the road most traveled for years

These past two weeks I've driven the least of the different 2 week chunks. When I have a chance to rest and stay over, I certainly like to take it. Averie is going to be in Boston soon, not for long, but I am dragging my heels. Right now it is six more days, but that is so long in road trip time! But I suppose I could go up North, camp, and come back, instead of home basing it, which is what I have been doing. Darrah is very kind to have me. And Jill, who is also staying here. Both very kind, lovely ladies!

Now I'm finding things to do in Rhode Island. Yeah, I think I will go camp up north for a few days. I miss camping. Except there are tick warnings and I don't have anyone in my life that could check me for ticks. Decisions.

Well, whatever happens will happen. I don't want Lyme disease though. That isn't something that needs to happen.

So on Tuesday I drove down into Connecticut, nice and proper this time so now I can count it in my state count: 29! Rhode Island will bring me nice and neat to 30. Then it is 18 to go, and that is hardly any number! I want to get to Butte before BT leaves.

I got a medium morning start on driving, but it was still a bunch of driving. Several hours. But it went well. Lots of zigzagging to avoid tolls. I wish telling how much tolls will be was a readily available part of Google Maps, because it just warns of tolls but doesn't say how much. Will it be 6 bucks? 17? 2? If it is 2, I'll pay 2, because I burn more gas driving around, but it if it's a lot then well, screw that.

So I drove to New Haven, where Michael recommended going for art museums, and Yale's art museum was FREE! So that is a done deal. There was street parking readily available, and it was only a buck fifty an hour! But limited to two hours, but that only shaved half an hour off my time at the museum, because parking was covered till 4:30 and the museum closed at 5. They even had free lockers! So I could stroll with just my notebook. And it turns out ~2 hours was perfect for the collection. They had a nice Stubbs, I really dug this Winterhalter. They had a few Eakins as well. I guess Eakins is very East Coast. There was a west coast exhibit with some Thiebauds. Love his work. There was a collection of miniatures and they even provided a magnifying glass to really peer at them. So cool! I love miniature portraits so much.

I drove a couple blocks and parked again and went to the uber Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. A pleeb like me couldn't touch the books, but I could walk around their glass enclosure and look at a Gutenberg Bible and Audubon Folio (also behind glass). It was a very cool building. The exterior was made with some sort of marble that didn't let light in, but sort of glowed in the sun. Very...epic.

I got an iced green tea from Blue State Coffee and sat and read for a bit, then I drove to Mystic, and walked around the seaport a bit. Unfortunately I couldn't get near the wooden boats without breaking and entering. But it was a nice place to watch the sunset. It was an easy drive back. I'm getting an earlier start today.

On Sunday I caught a matinee of Snowpiercer, which was all dystopian and neat and claustrophobic, though it had some shakey cam. Good casting with Alison Pill, Tilda Swinton, Chris Evans, Ewen Bremmer, Jamie Bell, Luke Pasqualino, and others. There were pancakes and chicken too. And we went out for fish and chips on Monday. It was a big platter type meal, instead of individual plates. The sunset in my eyes, but it was still pretty. It's nice out here in Gloucester. Quiet, yet established. It doesn't feel empty like so many towns I have driven through. These East Coast towns are too close to establishment and money and work. Schools.

So. 10am. Rhode Island. But first I must shower.

New York, New York (and Long Island)

Where do I start to describe New York? Well no one pooped in the street, so it has that up on San Francisco.

I left Philly at 4ish, and drove towards New Jersey. Crossed the border and gas dropped a quarter, so I filled up and continued on a scenic route towards Atlantic City. Not much of a drive, about an hour tops. It really isn't a big state. I parked near the boardwalk (for free, points to Atlantic City) and strolled up and down it. There was a triathlon finishing up and there were some tired sweaty athletes, and lots of cheering families with sponsor logo cowbells that they jangled in support. It was hard to find a neon sign at the Trump Palace Whatever that didn't had a letter burned out. Lots of the neon was partially burned out. I recently heard a story that Showboat had closed down suddenly. I guess Atlantic City isn't doing so well.

After dark, I cruised up the Garden State Parkway, which was a toll road but the tolls ranged from seventy five cents to a buck fifty, which isn't bad at all compared to some that are six bucks for an hours worth of driving. Then BAM bridge toll into New York: $13!! Dang! And I got turned around and hit another bridge toll (there was construction on one bridge) (and it was actually the Holland tunnel, not a bridge, and I was deposited into New York, but it was 2:30am so it was mostly vacant streets and I just wanted to get outta there, but I got onto the Queens Bridge or something like that) and just all of it was bridges bridges bridges. When you go to an island, you gotta cross a bridge. But no more tolls! Hurray! I camped out in a Wal Mart and then in the morning I went to Carly's house (after dropping off my parking fee from Philly). Carly, like many, lives with her parents. But her ma Jeanette and pa Jim were very nice. Jeanette treated us to diner food even! I gobbled down some eggs benedict. Carly took me to Sunken Meadow State Beach Park Place Thingy and we walked along the beach and boardwalk. Then there was much lounging at the house and watching TV. Tomorrow we went into THE CITY. NEW YORK CITY. THE BIG APPLE PLACE.

8:30 get out of bed to get to the train station for the 9:30 into the city. It is a longish train ride on the LIRR (Long Island Rail Road), with a transfer in Huntington. They need a bullet train. And to think many people make this ride every day as their commute! But I drove from San Francisco to Santa Cruz for a few weeks....but that was until I moved. Most can't move into New York.

So! New York! We arrived at Penn Station, and it was hustling, but Carly lead the way and we met up with her friend Thomas who then lead the way. And being lead around New York is great, because people generally know where they are going and then you aren't just standing and looking at a map and wondering and trying to figure stuff out. A sense of purpose goes a long way. So we were lead onto the street, and in describing New York I can only really say it was a big city. Big buildings, lots of cars, lots of people. We went through a bit of Chinatown and there was a fishmonger with live crabs getting shuffled about in their basket, and a live lobster too, but not in a tank. And people selling toys from stalls, and souvenirs, and fashionable people were everywhere! Lots of ladies in dresses and men in suits. I was wearing my Arizona necklace (this nice one I got from a stand on the side of the road in Arizona), and a black tank and a bit of makeup, so I wasn't totally a ruffian, but still way outdressed by the hoi polloi.

We met up with a fourth friend, Denise, and we all went to Joe's Shanghai. Though there was some subway taking. Down into the subway! Metro card purchasing! Going through the turn thingy and going on one train then transferring! How exciting. And easy because Thomas knew where we were going. Joe's Shanghai was a crowded place and our six person table had two more people added to it, but that is fine. We ordered dumplings and some noodles and food and gobbled the tasty dumplings down. I burned my mouth only a little bit. The restaurant had photos of the owner with famous people who had eaten there: Jake Gyllenhaall, Jessie Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Cera. A very nummy experience. Juice was procured, though I opted out. We stood in Jamba Juice for a while enjoying the A/C. New York was hot today. High 80's. Though not as bad as Florida. Nothing will ever be as bad as Florida's heat. How can people stand it? My bug bites are still healing, but are almost gone.

