Day 14 & 15 IN to KY

We spent the fourth in IN, stayed in bed till 3pm, and then ventured out to get a sandwich. We puttered around, then went to a movie at the local Rockville theater. It is called the RItz, and it was originally an Opera House, built in 1912, but was converted to a theater in the 20s, with a piano for accompanyment. In the thirties it was converted to sound. It went through a period of closure at one time, but someone left their estate to the city for in the intention of renovating the theater, and it reopened in the 1990s. We saw Evan Almighty -- not the funniest, but I can watch either Carrell or animals all day, so to watch both together wasn't too bad -- and had popcorn, two drinks, and candy...for $17 totall!! And the popcorn and soda were refillable. Can't beat that. Afterward we went to dinner in Terra Haute, IN, and I had a steak for the first time in a few weeks. It was okay. e then went searching for the monster that we saw last week, returning to the scene. We smelled the skunk smell, just like last time, and saw deer, but, alas! No monster. I'm pretty certain now that what we originally saw was a wolverine, because they emit a skunk-like odor, and are often mistaken for a small bear.

We called it a night, and snuggled in to watch the remnants of the Twillight Zone marathon. I had some insomnia -- hate that.

Today we got up late, again, around 10:30, and we packed it up. We drove to UM's house to drop off some CDs I made him, some Ryan Adams, and some miscellaneous new acts, and then headed to Greenwood, IN, to look at Todd's old houses that he grew up in. We had what we swore was the last White Castle of the trip, and drove in the direction of Louisville.

We're now in Louisville, and are thinking of taking off for the historical district. It looks like a lovely town.

We looked at houses Downtown, but the places that we wanted to photograph were in rough neighborhoods, and we didn't want to stand out, taking pics. We ate at this Chinese place, called Th Egg Roll Machine. Yes!


Here's me trying to use the iPhone. It's really fun.

Day 13 -- NJ to IN

We're back in IN, and we went to Indy today. I haven't been in a few years, and was impressed at how much the city has changed. When we were here a few years ago, the city was semi modern, but most of the historic buildings were abandoned. Now there is a lot of urban redevelopment, with conversions and restoration. It's good, it makes the whole city alive.

In other news, we came back to the Billie Creek Inn, part of a made up town called the Billie Creek Village, in which historical buildings were moved to this one location to create the effect of visiting a town from another era. It's like Knott's Berry Farm, but for real. But before we checked in, we went to the square in Rockville, to find Todd's uncle. He was in this antique shop, housed in a derepit 1840's building (that is ripe for restoration/retrofit -- we drool at the thought), and so we nosed around in there, me even making it halfway up the rotten stairs before chickening out, thinking that some bird would fly at my face and then I would scream, and then the owner, Roger, who looked like he didn't take kindly to city-folk, would have got me, and it would have been uncomfortable. After we left Roger's shop to sit with Mike on the square near the court house, I started to get the feeling like I was getting eaten my mosquitos, so I took shelter in the car. It was getting dark anway, so Todd soon joined me and we took off for the Inn. As soon as we got to the room I made a dash for the restroom, and...and...I had a tick on me! I won't mention exactly where this little tick was...but I was using the bathroom, so you get the idea. A stupid tick! I got it off of me without comprehending what it was, so I was lucky that I got the whole thing, head and all. Todd squished it, and it hadn't been biting me long, but what an annoying thing! It must have crawled in my jeans when I was sitting on the concrete wall near the grass...dang lowrise jeans! Well, you can imagine the horror. I mean, it's not likely that the tick carried lyme disease, but if it did, and I have to go to a strange doctor to look at this particular bite, in its particular location -- well. Shucks.

I hope I dont get sick, cause it's such a good story.

Here's a shot of a really great sky in Rockville. It was kinda storming.

We're going to stay in town over the fourth. Then it's on to Ashville, North Carolina. And have you heard the new Ryan Adams? The boy is dashing.

Day 12 -- NJ/NY

We had such a fun time tonight in NJ. We went over to the Wall's house, where they had several Witnesses from Ireland visiting.

Sitting with the Irish.


