TravelStream™ news feed for member travelchiz on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/travelchiz en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:43:28 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelchiz/1/1218832800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelchiz/1/1218832800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/travelchiz/1/1218832800/tpod.html Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:43:28 -0400 Westward or Bust- Cait and Chris head to the Westcoast.

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Bellingham, Washington, United States

So we made it to Bellingham. While the road is behind us, the adventure is just beginning. Chris and Vesla's wedding party is tomorrow and I'm sure we'll get up some photos for your viewing pleasure. In the mean time wish us luck finding an apt and getting life back to normal.More to come.
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Moose, Wyoming, United States

After a night on rocky ground, made much longer by the flapping and scratching of our backcountry permit, like some deranged predatory squid on the roof of our tent, we headed back towards the car. These are some things we saw along the way.
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Moose, Wyoming, United States

Caitlin Loves Camping!Did you know that?She didn't.
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Moose, Wyoming, United States

So we've done our research, and a mostly reputable source (Lonely Planet) brings us terrible news. Proud, patriotic Americans that we are, we've somehow let three (or so) Frenchmen, and dead ones at that, name one of our most beautiful national parks the Big Tit. Or Teat. Or something similarly immoral and UnAmerican.I haven't the words to do this nipple-topped park justice, so what follows is something of a photo-essay of Day One. Arrival, Dawn in Grand Teton National ParkThe Great Lady.0630 MST: Caitlin, and Park Permits.Mr. Car Visits Moose.Q: You know why a dead tree's better than an accordion?A: It burns longer!Mr. Car makes a friend.Beauty Small (pink flowers)And Large.
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Moose, Wyoming, United States

Dear All,Denver and Boulder were wonderful, thanks to good food, beautiful, wide-open skies, plenty to do, and, above all else, good friends. Thanks. That said, it's been a while since denver, and even since <i>lovely Riverton. I'll bring this to a close, and move on to the next entry.Love,Chris
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Riverton, Wyoming, United States

We slept here. For 4 1/2 hours.
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Boulder, Colorado, United States

Here's our first Mountain Time entry...Its Caitlin, and my experience when something like this. After a night in Wichita, following 10 hours in the car we began another 10 hours to Denver. We woke up early, taking time to stop in antique stores, and look around at the Kansas landscape, which is flat and dry and the color of the "flesh" crayon we got as kids. At our second antique destination Chris found a new love. That love being at $250 bass accordion. I called my dad, former accordion player, to tell him about our newest purchase and he wanted to know if Chris had asked me if adding an enormous accordion to our already packed car was ok, and I said yes he had and I had said "yes". My dad then asked why i had said yes. I explained that when Chris asked me earlier on the trip if he could buy an accordion if he found one, I said yes because I NEVER in a MILLION years believed he would find one, and in that moment, when I said yes, I of course doomed myself and all of our friends to a summer of beginners accordion. But its not so bad. He "plays for me" all the time. Plus, My Polka is will be perfected by the time I reach the west coast.Now to address the title of this entry. Preamble: I'm allergic to everything. Mostly cats, sometimes cherries, sometimes dogs. I've had reasonably good luck with dogs....Last night we arrived in Denver with plans to met up with Dan Sherman, Chris' freshman roommate from SUNY. When we called Dan from Kansas he was "all about" dinner, cause he "loves" us "kids". Yet by the time he reached Denver Dan was no where to be found. Hungry, tired, and not in anyway willing to be in the car any longer we set about calling Chris' friend Nic, who's place we were crashing at. She didn't pick up. So we tried Nic's roommate Jackie, and she picked up and said C'mon over... And we did just that, only to arrive to a small apartment with a large wolf, i mean dog. My nose started clogging, my throat scratching, my eyes watering. I caved in and took some allergy medication. My nose cleared, my throat soothed, my eyes dried and everywhere the dog had licked me started to hive. I tried to play it cool. Yet the deep cleansing breath path seemed ill advised. And when I discovered that we were sleeping on an air mattress on the floor it was too hard to fight off images of a lick and hive covered face the following morning. I asked Chris to apologize for us and we headed back out into the Denver night to stay at Dan Sherman's, who had by this time left 8 missed called on both our phones. We arrived at Dan's close to midnight and he insisted that we help him set up his 52'' LCD flat Screen TV. I don't really know what happened, I feel asleep....This morning we enjoy donuts from LaMars and Lunch at illegal Pete's and the rest of the time sat in the park, me reading, chris knitting. In the afternoon we set out for Boulder, arriving only to discover that a hose leading to our coolant system had burst and that there wasn't any coolant left in the car. As we stood outside reading our 99 chevy malibu manual a dog came trotting over to us, no leash, no human companion. Chris gave the dog a stern "NO!" and the dog turned around, tail between its legs and walked out into traffic where it was almost run over. Moments later a guy pulled up, ran into traffic, grabbed the dog pulled it off the road and called the number on its collar. Long story short the owner of the dog came and got it and all was well. We decided to go inside an call AAA, only to discover that our host has recently acquired an accordion. Wouldn't that be funny? Really, she had recently acquired a dog...Wish me luck everyone, and send benedryl....
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Memphis, Tennessee, United States

