The Epic (By Which I Mean Very Long) Conclusion to My East Coast Road Trip Report

Now that I am all settled in (at a friend's house for three-ish weeks until I can move into my place), it's probably time to tell you all about the awesome things I've been doing. I stayed in Virginia until Monday morning (2 July) and then drove all day to Vermont to visit the old pops. I eshewed driving the Jersey Turnpike on the way up and instead took some other highways through Pennsylvania and upstate New York. It was during this drive that I lived a moment of sheer joy, cruising the back highways of Vermont with perfect summer evening weather, the windows rolled down, and singing my heart out to Sarah Evans' "Stronger." Seriously. Bliss.

Vermont is gorgeous. We -- being myself, Pops, and Twerpy Teenage Brother who had spent the previous week with my dad -- spent Tuesday just chilling around the ranch. I went running in the morning, and then there was some lunch in town, and some swimming in the river, and some bike riding. During the aforementioned bike ride I was bitten by a horsefly. My advice: do not get bitten by a horsefly. They are nasty buggers. This one literally drew blood when it bit me and my arm swelled up around the bite and it was sore and itchy, and I still have a little bit of a bump from the bite, though it's finally almost gone.

Wednesday was the 4th of July (as you may recall.) I went on a run in the morning, and then we headed into town for the parade.

Most of the participants were throwing candy, but one threw cheese. Vermont sharp cheddar, YUM!

Bernie Sanders showed up just in time to march in the parade. And he shook my hand.

And here's the cutest kid on a tractor you will ever see.

After the parade we chilled out in the park for a while listening to this band play old timey music that was awesome. This lady was playing a saw:

And then we headed over to a ski resort called Sugarbush for festivities and fireworks. We became somewhat concerned, though, when a huge thunderstorm crawled in later in the evening. I don't know if you can tell from this picture but it was crazy amounts of rain:

Don't worry, though, it cleared up in time for some awesome fireworks:

On Thursday morning, we got all packed up and went to Maine! This was the part of the trip that I had been most looking forward too. Pre-automobile accident, I was scheduled to spend a week camping by myself at Acadia National Park, and I was VERY much looking forward to it. Then my crash got in the way of that, but at least seeing Maine was a priority for me for this trip, so instead, Pops, TTB, and I made reservations at a place called Sagadahoc Bay, which is just south of Georgetown.

I did a TERRIBLE job of taking pictures in Maine. Thursday night was pretty chill: setting up camp, burgers for dinner, campfire, heart to heart sibling bonding talk with TTB. Friday morning I went running, and then TTB and I somehow ended up pretty much by ourselves all day. We spent the morning playing out in the bay as the tide was coming in. Then there was a store run, because we forgot to bring marshmallows. The store happened to have a bit of an ice cream shop so we got Maine Blueberry Ice Cream cones, and BOY HOWDY! were they delicious. Then we found a secluded beachy area and covered the whole thing in silly drawings and stuff. At one point everyone laid down to get their outlines traced, and then the outlines were filled in with BBQ Magician, Lady Sherriff at Bar C Ranch, and an Ancient Mermail. TTB has a very... interesting imagination.

That night we made some yummo pumpkin soup and roasted marshmallows:

As you can tell from the above picture, someone (I) was not careful about using sunscreen at all. TTB also roasted an oreo:

Don't roast oreos. It's not as good as you might think it would be. We left the campground on Saturday morning, and on our way to Boston to drop TTB off at the airport for his flight back home, we stopped at Cape Elizabeth to see the lighthouse:

And of course, we had to have some lobster rolls before we left Maine:

Also, this is why Twerpy Teenage Brother is called that:

(We also sometimes call him Bucktoothed, Nappy Haired Ginger because we're a kind and loving family like that.) After dropping him off, Pops and I spent the night in Rhode Island, so I could run there in the morning and add another state to my collection of States I Have Run In (my new life goal is to run in all 50 before I die). Then we hopped on a ferry in Connecticut to head to Long Island in New York where my Uncle and his family live.