Denise was walked to work and then we parted ways. One more subway later and we were at The Met! Which is an awesome museum because hey: suggested donation admittance! We each paid a buck and that was that. Oh what a museum! Thomas left at 3:30ish and Carly and I were ushered out at 5:15 at closing time.

I saw George Washington Crossing the Delaware, more Eakins and Homer, more Van Gogh, Matisse, Sargent, I discovered the work of Lilly Martin Spencer. Yay for a new lady in an art museum on top of the old regulars. We also saw some funny ugly renaissance babies. The Garry Winogrand exhibit was happening, and I saw the art book from the exhibit at Wilson's, so that is another example of repetition and foreshadowing in this journey of mine. It's building upon itself! The museum was even bigger than the Philadelphia Museum of Art, but with cheap admittance one could easily return many times...provided they live in New York. But yeah! I was happy I got to see that.

We got some snacks and walked around. Went into Cental Park for a bit and I was all "I'm in Central Park!" Though it didn't really hit me all the way that I'm in New York. Maybe because I was visiting with the confidence of my companions, so that it didn't feel so daunting and huge. It was still huge. I'll be back, but hopefully when I'm famous and invited to a convention or something.

On the way back both our phones died, but we knew enough to know where to get to a subway station and based on a map which routes to take, and then we undertook the 9 block hot trot to the LIRR station from Times Square. The train back left every hour on the :20 and last time we checked a clock was a while ago, so we weren't sure if we were going to miss it, or if we had half an hour. So yeah, we did a medium job to the station and arrived sweaty and hot and frazzled and it was 8 o'clock! And the train was delayed till 8:40! So we had plenty of time to catch our breath, grab some food at the station, and then call home via payphone to let Jeanette know what train we will be on. Trial and tribulations and it all worked out, hurray!

At home we sat and sat and then slept and slept. Jeanette went to a bakery and brought back this chocolate epic chocolate thing for me! I just said surprise me when she was making the order and she sure did. Later on we got McDonald's. Now Carly and I are going to drive out to Montauk and see whats up with there. It's a nice day for a bit of a drive. I'll be seeing Elnora soon. There might be some camping tonight. Or some sleeping in car... either way, I'll figure it out.

I've now seen a part of John Wilkes Booth's thorax

My laundry is tumbling in a dryer upstairs. Once it is done, I shall fold it and put it away and ride off into the day...to a gas station.

I had a big day yesterday! Lots of walking around and enjoyment. I opted to try public transit, as Kathryn's house is near a train station, so that's pretty much the easiest and surefire route to get anywhere. Clearer stops and all that. And with my smart phone, I could Googlemaps public transit options. The train was more train than fancy light rail. I grabbed a spot and waited for the ticket taker to show up so that I could pay. I bought the all day ticket, so I could take any transport at any time with no worry. It was a very pretty ticket, with shiny logos and lots of colors and the date punched out. I love seeing the bonafide ticket punchers, it's so...well almost archaic now with everything being scanable and digital. So I got my pass, and got off downtown and walked in circles a bit before I figured out where I was going.

The start of the day was all about the Mütter Museum. It was a collection of medical artifacts, tools, preserved medical oddities, and just all around... gross stuff. There were many deformed fetuses in jars, fetus skeletons, a whole wall of skulls, an impacted colon, several skeletons including one with a very rare bone disease where the guy spent 15 years pretty much in the same position in care. The artifacts were preserved in a sort of sickly way. They looked more real and organic. Not very dried out and polished. All the bones in the Museum of Osteology were pristine looking. These bones were...not. And the jarred specimens. You just can't get past a cycloptic baby in a jar. Yeah. It was ... gnarly. But I enjoyed it! Because that is how I do. I did need a breath of fresh air in the Benjamin Rush Medicinal Plant Garden. And I caught the Brothers Quay weird art film they made in the museum.

From the gross glory of the Mütter, I walked to the Rodin Museum, which I got free admission for with yesterday's Philadelphia Museum of Art ticket. I checked out all the bronzes and admired the handiwork. Then I was getting hungry so I knew it was time: Philly Cheesesteak time.

I decided to go to Geno's, which I guess is the tourist option. It was a walk aways, but I had my walking shoes on and my mp3 player full of tunes, so off I went! Philadelphia has a pretty good assortment of shops. A lot of times when walking for miles through a city, it seems like once you get past a street it just drops to residential and then that is it. My path went through food stall streets, and upscale shopping streets, and just restaurants and smoothie places and galleries. It was a really nice variety, and I could see myself spending much more time here just eating and checking out art. Philly, parking aside, is great. I like it more than Austin, that's for sure.

So Geno's was across the corner from Pat's and I guess they have a rivalry? Each place has a long line, but I assumed the lines moved fast. Which they did. I struck up a conversation with the lady behind me in line, and she said I was her hero for taking this trip. A hero! Me!

I gobbled down my sandwich on some person's doorstep stairs. Very tasty, though the cheesesteak I had from that vendor in Portland was better I'd say. Then I plugged in the Reading Terminal Market into my GPS because I wanted ice cream, and I grabbed a bus nearby and waved my all day pass, and boom off I went! But oops the market closes at 5 as it turns out. So I just got on the train and headed back, because my dogs were majorly barking!

The train was different from the one I went in on, and it dropped me off at a different Jenkintown stop, so there was a moment of panic of "oh my god please let me be on the right train, please GPS don't have lied to me!" but I got there all right. No problems with public transit whatsoever! And it also made me aware of my skillset of just taking trains and dealing with schedules and all that stuff. I didn't grow up with public transit, so it's all been stuff I've learned in the past 7 years. Anyway, it's good to have a sense of capability, I think.

At the house I snacked and watched TV and slept pretty well, though I slept on my arm weird. It's fine now, but there was a painful bit of it just being sore and stiff.

So I'm waiting on laundry. Guess I'll start loading my car and packin' it up. I'll head off to New Jersey, but I'll try to avoid toll roads. Just go to the beach or something. Princeton's art museum is free, and only an hour away, but it closes at 5 due to it being a Sunday and it's 2:30 now.

Philly bucket list

If only I hadn’t gotten so lost in a meandering way, if only I hadn’t stopped to get something to drink, if only I hadn’t swung by Ross to get a replacement pair of cheap flats…I may have gotten to my car 11 minutes earlier and not gotten the $36 parking ticket for the expired meter! Damn Philadelphia, I was liking you but your parking is ridiculous and expensive. The downside of city visiting: gotta pay if you wanna park near & safe. Oh well. Could be worse. Philly is nice. Has a lot going on and tons of museums. I spent all day today just at ONE museum and there was still more I could see. Tomorrow I’ll go to the Mutter and get that Philly cheese steak, and then that is that. I’m staying with Kathryn, one of Celia’s friends. She is out of town for a bit of my stay, but I can still stay here! How nice is that? Very nice. I’ve also met her daughter Clare and her son Eamon. Their house is very nice, with tons of pretty rugs and nice tapestry on the couches and monkey wallpaper in one of the bathrooms. I love seeing all these houses.

