4385 miles later...

I made it.  On Wednesday September 22, 2010 at 6:00PM I arrived at 263 Watson St. in Monterey, CA.  It took a while but I finally arrived; exhausted, scruffy, and starving!  I never saw pictures of my place before I arrived.  I found the place through a person I'm going to be working with who happened to have an open apartment.  It's below his family's place but it was a lot bigger than I had expected.  It's basically a studio apt. with a bedroom on the side, a decent sized kitchen and living room, a bathroom, one closet, and my own patio outside the living room.  There are plenty of windows so enough sunlight comes in.

I live not even a half mile from the water and I can hear sea lions barking up a storm each night!  Work is only 1.5 miles away so if I get my bike here I can bike and even so I might just walk.  There's no parking for employees so you have to find street parking which I'm sure is never fun.  I immediately went to the store on Thursday to get everything I didn't bring with me and started to get settled in.  I found a Goodwill nearby so that saved me a few bucks and a grocery store so I bought enough food to last for a week or so.  I still need to clean out my disaster of a car and get it washed though.  I also need to get my oil changed and probably the alignment as well (I guess that's what off-roading in Kansas will do).

Friday I had to get some bloodwork done and a couple of physicals for work.  After that I packed up my stuff and headed north towards Oakland because I had a half-marathon on Saturday.  I didn't exactly get a chance to train for this since I signed up for it before, well before a lot of things happened, but mainly before I found out about the job.  After I found out I focused more on moving and less on training because I never really expected to run it.  I backed out on my last race though so I really did not want to miss another one.  So I went for a quick run on Thursday, maybe 40 mins or so to see if my legs had anything in them and I felt fine so I decided to go for it.  I got up to the hotel around 4:30.  I headed to Concord, CA at 7:00PM to get my race packet and some GU for the race and then went back and found some food across the street at a Mexican restaurant.

The race was a trail half-marathon and wasn't too bad a race.  It started at 8:00AM on the dot.  Everything was going fine until mile 5 and then the hard part started.  The elevation changed about 350 feet and was around 0.5 miles straight up the side of a hill.  That was not fun at all.  The actual climb began before this so it was a long couple of miles.  That slowed down everyone's time significantly as we were all pretty much walking up this hill.  The good thing about a brutal uphill is that there's always a fun downhill.  The course pretty much did the work for me for the last 6 miles but there were smaller hills on the way back too.  Overall it was a good race, especially after not training for it.  I finished 6th overall (it was a very small race) with a time of 1:47.  It wasn't my best time but also wasn't my worst.

And that leads us to today, Sunday.  I woke up and realized that I needed to find a place to watch the Patriots game ASAP because west coast games start at 10:00AM!  Luckily there is a place only a half mile down the road so I walked down to enjoy the victory over the Bills.  The defense is still struggling but they made a key interception at the end so it's all good.  I came back after the game and somehow managed to spend over $100 at Rite Aid!  Are you kidding me?  I went in for envelopes and came out with half the store. I got everything put away and cleaned up and now my place actually looks like a nice place to live.  I have pictures on the walls, clothes put away, food in the fridge and a must needed Brita!

This entire trip has been an eye-opening experience.  It's amazing how much thinking you can get done sitting in a car by yourself for 10 days.  There were a lot of doubts in my mind before I came out here and I wasn't sure if I was personally strong enough to do this on my own, or even if it was the right move.  As the trip progressed though I realized I'm a much stronger person than I thought and that doing this on my own was the best way to do it.  When I first contemplated moving out to California it was under different circumstances and for different reasons but I'm glad God gave me this opportunity to grow and learn a lot about myself.  This is a great opportunity in a new place with a chance to meet new people and make new friends.   And if I ever run into trouble I know I have friends scattered all over the state just in case (I'll be in SD quite often).

So tomorrow is my first day of work.  I'm not nervous but excited about this new opportunity and I want to thank everyone for their support over the last couple of weeks.  If you ever get a chance to travel around this beautiful country I highly recommend it.  And if you are ever in the area, please give me a call!

