Faces in Airports

I’m currently writing this while I’m sitting at Gate A30 in Newark International Airport. This is the second airport in the past five hours that I’ve mingled in, but that mingling has evoked some interesting thoughts in my head that I felt the need to express and convey to others.

Earlier today, I was at JFK International Airport waiting for my brother to arrive from Germany. Up until yesterday I didn’t even know what airline he would be flying back on due to the Lufthansa strike. You see, the reason I’m in Newark is to fly to Seattle to visit a friend that I met while volunteering with Samaritan’s Purse. He’s been bothering me for a year to come visit so I could meet his daughter, since she always hears stories about us volunteering together. A few weeks ago he bothered me again, but I told him I’d get back to him since I was playing airport chauffeur for my dad and brother. I mentioned to my mom the possibility of going to Seattle and she jokingly told me to search for flights that were leaving the same day my brother was flying back. Low and behold there was a relatively cheap flight from Newark to Seatac, so I made the “plan” to pick up my brother and then make my way to Newark for an evening flight. The thing is, though, that plans don’t always go, well, as planned. And that’s been the story of my life, so I wasn’t surprised that two days ago my brother told me his Lufthansa flight home was already cancelled due to the strike and he wasn’t quite sure what to do. Even though I had my “plan”, everyone in the family joked about how he would get home. My Oma figured he could just swim home, and my mom joked that maybe he would fly home via Australia in case the volcano in Iceland decided to erupt. Neither of those things happened, thankfully, so he booked a flight back on Singapore Airlines, our typical airline when traveling to and from Germany. To stick with the whole God-laughing-in-the-face-of-plans theme, my brother told me over lunch that he almost wasn’t able to fly back today because he accidentally booked for April 3^rd as opposed to the 2^nd, but the booking agent thankfully got him onto the flight today. But I digress.

While waiting in JFK, I did my usual people watching interspersed with reading. I’m currently reading Packing Light by Allison Vesterfelt, which is all about living life with less baggage, both literally and figuratively. What I noticed while I stood around Terminal 4 was, not only are there individuals from all over the world with different styles, religions, and skin colors, but they all have a variety of facial expressions. Without even talking to any of the people who were disembarking flights, I could tell exactly how they felt. Some looked exhausted from their international flights. Others looked exuberant, ready to explore a new found city on their travel itinerary. Then there were my favorite, the joyous reunions between family and friends. You can just watch their faces light up with immense joy to be reunited with those that they loved. Still, there are others who, when you gaze into their eyes, you can sense a low-level panic just beneath the surface. For those individuals, I imagine they either aren’t comfortable traveling alone, or they are starting their lives over and are overwhelmed by all of the unknowns within their future. So many faces surround me, and they all hold their own story.

As I sit at gate A30, though, the faces are still different. Many look serious, probably in an attempt to get some work done while waiting for boarding. Others are kicked back attempting to relax while they wait. Some are sipping on overpriced beverages that they bought at the nearby food court, probably secretly hoping they won’t have to make a bathroom run too close to boarding. Parents entertain young children, while others shut themselves out from the world around them using any means possible, but typically this is in the form of headphones, laptops, or smart phones. Everyone desperate to connect with people, just not with those on the seats adjacent to where they’re at.

I hope that there are others who take the time to be as observant as me, willing to take in their surroundings and not miss anything amid the hustle and bustle of daily life. We are so easily consumed by distractions that we hardly ever take the time to look into someone’s face, let alone their eyes, to truly get a sense of how they’re feeling. The face tells no lies, whereas communications through devices are always deceiving. 

As I close this airport ramble, it is my hope that you will take the time today to not be so selfishly engrossed in your own world, but rather to take a minute to look outside it. Share a friendly smile or head nod with someone, or any other sort of acknowledgement so that you each know you’re not in this daily battle alone.

Christmas Weekend: Trekking ~446 Total Miles to Visit Friends and Family

This Christmas weekend has been busier than usual for me, which wasn't a bad thing. I love driving, so it was kind of exciting to do so much traveling to visit with people. My fun started on Friday with a trip to Honesdale, PA, for a surprise going away party for my friend, Mark. He is moving to Chicago to live with a friend and work as a computer programmer. I came to town a bit early to run errands with Beth before venturing over to Mark's. It was great to see many old friends from high school again. I hadn't seen most of them since June or July, so I enjoyed catching up with everybody, including Cara, Mark, Shaun, Joe, Beth, Heather, and Allaina.

Following this little get together, I ventured back to East Burg to meet up with my friend, Teresa. I hadn't seen her since May, so I was really excited to spend time catching up. This visit to her house of course involved being poked and prodded by her mother who was wondering if "Flaca" has been eating enough. I also got scolded for not coming to visit, even though Teresa hasn't been home. Most of this discussion was of course in Spanish because her mom is convinced that I am fluent...the funniest part is that she'll talk to Teresa in English, who is actually fluent in Spanish. Makes me laugh every time. We relaxed watching a movie and talking about what we've been up to lately. Teresa also showed me all of the food that her mom had stocked up for her two day stay, which included a large leg of lamb that I was tempted to use as a club.

On Christmas eve, I ventured up to my parent's mountain in Galilee, PA. This was quite relaxing and involved eating, baking cookies, and a nap. My brother made it home for a tasty steak dinner before we all went to the Tabernacle Bible Church in Honesdale for the Christmas Eve Worship Service. It was very well done, and I thoroughly enjoyed the selection of hymns for the evening. Following the service, I promptly booked it back to my apartment in East Stroudsburg in order to meet up with Rhi and Seamus so that we could go to Midnight Mass at Our Lady of Victory in Tannersville, PA. I actually ended up traveling separately because I was dealing with some sporadic stabbing pains in my stomach. Thankfully it got to a point where it didn't get any worse, even though it didn't get any better for a time, so I was able to make it in time for the carols at 11:30pm. I was intrigued by the Catholic traditions that took place during the service, but I think my favorite part of it involved kicking off Christmas listening to the tolling of church bells. I made it home by 1:15am and I followed my brother's orders and opened my trunk to find my presents from him, which included a framed bag from when we went to Shakespeare and Company in Paris, a framed picture of East German soldier, Conrad Schumann, escaping to West Germany (he knows I love history), the book Choices, and a poster from the Switchfoot/Relient K concert we went to back in 2008. All around, some pretty epic gifts in my book. I then finished putting up the Christmas lights before Rhi, Seamus, and I all dozed off to episodes of Lock Up.