It was an easy drive out here from Marietta, though I did have to pay a toll, though not the costliest of tolls. I sat at the house and hung with Clare and Eamon for a while, before heading downtown. I went to Reading Terminal Market, which was a block of food stalls under one roof. Tons of restaurants of all sorts, and the place smelled great. Very hustle and bustle. I eventually decided on artisanal grilled cheese. A brie and pine nut and cranberry grilled cheese. It was so good. And I finished it off with some fudge. I then wandered down to Mostly Books, a used book shop with other used stuff. I rifled through the antique photos. I sweated. And as I mentioned, after all my wandering and shopping I returned to my car just a bit too late.

I didn’t linger in the evening. I just went back to the house and showered and chatted and tucked into bed early. Big day tomorrow!

All day was spent at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It was HUGE with a massive collection of essential fine art. I parked in their lot and used my Olympic College ID to get student discount. I peeled off the “fall 2011” sticker first. I have my PNCA ID, but I look younger in that. If I’m going to cheat the system, I might as well use the less obvious cheat. And it worked! Hurray!

I started with the prints and drawings. They had some WPA prints which were lovely, even if their registration wouldn’t have passed my standards. Then I went into the American Art section. I totally missed The Gross Clinic on the first go around, but I returned to it at the end of the day. Yes. The. Gross. Clinic. By Eakins. I’ve seen so much fine art in person now. And some of it was stuff I’ve seen when it was on tour at Portland Art Museum. I saw Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in the European Art wing. Saw a bunch of Winslow Homer, who I didn’t know existed till now but damn I love him. In the Modern and Contemporary Art wing I saw a massive Alex Katz, instantly recognizable out of the corner of my eye.

The museum had the mandatory women artists: Alice Neel, Mary Cassat, Judith Leyster, and Berthe Morisot.

Duchamp had his amazing section at the end of the wing. I grabbed a selfie with Nude Descending Staircase. I think Duchamp would approve. There was The Bride Stripped Bare by her Grooms, Even in all its shattered glory. And a recreation of R. Mutt. And just tons of stuff I’ve seen in art books, but there! I didn’t know they had that much in one spot, but damn there it was. And Etant Donnes was there. Duchamp’s final piece. 20 years of work. It’s an installation that you have to approach. There are these bar doors and you peek through a hole in the door and you are looking at a reclining nude woman holding a glass lamp. It’s a sculpture in the scene, though as much as you lean over, you can’t see her face. And the figure is laying on a bed of sticks and the whole scene is painted in the background. It’s a bit pervy, amplified by having to peep at the art. I learned about this piece years ago and knew I’d have to see it one day. Philadelphia has been on my list for ages. Seeing this piece was on my bucket list. Was. I’m accomplishing on this trip things I’ve wanted to accomplish for so long. I’ll have a short bucket list when I’m done. I still can’t believe I’ve seen it, though I was pressed against that door for a good long while, gawking.

There is a Picasso Minotaur print exhibit. That was nice. I do like his line work and intuition. And a photography exhibit devoted to the use of flash in the medium. At the Perelman Building was a Patrick Kelly exhibit with lots of his fashion on display. Utterly delightful! I was starting to flag but getting outside and eating a bagel got a bit of pep in my step for the last leg of it. The museum was open late, but my energy ran out at 5. 6 hours!

But I’m not even done talking about the art that I saw. You see why I’m so tired? I like to take my time and look. There was a kid who powered through the Eakins gallery just snapping a picture of each painting and moving on, not even looking. And there was a cluster of loud German tourists. And a kid that was whining to his mom and wanted to go, even though it was like… noon so the kid couldn’t have been there long. Brat!

Saw an epic Rubens. The galleries have some exhibits that are set up like old rooms. Old Flemish rooms, Dutch rooms, Victorian rooms. So you can see some of the stuff in context instead of behind glass. I saw Frans Hals and a Vermeer, which was authenticated because the canvas came from the same bolt of cloth that another Vermeer was painted on. That is s ome CSI shit right there.

Here is a list of artists I made note of: Antonio Fransconi, Alfred Bendier, Jacob Eichholtz, Winslow Homer, Sir Frederick Leighton, Charlemont, Vuillard, Kay Sage Tanguy, Noel Mahaffey, Kamisaka Sekka, Collin Son(Sun?), and George Stubbs.

I feel like I’m forgetting something. But damn it was an epic wander of art. I got back to the house at 6 absolutely pooped. Now I’m just going to chill. Tomorrow: Mutter & Cheese Steak. And then probably more chilling. And then Sunday will take me to New Jersey. Taking my time. Eight weeks! I keep forgetting to reset my odometer, but I’m not putting on too many miles these past few days, so it shouldn’t throw the next two weeks count all that much.

brutalist architecture

Had a very nice day going about. Being driven in an unfamiliar city is awesome. Had a nice rest. I'll be sleeping under roofs for the next few nights! So awesome! This is the social stretch of my journey, I suppose. Anyway, we had oatmeal for breakfast and Wilson added marshmallow cereal which gave it a nice nudge of texture and sweetness.

From there we went into DC and I am SO GLAD I didn't drive in it! Lots of weird turns that send traffic in odd directions. Parking was expensive in a garage but we managed to find a spot on the street. But uhg, yeah if I had to drive in DC I would just just forked over the 20-something for the first garage I found and legged it from there, and even then I probably would have spent oodles of time in traffic getting agitated. I'd like to visit again, because there was only meter time for one museum and there are so many!

But you know me, so the museum we went to was the American Art and Portrait Gallery museum. They had an awesome photo exhibit going on about coolness in America. Just great photos of iconic cool people through the years. A couple Halsmans. A really nice assortment. And there were a couple great Sargents. And those huge majestic landscapes. And oodles of Catlins. Even with the hours spent, it was still just a taste. Could spend several days going around to all the museums. If only I didn't have to drive...

Shake Shack was lunch, with locally sourced food and they pay their employees well and all that good business practices. I had the blondie concrete (like a shake but deluxe or thicker or something) and this hot dog with fried shallots on it. Mmm! Wilson had a burger and a float and confirmed they were also delicious. My treat in reparation for Wilson paying for parking and heck, driving!

Fully fed, we walked around downtown a bit. Saw the J. Edgar Hoover FBI building which is FUGGGLYYYY!

Back at the apartment, a nap was had. Then there was some lounging by the pool and I read Lost for Words. Then in the evening there was an outdoor hang out with some of the people in the neighborhood. Heard Bigfoot stories, and stories of the wheel coming off their Land Rover, and travel suggestions, and it was just overall a nice night to sit and hear about wacky antics. This whole being randomly social is so foreign to me. I love it!

Tomorrow I think will start with a diner visit, and then I'll head north to Pennsylvania.

