We've been everywhere

We survived the Western Megatrip with no fights, no breakdowns (emotional or car-wise), no bad weather and no illnesses. We saw so much, I can't even remember it all. I will say this, cheesy or not, America is really beautiful. I really enjoyed watching the landscape change and I found that despite seeing more of this country I am still completely enamored with the Pacific Northwest. Besides seeing the country we also got to see family and friends, which was an added bonus. It was a long trip and there were times when we were so exhausted from driving we thought we'd never get to the hotel. We also ate some crappy food and some delicious food and sometimes we ate fast food. The complete photo set is on Flickr but here are a few :

Lincoln Highway in outside of Laramie,Wyoming

Salt Lake City Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah

Oregon Scenic Highway, somewhere in Oregon

Astoria, Oregon

Mt. Rushmore in Keystone, South Dakota

Crazy Horse Monument outside Custer, South Dakota

Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota

Places we stopped:

• Springfield, Missouri (had lunch at some brewery-type place downtown)
• Lincoln, Nebraska (spent the night & wandered around near the university)
• Cheyenne, Wyoming (stopped for lunch)
• Salt Lake City, Utah (saw family, Temple Square, beautiful mountains, had dinner at Silver Fork Lodge & breakfast at Finn's)
• Twin Falls, Idaho (saw Snake River Canyon & Shoshone Falls)
• Boise, Idaho (had delicious lunch at Salt Tears)
• Portland, Oregon (spent the night & went to The Meadow, FlavourSpot, Grilled Cheese Grill, a comic shop on Mississippi & Close Knit)
• Seaside, Oregon (saw the end of the Lewis & Clark trail)
• Astoria, Oregon (saw the house from Goonies!, the Oregon Film Museum & Astoria Column)
• Seattle, Washington (saw our Seattle friends, including two sweet babies!! Ate at Oddfellows, Spud's & Ivar's & got cupcake from Cupcake Royale)
• Roslyn, Washington (the "Northern Exposure" town, Doug insisted)
• Missoula, Montana (spent the night & had dinner at Biga Pizza)
• Crow Agency, Montana (saw the Little Big Horn National Battlefield & Monument) 
• Spearfish, South Dakota (spent the night)
• Keystone, South Dakota (saw Mt. Rushmore & the Crazy Horse Monument)
• Deadwood, South Dakota (saw the town, which is less like the HBO series & more like Gatlinburg with gambling. Also saw the graves of Wild Bill Hickok & Calamity Jane)
• Sioux Falls, South Dakota (stopped for lunch at Culver's where I swear I saw someone from Teen Mom)
• Mitchell, South Dakota (visited the Corn Palace)
• Sioux City, Iowa (saw lots of Missouri River flooding)
• Lawrence, Kansas (visited family, saw another cute baby, had some super-delicious ice cream at Sylas & Maddy's, shopped at Astrokitty Comics, the Yarn Barn & Au Marche)

Phew.

We did miss our cats a lot and the hotel sleeping/road food eating did get a little tiring but I am so glad we did it. You just can't see all of America (the good and the bad) from an airplane window.

The Road Trip to End All Road Trips

So here's further proof my husband and I are un-sane. We're leaving tomorrow morning and driving from our home in Memphis to Seattle and back. In ten days. In a compact car.

As one person I told put it "That sounds like a terrible trip". Yeah maybe it does, but it's going to be one hell of a trip. This is our route going:

Memphis to Lincoln, NE

Lincoln, NE to Salt Lake City, UT

Salt Lake City, UT to Portland, OR

Portland, OR to Seattle, WA

Seattle, WA to Missoula, MT

Missoula, MT to Spearfish, SD

Spearfish, SD to Lawrence, KS

Lawrence, KS to HOME

Along the way we're planning on stopping to see a few relatives and friends, visit roadside attractions like the Corn Palace, see a couple of natural wonders, eat a lot of bad diner food and fight for control of the radio. We're pretty excited.

Here's some road songs to get us in the mood:

Traveling plans

I am alive, despite my lack of posting last week. I'm in that fun area of full-time work + part-time school + doctor/acupuncture appointments. Luckily spring break is next week so I won't have to go to school and most of doctor appointments have ceased until next month. 

We've been making traveling plans for the spring. In mid-March we're going to Columbus, Ohio for an indie comic thing (SPACE), the first weekend in April we're going to St. Louis for Adam Corolla live (Doug really likes his podcast) and in late-April we're going to Chicago for a Cubs game. I wanted to go to San Francisco for my 30th (gulp) birthday in April but it's the same week as Passover (i.e. really busy time at work) so we're  delaying that trip for a month or so until after school is out. I also have enough frequent flier miles for a Delta ticket which I may use for a Seattle trip sometime in late-summer. We've also toyed around with the idea of driving to Austin for Renegade in May but the timing may not work out.