I was once again horrible with the picture taking. Pops and I wandered around Greenport where he grew up and were my Grandma, Great-Grandma, and another uncle are buried. They have a cute little destination downtown so that was fun, and we visited the graves and had a moment of silence. Then we pretty much hung around my uncle's house. Which was fun. I like my uncle and his family a lot. My aunt took me work clothes shopping, and we caught the last couple songs of a concert in the park, and we swam in the pool, and I did quite a bit of reading, and there was pasta and conversation and all kinds of goodness. I'm determined to spend more time with them now that they are much closer to me.

Finally, on Wednesday it was time to head back to Virginia. First, though, my uncle, cousin, her friend, and I headed in to New York City for a quick stop at the Museum of Modern Art. There's a lot of weird stuff in there, but there were also some really cool pieces. This one was one of my favorites:

And here's the city:

I can also add to my collection of experiences from this trip: driving in New York City. It's as crazy insane as you see on TV. I drove down 5th Avenue, and through Times' Square, and all of those downtown-y type areas. And I'm kind of proud of myself because I only got a teeny weeny bit stressy about it.

And now I am officially in Virginia. I start work on Monday, and I have to say that I am ready for it -- six weeks off sounded like WOW! SO MUCH FUN! and it was fun, but I'm ready to spend more than two or three nights in one place and to have a routine and most of all to cook my own meals and have time during which I am neither entertaining nor being entertained. I signed a lease on a sweet condo yesterday, which you will be hearing more about after I move in on the first and second of August. I'm definitely ready for this next chapter in my life.

Adventures Galore

So, I'm still in Northern Virginia. Last night we had this sudden, crazy lightning storm with tornado force winds that knocked out power to a million people. Amy's house was one of the million.

The most important part of the story, though, is that my new car did NOT get hit by falling tree branches.

Anyway, it's been like 100 degrees all day lately. We eventually sought refuge yesterday at a different friends' house, where we spent the night. Still no power today, and our area is on a boil water advisory.

The fun just never ends around here.

Dos and Don'ts of Car Accidents

So I bought a new car. It's a 2006 Chevy Equinox with about 65,000 miles on it. Here are some pictures:

So, now things from the accident are pretty much wrapped up. I still have an August court date so that I can say "listen: epileptic seizure, man" and hopefully get the ticket dismissed, but I'm ready to carry on with my travels. The itinerary has been modified to omit Ohio, sadly, but we're hoping to get everything else in.


Anyway, now that most things are taken care of, I thought I would share with you some dos and don'ts about getting into car accidents. I mean, probably the obvious one is "Don't get into a car accident" because they suck, but if you HAVE to have one, remember:

Don't...

1. ...have your accident in Shallotte, NC during "the season." It is much too small a town to be having an accident in

2. ...have your accident while moving to a city. You end up with entirely too much stuff to move from one car to another.

3. ...have your accident if you don't have a permanent address. I can not emphasize this enough. It is a ridiculous pain in the patookis to obtain financing for a new car, register said new car, or really do anything involving the obtaining of a new car without a permanent address.

4. ...forget to put your vehicle title in the "do not pack" pile. If you follow Don'ts #2 and #3, this won't be a problem, but otherwise, your title will be stuck with your household effects in an inaccessible storage unit and you will either have to order a duplicate title (2-3 weeks) or wait until you move into your house (4-5 weeks) before the insurance company can give you your monies.

5. ...have your accident anywhere near your birthday, because then everyone who finds out it's your birthday soon said "Happy birthday" in an ironic tone, and that's annoying.

Do...

1. ...call the local bishop. Church members love helping out perfect strangers

2. ...accept invitations to dinner. You are likely to make a lovely friend.

3. ...tell everyone you're trying to work with your sob story, that makes them very eager to be particularly helpful.

4. ...hold your ground at the dealership when you are buying your new car. As long as you are not being unreasonable, they will come to your number.

5. ...be grateful that all post-accident things work out more or less smoothly even with the complications from the don'ts mentioned above.

Some Other Things That Have Happened

Since we got all preoccupied with events in Shallotte, I realized that there are some June events that have not been properly documented here, so this is going to be a bit of a potpourri post to bring you up to speed on all noteworthy events in my life. Warning: this will be long. Let us start with the most recent:

Birthday!