Florida: the early days

6/5/2014 8:22pm Big Lagoon State Park, Pensacola Florida

I’m taking Florida slow. It’s a long state, and I want to go to the tip of it. Why must there be a national park at the tip? Why can’t there just be nothing and then I can continue on? Oh woe. Oh well. It’ll take all of tomorrow to get near St. Petersburg, and even then I’ll probably do the rest stop thing before continuing on. Leah put the word out there so hopefully I can have somewhere to crash.

But I’m getting ahead of myself: Alabama! Easy driving. I gained an hour when I crossed the state lines, and that hour has yet to take itself back. I picked up this pamphlet for this chevre place, but when I finally located which city it was in (the map on the pamphlet was ambiguous and my GPS was being difficult) it was soooo far out of my way. Tip: if you are going to put a pamphlet in a welcome center, include a map of your state with a little star showing just where you are generally located.

So I continued south. Through Birmingham. Lovely skies, but very warm. My friend Alicia didn’t get off work till late, so I had some time to cruise around Montgomery. I got some iced tea and sent off some postcards. I wandered around the Riverfront. I melted from the humidity and had to change my shirt because of it. I don’t know how people can live with this humidity all the time! I guess lots of A/C and not going outdoors. Montgomery was weirdly vacant for a city of its size. Not a lot of traffic or congestion, but it seemed built in a way that there should have been more. I found my way to a mall and enjoyed their a/c for a while. At 8 I returned downtown and met Alicia at the Riverfront Baseball Stadium. She used to work there so she had free vouchers for the game and coupons for food! Yay! The Montgomery minor league baseball team is the Biscuits and their mascot is some “biscuit loving beast” that looks like some weirdo ant eater thing. Very odd. The Biscuits didn’t win, but it was fun anyway! Nice to get a bit of Americana in on this America trip. We wandered around a bit and talked, but she had work in the mornings so we said out goodbyes.

I made my way south, and the second rest stop forbade overnight parking so I backtracked to the first and slept there. Got an 8amish start and 3 hours later I was at the Gulf of Mexico! The Alabama Gulf Shores State Park was full, so I continued East into Florida and Big Lagoon had space! So I got a spot there. Nice to have camp set up early in the day, and to have shower facilities. After I was refreshed, I got my swimsuit on and headed to the beach. And there was a National Park beach which had an entrance fee which my annual pas covered. I’m now two bucks from making it pay for itself. And since there was a fee, the beach wasn’t all that populated. I spent 3 hours alternating swimming and reading my Kindle. I applied sunblock at reasonable intervals. Reasonable to prevent sunburn but still with some allowances for tan. I’ve never been tan, so that is something I’d like to try to achieve on this trip. I want to come back to Washington not looking at all like a Washingtonian.

I went to Sonic for the first time, and got a shake and some onion rings, but only after being trapped in some heinous traffic. Such bad traffic here! And wow the hotels are just massive, one after another along the beach totally obliterating any view the people on the other side of the road would have. Why are they so big? Could they ever be possibly filled up?

So the shake was good. I watched the sunset down at the lagoon and a Heron strut by me. Now I shall retreat into my tent and hopefully I haven’t been bitten by too many mosquitos. Check out is 1, so that is nice. Ample time to sleep in, pack up, and plan. Once I leave it’ll be a lot of driving, so what’s the rush?

I wonder how long Florida will take me? I’ll have to see how long it takes me to get down to Key West and Tortugas National Park.

6/8/2014 10am Silvia’s Place, Sarasota, Florida

To answer how long Florida will take me: a while. But I took the scenic route, so spending the entirety of the 6^th driving was my own doing. I was so excited about the possibility of sleeping in that I forgot about how hot it gets in a tent. My own private sauna. So 8ishamish I got up and quickly packed up my tent before I got too hot. Then began the drive. I took 98east, which curved along the coast of Florida. Very nice, with plenty of pretty Gulf views, bridges, palm trees, and goliath hotel complexes. And it took hours. Hours and hours. It wasn’t a fast road, and it went through many towns so there were lights. But it was good on fuel economy to not go 70mph down an interstate.

But that fuel economy gets less appealing when you’ve been driving for 5 hours and still have 3+ more to go. My goal was Gainsville, which was on 75 and then to go on to a rest stop. The sun was setting at the first rest stop and it was set when I got to the second, where after I paid for an ice cream bar from an ice cream vending machine in nickels, I went to sleep. But oh I forgot to mention: the first Friday of June is National Doughtnut Day, so I procured a free (with beverage purchase) doughnut at Dunkin’ Doughnuts in celebration. Viva doughnuts!

It was a quick drive to St. Petersburg. A relatively quick drive. Hour and a half, tops. Which is the Santa Cruz to San Francisco time.

I arrived at the Dali Museum at 9:30, but it doesn’t open till 10. I paid to park there, with the full intention of leaving my car there while I walked around the city, regardless of if I was in the museum or not. Suck it! Plus with a dude there watching the cars, it was probably a safe spot to leave my car.

The Dali Museum is neat but I kinda feel that if they don’t have a temporary exhibit going, the admission should be cheaper by about five bucks. But audio tours were included, so I got one of those. So I had never ever seen any of Dali’s HUGE paintings before. Like the later year stuff. Massive detailed well painted things. He can paint, he just didn’t. There was a quote of I think Gala’s that once you’ve seen the Melting Clocks, you never forget it. Which is true. Dali tends to fall out of favor with art students once they get to be sophomores. Some sort of shedding of past interests for favor of more nuanced/informed ones I guess. Either way, his stuff that wasn’t the surrealism was really awesome. I don’t mind his surrealism, I just think some of it gets a bit repetitive.

The museum was made to hold these people’s collection of his work, so it was a nice array from his life time. His early work was nice to see in its clumsiness. But damn the later work! I just wish there was some Philippe Halsman. I really love his photographic collaborations with Dali so much. Halsman is one of my favorite photographers, and they didn’t even have any of his postcards! They had a 16 buck card set. And they had the photobook he did with Dali “Dali’s Mustache” but it was priced at $20 but on the display copy you could see it was suggested at 12.95. Rip off!

So I left the museum and pulled up my gps and entered “brewery” and Green Bench Brewing was a mileish away, so I went there. I got diverted into Morean Art Gallery Place Thingy, where they had a free print exhibit. There were three separate shows: a collab between artists and their printer, student prints, and… something else in between. I really liked the Alex Katz prints but they were priced exactly as much as they knew they were worth. That’s why you buy prints from people starting out! I have a nice little print collection, plus the several print portfolios I’ve been in. Anyway, some of the artist that I really liked were Trenton Doyle Hancock, Malcolm Morely, Bradlee Shanks, Eri Holschen Almazan, Jay Wallace, Yuji Hiratsuka, and M. Robyn Wall. The exhibit mostly made me think of how amazing the printmakers are that I know. Robin Milliken, Heather Birdsong, Alyson Provax, Anthony Roberto, BT Livermore… yeah I know some great people.

