A year of travel

Jouney's End!

2010-10-13T17:19:00.000-07:00

The time has come for me to make the journey back home. No words, no pictures, no memories will ever suffice or match the experiences that I have had this year and for that I am truly blessed. To leave Boston and travel 24 hours back to Kansas City, I elected a friend, Lindsay. Flew her up to Boston on Sunday night about midnight was her arrival and we had a full day in Boston on Monday. In true form, I had schedule a few events of interest for the day to get Lindsay the full experience of Boston's greatness. We got up fairly early on Monday morning in time to grab some coffee of course and partake as tourists in the Freedom Trail guided tour. Starting in the Boston Commons, heading through the graveyard, around churches and ending at Feneuil Hall. Very interesting tour of history and important persons in our history of making this great nation. Plus our tour guide was not bad to look at for two hours so that was a bonus! After our tour we had some time to grab a bite to eat at the oldest tavern in America, Bell in Hand and go to my favorite shopping spot, H&M for a few clothing items.....souvenirs of course!

After our shopping spree we walked the streets of Boston and met my buddy Rachel back at the apartment. We got gussied up and went to the North End for some great Italian eats and conversation. On the horizon, the Boston Harbor horizon to be exact, was the sun setting and we had a very fun sunset harbor cruise to catch. We boarded the huge boat and headed out to sea at sunset. The tour is guided with historical and architectural references in the harbor of Boston. It was a little chillier than we had prepared for but we survived the 90 minute cruise. To truly adapt Lindsay to Boston, we headed promptly to Mike's Pastry's after departing the boat. We each picked out one favorite pastry and headed to the Corner Bar to eat and have a beverage. The time had come to walk my buddy Rachel back to the train station and doom was in the air. I have made such a connection with my new friend that tears were held back as the temporary goodbyes were said. Lindsay and I headed back to the apartment to complete the packing process already in progress.

Tuesday morning arrives before either one of us wanted it too and we quickly started the packing process. Lindsay was the best helper yet I think, or maybe she just wanted to get out of there quickly. I pulled around the car and donned the top carrier as she loaded the bellhop cart three times and delivered my items right to my truck for me to pack them, the best I think I have packed them yet. Or maybe it was because I had mailed 2 boxes of clothes home anticipating a tight fit. I think it was record speed of departure as I handed the concierge my keys we headed North prior to heading West, because this is the only way I know how to go or want to go at this point. I took Lindsay up to Cape Ann, MA to the ocean for some mild hiking, site seeing and early lunch. Believe it or not, I had my first lobster roll at lunch and it was great! I definately should have consumed more prior to leaving, or maybe I should just go back soon and have some more! As I usually do, I had planned our travels home around key points of interest but not necessarily the most time efficient.

From Massachusetts we were headed to the only coast line in Pennsylvania, Erie. Lake Erie touches PA in only one spot and that is the northern tip of the city of Erie, PA. We drove 10hours from MA, through NY and into PA through horrible rain the final 2 hours to land at our less than average hotel spot in Erie. We drug ourselves out of the car and into the hotel and then to the Sand Bar for a beverage to unwind and continue our endless conversing. Early night after traveling such distance and impending adventures.

After the longest hunt for coffee in world's history, we went to Presque Isle to site see. This peninsula darts out into lake Erie and is maintained as a park with marked paths, boat tours, swimming beaches, and 4 lighthouses. I had brought a map and thought with Lindsay's exercise regimen we could hike around the peninsula for a few hours prior to our descend into Indiana, but we got a little out of our league. As we parked at the first lighthouse a park ranger stopped us and gave us a map and a briefing of the trails to take. He also added at the end that our best bet would be to stay in the car and just drive around the thing, but we were desperate for exercise and adventure. We headed straight through the middle of Presque Isle on a trail that appeared to have no end with minimal viewing of anything worth while. At any moment it looked like rain and outside of the forest was an intense wind preventing any beach walking that we had planned. When we discovered the end of the trail simply led to the road we were disappointed but not defeated. We continued around the tip of the peninsula until realizing that we would be walking for far more hours than we could afford, we then took "Dead pond trail" back across the isle towards the car. The sign at the entrance of the trail clearly labeled it as a "tick area' with strict instruction of covering your body and inspecting for disease, but this did not stop our journey. We pulled up our hoods and started back. The walk would have been quite pleasant if it wouldn't have been for the long stretches of thick sand that made it nearly impossible to walk in. We did find some form of human and dog life along the trail which was encouraging but yet again, no pond, lighthouse, lake, ocean or anything that great to observe along the way. As we broke out from the path back onto the road about 5blocks away from the car, sweat poured down our backs as the wind off the lake hit us like a wall. Managing to stand on the sand by the lake for a few moments to cool down, we collected out bodies to get back to the truck! Turns out that the park ranger was correct as we complete the tour of the isle from the truck!!!

From Pennsylvania, we headed south to Indiana. I had reserved a room in downtown Indianapolis and it was much nicer than I had planned. We arrived after about 7hours of driving in time for a quick change, drinks, dinner and much needed entertainment. When driving for several days it is best to plan for an adequate night out to "stretch your legs". We started the evening at a place called "rock bottom" which seemed very appropriate after the past few days and then continued our trek around the city. Stopping at an Irish pub, Blues bar and then dancing until about 3am concluded a very fun evening in Indiana!! The morning came a little too soon after going to bed around 4am, thank goodness for Starbucks in the hotel lobby! They don't make espresso drinks large enough for sure! One problem that started the morning was reconstructing the top carrier that we had to disassemble prior to getting into the parking garage! This is not a fun task on little sleep and little patience at this point! After a rough start we continued our descend through Ohio, Illinois, Missouri and then Kansas. Now we had not planned on going to Kansas being that Lindsay lives on the Missouri side of Kansas City, however about 1 hour before entering the city I received a phone call from one of my renters. Apparently there had been a sound of "water running for about a week or so". No one was home to investigate the issue, so after 3 days of long driving we had to go tend to my home. Many house later discovering that I had a water main break at my home that I didn't even live in yet at the moment! Welcome home and to reality!!

As I have returned home prior to my renters vacating the home, I have stayed with Nina for 5 days and then Lindsay for 2-3weeks to get the home ready for my move back in. There has been a water main break, 2 gas leaks, a dead weed eater, floors that needed to be redone, a lawn in disarray and now I ended up with my broken ankle status post a volleyball accident. Needless to say, this has not been an exciting move home for me and as life would have it, my life has fallen apart around me upon my return. I will pick up the pieces and figure out what life is for me as a stationary person, landlocked, and broken at this point :( Good luck to me!

Hope you all had as much fun reading this blog as I did constructing it. It has certainly been a year of lifetime adventures that I pray to repeat as often as possible. Not sure if Kansas can keep me!? Thanks for following along and supporting me, hope I'm not too boring for ya now:)

Tour guide hat again

2010-09-05T18:35:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of my adventures 11 months ago I put out an open invitation for anyone to come and visit me wherever my travels would take me. If I had a friend that was traveling and staying in some pretty great locations, you can bet your butt that I would visit them and take advantage of the free housing! Much to my pleasant surprise, Jen from KC scheduled her trip to Boston. She arrived on Thursday around noon and managed to make her way from the airport, taking the blue line to Bowdoin stop, walk 2 blocks to my apartment and let herself in! I was at work all day and had a lunch meeting so I couldn't get away to meet her for anything that day. Jen then found her way around Boston, toured the US Constitution, took a ferry to the long wharf and made her way through Quincy Market area. She is a great self-tourer thank goodness! I met her after work at the Belle in Hand, which is the oldest tavern in America. We shared an interesting appetizer of shrimp wrapped in potato strings and lightly fried, paired with a nice beer. From there we took off to the harbor and walked the harbor walk pathway around to a restaurant with outdoor seating only, the Fresh Catch. I enjoyed a grilled swordfish over pasta and Jen had a broiled Haddock and salad. Very delicious! We completed the harbor walk and then took a cab home to sit on my patio and enjoy the beloved view.

Friday morning I had the day off because I had worked the Sunday prior anticipating Jen's arrival. As normal as brushing my teeth everyday, we took off for a day in Maine, after getting some coffee of course! We went up to Cape Elizabeth, my favorite head lamp in So. Portland, ME for rock climbing and picnicking as usual. The water was much calmer than when I had been there most recently with mom which made it a bit less climactic but still absolutely breathtaking. From Portland we headed down to Kennebunk, meeting Rachel and her friend Travis that drove up after work from Boston to be in Maine for the first time ever. We spent many hours lounging on the beach, even venturing into the cold water only up to our waist. After our fun in the sun we went back to Bartley's to enjoy some Maine cuisine. We had an array of food from calamari, tomato and mozzarella salad, Caesar salad, baked stuffed lobster and a baked haddock and scallop dish. Travis took the top prize though with his 3.5lb baked stuffed lobster finished by some blueberry pie! I have never seen a lobster that size in my whole life and Rachel had never purchased an $80 lobster before either!! After dinner we went our separate ways, Rachel and Travis heading to the Kittery outlet mall, Jen and I headed down route 1A along the shoreline at sunset to get our last glimpses of Maine. This would end up being my last trip into Maine for this year I'm afraid. Can't lie, I was a little choked up about it! :(

Saturday morning Jen and I headed out for some Boston adventures. We took the orange line out to Jamaica Plain to go to the Samuel Adams brewery and then we took the free trolley to Doyle bar and pub where it is said the first of Sam Adam's beer was served. It was a fun trolley ride and the pub was more like a museum which made the experience really neat. Then a walk around the suburb to have lunch at an Indian restaurant. Jen's first experience eating Indian food and thank goodness it was a good one! After a few beverages and a full stomach, the ride back into Boston was pretty quiet on our part, leading to a 3 hour nap at my apartment! After we awoke, we went walking around Boston, down Beacon street and along the Charles river. Ended the evening sitting along Cambridge street outside at Kinsdale pub sharing a beautiful evening and a great steak tip salad! Sunday was a rainy day, but we went according to plan no matter the weather. Rachel met us with coffee outside the government center T stop, where we picked her up to head to Cape Ann, MA. Rachel had never been and obviously Jen had not either, so it was fun for me to tour them around Gloucester/Rockport area. We tried to do the usual I always take people too including but not limited to; Footpath to the Atlantic, Rockport pier, Gloucester seaport walk, and lunch at Causeways restaurant. Rachel and I had some pretty fantastic lobster pie and Jen did not enjoy her coconut rum crusted haddock:( After a long day of traveling and adventuring we returned to Boston and headed back to the apartment for another nap. We were supposed to go on a guided freedom trail walking tour, however the rain stopped that trip for sure. We opted on movies and burritos, chillaxing in my apartment with the cool breeze flowing through my apartment. We were getting really ready for Fall!

Monday, I had to work again so Jen was left to her own vices. She had planned to take the trolley tour around Boston for the day, but again it was raining all day long. She still managed to make it around the city in good fashion, eating at the Union Oyster House for lunch, shopping and touring around as able. After work, Rachel and I met Jen at the apartment for a quick change then headed to the North End for some dinner! We ate at Lo Conte on Salem street and it was fantastic. Following dinner we went to Mike's Pastry, not because we needed more food, but Jen needed to witness this pastry madness. We each selected our favorite dessert then found a stoop and sat on the step together all digging into the same box of pastries with our plastic forks and big old smiles on our faces. Jen was a little disappointed that I had waited until our last evening to take her to this pastry shop! I needed a wheelbarrow to get me home after all of this eating!! I managed to pull my self together though, walking Rachel past the T stop and back to the apartment in order to get Jen's things packed up. Tuesday morning I again headed to work and Jen successfully made it back to the airport. Wednesday after work, I then headed out to NE for my cousins wedding and family fun. Got to Omaha on Wednesday night, mom and Tom picked me up and drove me to the farm. Steph, Rafe, kids and Simon joined us on the farm after driving from Texas. Thursday the kids, mom, Steph and I went into Lincoln for bridesmaid dress shopping purposes, then back out to the farm for a wiener roast and family time. Friday we packed the van to the gills and headed into Omaha, got RJ's tux, ate at Runza, checked into the hotel, took Simon to Katie's apartment and had some fun swim time with the kids in the pool. Kathy met us for some much needed catch up time as I have not seen her in years! What a treat!! Friday night, Katie and Matt met us at Fudruckers for dinner and I got to meet Matt for the first time. What a guy:) We then hurried back to Katie's apartment to help her pack her things to begin her move to IA. Saturday morning we met the other bridesmaids minus Carley, to finalize which dress we all wanted. Leaving Katie the big decision of color!! Amy's wedding was a great success, well obviously she got married and all, but it was a great party and dancing as well. Sunday morning was back to the pool with the whole Vosta clan poolside for breakfast and water time. Steph and family packed up and headed back to Texas. Mom, Tom and I helped Katie pack up to move to Iowa. Them mom, Tom and Simon dropped me off at the airport to head back to Boston for my last week of work!!! WHEEEEEEW!

Thank you to Jen for coming to see me! It was great to share my experiences with you and to gain some new ones along the way! Great memories and one wild and crazy week. I think I could probably sleep for one whole week at this point and I just might after my move home!

Situation leads to Scituate

2010-09-05T16:40:00.000-07:00

Rachel is my OT friend from work here at MGH. Originally from PA, her family was coming to Scituate, MA for a week of vacation to visit her mother's side of the family. Most of you know me enough to know that I don't collect too many things, so when it comes to buying souvenirs I don't really buy to many of them either. Since being in Worcester, MA back in October I had been eyeing a type of bracelet that many MA gals were wearing around. I didn't really try very hard to figure out where to get these such bracelets at the time but then moving up to Boston the sightings of these bracelets increased by far, so this upped the curiosity. Now complicate things buy about a million times when this season on the Bachelorette (ABC reality show for those of you that don't follow) one of the contestants Chris L. gave Ally the bachelorette a special "Dennis" bracelet from Cape Cod, MA. After seeing this episode I was quite happy though because I was one step closer to finding out where these bracelets came from. The next day, after the episode aired, I went to work and immediately saw a nurse wearing one of these bracelets. I walked up to her and asked if she knew Dennis. She oddly looked at me and reported that she had no idea who Dennis was. I calmly said, "you know Dennis, the guy that makes those bracelets on the Cape". The following was the reply after about 5min of hysterical laughing, "Becky you do realize that these bracelets are from the town Dennis, MA?". Well NO, no I did not realize that or I won't have just embarrassed myself greatly!!!

To put this all together for you, after hearing that my buddy Rachel was going to the Cape and then figuring out that these bracelets known as Dennis bracelets or Eden bracelets can be bought from the little store in Dennis, I politely invited myself to go with her for the weekend! Rachel was really excited because I have a vehicle, so that meant that she had a free ride to her family's home. Unfortunately after doing some research on the Eden store, due to increased demands stemming from this Bachelorette incident, the store hours had been greatly reduced. I really didn't have much of a chance of getting the bracelet now for this weekend, but I had promised Rachel a ride anyway. Saturday I picked Rachel up from work at MGH and we drove to Scituate, MA which is at the opening of Cape Cod, some people would argue that it is the South Shore. On the way to the Cape, Rachel explained the massiveness of her mother's side of a very Italian family. I kept trying to tell her that my mother's side of the family is quite overwhelming also, however not in the least bit Italian! We arrived to Scituate to her Aunt Mo's and Uncle Tony's lovely beach home and side home that they typically rent out. The homes are positioned in a very quiet little bay/harbor about 20feet from the sea wall that barriers the ocean. I cannot explain the beauty of this location or the warmness of this family with words alone.

The main house is a 2 story home with 2 huge wrap around decks that face the ocean. We were sitting on the main deck talking to her grandmother, Nana, whom is the cutest little Italian women I could have ever imagined, as the family began to sworm onto the property. Rachel's dad, mom and sister Cheryl had driven 10hours from PA and had brought me a PA treat. When I did one of my fieldwork rounds during college, I was positioned in Scranton, PA. There is a beer that is distributed state specific, Yuenling, and her family brought me a whole case of it from their home town!! After all the guests had arrived there were roughly 30 people gathered on the deck. The fun part about this was it was unplanned! People just randomly gather at their home and enjoy the company, family and friends a like. So there we sat for most of the evening sharing stories of life and leisure over dinner and great beer, Yuenling:) I say most of the evening because at one point in the evening/night, her cousin Anthony asked us to go on a boat ride. I didn't put it together until much too late that it was about 9:30pm and we were in fact on an ocean. The boat was also missing the tail running lights. I was assured that Anthony was an experienced driver and he had not been drinking any of this fabulous beer. You would think that the 20min it took to drain the water and get the boat started would have been a clue to us, but we forged on with our fearless leader. The beginning of the cruise was great, listening to music, chatting along watching all of the sailboats and yachts in the harbor busy with people. Some people actually take a dingy from their beach front homes and dock at the beach front restaurants. Paying a $5 docking fee or as we might call it, parking fee. The cruise turned slightly scary when the speed increased to the point of making a fair sized wake behind the boat. The cruise got terrifying when the speed reached, "too fast" and when you look forward you see nothing but black ocean!! I do know how to swim and the part of swimming in the dark is not the worst thing I could imagine. The worst thing however was the thought of swimming at night in an ocean, into the fishing docks where they dump old fish parts into the water at times for feeding purposes!! It was only when we returned to the dock that Anthony revealed the reason we stopped and turned around for shore was the fact that we were headed out to sea in the "inbound" channel! Holy crap, don't share this one with my mother!

Sunday we woke up and watched her Aunt bake scones and Irish soda bread. Then all the women just sat around chatting on the main deck eating fresh baked goodies and sharing coffee. Before lunch Rachel, her dad Paul and I went for a walk along the rock wall/sea wall that leads you around the ocean's edge, to the back of many large homes, much like the "cliff walk" in Newport, RI. Rachel is now convinced that I am a mountain goat, however I just explain the length of my legs has nothing to do with agility or climbing skills. Rachel is all of about 5foot 3in and had quite the time scaling those rocks! After the sea wall adventures, we opted to walk on the road for the way back home. We then sat on the main deck and had lunch and of course a Yuenling, then Rachel and I took to the upper deck for some sun bathing. For dinner this evening was a special treat prepared by her Nana. Fresh, homemade Italian pasta and sauce, YUM! After some sad goodbyes and begging from them for me to not leave, I headed back to Boston quite late in the evening. I left them with an inclining that I may return later in the week if I became ill and couldn't attend work:)

So as luck would have it I ended up being "sick" on Thursday so I could return to Scituate on Wednesday evening. I arrived just in time for lobster dinner with the family! They fight over lobster parts as my family would fight over turkey parts. Rachel's favorite is the claws, Cheryl and her mother, Fran like the knuckles and her dad likes the tail. Works out great if they all agree to share! I did learn quite well as to how you are supposed to crack and eat lobster, and boy was it good! After some research on these bracelets we figured out that the store is in fact closing for a while due to increasing demands and inability to keep up because each bracelet is hand made at this store. We got up on Thursday morning at 6:30am and drove through Dunkin' Donuts for a few coffees and bagels for our 1.5hr road trip. We arrived at the shop hidden back in the woods a few miles out of Dennis, Cape Cod to find there was already a line forming at the door of the shop that doesn't open until 10am! We quickly got in line as a nice lady informed us that you had to have a ticket to get into the shop for any jewelry. We said, no problem, where do you get the tickets. She sadly informed us that they had come the day prior to purchase these tickets. My heart sank to my feet as I realized the chance of obtaining my bracelet was dwindling! After a short discussion we left Cheryl in line, Rachel and I in a hunt for these tickets. At the other door to the shop, which is approximately a 20ft x 15ft structure, there was another line forming and a man with some tickets.

