Nowhere Nerds

Back to the Grind: A Retail Life

2010-10-05T13:59:00.000-04:00

It is amazing to me, thinking about how things have changed from pre-trip to post-trip. We really did alter our thinking and things are starting to finally move forward. Matt is currently working two part time jobs and I have a part time job of my own as well. We were looking for full time, but those are hard to come by right now. All three jobs are in retail, a field I at least thought I was well done with.

But something interesting happened when I started work. I realized that I had sort of missed the bookstore grind. I missed running around, lifting heavy books, helping customers, setting up displays, and being aware of all the new and interesting books being published. When I get home I feel tired and accomplished. I'm getting more of a workout than I have in a year and I am happy with this job right now. Everything is far from perfect, but at least we are on our way and moving forward.

What about you unemployed folks out there? Would you go back to retail?

Camping Gear: Food Box

2010-09-08T12:21:00.000-04:00

Green Lakes

This past weekend Matt and I went camping at Green Lakes State Park in upstate New York and spent a day or two at the New York State Fair. It was a beautiful Fall weather type weekend and we loved every minute. When we weren't munching deep fried deliciousness or walking around the beautiful Green Lakes themselves, we were chilling at our campsite where we welcomed a new member to our collection of camping gear: a food box.

our new old food box!

Growing up camping with my parents we always had two homemade boxes, one for food and one for cooking stuff. I asked my dad to make us one for my birthday this year and he dug out my his first box and gave it a fresh coat of paint for it's new owners.

Last September Matt and I went camping and shoved everything into one container. Finding anything was a hassle, especially smaller items like forks and spoons, and we never knew if we had everything because it was all buried. The food box is a wonderful solution and I love it.

Here are just a few from the state fair, more details can be read at my fallenpeach blog.

Midway Madness

Performer

Busy Busy Busy

2010-08-25T09:14:00.000-04:00

I apologize for not following up on this blog more closely to our return. I intended to, but things got crazy and more focused on fallenpeach. We had a huge craft fair to prep for and I'm still working on setting up a "show" for my photography in a local eatery.

But back to Nowhere Nerds. My article about our trip (written pre-trip) has been published in the new online magazine Joie - please go read it and read the rest of the great magazine while you are at it! My article talks about what I had hoped to get from the trip and why we were taking it to begin with. And I must concur that the Away We Go roadtrip had close to it's desired effect.

When we returned from our adventures, we both had to settle down and get some things out of the way. Bills and other things that were waiting us when we returned. After about a week things started to make their way back to normal - but with slight differences.

One difference is that we realized that maybe we should focus on non-industry jobs for a while. I was very actively seeking graphic design jobs before we left, and although I had a few interviews last Winter - the market had pretty much become dry. It was hard for me, pre-trip, to think about what else I could possibly do to get a job. I had tried agencies, looking for design work, photo work and theater work.

When I returned I set my priorities and realized that I needed SOMETHING. My unemployment was on the verge of running out (although a new law extended it for just a little longer) and so I turned to what I know best after design: bookstores. Within weeks of returning I had cold called 30 plus bookstores throughout Connecticut looking for a job. Several said to come in and apply but that they weren't hiring, one said they were hiring. I applied but too late, the job was already gone because they had been interviewing while I applied. I'm continuing to work on this approach, but come September I'll try something new - maybe an art store or something similar.

I suppose you can say I've lowered my standards for a job. But, my theory is that if I work retail again (something I never thought I would go back to) I can also work on building my business and more importantly I can have a steady income again that will allow me to live my own life for a while. The economy is not healthy and if I can't get a job making the amount I should be making at this point in my life (which is a whole nother discussion - what we grow up thinking our lives will be and what they end up being) I must get a job that will be steady - retail or no.

The moral of the story? Take a trip, it doesn't have to be as long as ours, and when you come back re-evaluate what is most important to you - that job of your dreams or a steady income - and work towards your goals not some job.

What about you? How do you deal with this economy? Are you unemployed as well?

Traveler's Rest SC to Ashland VA to HOME

2010-07-14T08:26:00.000-04:00

We started the second to last day of our adventure with a trip to our last Roadside Attraction of said adventure: South of the Border. For the uninitiated, South of the Border is a mini city of craziness on the North Carolina / South Carolina border. It looked like they had put a fresh coat of paint on everything since the last time I had been there, but it still gave me a weird feeling. I can't really describe it, the place just gives off an odd feeling and most people wander around baffled.

There is a giant sombrero ride, tacky ' Mexican Shop's ', plastic oddly colored animals, a campground, a motel, food courts, and a variety of other shops and madness. It's an experience. And getting there is also an experience as there are billboards for it like every mile for a long long time coming from either direction.

After a quick mediocre lunch there, we kept going to Raleigh North Carolina where we just missed a friend of mine. We had to keep moving, but someday we'll catch up with her. Eventually we stopped in Ashland Virginia and crashed for the night. We took a swim in the pool, which was okay but not great (a few too many dead bugs for me) and I was able to make a few of these blog entries live.

The next day we drove home to Connecticut and our adventure came to a close.

I'll be updating this blog with more of our adventures, when we have them, but I'm also going to begin work on the book I'd like to write about this adventure. Please keep visiting as I may put some of my more personal thoughts about this adventure up here soon.

Point South SC to Charleston SC to Traveler's Rest SC

2010-07-13T09:40:00.000-04:00

Knowing it was a short day allowed us to sleep in and enjoy our morning. It was nice to just sit at the camp table for a little while, even if the blog post I was trying to write wouldn't post to the internet.

I drove us the short distance to Charleston, South Carolina, practically bouncing in my seat. Charleston is, I believe, my favorite city in the USA. Or my favorite city that I have been to. My first trip was years ago, I went with a friend to see the last three concerts of the band Jump, Little Children (Charleston natives). The concerts were incredible, but in the meantime we wandered the city and both fell in love with it. I went back with two other friends and spent half the week in Savannah and half the week in Charleston and fell in love again.

Something about the old buildings, palm trees, cobblestone streets and GAS LAMPS (!) just makes me happy. Marion Square was holding a Farmer's Market/Craft Fair that morning and we went there first, looking at the photos and crafts and debating the crepes. Then we walked the other direction towards the water and stopped to eat at Sticky Fingers. Delicious.

Completely full from lunch, we walked to the water where I dipped my toes into the Pineapple Fountain and we blocked our cameras from the spray of water from the fountains the kids were playing in. It was nice and calming just to walk and hold hands and take photos and enjoy ourselves.

Next we went to Market Street and looked at the crafts and wares, some local shops and finally had dessert at Kaminsky's. A dessert place, Kaminsky's only serves desserts, alcohol, and specialty drinks that combine both. Matt had a piece of chocolate chip cherry pie and I had two small desserts - one orange creamsicle and one chocolate and white chocolate mousse. So so delicious.