Green Bench was hoppin’. I got a pretzel and after a couple samples I went with the coffee pot bayou porter. I was the only one who ordered it. Many people favored the Green Bench IPA.

Same place, same date, 2:53 pm

We went to the beach. Lido Beach. I swum a bit and read in the sun. Got some rays on my upper thighs. I have an ombre tan on my legs right now, due to the varying lengths of the shorts I wear. And my pink skin is starting to be less pink. Hurray! After the beach we went to an Indian restaurant which was having a lunch buffet and I had two plates of various curries and rice and a plate of salad and rice pudding. Silvia asked why I ate so much. Well, I don’t know when I’ll get another big meal? Some days I don’t each much on the road. And now I’m good to go for the rest of the day.

But where was I? Oh yes, Green Bench. I had a my beer and snackums and chatted with the bartender. Lots of beards, which surprised me considering how warm it was. And the bartenders were wearing cute shorts that cut off right above their knees. I like those length of shorts on guys, especially when they have nice gams. I should go to more breweries and oogle more bartenders.

It was a nice walk back. I returned to the Dali Museum and gave the exhibits another eye ball before I headed out to Sarasota. I paid the toll on the bridge in more nickels and dimes. I need to get some cash in the advent of more toll roads.

Didn’t take long at all to get to Silvia. She made me an omelette and heated up some left overs and fried plantains. I’ll never need to eat again once I leave Sarasota! In the evening, we went to Ocean Blues and listened to the music. Silvia sweet talked the dancing instructor dude, who was the only other person my age at the bar, to dance with me. Hee hee hee.

But seriously, I was the youngest by 20 years, and that’s being very generous. There was a singles meet up happening and the guys just didn’t try at all! They were wearing tees tucked into jeans while the ladies had nice tops and dresses and skirts, and their makeup was done well. Just generally good looking gals and men who couldn’t be bothered! Tsk tsk.

I got to sleep in a bed again. That was nice. Woke up before 9! I was expecting to sleep in for way too many hours. So now I guess I shall take my leave. It’s been lovely but I must go further south.

south into the bayou

5/20/2014 10:15pm a rest stop right after Boonville, Missouri

I’ve finally figured out the best way to sleep in my car: I drape a pillow over the arm rest and drape my legs over that, so my feet are on the passenger’s seat. Then I have a pillow against the driver’s side door, so I am sleeping sorta sitting up, but it’s also slightly reclined. And the eye mask is wonderful. So I’m sitting like that right now at the rest stop. Hopefully I can get a good night sleep and not be bugged by a squirrel in my car. No sign of him, but it wasn’t a big rodent. Tomorrow I’ll drive into Columbia and get my oil changed. Then I’ll figure out what I want to do in Missouri. St. Louis? Mark Twain National Forest camping? There are options. I could do with some more camping. Two days in some state park that hopefully has a shower…

Anyway! Kansas City! Is a pretty cool city. It has a lot going on in lots of different areas, and woah is it warm. Also: heads up if you are visiting, lots of things are closed on Monday. And Tuesday. The main museum was closed today, but not the contemporary art museum. The Kemper. Kempler. The… that one. It had hammocks outside, and I took a late afternoon nap in one. Not a long nap, thankfully. I wasn’t burned. Interesting art installation to have: hammocks. I say more museums should have them. It’s a good feature. The museum had free admission, which was nice. Not a big museum. I saw some great Thiebaud etchings. I really liked Paula Rego’s Recreation. I found it odd that one of their pieces, the medium was described as “silkscreen ink”. Uhm… There are many kinds of ink that go through screens. Which one is it? Acrylic? Feh.

There was a Jamie Wyeth painting with a whole bunch of whale bones. Interesting bit of repetition in this trip, as there were actual whale bones at the last museum I visited.

My first stop in Kansas City wasn’t the museum, but Hammerpress. The letterpress studio where Karen interned years ago. I didn’t name drop her, I just procured a few cards and looked at all the nice letterpress stuff they had. The guy working the shop recommended I go to “Little Freshie” for a snow cone, which I did! I got the pear green tea cone and it was delicious. I ate it and read a bit of the Hockney biography. I wandered around that area for a bit, then drove on to the museums. I was suspicious of how easy it was to find parking wherever I went. Suspicious in that “can I really park here for free for under 3 hours?” way or the “is this actually a permit area and I’m going to get a ticket?” way or the “is this really a parking lane or are the other cars on the street delusional?” way. But no tickets!

After the museum (and hammock nap) I went to YJ’s Snackbar, at Karen’s suggestion. The dinner special was an hour and a half away, so I got an iced coffee and let my brain solidify after being melted in the heat. I read, I drew, I talked to one of the fellas in the café. It was a great hole in the wall, three tables inside with lots of flotsam on the wall type place. Very charming. The dinner special was a soul food plate: pork, muffin, mashed potatoes, mac n cheese, collared greens I think, rice with sausage. It was the perfect size to consume as well, and I gobbled it up! So good! I highly recommend YJ’s if you are ever in Kansas City.

Once my tummy settled, I hit the road. I opted to continue east on 70, as I was unsure if I wanted to go to St Louis or head down, but both would be options. And Columbia is a major intersection on the Interstates so I’ll figure it all out tomorrow. Once I get my oil changed.

And I should probably wash the bugs off the front of my car. There is starting to be a build up…

5/22/2014 Table Rock State Park, Missouri

Oh man, that night after writing that blog post! What a show. So that mouse (not a squirrel) was STILL IN MY CAR! It started scurrying about at 11 pm. I set out a bag with some candy in it, hoping it would go in the bag and I could snatch the bag and take it outside and release it far, far away from my car. But it didn’t take the bait. It continued scurrying about. I tried to lunge for it with a towel when it was on my dashboard, but no luck. Then I remembered: Walmart. Most are always open, and when I googled it, there was one 8 minutes away! So at 2:30am, I entered in my jammies, looking frazzled and tired and headed for the kill aisle. Traps! Poison! Hurray! I got some snap traps and set them with peanut butter and set them under my seat and on the dash board. And I waited… and the mouse didn’t go for them! I added some Ritz to the traps and set them both in the back, and the mouse did go for it! And I sat in my seat, still and eagerly awaiting the sound of the snap. But it never came. The mouse wasn’t setting off the traps! It just got the snack and … didn’t die! So I returned to Walmart and bought glue traps, because if it was too small to set off a trap, it should be small enough to get stuck in glue. When I returned to my car, the mouse was on my dash and quickly vanished into the steering column!! If it nibbled some wires that I need, I’m going to be so pissed (and hopefully not in a car accident). So I set a trap on the dash, two in the back, and one on the floor. The sun was starting to come up at this point, but I did get some sleep. And I was woken by the sounds of struggle from the floor glue trap. There it was! Caught! I grabbed a bag and quickly put the trap & mouse in the bag and poured out my water bottle into the bag, drowning the mouse and putting it out of its misery. I know there is a way to release a mouse from a glue trap using vegetable oil, but I didn’t want to buy yet another thing and at the end of the day: it was vermin. It wasn’t a lost animal that found its way into my car. It was a pest, it was getting into my dashboard, it would just find somewhere else to scavenge. It wouldn’t go “into the wild”. So I don’t feel bad about killing it.