And now for a very little comedy:You know what the best thing about Memphis is? Making it out alive! ha ha haa....Really, folks. Heh. Memphis was a doll. A well-loved, dragged along-the-ground-and-then-thenderly-chewed-on, crusty-about-the-edges kind of doll. Everyone we spoke with was sweet, well-intentioned, perhaps a little worn down, but with their heart in the right place. A few of them told us what not to do if we wanted to survive memphis. Like not ride our bicycles to Beal street, lest they disappear from under our noses. Or, should we desire to make it out alive, to <i>stay near people!All that said, we were treated very well, ate a wonderful meal, and had a really decent night on the town. This morning brought us back across the muddy mississippi, mother to all things in this part of the country. (on a side note, when asked what the relationship was like between the citizens of Memphis and the great river, one of said citizens responded, "We don't do much with it. We're the only major city on the river that hasn't really taken advantage of it." All the tourists visit Mud Island, though...) So we crossed the mighty Mississippi, like the Shenandoah before, and the Arkansas after, and drove onwards, through hills, and heat, and dry, flat, cow country. Today's wildlife was mostly defunct. Moths passed on. Deer ceased to be. Possums expired. A rat bereft of life. Flies and things pushin' up the daisies. A gopher what's shuffled of this mortal coil, run down the curtain, and joined the bleedin' choir invisible. And two ex-armadillos. Caitlin, adorable as she is, found us a spot of internet access, while I rustled us up some free cookies, and we established temporary residence for the evening, at a motel in Witchita, KS. Seems they took out everything between the K and the S. Says our hotel receptionist, "Even the locals think it's boring here." The room did come with free bowling, though...Sleep tight, Chris
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Memphis, Tennessee, United States

Graceland really started with an eleven hour drive from Asheville. Asheville, by the way is lovely place, and the Waffle House makes outstanding grits. Also we were able to attend the 26th Annual Quilt Show, which made me want to whip out my sewing machine. But enough about this. Our commitment to Elvis (and Paul Simon) dictated that we needed at least a whole day in Memphis and therefore set out on an eleven hour drive. This morning we woke up in West Memphis, which is really in Arkansas, bought our tickets to Graceland for $28.50 a head began our tour. The tour included the Graceland Mansion, which Elvis purchases when he was 22. I'm 22. I don't own a mansion. My favorite part of the house was Elvis' TV room which has yellow vinyl walls and navy blue couches, along with his signature TCB lighting bolt. There was also his pool room, where all the walls and the ceiling are covered with 350 yards of pleated fabric. We also toured the Elvis Car Museum , "Sincerely Elvis" which was basically a collection of his Jumpsuits (this really impressed me because all the decoration on them is handwork), as well as "Lisa Marie: The airplane", which has Gold Sinks and Gold Seatbelt buckles. I was surprised not to see any intense Elvis Fans. No one cried at his grave. No one showed up in costume. No reported Elvis sightings. Nothing. Mostly the people on the tour were people quietly looking at the wealth and vanity of it all. After the tour we checked into our hotel. The Artisan. Which is an amazing combination of faux paris art deco and country manners. There are enormous van gogh paintings hanging from the ceiling. It hit 105 degrees today, so Chris and I were more than happy to swim in their pool before out night out on Beale Street. Beale St, once the home of Blues is now a little like walking down Austin st or Lark St. A lot of Bars, some funny gift shops. But we found a place called the Boogie Rum Cafe and ate red beans and rice and fried pickles, and listened to some pretty good live blues. Sorry I don't have more detail right now, but Its kinda late and we have another ten hours on the road tomorrow to Kansas. Any suggestions for a good time in Kansas, anyone.
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Asheville, North Carolina, United States

This morning we awoke, creaky but warm, and surprisingly dry, in our sleeping bags. The camp site was a beautiful one on Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park, and the tent, though pitched in the dark, had landed neatly in a mine-field of slimy fungi, without touching one. Our day was populated by friendly deer, suicidal butterflies, southern twangs, mountain laurel, oak trees in many colors, a creaky bumper, some very serious rustling in the undergrowth, backaches, poultry the size of your torso, glass bottles full of sugar syrup, caramel color, and twenty-three flavors, and one small black bear. If ever given the opportunity, drive the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is both drive and destination, and even after fourteen hours on it, I would choose it's sinuous shade over the highway in a heartbeat. We are now camped out in a very normal motel outside of Asheville, N.C., have places lined up for the next two nights, and I am staying awake to send this message out into the void, while Caitlin prepares herself for tomorrow's event: It's a sprint, and we're calling it "10 hours to Memphis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"Intensive testing on focus groups and small rodents show that exclamation points make things more exciting. We're excited.Chris
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