I got up around 8am to venture down to Hellertown, PA, in order to attend the Christmas service at Saucon Bible Fellowship Church. Pastor taught about how Jesus is our healing servant and that His birth and ministry fulfilled prophecy from Isaiah 53. After the service, I picked out two poinsettias to give to my mom before driving back to East Stroudsburg for a quick nap and to chat with Rhi and Seamus. Apparently they devoured all but three of the Christmas cookies I brought down from my parents, so I promised to steal some more for them. I finally made my way back to Galilee, with two brief detours in Honesdale. I decided to go up to Irving Cliff to get some pictures of town and I also stopped in Central Park to get some pictures. For those of you who don't know, the man who wrote the lyrics to the song Winter Wonderland, Dick Smith, was from Honesdale and it is said that his inspiration for the song was snow-covered Central Park.

I reached Galilee around 3:45pm and was greeted by my parents. We chatted a bit before opening presents. I was pretty excited for the toaster oven/rotisserie that my dad got me. I'm pretty stoked to try and cook a chicken now! About an hour later Nick arrived in his usual pre-zombie state. Being a nurse, sleep isn't always on the top of the list of activities. He opened his gifts and my dad tested out the RC helicopter he got. I was amused that he flew it right into the tree. Soon Anita joined us for a delicious dinner of turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and broccoli, which was followed by cookies and chocolate. We topped off the evening by watching the Packers game. All in all, a very busy Christmas weekend, but probably the most content I've felt in years, which is promising for me. Now it's off to rest my eyes and see what tomorrow brings. Possibly some indoor soccer, but maybe just a bum day on the couch.

Back to My Favorite Stomping Ground: The Big Apple

New York City is probably my favorite city to wander around. In my numerous trips there combined, I have walked from Battery Park all the way to 106th & Broadway. I have never lived in New York City, but I think I morph into a New Yorker every time I travel there. This includes booking it (power-walking) everywhere and crossing the street even when I'm not supposed to as long as there is no traffic that might run me over. Yesterday, since the weather was nice, I decided to drive down to Hoboken, NJ, to take the PATH into New York City. This was a change to my usual parking in Dover, NJ, and taking the train to Penn Station. But, hey, I enjoy a bit of variety in my life.
Anyways, I decided to take the PATH to the World Trade Center because I enjoy wandering the un-gridded streets that comprise the southern tip of Manhattan. It's so easy to get lost that you are always bound to discover something new by accident, whether it's the gothic architecture of a church, traditional Chinese, or cobblestone streets from the New Amsterdam era.
As soon as I left the station, I the new Freedom Tower loomed in front of me. Last year my roommate and I saw it when the structure was halfway complete. Now all of the floors have been built and the windows have been inserted up to about the 52nd floor. I then took the walkway on Vessey St. over West St. just for kicks. This actually gave me a nice distant view of the new 9/11 Memorial. I then decided to turn around and head back to Church St. and walk downtown towards St. Paul's Chapel. I continued down to 195 Broadway, which houses what I consider one of the fanciest Starbucks' in the city. Don't worry, I wasn't stopping for coffee because we all know that I only drink that in Europe; instead I was utilizing my knowledge of every Starbucks has a bathroom and bathrooms are quite scarce in the Big Apple. I soon continued my way down Church St. past Century 21, which was decked out in red vertical tube lights. I then made a left to wander east on Liberty St., which apparently borders Zuccotti Park. Once I realized this, the line of cops on the sidewalk made a bit more sense to me.
After the park, I decided to head uptown on Broadway. I came across the Woolworth Building and got a picture of the exterior; a sign announced that tourists were not permitted inside the Woolworth. I decided to veer off onto Reade Street because the architecture of the Catholic Church of St. Andrew's caught my eye. Since I found myself on Centre St., I of course got distracted by the Court House, which is where scenes from Law and Order are occasionally filmed. I took Centre St. passed Collect Pond Park all the way to Canal St. I wandered west on Canal before deciding to take Mercer St. uptown. Part of me wishes I could have oriented myself better so that I could have wandered the heart of Little Italy, but I was very excited to find Mercer St. to be old cobblestone. I was soon at West Houston St. diagonally across from the Angelika Film Center and Cafe. I continued uptown until I reached Bleecker St., which is where I decided to venture east for a couple blocks.