At 7:30ish I wandered back into Walmart, changed, got a victory doughnut, and drove to Jiffy Lube. I got my oil changed and the Jiffy Lube manager told me that Table Rock State Park is a great park, so that is where I went! Though it was slow going. I had to stop and rest my eyes pretty often. Never got a full nap, but little bits here and there. It’s rough driving on just a few hours of sleep. And I wasn’t about to pump myself full of caffeine for, what, 4 hours of driving? I could take my time. And even taking my time, I still arrived with plenty of daylight.

Branson, Missouri is an interesting town to drive through. All the attractions seem to be family oriented, and run by families. Lots of team shows. Like a PG Vegas, but with no one I’ve ever heard of. I got a chocolate crème pie at a 50s diner and that was a nice cool treat. I drank a bunch of ice water too. Hydration is important! It was a short drive to the park, and there I got a site, returned to Branson and got a 5 dollar Subway footlong for dinner and breakfast, and got back to my site. Set up my tent. Had a lengthy, cherished shower, and then ate half my sandwich, worked on my scrap book and journal, then went to sleep right as the sun went down.

And oh did I sleep. It was warm, not windy or rainy, and just all around wonderful. I woke up 7ish and then just let myself nod back asleep. I’ll take my sleep when I can get it.

I showered once again in the morning, and had the other half of my sandwich. I think I’ll go find another State Park in Missouri, camp there, and then go down into Arkansas tomorrow. But first I need to restock my food: bread, PB&J, apples, carrots. Need em! This isn’t a big state, so it’ll probably be only (only!) 3 hours of driving.

3-4 hours: easy no problem, 4-6: oi this’ll take a while, 6+: well, I’ll just plan a day to drive towards there and find a rest stop.

5/25/2014 Suds n Stuff Laundry, Alexandria, Louisiana

Oops haven’t updated my blog in a while! I’m doing my laundry. I was running low on clean clothes, and due to how much I’ve been sweating I’m not about to rewear worn clothes. So I’m washing my clothes. I slept at a rest stop on I-20, and at just about 6 I set Alexandria into my GPS. But my GPS halted and I missed my exit, so I ended up taking much longer, but it was a beautiful scenic route. Just small roads winding through small towns with fluffy trees that I wish I could identify, and crops, and fields, and just beautiful scenery. Even a few herons. It was a great drive that reminded me of those accordion picturescapes, the way the trees came up in batches.

So I guess I left off at Table Rock. I got out of the campsite at the last minute allowed. I checked out the visitor’s center for the dam, and then decided that Lake Wappapello sounded great for camping. Catchy name. It was a nice drive across Missouri. It’s another surprisingly scenic state, but I guess being near the river creates for some lush landscapes. It isn’t dry like Texas and Kansas. It got dark. And then there was a lightning storm to my left. But that wasn’t wear I was going. It was just flashes far in the distance. I ended up pulling into a shop on the side of the road to ask them to show where I was on the map (GPS wasn’t getting satellite connectivity for whatever reason). Bless the shops that exist on roads that are not all the time traveled. The benefit of Interstates is the ubiquity of the same 5 shops, but they do become dull commonly tread vistas. I’ve been seeing lots of nice small towns, but more husks of towns with caved in buildings.

Anyway, I got into Lake Wappapello late at night, and got a spot for the night. The sounds of nature were so loud! Just insects going at it, and toads too probably. It was marshy and I swore to get some bug spray as soon as possible. No bug bites on this gal!

Noise aside, I did have a good rest. I got up early though, because in Missouri there is no self pay. Gotta pay the camp person. I like the self pay, because then you just put up a little ticket and people know you paid. Without it, there is the worry of some person bugging you to pay or maybe a fine for failure to pay! But just gotta play it camp by camp.

Wappapello was a boating lake, not really a swimming one. I prefer swimming. But I also like salt water. Fresh water lacks … substance.

Anyhoo. After Wappapello I went south on 67 towards Arkansas, and crossed the border in no time. My accent now absolutely singles me out.  67 goes diagonally down through Little Rock, then I swerved off to Hot Springs. No camping available at the nearest campground to the park, and the Hot Springs National Park is urban, not so much a park park. So it was in the downtown of the town of Hot Springs, and it was more buildings to visit than landscapes. I like the landscape parks. I decided to try Lake Ouachita State Park before deciding to sleep in my car, and there was a spot for the night! Spot 69, which was my spot at Wappapello as well. The tent site had a nice little platform, and it was in the woods. Really lovely park. I didn’t get one of the lakeview sites, but that’s okay. I came in at just under 13 minutes for tent set up. There was still plenty of daylight, so I went for a swim at one of the swimming spots. It was nice to get a bit of exercise after so much driving and driving.

I had a PB&J and showered and sat in my tent and read and had an early night sleep.

And an early morning due to my tire being flat! Someone left a note on my windshield, and also informed me when I crawled out of my tent in the morning. It was a full on obvious flat, so I doubt I would have missed it. But my camp neighbors came to my rescue! Thomas and William had my car jacked up and the spare tire on in less time than it took to unload my truck to get at the spare. I had rolled over a nail, which was thoroughly imbedded in the tire. Thankfully I bought road hazard insurance at Wal Mart! So all I had to do was drive to the nearest one and get it fixed for free. But seriously, William and Thomas (and Thomas’s daughter Alyssa who tended to the daddy long legs) were just great. How awesome to have helpful people like that around.

The Wal Mart was only 30 minutes away, by way of slower streets, and I got it repaired with nary a hitch, and then I was back up to Ouachita. I got my site packed up (blessedly, there was a 3pm check out) and I went down to Hot Springs. I got my journal stamped and did a little self tour of one of the historic bath houses, but to get an actual bath was thirty bucks! I’m not paying that to just get a bit of a soak. It was free at Big Bend! And that had better scenery.

I drove up to the Mountain Tower vista, then plugged in Monroe, Louisiana into my GPS and headed off. I crossed the border when there was still daylight. It was dark when I procured my bug repellant in Monroe, and 10 when I got to the rest stop. The weather is muggy, but not as hot, but muggy makes any heat worse.

So now it looks like my laundry has finished rolling in the dryer. Going to give it a feel. Might put in a few more quarters. One guy, Terry, commented that I look from out of town based on how I dress. If only he knew I never dress like I belonged anywhere. Haha.

5/25/2014 6:30 pm New Orleans, Louisiana

Got my laundry folded and filled up my tank and zoom I was outta there! I took the scenic route down 90, and it was lovely and scenic and warm. I treated my car to a car wash because it was getting a bit … dirty on the outside. And bug splattery. I finally, after 50+ dead ones on the road, saw a living walking armadillo! It was super cute. Hopefully it isn’t dead by the time I’m writing them. They don’t seem to have good odds.