One was a former Northern Irish Police Constable, who is now a peace loving brother. Incredible what changes people are able to make in their lives.

Several drinks later -- trying to drink this fruity run mix.


At one point Dave Wall brought out all these crazy hats, and mixed with the Bushmill's, we thought we were pretty funny.
We all tried out for AC/DC.


She's saying, "Is this your sister?"


Lephrachan!


This was my serious Irish face, and Dave's usual smile.


Tomorrow we go back to Indy. UM called Todd yesterday, and in the converstaion mentioned that I was "such a joy to be around," and that I was "fun." Who knew?!?

I'm not sure if we will stay in Indy for the fourth, or head to North Carolina, by way of Lousville, or Knoxville. We'll see. Hat photos later.

Love!

Day 10 & 11 -- IN to NJ/NYC

Day 10

We made it to Newark and then my brother drove us around the city. We wandered around Brooklyn Heights for a couple of hours, and it was great.
We saw all of the Watchtower and Bible Tract Society's buildings, which house all the volunteers that run Brooklyn Bethel.

The Watchtower Society bought all this property back in the early twentieth century, and restored all the buildings and hotels.
They've been selling some of the buildings, since so much of the opertaion has been relocated to Walkhill. It's a great feeling, when you see how much these buildings and their maticulous upkeep contributed to the community.

We drove around Times Square and saw Madison Square Gardens.


More later!

Day 11

We sleeeeept in. We slept until around 12 noon, and then milled around and left for the city at around four in the afternoon.

We got on the train in Jersey City, which is near an old theater called the Stanley Theater, which opened in 1923, closed in 1978, and then was purchased by Jehovah's Witnesses in 1983. We restored the theater, and we use it as an assembly hall. Our 2007 District Convention is going on now world wide, so the theme, Follow the Christ!, was on the marquee. I haven't been in it yet; maybe next time (they do tours when there isn't a program going on). It has this incredible copper detailing on the marquee that just takes your breath away. That's what makes me so grateful -- my people don't just buy property and go, okay, now we're going to make this cheesy converted building that takes away all of the original coolness (like what happened to so many of the cool theaters in downtown L.A. at one point, and in a lot of classical theaters nationwide), but they actually preserve the historical integrity of the architecture and artistic intention. It makes a girl in a religious minority group get a little shiny eyed.

There was also a Loew's theater nearby, which they use for a farmer's market, I think. Rediculous to let a theater go like that. Grrrrrr....

We went to the city, popping up near Grey's Papaya, to get hotdogs. Yum!

We then went to Crumbs cupcakery. Crisco frosting! Gross.

We walked through Central Park, ad it was glorious! It was such a great day -- gorgeous weather. My brother took us on my favorite walk through the Park: starting at Strawberry Fields, heading over to the Angel Fountain, across to the Boat House, onward to Alice in Wonderland, and finally, through the Central Park Zoo, past the portrait artists, and exiting by where all the horse carriages end up -- by the Plaza Hotel.

Todd wanted to go see the iPhone, so we went to the Apple store, and I was so glad to sit down. The store is underground, and it has this cool Apple structure above ground. He ended up getting the iPhone, and when he called his brother to tell him he found out that his brother had waited in some line last Friday, only to be told that they didn't have any, that he had to be on some list, and that while in transit, that list had changed to "backorder" status. Todd's brother is highly competitive, so Todd felt victorious!

We walked past all the high end shops on fifth -- Louis Vuitton, pine, pine,
and then took a cab to Greenwich Village.

I love the Village.

We went to Magnolia Bakery for more cupcakes (we're on a mission from God), and the line was crayzay, yo! But it went fast and I got to window shop the Marc Jacobs shop. I really loved the vibe in the Village. It's mellow and arty and hipster. But I likes it!

We headed back to Jersey, becuase this actually took several hours to accomplish. The walk through Central Park took a while.

We stopped at White Castle, where I came across this sign, then came home and watched the end of the Titans, the movie, with my sister-in-law and her mom, and we were all dying, because we are a family of the clever joke and the sarcastic wit, and we crack eachother up until someone involuntarily passes gas. Yeah, so it was me. So what. We ate the cupcakes. Not bad, but Frosted in Long Beach is still the best cupcake I've ever tasted. Consistently good.