Now truly stuffed we walked back to our car and drove to my friend Beck's house in Traveler's Rest SC. There we visited and watched movie trailers, chatted about movies and jobs and trips, played with the dog and relaxed. We spent the next day chilling and doing much of the same. We also took time to spray paint our mascots... which backfired. Turns out you need to prime them first or they stay sticky.

The second day in Traveler's Rest was the Fourth of July and we stayed for a second night to go see fireworks and delay the trip home and visit more. The above photo was taken with light refraction glasses held in front of the camera lens. It does some really cool things to the fireworks.

Amicalola Falls GA to Savannah GA to South Point SC

2010-07-13T09:19:00.000-04:00

The closer we got to Savannah the more the clouds made room for blue skies. Savannah is one of those cities that I really should spend more time in. I've been there three times, but never for more than a couple days -and usually just for a couple hours.

I love the weeping willows lining the streets and the cute little coffee shops and the pirate city by the riverfront complete with hearse ghost tours and real trolleys. A lot of Savannah, though, is business-like and not very touristy. It's a strange place, but I like it.

I took Matt to Moon River Brewery for a late lunch, a place that my friends and I had liked so much last time we ate there more than once over two or three days. The food was delicious as I remembered and we even tried an awesome appetizer featuring sweet potato fries and a vanilla frosting like dip.

We wandered the windy riverfront and ducked into touristy shops galore. There were so many galleries to look in, we kept getting distracted with the art. Some of it was well known and some more local, all of it great to look at and be inspired by. Then met up with my friend Melanie and wandered a little farther into the city. There is a street that reminds me of Quincy Market (only because it is open only to foot traffic) that we wandered down and we passed by Paula Deen's restaurant (and the ridiculous line to get in) as well. Unfortunately, things were starting to close so we headed out and towards the KOA an hour away.

At the KOA we were pleased to find out that our tent wasn't as wet as we thought and that it would definitely dry for the next day. We also had a really successful fire, I think our first of the trip, and it was a good night.

Columbia MO to Dawsonville Georgia

2010-07-12T13:04:00.000-04:00

Our morning at the Days Inn started as badly as it had been good the night before. Does that make any sense? I woke from a bad dream, a little later than planned and we went to breakfast. The woman working the room was angry and surly, the rest of the people eating breakfast were quiet and nervous seeming. Everyone else at the hotel was so nice that it was a bizarre way to open the day.

From there the drive was okay, but a bit hectic. We made sure to keep laughing, but I think we were both tired and cranky. We drove through a lot of states to get to Georgia and somehow managed to arrive just around sunset. We camped at Amicalola Falls in the mountains of Georgia where the Appalachian Trail begins.

Matt had trouble building a fire because he only had small and large wood but nothing in between to keep everything balanced. Finally the fire started to get big enough to cook on, and that is when the sprinkling rain began. We had just enough time to cook one hot dog each before the downpour started. We ate in the car in silence and then moved into the tent. Listening to the rain we both started thinking about how we would be packing up a wet tent and just got a little more frustrated.

The rain slowed down and we walked to the bathroom feeling a little hopeful that maybe the rain was done and we would get a nice breeze to air out the tent. When we got back we noticed that the water pump at our site was dripping water. Matt was able to get it to stop, but then he pumped it and a fresh flow of water began.. and didn't seem to want to slow down or stop. We called the lodge and they sent someone to fix the pump and we crashed for the night.

It rained even more as we slept, but was simply foggy when we woke. Breakfast was delicious at the Lodge, but as soon as we had packed everything up (wet tent and all) the rain started again. We were unable to really see the mountains because of fog, so we just drove to our next destination. I think this was the only day I didn't take any photos. Someday we'll go back, I think.

I promise that our next few days were much much better than these past couple. Stay tuned!

Clearfield UT to Colby Kansas to Columbia Missouri

2010-07-12T09:43:00.000-04:00

Part 1: Utah to Kansas

We drove a lot on this part of the trip with little stopping. We wanted to get as far as possible because we knew we would be crossing mostly states we had seen before. We drove through the beautiful Rockies again, a lot of Wyoming and then went south into Colorado. Unfortunately, we drove through the corn field part of Colorado instead of the mountains. Some day I want to go back and visit Boulder.

Through a lot of Colorado I napped. I was so incredibly exhausted that I just couldn't help it. Napping made me more refreshed and felt good.

In Colby, a smallish town, we were surprised to discover that the Days Inn we had planned on staying at was full except for one smoking room. We ended up at the Super 8 down the road, in a decent enough room with supposed working internet. It didn't work. I brought the netbook to the office and they fixed it, but it was so slow that it wasn't even really worth using.

We slept well though, and overslept a bit because we knew we had a short day ahead of us.

Part 2: Colby Kansas to Columbia Missouri

One of the first slightly strange billboards we saw upon leaving the hotel was an ad for a store proclaiming that it was the SECOND FRIENDLIEST YARN STORE IN THE UNIVERSE! This billboard raised a lot of questions for me. Why the second friendliest? Who is the first? Why wouldn't you just say you were the first? And - the Universe? Really? Have you been to that yarn store out on Venus? Mars? It all made me smile, but I can't remember the name of the store.

I wanted to go to Liberty Kansas, home of animatronic Wizard of Oz displays. But it was three hours out of our way, so we went to the Oz Museum instead. We first saw billboards for it not long after the yarn one and immediately knew we would stop because we both love the Wizard of oz and the billboard just looked cool.

So, a few hours of driving later we got off of I-70 and on to "The Road to Oz" towards the museum which turns out to be in a town full of a whole lot of nothing. Indeterminable stores lined a downtown area with one restaurant that I could see - Toto's Tacos - and an Oz Winery.

The Museum itself was set up well, if a little cheesy. You opened the screen door on a farmhouse facade and entered a very colorful Oz with wax figures of the main characters and lots of glass displays. I particularly liked seeing the old Oz books and illustrations. There were also Oz games and toys from around the world and a really cool selection of props from the musical Wicked. Overall, we spent about a half an hour wandering there and it was pretty fun. We could have sat and watched the movie too, but of course had to keep moving.

A tale of Smelliness and a Lesson in Curiosity:

We stopped to get gas somewhere in Missouri and Matt goes in to the bathroom while I pump the gas. He comes out laughing a few minutes later and I have to ask what he's smiling about. He tells me that in the bathroom there was a box on the wall that you could buy cologne from. There were these little knobs to pick which scent you wanted and then a big knob. He pulled on the big knob out of curiosity, not really expecting anything to happen, and a stream of cologne shot out straight at him. We had to drive with the windows down for a while until the smell went away.