Nothing too amazing happened on my way to New Orleans. Traffic only got dense when I was a minute from the hotel (which Dad cashed in some points for, thank you! I’ll enjoy having a bed and being able to walk around the French Quarter!). I checked in at 4:30ish. Unpacked way too much stuff from my car, but it would take longer to sort out 2 days worth of stuff than it would to just take half the stuff out of my car and lug it up. So my car is in valet, and I have two nights in New Orleans. I better get on that! I’m showered and ready to go. Garth recommended a place for po’boys, so I think that is dinner for me sorted. See you on the flip side!

keep it trill in topeka

Viva coffee shops and their omnipresence. Can always rely on one to be open and for one to have wifi, and if I'm lucky...power outlets. In the past few days I've wandered into several McDonald's just to see they had no outlets and thus I continue on. It's really just the laptop that needs to charge, as the MP3 player and phone can be done in the car. But I can't be self conscious. Gotta own that "I need to let people know I'm not totally vanished into America" attitude.

So here I am at a Starbucks in Topeka, Kansas. The server asked me to spell my name and then he told me it was "baller".

I spent most of yesterday just driving. Getting to and through Kansas. I looked at the map and nothing really stirred me besides Kansas City (Karen was there for a while, if you remember, she told me to see the museum and ask for the daily special at YT's, and as I haven't been to an art museum yet, I think I'll do just that). So sorry Kansas, you are getting a quick pass through. State number 9! 39 to go.

Oklahoma City was nice, but being there early on a Sunday meant that most things were closed/wouldn't open till noon or later. So I walked around a bit. It was foggy and almost rainy. Mist engulfed the tops of some buildings, but it was lifting. But yeah, Oklahoma City reminds me of Tacoma. Like the downtown area that is trying to look nicer and be nicer (and they have a Chihuly collection sooo) and it spreads out.

I tooled around town and talked to Pa about car stuff. Then I got to the Museum of Osteology right as it opened at 1. What a COOL MUSEUM! OH MY GOD! I cannot emphasize how awesome it is. The exhibits were succinct and well compiled and just so various. So many different skeletons. Baboons, tarsiers, they had a SAIGA SKULL!!!, snakes, human skulls, deformed skulls, manatees, giraffe... just so many. It was spectacular. And just across the board wonderful. I killed the battery on my camera taking pictures...and then the battery on my phone. Hahah. And still I feel like I only captured a tenth of what they had to offer.

Just wonderful. Well worth the journey, absolutely.

I went to Wal Mart and got new front tires because mine were worn down. It was amazingly not $400! Now my car has nice tires with which to tackle the road. The endless, ongoing road. This section of America is largely flat, though the greens and yellow of Oklahoma are very nice. I opted to stay at Great Plains State Park. I'm so tired of driving with the wind coming at my car from the side. A nice tail wind would be nice, but nope, constantly driving keeping straight against nature. Still, better than snow.

Got to the park after dark, and the awesome camp lady told me she wouldn't charge me! And Shawn, one of the park workers helped me set up my tent on account of it being VERY VERY WINDY. He even procured some cinderblocks and string and helped me set it up so that it was extra secure against the wind. I didn't bother putting the top on, as that would just blow up and down and against the tent. And I left the windows open (with the mesh up) so the wind would go through the tent, instead of pushing against it. Then I threw on my eye mask (I bought an eye mask) and went to sleep. It wasn't the best night sleep, but I did get some shut eye. Valley of Fire was noisier.

In the morning one of the younger park helpers flirted with me a little as I was breaking down my site. And he blew me a kiss as I drove away. And that guy in Austin proposed marriage to me. And the teller at Starbucks said my name was baller. I guess I'm really appealing in the midwest? Pretty much never got flirted with in Santa Cruz.

I drove through the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. Saw some bison and cattle and some nice rolling hills. And then I set about driving north east on 44 and then north on 35 which turned into 135 and then east on 40. I stopped at one of the last rest stops before Topeka and settled in. All was well until it became evident a squirrel was in my car. I quickly put all my food into my cooler so no crumbs were sitting out. I opened all the doors and banged the side of my car. And right when I dozed off (that eye mask I bought was a smart choice, it shut out all the lights from the rest stop) I felt it scurry across me. I repeated the process a couple times. And eventually was able to nod off. I heard nothing of the little bugger in the morning and so I continued on to Topeka. Hopefully he left while the leaving was good.

And now I go to take on a new day and new states and new whatever happens!

Saturday in the City

My Saturday was the most perfect Saturday. Even if things didn't go to plan, everything that happened was wonderful. To have every day like today would be a dream.

On the ride up to Oakland, traffic stopped momentarily on 17. I was wondering if there was a wreck, but then a deer bounded by my car and it was obvious people had stopped to let it pass. Things picked up and off I went. I used my GPS to navigate to Robin's, and I bought a car charger for my phone (only $15!) so now I don't have to worry about my phone dying on the road.

I parked at Robin's and we got through the catching up and what's been going on and all that happenings. Her apartment has really been furbished out since last I visited. It looks great! I drove down to the Bart station and parked on a side street, and we rode over to the Ferries Landing or whatever it is called. Turns out the stop was further from the museum than we originally thought. Like a whole bus ride further. Oops! Robin showed me how to use my GPS (well Google Maps) to figure out the bus route to take, and there was a free shuttle to the Presidio! Booyah! But I'm getting ahead of ourselves. I held a spot in line at Blue Bottle Coffee and Robin fetched us sandwiches from Cowgirl Place Sandwiche Something (not the real title). We each ate half with plans to eat the other half later, but switch sandwiches. Mine was mozzarella and proscuitto, hers was turkey and some other cheese. She treated me to New Orleans style iced coffee (which has chicory in it) and got herself a coffee. Oh that was good iced coffee! Good enough for me to drink, and I'm not a coffee drinker.

We walked down to where my phone said the shuttle would pick us up, and we sat on the grass and talked and drank our coffee. It was a nice jaunt up through the Presidio, and the last stop was only a few blocks from the museum! Hurray! All this time I was texting Josh & Carmen who were going to join us at the museum.

The museum in question is the Walt Disney Family Museum. There is a special Mary Blair exhibit happening right now, with her original art works, and I had to see it! Mary Blair did visual development and illustration for Disney in the 30's and 40's. Peter Pan, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, The Three Caballeros. The exhibit was really nice. You could get up close to the originals. Some didn't look so well preserved as the paper had yellowed and we theorized that the color had faded on the paints. Still, her work was wonderful! And everyone dug it (Carmen and Josh showed up about 20 minutes after we did). There were many really nice quotes put up about her, and it really made it seem like she was appreciated. Of course it's easy to make it seem that way long after the fact, but hey! Her art lives on!

