Back Home in Tourist Land
We have been back from our month-long sojourn for about five days, and each day I have bumped into folks who have inquired about our trip, our handsome mutt Sparky, or have been simply friendly neighbors and filled us in on the local gossip. After living in California, where most people would rather tell you to 'Fu@k Off" than say hello...It is an interesting turn of events. Especially considering that I kind of have wistful emotions about heading back West...
I will quickly recap the state of my life, so y'all can keep up with the narrative...
My wife and I live in Key West. I work on boats and my wife runs the premier spa in Key West (go ahead and click on the link, my missive will be waiting for you to return). We moved here for her job and can you blame us for moving to Key West? I had never been here before her interview, but this town and the Florida Keys region indeed kicks a serious amount of ass...
Without any further ado or grab-ass, I will start a little narrative about our trip and attempt to avoid any needless political bantering or wistful bull-crap....
The Road Home to Indiana
Justine and I have seriously awesome family. It is hard to plan a trip anywhere within a thousand miles of these folk and not look at a little detour for a barbeque or some sort of get together. Luckily for everybody involved, our favorite artist Xavier Rudd was playing a show in Atlanta Georgia in our time frame for traveling North. It was the perfect excuse for heading inland a tad.
Our First Stop in Cocoa Beach
Heading North through Florida sucks. The highest points of the drive are the landfills which border I-95. The state of Florida in generally is a horrid cess-pool of crappy scenery and rednecks. That statement may be derogatory, but you cannot argue against it. Florida, in general, sucks.
Cocoa Beach sucks least though, out of the places that we could stop on the way to Atlanta. I had hoped to surf as much as possible throughout the trip, but some forgettable tropical storm stirred the waters a bit too much to allow for pleasurable surfing. I contented myself with a lot of profanity/drinking and Sparky taking dumps in the surf (kidding...maybe). He does look rather happy coming out of that shore break though doesn't he?
Xavier Rudd in Atlanta
Xavier Rudd is one of our favorite musicians. He's from Australia and pretty much blows every other musician I have ever heard of out of the water. He is rather folksy and bluesy, but it's Australian folk and blues...So you have never heard anything like it. Go ahead and take a break from my rambling and check him out.
OK. You are focused and with me now. He pretty much rocks doesn't he? I hope you read his biography, because he makes any of the 'Jesse Jackson types' in America seem non-commital about the problems we face today. In fact, I would consider him a voice of sanity in today's world. Ooh, I'm getting close to politics...and I always save that for the last paragraph...so let's move along. Shall we?
We stayed in a hotel a couple of miles away from our concert, so we caught a cab to the show. We actually caught one home too and it was weird how both of the cabbies were Nigerian. It was also weird how their politics and philosophies were oddly out of touch with reality and in complete contrast with the actual American reality of life. My wife and I are very open to conversation and I enjoyed listening to their respective take on life and reason for immigration. They had no problem defaming our American way of life, but at the same time they were hungrily striving for that same piece of the Dream. They were just trying to make an Islamic version of that Dream happen. For instance, we drove through the art/culture district of Atlanta and our first cabbie was busy pointing out everybody that looked 'gay'. He kept saying, "Look, look...See what I mean about this neighborhood. Very bad people". I had to hold my tongue for all of the ride and simply chuckle with a 'What the Fu#$' when I got I out of that cab. I neglected to mention that I lived in Key West and the area looked pretty tame, when compared to strolling past our local burlesque bars after mid-night. The funny thing was that both of these guys had huge families back in Nigeria that they refused to bring over to the US of A until they were college age, apparently they didn't want their education to include superfluous things like respect for all people...
We walked into the concert venue and had to make sure that we had the right concert hall. Apparently Atlanta isn't up to date on relevant world music or maybe the town as a whole is too up it's ass in rap music to realize when a world class concert comes to town. I remember back to the time we saw Xavier Rudd in Oregon and we were practically elbowing hippies to protect out spot in line.