Once I found Broadway, I followed that uptown passed Grace Church, to Union Square. The German in me was instantly sucked in by the Christmas Market. Sure the sign said "Holiday Market", but I'm tired of being stifled by the politically correct. Anyways, I wandered around some of the booths and found the most amazing knit hat ever. It contained my two favorite colors (red and orange), was a mohawk, and had fleece-lined ear coverings. I kept coming back to it and finally bought it for myself as an early Christmas gift. I then wandered past the German Delights and continued my way through the square to Park Ave. I followed Park up to 35th, which is where I decided to head west to Herald Square and Macy's. I took in all of the window displays and singing salvation army men.
After gazing upon the windows, I was then approached by a woman who asked me if I was a sports fan. I replied "yes" and she wanted to know if I followed the New York Giants or had an opinion on the coach. I'm not a Giants fan, but I do feel that Coughlin has a temper. She then excitedly asked if I minded being filmed for a poll on the coach. After determining that this was just random and fun, I took the microphone and said my piece. For those interested in what I had to say, fast forward to 1:06 of this YouTube clip.
I then decided to wander into Macy's and take a look at their displays. I was videotaping just inside the entrance and promptly had some woman from security tell me that I was not allowed to do that. I settled for just taking pictures after that, but am quite amused by the fact that pictures are allowed, but not videos. I've always wondered why that is, so if anybody out there knows the answer, please inform me. I wandered the first floor, but promptly got tired of the large crowd and decided to leave. I looked at a few more window displays before venturing up Broadway to 42nd St. and Times Square. I always enjoy seeing this part of town lit up. As I passed the Walgreens, I noticed a large crowd standing outside the door. I ambled over to it and found out that apparently Heidi Klum was inside. I'm not one to really get excited over celebrities because I just view them as highly publicized normal human beings, but since I had nowhere else to go at the time, I stood around for kicks. Eventually we were informed that she left through another exit and asked to disperse.
I wandered up Broadway again until I reached Radio City Music Hall. I always enjoy the colorful lights and displays that are along the street and fountains in this area. After snapping a few photos and video, I ventured over to the crowd gathering alongside the music hall. After waiting about 10 minutes and having my bag checked, we were allowed to go get our spots in Rockefeller Plaza for the Christmas Tree lighting. Mind you, it was 4:30pm and the tree wasn't going to be lit until 9pm, but this was one of those once in a lifetime occurrences that I felt the need to take advantage of. I thankfully was smart enough to pack a book and granola bars, so I sat on the curb in my fenced in area for a couple hours reading to pass the time. I made passing comments to some of the people next to me, but had no conversation of substance.
At 7pm, Al Roker came out on stage to do his announcing gig. He announced the "live performance" of Michael Buble, which was really all of us watching a previously recorded tape done the week prior. From where I was, it was hard to know how many of the performances were actually live or previously recorded. Anyways, during commercial breaks, the crowd was encouraged to cheer loudly once the hosts came back to be taped. It was mildly amusing. I did see Donald Trump, though, and I'm convinced that he uses wax to hold down his comb-over so the wind doesn't blow it in every direction.

Finally, after hours of waiting, the countdown to light the tree began. Mayor Bloomberg did the honors, and it sparkled brilliantly, just as expected. I was very glad to be able to cross something off of my bucket list, but in hindsight, it's definitely much smarter to watch the event from home. I then had to figure out how to get outside of the fences and crowd, which took about a half hour. I made my way to the Rockefeller Center subway station to take the F train to 34th St. Once there, I wandered down to 7th Ave before looping back to 33rd St. and 6th Ave to take the PATH back to Hoboken. Once in Hoboken, I went back to the garage on Hudson St. and 2nd St. where my car was parked on the 6th floor and drove the one hour and 45 minutes back to Stroudsburg. All in all, it was a great experience and led to me falling into a very deep sleep for the night.

Piloting a Cessna

Today I met my dad at the Cherry Ridge Airport just outside of Honesdale, PA. His friend, Lee, was expected to be flying in from Conway, NH, with his 1965 Cessna Skylane. My dad and I went for a walk and talked about the bus trip he took back when he first visited the United States.
Around 1:30pm, I heard a plane in the sky and we saw Lee coming towards us on the horizon. He circled over us and then came in for a landing on the runway. He made is way over to park, climbed out of the plane, and gave me a big hug. I haven't seen Lee in a number of years, so he was looking forward to catching up on what I've been doing with my life.
But before catching up, he asked me if I wanted to go on a little flight in his plane. I of course was all for it because it's not everyday that you can go up in a Cessna. To my surprise and great excitement, Lee told my dad to sit in the back because he wanted me to fly us around the countryside! Once we got our headsets all functioning, Lee turned on the plane and we began taxi to the end of the runway. He had me use the foot pedals to steer us down to the end of the runway. We then came to a stop to boost the throttle to ensure the engine worked and go through the pre-flight checklist. Lee put me in charge of the radio so before take-off, I had to say, "Honesdale. Skylane 8433 Sierra. Takeoff on runway 36. Honesdale." After I finished announcing that, Lee throttled us down the runway and took off in the direction of Honesdale. As we made our way over my former high school and the thriving metropolis of Honesdale, Lee instructed me on how to steer, increase altitude, and decrease altitude. He then decided that I should be in charge of our flight at that point, so I found 191 north on the ground and followed that until I recognized houses on the horizon and headed towards Galilee. I flew over my parents house at 2500 feet and then headed towards Callicoon, NY. Once I got to the Delaware River, I banked right in order to circle back over to Galilee before making my way back to the airport. Lee allowed me to attempt to line the plane up with the runway before coming in for a landing. Once we were within a half mile of the airport, Lee took over the controls again so that we could make a safe and smooth landing. It was definitely an experience I won't soon forget!

My parents house in Galilee, PA, from 2500 feet

Adventure Dream: Sledging in New Zealand

I'm not sure when I will be having my next adventure, but one that is on the top of my list is to go sledging in New Zealand. Many might wonder what the heck sledging is; essentially it is glorified boogie-boarding through class III-V rapids on a specialized plastic craft, but way cooler. I first saw sledging when I was watching an episode of The Amazing Race years ago. It looked epic and I decided then and there that one day I would go sledging, hopefully in New Zealand. I tried to go sledging in Aspen, CO, on my roadtrip two summers ago, but Aspen Seals was not taking reservations that summer. Hopefully I will one day achieve my dream of sledging in New Zealand. I would definitely love the adrenaline pumping adventure and I'm sure I would pack many other awesome activities into my trek to New Zealand whenever I visit. I think sandboarding, hiking, and kayaking would all be a must. But time will tell if this dream ever comes to fruition.

Octoberfest Weekend

The tradition of the past four years has been for me to trek to Knoebels on Columbus Day weekend for some festivities with my friend, KK, and her family. I continued in this tradition, though it was limited to just one day since I had a jam-packed weekend of activities planned.