The nice man told us that the tickets for this morning to go into the shop were sold out and we could come back at 1pm or the next day at 10am if we wanted a ticket for those times. I told him we wanted to buy a bracelet right then and we had driven a long way to obtain this beloved bracelet. We were then enlightened to the fact that there are 2 lines; 1 to go into the shop and look around prior to purchase and another express line in which you already know what you want and CANNOT GO INTO THE STORE!!! We quickly called Cheryl over and staked our claim near the front of the express line. The best way to describe this ciaos is to say it is like Black Friday sales. There are people running around everywhere, lines forming, people scuffling about their spot in line, police man directing parking to the very few 20 parking spots around the block, and the workers attempting to settle every one's "issues" about all of these issues. The actual story of these bracelets is a heartfelt tradition for the persons of the Cape or families that travel to the Cape yearly. It is a tradition to give a Dennis bracelet to their young ones such as we give baby rings, and then each year return as a family to collect their souvenir of their summer memories. Due to this reality show however, the tradition is quite ruined for many people to enjoy. It was a bit disheartening, but also exhilarating all the same. Everyone in the express line were looking around at the wrists, fingers, and ear lobes of all the women around to make their final purchase decisions due to the fact that we were not allowed to go into the store, there is no online options of viewing, and certainly no signs posted of pricing or anything. At 30min prior to the posted opening time an angel of a lady brought a stool, calculator and purchase pad to the front of the line. One by one, each lady went to the stool, told the lady what she wanted to purchase, the lady measured your wrist or finger size, went into the store emerging with the selected jewelry. All transactions were done outside with cash or check only, and then you left the premises. I probably haven't had that much adrenaline moving through my system since high school sports participation! We all left with our desired purchases, smiles on our faces and memories of an overwhelmingly amazing experience. Hopefully this will be tradition we could continue!!

Thursday was spent basking in the sun and playing Apples to Apples game with her family on the upper deck, then sharing a dinner prior to having to return to Boston. On the way out the door, Rachel informed me that her Aunt Mo said I could take an ocean buoy with me. I have been craving one of these buoies that usually just wash up on the shores and are collected by locals for lawn or business deck decorations. For functional usage, these buoies are used to float or mark lobster pots out in the ocean. I now have my very own buoy to hang on my fence in Kansas!! What an adventure, like Christmas to me, complete with Yuenling, bracelet, lobster and a buoy! Yet again an unforgettable week that I could not have planned even if I had spent days or months researching the area. I have been so blessed to be in the right places with the right people to gain the best experiences ever imaginable.

Mom versus the East coast

2010-07-18T09:38:00.000-07:00

If any of you have had the privilege of being a guest in the home of Bonnie, may it be in NE or in WY you all would agree that she is a superb hostess! She always has events and food planned for all ages and all hours of the day. I have learned my hostess skills from her, so when mom planned a trip to come see me in Boston, I knew I had some planning to do! Mom has been in Jackson Hole, WY and decided to fly from there to here and then to Omaha, then back to Jackson Hole.....why the heck not?! Mom arrived late on Thursday night around 12midnight! She has been used to the hot weather but not the humidity that engulfed her as soon as she hit the Boston air....or lack there of.

Friday I had to work so mom was left to her own accord in Boston for the day. I had planned to meet her for lunch and then give her further directions if needed. She did great on her self-guided tour of Boston for the morning and afternoon, making it back to my apartment packed and ready for our weekend trip. We set out after work and headed to the northeastern tip of MA, Cape Ann. Cape Ann is an island made up of Gloucester and Rockport, and I have made many trips to this great location in the past several months. We pulled up to the "footpath to the Atlantic" sign and mom looked at me a little skeptical I would say. 2 weeks prior I had brought Katie to this same location and the path was overgrown by weeds and grass that made it nearly impossible to navigate. This day however the path had been mowed and maintained and we were able to walk a "Harry Potter" like path to places and lookouts that I had not been able to see. It was absolutely breathtaking and adventurous!! After our adventure to the Atlantic we made a few more stops on the island, at the pier in Rockport and the seaport in Gloucester. We stopped at the Pilot House for fabulous seafood and steak tips! Let the weekend of great views and great food begin.

Friday night we drove from MA to NH to stay at a hotel in Portsmouth that contrary to the description, was not within walking distance to downtown. We figured though that a good night's sleep was sounding better than a beer at the brewery! Saturday morning after a great continental breakfast, we headed north....to Maine:) I decided to head up Route 1, coastal route to stop at a couple beaches along the way. I had not driven this road yet so when we found a beach just north of York, I was pleasantly surprised and mom was elated! I didn't have the heart to tell her that the next day we would spending hours climbing rocks around Cape Elizabeth, because she was having so much fun and to be honest.....any shoreline is beautiful so we should enjoy them all! The sound that the waves made going back out was so cool. It was a fairly steep shore line cluttered with small ocean rocks, so when the wave went back out it rolled the rocks down the shore. Mom said it sounded like, "pop rocks in your mouth". It was difficult to tell her we had to move on from this spot. About 10min later into our drive, the rain began, and the rain continued and continued! We stopped in Kennebunk, ME of course for mom to see Bartley's Dockside restaurant where I have spent so much time and to enjoy a great lunch complete with Maine lobster. Following lunch, in the rain, we decided to do a little shopping while we were there and all.

Mom for some odd reason, loves to swim in this frigged cold water! I on the other hand do not, but I was definitely going to make her day when we stopped just north of Old Orchard beach, at Scarborough beach. It was still raining a little and the air had a definite lower temperature but there was no stopping the crazed senior citizen from swimming around for a bit! We walked the beach for a while and then decided to head up to Portland, ME. We arrived at our little Inn for the night and it was exactly what mom had wanted. She had mentioned that she wouldn't mind staying in a bed and breakfast......with your daughter? really mom?? Well I settled on an Inn which was about the same as a B & B. It was originally built and ran to house the men from the railroad as it was being built in ME but now has been maintained for all types of guest. We had our own cute little room with a double bed and a private bath in the hallway. The wall paper patterns were enough to make you vomit but is was really quaint. We went out and about in the rain in Portland to a few spots, top of the Eastland for a martini and a view, the long warf and to the old port. Somehow we scammed a free ride from the shuttle guy at the Eastland hotel, but from there we had to take a taxi back to the Inn. An experience for the mother!!

Sunday we awoke with hopes to go on a whale watch tour following our adventures at Fort Williams Park, Cape Elizabeth of course. Mom gets motion sickness fairly easy, so it was not a huge disappointment when they had to cancel the whale watch due to "rough seas". Our morning at Cape Elizabeth was awesome! The waves and tide were so high that it added such a level of excitement and beauty that even I hadn't seen in all my trips to this very same location. We traveled and climbed all around the lighthouse on the huge rocks, playing in the water and having fun trying to capture the perfect pictures with the Maine beauty behind us. We had a picnic overlooking the lighthouse and the ocean. It was then that I think mom finally realized why I love it in Maine so much!! Since our whale watch was cancelled and the sun was about to come out from the clouds we quickly made our way to Kennebunk beach to bask in the sun and for mom to swim of course. The water temperature was even a little too cold for mom this day, but of course she got in anyway. Mid afternoon we headed south, stopped at a restaurant close to Wells, ME for some more seafood of course, then headed back to Boston. Wheeeew!

After a quick recovery from our long day of adventure, we headed out to walk the Charles river, get some ice cream and sit on the wharf to enjoy the evening. I was really not too upset when we headed back to the apartment a little early because of course I had to work the next morning. Monday at noon I met mom again for lunch at a different spot. She had already found her way around Boston again successfully that morning. She ventured to Quincey Market and got some lobster bisque for breakfast:) Whatever works for ya mama. Mom still can't figure out why we are all so shocked that she can find her way around Boston so well! Um mom, you usually can't find your way out of a paper bag! Love ya, but it's true! After lunch we attempted to go our separate ways, her to my apartment and me back to work but the weather had other plans. I have not seen rain this intense in quite sometime and of course we had both left our umbrellas behind! The nice waitress at the restaurant gave us some extra umbrellas but unfortunately they didn't help too much. In the one block we had to walk back to the apartment it had rained so hard and the wind had blown us in so many directions that we were absolutely soaked up to our boobs!! I then had to run up to the apartment, change and then run back to work still soaked!! Mom decided to take the opportunity to nap and read for the afternoon being that it poured all afternoon on and off.

Our last evening in Boston I had planned a very romantic night for my mama! We first walked to the blue line stop so she could purchase her ticket and know how to make it to the airport the next morning. Then we went to the North End for some wonderful Italian food, followed by retrieving some pastries at Bova's. We found our way to the water after walking around the North End for a while, and then discovered the Harborwalk. I hadn't found this walkway yet and it was fabulous. The walkway takes you all around the harbor....well duh, hence the name harbor walk I guess! It takes you around the harbor side restaurants, condos, marinas, over little old bridges and over towards where the cruise ships come into customs. It was truly great, can't wait to do that one again!! We didn't realize though how far we had traveled from home in all of our gawking around, so I made the executive decision to cab it back to my apartment. We still had to copy photos and pack up mom's things for her trip to NE in the morning. And yes, she made it without a hitch to the airport the next morning:) She is getting better in her "senior" years!! haha

I've said it before folks, but I love this area! I love being able to show people around especially my mom, even though I am just a tourist myself. Now I think that mom definitely likes the area as well but she is still not keen on the idea of me moving here anytime soon! In fact as soon as she touched down in NE she sent me a text that read, "Can't wait for all of my girls to move to Crete! :)". I replied, "Don't hold your breath!"

A weekend with Katie

2010-07-06T18:45:00.000-07:00

The love I have for my sister Katie runs deep into childhood beginning with my beloved job of entertaining her! Entertaining her to keep her outside until dinner, entertaining her until we have to get out of the bath, entertaining her after school, entertaining her on the car ride to grandma's house or better yet on the way to Florida, and just entertaining her because I'm her big sister and mom said that was my job. I took my job with pride and the memories that we share because of it are unmatchable and unfathomable to most. We decided that without this creative energy instilled in us by our mother, we would not have the careers or the vigor for life that we, as young adults, have today!!! So last week Katie came to visit her big sister on the east coast, game on!!!

A movie recently watched quoted saying, "happiness is best when shared". I have been traveling nearly a year now and have had few chances to actually engage people in what I have experienced. I now had the great opportunity of entertaining another sister, Katie. Katie had just spent a week in Jackson Hole, WY with her boyfriend Matt and of course our parents, and now was traveling to Boston to see me. If any of you know Katie's vacation schedule or tolerance I should say, you wouldn't believe that our little Katie could withstand a 2 week adventure, but she did with great sustenance. Katie was to arrive on Thursday afternoon around 4:30pm to Boston however a slow start in Jackson Hole and a stalled engine in Chicago stranded her there. With quick thinking and our geographically trained brains, Katie was rerouted to Providence, RI arriving at 11pm that same evening. 1.5hr road trip for Becky and a little planned reorientation, I received Katie safe and sound.....not quite sane and sound :)

After a round about trip into Boston to avoid traffic, quick view of my amazing patio and photo sharing we hit the hay anxious for our weekend travels. Friday morning we awoke with a sprint, gathered our bags and headed out to Maine, not before getting coffee at Dunkin' Donuts for ourselves and the lovely concierge, Farrah. It seemed like an 80hr trip up to Portland, ME due to Katie's lack of enthusiasm for travel at this point and my anxiety to create the perfect trip but we made it. We barely remembered our sunscreen prior to sprinting, or running, OK jogging to the lighthouse that so many of you have only seen in photos. Cape Elizabeth of Fort Williams Park, Katie Anderson has arrived and you have never seen someone more excited to be there. We looked at her from all angles, the lighthouse that is, taking photos the best we could with our self timering skills. We then decided to rock climb a little down to the ocean! Beautiful, adventurous, and stupid considering I didn't know how to get back up! We eventually figured it out after jumping over a fence, a few local tourists greeted us with glee exclaiming that they had been watching us and were worried we wouldn't make it up out of the valley of rock and sea. After our adventures we found the perfect lookout for a quick picnic and last pictures before headed back into the truck.

From Portland we headed down to Kennebunk, ME of course to show Katie my "local" hangout and get some darn good seafood. As our late lunch was being prepared, I took the liberty to take Kate to the beach, spread out a blanket and soak up the sun on the shores of Maine. The phone rang when our lunch was almost ready and we headed back to the restaurant to sit outdoors on the patio and enjoy our baked stuff lobster and haddock ala dockside. When our bellies were full and Katie was convinced that I had been telling the truth about the food for the past 6months, we headed down to Portsmouth, NH for the evening and to stay the night. Portsmouth is a great "walking" town with small shops along the river, bordered by Kittery, ME. We had a fun evening of catching up and walkin' the streets!

Saturday we awoke and found Dunkin' Donuts yet again after the exciting continental breakfast of fruit loops and english muffins. I attempted to take Katie along a great route 1 up the coast line, but really it proved to be a futile attempt. You have to park or stop mostly and get out of the car to see the ocean, but you could smell it if you had the windows down! Come on people....I'm a tourist too remember!! We decided to hop onto the interstate in the interest of time and cruised onto the island of Cape Ann, MA. I pulled right up to the footpath to the Atlantic that I'm fairly convinced at this point that I'm the only one that knows about, and started down the pathway. Well the last time I was here, it was winter and there wasn't too much greenery....however now it was covered and surrounded with overgrown bush and thistles! Bad choice on the sandals and skirts, oops! We did make it to a great picnic spot after a little trespassing and some rock climbing again. Thank goodness Katie is very fit!!

What I didn't know about Cape Ann this weekend was that it was some sort of festival weekend. Stopped cars, packed beaches and long lines for restaurants. I am not used to any of this and did a lot of pointing and driving by with descriptions of how neat it would be if I had enough patience to find parking! Sorry Katie. We did manage to have a great lunch at Causeways by the marina with fried seafood and clam chowda'. It was all part of a plan I'm sure to hurry us back to Boston this afternoon because we needed a quick nap prior to our next adventure, whale watching!!

Katie was quite unsure about this event and had to do some hard visualization meditation to prepare for our whale watching tour out of the Boston Harbor. I had a friend of mine from work, Rachael join us just in case I needed some medical backup on the trip. We left the harbor in overcast skies taking in every scene, but quickly found a dry seat indoors for the 45min trip out to sea. When we first arrived at the whale watch site we were a little underwhelmed due to the distance away from the whales we were, however that was soon to change. We were on a catamaran, 3 level boat that had a gap in the front, or splint deck. Katie said at one point that it would be fairly neat to see a whale come up in the middle of the decks....well Katie, ask and you shall receive. At one point Katie looked over and said, "what is that under the water?", I said, "don't know looks like smoke or something......or a WHALE!" Holy crap the whale about hit the dang boat!! There were 2 whales that took turns coming up and diving sometimes together and then at the end, not together at all because one of them took a liking to our boat! After and hour and a half or so the announcer said that we had just sited our last whale and we should head back. Well the boat didn't move, neither did our intent to see just one more whale. Katie would describe it as a conversation between her and God, leading her to look out one side of the boat and viewing the most blessed event of the trip. A whale came right out of the side of the boat right under where we were standing in perfect swimming form, performing a great dive for the grand finale! The excitement can only be described as elation. Katie said that it was definitely worth the money she didn't spend on the trip!! :) I was just thankful that all of Katie's practicing of "whale talk" for the past 24hours had not only paid off, but had now come to an end!

Sunday we awoke to another awesome adventure of a segway tour. Those of you that aren't up to technology....these are the little standing, 2 wheeled scooter things that you see people riding with helmets and vests, sometimes mall cops. We had a great walk across the Charles river after stopping and grabbing a quick lunch at whole foods (whole paycheck) and finding our way into the Cambridge area. We were the only 2 people on the tour which proved to be great because we needed the extra attention of the 2 guides. We had a 2 hour tour that followed a 20min crash course, no pun intended. Helmets donned, about 20ft into the tour was our fist decline, Katie lost control and our first hubcap....ooops! We had a fun tour of west Boston crossing the river, circling Fenway, cruising through Boylston area, the green necklace parks, and some other stuff that I couldn't hear because we were cruising at about 14mi/hr on a mobile craft. It was a fun, funny, adventurous and successful trip without injury except the hubcap!

After our ride we managed to take the T (red line) to a shopping location and then navigate home for a nap! We then got dressed for Katie's only request of the whole entire trip, "Becky, I just want to eat a lot of crab legs out of a bucket!" Well let me tell you folks, this ain't easy around here. Crab legs aren't the most popular seafood around these parts but I hear that they are in Baltimore, MD. So besides chartering a plane I took a pole of every human being in the area for the past month and came up with a spot. We did have to navigate the transportation system once again and got a little off track, but thanks to my dad Steve's directional sense....we made it to the Summer Shack. So we sit down to eat and they do in fact have the crab legs and I do see red buckets at some of the tables. Katie then decides that they are too expensive being her practical self.....with reddened eyes and desperation I explain to Katie, "so help me, if I have found the only place on the east coast with crab legs and a bucket, get you here via public transport, and you don't order them.....I will cry! I'm buying, order the damn legs now, PLEASE dear sister!" So when she decided on the pan seared sherri, garlic and rosemary seasoned crab legs that turned out to be the best meal of either of our lives....we weren't mad when they weren't actually served in the bucket because we put them in there for a dang picutre!! Amazing!

Monday I had to work and let me tell you, I was a little worried about the Katie versus Boston movie that was about to unfold. I was either going to warn the ER at MGH or the coast guard of her arrival but hadn't decided on either prior to her successfully meeting me for lunch after she had ran about the city and made it back to the apartment to shower after stopping for coffee even! Wow she has grown folks! After lunch she then found her way to Boston commons to enjoy frog pond, with swan boats though, to CVS, and back the apartment again! What the heck, she is great ya know!! Our last night we got dolled up, strolled into the North End for some wonderful Itailan food and a few desserts from Mike's Pastry, fun picks below the Boston skyline and then passing out like the fat rat on Charlotte's Web after the night at the fair!

Tuesday was sad for many reasons, firstly because we had to awake at 4:15am, secondly because she was almost late for her plane anyway, and thirdly because she left! What an amazing trip for the both of us! Whirlwind of entertainment, traveling between 4 states it turned into being that she flew into RI. So if you were counting....we went from RI, to MA. MA to ME through NH, then back to NH for the evening. Then from NH to MA. Take that geography majors and world travelers!!! We did it, little to either of our imaginations that this would be possible at any points of our lives. God is great, gifts are major, rewards are sweet and traveling rules!!! Love ya you know Katie!!!

Mainly Boston

2010-06-20T10:11:00.000-07:00

I apologize for my lack of blogging lately but I have been on a work, sleep, have fun pattern for the past 3weeks. Not that writing in my blog is not fun, however sleep or fun have definitely been a priority and for that I really am not going to apologize! So the last blog entry was my trip up here to Boston, and not too much has changed. I was worried that nothing really exciting has happened lately to blog about, but actually I fear that exciting is now my normal so it's going to take something pretty amazing to make the list of exciting weekend adventures!!

My job here at Massachusetts General Hospital is going really well! So well in fact that they have offered me a job practically daily and have now extended my current assignment until the beginning of September! I am really fitting in quite well here, still working on the neurology unit which offers much excitement. At the beginning I was a bit underwhelmed, but now things are evening out really well.

Things I have done in Boston that top the list.......well I live so close to everything that I simply pick a direction and walk that way until I find something neat. I went kayaking on the Charles river with a coworker which was amazing, attended earthfest on that same river for an afternoon. I have been to the North End for great Italian food and Mike's Pastries a few times with random guests. I like to go sit down along the harbor and watch the sailboats and jelly fish surface at sunset. I stumbled upon Beacon Hill/Boston Commons with Frog Pond the other day, yesterday sat in the commons and read my new Chelsea Handler book soaking up the rays!! One of my first weeks as some of you have heard, I had been shopping all day and ducked into the Beantown Pub for some lunch early afternoon when a young man decided to jump off the church to his death! That was less than exciting!

My view from my patio is quite amazing as I may have mentioned before, so leaving the comforts of my own apartment is difficult! I have found a good shopping street called Washington street but have only gone twice thank goodness. I have been down to the Holocaust monument and surrounding are of Quincy market and such. Most recently the NBA playoffs have consumed most of Bostonians attention and time. I live practically on top of the Garden where the Celtics and Bruins play, so as you may have guessed, my street has been a little hectic for the past few weeks. Well who am I kidding, it is always busy. I have a local pub that I now am friends with the waitress Shelia so we do a little book exchange and she talks to me if I ever go in to watch the games alone. Nice to know people and not sit alone and pretend to look at your phone all night!! The Celtics did lose in game 7 this past week, but it was an exciting time in Boston for sure!

