The Calm After The Storm

So, I never know where to start these blogs.  Especially since it's been a couple days since the last one.  And how much do I tell you?  How much do you really want to know about what time I left the city and what I ate for lunch?  I suppose to cover all of my bases, I'll tell you everything I remember, and I'll start at the beginning!  (Can you tell that I'm very very tired?)

ok so maybe some of the branches irene broke were big

So our dear friend Tropical Storm (Hurricane) Irene graced us with a bit of her presence on Sunday in Boston.  Again, it was just a bit of wind and some light rain.  Nothing dramatic or spectacular.  A few tree branches broke, apparently one fell on Tim's girlfriend's friend's car (yeah....), but to my knowledge, that was the extent of the damage in Boston.  We didn't even lose power.  So we stayed inside for most of the day and watched movies (the cable box had shorted out b/c of a brief power surge we'd received).  Tim and I grabbed a bite to eat before bed, but it was a rather lazy day.

On Monday, Tim had to work, so I was on my own.  BUT, not completely.  See, my brother's brother-in-law and father-in-law were stuck in Boston because of the storm & were there for a couple of extra days.  On Monday we decided to meet up and walk around the city together.  They were staying by Fenway Park which was about 1 1/2 miles from Tim's apartment.  Rather than try to brave the subway/train system of Boston by myself, I just decided to walk it.  It was a gorgeous day.  Blue blue BLUE skies, a bit of clouds, almost no humidity, and 80 degrees.  It was as if the storm had never happened!  The walk was pleasant, I got to the hotel and we set off.  We were going to explore the Freedom Trail.  Basically its a red line that's painted through the city which, if you follow it, will take you to the important historical sites of Boston: Paul Revere's house, the site of the Boston Massacre, the Old North Church, etc.  The entire trail is fairly long, and  Paul & Ben had already walked a good chunk of it, so we started where they hadn't been yet, and walked around. 

paul, ben, & i

We started off in a little park, saw the Boston State House, where we sort of barged in on a tour (that was given by a 15 year old kid in a shirt & tie which almost fit him), but we soon left for some more walking.  On our tour we also stopped in at the King's Church which boasts having a bell which was cast by Paul Revere himself.  We also saw Paul Revere's house which honestly wasn't that exciting except that it had silver pieces which Paul Revere had made on display, which was kinda neat to see.  Also we went to the Old North Church.  I can imagine that I'm one of the only people who actually cared to see this church.  In looks, it was about the same as the King's Chapel, but the Old North Church is where the lanterns were hung so that Paul Revere could ride and let people know that "The British are coming! The British are coming!" When I was in elementary school, Tim's mom (who was my teacher at the time; it's a long story), made us memorize the poem Paul Revere's Ride. So here I am in the actual Old North Church and the only lines of the poem I remember are repeating through my head, "One if by land and two if by sea/ And I on the opposite shore will be/  Ready to ride and send the alarm/ To every middlesex village and far/ For the country folk to be up and to arm."  Over and over and over again.  (If you care, you can read the whole poem here:  http://poetry.eserver.org/paul-revere.html)  

mr. revere gets a statue

old north church inside

old north church outside

Anyway seeing the church was cool not only for that reason, but also because its a slice of American history.  (Ut oh, I'm going there!)  Yeah, it was pretty much just a church, but the pews were the oddest part.  See, they were like little boxes instead of pews.  The reason for this was that since it would get so darn cold in New England, you and your family could squeeze into a box and bring some hot coals in an attempt to stay warm.  But you had to rent the box, and if you were lucky, your name would be printed on the little door to your box.  (Could you imagine churches doing this now??)  I thought that was fascinating.  Especially because I didn't see anything like that when I was in England.  This is only bizarre to me because the old bits of the East Coast are the spitting image of anything in England.  I suppose that makes sense because the people who built those old buildings were, in fact, English, but still.  

pews? boxes? prison?

Moving on!  After our little history lesson, Paul & Ben suggested that I take a tour of Fenway Park.  Let me give you a little background here.  When I found out that I would be staying in Boston for one day and that Tim had to work, I thought that there could be no better way to spend my time than to go watch a Red Sox game!  I grew up playing baseball, my brother is a die hard Red Sox fan, so why not?  Fenway's one of the oldest (or THE oldest) American ballpark, so it would be a really neat experience.  So I check for tickets, and lo and behold, the Monday that I'm there is the *only* day of their homestand that the Red Sox aren't playing.  Laaaaaaame!  So when I found out from Paul & Ben that I could take a tour of the park instead, I jumped all over it.  They had taken the tour a few days before so this was where we parted ways.

The tour was fascinating.  We got to sit in the press box and over look Fenway & the Green Monster.  We got to sit in the oldest seats in Baseball, learn a few little known facts about the team & the park, heard some good anti-Yankees jokes, and got to sit on top of the Green Monster.  Pretty cool stuff.  I love baseball!

fenway

green monster!