I share a birthday with this cutie (who was being a stinker about getting his picture taken, so this is the best one):

He's turning 5. To celebrate our mutual birthdays we went to the Zoo in the morning with some of Erin's friends and their kids. Pretty funzo, but zooing with kids was more work. My best animal shot of the day was this adorable prairie dog:

In the afternoon I had a bunch of scheduled and unscheduled apartment tours planned, so that took a bunch of time (I actually found a place that I kind of love and will be signing a lease soon! Squee!). Then I met up with some of my friends to go see Brave at the Reston Town Center. I had only invited a couple people, but it coincided with a different friends' movie going party, so it ended up being a bit of a to do! I have great friends. After the movie, we went to a cupcake shop called Red Velvet since someone had a Groupon for a dozen free cupcakes and everyone sang happy birthday and we ate yummy cupcakes and it was fun and I felt loved.

Also making me feel loved was the constant jingle of my phone as people phoned and texted and facebooked their happy birthday messages. Thanks for being awesome everyone!

Charleston, SC

Before Ames and I got into our car accident we had actually spent the morning at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens in Charleston. It was a lovely plantation house with I guess, the oldest romantic gardens in the US and also something about the oldest attraction or something, because the owners had opened the gardens to the public Civil War era-ish to keep the house afloat. The house and gardens were lovely and we even were able to do a little boat tour over the rice fields from when it was a rice plantation. Some pictures:

South Carolina REALLY hated my hair. Seriously, it just frizzed even when I tried to straighten it. Boo!

Utah

So even before I was road tripping there was Part 2 of Family Reunioning that happened at the beginning of the month. Actually we all arrived in Utah a few days before the Reunioning part started so Loo and I spent some quality time together. Tuesday afternoon we went shopping and spent time with one of my friends from my early college days, and then on Wednesday, she and I went on a mini road trip up to Rexburg, ID so she could take a fun tour of the BYU-Idaho campus.

I went there back when it was still called Ricks, and holy dude, has it grown. It was fun for both of us -- both the road tripping part and the campus touring part and we did a quick driving tour of Rexburg. Super fun.

Thursday began the actually reunion activities. Thursday night we had dinner and a talent/no talent show, which was fun. I recited the current presidents of Latin American countries. There was also singing and dancing and gardening and flower arranging and guitar playing. And that's fun. Friday we played at a park, and then Saturday was the main event with my Grandma's 80th Birthday party. She doesn't actually turn 80 until December, but who really wants to go to Utah in December?

Saturday morning was a fun 5K run put on by my Aunt's stake and then there was a yummy lunch. Loo and I also snuck off to BYU for another campus tour and also to buy chocolate covered cinnamon bears. Yum! And there was dinner and memory sharing and fun times all around. And also PLENTY of Grandpa's homemade root beer:

 Happy 80th Birthday in 6 months to my Grandma!

Conclusion

So, now you can consider yourself all caught up! I will be hanging around here in Virginia for a few more days, and then to Vermont on Monday (assuming that all goes well with the car buying; I'll know tomorrow what to expect in pay out from the insurance, and that will help me determine what I'm going to buy, but I have my eye on a 2006 Chevy Equinox...). We'll see what happens from there.

Conclusion, Or How We Finally Left Shallotte, NC

Before I fill you in on the rest of our Road Trippin' adventures, I want to take a minute and just be super grateful for my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I mentioned in my last post that we had looked up the number for the local congregation's leadership, and although the bishop did not get back in contact with us in enough time to solve our immediate need of getting from one place to another he did arrange for us to get a ride to church on Sunday. At church, no less than four people offered to let us stay in their home if needed, and particularly one family took up to the store and invited us over for dinner and was just so kind and generous toward us. I was still very shaken up Sunday morning, and some of the brothers gave me a priesthood blessing, and just being at church in general was very soothing. It was one of those moments when I was like, "Even if the Church totally is a giant fraud, if it produces people like this, I want to be a part of it." So even though I don't know that I will ever feel fondly toward Shallotte, NC, I will always have a fond part of my heart for the Shallotte Ward.