Tomorrow we're just lying low with the fam, and we're going to dinner at a friend's house, the Walls. They're Jersey style through and through. Good people. 'Till then.

Day 9 -- IN

Had such an incredible day.

Todd's uncle, Mike, showed us around Parke County, IN, and we saw the last 150 years first hand.

There was the gristmill that was hand-hewn out of sandstone by Sugar Creek (the Lusk Mill -- it's on Wikipedia). Here's me and Uncle Mike sitting by the mill, talking about how having kids seems like the most frightening thing in the world.

We decided that fear beats desire, and to feel lucky that we even have a choice in the matter.

There was the Staley cabin, a log cabin from 1847 that Uncle Mike (UM) owned at one point.

Here's UM and Todd. This is the usual scene when these two get together.


There was the old Staley tractors from the 1800 on the property, and the trailer from the 1940s. We tried to take some pics like the old pioneers -- all serious and life is hell and whatnot.



There was an ancient Amish barn. Here's me and UM by the entrance to the barn.

I climbed up this ladder -- there was a buzzard up there that didn't take kindly to me.

You can't tell that it's Amish by just looking at it, but boy, when you do look at it, you see perfect craftmanship. PERFECT. These people know how make things.

There were covered bridges. There was an old building that we need to buy and restore.

There was the lonely small graveyard with stones dating back to 1858.


There was Todd's mom's hometown, Marshall.

I'm overwhelmed with today.

Creatures seen:

Fireflies
Toads
Fish
Black Snake
Mouse
Chicken
Hummingbird
Buzzard
Fox(!)
Goat
Cows
Deer (Fawn and Buck)
Horses
MYSTERY CREATURE!!!

Todd and I were driving down the road, and Todd miraculously spotted a Buck lying down in a soybean field. We had just had a discussion with UM about Bucks, about how they pretty much stay out of clearings, and stick to the woods. Todd spots this Buck lying down and we are elated! A Buck! There he goes, he gets up, saunters off to the Fawn munching nearby. Now, the Buck hadn't been eating, just sitting on the edge of the field, quite near the road, originally. We were so excited! So by the time we get the camera and we get the car turned so that the lights are facing the field, the Buck is about 250 ft away, and we are looking at him take his leave. UM rolls down the window in the backseat, to smoke. I see something moving in to the right, in the field -- I instantly think of a skunk, or a fox. But this is big. This is black, with some gery and brown mixed in. This is furry. This is BIG. This, this, THING, moves in front of our car, in the headlights, across the field, about 70ft away from us. I ask, what is THAT. We watch, amazed, as it lopes by. It looked like a bear, no a dog, no a wolf, no an anteater, no a wolf...and so on for half an hour. We turned it into any and everything. It was a chupacabra. It was a werewolf. It was a gorilla. I never did see a face on it. It was a ULO, Unidentified Loping Object. I swear, I get it about the country at night. Creepy, crawley, dangerous, having an agenda. The wild. I actually got sick to my stomach after seeing this thing. I know! Wimp! You don't want me on your team, your team for photographing and tracking this beast. It made me ill.

Todd and UM laughing at me freaking out. Notice how UM is nonchalantly OUTSIDE THE CAR!


We're off to Newark tomorrow. I'm going to see my baby nephew for the first time! Hooray!

Day 8 -- IN

So we're in Rockville, IN, and today it is raining, but not thundering nor lightning. I'm waiting for Todd to pick me up from the hotel, as I had a nasty headache this morning. No, silly, not hungover. I think that I clench my teeth for hours at night, and then when I wake up, my head between my eyes and my ears pounds. My eyes are also really puffy in the morning, but I don't know what that is about. I suppose I should drink more water.

Today we are going to motor around town, saving Indianapolis for tomorrow.

I'll upload the new pictures tonight.