Welcome to California

Well it only took me 9 days but I finally arrived in the great state of California.  Not Monterey, but San Diego to visit my buddy Mike from college and his fiancé Sara.  Almost didn't get through the desert though!  Mojave let's put a couple more gas stations in what do you think?  About 100 miles with no stations and I coasted in on fumes to the one and only Dairy Queen gas station in Ludlow, CA.  It is here that I met the 2nd person from Maine...in the middle of the friggin desert!  I still had my Sox shirt/hat so the guy working at Dairy Queen asked where I was from and it ends up he was from Portland and had also lived in Boston.  How does a guy from Portland, ME end up at a Dairy Queen in the middle of the Mojave Desert???  The things I wish I had asked!

Anyway, I made it through the desert and was psyched to finally be getting close to San Diego.  I knew it was still hours from Monterey but I could have cared less at this point.  I knew it was going to be a few days to catch up, relax, and not have to be in my car.  Sara is amazing and had dinner ready when I got through the door.  Home cooked food, a comfy bed, good company; it was a great feeling.  Mike was working through till Sunday morning (on duty in the USCG) and would be home at 8am on Sunday.  Sara and I hung out with their neighbors, all Navy guys that were pretty cool.  I learned that I'm one of two people in this alleyway that can throw a NERF football over a wall from 30 yards??? and that I'm also way too old to be trying to ride a two-wheeled skateboard.  I just don't have the wiggle!

Sunday was a day of very disappointing football.  It started off to be a great day.  We went to a Patriots bar to watch the game and it was going very well up until the second half.  I guess the defense doesn't have to show up for this part of the game.  Mr. Kraft should double check their contracts to make sure they start playing 60 minutes of football.  So after they lost to the J-E-T-S...suck, suck, suck I was in a very bad mood.  We headed down to the beach after that and watched people try to surf in a wave machine so seeing people wipe out and get tossed by the waves put me in a better mood.  The rest of the day was filled with football and food!  Sara is a great cook and was stuffing me full of apps and meals, it was great.

Can you see the fish next to the anemone?

Monday was the most fun I had on my trip.  We went down to Horton plaza to check out the outdoor mall which was pretty cool, then grabbed some lunch and headed to La Jolla to check out the seals, sea lions and do some tide pooling.  First we headed to the part of the beach where the seals hang out and walked out on the jetty.   We then headed up the road to check out the tide pools.  I love rocky intertidals.  There is so much life!  And I of course have a lot of new animals to learn.  We saw a bunch of shore crabs, green anemones, some juvenile fishes, limpets, chitons, barnacles...all sorts of cool species!

We kept heading up the road and eventually passed a ledge with hundreds of birds on it; pelicans, gulls, and cormorants.  Well when you put hundreds of birds on one rock it starts to smell pretty bad!  It was gross and if you've ever worked with birds or been around a large number of them you know how it can get.  Just passed the birds were some sea lions and some caves to check out.  The big cave costs to go down into it so we passed on that one but played around in the other ones.  After playing around for a couple of hours our stomachs were yelling at us again so it was time to go home, eat, and watch Monday Night Football.

Tuesday was pretty chill in the morning.  Mike was working so we waited until he got out, picked him up and headed to the Birch Aquarium.  Shown around by an old friend, we were able to get behind the scenes and were lead around by one of the aquarists that works with jellies.  It was definitely a very small aquarium, larger than I had expected though and is run in conjunction with Scripps Institute of Oceanography.  The exhibits were nice for a small aquarium (although the jellies looked a bit rough) so it was cool to check it out.  We all went out for a few drinks that night for a fitting end to my San Diego trip.  I headed out around 8 Wednesday morning and finally headed to Monterey!

Creation of the Word Awesome

"Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True, And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona.  Not all holes, or games, are created equal."
     - George F. Will

Awesome: That which inspires awe.  I'm guaranteed this word was first used by a person standing at the Grand Canyon.  When I drove into Grand Canyon National Park the night before I had absolutely no idea what I was driving through.  I had to drive from the north end south to find my hotel and didn't realize that I was only feet from one of the greatest sights on the planet.  At 18 miles wide and a mile deep the Grand Canyon was carved out millions of years ago by the Colorado River.  It's force, with help from numerous tributaries carved out what over five million people a year come to see.

That morning I woke up with extremely high expectations only to have them easily met and blown away.  I got there around 9:30AM and knew I only had a short amount of time to spend, just like with Bryce.  Of course this also costs $25 to get in but after seeing Bryce I knew it didn't matter.  My first views had an intense "WOW" factor almost laughable that something like this could exist.  I started taking as many pictures as possible with my mini-12mega pixel camera.  As I made my way around it was cool to see how the terrain changed based on my perspective.  I could be taking a picture of the shelf or gorge in front of me, walk 50 feet down the trail and watch that same spot transform into something completely different.