The concert was everything I hoped it would be. It rocked. Very hard. This guy plays steel guitar, lap guitar, a didgeridoo, foot drum set, harmonica, and a variety of instruments that I've never even seen. He's also backed up by two fantastic musicians on drums and bass. I am a fan of Xavier Rudd. If you know me, email me with your address and I will gladly buy you a CD and mail it to you. You are seriously missing out if you do not listen to this music.
I guess I forgot to mention that Justine was having so much fun at the concert, that she decided to hop up on the stage and jam out with Xavier. So ya, towards the end of the concert several ladies hopped up on stage and jammed out with Xavier Rudd and his band. You gotta love that...
Heading back to our old hometown is always interesting. Justine and I both grew up in the same town. Now our parents live about 20 minutes apart, just a couple of dusty country roads apart. Her parents live on a pristine lake and my parents live on a beautiful farm. After leaving Indiana after college for the coast, I tend to get a little bit shaky and very grumpy if I cannot dip my toes into water on a daily basis, so we generally stay at the lake on our visits. This time was no different and we had a beautiful time on the water going Stand Up Paddle-boarding, fishing, taking Sparky swimming, and having bonfires.
Our time was filled with big family lake days, visits from extended family, great home cooked food, and keeping Sparky from decimating the native cat, goose, and squirrel population. Our one diversion from the lake was to head up to a Purdue/Notre Dame football game at Notre Dame. I won't go into many details from the game since Purdue got sorely whooped by the hated Irish. My good friend Colin took us to the game, supplying everything from awesome tickets to tailgating action.
It was my first college football game since graduation from Purdue and everything was just as I remember it. I had been to several Notre Dame games during college and Notre Dame fans just don't change. On the whole, they are the most annoying and cocky group of fans that I could possibly imagine. Notre Dame is a fairly small school with a small group of alumni, so it follows that most of these people are (what a fellow Boilermaker calls) subway alumni. Notre Dame has sucked for the past several years and it was sad that Purdue had to lose to them, but I guess I really didn't care that much. The game was fun, but the tailgating was more fun. Justine had a friend who used to live near Notre Dame in South Bend drop by and it was great to reconnect with her. Her and her boyfriend are two solid hippies who spend their time bumping around the country, going to shows and generally living life. In the whole crowd of tens of thousands of rabid football fans, they were the most normal people we met.
On Towards the Northeast
After our four day weekend in Indiana we hit the dusty trail for our eventual destination of Maine. Leaving Indiana early on Tuesday morning, we crossed the dreaded state of Ohio and headed into northern Pennsylvania for our first night of camping.
Justine and I had been looking forward to sitting around a campfire with beers in hand for the past nine months. It was so nice to actually be sitting in the woods with dirty feet, listening to the sounds of crackling wood mingle with the forest. For the first four years of our marriage, camping was WHAT we did in our free time. Living in California lended itself very well to camping. We were surrounded by dank, wild and untrammeled forests and living in Key West has put a little bit of a damper on our camping time, so it was very refreshing to smell all of the old familiar smells of a northern woods. After the tent was set up and fire nicely burning with Justine's famous campfire spaghetti with meatballs slowly cooking, we grinned at each other and clinked beers to another long, beautiful extended vacation.
After leaving Pennsylvania, we worked our way North and East into Upstate New York. I was surprised by how rural the whole region is. I mean outside of Albany, we didn't really drive through any serious urban areas. The driving was all through beautiful, rolling farmlands with small mountains in the background. We took a leisurely pace of driving, stopping several times to take Sparky for walks or skateboarding. After an afternoon of driving we picked a good state park out on the map and headed that way. Along the way, we picked up some supplies of ice, camping grub, and local micro-brew. I mean, you wouldn't expect us to drink Miller Lite the whole trip, would you? Our second night of camping brought us to a beautiful little state park in New York. Apparently it had just had some road paving done, because there were some wonderfully smooth hills for me to skateboard down...including one very close to our campsite.