After that little adventure things got boring until we stopped for the night. This time the Days Inn was empty and we watched Dave and munched on ordered Dominos. By the way, their Mac N Cheese bread bowl is crazy good. And the chocolate lava cake is even better. The internet worked perfectly and I blogged a lot that night. It was good.

Jackson Hole WY to Clearfield Utah

2010-07-08T16:54:00.000-04:00

There's a less artistic photo of the Elk Antler arch in Jackson Hole for you. :) In the morning we walked around town, found some postcards to buy and then headed to Utah. On our way out of Jackson Hole, on the side of the highway, we saw a Sheriff and two inmates who, I swear, were wearing orange and white striped jumpsuits and digging a hole or something. It fit in very nicely with the old West feel of the town and definitely made me look twice.

Along our drive we saw some interesting things:

A Liquor Drive Thru at the gas station,

Sheep!

a truck with my name on it. Granted, my name spelled differently but still!

Along the way we also drove through the Rocky Mountains on a path we took the last time we were out that way. Last time it was in April and the mountains were covered in snow. It was raining and foggy and very moody and I loved it. This time everything was green, the sky was blue and there were puffy white clouds. We stopped at a pull out that we had stopped at last time and took the same photos as best we could remember. At some point I'll post the old photos alongside the new ones, but for now:

For a late lunch we finally hit up a Chick-Fil-A. We both love Chick-Fil-A, but there aren't very many in the Northeast and there are NONE in Connecticut, so we always get excited when we find one. It was about 103 degrees outside and one of their employees was in a cow suit outside waving to people, we felt kinda bad for him or her. The food was delicious.

In Utah, we stayed with my cousin Elizabeth and her husband and three kids. We spent some time chatting with Liz, playing Mad Libs with her daughter Zoe, playing with the cat Cooper and just relaxing. We watched The Three Amigos, which both Liz and Matt were astonished that I'd never seen. :) I liked it.

Missoula MT to Jackson Hole Wyoming

2010-07-08T16:41:00.000-04:00

On Day 14 we explored Yellowstone National Park. We started by driving through a stone archway entrance at the Northern part of the park.

The first section that we stopped at was Mammoth Springs - a series of bubbling geysers that smelled of sulfer and other nasty things. They were really cool to look at though.

We also saw the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone", which was formed of beautiful colored rock and a gorgeous green river. Yellowstone is also one of the places that we saw the most animals. Bears, Elk, Bighorn Sheep, Coyote, Bison, all were there causing traffic jams just by going about their business.

I enjoyed Yellowstone, but I didn't connect to it as much as I did to Yosemite. I was a bit uncomfortable being on top of a volcano, which didn't help, and though the views were beautiful - I loved the Grand Tetons in the distance more than the mountains I was on.

It was a good day though, a hot day. Walking around outside and driving through the beautiful park was fun and we even waited around for Old Faithful to go off.

Driving through Grand Teton National Park to get to Jackson Hole, I couldn't stop staring at the gorgeous mountains across the lake. The sun was setting behind them and they were glowing in the light.

In Jackson Hole, our fun stalled for a bit. We had trouble getting a hotel room as most hotels were full, food also became an issue. We decided to walk and arrived everywhere just as they were closing. We eventually drove to the two fast food joints just outside the cute tourist area. If you are planning a trip to Jackson Hole, WY and it is Summer - CALL AHEAD! This is the lesson we learned.

The town itself is super adorable and a bit upscale. Shops and restaurants are all Old West Cowboy style and their park entrances are marked with arches made of Elk antlers. Elk shed their antlers every year and the local boy scouts go retrieve them from the woods so that these arches can be made every year. Pretty cool.

Yakima WA to Missoula Montana

2010-07-08T15:57:00.000-04:00

As we crossed from Washington to Idaho I was surprised to see beautiful mountains. I know, I should have known since we were in the Rockies and all, but it surprised me. When I think of Idaho I think of potatos and I think of farming and I do not think of mountains. So, it was a nice surprise.

Montana was equally beautiful and that was where we camped in our first KOA. This particular KOA was crammed so tight that our neighbors were no more than two or three feet away from us on all sides. But it was okay, it actually felt safe and comfortable for just one night. More than one night and I would probably have wanted a lot more space and privacy though.

We made a campfire and had hot dogs for dinner, using Burger King ketchup packets for condiments. They were delicious. We also bought a packet of s'mores from the campstore and those were equally, if not more, delicious. All in all it was a good night of camping.

Unfortunately, I can't seem to find any photos from this part of the trip. I think I was driving a lot of it, I'll check with Matt for a photo later!

Arcata California to Yakima Washington

2010-07-06T08:53:00.000-04:00

At Breakfast on Day 12, I sat chatting with an older couple from Southern California. They were on their way to visit their grandchildren in Oregon. The woman had never really been outside of Southern California and was asking me questions about the snow we get in Connecticut. I couldn't imagine living my whole life and never going anywhere outside of my home town.

While in the Redwoods we drove through another tree.

and we visited Pauly Bunyon and Babe the Big Blue Ox. They were much bigger than they look in this photo, can you see the people near Babe?

After a few overcast days, we were delighted to find blue skies as we moved farther away from the coastline. We followed a beautiful river through the mountains for a while, and were amazed by more beautiful trees and mountains as we finished off California and started into Oregon.

Once in Oregon we immediately started seeing signs of civilization; tiny little towns, herb shops and thrift stores abounded. We thought about driving a little out of the way to see the beach that Goonies was filmed on, but ended up deciding against it. Which was probably for the best since we hit about an hour of traffic once we reached Portland.

Portland, Oregon, for those who don't know (as I didn't) has a sky tram for public transportation! We saw it above the highway and I was fascinated and a little scared. I'm not a fan of heights.

We drove straight through Oregon and into Washington where we encountered a bizarre stretch of land which featured rolling hills on one side of the highway and craggy, rocky hills on the other. We also drove past a series of windmills, which made me smile, and eventually arrived in Yakima.

Why Yakima, you ask? Because one of my very first best friends lives there and I hadn't seen here in probably more than a decade. It was great to see her and meet her fiance and his son. We sat around chatting and just relaxing most of the time, walked around downtown Yakima the next morning. It's a cute town to walk around, though not very big.

I don't have very many photos for this time frame, for some reason. I think part of it is that I was driving and part of it was that we were going longer distances and didn't have as much time to stop places. Around here, also, was when I really started thinking about home and what is going to happen when I get back. I'm hoping that this trip refreshes me and helps me think of new ways to promote myself and also find a job of some kind. I'm excited to go through all the photos I've taken and see what ones I can use, which I can sell and which I just want to print for myself. There are A LOT to go through. It should be an adventure of it's own.

Manteca to Arcata California

2010-07-06T08:34:00.000-04:00

Day 11 was full of curvy twisty road driving through the always incredible Redwoods of California. We also drove through lake-side towns that felt like seaside towns and both were wonderful drives. At one point there were rumble strips on both sides of the lane and driving became like driving in a game of Operation. I was never very good at Operation.

