troubling trends. There are churches everywhere - in really rural areas along some of the local highways it seems like half of the buildings we see are churches. Also, there are lots and lots and lots of fast food joints in the towns. I'm going to write more about that in my food blog. College football is HUGE in the south. Oh, and for some reason there are a ridiculous amount of subdivisions down south. Even though there is so much unpopulated land down here, sometimes it looks like over half the population is living in very close quarters in the same looking quarter-of-a-house. I would estimate that %75 of the buildings we see are churches, fast food restaurants, or subdivision housing.
Well that was a crabby blog...
-Wax
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Congratulations to the Singers!
Ben and I have been in Roswell, GA, helping his sister and her family get ready for the baby. Mainly, Ben has been cooking a ton of food so they have yummy meals to eat in the next couple of weeks while Carrie is recovering. Ben hasn't really needed my help in the kitchen, except for taking care of a ton of dishes. Now they have a really well stocked freezer with three to five meals each of gumbo, bolo ragu, grilled chicken, and corn ragu.
On Saturday night, Carrie and Eugene decided to take us to Greenwood's to experience some southern cooking. Starting at 6pm, when we left, Carrie was having contractions, and all through the meal, Eugene was timing them. They thought it was probably just "practice" labor, which happened last time Carrie was pregnant. Around 9pm, after we got home, they decided to head to the hospital, and Ben's niece, Mia Heather Singer, was born around 8am, Sunday, Aug 31, 2008, about two weeks early. She was 6 1/2 pounds and absolutely adorable! Mom and baby are doing well, if a little tired. Here are a few pictures:
Looking like a grumpy old man:
With her proud big sister, Michelle:
-Lily
On Saturday night, Carrie and Eugene decided to take us to Greenwood's to experience some southern cooking. Starting at 6pm, when we left, Carrie was having contractions, and all through the meal, Eugene was timing them. They thought it was probably just "practice" labor, which happened last time Carrie was pregnant. Around 9pm, after we got home, they decided to head to the hospital, and Ben's niece, Mia Heather Singer, was born around 8am, Sunday, Aug 31, 2008, about two weeks early. She was 6 1/2 pounds and absolutely adorable! Mom and baby are doing well, if a little tired. Here are a few pictures:
Looking like a grumpy old man:
With her proud big sister, Michelle:
-Lily
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
They're EVERYWHERE
So last night we stayed at my 92-year-old grandmother Romey's house in Rockingham, North Carolina. We parked our camper hidden behind her house, because she was worried people might drive by, see it, and try to break into the camper.
Little did we know we parked right on top of a huge colony of red fire ants.
I wake up at 9:00, and Lily is still fast asleep so I lounge around for an hour, reading a magazine. Lily wakes up at around 10:00, and Romey "asks" us if we want breakfast. Apparently cereal isn't good enough for Lily and me - she practically insists cooking us eggs, sausages, grits, toast, and coffee. We appease my 92 year old grandma by accepting the offer, but only under the condition that I help her, to which she replies, "Now don't you worry baby I'll fix it, now sit down with 'ya girlfriend and read your magazine."
Lily and I sit down with Romey and enjoy our wonderful breakfast, and after I am able to sneak next to the sink and start cleaning the dishes. She notices the second I turn the water on, and she demands, "Oh baby I'll take care'v those." Like an offensive lineman protecting the quarterback from a blitzing linebacker, I cut her off, "Romey I'll take care of these finish your breakfast!" She's the boss and we're the guests, but I'm three times her size and there's now way she's doing these dishes. I'm relaxed, enjoying my time with Romey, and now I'm helping.
Meanwhile, Lily sneaks out to the camper to grab her deoderant. She opens the door and sees an ant crawling across the step. Then a few more on next step up, then...
"Uh honey we have red ants in our camper," Lily says as I'm scrubbing away. I shrug, figuring it's just a few and we just need to clean up a bit and they'll go away. "Lots of ants", she says, sensing that I don't understand the urgency of the situation. "Like, all over the place." I walk out and jump in the camper. She wasn't kidding. They're crawling everywhere - on the floor, on the stove, in the stove, in the oven, on the cushions, under the cushions, in the sink, on the walls...everywhere. Red ants bite. And when they bite, it hurts...a lot.