On Friday, I set out for Sunbury, PA, to meet up with KK at the Sheetz by her house. This place alone makes me laugh because I always remember the first time I was going to visit KK and she was giving our friend, Teresa, directions and told her that we should "turn at the Sheetz," but Teresa heard "turn at the sheep" and was wondering how KK knew they would be there. Anyways, this venture took much longer than expected due to the excessive construction on I-80 west and drivers continual inability to merge into one lane when prompted to do so. I eventually found KK and we drove to Knoebels to park my car before running errands for her mom. KK was also trying to give directions to her cousin about how to locate her house and needed to call her mom to see if anybody was home to flag down her cousin. Needless to say, this involved KK being on two phones at once, which was a highly amusing sight. 

We soon made our way to the Crest Haven Farmer's Market to pick up cold-cuts and cheese for our sandwiches before hunting for birthday cards in the dollar store. After mailing the cards, we made it back to Knoebels and located KK's family in the British Columbia section of the campground. We all sat down and enjoyed some sandwiches for dinner and chatted about what was new and exciting. KK's mom insisted that I eat more, which is typical, and I enjoyed arguing back since she was berating me in English and not German about eating more. After dinner, we made our way to the bumper cars for the semi-annual two hours of smashing into each other as hard as possible. KK and I shared a car for the majority of the time, which was a blast, even though many bruises began forming after numerous collisions with her dad, uncles, Gus, and Mots. Following bumper cars, we went back to the campsite to relax in front of the fire. I enjoyed chatting with KK's grandma about life. She was amused by the devilish look in my eye that I had every time I went to hit somebody during bumper cars. I informed her that my oma's nickname for me when I was growing up happened to be "kleine teufel" which means "little devil." Soon we were all exhausted and decided to turn-in for the night.

The next morning I had a nice chat on the phone with my brother and then read some of my book for the book club on Sunday evening. This was followed by a delicious breakfast of toast, bacon, eggs, and breakfast potatoes. Following my breakfast, I packed up my car and set off on my next adventure, which was to locate Josh's family cabin outside of East Canton, PA. I knew that this would definitely be interesting considering part of the directions stated, "turn into a parking lot by a milking parlor and continue around until the barn is on your left and then drive down the road that goes off into a field at an angle. Follow this into the woods and then you have arrived." Thankfully, I only missed a turn once, but noticed it on my second drive-by. Otherwise, I would have been out of luck considering there is no cell phone service in the area. What made my arrival even more entertaining was the fact that Josh wasn't even at the cabin when I got there and I had never met anybody who was there at the time. One of the three Larry's greeted me and told me to make myself at home while he went back out target shooting. I took a seat at a table and continued to read my book. Soon Josh arrived with his cousin and brother. They had their rocket boat with them, but realized that they had left the ignition button at the house, so we all piled into the car and went back for it. 

Once back at the cabin, we all wandered down to the pond to test out the rocket boat. I was part of the rescue crew for the first attempt, so I went out in a canoe with Josh's brother-in-law so that I could film the attempt and then retrieve the boat. The first attempt wasn't terrible, though it flipped when it caught a wave. The second-attempt was quite zig-zaggy, while the third attempt was a beautiful straight shot to the shoreline. Our favorite attempt, though, was the fourth because it went straight for about half the length of the pond before becoming extremely unstable and flipping over. Watching the video amuses us every time. After rocket-boating, we went inside for a tasty dinner, which made for good fuel before going out and shooting rifles. We shot at spinner targets and plastic cups, but soon upgraded to jugs of oxygen acetylene. There is no describing the effects of this, so it is best that you watch the video at the end of this post for the full effect. It was definitely one of the highlights of my weekend, though. We then went back inside and played Settlers of Catan before getting some sleep.

The next morning we ate a heart breakfast before having a little church service at the cabin. Following the service, Josh and I went for an hour long walk through some pastures, woods, and corn fields. It was definitely great to be out in nature again hearing the crunch of leaves under my feet and enjoying the sunshine. After our walk, we played a game of Rivals of Catan before a lunch of lasagna. I had to trek south to the Burg after lunch so that I could shower and make it to my book club down in Coopersburg. It was a refreshing evening chatting about how sin, not men, is the main problem, along with the importance of a woman maintaining her identity, while embracing the roles of wife and mother. The importance of Christian community with fellow women was also discussed because too many get sucked into maintaining their nuclear family and we must not forget what we can learn from each other's experiences and gain from communication. All in all it was a very entertaining and refreshing weekend.

Video of the Journey Search

775 Mile Journey in Search of a Dodge Journey

Let me begin with where this idea was born. About two weeks ago while watching television, Josh and I saw this commercial for the new Dodge Journey.

I had every intention of going on YouTube to discover the rules of the search, but I completely forgot. Luckily Josh remembered to look it up and, after screen capturing some of the clips from the initial commercial, determined that the Dodge Journey had to be somewhere in Northeast New York or Vermont. This opportunity to find a new car was too awesome to pass up, so we decided that we were going to drive to the area on September 24th to give it our best shot. In order to prepare, we bought an atlas of Vermont to try and give ourselves a search radius. We also came across an invaluable blog that was dedicated to solving video clues for the East search, so we scoured the comment board for ideas as well. What we eventually discovered was that Dodge made a mistake in offering a wide frame shot of the final location of the Journey in the East Search, and by using Google Earth, most people determined that it was on Mt. Independence in Vermont. This brought up many questions about the fairness of the search. Many figured that the Journey would either be found within five minutes of the contest starting, while others were hoping that Dodge was aware of the discovery and that they had a contingency plan for another location. Luckily, the latter is what occurred.
On the morning of Saturday, September 24, Josh and I departed from my parents house in Galilee, PA at 7:40am. We drove straight to Queensbury, NY, and found a Starbucks to setup shop in because I had a plan of sorts. Since everybody assumed the Journey was at Mt. Independence, we both figured it was pointless to go to such a congested area, especially since one needed to take a ferry from Ticonderoga, NY, to even get to that location in Vermont. By staying in Queensbury, this gave us a central location to Ticonderoga and Albany. Our reasoning was based upon the numerous inconsistencies and paradoxes within the original commercial because it shows the Dodge Journey driving in four completely different directions.
The first clue was launched at noon and gave us a starting radius of 500 miles from Albany, NY. This came as a bit of a shock because many were assuming a radius of only 100-200 miles. The bigger surprise was that the next four subsequent clues that would be released each hour until 4pm only narrowed the radius by 25 miles each, giving a radius of 375 miles on the final clue. (If you would like to watch the clues released by Dodge, which I would highly encourage, you can go to Dodge's YouTube Channel and scroll down to where it says, "And the clues that led to the Journey.") Considering we knew what the first four clues were going to be in terms of location, we felt it was best to sit in Starbucks until the final clue was released. We occupied our time with trying to determine a direction and checking on a live update blog, the live feed of the Dodge Journey, and Twitter. Once the final clue was released, and it oddly saying that the Journey was within 25 miles of the last clue, we determined that it would be best to drive to Vermont via Route 4 to avoid any congestion. We knew Dodge had put up a sign right before the turn onto Route 73 off of Route 74 east in Vermont, so we assumed that we had to just look for these signs.