(image from Something Cakes, found via weheartit)

Alpaca and angora

This past weekend my friend Kenan and I drove (will she drove, I rode) to nearby Oxford, Mississippi for a fiber festival.

There were promisesof real, live alpaca and we just couldn't pass up that opportunity. The festival itself was pretty small but there were two alpaca, not as friendly as the ones we met in Colorado, and angora rabbits. 

 

The rabbits were pretty much the cuter things ever. They're bigger than my cats and look like giant balls of fluff, we almost could find the eyes on one of them. I wanted to take one home with me, although Doug seems to have a strict policy on animals other than cats living at our current house. 

 

After wandering around the festival we walked around the square stopping at Amelia, a tiny but completely adorable shop. She had items from several Etsy artists as well as other things I hadn't seen before. I bought a Shanna Murray decal, which I had been coveting for awhile but never ordered, a printed tea towel and a coffee mug. 

 

Down the street was Bottletree Bakery they were serving lunch but were decidedly low on pastries. We each got something sweet and wandered back down the street to have lunch at Boure. After lunch we stopped at Square Books and then later had coffee at High Point (which used to be in Memphis before it went out of business here). 

Before we left town we went to Knit 1 Oxford, Oxford's only yarn store. The staff was super nice and they seemed to have an adequate amount of basics. K and I couldn't stop petting the Cascade Baby Alpaca yarn. It is so flipping soft that despite my promise to buy any yarn I bought one luscious little skein of Chunky Baby Alpaca. Very soon it will become a neckwarmer/cowl - even thought I don't need another one.

Seattle Part II - Shopping, eating, walking

Saturday morning we woke up early and had breakfast at the 5 Spot in Upper Queen Anne. After breakfast we walked around for a bit, stopping at a few shops. When we left Queen Anne we drove to Archie McPhee's and got a contact high from the distinct plastic smell. At eleven Urban Craft Uprising opened so we headed back to Queen Anne for that. The Seattle Center was packed with people and crafters, lots of people I 'know' from Etsy and blogs. Doug got a very cool tshirt from a local artist and I bought a pair of simple silver earrings. 

That afternoon we picked up our friends and we all drove down to West Seattle. I drug my non-knitting friend to Little Knits and then bought two skeins of yarn (such restraint!) and Doug found a comic shop next door. We also had pie to Shoofly Pie down the street before heading over to Delancey for dinner.

We got there right before they opened and there was already a line. The pizza was very, very good and we were so glad to have time to enjoy dinner with our friends. I got a pepperoni and Doug got that night's special which was bacon and onions and something else. After dinner we took our friends back home, went back to our hotel and called it a night. 

On Sunday we had donuts and coffee at Top Pot before going downtown to Pike Place Market to walk around. The produce looked so good, I just don't like the fishy smell from the seafood stands.

We caught the ferry to Bainbridge Island and had lunch at a Thai place by the water. We walked around too and visit Churchmouse Yarn and Tea, where I purchased one skein of Blue Moon Socks that Rock and some tiny buttons.

By the time we made it back across we were so tired. We did manage to stop by Macrina Bakery for a pick-me-up before driving down to Tacoma to have coffee with one of Doug's friends who lives there. Monday morning we got up early and packed, had breakfast in West Seattle and stopped by Alki Beach again before heading to the airport. 

The security line was clogged up so we made it to our gate just in time for boarding. The flight back was kind of bumpy but shorter than the ride there. As always I really enjoyed my time in Seattle, although I think Doug wants to drive there next year...

Seattle Part I - The Olympic Peninsula

We survived our flights to Seattle with the help of expensive but terrible plane wine, laptop movie watching and some prescription pharmaceuticals. Thursday when we got in neither one of us felt great (it was the wine). We got our rental car and drove to West Seattle for a much-needed lunch of fish and chips at Salty's on Alki Beach. After that we checked into our hotel and later meet up for an early dinner with our Seattle friends. I had a roaring headache the rest of the night so we were in bed early. 

Friday morning I woke up at four in the morning because my body thought it was six. I got ready and patiently waited for Doug to wake up. Once he did we headed to Volunteer Park Cafe for a yummy breakfast and then spent the rest of the driving up the Olympic Peninsula. 

It is an outrageously beautiful drive, mountains, trees, lakes.

Eventually we made it to the Hoh Rain Forest, which was spectacularly quiet and serene. 