(By the way, I had a dream in which I was with my parents at Fashion Island in Newport Beach, and I was confused, so I told them, "I don't know how I could possibly be here, becuase I'm in Indianna. This must me a dream." And my mom was like, "Oh, okay. Well, it's nice to see you." Lucid dreaming without waking up is intense -- it's so fascinating, because if I could be so wholly in another place in my mind, what makes me think that waking life is more real? This line of thought is alarming.)

We traveled over to Uncle Park and Aunt Triva's. Their old barn is incredible.
They have a farm house and barns about 3mi outside of downtown Rockville.

Uncle Park is a total character. He asks Todd, about our Range Rover -- that isn't one of them slant-eyed cars, is it?
Todd loves a porch swing.
From their house we went over to Uncle Bob's and Aunt Jerry's house -- they just built a new house and have done more to their house in six months then we ever have to any house our whole marriage.
Here's Uncle Park giving Uncle Bob a hard time about the size of his gravel drive way. Bob's telling Park, "Naw, it's better a lit'le bigger, it's got some lihme init -- makes it stick!"

These hardworkin' midwesterners make us look like Java the Hut, just lounging around while everthing orbits us. Aunt Jerry has three hummingbird feeders on her 40ft porch, so we stood around while upwards of 20 hummingbirds buzzed around us. Todd got the National Geographic pic award for this one:


Tomorrow we may go to Indy, and see some sights.

Day 6 & 7 -- OK to MO to IL to IN

6/26/07

We drove through Missouri today. I was asleep for the better part of the morning, thank you Tylenol PM and Central time. But now I’m awake! I awoke in the city of Lebanon, and we had a small adventure. At first, when you’re right off of the road, it looks like every other roadside town we’ve seen so far, but upon further exploration, it’s a pretty decent little town.

We found out at the Captain D’s that there was a Starbucks down the road at the local Pricecutters, a grocery store. So we drove south for about a mile, past the Wendy’s, Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Sonic, and DQ. We cut through the old town, on Commercial Road, where, apparently, the town commerce had originated. There were really no interesting stores, but the old brick buildings are so awesome. I am a huge sucker for an old town. I love to know when and why it was built, who founded it, and so on. We didn’t have much time, so we found the Pricecutters, and saw that the Starbucks was “coming soon.” I swung the car around, and Todd just happens to catch that the Starbucks opened on the 25th. Great! So I park, and we go in. The young lady and two middle-aged women at the counter seem very friendly, and a little nervous. We are very friendly and happy to be getting coffee, which puts the blond girl with the freckles and pretty blue eyes and I even think she has a ribbon in her hair at ease. I order a drink with a ridiculously long title – a triple iced Americano with sugar-free vanilla and room for cream, and then start laughing because I’m embarrassed that I’m ordering this in the new Starbucks in Lebanon, Missouri, and the cute young girl, absolutely the captain of the cheerleading squad, looks at me kind of bitchy-like, but I know she’s just scared that she’s going to get it wrong, being the second day of business and all. She looks at me unblinkingly, intense at getting the order right, and sets to work. Me and Todd poke around the little stand, waiting for our coffee, and I make a joke in a drawl, about that gal darn $5 coffee, and I heard it were overrated anyhow, and Todd’s totally like, you better shut up, you’re making us look un-American, you’re going to get us shot, and all that, but I just laugh. They make us the drinks, and when the woman who looks like my mom’s age puts the whipped cream on Todd’s mocha, she gets a little giddy and says, “Oh, this is so fun!” I laugh and say it sure looks like it. I get my drink, and I look around for half and half, and they are filling them behind the espresso makers, and I ask for it, and they give it to me, and I take my first drink, and I’m in coffee heaven, and I say, “It’s really good! It’s perfect!” And the cheerleader looks so relieved. As we’re walking away the manager, so typical, late 30s, big belly, stupid haircut, furrowed brow, cheap but oversized watch, starts talking to the woman employees, so serious, like management of a Starbucks booth in a grocery store in Missouri is so empowering. And maybe it is.