A few weeks ago, another traveler Jamie and I went to the casino in Connecticut, to Foxwoods. I don't gamble much at all but she sure loves her some blackjack, so it was fun to tag along for an evening. Getting back to my apartment at 5am was not ideal considering the fact that I am 30 now!!! Lazy next day for sure! I have been venturing onto the subway system with help of course, trying to learn the ins and outs, literally. It doesn't make too much sense in my brain just yet but I am trying. I am still trying to get over the fact that I have been here 5weeks and driven Samantha only 3 times! It's actually quite great to not worry about driving.

Most of my weekends have been spent in Maine! Well 3 in a row, but now I'm back on the Boston track! I will be having some visitors here shortly so I have to save my traveling strength and planning ideas!! Mom and Katie will be coming for 5days each, 1 week a part....wheeew! The problem that I'm running into with traveling every weekend is not something I've dealt with back in October through January. It's called tourist season and tourist prices! Well I'm not really a tourist when I know where I'm going....right? The past few weekends have been great because I happened to have made some friends in Kennebunk back in November, so they have let me stay with them to avoid hotel costs. This leaves more money for lobster! Oh how I missed my baked stuffed lobster from Bartley's Dockside in Kennebunk, ME. Now I get to sit out on the patio and look out over the port as I enjoy my lobster!

Memorial weekend was a 3 day weekend spent on the beaches of Kennebunk, Scarborough, and up in Portland at Cape Elizabeth. It is quite fun to come back here now when the weather is tolerable to sit outside without a winter coat!! The weather is not overly hot though, needing a jacket most evenings especially up in Maine. There has consistently been about a 10degree difference between Boston and Kennebunk area, so dressing in layers is ideal. Cape Elizabeth is the lighthouse at Fort Williams Park that I have fallen in love with. Sunday of Memorial Day weekend I spent about 4hrs at the park. It was full of people, climbing rocks, picnicking, hiking, taking pictures, sunbathing....etc. It was so fun to be there for the day relaxing and enjoying other's joy and the beautiful scenery.

The following 2 weekends I went back up to Maine, but it rained pretty consistently for most of both weekends:( I did manage to spend a few hours on the Kennebunk shore one afternoon, interrupted by a strange phone call. My friend Jon that works at Bartley's frantically called me and said there were tornado warnings along the coast and they would feel better if I wasn't sitting along the shore. I asked, "Warning? That means one has been spotted, where is it?" Jon says, "I don't know Bec, we aren't used to these things around here. Warning/watch, whatever. You should just come back now!" It was quite hilarious and cute at the same time! Needless to say there was no tornado that day or the next, but there was some heavy rainfall and fog. Similar issues as a tornado to them I'm sure :)

This weekend has been absolutely gorgeous! I feel guilty staying inside to get any rest on my one day off but Katie will be here Thursday so I have to rest up for our festivities!! I love sharing my travels with people, getting to see their reaction to what I find truly great!!!

Back to Mass

2010-05-13T16:11:00.000-07:00

Saturday night I arrived home from Mexico to Dhana's home who had chosen to travel with me up north for the next week. She watched as I unpacked and repacked all of the needed clothing/supplies into the correct bags and then packed Samantha ready for our trip. I had a little trouble moving the top lugage rack to place the canvas top carrier but as well all know, Dhana does not possess any tools. We had to wait until 7am until her mother brought the needle nosed pliers for us to place and load the top carrier. As Dhana's mom, Hilda, left us she did not have wishes for safe travel or a plea to keep her daughter safe. She left me with these words, "Becky, do not leave this house until you make sure that Dhana makes her bed!" Ok that sums up the women in the south, so moving onto the north!

About an hour into our travels I realized that I had put the top carrier on upside down and Dhana had to use the restroom already, so we stopped against my will to repack the carrier and allow Dhana to relieve herself. I had planned the trip for the week to travel part way north about 9hrs to Baltimore, MD and stay with my friend Ally who has been in MD since Feb. Thanks to traffic jams and Dhana's small bladder, we ended up in Baltimore about 10hrs after departure! Ally lives right downtown Baltimore which only got me more excited to see my apartment in Boston! We quickly changed and with Dhana's ADHD we had to quickly flee the apartment for a dinner location. After a great meal we went out to a few bar establishments where Ally and I caught up from the past 3months while Dhana proceeded to give all of her cash to homeless people!

Monday we were left to our own adventures while Ally went to work unfortunately. Dhana and I ran around town, or walked being that I still had my faithful and handy boot on my foot. We did some shopping to apease Dhana and then had lunch on the inner harbor of Baltimore with the boat taxis coming in and out as people hustled around us. Ally met us after work for dinner and some more Baltimore adventures as we taught Dhana taxi etiquite and the northern culture. We ended up staying out way too late for our early morning departure for Maine.

At 8am we left Baltimore and drove up around Phili, through NYC, around Boston and up into Maine. We stopped at my favorite spot, Kennebunk and checked into our hotel with ease. Come to find out, Bartley's restaurant, the one I have spent much time at in the off season, is now closed for dinner during the seasosn on the week days! What the heck is going on??? Well we did manage to have some fun with my friend Jake meeting us for dinner and a mean game of trivia. Wednesday was Cinco de Mayo, so wisely spent hanging out in Maine with friends and some cervezas.

Thursday morning we awoke with a sprint and packed up our tornado striken hotel room to head back down to Boston. Short trip thank goodness, or Dhana would have jumped out of a moving vehicle, about 1.5hrs to Boston. Quickly found my apartment and got my keys to ride up to the 27th floor and let our jaws hit the floor when we saw the view that I will have for the next 13wks. We managed to unpack and park Samantha safely int the garage while we regrouped and entertained one of Dhana's friends that has lived here in Boston for 3yrs as part of the cost guard team. He was very impressed with the view, stating that there is not a hotel in Boston that you could pay enough money for a view like the one I have!! Yay me:) Dhana and I found our way with little direction to the North End for a great Italian meal and a little shopping. Headed home early and slept for 13hrs, maybe we were a little tired?

Friday was a fantastic day getting around Boston. Went directly to Dunkin Donuts and then quickly walked to Massachucetts General Hospital where I will be working. About an 8min walk from my apartment, awesome. We got groceries at Whole Foods really close to my apartment, mindful of course that you have to carry what you purchase! Went back to the apartment to unpack a little and regroup for our next adventures. We then set out on foot across Boston. I will say that my dad did leave me with a little of his directional sense in which I am very thankful. I have been to Boston twice before previously but with little touring or orientation thanks to weather or events of the weekend. This Friday I managed to steer us directly to everything that we would ever want to see in Boston, or that I know of at this point! Traveled to the Holocaust Monument, into Quincy Market and then to stop for lunch at the long wharf. We had a fabulous day with adventures, touring, shopping, balloon hats and dancing.

Saturday was pretty much a wash, watching 4 movies, heading out for food in between naps and Becky unpacking some more of my apartment. Saturday night we were asleep by about 9pm and slept for another 12hours. We are old I guess:) Sunday was Dhana's day to return to Sumter, SC so we began walking to the South Station in order to catch the silver line to the airport. Thank goodness we gave up part way and called a cab because the transit system is more sporadic on Sunday's and we would have missed her flight. After heading to the wrong airline then traipsing across 2 terminals to get to the right one, I gladly handed over my 7day travel buddy to US airways! Then came the fun part of realizing that Logan airport is on an island and I had not too good of idea as to how to return to my apartment. Swimming was not an option so I found where the silver line picked up and how to purchase a ticket.

Followed the crowd getting off the silver line at south station but then upon ascending from the subway realized that my apartment was not the tallest building in the financial district area. Most parts of Boston I had been too, I could see my apartment towering above all else, so I would just walk in that direction until something was familiar. Well I was lost for sure! I walked around until I hit a bridge and realized that was not correct, but as I turned to go back I saw a sign that directed me on my path. Ran through Quincy Market to grab a Gyro, stopped to call my mom on mother's day and made it back to my apartment about 1.5hrs after leaving Dhana! Don't think it is a world record on foot, but it will be a goal to beat next visitor delivery to the airport.

So this week Monday, Tuesday, and most of Wednesday was orientation to the hospital. I am on the Neurology unit at Mass General (MGH), where I'm quite comfortable thus far. I am still getting used to walking everywhere, to work, to the store, to eat, to get mail, etc. I do visit Samantha in the parking garage every other day. She is doing great resting in her new home and making lots of friends! Great city, awesome view, unmatchable career opportunity and countless possibilities for memories to cherish!

Viva la Mexico otra vez

2010-05-11T16:03:00.000-07:00

The ending of my time in SC came with a great reward.....back to Mexico, Cancun. A few gals from KC had wanted to go "sometime" this year, I had no clue it was as close to my previous visit in October until they called me to tell me that I was in fact going with them! So Friday I ended my stint at Toumey Hospital in Sumter, SC and began packing the apartment to leave the state. I have my new buddy the walking boot on my right foot which was to protect my supposed stress fracture or tendinitis from further demise! The entire weekend was spent packing, resting, elevating, cleaning, taking meds, resting, packing, carrying, and taking the boot on and off about 8times a day so that I can drive Samantha for errands as well as to move some items to Dhana's home for the week. I thank my mother for my organizational skills that I have to possess at this particular time in my life. I had bags for Mexico, bags for the following week to travel to Boston, items that can sit in my truck for the week at the airport, and more valuable items that needed to be stored at Dhana's! Are you tired yet?

So here I am sleeping on my couch in my sleeping bag in my clean and empty apartment realizing that I am a complete crazy person!! Woke up at 5:30am to finish packing and such, turned in my apartment keys and headed to Charleston to board the plan for Mexico. Arriving in Mexico about 1hr earlier than my friends coming from KC, I had no choice but to stand outside at the bar and catch some sun. After the arrival of the friends we successfully made our way to our gorgeous resort in Cancun. Great hotel, bluest waters ever witnessed and a perfect sunset. The week was set up to be very relaxing even before I injured my paw. Angela had assured me that she had no intentions of doing anything beyond sitting at the pool/beach, and she did not disappoint.

Day one was spent at the pool or beach or swim-up bar, having fun and laughs all day with some sun as well. This night we went to the "oriental" restaurant at the resort which was fabulous. We ended up singing a little karaoke and partaking in the hot tub experience. The next day was cloudy and windy with hints of rain, but this did not stop Angela and I from sitting at the pool most of the day. The other 2 girls had made arrangements to go swim with the dolphins, but as Angela had promised, her, I and the boot stayed behind for some R&R. After the other gals returned we tried out the "Italian" restaurant which was not as horrible as everyone had warned, but not awesome. We had planned after dinner to go out with the activities crew from the resort however with a twist of fate we missed the boat on that one and ended up back in the hot tub.

The following day we all went on a wonderfully scary excursion! Angela has 2 major fears, flying and sharks. How she ended up in Cancun, I will never know but she had done really well. We went to the marina and loaded into little 2 seater boats that we were now blessed to operate with little to no demonstration. Our instructions were to follow the boat in front of you and not to pass, follow the hand signals and you will be all right. After about 5min of driving in the bay we entered the "jungle" area around topsy-turby turns, high winds which make big waves. It was about this time that Angela began to rethink her purchase of ticket. Then it was about this time that we were signaled to give it the gas out into the vast ocean. Now is when Angela's "fun" turned into pure panic! Here I am, a female that happens to like to fish, that has happened to land me behind the wheel of several boats and driving them into waves at Johnson Lake that sometimes get quite high.....now at the mercy of my friend that has driven a pontoon boat only.

We were not the last one in the boat parade followed by another couple and then one of the guides. However, at the time of the most panic, we found ourselves not only at the end of the line but pretty far from the last boat from what I could see of them. Angela was trying to keep it together between gagging and screaming, but every time a large wave came about.....she would slow up! I tried to remain calm, being that I work with panicked patients daily I knew that active listening would be key. Well then it turned into forceful suggestion....."Angela you have to gun it or you will drown us!" This could really be a life philosophy....When faced with a huge wave, just gun it!

Well much to my amazement and to Angela's dismay, we made it to our destination seemingly unharmed. The new problem being that our destination was not land, or even close to it. We were tying up to a booie in the middle of the ocean along a reef. Most of us jumped out of the boats and began our snorkeling adventures, Angela stayed in the boat and watched for sharks! The snorkeling was not the best but we did see a sea worm, lobster, large sea shell with urchin in it (very precise I know), and lots of beautiful fish. Obviously when we returned to the boats, it was my turn to drive. I will say that the ride back was much more calm and it had little to do with me. The wind had calmed and we were driving with the waves back to shore. Landing successfully on land we high tailed it back to the resort for all of us to relax our nerves! Who in their right mind would allow untrained females to drive a small dingy into the vast ocean and tie up to a small booie?

After a short recovery period we made our way to the room for a well needed and deserved nap. We awoke with a sprint to head back to the oriental restaurant when Becky realized that she did not fell well and eating was no longer an option. I was back in bed by 8:30pm never to get back up until morning light! Friday was our last full day in Mexico so Angela and I had a very busy day planned at the pools while the other two, Angie and Amanda, headed to the Mayan Ruins. I would like to make a side note that I was not being difficult or uninterested in the Mexican culture during this trip in any way. It was simply the fact that this was my 4th trip to Mexico in the past 10yrs and I had seen about all I needed and bought enough souvenirs to fill my and my families' homes. Now staying on this side of the coast line had proven to be quite windy. At some point during the day, while the whitecaps were filling the pool, Angela told me that wind in some cultures is used as a torture form. It was about 2hrs into the day that I believed her. The wind was so great that you couldn't even hear yourself talk, let alone your friends. Drinks had to remain in hand for fear of spilling and after every application of sunscreen came a dense coat of sand that was blowing up from the beach about 100ft away.

We braved the wind and managed to have a great day, planning to go out in Cancun and live it up for our last night there. After the girls' adventures and the torturing wind we decided to eat and go to bed early. We are definitely showing our age by this point in the trip. The next morning, Saturday, we packed up the rooms and headed for our homes in the states. The girls landed in KC and I made it back to Charleston around 8pm then to drive the 2hrs back to Sumter. I got to Dhana's about 10pm, caught up on the week with her then packed Samantha ready for our trip up north!!!! No plans of returning to Mexico despite my mom's idea to sell my home and move to Mexico, "since you love Mexico so much". I have seen how she has dealt with Steph moving to Texas and I think in an effort to save her sanity I will continue my travels within the USA!

This has been the most FUN!

2010-04-19T11:40:00.001-07:00

Finally made it to Myrtle Beach and thank goodness we saved this trip for the end of my stay! I need to sleep for about the next 10days!! I do have a quick story to report from the prior weekend though in regards to a little alligator named, Ted. My friend Dhana's friend's family owns some land, well lots and lots of land with 2 ponds around Sumter here. Last Sunday I was invited to go fishing with them and to their surprise I was actually relatively self-sufficient at fishing as well as entertaining! As we were paddling the canoe around this small pond I was made aware of their friend, Ted. "He is just a little guy" measuring about 5ft long. I did not see this Ted guy the whole day but Esmonde and Dhana did see him while I was fishing on the shore. The best part was that Esmonde told us that there used to be a much larger alligator about as large as the canoe, but they had to have him killed. I of course asked why they had to kill this large beast, and if it was due to any human violence......He said no, the alligator had caught onto fishing. When the humans were in the canoe with a fish on the line, the alligator would simply swim up and eat the fish off the line! Well I would have him shot too!!!

So this weekend we headed out to Myrtle Beach, SC. If any of you have seen the movie Shag that I have prided my SC trip around, well it was mainly filmed in Myrtle. I would have liked to see anything that I recognized from the movie but I did not. Dhana thought that there was one hotel that was in the movie however we did not see that particular one on this trip, so "damn, damn, damn" (movie quote). 3 gals from work came with me on this trip, or actually I just went with them frankly. It was great, Lindsay's family owns a condo (well 2 actually) in North Myrtle and the one that we stay in was furnitureless. Which we knew about prior to going, so we were fully equipped with blankets, pillows and air mattresses. We did forget however, some toilet paper!!! Oops. The trip started with a bang, Dhana who had volunteered her SUV for the roadtrip was leaving work to come meet up with us at her home, when she ran out of gas. Oops. After a difficult task of walking to the gas station and getting gas to bring to her truck, she made it back to us completely disheveled!!!

We loaded the truck the best way that 4 women know how too and set off for the 2hr roadtrip, only stopping once which was simply amazing. The condo as expected was completely empty and had been for quite sometime. Upon entering the elevator to go up to the condo, Lindsay had said that her mother said the door lock was a little tricky on this particular unit. After about 4min of Lindsay trying, Dhana looks at me and gestures for me to go help her. I said, "why me? do I look like a locksmith?" She said, "well you are just good with this kind of stuff"! I replied, "what with doors?" She said, "yep". For some reason, turns out I am good at doors, taking from 5-100tries per lock/unlock each time we left or entered the condo! Yeah for me. After we got settled in, we began to get ready for the evening out, until we ran the water!! Like I said, the condo has sat empty for a while now, so the sulfur has set in the pipes for awhile. The whole condo now smelled like rotten eggs. Dhana comes out in her towel and says, "can't you fix that Becky"? OH right, now I'm the plumber!!

This night we had purchased tickets for a George Clinton concert at the House of Blues. Now Dhana had warned us of the oddity of this band, but not to it's full rights! The lead guy, George, had a pimp suit on with fake Cindy Lopper like hair all different colors sticking out in all different ways. The next man that came out was wearing a diaper (the old school cloth kind), a yellow suit jacket and yellow sunglasses. The 4 back-up singers, one was named by us as Lady Gaga and she was even wearing roller skates for part of the evening on stage, a lady that apparently forgot her underwear, A man that was wearing clothes large enough to fit the entire band in, and then a normal-ish dressed man! Now this was more visual stimulation than anyone needs in one concert and the music was really good and entertaining as well. Great concert overall. At some point in the evening Dhana had phoned a friend that was then waiting outside of the House of Blues in a Hummer stretch limo! Why not!!!? He drove us the the Boardwalk area which is outdoor shopping and entertainment area. We danced the night away at a fairly ghetto fabulous dance club, but we didn't need any entertainment but ourselves!

The next morning we awoke with a sprint, donned our swimsuits and headed to the beach! Along with the condo rental/ownership comes a pass for a beach front building with bathrooms, kitchen, deck/patio with chairs/tables and of course beach access. It couldn't of worked out any better. We just sat in the sun, drinking our waters, eating some chips and listening to the "huge" hot pink stereo my mom purchased for $1 many years back! I call it my boombox, everyone laughs and points, until they hear the amazing sound quality! It is really funny I must admit but I have taken her all over the nation, used her in KC at the pools, tailgating, at my home while doing landscaping. Most of my friends and some of my family know about my awesome boombox and have even asked to borrow her, Stella. After about 5hrs at the beach we called it quits and headed back to the condo for a nap. Much needed rest for sure but then woke up to the same egg smelling water........until genius Becky decided to just run all of the hot water in one bathroom for about 40min....guess what, it worked!!! Now the other 2 bathrooms and kitchen were a different story :)

Tonight, Saturday night, we headed to Hard Rock Cafe found an awesome table outside right by the band and went from 0-10 in 2seconds. We had the best time, the most laughs, the most dancing I have had in a long time. After dinner we went to a dueling piano bar that 2 of the girls had never even heard of, so that made it really fun to see their surprise/delight. The cab that we ended up getting into was a van taxi (which most of them are) and it's driver is the proud owner of the cutest puppy that happened to be in the front seat. Putting a puppy in a contained area with us four gals was almost as bad as putting a baby in the vehicle with us! Her name was Bella and about 10min into the trip she decided to ignore all of our begging to come sit with us and just laid her head down and went to sleep. Now even though the cab ride was $40 home it was worth no one getting into trouble, the next day though it was a little perplexing as to what we were going to do.