After Fenway, I walked back toward's Tim's apartment.  He was going to the gym after work, & I hadn't bothered to get his keys, so I went to a park to read while I waited.  It was a beautiful day and a park is the best place to enjoy that after you've been walking all day.  The park proved to be good people watching & I got two great specimens!  First, there was this guy, about 30, who had two little boys (twins or friends, I couldn't tell) who were about 2, maybe 3, years old.  One of the little boys was kicking a soccer ball with all his might, and the other one wanted to play, but didn't want to leave dad's side.  The budding little soccer player was having the time of his life, but he always wanted to kick the ball from the same place.  So he'd kick it once, walk over and pick it up, bring it back to where he'd started, and kick it again.  This happened several times.  It was adorable!  His poor little friend was terrified to join in, so he had to play all alone.  He didn't seem to mind this at all. 

My second bit of visual candy was a man (or was a it a woman?) who was dressed as fantastically as this little park would allow.  First, he had short purple hair.  Then he was wearing teeny tiny cut off jean booty shorts which (not surprisingly) were very much so allowing that booty to hang out.  On top of that, he was wearing this fantastic leopard print cardigan, buttoned all the way up, over his t-shirt.  Now, you would expect that he'd have a tea cup poodle or something to top it off, right?  Nope, he was just sitting there, hanging out in the park, smoking a cigarette.  It was awesome.  People watching is the best.

But by this time, Tim had made it home.  We went to get some food, and then Tim had to do his fantasy football draft so we went to this coffee shop to snag their internet.  This was the 2nd time I had been in this coffee shop that day.  To make matters worse, you had to get an internet access code from the cashiers which they print on receipt paper.  So I got my coffee & my code and promptly, without even making it back to my computer, threw my code away thinking it was my receipt!  Oh good.  I'm an idiot!  So here I go, walking back to the poor guy at the counter 10 seconds after I'd left that same counter, informing him that I'm not to be trusted with little slips of paper and could I please have another code.  At least he thought it was funny.  I did! 

And then Tim & I were back.  We watched a movie (I watch too many movies) and then it was bed time.  In the morning I had to get my car out of the garage where I had left it for my stay in Boston, and then I told Tim I'd take him to work in the morning before I headed out.  A bit later than anticipated (anyone surprised?), we were off.  I took Tim to work, navigated the one way streets of downtown Boston, and was on the road on my way to Houghton, NY.  Houghton, NY is basically a college with a few houses and various (little) businesses around it in the middle of nowhere in southwestern New York.  But I'll come back to that.  

The drive from Boston to Houghton was just under 500 miles.   Tim said that taking 8 hours to drive 500 miles sounded like an awful day, but by this time, the drives don't really even bother me.  I'm used to them.  They are surprisingly relaxing.  And the best part about a 8 hour drive is that it really isn't *that* long anymore.  I'm really liking the road.  I like seeing the changing diversity of the country.  I like seeing the green.  I like passing people who are going too slow.  I like watching other people (who are hauling) pass me, and then I like passing them a few minutes later because a cop pulled them over & they're now on the side of the road getting their ticket.  (That's vindictive, isn't it?)  By the way, so far that's only happened once.  I'm still ticket-less. (Knock on wood.)

And I've settled into a sort of driving routine.  For the first couple of hours, I listen to music.  I rock out.  I snack a little bit. But its mostly just music listening.  (I got my iPod hook up to work again, sort of.)  And then about or 3 hours in I get bored of listening to music and switch to a book on tape.  Then I stop for the one stop: the pee/gas/lunch stop.  Ideally, you want to stop at a gas station directly off the highway which is attached to some sort of eating establishment.   Then its back on the road, and typically about 100 miles from my destination, I get bored of the book on tape and switch back to music for the home stretch.  At some point during the drive you may need a caffeine fix.  On this particular drive, I opted for 2 caffeine fixes.  Both were at McDonald's (mostly b/c typically there are no Starbucks' attached to gas stations, and because there is a very apparent lack of Starbucks in southern NY.  Actually, there's pretty much NOTHING in southern New York, come to think of it, but anyway....).  So in my quest for caffeine, I managed to confuse 4 McDonald's employees at 2 different McDonald's AND I spilled coffee all over my shirt within the first hour of the drive.  At the second McDonald's, I ordered 2 shots of espresso, and after a couple minutes of the employee and manager trying to find a button to use to charge me for just espresso in the computer, she actually decided that the computer was charging me entirely too much, so she gave me a discount!  I now believe that people are not inherently good, but they are at least nice (most of the time). 