As we got closer to Route 74, Josh thought it best that we try to take some back roads to search on because the West and Midwest locations had been remote. Also, the last clue spoke of a marathon, so we were trying to search an area that was 26.2 miles from Schroon Lake, NY. We soon began coming across numerous vehicles from out of state who were obviously taking part in the search. We drove down remote dirt roads and dead end roads leading to farms trying to determine where this barn was, as this image of our Google Maps route indicates.
Around 5pm on Dodge's Twitter we realized a bit of bad news. They said that the Journey really wasn't within 25 miles like the last clue video had stated, but within 375 miles. They also said that a slideshow would be played starting at 6pm to show landmarks on the way to the location. With this slightly demoralizing news, we decided to pull off the road and access the internet for the slideshow. My mom was watching at home and calling with tips of possible directions to drive in. After about a half hour of almost useless pictures, minus a handful of buildings, we decided that our best bet was to drive back on 74 west and take the turn onto 73 like the Journey in the 500 mile clue. This seemed to be everybody's idea because we soon found ourselves in a convoy of about 8 cars all driving frantically in the same direction. Any place there was a passing zone, cars went zooming by, or I passed the slow drivers in front of me. We began to see some of the buildings from the slideshow in Orwell, VT, which gave us hope that we were on the right track. Josh was on the phone with my mom and watching the slideshow to try and figure out which direction to go in. We made it to Brandon, VT, and pulled off the road, just like all of the other cars, because that was the last image given in the slideshow. Instead of waiting for it to continue, we made a wild guess and hopped on Route 7 south. This happened to be a very smart move and we actually found ourselves ahead of the clues in the slideshow. Josh's friend Dan was also trying to keep us updated to a direction, as were my parents. My dad discovered a barn behind a restaurant in Killington, VT, that seemed promising, but then the next slide indicated otherwise. I continued to drive as fast as I could without drawing attention down Route 4 towards Woodstock, VT, and Quechee. After some careful thinking, we felt it was best to get on Interstate 89 south, and got off in Lebanon, NH, so that we could pull into a parking lot and wait for the next clue. Unfortunately, this was at 9pm and Dodge wrote on the chalkboard in the live feed that the slideshow would continue at 9am the next morning. This was quite demoralizing because we had such high hopes that we were ahead of the crowd and on the right track. As much as we wished to continue, we knew that we had to be back in Hellertown for Josh to teach Sunday school in the morning.
On one last whim, though, since we didn't want to give up too easily, we realized on the blog that somebody had mentioned that there was a Journey's End Farm outside of Providence, RI. This was 204 miles from where we were currently, but it fit into the radius that Dodge had implemented, so we gave it a shot. Around 1am, we rolled slowly down a dead end road past this farm and saw a barn with lights on. After 3 drive-bys, we determined that the barn didn't seem to match the one from the live feed and we didn't have the nerve to trespass so early in the morning. I didn't think getting shot at while in search of a car was something I wanted to chance. With that in mind, we began the journey back to East Stroudsburg. We took I-95 south through Connecticut and around 3am, decided to pull off in a rest area for a 1 hour nap. I then drove the rest of the way home through the Bronx, across the George Washington Bridge, and through New Jersey before making it back to my apartment at 6:30am. All in all, it was a very fun excursion. We managed to travel through 8 different states all within the span of 23 hours, so not too shabby. For all you visual learners out there, a map of our entire route can be seen to the right so you can visualize how far we actually drove. Also, once I work out the technical difficulties, I will be posting a video of our entire excursion. On a final note, the Journey was found around 5pm on Sunday up on the northern coast of Maine.

Car Fixing and Examining Flood Damage

On September 10, Josh and I left early in the morning to head to his parent's house in Granville Summit. Most would view this as nothing out of the ordinary, except two days before, remnants of a tropical storm dumped 9 inches of rain on the Susquehanna River Valley, which in turn submerged numerous roads and towns. As we headed north, we noted many flood ravaged areas and could actually see how high the water had been considering there was a layer of mud on the tree leaves. We stopped at the Asylum overlook in Marie Antoinette so that we could get a nice view of the swollen and muddy Susquehanna.
Once we reached Wyalusing, we needed to start taking detours because water still covered numerous roads, making them impassable. After some meandering around, we made our way back onto Route 6 West, only to be diverted again outside Wysox. After the detours and taking the other end of the road, we finally made it to Josh's parents.
We ate lunch before Josh set to work fixing the shift cable in his car. I spent my time pacing and discussing different topics with his family. Once the car got fixed, we decided to go for a walk to look at some of the flood damaged roads. There was one road that was completely chewed up by all of the water at one end. As we continued walking along the road, it soon became apparent that the road was no longer a road, but a stream. The pipe going under the road had become partially blocked, which diverted the stream from it's actual route and converted the road into a stream. As you can see, a picture is worth a thousand words.
Josh and I then backtracked and made our way to the other end of the road he lives on to see why it was closed. Pretty much, the pipe was washed away, caving the road in so that there is now a 20 foot drop-off. Needless to say, it's amazing how powerful water can truly be in immense amounts.
The rest of our evening was quite pleasant. We all had pizza for dinner and the general consensus was that chicken wing pizza with bleu cheese tastes like paint. Following dinner and conversing, we decided it was best to begin the trek south again. In order to avoid the detours we encountered on the trip north, we opted for driving through Williamsport on the way back to East Stroudsburg.