We again awoke with a shot, smiling with joy in our hearts......well actually it looked like a scene from the movie Hangover minus the tiger in the bathroom, although we did actually look just in case there was one in there! We went over to Lindsay's other condo to sit on some actual furniture and have a diet coke sitting along the river, rehashing the weekends fun stories and looking at pictures that we prayed never existed. Partly by default of not being aware of the distance, we all agreed just to walk to the place for breakfast, well 3mi later around the golf course, over the bridge and across the highway we arrived at the Spring House, not feeling too "springy" at all. Following the meal of necessity I will now refer to it as, I discovered that some cunning lady in Miami, FL had been using my VISA to make her a great vacation. Thousands of dollars had been spent until finally my bank caught on and shut the thing down. I will say that the security tech at my bank was quite confused over my charges from SC, KC, NE, ME, MA.....it was difficult to say where I may have been. I honestly can't believe that no one has questioned me at all over the past 6months.

In all my delight over now not having a VISA to use, we called the cab and headed to the car. The 3mi walk did save us about $6.50 in cab fare though, so that is a positive being that I was the only one with cash on the trip and my funds were running a little low! After we got back to the car I had about $3 and no more use of my VISA, well shoot. We drove down to the ocean boulevard as I realized that none of the 3 ladies in the SUV knew how to parallel park.....what? Literally when Lindsay was ready to park she stopped and got out of the vehicle and I had to get into the driver's seat and park the dang car! Oh SC women, how I loath thee. Well we did a little shopping, had a beverage at an outdoor restaurant/bar and did a lot of people watching. We discovered that if you do not own a wife beater or black socks, you cannot walk proudly on the boulevard! Sadly the end of the day arrived and we had to pack/clean up the condo and drive the 2hrs back to Sumter. What a great trip of relaxation and just silly fun! It was actually the last weekend adventure for me here in SC and my friend Megan is also going back to CO so it was great to have a girls weekend prior to leaving the great state!

To give you some foreshadowing of this awesome blog that I call "my life", I am finishing my last week here at Toumey Hospital in Sumter, SC. This weekend I will be packing Samantha (SUV) and cleaning the apartment. Monday 26th I fly out to Cancun for the week and return to SC on Saturday May 1st. Sunday I will awake and finish packing Sammy, throw Dhana in the truck with me and we are headed North. I have been chosen as the first OT traveler to go to Massachusetts General in Boston, MA which is not only a huge honor but also a wonderful adventure. Dhana and I will have an entire week of travel/playtime to eventually make it to Boston. I will write the plans here but don't hold me too it because you never know....Sunday drive 8hrs to Baltimore, MD to stay with my friend Ally, Tuesday we will travel to Kennebunk, ME to see my friends at the restaurant and show Dhana Maine. Thursday we can get into my 27th floor, downtown, studio apartment and begin making that home until mid August! Pray for me, my sanity, and our travel.................stay tuned!

It's a Horse of Course

2010-03-31T08:10:00.000-07:00

It has been known to happen from time to time along my travels for a great opportunity that normally would cost me a lot of money, is now offered to me for free! The great thing about this is not just the money saving and the spontaneity of the event, but that the event is usually a "true to state" event. It is an event that gives me a perfect example of the culture and the persons in the state that I am living in. Rest assured that I have not participated in any illegal acts or offered any personal services to be able to attend these such events!

If you have been following my blog you may remember a little event back in January that I went to called an NFL playoff game Patriots vs Ravens. That was not planned, that was free, and that was the most fun. Now you may also remember a few weeks ago in Hilton Head, my friend Dhana and I landed on a party trolley that would have cost $50 per person, but we ended up on there for free going around the island to different places with fun people. It has just been a matter of being in the right place, at the right time, with the right people that are holding the right tickets! :)

This weekend things happened a little differently. Coming off of my 4 day trip with Lindsay/Jen I decided it to be best to stay in Sumter for the weekend and conserve energy and money! I was sitting on my couch on Friday night, minding my own business when a text from Dhana came across as such, "wanna go to the Carolina Cup?" I reply, "um what is that exactly?" She says, "it's a horse race. If you want a southern experience this is as good as it gets and we have free tickets"!! I replied, "when and where do I meet ya?"

So I rummaged through the closets to find my large sunhat that I have been toting around since October and a fun flowery dress! We got to Camden around 11am and drove to the "island" or what they call the middle of the track. I would describe and have described this event as basically a tailgate where you dress up and wear awesome hats. Sitting there watching all of the fun outfits of both men and women could keep even the basic consumer of fashion entertained for hours on end. I fit in with the crowd reasonably well I do believe and if anyone says any differently.....keep it to yourself!!

Being that we were in the middle of the track we could walk up to the fence, watch the horses zoom by and then not see them again for the rest of the race. This proved to be quite pointless for us after the first trial. So we sat and enjoyed a lovely day at the races without actually watching the horses! It is illegal to officially bet on the races here so within our group we would bet $5 a race and then pull horse names randomly out of a hat to cheer for, but I did not win once :( There were several men with pink pants, usually dress pants and some with suspenders and a hat to add to the fun. Lots of bow ties for the men and stripped pants with matching colored Loafers! The woman were in sundresses usually with large hats of all colors and styles, some even with large horses on top of the hat. There were very few people that did not dress up for the event which was great to watch.

The outfits and the atmosphere was exactly what I had imagined it to be. A true southern experience, free of charge, and committed to memory :)

Ghostly adventures

2010-03-26T07:39:00.000-07:00

Finally I have some visitors coming my way!!! My good friends Lindsay and Jen from KC planned a long weekend to come traipse around the south with me, and we succeeded for sure! We had originally planned to be in Savannah for the Saint Patrick's Day events, but we didn't realize that the festivities really were the weekend prior up until that actual day which was Wednesday and then nothin' else for the rest of the year. No decorations, no green horse tails, no green river :( We did manage to still have fun though, of course!

The gals flew into Charleston Thursday afternoon after a rocky flight on a very small aircraft! I was just in NE the weekend prior for Josh's wedding and such so I was still trying to rest up and rest my broken/cellulitis filled toe! None the less, anxiously awaited the weekend of fun with some familiar faces:) As soon as I could hop outta work and drive to Charleston to meet the gals we quickly caught up, dressed up, and headed out for a night on the town in downtown Charleston. Ate at the Noisy Oyster, Jen attempting her hand at fish because for some odd reason she decided to give up meat for lent this year....well she didn't think that through coming to the "stroke belt" and all!! Luckily Jen does like some seafood unlike Lindsay, so needless to say, our food choices were limited and interesting! I just went about my merry way without food restrictions!

We managed to run around town and see a few establishments Thursday evening and got back to the friendships that I so miss! The next morning we cheerfully jumped out of bed bright and early to enjoy our free breakfast buffet on the top floor of the Holiday Inn Riverview which as you can imagine.....has a great view of the river! :) After Lindsay enjoyed her sprite buffet we caught the shuttle to the visitor's center for our Adventure Bus Tour. Now I had been on this tour last time I went to Charleston, but this time we toured with Wayne. Quite knowledgeable and gave me many more stupid Charleston facts to come back to work and bug my coworkers about.....this is how it goes on Monday after a bus tour.....Becky: "Hey everybody did you know that mosquitoes can't fly higher than 13ft?" Coworkers: "you went on another stupid tour didn't you?" After the tour's completion, I took the gals on a self-guided tour of King street by accident trying to find a Mexican restaurant. We did manage to find it, thanks to phoning a friend for directions.

We did some mild shopping and then caught the shuttle back to the hotel for a short nap! We geared back up for a fun evening eating at a restaurant in a renovated church called Mad River. We went for a short walk and spent the rest of the evening in a quiet corner of a bar/restaurant "catching up". Saturday morning we awoke with a sprint and packed our things, headed back downtown to the market for Jen to make a last minute purchase that she had been stewing over for 24hrs. Now I do admire this quality in people that decide and weigh decisions especially on purchases! I on the other hand have a "sold" policy.....I see something I want and I'm sold, bought it! ooops. Lindsay chose our lunch spot of BBQ and Nick and Jack's on King St. in Charleston which was very disappointing for the "lent vegetarian" Jen! About the time that I ordered my beef brisket and Lindsay her pulled pork, We realized that Jen had gotten a kids menu to order the grilled cheese sandwich! Now she was really disappointed at the quality and amount of cheese on this sandwich however I soon pointed out that it was a kid's menu and they were not about to use the most expensive cheese on a sandwich meant for a child who would not know the difference anyway!!

Promptly after our (Lindsay/mine) fantastic lunch we headed on our road trip to Savannah, GA. A gorgeous travel day intersected by a fantastic day to check into our downtown hotel and enjoy the day walking around Savannah! At this point, it had been snowing in KC for a while and my friends were receiving snowy updates, we were then beginning to send weather updates of our 80degree weather and need for sun block!! :) haha what fun we have on permanent vacation. Unfortunately there were no remaining hints of what was one of the largest Snt Pat's day celebration in the US, the trolley driver estimated about 500,000 people this year which is about 200,000 less than last year. I'm a little glad that there weren't that many people around, I like to use the restroom when I want too thanks!! There is a main road that goes right down the center of Savannah called Bull St, about every couple of blocks is an intersecting park. Usually named after a war hero or president, oak trees with hanging moss, leaves covering the ground, rose bushes in bloom....absolutely gorgeous.

This evening Jen and Lindsay had signed us up for a ghost tour, which consists of paying a man some money to walk us around to pubs/restaurants and tell us a ghost story related to that building. Now I am not for or against ghosts at this point in time but it was interesting to have a "spoooooky" guided tour of Savannah. The following day we were on our way to lunch, when we were stopped by the trolley guide man! Well of course we want to sign up for a tour! duh. It was really a good idea to sign up for the trolley that we can get on/off all day long and get the 411 on Savannah! We had lunch at a quaint little Italian restaurant which was great and managed to do a little shopping throughout the fun day. We got another nap in of course, and set off for a fantastic supper. There is a well know restaurant in Savannah called Lady and Sons which is owned by Paula Deen! Well that is not where we went......we went somewhere even better, The Olde Pink House. This is a mansion built in 1774 which, if you are a history buff like myself, this is before our nation's Independence Day. The rooms are renovated for the now restaurant and the food is simply amazing! I tried the southern favorites of shrimp and grits, scallops and collard greens, and an interesting crab cake with a fried green tomato on the top....wow and wow!

We were fairly tired by the end of this 4 day adventure so we had a night cap and went to bed. An early alarm clock awoke us by 3:45am so I could drop them off at the airport in Savannah and then drive 3hrs to Sumter to go to work by 8am! What a fun weekend with many adventures of course, now shared with 2 wonderful friends!! To all of my devoted blog friends.....sorry I have been slacking in the blog department! I will try harder!! :)

Back to the Island

2010-03-05T10:27:00.000-08:00

Hilton Head Island called me up and said......Becky I miss you and your funniness, please come back and see me. I said, well OK, be right there! Dhana just happened to have the weekend free as well so she hopped in the truck with me Friday after work. One of Dhana's good friends lives in Bluffton so we stopped by and had a beverage on the way into the island with Beth. Made it to the Holiday Inn for a late check-in. I had met a person of interest the last time I had visited the island and he happened to have a friend that wanted to meet us for dinner that evening so it really worked out well for the 4 of us! We went to dinner at a local restaurant, then to the triangle so that Dhana could, "boogie", which in the normal language means to dance.

Saturday morning, well we missed that, but Saturday afternoon we awoke to a cloudy day. We jumped lively out of bed and headed to the marina/lighthouse. Well we slowly exited the bed and headed to the restaurant, the Crazy Crab for a great lunch of a fried Grouper sandwich and our drink buffet! Dhana and I have started the best tradition of a drink buffet, consisting of a water, a diet pepsi and a bloody mary! :) After the lunch we toured around to Deer Island to show Dhana the cool sealofts that are the round lofts elevated up off the ground with spiral staircases. Really neat looking! Then we went to the Piggly Wiggly for some supplies. We purchased a kite, the endangered snowy owl! I had forgotten how complicated it was to construct one of these such kites, but as you can imagine, Dhana was of no assistance! Not sure if I had said this in an earlier blog but Dhana is a single female home owner, such as myself, but she doesn't even own a screw driver!! So last week when it appeared that someone had tried to pry open her front door by removing the doorknob, I simply said, Dhana hand me a screwdriver. Dhana replied, I don't have one of those! I then proceeded to laugh until I peed and then called my step-dad to laugh with him about the irony of miss independent (me) being in Dhana's home where her tools consist of a hammer and an umbrella!

So the kite flying went really well! There are many kite rules by the way, they are printed at the bottom of the instruction sheet for your reading pleasure! One of which clearly states that you are not to fly the kite near any spectators...well how the heck are we to clear the beach to fly the dang kite?! Dhana was not the best kite flier in the world but she certain won the "good trier" award! I did really well at the flying aspect but continually was attacked by the owl as I was trying to toss it up into the air for Dhana to try to fly it. I have really forgotten how fun it is to fly a kite, and being on the ocean is a lot of fun as well :) This evening we went out to eat with her friend Beth to a place called Frankie Bones. Had just finished a great meal when the manager of the restaurant approached us and said that he just wanted to warn us that 125people were about to come into the place. We said, oh wow, why would there be that many people here? He informed us that there was a bar crawl going on on the island this evening. So in piled probably 50-60people and came and went between this restaurant and the one next door. Well at one point I came back from the bathroom and a gentleman slapped a yellow wristband on me, I said thanks and sat down at the table. Dhana standing there in her coat says, "come on, let's boogie". I asked where we were headed so quickly........She said we are getting on the trolley, let's go!

Outside sat 3 trolleys that proved to be some of the craziest folks that ever lived! We were singing 80s songs and ringing the trolley bell as we went from place to place landing at the "triangle" where we had been the night previous! What a funny night, meeting some interesting folks for sure! At one point Dhana looks at me and says, "how do we end up in the weirdest, yet most fun places together?" I looked at her and said, "welcome to my life lately, I don't know how I get so lucky!" The next morning we did make it up before noon, mainly because we had to check out of the hotel by 11am. On the beach this morning was a horse race!! I overheard a lady saying that these horse races had not been on the island for 20years, well lucky us. We watched the horse parade and then went for some lunch. We returned to the hotel to meet up with our friends and watch the race, however our timing was a bit off, we missed the actual race. oops! The hotel was filled with people though enjoying the 60degree sunny day with their friends and family, so we joined them. We stayed until we had to drive home around 3pm, getting home around 7pm after some stops and going to bed by 8pm!! What a beautiful island with some crazy people. I'm sure as it gets warmer on my travels, the people will begin to emerge from hibernation and rejoin the rest of us crazies!!

Southern Livin' at it's best!

2010-02-24T10:29:00.000-08:00

Dhana was headed back to Charleston with her boytoy for an engagement party/oyster roast this past weekend. Well bad for her, lucky for me, he dumped her on Valentine's day! So enter into the festivities, Becky:) Dhana had graduated from PT school at MUSC in Charleston, so she was meeting a few friends there and had the romantic oceanfront room lined up for us to stay in! Yay me, someone that had a preplanned trip awaiting for me just to aimlessly tag along!

We headed to the great city of Charleston on a gorgeously sunny 70 degree day with the windows rolled down and the music cranked up! Got to the oceanfront Holiday Inn on Folly Beach early enough to see the sunset over the ocean from our 8th floor room that looked out at Folly Beach Pier. Our first stop on the map was Taco Boy for a beverage and an appetizer, next a $25 cab ride into West Ashley for some more fun. Now I have learned much about cab drivers and cab conduct along these past few months. One thing I know for sure is that you do not disclose too much information to random cab drivers. Dhana on the other hand, has not received the memo on cab conduct. During this long, long and expensive cab ride we heard the entire story of how our cab driver has lost $400,000 in the past 4months, wants to kill his business partners by tying bouys to them and letting the sharks eat them, and how he hates being a cab driver, and after Dhana had shared most of our current situation and hotel name, she turns to me and asks why I'm so dang quiet! Wide-eyed after what conversation just took place, I say calmly, Dhana I have just learned that all cab drivers are not friendly and it is not too safe to tell them your life story! She agreed, but did not hesitate to call him to come give us a ride back to Folly Beach at the end of the evening!

I did get my first oyster shot and conversation about oysters this evening. One of the bars that we met some of Dhana's friends at, called Pearl, was serving oysters left and right. The plantation worker that Dhana had befriended purchased us an oyster shot which was the equivalent of a small bloody mary with an oyster in it. It was pretty tasty I would say but you can't really taste the oyster. Obviously I don't tour around and not ask a lot of dumb tourist questions, so as the bartenders were shucking oysters for a large party, I asked them all sorts of questions! I did find out however that these particular oysters this evening came from Texas! That I found weird considering the fact that we were right on the ocean! What do I know though??

Saturday we woke up and went shopping on King Street and to eat at King Street Grille. Another warm gorgeous spring day here in SC for shopping along King street. Some of Dhana's friends escorted us back to the hotel for a quick change and then to another friends on Mount Pleasant which we got to cross over the very fun looking bridge to get too. This began the highlight of the trip which was the oyster roast. For this couple's engagement they had planned an outdoor event called an oyster roast. At this event they steamed lots and lots of oysters that were then dumped out onto long tables with buckets at the ends, shucking tools, rubber gloves and hot sauce. The oysters look more like barnacles to me, but what do I know about oysters? One of Dhana's friends, boyfriend took me under his wing and showed me the ropes on this whole operation. I did succeed on not only shucking and eating about 12-15oysters, I also managed to get about every oyster question I could think of answered. This boyfriend of Shannon's probably should have charged me a oyster guide fee of some sort! This was my first real attempt at eating oysters and definitely was a success!!

Next, to my delight, was the low country boil. This is where they steam shrimp, potatoes, corn on the cob, celery and polish sausage and then dump it onto a big tray next to the corn bread, sweet tea and coleslaw. Yummmmy, I could eat this about everyday! Then to top of the evening of sitting casually outdoors with the low hanging spanish moss from the trees, enjoying good food and meeting new friends came the moment I have been waiting for since moving to Sumter. The couple started off the dance portion of the evening by doing the Shag! I have the movie Shag, on VHS, and love watching it over and over. My sisters and I, friends and I, or just I quote this movie endlessly! So I'm not sure who was more excited, me or the couple that were engaged! Dhana says what the heck got you so excited.....I said well Dhana besides all of this fun and good food, those two are shaggin'!! She said, yeah that's what people do down in these parts! Well good because I like every bit of what's going on here is what I told her. We soon, sadly left the oyster roast and went back to Folly Beach to continue our fun night, but Dhana did assure me that sometime she will teach me to shag! Yipeee.

Sunday was the most gorgeous of all gorgeous days, 70 degrees and sunny at about 10am. What else were we to do on this fine morning except eat breakfast and bloody mary's out on the patio of a local restaurant? I was able to try my first southern breakfast grits and sadly did not enjoy them much at all. Now the bloody mary bar and the shrimp, mozzarella, basil omelet were amazing! We then did a little shopping, met her friends again for lunch and then headed back to the great city of Sumter for yet again a needed nap!! What a fun city with great southern hospitality and authenticity! I will be going back soon for sure.

Retirement capitol of SC

2010-02-17T19:35:00.000-08:00

Unlike Massachusetts, I have adopted a few people that want to actually travel around with me every weekend. I have mentioned Jayson that plans the trips, but I have girlpals that want to join me and recognize the opportunity to get away for the weekend. Last weekend I was in Charleston I emailed my sister Steph, it read, "I just now realized that I am a spoiled brat! I get to go on vacation every single weekend!" She replied, "yeah but you deserve it you are awesome"! I agree but still after 5months am dumbfounded that I get to do this! So anyway, my dad used to get to go on business trips for his company every other year if I remember correctly. My mom always talks about her favorite trip to Hilton Head. Naturally I am going to go to Hilton Head Island to investigate and see if in fact it is the greatest place to visit. My friend at work here, Megan, chose to come with me.

