Highway 81 made my 10-hour day of driving with my friend Becca, from NC to PA, a breeze.
I awoke this morning at 6AM, was in the car for 10+ hours, had a social evening, and here it is 10pm and I am still alive an functional. And I think I have the fabulous stretch of road that runs up along the Blue Ridge mountains to thank.
It feels good to be headed north again. I thought I would have all the time in the world for writing and blog posts, etc. while I was on the road, but it has turned out not that way. I am itching and anxious to get home to be able to do some of that stuff. I am so thankful for all of my hosts on this journey so far, and the ones yet to come, but I am dreaming of sleeping in my own bed, cooking in my own kitchen, and washing my own dishes. Where this will happen still remains to be seen. My parents' house on Chappy will remain my home base for the next month or two as my plans evolve.
I have really loved visiting new towns and cities along the east coast, but I am still most drawn to Portland, ME and Martha's Vineyard. Coastal living takes the prize for me, and I had a charming couple days of adventure in the city of Charleston - the southernmost (is that one word?) stop on my tour of the Atlantic seaboard.
Post on Charleston, adventures in Asheville, NC and Floyd, VA to follow. I have recently become disenchanted with blogspot's abilities to display photos, so I may be moving my blog somewhere else soon. I'll be sure to post the new location.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Friday, November 4, 2011
a day in columbia
highlights include:
Realizing that I don't actually have an obsession with cleaning the kitchen... In fact, when I am not resenting someone else, or worried that someone will resent me if I don't, I have very little motivation to clean the kitchen at 9pm. I would rather read a book. Whoopee!
Eating ripe persimmons at the farmers' market this morning - an Asian variety that apparently doesn't need a frost to get sweet.
Laying on a blanket in the sun with Abbey and talking about the Enneagram, and the bizarre strategies that we have come up with for surviving in the world. Bizarre, though not abnormal as far as being human goes. Strategies such as giving things to others in hopes that they will then know what you need and want, and give that to you.
Eating stewed prunes with cinnamon and cream. OMG. yum.
Going to Gold's gym and running on the indoor track. I discovered that I have a VERY steady pace. And also that I would really like to buy those new-fangled "toe" shoes to run in cause I love to run barefoot. But it makes the bottoms of my feet hurt.
Abbey teaching me how to swim (in a salt-water pool)! For real swim. With goggles and a cap and a sporty one piece. I learned to keep my body straight like a long plank, and to let my upper body rotate, and let my elbows point towards the sky. It is a whole new world, and I'm excited to find myself a road bike and consider doing a triathlon. I didn't realize that the thing that was keeping me from doing one was not that I didn't have any interest, but rather that I didn't know how to swim!
Tomorrow we are driving out to Charleston to have an adventure. Abbey and Blake haven't been there, and I have never arrived there by land. I'll spend the night and take the bus back this way tomorrow. It has been so fun to be here visiting these dear friends. We have been eating like kings, and chatting like schoolgirls. Good times.
Realizing that I don't actually have an obsession with cleaning the kitchen... In fact, when I am not resenting someone else, or worried that someone will resent me if I don't, I have very little motivation to clean the kitchen at 9pm. I would rather read a book. Whoopee!
Eating ripe persimmons at the farmers' market this morning - an Asian variety that apparently doesn't need a frost to get sweet.
Laying on a blanket in the sun with Abbey and talking about the Enneagram, and the bizarre strategies that we have come up with for surviving in the world. Bizarre, though not abnormal as far as being human goes. Strategies such as giving things to others in hopes that they will then know what you need and want, and give that to you.
Eating stewed prunes with cinnamon and cream. OMG. yum.
Going to Gold's gym and running on the indoor track. I discovered that I have a VERY steady pace. And also that I would really like to buy those new-fangled "toe" shoes to run in cause I love to run barefoot. But it makes the bottoms of my feet hurt.