New Orleans: Bike Tour, Jazz, Riverboat Cruise, and the Red Hat Society

On August 16, Chrissy and I were kindly driven to JFK airport by our friend, Oliver, at 2am. We arrived at JFK around 4:30am in order to catch our 6:45am flight to NOLA. We got through security easily and then had time to nap on and off before boarding our JetBlue flight, which happened to get delayed an hour.
We landed in NOLA at 9:30am and quickly found a cab to take us to the French Quarter. Upon arriving, we strolled through the French Market. We passed the Joan of Arc statue and continued our walk along the Mississippi River. Soon we found ourselves in front of a statue of Bienville, the founder of New Orleans, before wandering past the House of Blues. We chose to loop back towards Jackson Square, where we heard some decent street performers playing jazz. We scooted through Pirates Alley and then decided to rest and have beignets at Cafe du Monde. The atmosphere was very relaxed and the beignets were phenomenal! Some more street performers could be heard playing across the street as we ate, which just made the experience even better.
After sitting for about an hour, we continued to wander the French Quarter, poking around shops and taking in our surroundings until we decided to check into our hotel. We stayed at the Ambassador Hotel for our three nights. Apparently it used to be an old coffee warehouse, which makes for some very unique room setups. We had a glass door and window that opened into the hallway, along with 12-foot ceilings in our room. The hotel also happened to be right across from a fountain that was a part of the Italian Embassy on Tchoupitoulas Street. Chrissy and I chose to frolic in the fountain in an attempt to cool off in the hot weather. Soon, we found ourselves back along the Mississippi enjoying the Riverwalk and the breeze until we thought it was best to take a nap since sleep the night before did not exist.

Following our four hour nap, Chrissy and I went out to Huck Finn's Cafe for dinner. I chose a chicken sandwich while Chrissy settled for a pulled pork po-boy. It was a very relaxing evening and our waitress was quite pleasant. After dinner, the river was calling us so we sat along the banks of the Mississippi to absorb the peace that can only be found in the middle of the night with the breeze of the river against your face.
The next morning we awoke early in order to get some breakfast in the hotel before meeting with our tour guide, Bob, from Big Easy Bike Tours. We soon embarked on our epic 5 hour bike tour around the city. We began along the Mississippi River and checked out the Holocaust Memorial. Bob then explained how the highest elevation in the city could be found along the river's banks and that flood waters from Katrina actually came from Lake Pontchartrain, before entering the French Quarter. Bob explained all of the architecture to us and how the original houses only had side entrances when they were built and how they all had to be made of brick due to fires that had broke out in the city, though most of the brick had been covered in plaster and artisans had etched the plaster to look like large blocks. He also explained and pointed out the design of the original cobblestone streets in the city. Bob led us down Esplanade Avenue, continuing his thorough explanations of the architecture and the color schemes that could be found in particular neighborhoods. Eventually we found ourselves in a cemetery, which was full of mausoleums, the burial preference in New Orleans due to the sandy soil and water being found six feet down. Bob thoroughly described how the family plots were used and couldn't be reopened for a year and a day after somebody was placed inside the tomb. During times of yellow fever, rental tombs were utilized before the bodies were placed into the family tomb. Bob also explained that if one could not afford a family tomb that a society tomb was an option. There were Italian, Fisherman, and Nun tombs to name a few of the different societies. We continued on towards the New Orleans Museum of Art and into the park to look at the oak trees. We soon stopped so that we could have our picture taken next to a 600 year old tree before continuing on towards the Garden District after passing Tulane Medical Hospitals. Once in the Garden District, Bob pointed out some of the traditional mansions and architecture of the area, along with some homes that appeared out of place due to the paint choices on the exterior. We also went by some celebrity homes, which included Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, John Goodman, the home where Peyton and Eli Manning grew up (which had a car outside so Bob figured one of them was actually home), and Sandra Bullock. Bob then brought us to Tracey's for lunch. He told us how the po-boy got its name and shared how he got into the bike tour business. After lunch, we slowly pedaled back to our hotel for the completion of our tour.
Following our bike tour, we relaxed and discussed possible evening activities. We decided to wander the shops at the Riverwalk Marketplace before catching the ferry (on our third attempt) across the river to Old Algiers, which was on the west bank of the Mississppi River. There was a statue of Louis Armstrong erected near the ferry dock and a levee that we wandered along in the light summer drizzle before we crossed back across the Mississippi. We opted for fries at Huck Finn's Cafe before heading back to the hotel.
Thursday morning we hopped a streetcar on St. Charles Street in order to get to Tulane University so that Chrissy could explore the school she had always hoped to attend, but could also serve as a future place of employment. In our usual style, we made a beeline for the University Bookstore. After the bookstore, we found the Political Science building and were actually able to give a woman directions to the bookstore since we had just been there. We took the streetcar back towards Lafayette Square after circling Lee Circle, which has a statue of General Lee facing north because southerners believe he would never turn his back on the enemy.
After a brief stop at our hotel room, we wandered down to the Mississppi River to board the Steamboat Natchez for our 2 hour riverboat cruise up the river. We learned about the levees, the 9th ward, and the different boats that could be found on the river. We passed the Old US Mint and the Domino Sugar factory, along with a Navy Yard. Our boat turned around near St. Bernard Port, which was about 8 miles downriver, before heading back towards the Crescent City. Chrissy and I wandered aft so that we could take pictures of the paddlewheel that powered the steamboat. We also went through the gift shop and into the dining room to try and hear some jazz, but they only had a piano player.
Once we docked, we got beignets at Cafe du Monde and I bought a shirt at the Harley Davidson store before we decided to walk up Decatur Street to Frenchman Street in order to relax in Washington Square. We sprawled out in the grass so that we could relax after our long day. There happened to be a group of people doing yoga/practicing for their own mini version of Cirque du Soleil. I also enjoyed watching two dogs play fetch whilst being the supportive/corrupting friend that I am by having Chrissy start pondering her next tattoo seriously since we wandered past a tattoo shop on our way to Washington Square. On our way back to the hotel, we did make inquiries at the tattoo shop before making our way back through the French Quarter to the Ambassador Hotel. For dinner, we chose to eat at the Extreme Sports Bar and Grille that was next to our hotel. I settled for a burger and fries for fuel before we headed back out in search of some decent jazz on Frenchman Street.
After a bit of wandering, we chose to enter The Spotted Cat, which was definitely a great decision. Not only was the music amazing, but there were a handful of individuals who were dressed in 1920s garb and swing dancing like there was no tomorrow. I was so glad that we could finally witness some excellent jazz in the city where that style of music was born. Once we left The Spotted Cat, we walked down Bourbon Street before cutting across the French Quarter to sit by the river. Unfortunately some security officers kicked us off of the steps of the riverwalk, so we chose to just go back to the hotel to get some sleep.
On our last morning, we packed up our belongings and ate some cereal in the room for breakfast. We checked out and went to the Riverwalk Marketplace to do some last minute shopping. On our walk there, we saw a bunch of women decked out in purple shirts and red hats. This didn't come as a surprise to us considering every day we happened to run into a large group of these women almost everywhere we went. Apparently the Red Hat Society was having a convention in the Big Easy, which I found entertaining. Following our shopping, we opted for some free wine tasting at the NOLA Tropical Winery. The wine was made from blueberries, strawberries, mangos, oranges, and coffee. The woman who worked at the winery was very entertaining and kept giving us a wide variety of wines to taste. In order to avoid an early morning buzz at 10:30am, we hotfooted it to Pinkberry in order to fill up on frozen yogurt. We then decided to walk down Canal Street in order to loop up to Bourbon Street so that we could continue shopping. After about an hour, we made our way towards Cafe du Monde for some frozen cafe au lait and beignets. Along the way we stopped to watch and take pictures of some street performers. Unfortunately, we happened to come across a very aggressive street performer who started following me and demanding a tip because I had taken pictures. After escaping that situation, we were able to relax at Cafe du Monde, browse some more shops, and lay out in Jackson Square before fetching a cab on Toulouse Street. Our cabbie was quite entertaining as we listened to him give a friend relationship advice on the phone. We checked in and made it through security so that we could lounge at our gate for 2 hours. We then boarded our plane on time, but due to horrendous weather in New York City, we were grounded on the tarmac for two hours. Luckily they handed out snacks and beverages and we soon got cleared for takeoff. We landed at JFK at 12:15am and met up with Oliver who was kind enough to drive us home to East Stroudsburg. Now it's back to reality and the frantic job search continues.