Lily jumped in the driver's seat and moved the camper out of the yard and into the driveway. Romey points out the huge anthill we accidentally parked on, and covers it with sawdust-like at poison in a bag. We finished the bag in the camper - we put the stuff on every surface, in every crevice we could think of. It did a pretty good job of shriveling up those pesky little things. A couple hours later, with nary a single little ant left in sight, we vacuumed and scrubbed the place like crazy. Now we're on the road, and it's a lot better, but we've seen and killed about ten more ants since the first monstrous onslaught. There's bound to be some stragglers, but hopefully the vast majority met their maker.
Still, our short stay with Romey was great. We spent some quality time with her, and she taught me how to make her southern fried chicken! She sent us packing with a fridge full of food...chicken, sweet potato pudding, cake...I feel like I'm being fattened up for Thanksgiving. Now we're headed through North Caroline, South Carolina, and Georgia on our way to my sister's house in Atlanta, where I'll be cooking up a storm in preparation for the arrival of Mia Heather, my neice-to-be. And then...who knows?!?!
-Wax
Little did we know we parked right on top of a huge colony of red fire ants.
I wake up at 9:00, and Lily is still fast asleep so I lounge around for an hour, reading a magazine. Lily wakes up at around 10:00, and Romey "asks" us if we want breakfast. Apparently cereal isn't good enough for Lily and me - she practically insists cooking us eggs, sausages, grits, toast, and coffee. We appease my 92 year old grandma by accepting the offer, but only under the condition that I help her, to which she replies, "Now don't you worry baby I'll fix it, now sit down with 'ya girlfriend and read your magazine."
Lily and I sit down with Romey and enjoy our wonderful breakfast, and after I am able to sneak next to the sink and start cleaning the dishes. She notices the second I turn the water on, and she demands, "Oh baby I'll take care'v those." Like an offensive lineman protecting the quarterback from a blitzing linebacker, I cut her off, "Romey I'll take care of these finish your breakfast!" She's the boss and we're the guests, but I'm three times her size and there's now way she's doing these dishes. I'm relaxed, enjoying my time with Romey, and now I'm helping.
Meanwhile, Lily sneaks out to the camper to grab her deoderant. She opens the door and sees an ant crawling across the step. Then a few more on next step up, then...
"Uh honey we have red ants in our camper," Lily says as I'm scrubbing away. I shrug, figuring it's just a few and we just need to clean up a bit and they'll go away. "Lots of ants", she says, sensing that I don't understand the urgency of the situation. "Like, all over the place." I walk out and jump in the camper. She wasn't kidding. They're crawling everywhere - on the floor, on the stove, in the stove, in the oven, on the cushions, under the cushions, in the sink, on the walls...everywhere. Red ants bite. And when they bite, it hurts...a lot.
Lily jumped in the driver's seat and moved the camper out of the yard and into the driveway. Romey points out the huge anthill we accidentally parked on, and covers it with sawdust-like at poison in a bag. We finished the bag in the camper - we put the stuff on every surface, in every crevice we could think of. It did a pretty good job of shriveling up those pesky little things. A couple hours later, with nary a single little ant left in sight, we vacuumed and scrubbed the place like crazy. Now we're on the road, and it's a lot better, but we've seen and killed about ten more ants since the first monstrous onslaught. There's bound to be some stragglers, but hopefully the vast majority met their maker.
Still, our short stay with Romey was great. We spent some quality time with her, and she taught me how to make her southern fried chicken! She sent us packing with a fridge full of food...chicken, sweet potato pudding, cake...I feel like I'm being fattened up for Thanksgiving. Now we're headed through North Caroline, South Carolina, and Georgia on our way to my sister's house in Atlanta, where I'll be cooking up a storm in preparation for the arrival of Mia Heather, my neice-to-be. And then...who knows?!?!
-Wax
Monday, August 18, 2008
Capital City adventures
Yesterday we left the Washington DC area, after spending four nights. We arrived pretty late on Wednesday night, after driving the entire way from New Rochelle, NY, an all-day drive. Ben's cousin Josh and his wife Stephanie very kindly let us stay in their driveway on really short notice. Thursday was spent not doing a whole lot, and in the evening we had a nice dinner with Josh and Stephanie, and their kids Elizabeth and Matthew. Ben made a baked penne dish that came out quite tasty. Friday we went into DC very early. We meant to go to the zoo for just a couple hours, but it ended up being more like five or six. I got some good pictures which I will be posting in the next couple of days. We relaxed for a few hours, and then met up with Allison to walk around DC and go to dinner. We went to Jaleo, a tapas place owned by Jose Andres. It was pretty good, but not outstanding; the tapas we had in Spain were, of course, way better. We were truly disappointed by Andres' rendition of patatas bravas, but the sangria was really good. More about that on Ben's food blog.