 

While we were there we saw *two* Bald Eagles in the wild, craziness! We also saw these elk on the side of the road. 

 

We had wanted to drive to Ruby Beach but by the time we got ready to head that way it was close to sunset and we still had close to twenty miles to drive. Instead, we headed back the way we came and stopped at Rialto Beach to watch the sun set. 

After all that we packed up and headed back to Seattle, stopping in Port Angeles for coffee and a bathroom break. It was so late when we got off the ferry we ate Ivar's for dinner. Ivar's is a Seattle fish and chips chain but it was really good after such a long day. 

The rest to come, Urban Craft Uprising, pie and shopping in West Seattle, dinner at Delancey, Kerry Park, Pike Place Market, Bainbridge Island and Tacoma.

That time of year again

It's time to catch a plane and head west. I'm leaving for Seattle on Thursday and this time Doug is coming with me. This trip makes the third December I've gone, Doug hasn't been back in sixteen years. Half of me is super excited to go and the other half of me is filled with overwhelming anxiety about flying. I could care less about the potential for scanning/groping by the TSA, I just don't want the plane to crash. Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that my dear, sweet husband is a terrible flier too. Right now our plan is to either a) take Xanax or b) take a quarter Ambien each.  We're leaning towards the Xanax considering once we make it to Seattle we have to pick up our rental car and drive into the city. Ambien has a way of disorienting you - even in small doses. This will be the first direct flight I've taken to Seattle, total flying time is around 4 hours (OMGOMGOMG) and 51 minutes. Deep breaths. I'm downloading some movies to my laptop and bringing plenty of knitting to keep us/me occupied and less concerned about crashing into the mountains.

 

 

Provided we safely land in the Emerald City, our loose plans include spending time with our friends who live in Edmonds, dining at Delancey, visiting the CakeSpy shop, hiking in the Hoh Rainforest, seeing Ruby Beach, taking the ferry to Bainbridge Island, shopping at Urban Craft Uprising and having a cupcake (or three) at Cupcake Royale.

Fingers crossed for an uneventful flight.

Chicago in 36 Hours

Last Friday was the 2nd day of Rosh Hashanah and since I work at a synagogue I got the day off. This worked out brilliantly because last weekend was the Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago. Friday morning after my class Doug and I packed the car and started the longest-drive-in-history (9 hours plus stops) to Chicago. We got there around 7ish, checked into our hotel, freshened up and went to Ikea. Neither one of us had ever been to Ikea so it was super overwhelming, the one in Schaumburg was huge. I don't know if they're all that big but wow. We didn't buy anything, just browsed. I did find some lamps I would have liked to buy but the lines for checkout were so long that we skipped it. They had a lot of storage ideas that I really liked. After the Ikea trip we had pizza at Giordano's and then called it a night. 

Saturday morning we had breakfast in Rosemont before taking the L into the city. Obviously we didn't have a lot of time but we were able to go to The Art Institute of Chicago and take in some masterpieces. The details of the Thorne Miniature Rooms left me breathless. 

These were some of my favorites, Egyptian and Asian pieces, sculpture, American classics from Edward Hopper, Grant Wood and Georgia O'Keefe and then Monet pieces.

There was also Van Gogh, look at the brush strokes.

After a far too brief stop at the museum we hopped back aboard the Blue Line and went to the craft fair. It seemed far more packed with people than the previous two years I've been. I bought items from Red Prairie Press, Tartella, Spincycle Yarns, Kitty Jones, Medium Control Goods, Cakespy and a print that I can't remember the seller of. I also popped into Nina, the yarn store just down from the fair, and bought a skein of Madelinetosh (yes, I realize I have a problem), some buttons for a baby sweater I'm working on and a shawl pin.

 

After we left the fair Doug got in touch with an old friend from Memphis who now lives in Chicago and we were able to meet him, his wife and friends for sushi at Tampopo.

Sunday morning we made a quick stop at Floriole for baked goods and coffee. Floriole is a beautiful space, exposed brick, sidewalk tables, wooden beams and one of those garage front doors so the whole front space can be opened.

The baked good were delicious, I had an almond filled croissant which was one of the best things I ever eaten and we bought lemon-lavender, blackberry and chocolate-earl grey macarons for the road, as well as a milk chocolate-caramel-hazelnut tart that was practically perfect. Plus they brew Intelligentsia coffee, so good.

On the way home we stopped in Champaign, Illinois for lunch in a little area filled with restaurants. It looked like a great town, I wish we had more time to explore. Alas, we had to get back to the Bluff City ASAP since I had a Monday morning class at 6:55AM. We have to go back to Chicago when we have more time because there are so many things we want to see.