Founder's Day Outhouse Racing

On Saturday, August 13, I really had no idea what I was getting myself into when Josh invited me to accompany him to Dushore, PA, for the annual Founder's Day Outhouse Races. We arrived at Dane's house to see a large gathering of people all wearing red shirts emblazoned with Super Septic Suckers on the back and a trailer holding the 3-time champion outhouse. Everybody was busy chatting and gearing up for the big evening while Josh and I took in our surroundings eating our Subway sandwiches.
Soon it was time for a few announcements. Dan gave a valiant speech outlining the integrity of the Super Septic Suckers, or SSS. He described how the torch would soon be passed to the Second Super Septic Suckers and the hopes that their endless training would pay off. Group pictures were taken and strategies were discussed amongst the teammates before we all loaded up onto the truck and trailer to cruise into the bustling metropolis of Dushore. Some marched behind the trailer carrying a large American flag, while the remaining members waved from the trailer as the team was announced.



After unloading the famed outhouse, the teams involved took the traditional walk through of the course before the racing began. The Super Septic Suckers took part in the first race against the Dushore Poo-lice. All was going well until the turn around the monument when the SSS rig had a wheel malfunction. They had to come to a complete stop and finish the rest of the course without the use of the left front wheel, but they still managed to cross the finish line in a stunning 45 seconds and move into the round of 8. There was much drama surround the Second Super Septic Suckers semifinal race due to the fact that one of the pushers fell right before the finish line and was not holding onto the outhouse when it crossed the finish, which gave them a 4 second penalty, taking them out of the final race. The final race came down to the Super Septic Suckers and the Dushore Poo-lice following the penalty, and unfortunately, SSS fell to second place for the first time in 4 years. They raced valiantly, but unfortunately, tired legs just couldn't come out on top. I would definitely recommend this event to anybody who happens to be in the Dushore area on the second Saturday in August.