So we then adjourned to a little hamburger stand at my behest, a place out of the 50s called Swiss Miss Hamburgers and Ice Cream, complete with a sharply peaked roof – and Todd is annoyed because I don’t usually like places like this, but it’s too classic to pass up. We get out and snap a pic, and go in. Inside, there is a counter and a man with grey hair, and I tell Todd, see, I knew it would be a family place. Except. Except. As we make our order, the man with grey hair seems exceptionally tired. His family, working behind him, doesn’t make any audible noise when they talk to each other. I look to the left and there are three white boys with caps and high-waisted Wrangler jeans on. There is just a normal Midwestern woman and man to the right. I hear the boys saying something like, “…and I told him he was one dead motherf****er…” and he didn’t sound comic. He sounded serious. And me and Todd have no where to go, to stand, and we don’t really want to sit, and we start feeling like this is some episode of the Twilight Zone where a couple, a nice but clueless couple, touring the United States, decides to stop at an old time burger joint in the middle of nowhere, only to find that they have stepped into, the Twilight Zone. Then one of the boys gets up to get his order, and he has scratches all on the side of his face (and that’s when I saw the Wrangler jeans, the cap, the boots), and I’m like, no, those are from a briar bush he was taking off the property, not from someone he was attacking…and suddenly behind us there is a loud knock on the glass door, and I jump out of my skin and it’s just this little lady outside, trying to come in, but we’re blocking the entrance, so, after the loud knock, she comes in and says so sweetly, “Well ah didn’t wahnt to hitcha…” and she giggles. Finally the son, the young, fifteenish looking son, calls our number and we pay, and I’m looking at him, and he doesn’t say anything but the total, and he says it so softly, and his mouth is hanging open a bit, revealing a row of crooked bottom teeth, and his eyes are really close together and he doesn’t really look at me so much as look through me, and I notice he has all these cuts on his left arm, and my heart sinks.

We get the heck out of there. The burger is pretty good. We do not enter the fourth dimension.

We get back on the road and make it to the Mermac Caves. Jesse James’ hideout!


We pull off the road and have to wait for the Longest Train Ever to pass. We drive out to the cave site, and I drive too fast, and Todd says, geez babe, it’s not Hollywood. I go, oh my, god, where are we, in the most sarcastic voice ever, because driving ability is a sore subject in our marriage, and Todd sighs.

The Mermac caves are unbelievable. Todd is a little bit scared, because he doesn’t like to think about being trapped, but I love it. Our tour guide through the caves was dreadful; she kept making awful jokes and was trying to be tough but was just a dumb girl. But I loved the caves. I love the look of rock melting.

It takes millions of years. It’s crazy.

Then Todd drove us into St. Louis. We first went to Blueberry Hill to taste some world famous root beer, at Fitz’s.

It was pretty good (I liked my Stella better). We walked around Delmar and went to a cute bookstore and saw a neat old theater that was playing decent movies.

Next we were off to Cunetto’s, the home of the first toasted ravioli. It was really good, and we had calamari and beers and watched the baseball game on TV.

Cardinals won! Yahoo!

We went to the hotel downtown and called it a night.

6/27/07

We woke up late, and missed the complimentary breakfast, which is always a bummer. They only had a room with two double beds, and toilet made this awful sound every two hours, but the hotel was packed and we were getting a AAA rate, so we just dealt with it. I started out in one of the double beds, but couldn’t sleep, and crawled in with Todd at around 3AM. I know; I’m a wuss.

We took off for the Arch!

We walked around the old town riverfront for a few minutes.

It’s basically all bars and nightclubs, and I hadn’t even had lunch yet, so I wasn’t in the mood for just beer, so we took off, heading for Todd’s hometown of Indianapolis, by way of Illinois.

We pulled into Rockville, Indianna, around 8pm, and we drove straight to Todd's uncle's house, to surprise him. He was totally delighted to see us and then later, after we checked in at the Billy Creek Village Inn, we met him at Pizza Hut for dinner. I haven't dined in at a Pizza Hut in ages. We saw fireflies (me for the first time, ever), and there's been lightning storms. We are going to kick it here for a couple of days. Todd may mow on a big mower -- I may go on a hike. It's the midwest. We're taking it easy.