Abbey teaching me how to swim (in a salt-water pool)! For real swim. With goggles and a cap and a sporty one piece. I learned to keep my body straight like a long plank, and to let my upper body rotate, and let my elbows point towards the sky. It is a whole new world, and I'm excited to find myself a road bike and consider doing a triathlon. I didn't realize that the thing that was keeping me from doing one was not that I didn't have any interest, but rather that I didn't know how to swim!
Tomorrow we are driving out to Charleston to have an adventure. Abbey and Blake haven't been there, and I have never arrived there by land. I'll spend the night and take the bus back this way tomorrow. It has been so fun to be here visiting these dear friends. We have been eating like kings, and chatting like schoolgirls. Good times.
Blue Ridge Blues...
I spent yesterday driving south on the Blue Ridge Parkway, through the mountains of Virginia and North Carolina. It was a gorgeous drive, though I am LATE. The leaves have mostly fallen. The mountains were still blue, though. I guess that isn't a seasonal phenomenon. Thank goodness. I stopped in Boone, which is supposedly a cool town, but I have to say that November, as a season, doesn't do any visual favors for most parts of eastern USA. It was pretty brown. They have a health food store, though, and whenever I am feeling lost, I can usually find myself, and my way, in one of those purveyors of all things natural. [Sometimes when I am writing, I have to wonder where the words come from. I think, "I didn't know that word was in my vocabulary, and I have no idea if I just used it appropriately". So, my apologies for any inadvertently misused and abused pieces of the English language!] I bought gluten-free ginger bread men, butter, coconut ice cream, rice crackers and chevre. Hormonal cravings sure are bizarre.
I finally made it to Weaverville, NC, outside of Asheville, to the cozy home of my friend and dancing buddy, Becca, and her sweetie, Harrison. They had made me a delicious dinner, but I was so full of gingerbread men that I only had room for tea. (Until later on, when I had lots of room for my ice cream. Funny how that works). I got to sleep in their cozy little casa that is a recently renovated chicken coop! When Becca talked about scooping out the poop and knocking down walls, it reminded me of the creation of the elementary school that I attended. I still remember walking around the dusty stalls of the barn that we later converted to a house of learning. So funny the different lives that buildings can live.
I finally made it to Weaverville, NC, outside of Asheville, to the cozy home of my friend and dancing buddy, Becca, and her sweetie, Harrison. They had made me a delicious dinner, but I was so full of gingerbread men that I only had room for tea. (Until later on, when I had lots of room for my ice cream. Funny how that works). I got to sleep in their cozy little casa that is a recently renovated chicken coop! When Becca talked about scooping out the poop and knocking down walls, it reminded me of the creation of the elementary school that I attended. I still remember walking around the dusty stalls of the barn that we later converted to a house of learning. So funny the different lives that buildings can live.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
my car is probably being ticketed as I type...
...but, I'm going to take a chance and write a few words. (I started this yesterday)
I am sitting in Malaprops bookstore in Asheville, NC. Malaprop's is a "proper" bookstore with a great little cafe, and a bag-check system. The latter being important for folks like me who seem to find it necessary carry around all of their belongings any time they leave the car for more than 30 seconds. The former quality is only important so there is somewhere to sit. I have found, lately, that café's only really are good for that and free hot water. Everyone I know drinks coffee, and has it available at home, and eating gluten-free and being wary of refined carbs, there isn't really much else for me to partake it. Ok, every once in awhile I indulge in a decaf latté or cappuccino, but this morning I was treated to delicious home-brewed decaf with powdered goat milk. I remember when my mom discovered that Meyenburg stuff and my favorite application of the white powder was to stir it into hot, blackberry-sage tea with a little bit of honey. Yum!
I left Kripalu and Western Mass on a gorgeous, sunny day in the early afternoon. I had considered camping in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and had a vision of pitching my tent and sitting on a picnic table, playing my guitar while the sun went down. I probably would have manifested that part of the vision quite easily, but I wasn't prepared to deal with the country's manifestation of snow the following morning. So, I kept on driving. It was a pretty drive down, though most of the foliage was way past prime.