After dinner we went to a bar called "Poste" which is located in the old post office building (so shouldn't it be called "Post"?). They looked like a kind of trendy place, but they had a huge outdoor seating area and lots of home-infused liquors. I got a faux-Dark and Stormy: instead of ginger beer and rum, I got ginger-infused rum and ginger ale. It was really really good. I can't remember what Allison and Ben got, but they both ordered drinks with some of the infused vodkas. After a couple drinks, we wandered back to Allison's and got some sleep.
Since Ben and I only got to the zoo on Friday, we wanted to make sure we caught at least two museums on Saturday. The first one we went to was the National Air and Space Museum, where we again spent a lot longer than we expected. We paid way too much for McDonalds lunch (the only food available) and spend another hour or so there. I was originally really excited to go there, but I realized that I'm a lot more interested in where people go into space than how they get there. Some of the shuttles and satellite displays were pretty cool though. After taking in as much as we could handle, we made our way to the International Gallery, where they were having a special exhibit on Jim Henson! It was the coolest exhibit I've ever been to. Even though I didn't grow up watching Sesame Street or Fraggle Rock or The Muppet Show, I've seen the latter, and I was able to appreciate most of the exhibit. Henson was a funny, creative, and wonderful artist and person.
Last night we stopped at Misty Mountain Camp Resort around 7pm. Ben grilled some sausages, onions, and potatoes over the fire. Today we got on the road around 1pm and are now heading down Route 29 in Virginia on our way to Ben's grandma Romey's house in North Carolina. We drove about 50 miles through the George Washington National Forest, which was a really pretty drive, though a very gas-guzzling hilly drive. Every gas fillup is getting cheaper and cheaper, per gallon anyway. We just filled up for $3.459/gal, and not five minutes later passed a station listing $3.359/gal! Our current trip stats are about 1900 miles, about $1000 on gas, and 9.33 overall mpg.
-Lily
After dinner we went to a bar called "Poste" which is located in the old post office building (so shouldn't it be called "Post"?). They looked like a kind of trendy place, but they had a huge outdoor seating area and lots of home-infused liquors. I got a faux-Dark and Stormy: instead of ginger beer and rum, I got ginger-infused rum and ginger ale. It was really really good. I can't remember what Allison and Ben got, but they both ordered drinks with some of the infused vodkas. After a couple drinks, we wandered back to Allison's and got some sleep.
Since Ben and I only got to the zoo on Friday, we wanted to make sure we caught at least two museums on Saturday. The first one we went to was the National Air and Space Museum, where we again spent a lot longer than we expected. We paid way too much for McDonalds lunch (the only food available) and spend another hour or so there. I was originally really excited to go there, but I realized that I'm a lot more interested in where people go into space than how they get there. Some of the shuttles and satellite displays were pretty cool though. After taking in as much as we could handle, we made our way to the International Gallery, where they were having a special exhibit on Jim Henson! It was the coolest exhibit I've ever been to. Even though I didn't grow up watching Sesame Street or Fraggle Rock or The Muppet Show, I've seen the latter, and I was able to appreciate most of the exhibit. Henson was a funny, creative, and wonderful artist and person.
Last night we stopped at Misty Mountain Camp Resort around 7pm. Ben grilled some sausages, onions, and potatoes over the fire. Today we got on the road around 1pm and are now heading down Route 29 in Virginia on our way to Ben's grandma Romey's house in North Carolina. We drove about 50 miles through the George Washington National Forest, which was a really pretty drive, though a very gas-guzzling hilly drive. Every gas fillup is getting cheaper and cheaper, per gallon anyway. We just filled up for $3.459/gal, and not five minutes later passed a station listing $3.359/gal! Our current trip stats are about 1900 miles, about $1000 on gas, and 9.33 overall mpg.