We had lunch at the most 50's-tastic Burger King with a Wurlitzer (gorgeous!) and James Dean posters on the walls and stopped briefly in the very hippie town of Fort Bragg; which, for being on the coastline is very not touristy.

Later in the drive we took a scenic alternate route through Humboldt Redwood Forest, stopping several times to take photos and just wander in awe of their size. Redwoods are so beautiful, I would love to build a log cabin in a Redwood Forest. The trees are massive and the mood is awesome.

We drove through the Chandelier Tree. Or, rather, I drove through it and Matt took photos of me driving through it. We also found a store devoted to Big Foot (he lives in that area somewhere).

When we arrived in Arcata, we found that most hotels were sold out because the local college was having an orientation. Luckily we got a room at the Best Western and took full advantage of their pool and hot tub before crashing for the night.

Madera to Manteca California, Yosemite National Park

2010-07-04T13:39:00.000-04:00

Before leaving the Holiday Inn we had a bit of a madcap adventure movie type scenario. I asked Matt if he had the keys (meaning the car keys) and was like "Um no, I thought you did". We spent about 20 minutes searching the room for keys and then realized that he was looking for the room keys which were in my pocket and I was looking for car keys which were in his pocket.

::head desk::

We started the day with a trip to Michaels to return the sharpies that were smudging on our DIY toys. Luckily they had the new Sharpie Painter Pens, water based, which are supposed to work a lot better so we picked up a few of those and some spray paint. We haven't yet used them yet. Then we went to a Best Buy and a Camera store in search of a charger for Matt's camera (the most finicky piece of technology on this trip!). Finally, we headed out to Yosemite National Park.

I really felt a connection to Yosemite. I would like to go back someday and spend a week there being inspired and communing with nature. There were a lodge, campgrounds, a grocery store, an Ansel Adams gallery store and a small museum. You can rent bicycles, which I really wish we had been there long enough to do.

Yosemite is also one of the most beautiful places I think I've been. We went to Glacier Point first and the view was just incredible. Afterwards we went down to the valley below where most of the activity was and the scenery was just as incredible. I can't really describe it, but I absolutely loved being there.

CA-1: Lake Cachuma to Madera California

2010-07-04T12:37:00.000-04:00

The next day we picked up on CA-1 again and drove along the coastline. It was a foggy day, which made the drive a little less spectacular for me. Last time I loved seeing how blue the ocean was and the bright colors. Everything was sort of muted this drive, but it was still fun.

The drive goes up and down mountains directly on the coastline and there is nothing to block your view. Some of the turns are a bit tight and it's best to drive slow and just enjoy the drive. There are also plenty of pull off points to just sit and enjoy.

One of our first stops of the day was to see the elephant seals that gather on one of the beaches just past Santa Barbara. There were a ton of them just laying on the beach, a couple playing in the water and this guy below throwing sand on his back and napping:

Not long after the elephant seals, we re-discovered a cute seaside town called Cambria. We had stopped there last time we were out west, but just to get gas. This time we walked around and looked in the shops and then went down to the beach. It was actually a bit cold so we didn't stay long, but it's a really cute town to check out if you are driving CA-1.

Another awesome thing to see on CA-1 is the beach cows. These cows just chill by the ocean all day.

The views were just gorgeous despite the clouds.

Our final stop before crashing for the night was Point Lobos. There are a lot of nature trails, cypress trees and gorgeous ocean views at Point Lobos, but we didn't have much time so we just picked a couple trails to take. We were searching for sea otters, who were supposedly hanging out with the seaweed, but I never found them. We did see a lot of sea birds, seals and bunny rabbits though.

This was actually solid rock, not loose sand. It fascinated me. There were also areas with rocks just embedded together in hard sand like the above, it was really really nifty to touch and look at.

There were also a lot of coves and private beaches on along the paths that made me want to go swimming, although the water did look very cold.

Route 66: Barstow to Santa Barbara CA

2010-07-04T12:06:00.000-04:00

After the movie in Barstow, I stayed up late trying to blog. The internet was just too slow and it wasn't happening, but I was up late working on it so I didn't get much sleep. The next morning I was a bit groggy and felt nauseous most of the morning. It was not a good start to the day, for all the awesome things we ended up seeing.

We found out via the TV that morning that there would be a huge parade in LA celebrating the Lakers winning the NBA champs - the very city we were supposed to drive through. Luckily it ended up working out fine, but we were a tad worried going in.

Anyway, we picked up Route 66 outside of a town called Rancho Cucamunga (or something like that, seriously) and from there it was suburban town after suburban town. Palm trees lined the streets and cute houses abounded. The hills were also lined with houses in places and our first big cheer came when we passed through San Dimas (high school rules!) and saw a Circle K. There really wasn't too much to stop for until we hit LA proper.

We saw the Hollywood sign, which made us both happy and drove Sunset Blvd. to Santa Monica Blvd. which was interesting. I directed us towards Hollywood and Vine with Matt's iphone and then to Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

We walked around there looking at all of the hand/foot/cigar prints (George Burns for that last one) taking a ton of photos. Here are the two that we were most excited to see, well maybe not most excited but I can only show so many photos here!

After walking around for a while we drove the rest of Route 66 to Santa Monica where we parked again.

The Santa Monica Pier was pretty cool to walk down. It had everything from a Trapeze school to a Carnival along with shops and restaurants. It also had the new Unofficial Official End to Route 66.

Yes, that's right, you have to walk to the end of Route 66. It was fun and well worth it. We walked a little more around Santa Monica and decided to find a campground closer to where we were than the one we originally planned on.

Driving CA-1 along the coastline we saw Malibu, which was actually kinda of a cute beach town. In Santa Barbara we changed course and drove up into the mountains. We camped at at Lake Cachuma that night and it was beautiful.

The Lake was on all sides of us, with mountains beyond. Then we noticed the holes. All around our campsite were this holes in the earth. I was a little nervous about snakes but it turned out there were ground squirrel holes! Super cute ground squirrels were running around all over the place. It was a really fun place to camp and there were only two other small groups of people on that particular peninsula with us so it was also kind of solitary. Once the girls turned down their music.

Route 66: Day 7: The Grand Canyon to Barstow CA

2010-07-01T00:20:00.000-04:00

And on the seventh day... we drove more. Well, actually it was a day that started late (.. forgot to turn my alarm back on after resetting it) and consisted of our shortest driving day yet. Arizona Route 66 is full of dirt roads, blocked roads and advice to stay away. Our guide book suggested taking the highway most of the time, exiting for certain towns. We followed this advice, although didn't stop in as many towns as we had in previous states.