Friday afternoon we set off to the island but there was a little glitch in our southern geti-up. There were snow flurries here in Sumter, SC!!!! There are not enough exclamation points to explain the amount of excitement and anxiety in a southern state when it snows! Here I was driving my SUV with NE plate on the front, KS plate on the back at the normal speed limit through town, attempting to leave town. The residents of this state were calling there friends, coworkers, relatives, bosses, schools attempting to shut down the town. There was precisely zero inches of snow on the ground when I walked into the gas station and overheard a phone conversation from one of the attendants, "maybe people in Nebraska are used to this but I hear that the airports are shut down and they may cancel school on Monday"! I raise an eyebrow, walk back to my SUV, laugh out loud, and drive to the island. It did change from snow flurries to rain along the way which made for a long ride with people driving 10 under the speed limit but we did make it. I confirmed with Megan whom originally is from Colorado and moved to South Carolina, that the airports must shut down as do the schools because they have no deicer agents or snow plows. Snow plows for what?? One inch of snow that will melt in a second because Saturday and Sunday is for casted to be 50degrees and sunny!

We arrived at Hilton Head Island on a rainy "cold" evening and checked into our oceanfront hotel and then went out for dinner. I had met a couple of guys on the shuttle the weekend prior in Charleston and one of them worked at the Red Fish in Hilton Head. He went there for one of the best seafood meals I have had. Calamari in a smoked tomato basil sauce, sea bass on a bed of seaweed ginger noodles and Megan had seared scallops with a bed of lobster macaroni and asparagus. The meal was great the night after was fun and dance filled. The cab driver did warn us that the cabs may shut down if the "snow" gets too bad! I said, "let me get this straight, if the so called snow which was really just rain, not even sleet, gets too bad you will shut down public transportation. And what, Sir, do you propose that us normal, rational people do to get home then?" He then told me that this was the worst storm since 1986 and he can't predict what will happen. Well folks, the world did not end and we did make it home to our hotel......even in the huge snow storm of 2010! haha

Saturday we woke up an took a stroll along the beach checking out all the starfish and the cutest little boy with his puppy named Cody. It is sad that I can remember most dog's names that I meet but the humans names are a little fuzzy! ooops. So we went to the hotel for a short nap and then to a small bar/restaurant for lunch. Back to the hotel to lounge around and enjoy a day of laziness. We headed out that evening with a new friend, Christopher, to an Italian restaurant. Megan is a tall blond haired blue eyed girl that says she is Italian! Um, well I am not too cultured but Italians are not usually looking like that at all! She then assured me that her family is from Italy, Northern Italy. Well Ok then Miss Megan, I do believe you and our meal was great....as usual. We then went out to a local bar/restaurant and watched a sporting event where they score you on dunking the ball and shooting 3-pointers. Well that is neat! There was a really good band though so that was good. Chris is a traveling physical trainer so he gets to do my same gig but has to be much more healthy! Too bad for him:) During the course of the evening I said to him, "don't we have the best lives right now? Really who gets to be us?" He definitely agreed!!! Megan and I turned in early to get up for our drive home but not before some more adventures.

We got up the next morning on Sunday and packed up early, on Valentine's day. Yippee whoopty do da! Megan and I went to this great brunch place for an early breakfast after seeing a lady being arrested in the hotel lobby for shoplifting I do believe. Now Megan is going through a divorce and I just turned 30 while still being single, but nothing beats getting arrested at 9am on Valentine's day!! Anyway so here Megan and I sit eating a great breakfast while being sung too by a cute old man playing an electric piano....love songs, lots of love songs...thanks Sir! So we left there and headed to this lighthouse picture on the map. Hilton Head Island is absolutely gorgeous all year round. Barely anything turns brown except most of the spanish moss hanging from the trees but that is because it is fed off of the humidity in the air and in the winter months there is obviously less. We went past the hotel that I believe my mom and dad stayed in many years ago and ended up at the lighthouse. We walked around the marina and millionaire yachts picking out all of our favorites and then Megan yells, look a dolphin! I say yea right Megan.....and really there was. So like in the movies, not sure which one though, we chased a dolphin around the docks of this marina to get his photograph! He stayed around for quite a bit to play in the marina. It was a great day. We drove around a bit longer, ended up on Deer Island which driving over the bridge the sign read, "private, do not enter". Well I do not think it to be the best idea to turn around on that bridge with my SUV so we had to drive onto the island in order to turn around. Glad I did! There were the coolest little lofts or hut thingys that were round elevated structures with a little sun room and stairs on the bottom then really just a round room on stilts! It was simply amazing with the spanish moss hanging from the trees and the BMWs parked all around....simply gorgeous!!!

Well we left that Island, then the next island and onto the mainland to our homes. Becky took a 3hour nap to get up and start planning again!!! Mom would have been right about this amazing place....except she hasn't been to Maine:)

History meets architecture

2010-02-10T16:48:00.000-08:00

My first trip in South Carolina, and it was a good one! I went to Charleston, SC for the weekend and it is a must see for sure. Most of you know that I do not know too much about history and Lord knows, not much more about geography, but I surely appreciated every single part of Charleston. Charleston has not only a lot of war history and war items but history of the first settlements of the nation. The architecture of these homes and businesses combine beauty, function, and historical relevance. There is a purpose and plan for each structure, which I find exhausting to memorize but fascinating for sure! There is in fact a mansion right on the water that has a 500lb canon still in the attic because it was simply too heavy to move once it was launched there so the roof was just built back over it. Sadly, a lot of the wealth that has made Charleston so abundant and beautiful was in large due to slavery.

So I finished my second week at Tuomey Hospital which is going wonderfully. I headed out to Charleston which is about 2hrs from Sumter. It was raining and about 42degrees in Sumter and 2hrs later in Charleston it was 65degrees, rainy and humid! Not such a good idea to have straightened this curly hair of mine the night prior, zing! I stayed at the Holiday Inn Riverview, and yep you guessed it, it has a fabulous view of the river, Ashley river I believe?? The hotel had a handy shuttle that took me right to my first location The Noisy Oyster. I did forget to add that we have a wonderful rehab tech at Tuomey that is in fact trying to get into occupational therapy school at this very moment. When he is not doing something extremely productive, I have him plan my trips for the weekend :) This trip was all planned by Jayson and was perfect due to the fact that he went to The Citadel which is the college in Charleston that trains Cadettes. So Jayson says stay at the Holiday Inn Riverview, and that I did. Jayson says take the shuttle to The Noisy Oyster and that I did. However, when my new pal Dahna (PT) text me to warn me about the flooding that occurs downtown Charleston when it rains......I forgot to remind myself and stepped out of the shuttle into water up to about mid calf, YUK! At the highest point in Charleston, "the nose bleed section", it is a tall 14 feet above sea level, but yes they still can burry their dead in the ground in case you were curious!

The seafood at the Noisy Oyster was fabulous! I did try an oyster for the first time, it was at the bottom of my martini glass and it was horribly disgusting!! The couple next to me though enjoyed 2 platters of oysters and many drinks and each other's tongues for about 2hours! They say that oysters are an aphrodisiac, but they were making out long before they ordered the oysters so I'm not sure how that works? From there I went to the Irish Pub, Tommy Condon's down the street which had an Irish folk band. It was really good to sit and enjoy! When it was time to leave, the friendly bouncer called me a taxi to come get me, or so I thought. A 12passenger van pulled up and Jeremiah got out and let me in. He says, OK darling I will take you to your hotel but I have to pick up these Cadettes first because if they miss curfew.....you don't want to know what happens to them! Well unfortunately we did not get to pick up the Cadettes because they found another ride but I did arrive safely back at the hotel safely for a $3 fee!

Jayson had booked me on a bus tour of the city early the next morning but not before I went to the top floor of the hotel for a buffet breakfast. The view was outstanding and the food was not good! The bus tour though was fabulous! Adventure bus tour and our guide was Judy from Minnesoooota! I cannot escape these Yankees no matter where I travel! I listened intently for 2hrs, soaked in every site and every story. It is truly amazing what this city has endured between, disease, Indians, slavery, war, hurricanes and earthquakes. The buildings are simply amazing, mansions everywhere and the city preservation foundation is unmatchable!! After the tour was finished I was able to tour a mansion on the inside and learn the history of that family. Most of the land has been passed down through generations or now bought by multiple families to afford the land and fill the space. I do believe that the largest mansion is about 24,000sq feet on the inside and the current owner resides on the top floor while the bottom 3 levels are for viewing. He charges $15 for the tour, keeps five and gives the remaining $10 to charity to feed the homeless. Just little stories like these that warm your heart. The tour also included the college, The Citadel, which is one of the proudest colleges I have ever heard of! We have heard of hazing as it refers to fraternities, but this does not hold a candle to the first year freshman, "knobs" at The Citadel. There are mandatory head shavings weekly, they must march everywhere on campus and sometimes in the gutter, they have horrible lounging areas, they must attend and stand in full attention at every home football game while doing push ups at every touchdown, they are not allowed to have phones, they are also put through excruciating workouts and academics! Jayson, the rehab tech, survived this madness somehow! Oh yes, they are called "knobs" because when they have their heads shaved (boys bald, girls 1-2in) they look like door knobs!

Any who, I could go on forever about history stories and fun facts about Charleston, but you should really just go! Spring apparently is the best time to go, in case you were curious. The summers are extremely hot! Oh did any of you know that mosquito's do not fly higher than 13ft? Just a fun fact! On the tour, Judy reports that you must not leave Charleston without trying the she crab soup, and she said that you cannot leave without being 5lbs heavier either! I went right from the mansion to Charleston Crab House for some she crab soup and peel and eat shrimp. The soup was fabulous, sort of like a clam chowder.....they said it is a cream base with the female soft shell crab (actually now days they use both male/female but whatever), and topped off with a Sheri (wine, not sure of the spelling here cuz I don't drink it). After the great lunch I walked over to the market which is open 7days a week 364days a year with only Christmas day off! It has everything from baskets to scarfs, to sunglasses, to T-shirts, purses, spices, candy....etc. I bought a shall and some sunglasses because I had forgotten both in Sumter! I walked the streets of Sumter enjoying its beauty and ended up at a great park with palm trees, a fountain and a pier with porch swings all along it! What a great idea. I stopped at a few places on Jayson's list of must stops and then took the shuttle back to the hotel for a short nap!

Saturday night I went to La Hacienda on King street, which is the famous shopping street in Charleston. Had a great meal and then walked some more in the mist/rain and found a jazz band playing at a quaint restaurant. Ended up seated next to a Neurologist and his spouse whom is a Nurse and they live up north in Wisconsin. Fun to share medical knowledge and the story of my current life with them and to see their reactions! I walked from there to another place called the Blind Tiger for a drink and then decided that although people are extremely friendly here in the South....they are not too talkative to strangers. I got bored and called Jeremiah the cab/van driver for a lift. To my utter joy, as soon as the van arrived 10 drunk strangers hopped in the van before me, thinking this was their ride as well. Awkward sharing a 12passenger van with people you do not know, who have been drinking way too much for reasons unknown to you and now you are traveling to drop them off to a house that you don't know in an area that you don't know! I did make it safely back to my hotel after dropping off the gleeful, newly engaged couple and their celebratory crew, for you guessed it....$3.

Sunday I slept in quite late, loaded my suitcase with the extra toilet paper rolls and shampoos (Ally taught me this trick), and headed out on a beautifully sunny day. I drove around quite a bit, partially by mistake because I didn't know where I was going, but oh well no one to tell me any differently! I stopped at the Battery for some photos, gas station where I think I donated money to homeless kids rather than Haiti relief as they said, then drove and drove around downtown starving and about to pee in my truck! I finally found a parking garage and thought I was walking towards the last restaurant on the list of "must sees", when I kept walking, kept walking, and kept walking. I finally aborted the mission and ended up back on King street where I found a wonderful BBQ restaurant. Loaded up on great food, used the restroom and then found the truck! Drove 2hrs back to Sumter, slept for 2hours, watched the Superbowl and went straight back to bed! I can't say enough about Charleston, it is truly great and I highly suggest anyone to visit!! I will be going back several times while I am here for sure!

Bird Simulation

2010-01-28T16:43:00.000-08:00

As many of you know winter is now upon us! Upon us to the point of no return, no sunlight, and no real hope of thawing out any time soon. Well not for me! I did as the birds do and migrated south for this winter. January 15 was my last official day working in Worcester, MA. There were no tears except those few of joy as I was observed sprinting away from the nursing facilities!! OK, OK, I actually had managed to make a few friends and connect with a few patients that made it slightly sad-ish to leave. Mainly though I will miss the area of the New England states and the amazing scenery it has to offer!

I packed up all of my things hopeful to have a little extra wiggle room in the truck, think again. I had received a nice top carrier for Sammy and thought if I used it wisely I would be able to leave a part of the back seat up for our journey South. As I filled up the bellhop cart emptying my apartment load by load, I realized that either I had forgotten how to pack concisely or I have accumulated some stuff along the way! None-the-less I left my downtown, noisey, previously hooker corner located apartment to pick up Steph from Logan airport. Steph had graciously and selfishly left her 2 children in NE and agreed to fly up to Massachusetts, tour up into Maine, then drive down to South Carolina while eating great seafood and having a guided tour of the East Coast. Now if that is not selflessness......:)

First stop on the tour de Becky was Cape Ann, MA. A quick glimpse at the ocean along Gloucester's bank and a brief history lesson of the oldest seaport on the Atlantic coast, then off to get Stephy some scallops!! The point of the first 24hrs of the trip was to show Steph some of the fun that I've been having for the past 13wks as well as for me to have one last trip to some of my favorites. After the Peter's platter and 2 cups of clam chowdah, we went to Long Beach for a walk, Granite Pier for a photo opp, then finished up venturing down the foot path to the Atlantic at sunset. The weather couldn't have been more perfect and sharing the experience for me was fantastic. Where else would we go to spend the evening and have dinner but Kennebunk, ME? We followed the winding roads that I had taken a couple of times to Salisbury beach and ended up checking into the Kings Port Inn where I had spent my fabulous New Year adventures. Quick change and headed to the famous Bartley's for baked stuffed lobster and haddock ala dockside. I think that Steph would agree, the food is incomparable to anything found in the Midwest!!

Woke up early Sunday morning to begin the long drive down the east coastline to our second destination on the tour de Becky, Virginia Beach, VA. Well the first few hours of the trip were delightful, trading off sleeping, stopping for fun snacks and listening to the mixed CD that Steph smartly had made prior to coming. It was about NYC that I woke up to Betty going nuts, Steph driving while talking on the phone and the rain had just begun to sputter on the windshield. This is when I very calmly grabbed Betty and looked at Steph and said, "you do realize that we are in the middle of NYC, right?" She politely ended the phone call with, "gotta go we are in the Bronx!" The rain began and the rain and fog continued through New York, Georgia, Delaware and Virginia! After about 8hours of straight rain and dense fog we decided that it would be best to just call it a day. We stopped for quite possibly the worst Mexican meal that either of us had ever had near Cape Charles, VA then made a few phone calls to get a hotel room. Do not tell my mom this part but the hotel room that we ended up in was so gross and a little scary, to the point that Steph and I decided to block the door with a chair prior to turning in for the night!!! The nice old man at the front desk, 8ft from his bedroom, was quick to show us the lobby filled with collections of yellowed glass and then politely took us to our 70's vomit room complete with rust, mold and a permanent roll-a-way bed! Cheers to adventure!

The next morning we awoke, thankfully unscathed, to sunshine. About 5mi down the road we began a 20mi adventure along the causeway and through mile long tunnels to get across the ocean and to Virginia Beach. At one point, looking back, we realized that we had been in a tunnel at the same moment a ginormous ship was going right over us through the waters. We did make good use of our time in Virginia Beach, making two important stops.....Sonic and Starbucks! There really is not a major interstate that goes south along the coast through most of these eastern states. At one point we were stuck behind a truck parade moving a house that at one point needed to stop so they could put back on the siding and windows! We noticed a trend of increasing friendliness amongst the people and collectively less teeth! Contrary to most people's belief, I did do a little bit of research for this trip. It was proven when we arrived at the Clam Digger Inn on Atlantic Beach, NC in 70degree sunny weather sitting on the beach for lunch. I did apologize to Steph for the horrible accommodations! :) For lunch we went with the southern flow and ordered the lunch special of a shrimp burger. One would assume that this would be similar to a crab cake, but you all know what happens when we assume.....you get fried shrimp pieces on a plain bun. Steph said optimistically, "well at least the shrimp are really fresh"! After lunch and a couple beers on the beach we retired for a short nap, waking up to the glow of the sunset along the beach. Then decided to hit the hot tub while being served drinks about 20ft from the water's edge. The night was spent with of course more scallops for Steph, mingling with some local contractors and then breaking back into the hot tub for some well deserved R&R. Rough life I have to share with Stephy. What a trooper she is!!

Tuesday morning was absolutely gorgeous, as was the 5hr drive to my apartment in Sumter, SC. We made it to my apartment about 3pm in 68degree weather, realizing that I had completely escaped the end of winter!! We spent the rest of the evening unpacking and organizing, while conversing with the maintenance guy who spent about 3hours not fixing my heater. Steph so graciously did most of the organizing while I dealt with the electronics, but really I am finding out, she really just wanted to hide funny notes all around my apartment! I have found some and they make me smile each time :) The apartment is great this time, about 840sq ft with washer and dryer and a much more comfortable bed. We made a short night of it trying to organize, eat some Chinese food and research park and fly locations for the Florence, SC airport. Well folks, I will save you some precious time, do not look for a park and fly for the Florence airport because they don't exist. The airport is the smallest ever seen by Steph or I, equipped with plenty of wooden rocking chairs to accommodate all of the 40 daily passengers and the 20 or so staff members! After rocking in our chairs with southern hospitality, Steph and I finally ended the tour de Becky. Steph flew back to NE while I flew back to KC to celebrate my 30th birthday!

What a blessing to have the memories and the means to share with my sister and what a blessing to start yet another adventure in Sumter, SC! Yeee-hawww!

With that updo...you will have to shoo them away with a stick!

2010-01-12T06:16:00.001-08:00

Making friends all over the nation is proving to be quite difficult when it comes to planning the weekend. I've been fueled by adventure and site seeing for the past 12wks and now have this suffocating feeling as if I make one wrong choice of location, I will miss out on the best time ever. This weekend, the theory was proven to be correct. As of Friday morning I still was not convinced of where I wanted to spend the weekend, Maine again or Westport MA with Ally. Well I will be honest, I really didn't know until about 4pm Saturday where I wanted to spend the weekend :) Ally won, although the prize was not quite clear until about 1030am Sunday morning when I woke her up and said, "Ally want to go to the Patriots playoff game today?"

OK so let's back up to Friday then to fill you in on this twist of fate. Friday after work I headed to Westport Massachusetts which is closer to cape cod. Met Ally at the local eatery if you will named, Bitter Sweet Farm. Doesn't sound like a restaurant/bar but it was very cozy. Ally is getting to stay in some one's summer home right on the river that then opens up into the ocean approximately 300yards from Ally's back porch. The 2 bedroom, 1 bath home probably goes for about 1million dollars and Ally is staying here for free! Who said this life isn't the best being a traveling OT??? Ally said to me that this was my weekend and I can do whatever I wanted and she would play along. So the night began with giving Ally a new hairdo, an updo! It's my weekend and I want her to have great hair if she is going to hang out with me. At the beginning of the evening I told her that she would have to shoo boys away with a stick with her updo, but in reality all night we didn't have one other person even attempt to talk with us. We went to a few places in Westport having silly fun and pondering life as we both prepare to leave MA. I am headed to Sumter, SC for sure next week and Ally is still deciding between a couple different states....leaning towards Florida at this point. Woke up Saturday to a lazy morning of going to get lunch at the local grocery store, buying girl scout cookies from the gals with the stand by the road and watching The Holiday (movie) on TV.