Leaving New York, we were excited to get into Vermont and check out the town of Burlington. Our driving route took us along the eastern shore of Lake Champlain and through numerous beautiful little, picturesque towns. I'm talking towns that were postcard perfect. Towns with a general store, post office, cafe, and not a piece of litter to be found. I can safely say that if Vermont had waves, I would move there tomorrow.
Our main reason for heading into Vermont was to visit the town of Burlington. We had heard a lot of great things about this little slice of paradise. They have several great colleges, plenty of old hippies, breweries, and it is nestled along the shores of Lake Champlain.
Burlington did not disappoint us. The town is beautiful. The architecture is spectacular and the views across Lake Champlain are glorious. The microbrew is delicious, hoppy, unique, and plentiful. Shortly after arriving into Burlington, we left Sparky to his own amusement in our hotel room, and then struck out into the town center in search of new beers and pub-centered amusement.
We spent an evening pub crawling around Burlington and ended up at a decent Irish pub for some meat pies. En route to our final destination we played some darts, participated in a trivia contest, and checked out a few nice little stores.
The next morning we struck out in search for bagels and we found an absolute goldmine. Tucked away along the waterfront, in an artsy/industrial complex, we stumbled upon the bagel shop pictured above. The bagels are boiled in honey and then wood fired. Everything was locally sourced, from the flour to the cream cheese. This place was easily the highlight of Vermont.
Before we headed out along the road towards the White Mountains of New Hampshire, we took Sparky for a swim in Lake Champlain. The air was fairly chilly, but the lake was still very warm. The whole lakefront is semi-developed into city parks and other civic minded things. There are some excellent running and bike paths, playgrounds, dog parks, public boat ramps, and a community sailing center. Key West could learn a thing or five from Burlington, most of our waterfront is pimped to private businesses for the tourists.
I guess I forgot to mention that Justine was having so much fun at the concert, that she decided to hop up on the stage and jam out with Xavier. So ya, towards the end of the concert several ladies hopped up on stage and jammed out with Xavier Rudd and his band. You gotta love that...
Onward and Inland to Indiana
The next morning after the Xavier Rudd concert, we threw our bags back into our little Honda Fit and powered North towards Indiana. We spent a night outside Indianapolis with a great buddy, Davis, from highschool and his fiancee. It's so awesome to hang out with people whom you have known for over a decade and done insanely stupid things with that have become serious titans of industry (or at least done something serious in life) yet retain a fine taste for Miller High Life. After leaving Indy early in the morning, we powered into West Lafayette for a stroll through the Alma Mater and a brief walk down memory lane. My wife has a close friend who lives in town and just got engaged. We were lucky enough meet up with her and her new fiancee at a new pub called DT Kirby's for some greasy pubs fare and delicious craft micro-brew. They have this awesome IPA from People's Brewing Company that knocked my socks off. After Justine finished up with her long overdue hugs, we headed North and home for a long weekend with our families. Just for the record, the beer was so good that I had to have more than my fair share, luckily Justine volunteered to drive the rest of the way home.Heading back to our old hometown is always interesting. Justine and I both grew up in the same town. Now our parents live about 20 minutes apart, just a couple of dusty country roads apart. Her parents live on a pristine lake and my parents live on a beautiful farm. After leaving Indiana after college for the coast, I tend to get a little bit shaky and very grumpy if I cannot dip my toes into water on a daily basis, so we generally stay at the lake on our visits. This time was no different and we had a beautiful time on the water going Stand Up Paddle-boarding, fishing, taking Sparky swimming, and having bonfires.
Our time was filled with big family lake days, visits from extended family, great home cooked food, and keeping Sparky from decimating the native cat, goose, and squirrel population. Our one diversion from the lake was to head up to a Purdue/Notre Dame football game at Notre Dame. I won't go into many details from the game since Purdue got sorely whooped by the hated Irish. My good friend Colin took us to the game, supplying everything from awesome tickets to tailgating action.