Anyway. We took it easy on Sunday -- we went to church and then we sat in the hot tub for a while, which felt SOOOOOO good. I spent a bit of time on the phone cancelling reservations and talking with friends, we laid down for a bit, and then we went for spaghetti dinner at S's house. She and her husband were just absolutely delightful. An example, the spaghetti had both meatball and just beef chunks in it. When I mentioned that I particularly enjoyed that, her husband, totally straight faced, says "It's raccoon." He was kidding, but that's pretty funny. We had a long wonderful conversation, and S had even done our laundry for us, since we were only packed for a few days.

Monday morning we discovered that one of the two rental car places in Shallotte no longer existed and the other wouldn't allow us to do a one-way rental, which meant we would have to go up to the airport in Wilmington, NC which is about 45 minutes away. Luckily, the previous evening S had offered to drive us up there, which, again, was just incredibly generous. If we had known we would have to rent from Wilmington, we could have left on Sunday, but I don't know how we would have gotten up there; spending the day with S meant that we didn't have to feel as bad about asking her to take an hour and a half out of her day to take us there.

I had to be "that person" with the rental agency because they first assigned us to a Mazda 3, and a.) I kind of hate that car, b.) the trunk is really, really curvy so there was no way the bike rack was going to fit on it, so I had to be all "I'm sorry, I need you to give me a different model of car." We ended up with a Toyota Corolla which wasn't terrible. Then we had to drive back to Shallotte to unload my car and pack the rental, which was hot work at 11:00 am. We were super hungry, so stopped for lunch before heading out and finally got underway around 1pm. We had planned to try and salvage the road trippiness, but by then, both of us were ready to just be done, so we basically headed home in a straight shot, though we did stop for an hour or so for dinner at this Italian place near Richmond, VA where I had an incredibly delicious red pepper bisque.

We made it to Amy's house around 8:30 pm. For the moment, I'm planning on staying here until probably Sunday while I figure the car thing out and celebrate my birthday with friends and stuff. Then I'm hoping to still see my dad, my uncle, and Maine. A lot will depend on $$, since crashing your car is not a cheap thing to do. And, for all of you who are wondering, here are a couple pictures of the damage:

The appraiser called yesterday and said he's planning on totaling the car for sure, which means its car shopping time for me! Ugh. Anyone have any recommendations on what I should get?

Safe and Sound

More details will be coming later, but in case any of you are worried, Ames and I made it to Virginia around 8:30 pm.

I think I'm done driving for a bit, but I'll keep you posted.

Everybody is Fine, or Why We Are Still in Shallotte, NC

Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, Amy and I were driving in North Carolina. Actually, we'd only been in North Carolina a few miles when we were joined by a red van. The van was going below the speed limit by quite a bit, so at the first safe opportunity I passed him. Not very long later, the van suddenly sped up, and cut in front of us, then slowed down substantially again. Then the van started driving in the middle of the road, and I turned to Amy and said "We've got to get away from this guy." About that time, their emergency lights went on and the van started moving as though it were going to pull off on the right. Then it didn't. The driver pulled back into my lane and slammed on his brakes coming to a dead stop. I didn't have time to bring my car to a stop, despite valiant efforts, and we collided.

EVERYONE IS FINE. Seat belts and airbags and crumpley hoods did their job, and aside from a seatbelt bruise and sore muscles, I am unscathed. Amy fared a bit worse. She was not wearing shoes and the passenger airbag shattered the windshield and she cut a toe or two on the glass getting out. Everyone in the other car was also fine...

...Except for the driver's epileptic seizure. Which is why he slammed on the gas and then the brakes. Anyway, I feel like I did everything I could to avoid the accident -- I was TRYING to put distance between us -- but I was still cited for failure to brake.

The car is not fine. I mentioned the shattered windshield. The hood is pretty bashed in, the passenger door won't open and we left a lot of fluid on the highway. Which brings us to the other, and possibly more traumatic part of our tale.

So we called 911, who arrived pretty quickly, and the took more than an hour filling out reports and things. There was a Days Inn up the road, so Ames and I figured we'd get a hotel and stay the night, rent a car and be gone by morning. That is not what happened. What happened was when we asked the girl at the front desk if there were any rooms available she told us no. That was so unexpected that I thought she was messing with us, but for reals, there were no rooms available at that hotel or at any of the other three hotels in town. Apparently, its the beginning of "the season" and there was not a room to be found in Shallotte, NC. (In case you were wondering, that's pronounced sha-LOTE rhymes with goat.)