In Hackberry we stopped by the general store, a treasure trove of great photo ops and a "tastefully" decorated mens room. One great thing about Route 66 is that it's a haven for great cars, both in good shape and bad. Along the way we also saw a giant Tiki head:

and a worn out sign pointing the way to a lot of the towns on Route 66. This was a great 66 detour and I'm really glad we took it, though the open desert scares me so I was cautious at first. But once we saw the Tiki I was excited again and anxious for the next awesome thing.

Around this time we realized that Toy Story 3 was out in theaters and I started researching drive in movie theaters theorizing that if there was anywhere they could thrive it would be California. I was right and we discovered that there would be one in the very town that we were staying in that night!

Crossing the border into California we entered an alien planet. The landscape was so different from what we had been seeing that I just couldn't stop staring. These bizarre hills that looked dark purple or black dotted the landscape and I truly think that there must have been some outer space film shot here that I was remembering because I felt like we were on Mars. It was really hard to photograph though.

We arrived in Barstow with time to spare. We got a room at the local Days Inn, stopped at a taco place for Matt and went right over to the drive in. We chose our spot, close to the screen, and I went to the snack shop. It was near perfect sitting in the car eating corn dogs and watching the sunset over the desert mountains as we waited for the movie to start. And start it did - with a Bugs Bunny cartoon - "That's Opera Doc" and a slew of trailers for movies we didn't know about but are excited to see.

The short before the movie featured both traditional animation and CG and was very unique and stunning. I loved it but can't really describe it. Toy Story 3 itself was awesome, a great conclusion to the story and a bit of a tear jerker. We both loved every minute and were so glad to be seeing it in a drive in.

All in all it was a wonderful day with a perfect conclusion.

Day 6 Continued: Fires and The Grand Canyon

2010-06-30T23:53:00.000-04:00

Another fun Route 66 classic that we saw was the Wigwam Hotel. It looked pretty incredible with a line of old classic cars lined up next to each "room". We wished we could stay there, but that particular one looked very closed and the other was too far away.

As we got closer to Flagstaff Arizona, we saw this huge mound of white smoke rising up in the distance. Shouts of White Smoke Monster! filled the car, but we weren't joking anymore when we drove through it and saw the smoke was actually a sickly shade of brown. We found out via a fast food joint in Flagstaff that it was actually a forest fire. Because it was so close to Flagstaff, a town we had planned on coming back to after the Grand Canyon, we decided then that maybe we should stay closer to the canyon instead. A quick google search tells me that today, 10 days after the fire began, it has just been classified as fully contained.

I thought that driving to the Grand Canyon would be full of more flatness and a desert with a sudden stop at the canyon. For some reason I pictured just lines of people looking out into it with nothing to block their view. Boy was I wrong. We drove through forests of trees, saw mountains in the near distance, observed cows and farms and finally arrived at a tree covered bit of land and had no idea where to go to see the canyon itself.

After a brief bout of confusion we obtained advice from a nice gentleman in the bookstore and got back in the car - taking the Desert Drive. We stopped at a several points and took photos, but eventually ended up at the Grand View. Stunned we stood there looking into the abyss just enjoying the view. Beautiful dips and curves below a flat horizon line full of gorgeous blues and purples and reds.

We took a ton of photos, but this is really something you need to see for yourself to fully appreciate. I never realized just how big and how incredible this sight would be. As it got darker we sat on the rocks and enjoyed a glorious, peaceful sunset over the Grand Canyon. I'll just leave you with that for now.

Route 66: Day 6 Santa Fe to The Grand Canyon

2010-06-30T23:07:00.000-04:00

In the morning we headed towards a roadside attraction called Tinkertown.

Tinkertown is something I've wanted to see since our last trip, so I was pretty excited to be on our way. About halfway there our GPS told us to turn and we ended up on a dirt road through a beautiful desert landscape. The mini got pretty dirty and it was a pretty bumpy ride, but we laughed about it and kept on going.

Tinkertown itself was everything I could have wanted it to be. The building is made from cement and glass bottles, making for some great lighting and colors. Inside were displays of hand carved wooden figurines within many different scenarios. One long hallway featured an entire downtown area and if you pressed buttons, some of the figures moved. Another was a full on circus scene and the detail was incredible. Other features included Otto the One Man Band - totally worth the fifty cents.

We drove from Tinkertown through to Arizona and The Grand Canyon, staring in awe at the gorgeous painted desert landscapes. Driving through so much flatness with occasional bursts of beauty made for a very long driving day. Added to the flatness was the fact that we crossed a time zone and added an hour to our day which was both good and bad.

From the highway we saw a variety of fun billboards, one leading is right to a rock shop that featured giant dinosaurs eating mannequins:

a live ostrich farm:

and a variety of other craziness.

This was another long day and so I'm going to split this post into two - next up : The Grand Canyon!

Route 66: Day 5 Oklahoma - New Mexico

2010-06-30T22:14:00.000-04:00

Day 5 was a long on driving and no so much on attractions - but the attractions we did stop for were pretty awesome so it was a really good day. At it's hottest, though, it was 104 degrees with a brutal hot wind coming at us while we were at Cadillac Ranch in Texas.

First of all, my apologies on the delay in continuing this story, but we've had a series of internet problems / arriving too late to do anything but sleep nights.

We drove a nice piece of Route 66 through Oklahoma, but the signs weren't as good as the previous states and we got a tad lost. Driving through corn fields and cattle grazing land, not for the first time, wondering where we went wrong. It was fun though, and a beautiful blue skies day. Once we got back on track we crossed the bright yellow pony bridge that you see above.

Our next stop was a Route 66 museum in Clinton Oklahoma which led you through the decades of Route 66 from beginning to end. There were lots of informational things to read, full displays to represent each era, music you could listen to and lots of memorabilia as well. It was a fun little stop and a great museum.

Not long after we stopped at another Route 66 Museum but we decided to just walk around the outdoor "cowtown" instead of the museum inside. One thing we noticed first was the GIANT Route 66 sign guiding us into the parking lot.

The "Cowtown" was just like an old western town with store fronts and an open ice cream parlor. There were also a few large Kachina Dolls outside. Around this time the heat became ridiculous. We hopped the highway all the way to Texas and next stopped at Cadillac Ranch near Amarillo.

Cadillac Ranch is similar to Carhenge in Nebraska, but the cars are in a row instead of in a Stonehenge formation. They are also heavily graffitied by the crowds that come to see them. It's a pretty cool sight, walking down a path in a huge wheat field and arriving at this row of cars. At 104 degrees with a hot hot wind, we didn't stay too terribly long but I think I got some great photos and I'm really glad we went.

As we passed from Texas to New Mexico we started to see mountains in the distance, an exciting thing after so much flat farm land and desert. We drove through Tucumcari - a town that used to be a hot spot on Route 66 but is now a bit rundown. Their motto is Tucumcari Tonight! and there are some great hotel signs and unique buildings to take photos of. I think I got some great shots here as well and I'm excited to really look at them when I get home.