As I said, I was still not sure if I wanted to be in Maine or not, so Ally was quite angry with me come 3pm. We decided to head into Boston for our last little adventure together. We took off in separate cars, dropping mine off at a hotel outside of Boston due to the high parking costs in downtown Boston. Ally had researched a hotel but fate had something else planned for us. The only room available was a queen bed room, yes only one bed, a queen. Ally looks at me and says, "no offense but for $150 I am not sleeping in a queen with ya Bec!" Being that I get car sick I can't look at her computer to find a new hotel as she drives, so we drove around for a while to find a spot which happened to be right across from the Hilton. Come to find out that the Hilton in downtown Boston was one of the cheapest and the bellhop gave us a good tip on cheap parking. Here we found ourselves in downtown Boston, on the 12th floor of the Hilton hotel, in the corner room with a great contemporary style. Now anyone could guess what happened next.....yep a hooker came to our door!!!

I'm not kidding you at all! I can't hardly make this stuff up. We were settling in and gloating just a little bit about the sweet room when there was a knock at the door. I asked Ally if she ordered room service. She replied no and quickly went to the door. I heard her open the door, mumble something quietly and then come around the corner with a shocked look upon her face. She says you may not believe this Bec but that was a hooker! I said well how do you know it was a hooker. Ally said, well she had on a long black coat with tall black boots and a big bag of toys. I asked how she knew it was a bag of toys. She said, well there was a whip hanging out of the back! With that, I quickly ran to the eyehole but she had already left the floor! DANG!

We headed out to take a cab to the North End for some Italian food. Ally had remembered a couple of places that she had been that was simply divine food, so we landed at Guacamos (I think that is it). As we stepped out of the cab I noticed the tiny tiny restaurant seating about 50 at most and there was a line already formed. There was also a tall guy ranting and raving to his friend about the line and the cold and the fact that they didn't even know if the food was good. As usual, I simply followed Ally and got in line. A few minutes later the tall guy and his buddy got behind us in line. The tall guy asks us if we knew how the food was and we simply stated that we heard it was good. This fueled the fire and he again went off that now all of these people are standing in this line in the cold and no one even knows if the food is worth it. After he calmed down we began our chat with them asking us where we are from. Always an interesting question for Ally and I, but she replied with Nebraska. Phil then asks, "You wouldn't be from Scott's Bluff would you?" And in fact Ally is! He went on to explain that the only other person he knows is from there. The tall guy, Jay, is from Maine. I then impressed him with my vast geographical Maine knowledge and enthusiasm for his state.

We got seated prior to them and had the best seats in the house. There are only 2 bar seats that really just face the kitchen, and we were seated in them. We enjoyed quite possibly the best Italian meal that either of us had ever had and some great conversation. On the way out of the restaurant we swung by the 2 guy's table and we arranged a place to meet to continue our chats about NE and ME. We met them at a cafe/bar down the street but quickly left because Jay wanted to go to "The Greatest Bar" and in fact that was the name of the bar. It is a large sports bar with a great atmosphere. We had a table on the dance floor and at half time of the game we were watching they tried to take our table. The guys and Ally of course refused since they wanted to finish watching the game. So, there we sat, the old people at the only table in the middle of the dance floor watching the game that we could no longer hear over the dance music. Finally we left and went to Union street and into a bar with a live band. We danced the night away and had a lot of fun!

Throughout the night Jay kept offering us these Patriots playoff tickets, however we kept refusing them thinking that this can't possibly be true. Even to the end of the night after sharing the last cab ride home, he was still handing us the tickets. Again we refused and went to bed. The next morning around 10am I texted Jay to make sure they had made it up to meet their buddies for the tailgate. He replied that they had a late start but were in fact at the game. He then said, "still have the tickets, come on". I then awake Ally with, "wake up Ally you want to go to a playoff game?" Of course she was still playing the game that it was my weekend and I could make the decisions. I said that even I know the rarity of getting an opportunity to go to a playoff game and I wouldn't want to miss out on the chance now especially when it is free!! So that was that, 33minutes later we were headed out of the Hilton wearing everything we could put on out of our suitcases.

We made it to the Gillette stadium just in time to park for $40 and run over to the stadium. We were still slightly expecting them to say haha the jokes on you, way to pay for parking you can't have the tickets. But sure enough, standing exactly where he said he would be, he handed off the tickets and said have fun, we are in the section next to you, I will come find you later. One look at Ally and I thought she was going to pee herself with excitement!! We had officially scored FREE NFL playoff tickets. Our seats were really good but could have been a little warmer! It didn't help that I had left my hat and gloves back in my truck at the hotel drop point. I was wearing Ally's dainty little, gold fringed, almost see-through gloves and my little wrist warmers. Unfortunately for the Patriots and their true fans, they played a horrible game and lost their first home game of the season and first Playoff game played at home! I hate to think that we were bad luck charms given our good fortune on scoring these tickets :)

After the game we met up with the guys and had sushi and drinks while watching another football game of course! I think it is just something with Maine people or Maineards as I now call them. Our personalities are so aligned that there is not a dull moment. Such a mutual sarcasm and funness, just simply put, raw humor. Well we had a great meal with great conversation and then we left. With hugs and smiles and a million thank yous exchanged, we finally left the stadium around 9pm. It was fun to get back to the car with a quick look back of the past 24hrs, the twists of fate that led us to sitting in an empty parking lot at 9pm facing Gillette stadium with money left in our pockets and a full tummy of sushi! :)

Trapped in Maine

2010-01-06T05:15:00.000-08:00

What to do for New Year's Eve?? Always the question of the year for most social bugs. Expectations have usually surpassed the actual events of the evening but the night is best spent with good friends and family. If you are new to this blog.....I am in Massachusetts and I have no friends! Well I take that back, Ally is here in MA, but she was busy for NYE weekend. Ally did manage to make it to Worcester on Wednesday night for the Holiday Bowl game, go Huskers!! :) As of Thursday morning, eve day, I still was not for sure what I was going to do for my 3 day weekend. I was tired from the night before, it began to snow around 10am, and then the phone call around 3:30 from my renters letting me know that my furnace was broken at my home in KC for the second time this week!! AHHHH, 2009 go away!

With a little coaxing from Ally I headed up to Maine. I had been to Kennebunk 3 times during this traveling assignment but I had never actually stayed in the town. I would just selfishly stroll through town, stop at Bartley's for my baked stuff lobster, and leave for a "more exciting" city to stay. Well the guys at the restaurant kept bragging about this jacuzzi suite at the hotel down the street, so this weekend I decided to book it! After checking into this amazing room at the King's Port Inn I quickly scurried down to Bartley's to see my "friends" and celebrate the eve 2009's end. Coming back to Kennebunk is probably similar to what a movie star feels like stepping out onto the red carpet.....the shock, surprise, evaluation of outfit choice, pictures, cheers....hugs, beers and lobster! The turn of the evening left me stranded at a local pub basically babysitting the foreign exchange student from Brazil that I simply couldn't understand anyway but let alone in a loud place. The strike of 12 could not have come any sooner and shortly there after I made my break for the hotel! I went to bed feeling quite lonely and disappointed at my travel choice and vowed to wake up and return to Worcester or at least a more lively location.

Woke up for continental breakfast, which always includes hard boiled eggs around here. Brought it back to the suite and ate breakfast in my king sized bed with elaborate dark wood antique bedposts, watching the TV resting on an antique dark wood chest of drawers. Then decided to take a swim in the jacuzzi prior to packing up my things. As I lay there in the jacuzzi, pondering my new start for 2010, I decided that staying in a jacuzzi suite for the first 3 days of the year is not the worst thing I could dream up. So, out of the tub I went and back to bed until 2:30 pm guiltily watching keeping up with the Kardashian's reruns! I finally coaxed myself out of bed mainly because I was hungry, but I headed out into the snow with a really bad map. I went west on hwy 9 when I was thinking of headed east, but none the less I found the ocean quite quickly. I have never seen the shores covered in snow, it was really beautiful with the large rocks and crashing waves. I scoped out some beach front property, a lighthouse or too, the harbor in Biddeford and then realized that it had been snowing for a while now and it was getting dark. I started back to Kennebunk going well under the speed limit but then found myself on the wrong side of the road facing traffic and headed for the ditch! Well obviously I didn't slide off into the ocean and die because I am writing this blog.

Showered up at the hotel and was headed out to Bartley's when I got a phone call. It was one of the guys from the restaurant apologizing for leaving me with Gustavo the night previous and wishing that I had not left. I said, "well you are in luck because I am right down the street still and see ya in a bit, order me the baked stuffed lobster please!" Quite possibly the best lobster yet was the beginning to quite possibly one of the most fun nights I've had in a while! As we headed from the restaurant to the pub, I was led through the winterized boats up on land, I stopped next to a boat rotter that was about twice my height. Jon says...."come on Kansas." I say, "ummm we are definitely not in Kansas anymore!" I mean where else do you walk right through a line of whale watching boats in about 1ft of snow without any mention of the fact that this may be out of the ordinary. Well that would be Maine! The night was so amazingly fun just being kiddish and not worrying about expectations or all of the "supposed to's" in life. It's also getting to know new friends. I forgot how much I craved getting to know people and sharing all of those stories that you never tell anymore because everyone already knows them.

The next day we ended up all back at the same restaurant having the same amount of laughs. I was invited to go with Jon to his family's home in Biddeford to meet his dogs and family. Fortunately for me his mother is Thai, which happens to be my favorite cuisine, and she happened to have food in the fridge for us! From there we made our way through a lot of snow to Jon's best buddy's house, Jake. Now if there were ever a group of people that were meant to be friends, it was us three! From the second we all were together laughter, story telling, sarcasm became our way of conversing. We went back into Kennebunk back through the boats to the pub to play some pool, eat animal crackers and laugh until we were certain our cheeks were going to fall off. I know that some of you, mainly my Aunt Pat, encourage my descriptive writing however I cannot in any words describe the fun that was had by all of us. We could not believe it, all three of us were completely mesmerized by how well we all got along. We made plans for the future, plans to save the word, plans to get rich, plans to meet again.

The impending doom lingered in the air the next day of me having to return to Massachusetts. We all sat at the restaurant mulling around, giggling as usual. Then there were glances or words mumbled that expressed the sadness of the parting trio. Around 3pm it began to snow furiously and the time had come. Hugs, kisses, smiles and promises to return as quickly as possible led me to my truck as I drove away from quite possibly the best 48 hours. We all had said that this was truly the best start to a new year that anyone could dream up, however there will be few weekends in 2010 that stand a fighting chance to be as great. There are things that happen when you least expect them and there are things that never happen when you expect them the most. There are things that are withheld from your life that you hope for with all your might and then there are things that you never hope with end. There are also those times that you cherish the most that if tried to be reenacted, they would never measure up! Cheers to 2010, may it be spent with the same laughter and same vigor as spent in Maine!

Planes, trains and automobiles

2009-12-29T05:32:00.000-08:00

In preparation for my big trip home to NE for Christmas and partly because of a snow threat I stayed home in Worcester last weekend and bored myself almost to death! I had watched so many movies on TBS that it took me an entire week to name them all to Katie over Christmas. She replies, "Is there anything else you do there but watch TV?" Well Katie, sometimes no, that is it! The excitement was building for my triumphant return to the Midwest, my presents were all bought and at my mom's wrapped, my plane ticket was bought a month in advance, my ride was lined up to get to the airport in Boston (return trip was still up in the air), I had started to starve myself in advance to gain the weight of eating all of mom's goodies, and mentally/emotionally I was ready to return home to my family.

So here it was Tuesday night, packing my bag and tidying up the apartment for a 5day leave. The weather in the New England states was great, no precipitation and mid 30s for temperature. Mom had called with the impending doom of a blizzard to hit the Midwest but then our minds were slightly eased by Wednesday when the weather was "not too bad" in NE. Wednesday I got up and to work early, bags waiting at my apartment door and my driver on call for departure to Boston. Around noon I decided to recheck my flights to make sure they were still on schedule, although I had checked them about 10times that day already. There it was in clear blue writing, flight cancelled! PANIC led to calling friends for advice, which led to waiting on hold with United for 25min just to talk to customer service for another 25min. My only option for flights were the following day, Christmas Eve day. I took the earliest flight available and planned for that. I spent the evening watching movies and re planning my route to NE online, and feeling a little sorry for myself I must admit :(

Out of all of the trips I have been on in the past 3months the only one that has been delayed or interrupted was the one trip home to see my family! Now what is going on with this picture? I woke up early again on Thursday morning to return my movies, finish repacking and catch a cup of coffee. I then decided, while waiting for my ride to union station, that I would re look at my itinerary. Everything flight wise was right on schedule but then the unthinkable happened, it appeared that I had missed my train to Boston!! I looked again and again, turning my head sideways, rechecking the printed transit schedule I had in my carry-on, each one saying something different. I hoped for the best as my friend picked my up from my apt and he dropped me off at the train station. Walked into an empty station right up to the schedule board to yet a different schedule, and yes I had missed my train by 10min! Well we all have choices in life, traveling ones are still new to me though so I called my trusty travel buddy Allison! This is how that conversation went, "Ally I'm stuck at the train station and I missed the train to Boston, what do I do?" She replied, "well what are your options at this point?" I say, "well wait for the 10:30 train and risk being late for my flight or check the bus schedule that I have no idea about or I guess I could drive to Boston." Ally says, "well I would just drive then." Becky, "well that is what I thought but I'm stranded at Union station and I don't know how to get to Boston and I don't know what the traffic will be like, and I don't know where to park at the airport!!!" Ally calmly says, "Becky take a cab to your truck, I don't know what the traffic is like because I'm not there, you have a GPS to get you there and when I'm done walking the dog I will text you an address to a park and fly." Oh great! Now where do I begin with all of that crap?

So I called a cab, paid $9 to get back to the apt I had just left, took my truck, programmed Betty and drove like mad to the park and fly that Ally had texted me along my route! Apparently the Logan airport is on an island in the Atlantic ocean, as Ally again so nicely pointed out my lack of geography knowledge! So Betty kept going crazy on me when I passed through these ginormous tunnels, about 4lanes across including interstate exits inside the tunnel! The most amazing thing for sure. I circled in and out of the airport a couple of times to get Betty back on track, went over the bridge and through the woods to park my truck. Shuttle to the airport and went to check in at the Delta airline. The lady was less than friendly for the holiday season and proceeded to tell me that not only did I not have a confirmed seat on this flight she was almost certain that I would not get on that flight. I calmly as possible asked her what my options were. She replied, well not many at this point, just try to get on the flight and then the people at the gate will tell you what to do if you do not get on it! As I tried very hard to remain calm and push back tears and not loose it in the middle of the security check point, I removed my boots, coat, scarf, gloves, liquids, and all but my underwear to stand in line...calmly so I wasn't looking suspicious. After donning all of my clothing and collecting my things again I made it to the ticket counter to the nicest lady that ever lived in my opinion!

Due to the fact that I was now over 3 hours early for my flight, she graciously handed me a ticket with an actual seat number on it and told me that early birds are rewarded! YES! There I calmly sat at the airport, finally waiting for a my "on time" flight with an actual seat. Made it into Omaha without a hitch but then got stranded on the runway for almost 40min due to the weather/blizzard. So my family that had patiently drove through the blizzard on Christmas eve now had to sit at the airport for me. Well obviously they let me off the plane and to my family who were waving welcome home signs and wearing Christmas cheer. The lady walking up with me says, "oh I wonder whose family that is?" I proudly said, "that would be mine!" Thank goodness we had many stories to share for our long and dangerous ride back to the farm because shortly after we got home they closed the interstate!! Katie had 2 friends out to the farm for the holidays to save them from being alone in Omaha and Steph and Rafe and both kids were there to celebrate this odd Christmas. There was no Christmas eve service, no rushing around on Christmas day and no where to be the following day either because we were literally snowed in! Both direction to either Crete or Milford were blocked by huge snow bluffs, some 10ft tall and some about 200ft long (in my calculations).

The great part of the whole deal was, there was no rushing, no getting out of your pajamas, no need to speed through gifts, no reason not to sleep in late and then take a long nap, no need to stop the jigsaw puzzle at bedtime, because really there was no time schedule! We enjoyed the holiday for all new reasons to us and finally got Katie's friends out of the snowy farm late Saturday. We even made first human contact with others, heading over to our grandparents mainly to retrieve some well water. We narrowly made it back to our snow fortress before the road snow tunnels blew back in and again we were stranded. So along came Sunday morning, the day the Vosta family was to all meet at the farm...we're meeting, we're not meeting, we're meeting, we are definitely not meeting. Then Uncle John decided it was to snow again this week so postponing until next weekend would not be too wise, so indeed we met (right after John and his tractor cleared the road for us again). 35 family members or so made the impossible trek out to the snowy farm to celebrate one of life's most precious gifts! Everything was different this year from the snow, to the gift exchange, as well as the food. I guess I am getting older to mark milestones by Christmas traditions and their changing patterns.

Sunday night Katie and I headed into Omaha so not to have to wait to be plowed out again on Monday morning in order to catch my flight. We stopped for some much needed sushi, grabbed a movie and stayed at Katie's house downtown. Monday morning had breakfast at the coffee shop then started the trek back to Massachusetts. Fly from Omaha to Chicago, then to Boston, then shuttle to the truck then drive to Worcester. Katie had said the only forms of transportation I had left out were bicycle and boat, neither of which I wanted to attempt in the winter anyway! Home safe and sound and back to reality so I found out this morning when bright and early my renters called with a furnace emergency!! Yikes.

Not this way, but that way

2009-12-14T09:29:00.000-08:00

I was the tour guide for the first time this weekend! If I don't say so myself, I make a good tour guide and it has little to do with my good looks :) I met Ally outside of Boston on Friday evening, she got in my truck and we headed up to Maine. I of course had to take her to my little lobster spot in Kennebunk, ME at Bartley's. Well we didn't realize that it was also going to be Karaoke this night as well....yeah us! Ally is also from small town in NE so it is not surprising to either of us that we enjoy the same type of places! After dinner though and some rather entertaining conversation, we decided to head on up to Portland, ME. Now the title of the blog actually came from our waiter describing an area in Maine and he says, "it goes this way (perpendicular) not this way (parallel)", and he just kept saying that with the hand actions to demonstrate. Maybe you had to be there but it was funny for us.

Made it up to Portland in a mainland hurricane I think, with high winds slicing through us especially with the coldness that happens in December! Checked into the hotel in downtown Portland and then asked the bartender down stairs where we should venture out. He was a "toolshed" if you will, saying well um you twos look like the type that would like a lounge, or you would really like this place with bumpin' music! Um obviously he did not know us twos at all! We then asked what time the bars close around Portland and he says to us, "they are usually open until last call!" Well no duh buddy and thanks for all of your non-help! So we traipsed around Portland in the bitter cold and found a Mexican restaurant. Not exactly what we were looking for but a good spot to warm up and for Ally to people watch. We ventured back out into the cold to go to another spot that we quickly realized was a college hangout! So we left and went to the pub that I was at the last time I was in Portland, and there it was we stayed until.....yep you guessed it....last call. I do have to write in here for reference one year from today. I made a bet with Ally, for a night out on the town, that I would be able to draw and name 40/50 US states! Now I did attempt this act this weekend and I was able to draw in and label 20/50 states, which I was fairly proud of!! :) Ally was not too impressed! She believes that someone "traveling the nation" as I am doing for this year, should have more knowledge of geography.....and history! I told her, yes I probably should but you, like most of my other friends, will learn to get over it!

Next morning set out to find first Dunkin' Donuts coffee then secondly Cape Elizabeth. This is the lighthouse that I had been too before but was now decorated for Christmas or "Holidays". We left there sipping our coffee, driving along the beaches, listening to a Christmas CD that Steph sent me. Unfortunately this is the only Christmas CD that I have so we got to listen to it about 12times along the trip :) We went back to Kennebunk to show Ally the beach and downtown in the daylight, then worked our way along the coast to Ogunquit Beach. Even at noon time with not a cloud in the sky, the temp hovered around 32degrees this date with high winds. Working our way down to Kittery, ME for the outlet shops we stopped and had lunch at the Lobster Barn. Prior to leaving we ask the waitress if we are getting close to the outlet stores and she said yes. She says just continue on the highway for a few miles but "don't go that way (perpendicular) but go this way (parallel), or you will end up at the ocean". Well we did go this way, and not that way and ended up at the one stop of the weekend that was requested by Ally, Hanna Andersson store (which for those of you that don't know like I didn't, this is a big deal for kids clothes).