No worries! We thought, and decided that we would just rent a car and drive to Wilmington, a mere 30 miles to the north. That is not what happened. What happened was there are TWO rental car companies in Shallotte, NC, neither of which was open. One closes at noon on Saturday, and the other is just closed on Saturday. Our accident was at 5, so both those options were out. And to make the story even MORE fun, both companies are also closed on Sunday.

So, we found a resort with rooms available at a reasonable enough price about 10 miles away in Sunset Beach, NC. And decided we would call a taxi to get there. That is not what happened. What happen was I called no less than four taxi companies without success -- they we either closed or too far away. We had the brilliant idea of calling the local bishop (the leader of our church congregations) and got his, his councelors', and the stake president's number from my branch president. No one was home. Finally, we were recommended to a designated driver service who was able to take us out to our resort.

Amy and I had decided that once we had checked in, we would find a nearby restaurant and eat, since it was now almost 8:30p, and we were super hungry. That is not what happened. What happened was that the resort we're staying in is closer in spirit to a country club golf course, and there's no food nearby. Also, our Orbitz reservation was slow getting entered and checking into the room took forever.

Finally, however, we made it to our room (around 9:10pm) and got a pizza delivered (around 9:30pm. I was so excited I gave the delivery guy a $20 tip). The local bishop did call back, amd someone is picking us up for church today, which is nice, and so far it looks like we'll get out of here tomorrow. This does, however, put a major kink in my travel plans, so I'm kind of playing it by ear now.

Fingers crossed that I can get things figured out smoothly and quickly.

The More North You Go, the More Southern it Gets

Day two of Amy & Jules's Road Trip started early with a run. It was nice. An easy two miles along the little state highway our hotel was on. And it was nice to get the body moving after a day in the car. After breakfast and showers and such, we headed over to the Kennedy Space Center. Which is still awesome. In the, like, literal sense of inspiring awe. Because, um, we send things into SPACE! People, vehicles, robots...

(The robot-y narrator for this particular tour no less than for times declared in a declareful voice "Robot Scouts! Trailblazers for HUMAN EXPORAAAAATIOOOOON!" It was super cool.)

And there were Vehicle Assembly Buildings and Launch Pads and crawlers and a Saturn V rocket:

AND you can still touch a moon rock, which, as you can tell in the picture below, is VERY exciting:

After the Space Center, and a super fast lunch, we headed north again. We (finally) left Florida (it's a LOOOOOOOONG state). Not long after getting into Georgia we started seeing signs for a road side peaches stand, and obviously had to stop:

With delicious peaches and some way super yummy peach bread to tide us over til dinner we kept on driving until we got to Savannah, GA for dinner and river walking. Dinner, unfortunately was subpar. While we each enjoyed several of the elements of what was for dinner (fried pickles, the hot bread and cheese, the grouper, the salad) as a whole neither of us was really craving the heavy, grease-laden fest that is southern cooking and walked away feeling full, but not really satisfied. Oh well. You win some, you lose some.

The river walk, though not as lovely as San Antonio's, was still quite charming, and I think we didn't make it quite all the way down to the really charming part, since we got quite distracted by a local artists coop and a store called Fine Things Under $20 where Amy bought a belt and a purse, and I got some sweet shades.

We decided that we liked Savannah and would like to go back and spend more time there, but unfortunately, we had miles still to go.

We were pleased that they mostly involved a smaller state highway again instead of I-95 which is fast and straight, but also less interesting than the side highways. Amy swears that she saw a dude wrestling an alligator just off the road, but since I did not witness said wrestling, I cannot vouch for the accuracy of that tale. There was also a point at which we were on GA-17 North and GA-21 South at the same time (while heading east of course).

We are currently getting ready for bed in our Charleston, SC hotel, at which there is a lot of front porch sitting happening. Some lady, in fact, is sitting right outside our window explaining how to cook crawdad's or some such and it's totally making me laugh (though in a bit when I'll be wanting to sleep I'm sure I'll be less amused.)