I made it to Harrisburg, PA late that evening, and it was so good to see Yasmin. I wasn't sure how it would feel since I haven't been in touch lately with her son, my ex-boyfriend, but it was like no time had past. We had fun catching up about all that had happened in the four years since I had seen her last, and then I retired to the coziest bed I had yet encountered on my journey. I have always loved sleeping in beds that are "gemutlich" (a german word that is sort of like cozy, but even better), and this one fit the bill perfectly with its feather quilt and pillows and the addition of my duo of hot water bottles.
The snow had begun by the time I awoke the next morning, and even though the timing was slightly off, with leaves and grass still green, and halloween still ahead, it was delightful to sit around the kitchen table and visit with old friends while the white stuff fell thickly, and the power came and went. I have always enjoyed spending time in families with multiple siblings - there is something about the happy chatter and bickering that occurs in large families that just doesn't in mine. I was in heaven with nothing to do but laugh and chat and drink hot tea, and felt touched that my ex's siblings would take the time to come by and visit.
I am sitting in Malaprops bookstore in Asheville, NC. Malaprop's is a "proper" bookstore with a great little cafe, and a bag-check system. The latter being important for folks like me who seem to find it necessary carry around all of their belongings any time they leave the car for more than 30 seconds. The former quality is only important so there is somewhere to sit. I have found, lately, that café's only really are good for that and free hot water. Everyone I know drinks coffee, and has it available at home, and eating gluten-free and being wary of refined carbs, there isn't really much else for me to partake it. Ok, every once in awhile I indulge in a decaf latté or cappuccino, but this morning I was treated to delicious home-brewed decaf with powdered goat milk. I remember when my mom discovered that Meyenburg stuff and my favorite application of the white powder was to stir it into hot, blackberry-sage tea with a little bit of honey. Yum!
I left Kripalu and Western Mass on a gorgeous, sunny day in the early afternoon. I had considered camping in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and had a vision of pitching my tent and sitting on a picnic table, playing my guitar while the sun went down. I probably would have manifested that part of the vision quite easily, but I wasn't prepared to deal with the country's manifestation of snow the following morning. So, I kept on driving. It was a pretty drive down, though most of the foliage was way past prime.
I made it to Harrisburg, PA late that evening, and it was so good to see Yasmin. I wasn't sure how it would feel since I haven't been in touch lately with her son, my ex-boyfriend, but it was like no time had past. We had fun catching up about all that had happened in the four years since I had seen her last, and then I retired to the coziest bed I had yet encountered on my journey. I have always loved sleeping in beds that are "gemutlich" (a german word that is sort of like cozy, but even better), and this one fit the bill perfectly with its feather quilt and pillows and the addition of my duo of hot water bottles.
The snow had begun by the time I awoke the next morning, and even though the timing was slightly off, with leaves and grass still green, and halloween still ahead, it was delightful to sit around the kitchen table and visit with old friends while the white stuff fell thickly, and the power came and went. I have always enjoyed spending time in families with multiple siblings - there is something about the happy chatter and bickering that occurs in large families that just doesn't in mine. I was in heaven with nothing to do but laugh and chat and drink hot tea, and felt touched that my ex's siblings would take the time to come by and visit.
That evening we ventured out into the wild world of white and had a fantastic dinner at the restaurant where Yasmin's youngest son, Daniel, is a cook. We sat at the "chef's table", which is a rounded counter that butts right up to the kitchen, and got to watch as dinner was prepared. The food was all divine, with plenty of leftovers for the following day. My last day consisted of more visiting, and a beautiful hike in the woods outside of town, catching up with computer work in a cute coffee shop, and a dinner of leftovers in a warm house. The power had finally come back on while we were out and about. I left PA the following morning, and headed south for Virginia!
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