Next stop was Cape Ann which I have also been to before and wrote about all of these stops but at least now I got to share them with someone else. You will see no pictures of me taken by me about 1foot from my face! We made it to Rockport, MA (there are two cities that make up cape ann, Gloucester and Rockport) just as the sun was setting. We pulled up to the foot path to the Atlantic, hustled into our coats, hats, gloves and headed to the ocean front. It was beautiful at sunset although the sun sets on the other side of the USA or "nation" as Ally would say. This walk or Atlantic foot path reminds me of a path from the Harry Potter books. But as Ally pointed out, I have not read any of the Harry Potter books, nor seen any of the movies so what the heck do I know about Harry Potter scenery! Well this is what I would imagine a Harry Potter path to look like, so there! Now that it was dark we found our way into Gloucester to our marina resort hotel. This is one of the dumpiest hotels we have stayed in, and the heat didn't work for about 2hrs, but the continental breakfast in the morning made up for that! We did go downtown for dinner and to watch the Heisman trophy presentation ceremony, in which Suh did not win. Went to a couple bars and chatted away about our exciting lives as we know them to be. Upon returning to the hotel room we found out that the heat does in fact work....quite well actually!!

Sunday we got up early thanks to the flock of seagulls that were sitting and squawking outside the door. Ally says, "It sounds like someone accidentally spilled a McDonald's bag outside on the patio!" ha ha. First stop memorial to the seamen that had lost their lives here at Gloucester, approx 5368 men lost their lives from 1623-1923 trying to harvest the sea. Second stop Dunkin' Donuts coffee, and third stop ocean walk by the cape ann motor inn hotel that I stayed in last time I was there. We were literally walking down the beach in fairly calm air with the sun shining so brightly it was difficult to take photos. Following about 1/2mi walk we turned around to head back and it was all of the sudden cloudy, windy as heck and it looked like it was going to rain! Weird turn of events, being that we were not expecting rain. We got in the truck just as it started to rain, we made a quick stop at Granite Pier for a looksey and headed off the island of Cape Ann. We drove down route 133 winding through small towns and shops, chatting about whatever and of course listening to that same Christmas music. We stopped and looked at Salisbury beach which is a huge/long/beautiful coast line of clean sand and sparse rocky jetties. Drove then into Hampton, NH along the coast line stopping when we could to take a peek or photo. Ate at a little spot, one of the few that were actually open this time of year, then headed back towards Boston to drop off Ally and make my way back home to Worcester. Of course in finding our way back to the interstate, we are sitting at a dead end. Ally says to me, "you really should have gone that way, not this way". Ha ha! If you have no opinions the entire trip then you can certainly offer no opinions related to my driving or directional sense!

I have missed being in my own home with my own things, especially to entertain. I usually have dinner parties or people over for no reason at all. Now I have nothing to offer for entertainment value, not even usually a good suggestion of where to eat. But now, for this weekend, I was the tour guide, the hostess, and it was good.

As we travel the "nation"

2009-12-09T05:55:00.000-08:00

I have my travel buddy Ally back!! Yay me! After one of the worst weeks in work history, in all the history of any one's work, in every history book across the nation, Ally and I met in Providence, RI at the Hott Club for a beer and to discuss our route. I probably should have named this blog post about Betty, my GPS, because she led me astray this trip for sure. I ended up driving around downtown Providence, which was beautiful for about 20min, lost at every turn. The roads go anyway but straight and every road looks like an alley, but in fact is a road. Thank goodness I had some time to kill, because Betty led me all around downtown before arriving along the river at the Club which was not open anyway :( So Ally and I parked my truck Sammy at a local hospital for the weekend and started down to Newport, RI.

I was entertaining the idea with Ally on the way down the coastal/scenic drive to Newport that technically Rhode Island should have been named Rhode Islands. But then people probably would say it was a silent 's' anyway and still call it Rhode Island, hence missing the point that Rhode Island is actually a couple/few islands in one state. To get over to Newport, you must cross 2 huge, long, amazing bridges over the ocean. My Aunt Debbie would have had a heart attack just looking at them! Ally being the amazing tour guide that she is gave me the history of "one of the richest counties in America", toured along the ocean ave on a beautiful fall Friday afternoon, staring at all of the mansions that Ally claims are all hers! Well actually one is not, because it is owned by Jackie O's family. In fact Jackie O's marriage into the Kennedy family took place at a church in downtown Newport. The coast line is gorgeous and the little coves as I would say have all these millionaire's dingies tied up so they can just scoot along the coast line in their little boats whenever they want.

So we decide to go to the hotel and get checked in so we can in turn go eat! Checking into the Marriott right along the Newport harbor was quite a trip. It is a complete nautical theme for the entire hotel but then also sprinkled with an American theme and of course Christmas this time of year. So there was a hand made, life sized gingerbread house along with a matching lighthouse, sailboat sails hanging from the rafters, carpeting of boat ropes and steering wheels (not sure if that is the correct term for a boat steering device), curtains of red with gold stars with lounge chairs of blue and white stripes, glass elevators with underwater themes in the elevator shaft to make it feel like you are in a submarine, the ceiling in the bar was a mural of mermaids and mermen, and the dining area was pastel paint with pastel starfish hanging on the walls...yuk! We decided we needed captain hats for our next stay here! After finishing up some paperwork as Ally always brings with her on Friday night trips, we went about the city on foot. Quaint little downtown with many shops and pubs and restaurants, and quite the crowd for "off season".

Next morning packed up and set out to do the 3mi cliff walk in Newport along the Atlantic and back side of many mansions. Well we found out very quickly that we probably should have done this little walk the evening before because now it was raining, windy and quite chilly! So first step get candy and lots of it! Second step get umbrellas and big ones! Third step brave the wind and rain and cold to walk the cliff walk because it truly is/was amazing! The size of these homes, yards, fences and the fun walk along the ocean is really awesome even in the elements of fall. We only walked about half of the 3mi walk and then headed back to the car to thaw and dry off. Then we headed out to NYC for our second trip to the city that never sleeps. When we arrived in NYC it was raining pretty good and then started to snow as well. After we changed at Torri's apartment and headed out again, it was snowing more than raining, but still raining of course! Ally had decided that we would do one tourist thing this trip and that was to head to Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas tree.

We had about 2hrs before game time for NE to play TX for the championship game, but seeing the tree was a must do. As the cab approached Rockefeller it was apparent that about 2,000 other people also found this a necessary tourist thing to do this evening. Complicated by the rain/snow, everyone and their child had an umbrella! So now you didn't only have to worry about precipitation in your eye as much as you had to worry about an umbrella poking your eye out! About 10min of trying to get to the tree and one or two pictures later we were ready to head to the Irish Rogue again to watch the NE game. It was about a mile or two hike to the pub and it was a trek across the puddles, through times square, around umbrellas and people that were all looking down or from under umbrellas. By the time we got to the pub I had water soaked up all the way to my knees and my "sort of water proof" coat proved to be not waterproof! It took until about 3rd quarter to dry out. Well as most of you know, NE lost in a gallant attempt to beat the longhorns :( Caught some really good pizza on the way home to Torri's, mine had bacon bits and ranch dressing on it! I had no idea what I was ordering at the time, this city is way too fast for me to process!!!

Sunday woke up really late and went for "brunch" then left the city. I did talk Ally into driving me around central park, which was sooooo crowded with Park Ave shoppers and holiday traffic. Well actually it was probably just standard NYC traffic. Ally is such a patient tour guide, unless you come in the way of sports :) The city was truly beautiful all decorated for the holidays, Harlem was not so decorated, nor were the Bronx! Made it back to Providence to get Sammy (my SUV) and back to Worcester and to bed even without the aide of Betty (my GPS). She stopped working as soon as I got into my truck....I almost had a panic attack. This is why you should not depend on GPS systems too much. Thank goodness for Ally and her GPS that led me home to Worcester! Betty is now back in business :)

Thanksgiving and more!

2009-11-30T08:59:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving in the New England states....what shall I do? Ahh yes, go to Plymouth, MA and eat lobster. Thursday morning headed out to Plymouth to see the history involved in creating this great holiday we celebrate as Thanksgiving. The town is very historical and very tourist friendly. There is a walking/audio trail where you come up to certain historical sites/buildings and push the audio button. It then tells you the history of that particular site. As you may have concluded from my prior blogs, this too was not operating because it was "off season". There were quite a few people downtown due to the holiday events. I think there was some type of mourning walk, to mourn the fallen Indians. Not too sure about that one though. Confusing because there was also a celebration and giving of thanks. I found this to be contrasting!

I did get to walk along the Plymouth Harbor Pier which is made up of huge rocks, flattened on the top to walk across. It was really neat but you have to pay close attention and not be gawking around taking pictures or you would fall in for sure! I saw the Mayflower II which is a rebuilt Mayflower for touring. 104 Pilgrims came across first and befriended the Indians. It is said without the help of the Indians, the Pilgrims would have starved and all died that first few months here. Of course I saw Plymouth rock which is not big! It has a large structure around it but I literally had to zoom in using my camera to see the date on the rock. I think that I read somewhere though that the rock has been moved and damaged several times and that part of the rock is actually at another location.

I did get to see a lot of historical things and traipse around town looking at tourists and some people dressed up like Indians and Pilgrims. It was a little odd to see for sure. At one point I was talking on the phone to my sis Katie and I just started to giggle. Here I was sitting in Plymouth, MA on Thanksgiving day across from the Mayflower looking at a Pilgrim stroll through the park and Katie was driving to the farm in NE. Just an odd moment in this adventure. My Thanksgiving feast was a boiled lobster, stuffing and green bean casserole. The waitress looked at me a little funny when this is what I wanted to order! She understood a little more when I told her I was from KS :)

Friday I had to return to work for a short time then spent the evening watching movies on TV and being really bored! So Saturday morning, pulled back the covers, showered and devised a plan! Eat more lobster! I had been to Kennebunk, Maine as well as Portsmouth, NH in the past, however both places were only seen in the dark. Places of passing if you will. So I went right back to Maine where the 5 guys had taught me to eat a lobster and it was the best stuffed lobster that I have had since I've been here!! The guys at the restaurant were very surprised to see me, thought they had scared me away. I told them it would take a lot more than their obnoxiousness for one meal to keep me away from this lobster :) I did get to see Kennebunk beach and walk around Kennebunkport to all of the shops. It is a really pretty spot on the map, with good lobster!!

I then went back down to NH to Portsmouth which is a great city. Very historical and friendly, right on the water. I went out for a uneventful evening alone except the one weirdo that literally decided to stalk me around town! That was certainly interesting. Sunday morning I woke up without a plan! Odd I know :) I started driving around town, grabbed a coffee from Dunkin' Donuts, ended up on route 1 headed north bound, made a loop and ended right back in Portsmouth. That led me to an island called Pierce Island and at the tip of that island was a dog park....I had no dog :( Called my mom and complained about being dog less! I then decided to head back into Maine for a bit.

There are many many outlet malls around here! Good ones too with lots of high end shops. I however hate to shop and can't buy anything anyway, so this is good. I went to Kittery, Maine because I wanted to at least see what these outlets included. After about 15min of that I drove into Kittery further to scope things out. I ended up parking at this random gate and walking about a mile to the ocean, Fort Foster. There are many forts around these parts but each are different designs and functions. This one had a really neat pier, lighthouse and building on an island. The next Fort that I found was Fort McClary just down the way a bit. This one was really neat! I got to go in all of the buildings and the fort layout was pretty large and impressive with huge boulders and granite walls. Leaving there I drove back over to NH, ate lunch at a Mexican joint and headed back home to Worcester.

What am I going to do when I return home and have many weekends filled with nothingness?? I have already warned my friends, we will be traveling on the weekends a lot more that we used too! :)

The Inaugural Passenger Ride

2009-11-23T06:29:00.000-08:00

This weekend was beautiful, all except my ability to be a tourist! I will admit that I am new to this game and traveling alone to new places has it's disadvantages......but come on Becky!!! So I headed to Cape Cod after work on Friday afternoon and got a room in Yarmouth for both nights. Got a few tips from the hotel bartender on places to go and places to eat, etc. I took a cab to downtown Hyannis to a blues restaurant/bar. Had a great time, met 2 older than me gentleman that claimed to be 2 of the Kennedy's. Well I do not disagree that they are brothers and their last names were indeed Kennedy, but famous.....not too sure. I informed them that I was one of the Anderson's! :) Free drinks and dinner was not too bad for the evening of entertainment and intelligent conversation that I provided! Many of you can agree to that!

Before heading to the Cape, I had researched a little online about where to go and activities held this weekend. I had found a train ride that claimed to be a "scenic, historical ride" along the Cape coast line. Well I thought this would be a neat way to view the Cape and to ride on an old train would be fun as well. I thankfully missed the first boarding opportunity at W. Barnstable, because I was at Barnstable station(not the west one), alone, no train, no humans. So, I went to the next stop on the list which was Buzzard Bay station. While waiting for the train to arrive I walked along the Cape Cod Canal on a gorgeously sunny fall day, watching the ducks and the boats and all the people walking their dogs. I met a pug named pugsley....hehehe! Along the canal is a vertical train bridge. The middle part of the bridge is up in the air to allow boats to pass by until a train comes. The train then stops and waits for the bridge to descend from the sky and hook up to the shores. Rather neat I would have to say. So I boarded this "train to nowhere" as I now call it with a hopeful glee! There was supposed to be a bar on the train and everyone was told to bring snacks if they wanted. Well the train took off from the station and headed about 1hr away from the canal to Middleborro station. It was then that I asked the guy across from me what exactly this train is for and where exactly we are going......

This was the inaugural passenger run for the Falmouth line, which had not been opened in 12yrs. Most people in the scenic cab along with me worked for the railroad or had a connection/love for the railroad that was beyond my grasp! They referred to us all day as the railphans!? The people that got on the train at W. Barnstable (where I originally planned to get on the train) boarded at 11:15am, riding the train back and forth 3 times past the same stops, same canal, same trees, same trash compactor company, returning to the station at approximately 7:45pm!!! The people like myself that got on at Buzzard Bay went back and forth twice along the same track from 1:15pm to 5:45pm! The people that got on at Middleborro were on the train for approximately 2.5hrs and they boarded the "dinner cabs" where they were served meals and drinks for the entire trip while conversing with friends/family. I was not in that cab, not at all! I was served one beer in the 4.5hrs I was on the train and I did see one pretty harbor at sunset, and I did get a souvenir which was a railroad tie from the Falmouth track, and I did run like heck away from that train as soon as it stopped!!! What an idiot I am! I felt bad that I was imposing on this "awesomely historic" trip for most of those people. I played along nicely, was polite and did not jump from the moving train! :)

Made it back to the hotel Saturday evening, changed and headed to Captain Parker's Pub for dinner. I had stuffed scrod, which is a white flaky fish, and was really good. This evening I found a sports bar/restaurant that played the NE game on 3 big screen TVs. That made my night! And they won so that was a bonus as well. Went home for a fairly early evening.

A month ago when asked if I wanted to go to Martha's Vineyard, I replied, "no, I don't really like wine"! Now I was headed to Martha's Vineyard alone on a beautiful fall day and not to drink any wine :) The Steamship Authority ferry from the Cape to Martha's Vineyard leaves from Falmouth about every hourish. You have to park 4mi up the road, board a shuttle bus, then get on the ferry for the 45min ride over to the island. The ride was great, sitting on the huge deck of the ferry crossing the waters that great movies have been filmed, such as Jaws! Makes you really try extra hard to not fall in!! Once landing at Martha's Vineyard in Vineyard Haven you now wait to board a bus. In the summer you can rent jeeps, bikes, mopeds and such to get around the town/island, but everything was pretty much closed down for the winter! The ferry runs all year round but people generally don't do too much touring in the winter months to the island. I boarded the bus and ended up in Edgartown to eat some seafood along the harbor, however the restaurant was closed!! Of course! So I wandered around this seemingly abandoned town and found the Wharf Pub still open. Ate some really good fish and chips then set out on a strange adventure.

Now if you are a shopper, this is what you would want to do for an entire weekend. Again, I don't like to shop, nor can I buy too much or I will be mailing it home in boxes in a couple months. So I walked around, looked at the towns, sat along the harbors and beaches, road the bus around. Made it to Oaks Bluff which is a great place on the island, except again....everything was closed. I did find a couple pieces of chocolate and sat in the Offshore Ale Co. and had a beer to warm up a bit. The wind on the island was powerful and cold. I made it back safely to Vineyard Haven, seeing about 1/2 the island and boarded the ferry back to Falmouth. Made it back to the mainland after watching the most beautiful sunset on the water, boarded the shuttle bus to my truck and then drove the 2hrs back to Worcester. What a weekend of travel! I officially covered most major transit options, train, bus, shuttle, taxi, SUV and ferry! Wheeh I am tired!

So I would say this is definitely a better spot in the summer! Now could I afford it in the summer? Not too sure on that one, unless I met these same famous Kennedy brothers again :)

Ida and me

2009-11-15T15:29:00.000-08:00

I ended up at Cape Ann, Massachusetts this Friday night after work. Friday the 13th proved to be a not too great of day waking up to a flat tire! That didn't stop me though! Spare tire is a full tire, so the flat one will remain in the back of Sammy until I have some more time to fix it! I wasn't sure where to set out for this weekend, and I thought to myself...I have to spend at least one weekend in Massachusetts being that I live here. Did a little research over lunch one day about visiting Mass and ended up going to Cape Ann.

Driving in the dark has many disadvantages as you all are fully aware of but this next situation usually doesn't happen to us "landlocked" folks. I arrived at a little hotel called the Cape Ann Motor Inn. Walked into the "office" area which looks like a family room, including a parrot named Roberta "Bert". The office lady says hello, then Bert says hello, then I say hello, then Bert says hello. Then Bert starts calling like a seagull! I about peed myself...literally because you can't use the restroom unless you are going to rent a room and I was not too sure yet. So I asked the lady what there was to do in Gloucester, MA. She told me a few places and I reply...."can I walk to these places or is it far?" She says, "well the island isn't that big". I of course reply, "ohhhh so this is an island??" Well you see what happens when you drive in the dark!

Now I have been at some hotels with "ocean views" before but let me tell you all....the lady at the desk warned me that with the hurricane...the waves may come up to my patio door! Now that is ocean front property for sure! I could hear the waves before I opened the door to the horrible, gross smelling, 70's decor, moldy room! But after opening the blinds to the sliding glass door......there is nothing that could make you complain about a room actually on the beach, in the sand, right on the ocean! As I was talking on the phone with Steph a little dog, Lou, strolled into my room to say hello! Too cute! Called a cab and headed into town to have amazing food in downtown Gloucester, steak tips and shrimp! yummy!! Then went bar hoping as I do to meet folks and have a beverage. The first stop, met the owner of the place and a gentleman (loosely stated) that sales yachts! After describing his multiple homes and yacht, and offering to take me around the island and continually spitting on me when he spoke......I realized quickly that there would be more payment than just my great company with this guy!! He says, "well where are you going next, where are you going tomorrow?" I say, "I really don't know. Whatever comes up!" He says, "what? You really don't have any idea what you are doing tomorrow even?" I said honestly, "no! let's keep it that way and have a good night."

Next place was busy and encouraging to meet folks! Only seat open was next to a very nice older gentleman that I ended up speaking with the entire night. He, of course, was amazed by my adventures but however informed me that he thought I would meet someone sooner than I thought. I would meet someone that had a similar background location wise and that would make it easy for me to move back home.....hmmmmm! Anyway, called the cab back to the hotel and sat in the sand and talked to a friend on the phone while making sand angels! Next morning....POURING rain, wind and welcome hurricane Ida. We've been expecting you but hoping you would not arrive!