From Tucumcari we drove through more desert and up to Santa Fe New Mexico. We rode into town just as the sun was setting and the view was beautiful. I wish we could have spent more time there, but unfortunately we had to keep moving. I think that is the first place we stopped that I consciously thought "I should come back here sometime". One thing that amazed us both was a double decker TRAIN that passed by when we were at a red light. I was so baffled I didn't know what to think of it, but upon later thought - damn that's cool!

We set up our plan for the next day and crashed for the night. Stay tuned, another post coming right up!

Route 66: Day 4 Kansas - Oklahoma Part 2

2010-06-24T01:47:00.000-04:00

To continue where I left off, not long after we entered Kansas we left it in our dust and crossed over into Oklahoma. What we found there, in the sleepy little town of Miami (Mi-am-uh) was probably one of the fanciest things that we'll see on this trip (or, at the very least, on Route 66).

We stopped at The Coleman Theatre and were a little disappointed to find that it had closed half an hour or so earlier. However, peeking through the windows a man saw us and let us inside. Not only that, but he gave us the full tour. The theatre is being renovated and it is truly a work of art. Gold leafing is everywhere, hand painted ceilings, a fancy chandelier, a working original organ and an original landscape drop were all on full display. He even got the organ playing for us.

After touring the lobby and the theater itself, our guide took us backstage to the main dressing room (which was just pure 1920's awesome) and had me posing as a starlet for Matt's camera. We also were brought to the downstairs green room (supposedly haunted) which was equally cool. All in all, an awesome stop on Route 66 that I highly recommend. They are working on renovating the ballroom now, and I bet it'll be absolutely fantastic when done.

Leaving Miami, we got a little lost on a dirt road going between corn fields, but not for long. We soon got on the highway for a bit until we arrived at the famous Blue Whale of 66. The blue whale used to be a water ride attraction of some kind - there is evidence of slides into the now disgusting lake that it sits upon. But now it's just a large blue whale that you can walk on to feed the fish or just be amused. Cute colorful tables line the lake as well, although any cafe or snack bar seems to be closed for good.

We crashed just outside of Oklahoma City a little later than planned that night, but in the end it was all worth it. We are really enjoying our pacing this trip; stopping when we want to and seeing all kinds of interesting things.

Route 66: Day 4 Illinois - Kansas - Oklahoma Part 1

2010-06-21T03:08:00.002-04:00

I actually jumped ahead a little when I blogged last, the Jesse James museum was on Day 4, not Day 3. But it all starts to run together after a while :)

Day 4 was a huge huge day for us. We stopped at a lot of places and had a lot of fun. We made some tough decisions and we met some more great people. Because I'm feeling a bit sleepy I'm only going to post a few photos for now. I'll show you more later when I have more time to choose and edit.

Anyway, as I said I jumped ahead last time and day four actually started with the Jesse James Wax Museum. After that we drove through the Ozarks some and came across The World's Largest Rocking Chair, which excited me because I'm all about anything "World's Largest". Also exciting was the penny crushing machine inside; I made three in case I don't see another one along this Route 66 journey.

We hopped on the highway for a bit after this, to save some time, and then went back to Route 66 to see a half replica of Stone Henge that was actually pretty disappointing. I guess after seeing CarHenge and Foam Henge who wants to see a silly half replica? Anyway, it was interesting but didn't stop us for too long.

Next we found a small Route 66 Museum inside a public library. There were three room set ups - a hotel room, a diner and a gas station all via the 1950's. It was pretty cool and a nice little break from driving.

I was both excited and saddened to find our next stop - a drive-inn movie theater. Excited because I love them, but saddened because it was daytime and we couldn't attend that nights showing. At the drive inn, though, we came across two Route 66-ers named Lulu and Barb.We had a lot of fun chatting with them about Route 66 and were sad when we realized that we just couldn't attend the Meet Up that was happening in Joplin that weekend. They gave us the flyer for it, and we did seriously think about it, but in the end we were already 5 hours off schedule and it would have been too much. Perhaps we'll arrange a trip around the next meetup.

As we crossed into Kansas, we encountered the tow truck on which Mater from Cars is based. At the little restored gas station (which was unfortunately closed) we also saw the fire truck from the movie, complete with plants growing in tires.

Whew! Like I said, day four was a HUGE day for us. This is only half of that day! Today (day 7) was wonderful, but long and I'm getting a bit sleepy. I hope to be able to catch you all up in the next couple days, but for now I hope you are enjoying following along.

Route 66 Continues : Illinois / Missouri

2010-06-19T09:36:00.001-04:00

The next day we continued on Route 66, alternating occasionally with the highway just to keep moving past towns with not much in them. Because I don't have my journal entries on me right now, I don't specifically remember what happened on that day. So instead I'm going to guestimate and talk about the next set of photos that I have ready for this blog.

As you can see, we've started to decorate our mascots, though they don't have names yet. If I'm remembering the days correctly, one of our first stops was the Jesse James wax museum. Matt was almost named Jesse James, so he has a special affinity to the name. We visited the gift shop and talked with the woman in there for a while, but decided to skip the museum itself. Next door was a Toy Museum, but it looked closed so we kept on our way.

We stopped for lunch in a cute little town called Atlanta and ate a diner called Palms Grill. It was packed for lunch, although the town was crazy tiny and I swear the whole joint when dead quiet the second we entered. A kind older gentleman asked us if we were doing Route 66 and suggested we visit the museum next door, which we did. After a short video about town a woman took us upstairs to the towns museum which included a lot of Abraham Lincoln memorabilia.

Despite being f ull from lunch, I insisted on stopped at the Cozy Dog a short couple of hours later because I love love love corn dogs. I know they are terrible for you, but they are the best State Fair food ever. The corn dogs did not disappoint and I only wish we were heading back that way for more.

Our next stop was Henry's Rabbit Ranch in Stanton, IL, a famous Route 66 stop. As we were poking around and taking photos, a Volkswagon Rabbit pulled up and the man that runs the shop opened up for us to take a look inside. He sold us a Route 66 book that we've been using to navigate and a decal to put in my car window.

From there we made a crazy dash to St. Louis to hit up a camera shop before they closed. Matt's lens had broken the day before and he wanted to replace it. We literally arrived minutes before they closed. From there we went across town to the famous St. Louis Arch which is an absolutely amazing thing to see. It's almost impossible to describe the pure scope of this monument, you really have to see it for yourself. We oogled outside, then went inside to visit the gift shop and see the Museum of Western Exploration which was pretty nifty. Circular in shape, the museum went through the ages from the 1800's up showing old wagons, stuffed animals like buffalo and photos of famous explorers. It's a fun free visit if you're at the arch.