-Lily
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Great time in New York
After a short layover back in Waltham, and more than a few hundred dollars spent on brake repairs for our camper Inigo, over the past few days we stayed in New Rochelle, NY with my brother Aaron, sister-in-law Diana, and nephew Seth. We were really spoiled in New York - we got our cute kid fix playing with Seth, our doggy fix playing with their dog Missy, and we ate lots of great food, including a really top notch meal at Craft in Manhattan (more on food blog). Last night, Aaron and Diana sent us to a really fun outdoor theater (Shakespeare's Twelth Night) on a cliff overlooking the Hudson River, where we drank wine and ate a nice picnic dinner before the play. The play itself was a riot - great actors, great music...just a lot of fun all around. It was really a treat.
Today we drove all the way to Washington, D.C. from New Rochelle. It was probably too much driving in one day for us. We really want to make the most of our time in D.C. though so we wanted to be here all day tomorrow. We drove through New Jersey where we got gas for $3.51/gal compared to $4.17/gal in New Rochelle. If only we had some kind of reserve tanks that we could fill up in Jersey.
We're staying with our cousins Josh and Stephanie for a few days a little bit outside D.C. We'll be spending time with my friend Allison whom I haven't really seen in a few years. Then we're off to Atlanta to visit my sister Carrie, possibly through Charlotte, N.C. where we might stay with my grandmother Romy for a night or two. The camper is really chugging along great, which is a turn in the right direction!
-Wax
Today we drove all the way to Washington, D.C. from New Rochelle. It was probably too much driving in one day for us. We really want to make the most of our time in D.C. though so we wanted to be here all day tomorrow. We drove through New Jersey where we got gas for $3.51/gal compared to $4.17/gal in New Rochelle. If only we had some kind of reserve tanks that we could fill up in Jersey.
We're staying with our cousins Josh and Stephanie for a few days a little bit outside D.C. We'll be spending time with my friend Allison whom I haven't really seen in a few years. Then we're off to Atlanta to visit my sister Carrie, possibly through Charlotte, N.C. where we might stay with my grandmother Romy for a night or two. The camper is really chugging along great, which is a turn in the right direction!
-Wax
Saturday, August 2, 2008
The end of our stay in Rockland
Right now we are heading down rt. 95 back to Boston for a few days. We had such a great time over the past few weeks in Rockland, and we'll miss everyone at Primo.
Yesterday we spent the day at Old Orchard Beach. We got caught some rays, swam in the ocean, rode on some fun rides, and walked into some cool shops. The night before we had dinner at Bresca in Portland on recommendation from a couple Primo employees, and it was excellent (for more detail, check out my food blog). Last night we stayed in Biddeford again and saw another movie (Hellboy 2) at Smitty's Theater, which is just about the coolest movie theater ever.
Once again we quietly stayed at the Walmart in Biddeford overnight, and Lily and I are both annoyed at how many other campers use Walmart parking lots as their own personal campgrounds. Walmart is very generous to allow RVers to stay overnight in their lots free of charge, but visitors are expected to be quiet and only stay for a short time. Last night there were about 20 RVs staying at Walmart. Some of them were running their obscenely loud generators. Some people were outside in the parking lot playing music and drinking beer. This morning before we left, the parents of a few families traveling together decided it was okay to let all of their kids run around and play in the parking lot. On our way out, we saw a few trailers unhitched with their pick-up trucks or SUVs gone, probably out on a day trip. It's horrible how disrespectful these people are. And to top it off, most of the RVs are big and expensive, so why can't these people just pay the $40 for a spot at a campground and do whatever they want?
After our few days in Boston, we're off to see Aaron, Diana, and Seth in New York for a few days. Then we're headed to D.C. to visit Matt and Allison, and then we're off to Atlanta for a couple weeks.
-Wax
Yesterday we spent the day at Old Orchard Beach. We got caught some rays, swam in the ocean, rode on some fun rides, and walked into some cool shops. The night before we had dinner at Bresca in Portland on recommendation from a couple Primo employees, and it was excellent (for more detail, check out my food blog). Last night we stayed in Biddeford again and saw another movie (Hellboy 2) at Smitty's Theater, which is just about the coolest movie theater ever.