Now this particular drive despite my routine, had some quirks.  First off, I had google maps-ed my drive the day before & had discovered that there were 2 routes to get me from Boston to the middle of nowhere.  The first route was (surprise!) chalk full of tolls.  Ew!  I currently have strong feelings against tolls.  It also seemed to be taking me somewhat further out of my way than I wanted to go.  So when I got to Albany, I called my cousin to get her insight on the situation.  She said it didn't really matter which way I went, but that I probably wouldn't have to pay tolls were I to take the southern route, 88, instead of the northern (toll) route, 90.  But as I was driving on 90 just before hitting Albany, I started to see signs saying something along the lines of, "New York Thruway closed at Exit 25A.  Expect Long Delays.  Seek Alternate Route."  Oh joy.  I really hate a sign like that.  So there was my choice, I was taking 88.  Not 90.  I was routed off of 90 at Exit 25A, and put on 88 whether I liked it or not.  Everyone else followed the detour to get back on 90 which was basically a really long line of cars on a one lane highway, and I secretly thought to myself that I was thrilled not to be one of those suckers in that line.  I had sought an alternate route!  So happily, I get on 88 thinking that it would be smooth sailing from there, but NO!  About 10 miles down the road, I find that 88 is closed also.  I get another detour.  On a one lane highway.  Through the country.  For 8 miles.  8 glorious miles of stop & go traffic in which I believe I reached a top speed of 10 mph.  You do the math.  The detour added to my time. 

 

long line of slow moving cars

BUT, the good news is that southern New York is beautiful.  Granted, I'm not too hard to please when it comes to beauty.  I grew up where everything is brown.  Even the green is brown.  So when I see proper green, kept or unkept, grass or trees, I think that it is gorgeous!  But southern New York is different from the rest of the green I've been seeing.  Here the trees are interspersed with farm land.  And hills!  Its not the dense, flat trees of Alabama.  It's much more majestic.  You can see farther.  I quite liked it. 

After my second rerouting, it was smooth sailing.  No more detours.  More of the same gorgeous scenery & clouds, and I then realized that it was only 75 degrees outside.  So for the last 100 miles, I rolled down my windows, blasted my music, and enjoyed the great outdoors from my car!  With my windows down, I had my hand hanging out my window, and I had a bug hit my hand.  Going at 70 mph, that little bugger hurt!  (On a side note, I have murdered a great many bugs with my windshield.  May they rest in peace.)

My cousin & her husband live in the country.  He is the head coach of track at Houghton college, and she assistant coaches with him and also is a (very very good) photographer.  (You can check out her work here: http://www.marydougherty.com/)  They were just finishing up practice when I got there.  I met them at the school & it was awesome to see Mary.  Its been way too long.  Mary & the rest of her family used to drive from Michigan to New Mexico for Christmas when we were kids.  It was always the highlight of the holiday season to see them.  As we got older, we saw each other less and less.  So to be able to visit Mary out in New York is (I'm gonna go over dramatic here) is almost surreal!  It's almost like being a kid again, except that now we're not kids anymore!  

Mary, in addition to being a superb photographer, is also an excellent cook!  She made homemade pesto for dinner & we got to talk while she cooked.  When Matt got home, we all got to enjoy the fruits of her labor, got some excellent corn which Matt had picked up from a farmer on his way home (for that reason alone, I would want to live in the country), and then we talked some more whilst watching the Office.  Mary then decided that she would be making scones for the morning.  I got to help by grating butter (yep, I grated butter) and zesting the lemon.  But then it was bed time. 

I slept like a rock.  Thank God.  Despite sleeping in a different bed every 2 or 3 nights, I'm sleeping better than I thought I would.  Anyway, this morning, Mary baked the scones.   She made them with blueberries & chocolate chips, and not only were they beautiful (like think Food Network beautiful), they were also so so so so tasty.  

After that, I took a shower & Mary got ready for the day.   We were going to go to Houghton to take Matt a couple of scones and Mary had to get a couple things ready for the day.  She's teaching a graphic design class at the college, & she still had a thing or two to do before the class that afternoon.  So we walked around campus, she got to sort some things out, and then it was back to their house for the rest of the preparation, and back to the college for the class!  I almost wanted to sit in on the class and sit at the back just to make her nervous.  But either I'm nicer than that or she wouldn't let me (you decide), so instead I'm sitting in the student center writing this blog.  Being on a college campus for the first week of school is making me (almost) wish I was a college student again.  Maybe I miss school more than I thought I did.  Maybe it's just cause I don't have a job anymore.  Oh well! 

And that's been it.  Fun times are had, and are to be had! Hope you all in New Mexico are doing well.  I'm looking forward to seeing the dry mountains once again, but it won't be for a few more weeks yet.

Hope all is well!!

TALLY:

miles driven: ~4,000 (yikes!)

time spent in my car: 61.5 hours (oh dear.  i'm nearing 3 days)

cities visited: 21

cities slept in: 10

states driven in/through: 17

PS.  On a random side note, my drive from Boston to Houghton should have only taken me through 2 states Massachusetts and New York, but since I took the southern route (US 88) I ended up driving through Pennsylvania for about 30 seconds!  BUT, I did, in fact, cross the state line in to Pennsylvania, albeit for only 30 seconds, so I get to add Pennsylvania to my list of states driven in.  Booyah.