Many people might feel that in order to have an adventure they must travel far from home. So far this weekend I have discovered that this is not necessarily the case. Following class Friday morning, I ate lunch and ran some errands before making the drive from East Stroudsburg to Galilee. I was trying to avoid the heavy traffic for the holiday weekend, so I booked it out of Eastburg without stopping for gas. I figured that I would get it in Wallenpaupack. As I made my way up 402, I ended up having to detour onto 84 due to some downed trees and power lines from the storms the previous evening. I found my way back on track as I was running low on gas but, unfortunately, I had forgotten that Wallenpaupack did not have electricity, and thus, no way to pump gas. I was getting nervous after the fourth gas station not being open, so I continued on towards Honesdale, where there happened to be one functioning gas station. I then went home to nap before my nightshift at Lander's River Trips in Skinners Falls.
Little did I know that work would be quite unusual. Skinners Falls got hit really hard by the storm, which caused trees/power lines to block the eastern entrance to the campground. On top of that, about 6 trees came down at the campground, some of which fell on a lean-to and trailer full of kayaks. Needless to say, there's no power at the campground except for some generators maintaining the well water, cash register, icecream freezer, and two lamps. To top this all off, it's Memorial Day Weekend and Bethel Woods is hosting a 3-night Phish concert, so you can imagine just how hectic the weekend has been, although entertaining as well. Phish Phans are much like modern day Dead Heads, which means the sweet aroma of marijuana wafts in anytime they walk in from the storm. Ironically they all seemed to be hungry at 2am after the buses came back from the show, which provided me with some entertainment in the otherwise quiet store. I thoroughly enjoyed their antics and how laid back they all were. Between that and some friends showing up randomly both nights I've worked so far, my night shifts haven't been too terrible. We'll see how tonight plays out. Read the attached article for some snippets about the weather and Phish Phans.
Phish and Weather
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Exploring the Nation's Capital
Now that I have updated you all on where I have traveled since my epic roadtrip, let me get back to the most recent exploring that took place this past weekend. Chrissy finally got done with her semester of school on Friday (Yay!!!) so we decided to trek down to Washington D.C. to explore all of the museums and to visit her sister. Due to the craziness that is life, we didn't actually get down to her sister's apartment until about 10:45pm Friday after having to drive through countless monsoon-like conditions. Being as we arrived so late, Chrissy and I ended up watching the most recent episode of Bones and then going to bed.
We got up at about 9am to get ready for our day of exploration. We drove ourselves to the Pentagon City Metro Station and hopped the Yellow line to L'Enfant Plaza. Once we disembarked the metro, we began our extensive wanderings by heading towards the Capitol Building, bypassing the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Before going straight to the Capitol, I became intrigued by the baby ducks swimming around the Reflecting Pool near Grant's Memorial. Finally we sauntered over to the Capitol Building, actually saw a couple getting married up on the balcony, and a friendly runner offered to take our picture. She asked us where we were from and we asked if she was enjoying her run.
We then looped around the Capitol to take pictures of the Supreme Court, Neptune Fountain, and Jefferson Library of Congress. Since I'm a nerd, and I knew Chrissy wouldn't mind, I requested that we go into the Library of Congress because I heard the Main Reading Room was quite awesome. Once making it through security, we took in the magnificent architecture of the place. Quotes lined the ceiling, along with frescoes so numerous pictures were taken. On display was one of the original copies of the Gutenberg Bible, which was printed back in 1455. We ventured upstairs so that we go an overhead view of the main reading room, and of course now Chrissy really wants to do some research there. She discovered that there is actually a Middle East and North Africa reading room, which would come in quite handy for her dissertation writing.
After exiting the Library of Congress, we began the long trek down the National Mall. I took pictures of the Washington Monument as we walked along, and I also took pictures of the National Gallery of Art and Museum of Natural History as we walked past. Some girls were handing out free Red Bull, so we took some just for the concept of getting free beverages. We then continued onto our next stop, which was at the Smithsonian Castle. We each got souvenirs before continuing to the base of the Washington Monument. Chrissy wanted to go and touch it, which reminded me of Finding Nemo where Nemo wants to go touch "the butt" (yes I'm easily amused). Given the time, we decided to backtrack to the Holocaust Museum to see if any tickets were available for the Permanent Exhibit. Unfortunately, no tickets were available, but we went through the temporary exhibits, including one about the effectiveness of the propaganda the Nazis used during World War II. It seemed fitting that our next stop was the World War II Memorial.