Once again we quietly stayed at the Walmart in Biddeford overnight, and Lily and I are both annoyed at how many other campers use Walmart parking lots as their own personal campgrounds. Walmart is very generous to allow RVers to stay overnight in their lots free of charge, but visitors are expected to be quiet and only stay for a short time. Last night there were about 20 RVs staying at Walmart. Some of them were running their obscenely loud generators. Some people were outside in the parking lot playing music and drinking beer. This morning before we left, the parents of a few families traveling together decided it was okay to let all of their kids run around and play in the parking lot. On our way out, we saw a few trailers unhitched with their pick-up trucks or SUVs gone, probably out on a day trip. It's horrible how disrespectful these people are. And to top it off, most of the RVs are big and expensive, so why can't these people just pay the $40 for a spot at a campground and do whatever they want?
After our few days in Boston, we're off to see Aaron, Diana, and Seth in New York for a few days. Then we're headed to D.C. to visit Matt and Allison, and then we're off to Atlanta for a couple weeks.
-Wax
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Garlic, Garlic, and more Garlic
I've been working in the vegetable and herb gardens at Primo. Emily is the head grower, as well as the bee-keeper and pig feeder. It's been fun learning about planting, and I've been doing a lot of weeding as well. Last Tuesday was my first day, and I just did a few hours. I watered a bed of newly planted peas and prepped a bed and planted some greens. I got to pick some raspberries, which were really tasty. On Wednesday, I started at 9am, which is a little early for me (understatement of the year?). I picked fava beans. And I picked more fava beans. For about three hours I picked fava beans. They're really hard to to find, because the pods look the same as the stalks and the leaves. My back hurt a lot after doing that, but it was lunch time by then.
After lunch we started the immense amount of garlic harvesting.
There were three sets of beds full of garlic, I'm guessing at least 400 bulbs altogether. The steps for harvesting garlic are:
1 - pull up garlic bulbs from ground, keeping roots and leaves intact (pretty tiring and back-breaking, especially in the hot hot sun)
2 - clean bulbs by pulling off one or two layers of skin/paper/leaf (fairly tedious and time-consuming)
3 - tie together in bunches
4 - hang bunches for about two weeks to dry out and cure
The garlic has to be kept cool while doing this until it's time to hang them. As soon as the bulbs are out of the ground, they have to go in the shade. All the cleaning and bunching has to be done in the shade. I worked with Emily and her assistant Kelly on Wednesday pulling up three beds of garlic bulbs, cleaning and bunching them. It's actually pretty gratifying work to harvest garlic. After dying in the sun while pulling it up, it's beautiful to see the bright white bulbs all cleaned and tied together.
Thursday I had the day off and decided to bike to downtown Rockland and Walmart. I was incredibly pooped by the time I got back, but I love riding my bike so much. Ben and I went to dinner at the bar at Primo on Thursday night, and the food was pretty awesome again. And again it was comped, which is such a great way to get paid.
Friday I worked in the gardens again. I picked a bunch of edible flowers for the kitchen. It's incredibly how many different types of edible flowers there are growing here. I can't remember all the names of them, but I remember having seen some of the at dinner the night before. Around 10 or so, I started on pulling up three really long beds of garlic. All by myself. By the time they were all pulled and I had brought them into the shade, Emily came over and said it was lunch time. After lunch the two of us cleaned all of it. We just finished cleaning it around 4:15, so we had family meal (Primo's staff meal, around 4pm every day), and finished bunching it afterwards. This afternoon I saw Kelly hanging them beneath the porch of the restaurant.
Yesterday and today Ben and I both had the days off, so we've been taking it pretty easy. Last night we realized that something was going on with our fridge - it was not keeping cold anymore! Since this is a new fridge, and it's been flashing "lo dc" we figured something funky was going on with the batteries. We checked them, and sure enough one of them was really low on water. For more information about why this is bad, go to wikipedia, but the basic story is that if the plates in the battery are exposed to air, the battery will kind of fry itself out or something. This morning we went to Autozone and traded in for two new batteries. We now have to see if this will completely solve the problem; we're not sure if the batteries are getting charge when we're plugged in, but we got one thing taken care of.
In a few minutes we're planning on biking to the next town over to see "Dark Knight" - if the rain doesn't come down any harder...
-Lily
After lunch we started the immense amount of garlic harvesting.