80 Mile Kayak Excursion on the Delaware River

 On August 4, Chrissy and I set out down the West Branch of the Delaware River around 6:40am. There was a light mist falling on us as we set out, which made for some pretty cool pictures. We passed by the Buckingham Access after about 1.5 hours and reached Lordsville in another hour after that. We would snack every once and awhile and Chrissy got the "Goldfish" song stuck in my head for at least an hour. We stopped in Stalker for lunch around 12:40pm before setting out to conquer the rapids by Red Barn Campground. We came across a group that was kayaking down to Callicoon and I happened to know the three guides. They were kind enough to inform me that they had seen my dad a half hour before up in Stalker. We continued on and made it to Callicoon around 3pm. I stopped there to re-coat myself in sunscreen before meandering on towards Damascus. I helped out a fishing tour boat by returning an oar to the guide as I was paddling downstream. By this point it hurt a lot to move my arms and my paddle felt like it weighed about 20 pounds. When I caught up to Chrissy, we decided to just relax and float for about an hour. During this hour we decided that it would be best to only paddle for 3 days to see how far we got as opposed to attempting the entire length of the Delaware River. We finally reached Skinners Falls campground around 6:30pm, which is where we decided to stop for the day. Luckily this happened to be my place of employment, so we were able to just pick a campsite and setup our tent.
After we got situated, I started hearing sirens coming from both sides of the river. A pickup with lights pulled into the parking lot across the road, followed by a fire truck. I assumed that the old Victorian house was on fire, but I didn't see any smoke. I went inside the store at Skinners Falls and asked my co-worker if she knew what was going on and she informed me that she had gotten a call that there was a missing 18 year old. That was when every possible vehicle from police cars, to an ambulance, to the park service started arriving and I knew that it couldn't be a good situation. I watched as numerous men put on scuba gear and air boats were sent into the river to go search for the missing swimmer. A couple hours went by until, unfortunately, an EMT came in asking for tarps, which meant that they had found the body and had to set up a tent in order to wait for the coroner. It was a very sobering moment and a good reminder to always wear my life jacket and to be thankful that I am alive.
Given our long evening and extremely sore muscles, we decided to sleep in until 8:30am the next morning. We got up, disassembled the tent, and gathered our gear before setting off on Day 2 of our excursion. We passed through Narrowsburg and avoided the eel weir on our way to Ten Mile River. After hours of paddling, we made it to Minisink around 4pm. We stopped and ate lunch and I used the phone to call my house to inform my parents of our progress. My goal was to reach Knights Eddy, but given our exhaustion and tendinitis, I knew in the back of my mind that wouldn't be possible. We kept on paddling down the river and saw an eagle, which was pretty cool. I was able to float down directly underneath the eagle and got some good pictures while it was perched in the tree. It was slowly getting dark as we approached an unmarked eel weir near Pond Eddy where I happened to spot my mom on shore waving us over. We paddled over and were informed that we could leave our kayaks there overnight and sleep at my parents that night. We were very grateful for a warm house to sleep in and some hot dinner.
The next morning we awoke at 8am and my mom drove us down to Pond Eddy. We set off down the river once again despite our sore arms and hands. Our boats were much lighter since we kept the gear at the house because we were only paddling another 3 hours to Matamoras, PA. I was very grateful for this considering the rapids that we encountered on our journey, which were definitely the most fun we had the entire trip. I got some pictures and video along the way, which are compiled in a short movie at the bottom of this post. We definitely enjoyed ourselves and plan on doing the rest of the river in increments until we do the entire length, including the Delaware Bay. I will definitely post again whenever we decide to continue our excursion.

Bad Nauheim: A Town Known for Elvis, Saltwater, and Alligator Farms

On Thursday, our last full day in Germany, I had my usual breakfast of a buttered sesame seed roll and a cup of coffee. During breakfast, Uncle Winfred called and told Oma that he was going to take Nick and me to Bad Nauheim at 1:30pm. Since I assumed this would take up the majority of the day, I decided to run some errands in Oberursel-Mitte and pack before he arrived.

The trek to Bad Nauheim via the autobahn was only about a half an hour. As we got closer to town, my uncle started pointing at these brown signs that had a picture of an alligator and the word "farm" on them. Apparently on the outskirts of Bad Nauheim there is an alligator farm; go figure. My uncle parked on the street and as soon as we got out of the car, he pointed to the Cardiology Center that we were next to and said he had stayed there for three weeks at somepoint in the last year. This didn't really surprise me considering he has 5 stents already and he is pretty much a walking heart attack who smokes like a chimney. We then wandered over to what appeared to be a giant wall of roots with a water wheel, which is apparently one of many places where saltwater is mined and pumped to the surface in Bad Nauheim. We continued to wander through the park and into the main part of the town to the information center where there were banners advertising the upcoming Elvis festival. Apparently Elvis Presley was stationed in Bad Nauheim for 2 years while he served in the US army, and the town has lived off his legacy ever since.
Up the street from where we were was the Hotel Grunewald, which is on the corner of Elvis Presley-Platz. There is a monument erected in his memory across the street, which happened to have some flowers and candles placed on the ground in front of it, since people who can't make it to Graceland in Nashville tend to use this as a memorial to the King of Rock 'N Roll. After gazing at everything Elvis, we decided to have lunch at Wiener Kaffeehouse. I opted for a slice of chocolate cream cake with a cappucino, which was a marvelously delicious decision.
On our way home from Bad Nauheim, Uncle Winfred drove us up over the Feldberg and into Bad Homburg so that we could see some sights in the park there, including a statue of Kaiser Wilhelm, a Thai temple made of gold, and a fountain. Soon we were back at Oma's for our dinner of schnitzel and potatoes. Oma spent some time meowing at me and laughing because my cat back home is named Schnitzel and she has always been confused that I might actually eat my cat. The joys of a language barrier yet again. I guess the big surprise for everyone, though, was the fact that Uncle Winfred was actually drinking water out on the back patio. From my interpretation, I guess he typically will not eat or drink at Oma's because of the dog. The rest of the evening was spent chatting with Oma, Aunt Edith, Uncle Winfred, and Monika before heading off to bed for some sleep since we had to get up at 5am for breakfast before Herta and Ralf drove us to the airport.

As you can assume, we landed safely at JFK. Chrissy was kind enough to pick us up from the airport to drive us back to East Stroudsburg. I spent the rest of the afternoon catching up with her about life from the past two weeks since we both have had a lot going on. I made sure to stay awake until 11:30pm in an attempt to get me back on a normal sleep schedule. This has only partly worked because I have been wide awake since 5:15am. Oh well, I have plenty of time to catch up on sleep and recuperate before I dive into the real world and try to find myself a job.