Our final stop for the day was a hotel just outside of St. Louis. We crashed a little later than planned and fell asleep almost immediately.

Stay Tuned for Day 4 when we saw the original Mater and an absolutely gorgeous theater under restoration!

Route 66 Begins: Illinois

2010-06-17T00:54:00.000-04:00

We started Route 66 in Wilmington Illinois instead of Chicago for a few reasons. Mainly, we just didn't feel like driving into the city. Chicago is it's own adventure and we've both been there, so we decided to skip the busy, windy city and start a little farther south. But first we stopped at a Giordano's because Matt was craving stuffed pizza and apparently theirs is the BEST!. I've been corrected, it may or may not be the best but you can only get it in or near Chicago.

Anyway, I'm not a fan of pizza, so I wouldn't know anyway. :)

After lunch and a quick trip to Michaels for markers (to decorate our mascots) we headed to Wilmington for our first stop on Route 66 - The Gemini Giant. The Giant is one of the most terrifying statues I've ever encountered. His face is just plain creepy, but it's cool to see nonetheless. The Giant stands guard in the parking lot of one Launching Pad eatery, where we shared a delicious Chocolate Marshmallow Milkshake after taking our photos.

Route 66 is very cool in that it often parallels major highways, but then diverts off into cute little towns, sometimes bigger towns, and takes you down residential streets as well as not so residential streets.We drove down beautiful tree lined streets, took sharp turns near broken down gas stations and just had a nice little drive. The clouds were out in full force and eventually the rain hit. By this time we were about ready to crash anyway, so we found our hotel and were in for the night.

Today we continued on Route 66 and saw a lot more interesting things, but that's a tale for another day.

The Adventure Begins: Connecticut to Michigan

2010-06-17T00:41:00.000-04:00

Greetings from Route 66! Though we started this journey on Monday (and today is Wednesday) we haven't had proper internet access until now. I've been writing a bit journal style and taking a ton of photos so what I think I'll do is write a couple separate blog entries tonight and then try to do more tomorrow.

We started our journey barreling across what I consider to be the boring states, Pennsylvania being foremost in those. It isn't that these states aren't beautiful or special in their own ways, but I've been there and seen them. I'm ready to see new things. Our first stop was Michigan where we camped just outside of Ann Arbor.

Upon arriving at the campground we were immediately attacked by swarms of mosquitos ready to feast on our blood. We battled them off and set up our tent, then went off in search of a tarp (which is the one thing we seem to have forgotten on this trip). When we returned we finished setting up camp and crashed for the night. By this point the skeeters were mostly gone, but the bullfrogs were out in full force. Falling asleep that night was like trying to fall asleep at a rock concert by and for frogs. But sleep we did, and pretty well too.

In the morning we were off to explore Ann Arbor, which was still mostly asleep as it was only 9 in the morning. We drank delicious slushies (raspberry lemonade for me, Arnold Palmer for Matt) and wandered around looking in store windows. Around 10 we popped into a comic book store to browse and get our nerd-ness on. They had a really good selection, but what called to us was the Buy One Get One sale on Kid Robot Munny's. We each got one and are attempting to decorate them and use them as mascots on this trip. There are slight dilemmas with this, but hopefully I'll be able to start photographing them in random places soon.

By the way, this is what our trunk looks like (a mini cooper back seat with the seats down:

It isn't as messy as it looks. Promise. :)

List Almost Done

2010-06-10T11:47:00.000-04:00

I've crossed almost everything off of that list from Friday and as I suspected, packing and food shopping will be happening on Friday. Today we'll be prepping for the craft fair and going in search of seat belt covers. Because we'll be driving a lot, we figure it'd be nice to have comfort on our necks. Last trip this was an issue.

We downloaded a free version of Debut, so we'll be experimenting with vlogs on the road which I'm kind of really excited about. I've also registered three books with bookcrossing and will be leaving them in random places as we go. I may register a couple more, but we'll see if I have time.

In health news, my ankle is almost entirely healed. It's still a little bruised feeling and swollen, but I'm walking almost completely normally and I feel good.

So, all in all this is all coming together. The next post here will probably be when we head out, so stay tuned!

It's Getting Close!

2010-06-07T11:13:00.000-04:00

We are planning to leave in less than a week and I'm running around like crazy getting things done both trip and non-trip related. Dante (my mini cooper) is in the shop getting a look over and some new tires in preparation and I'm crossing things off my giant to do list at a pretty good rate.

Things Left To Get Done:

1. We still haven't found a way to record video on the netbook. This is a huge source of frustration and we will be working on finding a solution hopefully this week.

2. I would like to release a few books into the wild on this trip via BookCrossing so I'm choosing a few books and getting ID numbers for them and such.

3. Packing, food shopping etc will be a last minute thing, probably done Friday.

4. Before we can adventure, we have a craft fair that we are selling at in South Windsor CT on Saturday June 12, so a few things for that are getting done this week as well. Feel free to come visit!

5. A new online magazine will be released this Summer and I am a contributor for it. I was asked to write about this whole Nowhere Nerds thing and the article is almost done. I'll link to the magazine when it is "released"!

Overall, things are progressing nicely. My ankle is still a bit swollen, but I'm walking almost normally on it and my calf has stopped constantly aching. I drove my car to the shop and was fine driving on it which is good.

We are still looking for your ideas on what we should see on this trip - so leave comments if you wish telling us what's great about where you live and why we should visit!

WOOT, Quick Update

2010-05-27T17:17:00.000-04:00

Just back from the doctor and I'm very happy to have been told that my foot is more likely just sprained and I can start trying to put weight on it this weekend. Also, it should be healed mostly in 2 - 4 weeks, which makes me a lot happier than the 6-8 I'd been told prior when they thought it was a fracture.

My foot is bruised yellow, which means that it is healing well and I'm now in a much better mood. Planning for the trip can commence, and unless something goes horribly awry should go as planned. Which makes me super happy. So here's hoping :)

Frustrated and Immobile

2010-05-25T14:01:00.000-04:00

For those who don't read the fallenpeach blog, I had an accident on Friday and now am couch stuck with a small fracture in my foot. The fact that I've been told it takes 6-8 weeks to heal is not making me happy since we had planned on leaving for our trip in about half that time. I'm still hoping this will heal faster, especially since it barely hurts unless I step down and I think the pain is less every day. ::crosses fingers::

That is one of the most frustrating things for me right now. We were just starting to really plan the trip and I'm getting excited about it. It is (was) happening at just the right time and I'm afraid that if this doesn't heal fast we won't be able to go, or that we'll have to delay it a few weeks into hotter weather. So cross your fingers for me, and I'll do my best to follow all instructions so that this gets better soon.