There were three sets of beds full of garlic, I'm guessing at least 400 bulbs altogether. The steps for harvesting garlic are:
1 - pull up garlic bulbs from ground, keeping roots and leaves intact (pretty tiring and back-breaking, especially in the hot hot sun)
2 - clean bulbs by pulling off one or two layers of skin/paper/leaf (fairly tedious and time-consuming)
3 - tie together in bunches
4 - hang bunches for about two weeks to dry out and cure
The garlic has to be kept cool while doing this until it's time to hang them. As soon as the bulbs are out of the ground, they have to go in the shade. All the cleaning and bunching has to be done in the shade. I worked with Emily and her assistant Kelly on Wednesday pulling up three beds of garlic bulbs, cleaning and bunching them. It's actually pretty gratifying work to harvest garlic. After dying in the sun while pulling it up, it's beautiful to see the bright white bulbs all cleaned and tied together.
Thursday I had the day off and decided to bike to downtown Rockland and Walmart. I was incredibly pooped by the time I got back, but I love riding my bike so much. Ben and I went to dinner at the bar at Primo on Thursday night, and the food was pretty awesome again. And again it was comped, which is such a great way to get paid.
Friday I worked in the gardens again. I picked a bunch of edible flowers for the kitchen. It's incredibly how many different types of edible flowers there are growing here. I can't remember all the names of them, but I remember having seen some of the at dinner the night before. Around 10 or so, I started on pulling up three really long beds of garlic. All by myself. By the time they were all pulled and I had brought them into the shade, Emily came over and said it was lunch time. After lunch the two of us cleaned all of it. We just finished cleaning it around 4:15, so we had family meal (Primo's staff meal, around 4pm every day), and finished bunching it afterwards. This afternoon I saw Kelly hanging them beneath the porch of the restaurant.
Yesterday and today Ben and I both had the days off, so we've been taking it pretty easy. Last night we realized that something was going on with our fridge - it was not keeping cold anymore! Since this is a new fridge, and it's been flashing "lo dc" we figured something funky was going on with the batteries. We checked them, and sure enough one of them was really low on water. For more information about why this is bad, go to wikipedia, but the basic story is that if the plates in the battery are exposed to air, the battery will kind of fry itself out or something. This morning we went to Autozone and traded in for two new batteries. We now have to see if this will completely solve the problem; we're not sure if the batteries are getting charge when we're plugged in, but we got one thing taken care of.
In a few minutes we're planning on biking to the next town over to see "Dark Knight" - if the rain doesn't come down any harder...
-Lily
Monday, July 14, 2008
Driving up the coast of Maine
Right now we're headed towards Rockland, ME up route 1. Last night we stayed at a Walmart in Biddeford, ME and decided to see a movie at a theater close by. We saw Hancock, which was great, but real story is the theater we watched it in. Smitty's Theater isn't the typical theater, it's set up for "dinner and a movie" with long tables flanked by columns of the most comfortable reclining chairs we've ever sat in in a movie theater (they were basically really nice office chairs). A waitress comes by before the movie and during previews and takes your order for some decent food (think Friday's or Chili's) at very good prices. We split a large soda, a big chicken quesadilla, and a brownie sundae for $13. Plus we were able to get in for $5.50 each using our now void-but-nobody-knows student I.D.s . We're totally going to another movie there on our way back down the coast!
Yesterday we stopped at Kittery Trading Post to get a couple camping and RV things and some kitchen equipment. I can't believe how big the outlets at Kittery have become. I don't remember so many outlet malls when my family would go to Kittery when I was little. The Trading Post hasn't really changed, though.
We're starting to feel pretty comfortable with the camper, especially after being home for a few days and taking care of a few little things. Today will be our first day in Rockland, and I might be working my first day at Primo tonight. Needless to say, we're pretty excited.
-Wax
Yesterday we stopped at Kittery Trading Post to get a couple camping and RV things and some kitchen equipment. I can't believe how big the outlets at Kittery have become. I don't remember so many outlet malls when my family would go to Kittery when I was little. The Trading Post hasn't really changed, though.
We're starting to feel pretty comfortable with the camper, especially after being home for a few days and taking care of a few little things. Today will be our first day in Rockland, and I might be working my first day at Primo tonight. Needless to say, we're pretty excited.