There were of course people from all over the world speaking all kinds of languages.  I made friends with a German couple that was nice enough to take my picture (I suck at taking self-portraits).  I started talking to the husband, who was nice enough to take a couple of pictures at different angles for me, about the game of baseball.  I was all decked out in Red Sox gear (surprise, surprise).  I had my "Wicked big Sox fan" shirt on and he started asking me questions about them and where I was from.  He then proceeded to tell me how he, along with most people in Germany don't like baseball.  They are all "football" people and find baseball to be incredibly boring.  I had to persuade him otherwise as he kept asking me how the game was played, and what a home run meant, and the pitcher, catcher did along with other things.  It was a great conversation to have and even better to see another perspective on my favorite sport.  He said he couldn't believe they'd pay these fat, overweight players millions of dollars when they may not even get the ball the entire game!  I couldn't disagree with him on that.

I moved further down the rim and came across a group being guided by a park ranger that was teaching them about the geology and history of the canyon.  I poked my head in for some of it and it's mind-blowing to think that at one point this ginormous hole in the ground was once filled in before the river came plowing through.  I guess the Colorado River was flowing from a height of 14,000 feet and the canyon is at 7,000 (making it hard to breathe by the way) making it easy for the river to force its way through, taking pieces of Earth with it on its travels.

This was a great experience and would have been even better had I been with someone to experience it with. Not only for picture taking purposes, but being at such an awesome place is something I would like to have shared with somebody.  Either way it is a day I will never forget.  I was only able to spend two hours there and only covered maybe two miles around the rim so I did not see too much, but what I did was worth way more than $25!  I have to make my way back to truly experience what the canyon has to offer such as white-water rafting and hiking tours, etc.  But my time was up and I was absolutely exhausted at this point and just wanted to keep moving forward.  So I got back in my poor, beaten up Focus and finally headed for California.

Speechless!

Ok I'm going to split the end of my trip into a few different entries so you don't get overwhelmed reading.

Denver to Utah to Arizona...the longest, yet most amazing part of my trip.  My eyes have only seen a few sights in the US that have made my mouth just drop; Fenway Park, Long Point, and driving over the 7 mile bridge.  Until this trip I really hadn't seen much of the US, just the entire east coast and inland only to Ohio and no offense PA or OH but you guys aren't bringing much to the table.

These next couple of entries are probably my hardest to write because of the difficulty of putting into words the beauty that I have seen over the last week.  From the second I started seeing the Rocky Mountains as a dark haze encompassing the entire horizon outside Denver until I pulled into my hotel in Arizona I kept seeing sights I never could have imagined.  One of the first sights I stopped at in the rockies was the Summit at 9,150ft and overlooking Lake Dillon.  Here you could see different mountain peaks in the background such as Torrey's Peak (14,267') with this gorgeous lake in the foreground and a bunch of small islands as well.  I made my way through Copper Mountain (if any of you are Jim Carrey fans you will know the significance here) and headed through all kinds of valleys and canyons with rock formations I could only take pictures of to give justice because of how majestic this area is.

I briefly stopped at Glenwood Hot Springs because they have the largest hot spring swimming pool in the world supposedly.  It was pretty cool to see, it was rectangular and packed with people.  There was a lot going on around there with a spa and stuff for the kids. No I didn't go in nor did I creep over and take pictures of it while people were swimming there.  I just drove through the small town to check it out, grabbed a coffee and was on my way.

As I worked my way out of the rockies and into Utah I could start to see the terrain gradually change and even though Utah was very different than Colorado it was just as fascinating a drive.  Utah was the least populated state I drove through.  Outside of the rare rest station there was not much else around in terms of civilization.  The scenery made up for that.  I saw mountains, hills, and dessert that on one hand stood up to the Rocky Mountains but on the other almost made it look like another planet.  There were mountains that reminded me of scales or teeth, others that were smooth, and some that you could see the different sediment layers.