Up early to walk the beach! The weather conditions are not ideal for sure. Umbrella and stocking cap, started out on the sand. Along the beach are wooden platforms and stairs to get up to the cement walkway. Well as I was strolling along and taking photos, I realized when I looked back that the waves were reaching the cement wall, and when I looked forward the waves were not leaving the wall! With some good timing and cat-like reflexes I dashed back to the past staircase and made it up to safety before drowning! I then realized that if I would have stayed on the sand, there were no more staircases for me to get up out of the water! whoa that was close! Walked along the walkway with summer homes all boarded up and waves like I haven't seen. Made it to the end where there usually is a bridge onto an island and then onto another beach. Thank goodness the stairs were removed prior to Becky arriving or I would have tried to get over there and possibly still be there! Headed back to the hotel to pack up and start driving again.

A little tip from the cabby the night before landed me at a little restaurant off the ocean, Causeways. Had an entire platter of fried haddock, shrimp, calamari, scallops and fries. Really yummy. Then I just started driving around, Sammy and I against the hurricane! Not ever sure where to go! Just program stops into Betty and taking random roads to try to view the Atlantic. Ended up on Granite Pier to stop and look at the atlas. Sammy was actually moving from side to side with the winds at the end of the Pier, kind of frightening!! The most beautiful view and huge seagulls, they eat well obviously. I keep saying it is the most beautiful view don't I? Took the beach ave close to the water by the mansions and found a sign that read, "foot path to the Atlantic". Of course, parked Sam and took off on foot. The smallest little path right down to the most beautiful view of the ocean that I have seen! If it weren't for the rain I would have stayed for hours and walked the path.

Got back in the truck and headed off the island to Salisbury beach. Hotels looked closed or abandoned, which they were being that it is off season here, and the restaurants had all but one person in them. I stopped at a local bar to reevaluate the situation if you will. The owner tried to talk me into staying longer but I set off to Hampton. What a fun place! If it were summer, this would have been straight out of a movie. I found a hotel right along the ocean drive but then realized that I would be paying $80 for a room and not even be able to see the ocean anyway due to the weather. Frustrated at the weather and being a tourist.....I decided to drive home to Worcester!

Home by early evening, sleeping by 10pm! 11hrs of sleep later I decided to get up and go get an hour massage, get some sushi and watch a movie! Great day after all. :) I would love to head back to Cape Ann in nicer weather! Absolutely breathtaking! Everyone I meet says.....you should see this place in the summer! Well I couldn't afford to see all of these places in the summer silly! :) 1/3 of the way done with weekends! So far, so great!

Solo Mission

2009-11-09T10:13:00.000-08:00

Well I finally made it to Maine, and boy was it worth every second of waiting!!!! After mulling it over for quite a bit and being a little nervous, I set out for Maine....all by myself! Well obviously I had my SUV which I have now named Sammy (Samantha if she is acting up). I did some research and took a few local polls of what to do and what order makes sense. Looked up a few key things like restaurants of interest and lodging. You know, important things!

Set out on Friday after work, headed into the unknown! The people at the little toll hut around the Maine border probably think I have lost my mind because I was hands up in the air cheering when I hit the big bridge to cross into Maine. I had it mapped out to eat lobster in Kennebunkport, ME at a little restaurant, but "Betty", my GPS lady, I think has also lost her mind! So I just stopped at a random place and ordered a stuffed lobster and a Samuel Adams. WOW how good fresh lobster tastes with a side of lobster stew and new potatoes! Let me also say that Maine is in it's "off season" right now as far as tourism, so I may have been the only tourist in all of Maine this weekend. So this particular restaurant had 5 locals, gentlemen, well sort of, sitting around me trying to teach me how to break into that lobster! It was quite funny for all of us! They tried to put that stupid bib on me, the plastic one with the lobster on the front! I said do not take another step closer to me with that thing! The waiter said, well you will get your shirt messy. I say, "I have lots of changes of clothes, but no changes of my dignity"! He set the bib down.

Well I narrowly escaped Kennebunkport without 5 strange men ridding along with me to Portland, ME. Portland is a rather large city, approximately 65,000 people said the taxi man, and their main business used to be fishing, but now.....tourism! Again, I am the only tourist in Maine this whole weekend! Headed downtown Portland to a brew pub where I quickly realized that Portland is a major college town. College town where they travel in massive herds from bar to bar and get quite obnoxious. I was taken into conversation by 2 older individuals (45-55yr) and was glad to have the company. There is only so long that you can pretend to watch the TV when you have no clue what team is playing and at what point should I pretend to cheer for one team or the other! The highlight of encounters this night was a Great Dane, Zeus at my hotel that was the largest dog or smallest Shutlen pony I have ever seen in my life! Its owner says he is quite the "lap dog", and she was serious!!

Saturday morning up early to head out. The couple at the pub the night before gave me a fabulous tip on a lighthouse right outside Portland, at Cape Elizabeth in Fort Williams Park. I have seen these on movies and puzzles and even calenders, but standing there looking at the bluffs and this amazing lighthouse facing the sea.......there are no words! So I pick my jaw up off the ground and get back in the truck. About 3.5hrs up to Bar Harbor, ME. Very neat drive, which would have been more so beautiful about 2 weeks ago when the leaves were still attached to the branches! And I would have also paid someone to drive so that I could actually look around, safely!

Bar Harbor is actually an island and is surrounded or part of the Acadia National Park. Folks, I wish that I could say this any differently without sounding so conceded.....I am the luckiest person to get to see all of these amazing places. I found a hotel right on the point of the harbor and checked into this quaint little room with a patio that faced the ocean (although I didn't pay for the ocean view....I didn't tell them that I could actually see water, hehe). about 2 seconds later I was out the door and 20ft from my patio was the most breath taking view imaginable!! Ocean waters, lapping onto big bluffs of rocks, rocky/tree filled islands, boats anchored in a gorgeous harbor with long docks and lobster fishing boats and walking trails along the ocean and a cute little downtown with rows of shops along the bluff. So again, catch my breath to go get some food! Found a fun spot for lunch, tried the crab meat roll which was really good, and a Samuel Adams :) Talked to another couple that led me to my next couple adventures....

Headed to the room to regroup and change into hiking gear. There is an ocean trail that leads you around bar harbor and then through town which was very peaceful and serene. I just kept thinking of the opening part of the movie Grease! I think it must have been filmed here, or should have been for that matter!! So ended up in town at the Thirsty Whale, and I was thirsty. This is also a good way to meet locals and get ideas for the next adventure. Well they sent me to the liquor store to get a beer and go sit on the bluffs to catch the sunset.....one problem.....no bottle opener! So I sat on the bluff holding a beer and watched the sunset! Just as good! That night, took a Jacuzzi bath, walked around town for a bit, met some strange locals and headed to bed to rest for my early morning adventure.

When the tide is low in the early mornings, you can actually walk along an "ocean bottom path" out to an island! This is where I called my mother and said, "mom, I'm hiking to an Island tomorrow morning". Mom says, "how are you going to get there dear, if it is an island?" Becky says, "well supposedly when the tide is low I can just walk over there" Mom says, "Do you know how long the tide will be low so you can get back?" Becky says, "No actually I have no idea, this is why I'm calling you now to tell you that I'm doing this. If you don't hear from me.....send a boat!" haha. Well I made it over there and it was the coolest thing to walk along the "ocean bottom" that is exposed for only a few hours. There were so many mussels that make a bond of some kind with snails and rocks and seaweed to form a long chain that holds together quite firmly! I also found a star fish and a neat rock. I did a little hiking on the island, but I did have in the back of my mind this fear of having to swim back to shore!!! It was the neatest thing for sure!

Packed up the room and jumped back in Sammy for another traveling day. With a tip from a friend, headed to Freeport, ME for lunch, expecting a cute little town on the water...hence the word port. Well I now know that this friend just wanted me to stop at the LL Bean outlet store to buy him a kayak I do believe! :) Actually it is a cute town, but blocks and blocks of outlet stores! So this friend says to me, "what's wrong with that?" I say, "whatever I buy has to fit into my SUV again, and it barely fit before these outlet stores!" Had a really good lunch, crab cake sandwich and headed off to the next spot. Another friendly tip landed me on a wonderful beach right at sunset, Ogunquit, ME. Now this is like a beach one would think of originally. It has sandy beaches with people playing in the water and houses/hotels along the bluffs. It was really gorgeous to see the sunset on a sandy beach, again thinking to myself.....how the heck do I get to be the one to do this today???? I then sadly got back into the truck and headed to Worcester.

My first solo mission, one of many this year I am sure. I am so thankful to be able to do this right now in my life. It is truly one of the most amazing places on earth and I'm lucky to have experienced it. This was the first weekend that it hasn't rained! I am trying to get pictures on this blog, but I am technically challenged. So look at them on facebook for now or email me and I can send you some on your email. Enjoy, book your trips now to Maine. I may start working at the visitors center, except I was the only visitor, wonder how that would work........

Almost Maine

2009-11-02T09:50:00.000-08:00

Let me begin this week by saying that my travel buddy Allison is great! We have an awesome time together and she just happens to be a huge sports fanatic!!! Up until Friday by 3pm we had no official or unofficial plans for the weekend. We both wanted to go up to Maine, but she wanted to go to the world series even more! We settled on heading north around 5:30pm Friday night. Made it as far as Portsmouth, NH.

Such a cute little town! Ally is great at bargaining so she got a sweet deal on the hotel room. I tried to talk someone down as well, they said no! :( We even got fresh cookies, although they were oatmeal/raisin! What is the point of a cookie without any chocolate.....don't even get it a little bit! And we got a pumpkin pale for ice! Awww. Quick turn around then called a cab into town to grab a bite and a few sodas.

After about 20mins or so at the cute little brewery, Ally finds out that she is getting world series tickets! So for the next hour or 3 she is outside arranging details, for the rest of her now awesome weekend! Well, let me also say that I knew the risk! I am so happy that she got the opportunity to go and only wish that I slightly wanted to go and spend $800 on a trip to watch baseball that I don't ever end up watching anyway!

So thank goodness for a certain person that happened to enter my life this evening! The name and details will remain out of this blog indefinitely being that my luck with any relationship is not good. This person is probably married, with 8 kids, just released from jail and looking for someone to go on Jerry Springer with them!! I just can't do any of that ever again, especially the Jerry Springer thing....that was a little over embarrassing! :)

So after a rather fun night anyway, we headed back to Worcester the next morning. Ally was nice enough to drive me to the harbor and we did get to look at the bridge that takes you across into Maine! It was another gloomy day anyway, so the trees wouldn't have been that beautiful to look at, or the harbors or the mountains.....so good thing for baseball!

Saturday night had company from Boston and a little 4 legged friend that made me miss Simon more than human mothers should ever miss their hyper children! Went around this city which I still have not invested in knowing and had a really fun time. Sunday was the inevitable day that always comes November 1st. But this day I was in Massachusetts, following my dream which I know my dad would be so proud of! It was actually a great day for me, lounging around, which has not been in my vocabulary for about 4months now.

So change of plans! Not Maine this weekend, but it is not too far outta reach! I had such a good weekend and thank you everyone for your emails, calls, texts! I know what an awesome guy my dad was! He is living so much in all of us, we just need a pause, a memory, a stranger.....to figure it all out!

We are not being tourists this weekend!

2009-10-27T09:20:00.000-07:00

We were off the New York City this past weekend. After a crazy and a bit disheartening day at the office, Allison met me in Worcester for the 3.5hr trek to Manhattan (which is an island). Driving in the rain and sometimes behind very slow buses, made for a little longer trip, but thanks to the road snacks left from out 25hr drive to MA, we did not starve! Stopped at a little shop off the pike and almost purchases some used Klenex from the presumed homeless guy, but then decided with the swine flu and all....not the best of ideas!

Allison's friend Torri lives in an apt right across from the university hospital, in a small studio. Although we didn't actually sleep in the same bed, we all probably could have held hands from our sleeping spots if we wanted! Quick turn around at the apt, then off to meet some of Allison's friends from Chicago. Now is where I will offer you Midwesterners a tip about mini-van cabs.....Make sure to shut the dang door when you exit the cab. For some reason, I forgot, and the cab driver sat and honked at us then all but gave me the finger as he shut it for me....whoops! Never lived that down all weekend!! Late night and into the morning, walking in not soooo comfy boots, and ended up at the diner (our morning stop).

Next morning woke up to Allison singing the NE fight song at 9am! What energy she has :) Got ready in our matching "Suh-per man" shirts and headed out to the Irish Rogue which holds NE games sponsored by the NE alumni association. It was quite the atmosphere and quite the day...well beginning to a day. I kept asking the gals to go to the Empire state building with me...being that I am a tourist and all....they said no, all day long. The going saying from Allison to me was, "we are not tourists and get your own food to eat whenever you're hungry!" Well we ended up eating all day and gallivanting around NYC with Allison's friends. Ending up in a hole-in-the wall bar dancing our NE butts off! We spent much of the day explaining what the heck our shirts meant and why we all matched. My usual response was, "Suh plays football, he is good, we wore shirts about him". The end. Of course back to the same diner for breakfast before bedtime.

Sunday morning up again to go eat lunch, sitting outside people watching. What interesting folks in NYC! Beautiful day in New York, walking around the streets, then meeting Allison's Chicago friends for more football! Why not? Did a little shopping then headed back to pack up and leave the great city. A little tired from the weekend of fun and traipsing around the big city (well actually Manhattan is quite small, but big/tall buildings). Thank goodness for Allison's great geographical sense and general knowledge of everything. She in fact asked me if I wanted to go to Martha's Vineyard this coming weekend. I of course respond with, "where is it"? She says it's an island. I say, "how would we get to it then?" She says a ferry of course. I say idiotically, "well I don't really like wine". She then looked at me blankly! Ooops, better start carrying my atlas to keep up with the pro!

Betty

2009-10-22T17:09:00.000-07:00

So Betty is the name given to the GPS voice in my blackberry purchased only for this trip. Otherwise, everyone knows that technology is not my strong point. Where would I be without her right now? Well probably somewhere in south IL because that is where she led us astray....we didn't really plan this trip, at all. I'm too busy with all the other chaos and mom really hasn't the information from me because of my hate to "plan". The first time I slept on the trip I wake up to mom, Betty and an atlas. We went with Betty. We went 17mi off track in IL ending up at a rest stop then Betty says, "make the next legal U turn". You can never fully trust Betty.

Who do you trust on an adventure....your travel agent, your friend's opinion, intuition, instinct, prior knowledge, or just plain guess on life? I chose the latter of these which leads me to discuss my job! I work in 2 different facilities, skilled nursing facilities. One a psych unit and the other a locked down unit for Alzheimer's diseased patients. Now this is the last stop on my career path for sure. But is it?

There are certain things in your life that you know absolutely that you can not possibly get through....not one more second in that dentist chair, not two more hours at the circus with your kids, not one more time to the vet with your dog increasing the costs, only one trip to your favorite espresso shop on johnson drive, your dad's funeral, the last time you see your friend for a year, the day at the office where you know for sure that you are not helping anyone.

If there is anything in life that I know for certain, it is that you can do anything that you thought previously to be impossible. The job "opportunity" was a pre-planned sacrifice on my part professionally. I knew that I wanted to be in Mass to experience what I wanted/needed to and that meant some bargaining. I did not know quite the sacrifice, but "everything happens for a reason". This job is so counter-intuitive to my every fiber as an OT, but in many ways this is making me stronger already after one week.

So I do what I do as an OT. I help patients with their self-cares, I do wheelchair seating evaluations, I work on upper extremity strengthening, and functional transfers to toilets and showers, I train staff on proper handling, I help relearn feeding techniques, I buy nurses chocolate in turn for referrals, I kill the east-coasteners with kindness and I go home at night knowing that I still do what I love! Just in a different culture!

I started today with 4 patients from the psych unit, sitting at their breakfast table and evaluating how they can feed themselves more independently. The charge nurse glaring at me, the CNAs annoyed that I was taking up a chair. The patients thrilled at the company and talking about my home state of Nebraska. Middle of the day I fielded questions if I should leave Mass and my facilities/apt to a different location. End of the day evaluating a patient with Alzheimer's. I ask him if he has any pain, he says to me, "how could I? I'm in heaven right now. Can you come see me every day".

Life is simple on paper. When you get into the gray areas we have questions.

Road to Massachusetts

2009-10-20T15:58:00.000-07:00

Mom and I left at 4:30am Thursday Oct 15th to drive through NE, IA, IL, IN, OH. Stopped at 9pm (after time change) to sleep in Mentor, OH. Mom was amazed at the hotel room, sweet $90 and made it in time for my shows on Thurs! Next morning driving through rain, snow, rain, sunshine we went through OH, PA stopping at lake Erie, then again in NY at Niagra falls. Well really what is all the hype about anyway? Is it the Canadians making a big deal about this waterfall, because in the land of Jackson Hole, WY we determined that you can find much neater waterfalls in much better scenery that it doesn't take border patrol and money to view!!! But it was great!

Made it to Worcester, MA at my downtown apartment in the dark around 7pm, finding no parking of course with a stuffed SUV!!! Dealt with the non-english speaking parking garage attendant across the street to leave the truck there and attempt to get my keys from an unknown security guard who was not on duty YET! Well me, being the go getter that I am and being that I had to pee really bad, I stole the keys to my apt from behind the desk! Why not!

Pulling up to the apt there is not parking/unloading zone! So we park in emergency zone and unload all my SUV onto a bellhop cart from the apt on the side of the curb!! Fun times with the mother!! So the apt is not exactly like the video by the way! Close but not close! We slept the first night on a bed of rocks listening to the police apparently "cleaning up downtown".

The next day went to buy apartment stuff which sent us on another adventure thanks to "Betty" the GPS lady in my blackberry. got home really late in which again, no parking!! So I now went to the apt and retrieved a shopping cart and unloaded my SUV. I sent my mother downtown Worcester with a shopping cart packed to the brim, walking with a limp to my apt while I parked the car!!! PRICELESS!

Sunday, Boston! Rainy/snowing all day of course. Hopped the commuter rail from union station Worcester to Boston, then onto the Trolley. Ate at Legal Seafood, walked through Quincy Hall and Fanuiel Hall. Had a crazy trolley driver that got mad at some passengers and we swore he was either going to quit and leave us stranded or drive us into the river/ocean/lake or whatever body of water those people had a war over and threw tea in!

Made it back safe and sound to Worcester, next day in Worcester....BEAUTIFUL. Who would have thought, right? I worked at my my new job, mom made her way around downtown blending in with the homeless and pissing off the apt managers asking for a wrench to reverse my fridge!! Who would have thought of doing that?? MY MOM! Love her! After my awesome...(not really just pretending so you don't have to send me pity mail) day of work, we went and had good Italian food and one great dirty martini!

Mom left today! Managed the commuter rail, to the silver line, to the airport, to Chicago, and to Omaha! Thanks so much mom, memories will be held for many years and stories shall be kept secret! Hoping for a new bed on Thursday and cable someday! Met a great pal named Cookie whom let me try on all her wigs tonight and hang with her dog....Casanova! Lovin' Mass.

Getting started

2009-10-20T12:28:00.000-07:00

Most of you know all about my last 2 months but I found a great analogy to my crazy life as I know it. It was like planning a wedding, buying a home, selling a home, buying a car and selling a car, while starting a new job out of state! So if any of you can equivocate with one of these....try all of them at once! Yes my hair is falling out :(

So I have always wanted to be a traveler but managed to come up with some really great excuses not too. One night I decided, enough excuses, make it happen. So I found a company, rented out my house, Steph took my dog, packed up my entire house which is either at my families homes or in my attic, bought Heather's SUV, sold my car, went to Chicago for my new car and then to Mexico for vacation, was homeless for about 3wks living with friends and going back to NE, had 4 going away parties and now in MA!

Settled on Worcester for my first location because I have a fellow OT traveler here in Mass, Allison, whom will appear often on my later posts!!! I will be here through January 17th, then on to another location. My company is called Cross Country Travcorps. I am still doing the same job as an OT, but now I get to travel around the US every 13wks to do what I love.

I simply started this blog because someone told me too! :) And I thought all of you would find some fun/humor/comfort in hearing my wild, scary, boring stories from where ever the heck I am living! Thanks for following along and feel free to call/email me whenever!