-Wax
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Honk Honk - Camper Updates
Yesterday we got to Waltham to stay for a few days and do some stuff on Inigo. One really important issue was not having a horn. We played around with it for a few hours today, and with a little help from my dad, we finally figured out how to get it to work! We totally high-fived each other when we fixed it. So now we can honk at the idiots that think it's a good idea to cut off a 10,000 pound vehicle going 60 mph. Another mechanical thing we wanted to do was change the oil and oil filter. Of course that took longer than expected, but it was really quite simple. And messy.
We're still having problems with the inverter, but we're trying not to get too depressed about it. It just means we can't watch TV when we're not plugged in. Or we can shell out an additional $140 for a bigger inverter. We don't really like the idea of spending more money right now. We will probably wait it out and see how we deal with our current inverter (...no pun intended).
-Lily
We're still having problems with the inverter, but we're trying not to get too depressed about it. It just means we can't watch TV when we're not plugged in. Or we can shell out an additional $140 for a bigger inverter. We don't really like the idea of spending more money right now. We will probably wait it out and see how we deal with our current inverter (...no pun intended).
-Lily
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Baseball HOF and gas
Today we went to the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. Neither of us had been there before. Main street storefronts around the HOF go card store, memorabilia store, ice cream store, card store, gift shop, ice cream store...so as you could imagine the whole town is geared towards families willing to spend big bucks on their kids. The HOF itself was not exactly what I had expected, but we still enjoyed it. The "baseball experience" multimedia thingy was terrible though - probably the cheesiest movie I've ever had to sit through.
Today we filled up the tank at the tune of $161. Ugh. We calculated 8.3 mpg, which is a couple miles less than we had expected. We'll be trying to bring that ratio closer to 10 mpg by keeping the tires filled with air, getting our load lighter, slow acceleration, and choosing our routes wisely (which doesn't help mpg but helps our bottom line). If anyone has any other advice on reducing mpg in a big truck, please do tell.
Tonight we're staying at the Walmart in North Adams, Ma again on our way back to Waltham.
-Wax
Today we filled up the tank at the tune of $161. Ugh. We calculated 8.3 mpg, which is a couple miles less than we had expected. We'll be trying to bring that ratio closer to 10 mpg by keeping the tires filled with air, getting our load lighter, slow acceleration, and choosing our routes wisely (which doesn't help mpg but helps our bottom line). If anyone has any other advice on reducing mpg in a big truck, please do tell.
Tonight we're staying at the Walmart in North Adams, Ma again on our way back to Waltham.
-Wax
Monday, July 7, 2008
After the 4th
We spent this past weekend at Seneca Lake in New York. My great-aunt Jane has a little cottage on the western side near Himrod, and she has 9 kids, most with kids of their own. So I have a bunch of second cousins that range in age from 2 years old to 30 years old. We stayed at a camp site with my mom that was about a mile or two away from the cottage, so we biked there on our awesome new bikes a few times. As short as the ride was, we were both somewhat sweaty and out of breath both ways. I think we both need to build up our biking endurance a bit more.
Ben's started feeling pretty sick, and we're unsure of whether it's just a bad cold or allergies to something in the camper. He's been a really good sport though, still cooking for me plenty and doing little things around the camper.
Yesterday for lunch, we decided to grill some hot dogs on our $20 walmart grill. Well, the grill is fine, though a little rickety, but we had a bitch of a time getting the charcoal started. We REALLY need a chimney starter. After about 30 minutes or maybe longer, we finally had enough charcoal lit to... wait another 15 minutes for it to all be hot enough to grill over. And all for a few measly hot dogs!
Last night I had better luck building a fire: I did an awesome job of getting one started in about five minutes and after a few logs had burned down to mostly coals, we set up the grill grate over the heat and put on one of the steaks. Ben sliced an onion and a potato to grill. Everything was just seasoned with salt and pepper, and a little bit of oil to help cook better. Once the onions were done, Ben chopped them and dressed them with a little aged balsamic (not the cheap stuff, this is 10-year-aged stuff that's almost syrupy) and fresh basil. Holy crap was that meal awesome last night. The steak was so juicy and tender, and the onions were really tasty. The potatoes came our really nicely too. Ben cut them pretty thin, and they cooked pretty quickly and well.