The gameplan was to head to Bryce Canyon first then book it down to the Grand Canyon...next time I'm going to rethink this brilliant plan!  But it doesn't matter now, all that matters is what I was capable of expriencing in such a short amount of time.  Before Bryce Canyon though is Red Canyon and any of you Disney lovers out there will truly appreciate Red Canyon.  If you have ever been on Big Thunder Mountain then you will agree that this is where the inspiration was from (along with Bryce Canyon).  As I drove up that was my initial thought and as I kept driving I eventually came upon a sign that said "Thunder Mountain Trailhead" and immediately laughed aloud.  It's a spitting image!  So Red Canyon, part of Dixie National Forest leads you straight into Bryce Canyon National Park, only $25 to get in!  It doesn't matter if you are there for 3 hours or for the full week, they charge you for the full week pass...donkulous!

Bryce Canyon is filled with colorful limestone "hoodoos" that make up all kinds of uniquely placed spires and arches.  These hoodoos or pillars were painted in all various shades throughout this vast space, once filled in and over millions of years has eroded away into a coliseum of beauty on the eastern edge of southern Utah. I stared speechless and long-removed from the annoyance of a minor $25 entrance fee.  God painted this part of Earth with elegance and grace and wanted people to forget about their troubles and anxieties because here, at this point those things don't matter.

Unfortunately I was on a bit of a time crunch and only spent about an hour walking around.  I'm glad I stopped in though and I will most likely be making another trip back.  I headed towards the south rim of the Grand Canyon.  At this point I hadn't eaten in a while, I was tired and hangry (hungry and angry) and just wanted to get there.  It got dark earlier than I had expected, some time around 7:00 so most of my drive was at night.  At one point I almost handed out my own Darwin award to the moron in black on the side of the road...seriously?!

I arrived at the Grand Canyon around 10:00PM and stayed at the first (and what I'm guessing was the most expensive) hotel right outside the canyon.  It wasn't even part of the hotel but an apartment that they kept.  It wasn't too bad because all I wanted to do was sleep; I had been in the car since 7:00AM Mountain time!  They had a washer/dryer in the apartment so I got to do my laundry and the timing here was perfect because I was running low on everything.  I got a good nights rest and awoke to sights I will never forget.

To be continued...

Not in Boston anymore...

St. Louis...what to say about St. Louis?  It was a very small, clean city but I liked it and would go back in a heartbeat.  I didn't get to see nearly enough of what it offers but I still got a good feel for it.  I left Chicago pretty early, around 7 and got into St. Louis around noon.  I headed straight for the Anheuser-Busch factory to get a tour at 12:15 and it was as expected, huge! After the tour I shot over to Busch Stadium to get a ticket for the Cardinals vs. Cubs game.  I didn't even get out of my car when a scalper came running over to me and sold me a $45 ticket for $20 bucks.  Psyched that I had only been in town for an hour or so and that I'd already seen the brewery and gotten my ticket, I headed to the hotel (thanks Mom!) to check in and get cleaned up a bit.  It was a nice hotel, not uber nice but a pretty cool place with free food and drinks from 5:30-7:00.  Once I cleaned up I went to find some food and ended up finding the best pulled pork sandwich I've ever had (ok 2nd to my Nana's)...so good.  It was the St. Louis Brewhouse, supposedly a historic sports bar.  So I ate and then had to check out the city.  I didn't get too far, just to the arch.  How can you go to St. Louis and NOT go up the arch right?  I have to say it was an impressive sight to see.  It is 630 feet high making it the largest monument in the US.  Going up the arch is not for those that are claustrophobic or scared of heights though.  You have to squeeze 5-6 people in this very small compartment of which there are 8 total making up the entire tram.  It didn't take too long to get up there but it's not moving very fast.  Once you get to the top there are 32 windows allowing you to look out over the Mississippi River and the city.

Once I was done playing around 600' above the ground I went back to the hotel to relax and waited for dinner to be served.  They offered hot dogs, salad, baked potatoes, meatballs, chicken tenders and you were allowed three free drinks.  I ate real quick and headed out to the game.  I didn't have a great seat but it wasn't bad either.  Albert Pujols wasn't playing which was disappointing but it was still great being at a rivalry game, especially as an outsider.  The Cardinals sucked it up big time which surprised a lot of people because Adam Wainwright was on the mound (and on my fantasy team) but he didn't do too well.  They ended up losing 7-2.  It's a very nice stadium though and I highly recommend seeing a game there.

I took my time waking up in the morning because I was only headed to Kansas City (MO), a measly five hour drive.  I grabbed some breakfast, also free, and to my surprise they were serving biscuits and gravy!!!  Woohooo it was definitely my morning.  So I clogged some arteries with a couple biscuits covered in gravy along with sausage and eggs and I'm going to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come!