Following the World War II Memorial, we made our way towards the Reflecting Pool, which happened to be under construction, and thus, nonexistent. There was a crazy squirrel on a park bench who seemed to be posing for pictures in an attempt to lure people close enough to steal food that we passed as we walked along the edge of what should be the Reflecting Pool. I had a Forrest Gump moment, remembering how Forrest and Jenny were reunited after the Vietnam War at the Reflecting Pool. We then ended up at the Lincoln Memorial, which has Lincoln sitting in his chair with the "Gettysburg Address" and "Emancipation Proclamation" inscribed on the walls. We briefly sat on the steps of the memorial to enjoy the view before continuing on towards the Vietnam Wall.
After the Vietnam Wall, we got some soft pretzels and drinks and moved on towards the Memorial for the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence. Next was the Second Division Memorial (WWI) before we reached the White House. There was a mounted police officer who brought his horse over to a fountain for a drink, which greatly amused everybody watching. As we continued on, we stopped by The Willard Hotel, National Theatre, and then a Starbucks for some iced coffee and a frappucino. The caffeine helped fuel us for our trek to Ford's Theater and the FBI Building (no we didn't find Booth unfortunately). We then did a bit of souvenir shopping before touring the International Spy Museum, wandering passed the National Archives, (seeing another wedding at the Pershing Memorial) and then hopping the Metro back to Pentagon City. Once we relaxed at the apartment briefly, Chrissy's sister took us out to the Old Town section for dinner. We ate at a place called Overwood, which is a delicious grill establishment that cooks everything over a wood fire (thus the name). It was a very enjoyable evening full of chatting and laughter over the fact that the air mattress Chrissy and I slept on deflated, making it as effective as laying out newspaper for a bed.
The next morning, the three of us went back to the National Mall so that we could get tickets to tour the permanent exhibit at the Holocaust Museum. Since we had 1.5 hours before our tour time, we wandered to a Starbucks and went to the American History Museum. We saw the original Washington Monument that made him look like a Greek god, the original Star Spangled Banner, and the Philadelphia. We then got a chance to tour the Holocaust Permanent Exhibit before We going to the Air and Space Museum in order to check out the space, Wright Brother's, WWI, and WWII exhibits. I really enjoyed seeing the lunar module and some spacesuits because my grandfather worked for Northrop Grumman and helped test spacesuits as part of his job. We finished our day at Ben's Chili Bowl for a late lunch before driving back to the apartment. After eating, Chrissy and I packed the car and made the long 4 hour drive back to East Stroudsburg.
We got up at about 9am to get ready for our day of exploration. We drove ourselves to the Pentagon City Metro Station and hopped the Yellow line to L'Enfant Plaza. Once we disembarked the metro, we began our extensive wanderings by heading towards the Capitol Building, bypassing the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Before going straight to the Capitol, I became intrigued by the baby ducks swimming around the Reflecting Pool near Grant's Memorial. Finally we sauntered over to the Capitol Building, actually saw a couple getting married up on the balcony, and a friendly runner offered to take our picture. She asked us where we were from and we asked if she was enjoying her run.
We then looped around the Capitol to take pictures of the Supreme Court, Neptune Fountain, and Jefferson Library of Congress. Since I'm a nerd, and I knew Chrissy wouldn't mind, I requested that we go into the Library of Congress because I heard the Main Reading Room was quite awesome. Once making it through security, we took in the magnificent architecture of the place. Quotes lined the ceiling, along with frescoes so numerous pictures were taken. On display was one of the original copies of the Gutenberg Bible, which was printed back in 1455. We ventured upstairs so that we go an overhead view of the main reading room, and of course now Chrissy really wants to do some research there. She discovered that there is actually a Middle East and North Africa reading room, which would come in quite handy for her dissertation writing.
After exiting the Library of Congress, we began the long trek down the National Mall. I took pictures of the Washington Monument as we walked along, and I also took pictures of the National Gallery of Art and Museum of Natural History as we walked past. Some girls were handing out free Red Bull, so we took some just for the concept of getting free beverages. We then continued onto our next stop, which was at the Smithsonian Castle. We each got souvenirs before continuing to the base of the Washington Monument. Chrissy wanted to go and touch it, which reminded me of Finding Nemo where Nemo wants to go touch "the butt" (yes I'm easily amused). Given the time, we decided to backtrack to the Holocaust Museum to see if any tickets were available for the Permanent Exhibit. Unfortunately, no tickets were available, but we went through the temporary exhibits, including one about the effectiveness of the propaganda the Nazis used during World War II. It seemed fitting that our next stop was the World War II Memorial.