It was my first college football game since graduation from Purdue and everything was just as I remember it. I had been to several Notre Dame games during college and Notre Dame fans just don't change. On the whole, they are the most annoying and cocky group of fans that I could possibly imagine. Notre Dame is a fairly small school with a small group of alumni, so it follows that most of these people are (what a fellow Boilermaker calls) subway alumni. Notre Dame has sucked for the past several years and it was sad that Purdue had to lose to them, but I guess I really didn't care that much. The game was fun, but the tailgating was more fun. Justine had a friend who used to live near Notre Dame in South Bend drop by and it was great to reconnect with her. Her and her boyfriend are two solid hippies who spend their time bumping around the country, going to shows and generally living life. In the whole crowd of tens of thousands of rabid football fans, they were the most normal people we met.
On Towards the NortheastJustine and I had been looking forward to sitting around a campfire with beers in hand for the past nine months. It was so nice to actually be sitting in the woods with dirty feet, listening to the sounds of crackling wood mingle with the forest. For the first four years of our marriage, camping was WHAT we did in our free time. Living in California lended itself very well to camping. We were surrounded by dank, wild and untrammeled forests and living in Key West has put a little bit of a damper on our camping time, so it was very refreshing to smell all of the old familiar smells of a northern woods. After the tent was set up and fire nicely burning with Justine's famous campfire spaghetti with meatballs slowly cooking, we grinned at each other and clinked beers to another long, beautiful extended vacation.
After leaving Pennsylvania, we worked our way North and East into Upstate New York. I was surprised by how rural the whole region is. I mean outside of Albany, we didn't really drive through any serious urban areas. The driving was all through beautiful, rolling farmlands with small mountains in the background. We took a leisurely pace of driving, stopping several times to take Sparky for walks or skateboarding. After an afternoon of driving we picked a good state park out on the map and headed that way. Along the way, we picked up some supplies of ice, camping grub, and local micro-brew. I mean, you wouldn't expect us to drink Miller Lite the whole trip, would you? Our second night of camping brought us to a beautiful little state park in New York. Apparently it had just had some road paving done, because there were some wonderfully smooth hills for me to skateboard down...including one very close to our campsite.
Leaving New York, we were excited to get into Vermont and check out the town of Burlington. Our driving route took us along the eastern shore of Lake Champlain and through numerous beautiful little, picturesque towns. I'm talking towns that were postcard perfect. Towns with a general store, post office, cafe, and not a piece of litter to be found. I can safely say that if Vermont had waves, I would move there tomorrow.Our main reason for heading into Vermont was to visit the town of Burlington. We had heard a lot of great things about this little slice of paradise. They have several great colleges, plenty of old hippies, breweries, and it is nestled along the shores of Lake Champlain.
Burlington did not disappoint us. The town is beautiful. The architecture is spectacular and the views across Lake Champlain are glorious. The microbrew is delicious, hoppy, unique, and plentiful. Shortly after arriving into Burlington, we left Sparky to his own amusement in our hotel room, and then struck out into the town center in search of new beers and pub-centered amusement.
We spent an evening pub crawling around Burlington and ended up at a decent Irish pub for some meat pies. En route to our final destination we played some darts, participated in a trivia contest, and checked out a few nice little stores.
The next morning we struck out in search for bagels and we found an absolute goldmine. Tucked away along the waterfront, in an artsy/industrial complex, we stumbled upon the bagel shop pictured above. The bagels are boiled in honey and then wood fired. Everything was locally sourced, from the flour to the cream cheese. This place was easily the highlight of Vermont.
Before we headed out along the road towards the White Mountains of New Hampshire, we took Sparky for a swim in Lake Champlain. The air was fairly chilly, but the lake was still very warm. The whole lakefront is semi-developed into city parks and other civic minded things. There are some excellent running and bike paths, playgrounds, dog parks, public boat ramps, and a community sailing center. Key West could learn a thing or five from Burlington, most of our waterfront is pimped to private businesses for the tourists.
To Be Continued...
Ok folks, that seems like a good place to break this story up. Stay tuned for the rest of our adventures in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. And I suppose that once our story take us through Maine, we'll have to road-trip South again.