On my way out I saw my first (and so far only) hitch-hiker and actually found a good radio station.  Heading across Missouri was much different than I had expected.  There was civilization!  It wasn't just corn and flatlands there were plenty of things to do the entire way to Kansas City.  I'm not going to say it was highly urbanized or anything but it was not as desolate as I had ignorantly believed it would have been and there were numerous hills.

I rolled into KC and went straight for the Negro League Baseball Museum which was in the same building as the American Jazz Museum.  I went into the baseball museum first but was not allowed to take pictures, which was too bad because they had some astounding collections.  Not too many people know that a Negro League even existed and most certainly do not realize that some of the greatest baseball players to ever step on a field never played in Major League Baseball such as Josh Gibson, a hitter only comparable to Babe Ruth.  Once Jackie Robinson broke the barrier and more players were allowed to join the MLB the Negro League diminished but the opportunity for equality in baseball had begun.

The Jazz museum showed how jazz grew up in Kansas City, on 18th and Vine.  Next to New Orleans this was the place to be and in Kansas City this is where it all happened.  The museum focused on hometown boy Charlie Parker, but also greats such as Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and of course Louis Armstrong.  It had all kinds of samples from their early works all throughout their careers.  If you ever get to Kansas City, MO please make it over to 18th and Vine.

Of course I had to find food again...so I stumbled upon Arthur Bryant's bbq and had some ribs (outstanding), fries and some cole slaw.  Once I was done spilling bbq sauce all over myself I headed for the Holiday Inn near Kaufmann Stadium, home of the soon to be AAA Kansas City Royals.  It was pouring out, enough that they had to delay the game an hour.  I got down to the stadium around 6:45 and spared the last $7 I had to buy a ticket.  This entire experience was absurd.  $7 to get in, $1/hotdogs and sodas, $6 for a GOOD beer (not bud light), it was Elvis Night (out of control) and there were maybe 5000 people in the entire place.  I sat first row on the right field line of this gorgeous stadium.  It was a good game and Kansas City defeated another monster ball club, the A's with two home runs; one a grand slam and the other a two-run bomb.  Coco Crisp had a nasty catch in center field and there were a few other nice defensive plays.  I got to talking with one of the ushers and realize that's what I want to do when I'm his age.  He gets paid to watch baseball games!  One of these days...but the stadium really is beautiful if you ever get a chance to go.

And now for the fun stuff!  I left Kansas City at 8:00AM and headed through Kansas on my way Denver.  Randomness of the day: While getting gas before heading out this guy asks if I'm from Mass (no I just steal their plates) and it turned out he was from Saco, ME.  What are the chances!  Anyway, I headed out extremely close-minded about driving through Kansas.  I didn't hear any encouraging words about this part of the drive, all I heard was how horrible it was and how there was nothing to see.  So I needed to make my own adventures or else I was never going to make it six hours across this state.  As I read my 1,000 places you need to see in the US/Canada (thanks again Mom) I noticed there were two things I wanted to find.
[MOM DISCLAIMER: I'D SKIP THE KANSAS SECTION SO YOU CAN SLEEP LATER]
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First on my list was the Wizard of Oz museum in Wamego...yeah, that's what I said too.  So I crossed my fingers, texted my sister in case I didn't return so she'd know my last whereabouts, and headed 9 miles out of my way in search of this impressive landmark.  The winding roads led me to the smallest of towns only held together by one of the greatest movies of all time.  My first vision on my left is the Oz wine store (no I didn't but I should have) and then just a bit further down this road with no street lights is the Oz museum.  I got there five minutes before it opened and of course waited!  How could I go through Kansas and not hit up an Oz museum?  Thankfully I was able to take pictures in here because if you are an Oz fan this is the place to be.  There was memorabilia and all kinds of history on Frank L. Baum, the many versions of the book, earlier movies, later movies, sequels; toys, dolls, games, replicas, everything you could think of!  I could have stayed here all day and learned every fact about the movie but instead had to get back on the road and finish my long drive.