Right now we're in Richfield Springs, NY staying in the parking lot of a Price Chopper supermarket. Tomorrow we'll be heading to Cooperstown for the Baseball Hall of Fame and Ommegang Brewery. After that we're headed back to Boston, but we may take more than a day to get there, because Ben isn't really up to driving right now and I did a bunch of driving already today. Maybe we'll jump on I-90 and just get to Boston really quickly - I think Ben would feel a lot better if he could take a nice long bath. Speaking of bathing, we both used the shower in the camper today, and it's not bad. A little cramped, more-so for Ben of course, but the shower nozzle has decent pressure. Anyway, it's totally fine for when we don't have better showers available to us.
-Lily
Ben's started feeling pretty sick, and we're unsure of whether it's just a bad cold or allergies to something in the camper. He's been a really good sport though, still cooking for me plenty and doing little things around the camper.
Yesterday for lunch, we decided to grill some hot dogs on our $20 walmart grill. Well, the grill is fine, though a little rickety, but we had a bitch of a time getting the charcoal started. We REALLY need a chimney starter. After about 30 minutes or maybe longer, we finally had enough charcoal lit to... wait another 15 minutes for it to all be hot enough to grill over. And all for a few measly hot dogs!
Last night I had better luck building a fire: I did an awesome job of getting one started in about five minutes and after a few logs had burned down to mostly coals, we set up the grill grate over the heat and put on one of the steaks. Ben sliced an onion and a potato to grill. Everything was just seasoned with salt and pepper, and a little bit of oil to help cook better. Once the onions were done, Ben chopped them and dressed them with a little aged balsamic (not the cheap stuff, this is 10-year-aged stuff that's almost syrupy) and fresh basil. Holy crap was that meal awesome last night. The steak was so juicy and tender, and the onions were really tasty. The potatoes came our really nicely too. Ben cut them pretty thin, and they cooked pretty quickly and well.
Right now we're in Richfield Springs, NY staying in the parking lot of a Price Chopper supermarket. Tomorrow we'll be heading to Cooperstown for the Baseball Hall of Fame and Ommegang Brewery. After that we're headed back to Boston, but we may take more than a day to get there, because Ben isn't really up to driving right now and I did a bunch of driving already today. Maybe we'll jump on I-90 and just get to Boston really quickly - I think Ben would feel a lot better if he could take a nice long bath. Speaking of bathing, we both used the shower in the camper today, and it's not bad. A little cramped, more-so for Ben of course, but the shower nozzle has decent pressure. Anyway, it's totally fine for when we don't have better showers available to us.
-Lily
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
And we're off!
"Hello! My name is Inigo Winnebago, you killed my engine battery, prepare to die!"
This morning we replaced the battery that the six fingered man killed. The thing was deader than dead - no miracle in the name of true love (or "to blave") would have saved it. Just when we were all finally packed and ready to go yesterday night, we turn the key and...nothing. What a start to our trip. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing though, because there was a pretty big thunderstorm about half an hour later, which we would have been driving in if Inigo had started right up. And now we're on our way just a day later and it's beautiful out today.
Right now we're on our way to the Albany area, about halfway to Seneca Lake for the fourth of July. Rt. 2 is a really nice drive. Tomorrow I'll post my first food blog. This laptop/wireless internet thing we have going on is pretty sweet - we'll be connected pretty much everywhere we go!
-Wax
This morning we replaced the battery that the six fingered man killed. The thing was deader than dead - no miracle in the name of true love (or "to blave") would have saved it. Just when we were all finally packed and ready to go yesterday night, we turn the key and...nothing. What a start to our trip. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing though, because there was a pretty big thunderstorm about half an hour later, which we would have been driving in if Inigo had started right up. And now we're on our way just a day later and it's beautiful out today.
Right now we're on our way to the Albany area, about halfway to Seneca Lake for the fourth of July. Rt. 2 is a really nice drive. Tomorrow I'll post my first food blog. This laptop/wireless internet thing we have going on is pretty sweet - we'll be connected pretty much everywhere we go!
-Wax
Go Inigo Go!
So we've already had our first hiccup: I left the headlights on after the party last weekend, and the engine battery is dead. Silly Lily. We wanted to leave by July 1, but it looks like it'll be July 2 instead.
Good news though, we named the motorhome Inigo!
More to be posted as we actually get on the road...
-Lily
Good news though, we named the motorhome Inigo!
More to be posted as we actually get on the road...
-Lily
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