Tomorrow we'll be exploring Charleston a bit and then continuing our trek.

Remember That One Time...

THAT I WENT SWIMMING WITH THE DOLPHINS!?!

Because, it was awesome. My friend Amy Lou flew down to Key West to help me make the loooooooong drive up to Virginia, and we decided that as long as we were on the road, we would Road Trip (with the capital letters.) Our first stop today was Theater of the Sea, which I have driven past probably a million bajillion times but never been to. And you know what you can do there? SWIM WITH DOLPHINS!!!

We are ready to swim with dolphins.

Holding on for dear life. Skipper was FAST!

Dolphin kisses! Skipper left a tender spot of my cheek -- those rostrums are HARD! Nikki was much gentler with Amy.

No, for reals, we swam with dolphins.

At Theater of the Sea, there's also a dolphin show, a sea lion show and a parrot show. I kind of stopped taking pictures, but here's one of a parrot walking on a barrel. I kid you not. Also, one of the parrots did math. Also, not kidding. He added 4 to 7, and then took away 3 from 11. My mind <--- blown.

The lady was telling people to be careful about buying parrots because it's like committing to having a loud, messy, manipulative, 3-year-old in your house for the next 50 years. It kind of reminded me of the time when my mom used to raise parrots and we had one called Sammy who would go around squawking "Mooooooom!" just like a three year old.

Anyway, after that we drove a long time and now we're hotelling in Titusville, FL. But not after a tasty soul dinner and the restaurant with the best name in at least a 30 mile radius:

Yummy oxtail and fried okra and collards for me. Fried chicken, green beans, and cole slaw for Ames. And this way yummo sweet potato cake thing that I'm determined to replicate at home somehow. We were both doing the Happy Tummy Dance by the time we were done.

And right the very minute, we are heading to bed because we have more big adventures ahead. 'Night, y'all!

Official

Left Key West for the last time this morning. Adventures await.

Tahoe Family Weekend

Tahoe was the first part of a two part family vacation, with just Mom, the siblings, and I. We rented a nice cabin in South Lake Tahoe, with a lovely view of the Lake:

My trip started with a long flight to Utah and then the long drive with Bearded Brother, Married Sister, and Niece. Who, by the way, is adorable.

Bearded Brother decided to rock the 50, which is a long, lonely, twisty, slow road. We enjoyed it, but it took pretty much all day. Totally worth it for the chance to see Nephew for the first time since he was three months old:

We took vacation slow. I was up early several days and went out for morning runs, which metaphorically killed me between the altitude and the hills. Breakfast was usually around 10 or 11 am breakfasts and short early afternoon activities. On Friday we went on a bit of a hike, found a pond and sat around for a while:

Saturday we went to a mansion called Vikingsholm in Emerald Bay. Used to belong to rich old lady who thought the bay looked like Scandanavian fjords and went on a trip to Norway for design inspiration. Any pieces that she couldn't buy, she had replicated down to the last scratch. It was pretty cool, actually.

We are going to take a moment here and talk about the yummy, yummy food that we ate. The AAA's (Boat Brother, Sister-in-law, and Nephew) made a fantastic butter-garlic pizza with loads of squash and chicken and onion. I made my very favorite kale and sweet potato enchiladas. Bearded Brother grilled up some yummy tri-tip with homemade barbeque sauce. There were swedish pancakes and ice cream and milk and oreos, and chicken and waffles. If there's one thing the Lindgren's know how to do, it's eat well.

Anyway, then on Sunday we hung around the cabin, walked around down town, and took family pictures. It was lovely and relaxing.

On Sunday night we had a Celebrate Everybody's Birthday party with white elephant gifts, cake, and cookies. In a fun, weird how things turn out turn of events, the gifts all ended up with the person the gift giver thought would appreciate them the most.

It was really nice to get everyone together. I think it's been a good 4 years since all six siblings were in the same room, and I'm happy to say that those four years worked wonders on family dynamics, if you know what I mean. ;-)

Monday we said goodbye to Nephew, Boat Brother and Sister-in-Law, and the rest of us headed back to Utah for Family Vacation Part 2.