The next page in the book that caught my eye was on the Niobrara Chalk formations.  If you've ever driven through Kansas and did not know these existed you never would.  And the only reason I was able to head in the right direction is because I had some help from a good friend back in Boston (thanks DB!)  There were two options, Monument and Castle.  Monument was 20 miles south of I-70 (of which I was currently on) and another six miles from there.  Castle was only 15/5.  I chose Castle.  I was told to "take exit 107 and look for signs."  Well I'm sorry Ace of Base but I did NOT see the sign here.  I got off the exit to a sign that said

<------ Castle Rock Rd. ------>  Awesome!  At least I knew I had to head south so I did so and eventually about a 1/4 mile down the road there was a very beat up sign that said Castle Rock 15 miles south/4 miles East...at least I was heading the right direction.  Another half mile down the road and the pavement turns into a dirt road.  At this point there is a red flag parade telling me to turn around...I'm in a Ford Focus not a Jeep but I said WTF and headed on 14 miles down this dirt road and kept telling myself that I'd go the entire 15 and if I didn't see anything I'd turn back.  Luckily at mile 15 I saw another sign that pointed east 4 miles.  At this point I could visibly see the rocks so I was a bit more comfortable about the whole situation.  Of course those rocks and one farm was all I could see and just like in the movies when you looked down each road all you saw was horizon, it was surreal.

I drove down as close as I could get my beast of a car and walked up to the top of the cliff where I spotted four limestone/chalk formations.  I was still pretty far away so they looked really small and with almost a "that's it" attitude I was kind of disappointed.  The actual rock formations were remarkable because there was nothing around them, I just thought they'd be bigger but like I said I was at least 1/2 mile away.  Thinking that was it I took a few pics (while being attacked by grasshoppers) and turned to head back.  As I was walking down I spied with my little eye more formations on the other side of the cliff.  Now I know everyone comes to this point to see the Castle Rocks but these other formations were way cooler and made this trip worth every ding in my car.  Great times!

It's not Boston, but I've gotta hand it to the mid-west, they've got their own thing going.  It may not be large buildings and historic monuments but at least you get to go on an adventure to find their hidden treasures, you don't follow a painted red line on the street.  So Mizzou and Kansas I give you both a big thumbs up and if I ever decide to drive through again I'll be making my next stop at Monument rocks to compare the two.

Now I sit in Denver, CO (thanks Nick!) and await another very long couple of days.  My last two days before I hit Cali.  I'll be heading through Bryce Canyon (per Em's suggestion) to the Grand Canyon and then to San Diego.  Next time I write I'll probably be in Monterey to catch everyone up on how the trip ended...until then wish me luck on the last leg of my journey and thanks to everyone for your support!

Date/Day: 9/16/10: Day 7
States: 11
Mileage: 2500
Next Stop: Utah
Games Back: 6
Baseball Games: 2

Bueller...

So I don't know how he did it.  Ferris Bueller managed to call out sick, sneak his girlfriend out of school, then take off to the city and go to an art museum, a baseball game, the sears tower and the stock exchange all before his parents got home; ridiculous!  From 10-4 I hauled butt around Chicago and tried to cover as much ground as possible.  My feet were killing me by the end!  And although I did NOT get to see the giant bean (which I was oh so close to) I still saw some cool stuff.

First I headed down Congress St. to Lake "I'm bigger than most bays" Michigan and took some pictures of the fountain and the yachts and such.  I then headed towards the museum area where the Shedd, Field Museum, and Planetarium are.  I only went into the Field Museum because I need an aquarium break right now, this museum was free, and the Planetarium wasn't on the top of my list.  The Field Museum was pretty cool and much larger than I had expected, especially for free admission.  I saw a giant T-Rex named Sue along with many different cultural artifacts from all over the country.

After the museum I walked down to Shedd just to take a look at it and it impressed the heck out of me just from the outside, so one of these days I'll make my way in.  I started towards the Planetarium but decided against it and walked over to Soldiers Field again.  I didn't get too close but within enough distance to take a couple of quick pictures.  From there I headed through Grant Park and worked my way up to the Art Institute of Chicago.

Wow is really all I can say about this place.  I could have literally spent all day admiring the collections in this building.  There were so many pictures, paintings, artifacts, you name it that made your jaw drop.  When you walk through and see the works of Monet, Cezanne, Degas, Van Gogh, Manet, etc...you get chills.  I didn't have nearly enough time to take in every piece but what I did see I was extremely impressed with.  I also did not take very many pictures but I did snap some shots of ones close to home.  William H. Haseltine's Rocks at Nahant, Thomas Doughty's Coming Squall (Nahant Beach with a Summer Shower); and Martin Johnson Heade's Ten Pound Island.  Once the overwhelming feeling left and the anxiety of how I spent way too much time there and won't get to see anything else set in I bolted through the end of the galleries and headed up the street to the Sears Tower...which I came to realize is now the Willis Tower.