I picked up a few postcards and then we went out to get juice! Carmen drove us. I had fancy immune booster carrot juice and a wheatgrass shot. Went healthy! I drew in my sketchbook. We conversed. It was a windy, bright day. Afterwards, we got a life to the station. I hugged C & J goodbye, grabbed my Odd Owl poster, and off Robin & I went to hop on the train and go back to Oakland! It was an easy crossing, though I felt a total tourist for always putting away my card and having to take it back out. Robin had me drive over to this alley of artsy shops in Oakland, and we wandered around that area for a bit. I put on some foo foo that smelled like trees. I really liked it. I'm not much of a foo foo person, but I'll have that foo foo! I didn't get it though. Expensive! My car got a bit misplaced, but we found it! We didn't take note of which streets it was on when I parked, but backtracking returned us. I hung out at her lovely apartment and had some tea.

Before it got too late, we hugged out goodbyes for the time being, and I set out for 45 minutes south of Oakland: Mountain View. Garth was working late, so I hung out in In-N-Out with a burger, fries, and shake and my Kindle and read and had a little peaceful me time. Nice to just sit and read. Okay eating a burger undoes all the healthy eating I did earlier today, but whatever. Garth and I shared a pitcher at this little dive bar near his place. There was a darts tourney happening, and damn if they all didn't consistently hit the dart board!

All around, through and through a great day.

Flora Book and Friends

Today was an outing day! Had some toast and tea and then off Ma and I went to Tacoma. I drove today. Gotta get used to all the long distance driving I'll eventually be doing.

It was tempestuous. Rainy. Stormy. Really not good to drive in, but I did it!

It was a free day at the Tacoma Art Museum. Hurray! The Mexican Folk Art exhibit had a lot of various items, but it didn't have a lot of breadth within the different art themes. A couple skeleton sculptures, some milagro, some jugs, some puppets. Really cool stuff, I just wish there were more. Lots more.

There was a little Flora Book, among others, jewelry exhibit. That was lovely. Really dynamic silver pieces.

And then there was the At Home Across America: Scenes from the 1930s to 1950s in Print exhibit. And oh how it was beautiful. Detailed, varied, intense prints. Etching, lithography, engraving, wood carving. Emotional and sweet. Just really great art work. Really various. Ahh. I got so close to them to see the work. Albert Winslow Barker, Thomas Hart Benton, A. Hugh Fisher, Karl Max Schultheiss, Otto Wackernagel, Peggy Bacon, Henry Pitz, Doris Lee, Gene Kloss, Reynold Weidenaar, and Douglas Warner Gorsline among others. So damn good.

Then mother and I walked into the final exhibit. The biennial. The goddamn inevitable contemporary art exhibit. Guuhh. There were some...interesting pieces. But neither of us were really intrigued. We just love illustrative art too much.

After the museum we went to Two Koi for dinner. Sushi for both of us, tempura for mom, tempura udon for me. The sushi and tempura filled me up, so I couldn't finish the udon like a good udon eater would. Without Dad to finish our leavings, we have to adjust how much we order at places.

Annnnd back to Seabeck we went. I drove, and did a good job of it. Go me!

We watched the first two episodes of The Mitchell and Webb Look. As always, there are some great skits and some sort of awkward ones.

Mom is planning various things for us to do. Museum trips. Plays. Stuff like that. S'all good.

time turner, so I can do all of that again!

Woke up with shin splints. Not the worst ones I've had, but still not pleasant. Wasn't looking forward to a day of walking with them. Thank God for Advil.

Got up out of bed. Took a shower. When I got down stairs, it turned out the only tickets for the Harry Potter exhibit were in the late afternoon, so we didn't have to rush to Seattle. There were some flubs with the buying of tickets (it is timed entry) but a call sorted it out. Unfortunately plans with Jeanette didn't work out today, but will be arranged for later hopefully.

Since the tickets for the exhibit were not till 5:15, we didn't have to rush to Seattle. Drove and parked at Bainbridge. Decided to leave the umbrellas in the car. It was raining and sure to rain more, but we would be indoors, or near cover, for most of our day. The ride was nice and uneventful. Took some photos. Loving my camera. Thankfully I have rechargeable batteries because by the end of the day, the battery light came on.

In Seattle we walked up to Pike's Place, and because the line was long at the donut place we decided to just head straight to Seattle Center. Went to West Lake Mall and hopped on the monorail. A quick ride to the center. The EMP, which once I regarded as ugly mold architecture has now...well grown on me. Stockholm Architecture Syndrome I guess. Dad and I ordered some beignet's. Ma wasn't fond of them, or the latte she ordered. But I dug them. A nice warm food perfect for cold Seattle day. With our appetites sated a little bit, we went over to the Pacific Science Center. We could wander around the regular exhibits while waiting for our time to come up. The dinosaur exhibit was old. Actually a lot of the exhibits were old, and just how I remembered them. Not a lot of updating has happened, but when you have a lot of kids coming through...sturdy is probably best. I got a wax astronaut from one of those make your own wax figure machines. I totally want to get the naked mole rat next time I'm at the center. It was so cool. Love my green little figure. It was a lot larger than I was expecting too. I was expecting a little figure. Anyway, I liked it.

We went into the butterfly room too. Stuffed our coats into a cubby. So many wonderful butterflies. Giant blue morphos. It was also humid and warm, which was nice. Took lots of pictures. After that we decided to get in line for the Harry Potter exhibit. 35 people were admitted every five minutes. The first stop was the sorting hat. A lady had the hat and gave a little talk. One girl got sorted into Ravenclaw...or maybe it was Hufflepuff. And a shy little boy got into Gryffindor. Then we went into a room with some TV screens that played clips from the movie, and then when that was done the doors opened and we were let into the AMAZING exhibit of props, sets, costumes, and general things from the Potter movies.

There were robes, books, centaurs, goblets, wands, and so so much more. It was really well displayed too. Everything was in context. Not just items in boxes. The great hall was constructed, as were some of the woods and Hagrid's Hut. There were TV screens that had videos playing. Some parts were interactive, well just two (a place where you could pull Mandrake roots and a quaffle pitch). No photography was allowed. It was a wonderful exhibit. I fell in love with the book designs. From the Quaffler to the potion textbooks. So much attention to detail and design. The people who made them really knew their stuff when it came to references. I wished I could have one...but alas stealing is wrong. The kids who came were well behaved, and there were a lot of adults too. Of course, the original young fans of the series would be in their 20's now (ie: me). I should listen to the audio books again.

Anyway, it of course ended with the gift shop and lots of price gouging. Still, dad got himself a beanie (Gryffindor colors) and Ma got me a Ford Anglia magnet as an early Christmas present. I bought myself a Time-Turner. A cheaper plasticy one, not the silver replica that was about sixty bucks. I'm way pleased with my memento. It was dreary and dark when we caught the monorail back. We got some Ivar's to go and ate while waiting for the Bainbridge Ferry to load. We finished the fries and chowder on the way over, and I put my tired legs up.

I started to doze on the way home, but perked up enough back in Seabeck to lure mom into watching the Top Gear Syria (and general middle east) special with me. Hahaha, got her into the show now! Now I've popped some more Advil and a nice sleep seems good right about now. Tomorrow Dad and I are going to make cupcakes! And try some of the techniques from his book out.