I left East Stroudsburg around 7am on Good Friday to head west on I-80 with the destination of Ann Arbor, MI. I was on I-80 for about 6 hours until I reached Toledo, OH, where I finally departed from that excessively dull interstate for I-475, followed by I-75 and Route 23 North. I took exit 41 for Plymouth Road and made my way to the Sweetwater Coffee House to meet Heather. I of course greeted her with my neon orange shoes so she couldn't miss me sauntering over to her car.
We chatted for about an hour and I chose to sip on a chocolate cappuccino, which is ironic given that I don't like hot beverages. I figured that now that I'm 24, I should be more open to new beverages. We both laughed over the fact that Heather doesn't even like coffee, but she got me to drink a coffee product without even trying.
Following our chat, we drove to her apartment so I could drop my things off. We then ventured to the Faber Piano Institute, where she works, and then went on to Potbelly's for dinner. I chose the chicken cheddar sandwich, while Heather had the Wreck. Her boyfriend, Luke, met up with us for dinner, and then we went to the Good Friday service at the Fellowship Bible Church. Heather introduced me to the pastor, assistant pastor, and a handful of friends before we all went out to Biggby Coffee. I chose to have a mocha latte, another surprise for the evening. Once Biggby closed, Heather, Luke, and I went to downtown Ann Arbor so that I could get the night tour of the University of Michigan. We wandered past the M Den, Michigan Theater, and I chose to be spiteful and step on the Diag. We then went to NYPD for pizza before heading home to sleep since it was almost 1am.
The next morning, we went to The Broken Egg for brunch. I went with the cinnamon french toast and a glass of milk. After brunch, we drove around Ann Arbor in search of parking. We were confused about why there was such an influx of people to downtown until we realized that April 7th was the first day of Hash Bash, the weeklong marijuana festival held every year. We made our way to the M Den for a quick bit of shopping, where I learned that the colors for U of M are blue and MAIZE, not blue and yellow. I opted to buy a shirt that says, Geh' Blau!, which means "Go Blue" in German.
In order to avoid the chaos of downtown and the sweet smell of Mary Jane, we chose to drive up to Frankenmuth, MI. This little town is known as the Little Bavaria of Michigan, so I felt right at home with the timber buildings and polka music. Our first stop was Bronner's Christmas Store, which is the largest Christmas store in the world. Heather and I found some ornaments to buy, but Luke kept liking the ornaments that cost $18, so he skipped purchasing any. We then went to the Leather Shop and went into the gift shop of the Frankenmuth Bavarian Inn. I had a fun chat with one of the women working in the leather shop. We somehow determined that she was on work release from the insane asylum and that I should only shoplift if she could catch me because she would get $20 out of the deal. We then wandered up the street to the Cheese Haus and Fudge Kitchen. Our last stop was the Lager Mill so that Luke and I could pick up some beer. He suggested that I get Two Hearted Ale, which is what I chose.
Soon Luke drove us all to Sidetrack Bar and Grill in Ypsilanti, MI. To live up to its name, a train barreled past the window that our table was next too. It really caught me off guard, actually. I opted for a bacon cheeseburger and a local beer, which was delicious. As an appetizer, Luke and Heather ordered beer-battered pickles. We really enjoyed ourselves, but didn't stay out late so that Heather could try and sleep since her back was acting up a bit.
The next morning, I drove to Portage, MI, to spend Easter with my great aunt and uncle. I hadn't seen them in about two years and figured it would be silly to not drive the extra hour and a half to visit them while in Michigan. I arrived around 9am and my Aunt Jan greeted me with a big hug at the door. She asked how the drive was and showed me some pictures of my great grandparents. When Uncle Archie got home, they both asked about my degree and Uncle Archie wrote the name of it down so that he could research it more later. After chatting for about an hour, Uncle Archie drove us to the First United Methodist Church in Kalamazoo. Since we were early, he gave me the grand tour of the new wing of the church, complete with elevator and mini movie theater. After the tour, we chatted with some of the other church members before heading to the sanctuary for the service. The pastor spoke on
Acts 10:34-43, which was the speech Peter gave at Cornelius' house.
Following the service, we drove around Kalamazoo and Western Michigan campus to check out the engineering buildings and solar panels set up by the auditorium. They then treated me to a prime rib lunch at the Great Lakes Shipping Company. After lunch, we went back to their house in Portage. Aunt Jan told me a bit about my grandmother over a dessert of lemonade pie and milk. They both also gave me some travel tips and Aunt Jan had me look at some more pictures from my great grandfather's 80th birthday party. They shared about their kids and grandkids, and we had a good laugh over the fact that Aunt Jan didn't really want to have her picture taken, though she eventually agreed.
Once I had been around for about nine hours, I made my way back to Ann Arbor for a late dinner with Heather and Luke. We went to Pizza House since Paesano was closed for the evening. We got the cheese breadsticks for an appetizer and a half cheese/half pepperoni pizza as our main course. We discussed music over our meal and then went back to Luke's so he could show me his Wolverine claws that he made for Halloween last year. Heather and I then went back to her place to watch an episode of Band of Brothers before sleeping.
I left Heather's around 7am on Monday morning to take the scenic route back to East Stroudsburg. To avoid the toll on I-80, I took a side trip along Route 2, which is part of the Lake Erie Circle Trail.