The Willis Tower was impressive.  1450 feet high, 110 stories and the tallest building in the western hemisphere so you could feel your ears popping on the way up.  Once you get to the skydeck on the 103rd floor and walk around the corner you are taken away by the view.  You overlook such an amazing city with so much going on, adjacent to a beautiful body of water.  They have some interactive programs, telescopes, and of course the cheesy picture people that charge you your child for a photo.  The coolest part of this experience was standing out on the ledges they have built.  They are glass boxes that extend out about 4 feet and on this floor you are 1350 feet high staring straight down.  As soon as I picked my stomach up off the floor I had a little fun with it and it was a great time.  Once I was done playing around I needed to get some food!

I was only searching for one food item in particular though; a Chicago dog.  I had heard all these stories about how amazing these dogs were and I gotta tell you everyone was right.  I went to a small vendor and told him how I'd heard all about them and asked him what they are all about.  He said everything but ketchup!  I said I'll take two!  They were delicious with all the veggies and hot peppers and I enjoyed every minute of it next to a few homeless people, a lot of pigeons, and a giant eyeball!

At this point I was absolutely exhausted and needed to chill or at least not walk any further.  So I unfortunately skipped out on Millenium Park and the giant bean and all the other cool stuff over that way but I had to go get my car from the garage and head on up to Wrigley Field.  There wasn't a game or a tour but I still go to go up to the north side and check it out.  I started laughing when I started seeing the lights and eventually the bright red sign.  I couldn't believe I was actually driving past such a historic sight.  Once I finally found parking (thank you McDonald's your smoothie was delicious) I got out and took some pics.

I crashed at my friend Shelby and her boyfriend's very nice apartment with a dog that was overly excited to see me!  It was thankfully a must-needed chill night and I got to just relax after dinner and watch some football.  I headed out this morning at 7 and hit up St. Louis around noon.  I'll let you know how today went along with tomorrow's adventure in Kansas City in a couple of days!

3 days in...

I've made it to Chicago!  After finally getting on the road on Friday morning, 10AM I headed for Philly.  The only traffic I hit was in Jersey and that was only because of an accident.  I arrived at my friend Megan's beautiful apartment around 4:00 and eventually once I relaxed for a bit we hit up the city.  As historic a place as Philadelphia is we didn't exactly make our way to the Liberty Bell or Independence Hall, but that doesn't mean we skipped out on ALL of Philly's hotspots.  

After driving around for a bit we made our way downtown looking for some food.  I had only eaten a bagel all day so after my six hour drive I was famished.  We ended up going to McGillin's Old Ale House, Philadelphia's oldest continuously operating tavern.  The first beer was served in 1860 and now for the 150th anniversary they have 150 styles of beer!  I went with their own newly brewed IPA (McGillin's 1860 IPA) and it was pretty damn good.  After chowing down on a burger and some wings we jumped back in the car and headed to the one site I absolutely had to see...the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  I'm sure most of you know where this is heading because we obviously were not going there to see the thousands of beautiful collections they have inside.  No, instead we were there to see only one particular piece outside the museum. 

The Rocky Statue was originally shown in Rocky III as a tribute to the fictitious character.  It remained on the steps briefly until the museum deemed it an ugly "movie prop" and not art and it was moved to the sports arena.  It now resides at the bottom of the steps of the museum and is a huge tourist attraction.  I of course had my picture taken with it.  It is absolutely huge!  It's over 8' tall, bronze and we actually had to briefly wait in line until we could get a picture.   

After my childhood dream of seeing that statue was fulfilled we headed back to her place and relaxed for a bit until it was time to go out.  We ended up at some bar that served 40 oz Miller High Life (truly a classy establishment) but we still had a good time.  We made some new friends and eventually headed out for some late night snacks!  My first true Philly cheese steak was devoured (with way too much hot sauce I must add) at Geno's steaks and it was delicious...wizz and all.  