Following the World War II Memorial, we made our way towards the Reflecting Pool, which happened to be under construction, and thus, nonexistent. There was a crazy squirrel on a park bench who seemed to be posing for pictures in an attempt to lure people close enough to steal food that we passed as we walked along the edge of what should be the Reflecting Pool. I had a Forrest Gump moment, remembering how Forrest and Jenny were reunited after the Vietnam War at the Reflecting Pool. We then ended up at the Lincoln Memorial, which has Lincoln sitting in his chair with the "Gettysburg Address" and "Emancipation Proclamation" inscribed on the walls. We briefly sat on the steps of the memorial to enjoy the view before continuing on towards the Vietnam Wall.
After the Vietnam Wall, we got some soft pretzels and drinks and moved on towards the Memorial for the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence. Next was the Second Division Memorial (WWI) before we reached the White House. There was a mounted police officer who brought his horse over to a fountain for a drink, which greatly amused everybody watching. As we continued on, we stopped by The Willard Hotel, National Theatre, and then a Starbucks for some iced coffee and a frappucino. The caffeine helped fuel us for our trek to Ford's Theater and the FBI Building (no we didn't find Booth unfortunately). We then did a bit of souvenir shopping before touring the International Spy Museum, wandering passed the National Archives, (seeing another wedding at the Pershing Memorial) and then hopping the Metro back to Pentagon City. Once we relaxed at the apartment briefly, Chrissy's sister took us out to the Old Town section for dinner. We ate at a place called Overwood, which is a delicious grill establishment that cooks everything over a wood fire (thus the name). It was a very enjoyable evening full of chatting and laughter over the fact that the air mattress Chrissy and I slept on deflated, making it as effective as laying out newspaper for a bed.
The next morning, the three of us went back to the National Mall so that we could get tickets to tour the permanent exhibit at the Holocaust Museum. Since we had 1.5 hours before our tour time, we wandered to a Starbucks and went to the American History Museum. We saw the original Washington Monument that made him look like a Greek god, the original Star Spangled Banner, and the Philadelphia. We then got a chance to tour the Holocaust Permanent Exhibit before We going to the Air and Space Museum in order to check out the space, Wright Brother's, WWI, and WWII exhibits. I really enjoyed seeing the lunar module and some spacesuits because my grandfather worked for Northrop Grumman and helped test spacesuits as part of his job. We finished our day at Ben's Chili Bowl for a late lunch before driving back to the apartment. After eating, Chrissy and I packed the car and made the long 4 hour drive back to East Stroudsburg.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Day-trip to Cleveland and Oberlin
Back on February 19th, I made my way to Ohio for the day. My friend, Heather, from high school had her senior recital at the Oberlin Conservatory, so I thought I would explore Cleveland briefly before I went to Oberlin. I went into the lobby of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame just to say that I was there. I then wandered down to the airport and walked through the Women's International Aviation and Space Museum that was set-up in the terminal. I then made my way to Tower City before finding my car again, which I parked by the Cleveland Brown's Stadium. I then booked it to Oberlin and jogged over to the Conservatory just in time to slip inside for the recital before the doors were closed. Heather did an amazing job (as always) and we then went out for dinner and some coffee.
Update from December
So it didn't occur to me until this past weekend to continue this blog and keep everyone entertained with my numerous travels. In order to get you up to speed, we'll back track to December 21, 2010, when my roommate and I explored New York City. We took a train from Dover, NJ, to Penn Station. Our first spot to explore was Madison Square Garden where Rhi enjoyed taking in the boxing photos on display. Next we made our way to Times Square before wandering over to Grand Central Station, Rockefeller Center to see the tree, and St. Patrick's Cathedral. I then decided to walk south so we would pass by the Empire State Building, Macy's, and the Flat Iron Building while we made our way to Ground Zero. We did make a stop in an epic Starbucks that had super tall pillars and a tin ceiling. Following that stop, we went to Trinity Church and then found the Wall Street Bull at Bowling Green. We then went through Chinatown before we ate lunch in Little Italy at Puglia. Soon we found ourselves in Alphabet City and then stopped by F.A.O. Schwarz to check out the giant piano before watching the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall. All in all, it was a fun and productive day. We were delayed getting back to Dover, though, due to police activity, which turned out to be a bomb threat in Maplewood.
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