After transferring onto a few different roads, I found myself on the outskirts of Cleveland. I headed the back way to Youngstown, OH, before hopping onto I-80 east for my 300 mile haul back to the Burg. All in all, it was a very pleasant weekend.
About two months ago I decided to start a Twitter account just for kicks. I was always one of those big believers in the fact that the majority of the world probably doesn't give a hoot about what you're doing or what you have to say. Then I remembered that I write this blog and some actually read it, so why not compress thoughts into tweets to go along better with the short attention span that society has adopted. Anyways, after a little while I started getting some followers here and there. I've had a handful of bands start following me because I assume that's a good way for them to promote themselves. Needless to say, one of the bands that randomly began following me one day was Darling Parade. Since I'm a fan of music, I always check out the bands that follow me to see if it's worth purchasing some new tunes off iTunes. After listening to "Bells Are Ringing" and "Never Fall Down" I was sold. I think I really gravitated towards the song "Never Fall Down" because of the line, "You can't get up if you never fall down." It was a nice reminder to embed into my brain because frustration has been brewing closer to the surface the past couple weeks due to my unsuccessful attempts of trying to become gainfully employed as an exercise physiologist in order to put my Master's degree to good use, instead of it collecting dust on a shelf. I think I forgot the importance of fighting for my dreams after being relatively successful for the first 23.5 years of my life (albeit a few bumps in the road). But these past couple of months have really stripped me down to the core, making the months that led up to my 24th birthday rather strenuous, which is all the more reason why I think I needed to hear "Never Fall Down. I seemed to have forgotten that it is through our trials that we are molded. Funny how I needed a song to remind me of this even though I know full well that this is exactly the point that is made in Romans 5:3-5.
Now let's fast forward to this past week. On Monday, I saw that Darling Parade was going to be playing in Lehighton on Wednesday, so I figured why not go. I was in need of escape from the monotony of my life that usually involves working part time as a secondary office assistant, searching and applying to jobs, moving my possessions back to my parents, and caring for the stampeding cats. Before hopping in my car, though, I decided to tweet that I was going to watch Darling Parade. Funny thing, on my drive to Lehighton, I was contemplating whether many people would even be there because the show was in Lehighton, and lets be honest, there's really nothing there. There should just be a "Welcome to Lehighton" sign about 500 yards before a "You Are Now Leaving Lehighton" sign. When I finally found the venue, which I'll admit I missed on my first drive through town, I knew my thoughts were confirmed. I was one of maybe five people that showed up, but some of the bands were still going to play, such as Auburn, Carousel Kings, and Major League. Unfortunately for them, considering the venue had graffiti on the walls inside and there was a pitbull behind the counter, the sound system wasn't that great and all of the lyrics were drowned out by the instruments. All of the bands gave a valiant effort, but it just wasn't meant to be, much like my seeing Darling Parade in concert because they weren't actually there. I was a little bummed, but I was still happy to have had a distraction for a couple hours.
Fast forward to Thursday afternoon and I realize that Darling Parade has actually responded to one of my tweets. I was actually surprised and intrigued by this. As it turns out, it was an apology for not being in Lehighton to play. I was stunned by this, but maybe that's because I've become slightly cynical from living in the fast paced Northeast where nobody seems to give you the time of day, let alone take the time to apologize. I of course expressed the fact that it wasn't a problem because they probably needed the rest to get healthy since I was aware that a few band members were sick. This got another response mentioning that their last show was going to be on Friday in Lancaster as a part of the Launch Music Festival. Again, I was sold because I happen to be off on Friday's and Lancaster is only a two hour drive from the Burg. To some this might seem far, but for someone who recently drove 8 hours to Michigan for Easter and has done a cross country roadtrip, two hours is a piece of cake.
On my drive down, I actually got a call from a coordinator at a hospital in Indiana who wanted to ask me some pre-screening questions to determine if my application should be considered for an interview. For some, this may not seem like much, but for me, this is the closest one of my online applications has gotten to being considered. This put me in a great mood, which was just the start of a fantastic night. Once I arrived at the Lancaster Convention Center, I loitered briefly in the lobby to get my bearings. To my surprise, some of the members of Auburn remembered me from Wednesday and came over to say hi. I guess neon orange shoes are memorable, but it was nice to not just be thought of as another face in the crowd because I feel like I go through enough of life being just that. I then got my ticket for Darling Parade and ventured into Freedom Hall A where they happened to be setting up. I got introduced to all of the members, who were all incredibly gracious and surprised that I would drive down two hours to a show. Their show was definitely worth the drive, along with all of the other bands that played. I was thankful that I got another chance to see Major League and Carousel Kings because they are extremely talented bands that unfortunately suffered an injustice in Lehighton due to a less-than-stellar sound system. Another memorable band from the evening, which happens to be from Lancaster, was Darry Miller and The Veil. Amid the performances, I chatted a bit with the members of Darling Parade about the tour, weather, my Harley Jacket, and exercise. They all seem down to earth and genuine, which you don't always find in the music business. I took the time to also buy their newest EP, along with a bracelet to add to my ever-growing collection on my wrists. I also got an EP by Major League to add some new music to my library. After four hours of music, I determined it was best to venture back home, so I said my goodbyes and trekked the two hours back to the Burg. Needless to say, I'm definitely glad I escaped my monotonous bubble of life in order to experience the Launch Music Festival.