So that was my Philadelphia experience.  From Philadelphia I took a VERY long nine hour drive to Cincinnati.  I had to stop a couple of times, once to take a quick nap and then eat some food.  Pennsylvania gets bigger every time I drive through it and the number of cows just keeps increasing!  I got to Cincy around 6:00PM and met up with my cousin Chad and his friends at a bar where everyone was watching college football.  Of course they were 98% Buckeye fans, with a couple of Michigan and Irish fans thrown in.  Thankfully I didn't stroll in with any of my Miami or Irish stuff on because it would have made for a long night.  


Chad's friends were a bit out of control but it was a lot of fun and we had a good time.  We went out that night for a bit and sat outside hanging out, catching up and making new friends.  There was also a live band which was pretty good.  The next morning was a big deal because it was the Patriots opening week and they were playing Cincinnati!  Before the game we went to breakfast and then grabbed our cousin Alicia and her fiancé Louie and headed off to a sea of black and orange.  It was awesome!  We ended up finding a corner of the bar that had been reserved by a Pats fan for Pats fans only so that was pretty cool.  

I also got to meet up with Jessie and Zach and one of Jessie's friends who, outside of being a confused Cleveland/Cincy fan was pretty cool and we all had a blast watching the Pats destroy the Bungals!  What a great way to start the season.  Brady looked amazing (having hours in the pocket each play) and Welker looked pretty healthy.  The D looked good in the first half but evidently forgot there are four quarters in the football game...either way, great victory!  After the game Chad, Alicia, Louie and I went for ice cream and Jessie and Zach headed out.  We went to Graeter's, which according to Chad is the greatest ice cream ever.  I thought it was pretty darn good (mint chocoloate chip with jimmies of course) but I think Kimball's still has them beat.


After the ice cream it was time for everyone to head out.  Next stop, Chicago!  It was a quick five hour drive and outside of Garmin telling me to drive around in circles in Indiana just outside of Chicago there were no problems.  I actually made a quick stop in Indianapolis on my way through and got some pictures of their state house and the civil war museum, both of which were extremely impressive.  It was a very clean city and outside of Colts fans would probably be a cool place to hang out.  While driving through Indiana there were hundreds of windmills.  I had never seen so many.  They literally went on for as far as I could see.  You would just see all of these blinking red lights that went on and on for what seemed like forever, it was pretty cool.  


I got into Chicago around 10 and stayed at a hostel (where I'm typing this right now) and I am about to head off and wander around.  I'll let you know how it goes, probably once I've gotten to St. Louis tomorrow night.  I hope all is well with everyone back east, I miss you guys but I'm also having a blast on the road!  Talk soon...


Date/Days:9/13/10; Morning Day 4
States: 9
Mileage: ~ 1180
Next stop: St. Louis 

Goodbyes

"A goodbye isn't painful unless you're never going to say hello again."

Goodbyes are never easy.  It doesn't matter if it's a break-up (good or bad) or you are moving across the country, saying goodbye is always pretty difficult.   A few weeks ago I found out that I got a job at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, in Monterey, CA.   This is obviously a huge deal and an amazing opportunity.  Monterey Bay is arguably the best aquarium in the country and is well-renowned throughout the world.  It will be a great place to work and will open up numerous doors to further my career.


Of course a move of this magnitude stirs up all kinds of emotions.  I am extremely excited to be working at such a prestigious establishment but I'm also nervous to just pick up and move across the country.  And of course I'm leaving behind my friends and family so that saddens me, especially since I do not know a soul in Monterey!


When I left for Florida in 2003 it was easy because I was straight out of college and I didn't need to think about it.  I was young and stupid and didn't want to live in the cold northeast anymore.  I never had a second thought about it...Key West at 22 is a pretty simple decision.  It's a little different now, being old and stupid, but there's more to think about.  I originally contemplated moving to California because I was in love with a girl that wanted to move there.  After a few visits out I absolutely fell in love with the west coast and knew that it was a place I could live on my own if need be, so when we broke up it was still very easy to make the decision to move.  This was a decision for me and my life and wasn't influenced by anybody else in it (such as my move back to New England).  The job, the pay, and the location were all major influences.  I'm also at a point in my life where I can make these types of decisions.  I'm single, not anchored down in any one place, and I'm ready to be starting anew in pretty much every aspect of my life.


So the decision has been made and my time in Massachusetts is almost up.  I'll be off to California soon on a solo road trip across the US and I'm going to take my time exploring this beautiful country.  I can't wait!  I will be stopping at numerous locations to visit some old friends and catch up with people I haven't seen in years.


To all of my friends and family in New England, I love you all and I'll see you later!