I am not good at being immobile. I am a very active person with a lot on my plate, so being stuck on the couch frustrates me in a huge way. I miss running errands and going on hikes and being outside, I miss being able to walk from one side of the room to the other without crutches or help.

Because I can't move around much, I'm stuck on the couch - not in my room and so I'm working from a different computer than usual (lacking a few things I might need) and I'm also in front of a TV instead of working with music (music is on the other computer). Tv is very distracting. And the desire to just relax is also very tempting. I've been running myself ragged non-stop for a long time now, so it's tempting to just sit and watch lots and lots of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and do nothing.

But I'm trying to keep myself motivated and moving in my business and my life. I'm continuing to promote, blog and job search and I plan on making some more magnets at some point this week as well. The other stuff will have to wait a little longer. Hopefully later in the week I'll have the energy to scoot butt-ways up the stairs and get a few things off my other computer. But till then, I have some things to keep me going.

Letterbox: Sleeping Giant, Hamden Connecticut

2010-05-21T10:44:00.001-04:00

We Nowhere Nerds are super proud to announce the first fallenpeach letterbox! It's actually an old box of Matt's that we are re-purposing. We replaced the filled notebook, the dried out stamp pad, the stubby pencil and added a special surprise inside.

If you've never gone letterboxing, please check this link for more information about letterboxing. Also, check out the description on our website here. Be sure to bring a rubber stamp, a COMPASS, plenty of water, bug spray if you want and your adventurous spirit!

LOCATION: The Tower Box is located at Sleeping Giant State Park in Hamden Connecticut. This link has a pretty good set of directions to the park.

DIRECTIONS:

From the Entrance Parking Lot, walk up a paved road past until you reach a sign that reads: Tower Trail (with arrow pointing right) / Restrooms (with arrow pointing left).

Walk along the tower trail the whole way (1.6 miles). At a steady, moderate walk this takes about 40 minutes.

When you reach the top you will see the Tower. With your back facing the tower, stand underneath the CSP and Spider Web windows in front of a false door (an arched door frame blocked by stone wall). Face North North West and take 10 steps at 340 degrees - you should step down from a small ledge here.

Continue walking at 340 degrees another 20 steps across the grass, you should find the head of a small, unmarked trail here. In the Summer there is a lot of brush, but the path is still visible. In the Winter, you should be able to see two pine trees in the near distance at about 340-350 degrees.

Walk along the path about 12 steps and you will come to a rock. Go left around the rock patch and you will arrive at a pine tree.

Once you find this pine tree you should continue on the path 10 steps following 340 degrees until you see a rock in front of you. Behind the rock there will be a second pine tree, somewhat bigger than the first. Walk to the second pine tree behind the rock.

When you reach the second pine tree you will notice that it's the biggest pine tree in the immediate area. To see if you are at the right tree, you can test it by hugging it and seeing if your arms will wrap all the way around it. If they can't that means this is probably the correct tree.

Now, once you are done hugging the tree, turn around and from here you should be able to see the tower (in the winter at 130 degrees. Look down and see a cluster of rocks. If you peek inside these rocks you should find the TOWER LETTERBOX! Congratulations!

Before you set out, please read the waiver of responsibility and disclaimer.

Please be sure to reseal baggies and boxes carefully so that they stay dry and rehide boxes in their original location, completely hidden from view.

Will It Or Won't It

2010-05-19T13:53:00.000-04:00

In our heads, we have this big trip planned to some degree. We have a general idea of where we want to go, how long we can afford to take and who we want to visit. We have a list of possible places to stay and have figured out ways to make this trip cost less.

And yet, with a month or so to go until we supposedly leave - we have no idea if we'll be going or not.

It isn't that we don't want to go, we do. I've already started writing the first chapter of the book and we know it will be a great adventure. And yet fear is holding me, us, back. Fear that those weeks away will stall our job searching too much, that we'll get back and have lost out on opportunities or that we'll have trouble getting back into the swing of things. Not that we won't still be looking as we have our journey. There will be a computer and I'm sure a bit of job as well as soul searching along the way. I also want to approach stores about carrying my products, which is sort of job searching in a way.

But the fear is still there, no matter how many thoughts I have about the positiveness of a trip like this. Because of this I have a feeling I won't decide until a day or two before we leave (if we do). I'm okay with this.

Have you ever had a trip that you felt with every molecule you should take but weren't sure if you would?

Niagara Trip Part 4: Day 3 and 4

2010-05-14T13:37:00.001-04:00

Day Three of our Niagara Falls trip started with a drive to Niagara on the Lake, a cute town north of the falls on Lake Ontario. We wandered the main street shops, had some lunch and walked to the lake. Then we drove through wine country (flat flat flat) and visited the Ice House Winery for a taste of famous Ice Wine. Ice Wine is made by crushing the grapes when they are frozen, resulting in a very sweet, in this case berry flavored, dessert wine unlike anything I've ever tasted before.

Later that night we walked around more, took one last trip to the Street of Fun and looked at the Falls up close at night. The next day we spent some time on the New York side and then headed home. Here is a video of the footage we shot during our trip. Most of it is from these last two days since we continually forgot we had a video camera with us.

Letterboxing

2010-05-07T16:29:00.000-04:00

Day 3 of our Niagara trip is on it's way, but I currently don't have access to my photos - so it'll have to wait another day or so.

For today, I'd like to talk about Letterboxing. From our website:

Our second favorite thing, after making things, is going on Adventures. We love hiking, road trips and adventures of all kinds. We love adventuring so much, we've started a second blog to focus on just our adventures: Nowhere Nerds. Letterboxing is a fun, easy adventure that we want to invite you to join in on. Have we said the word adventuring enough ?

First, a quick description: Letterboxing is sort of like treasure hunting. You bring a notebook, a pen, a stamp and a stamp pad on a hike in the woods and follow written instructions to find a hidden letterbox. Inside the box will be a notebook, a stamp and a stamp pad. You stamp their stamp into your notebook and stamp your own stamp into their book.

Matt already has several letterboxes set up in Connecticut, and we are currently in the process of taking them one by one - making sure each still has the parts it needs, that it isn't missing or leaking, making sure the instructions are understandable etc etc. We are also updating the information on these letterboxes and plan on including special cards with special offers from our alter-egos over at fallenpeach. After we complete those, we'll be setting up even more boxes - but for now we're starting simple. Stay tuned to this blog, because the first one should be ready to go within the next couple of days and I'll be listing the instructions here first!

In the comments: do you letterbox? if you don't, are you interested in letterboxing after reading this small blog post?

For more information about letterboxes in the Northeast, see letterboxing.org or google letterboxing for boxes in other areas.

Niagara Trip Part 3: Waterfall Adventures

2010-05-04T15:05:00.001-04:00

Day two of our Niagara trip was filled with adventures surrounding the Falls themselves. First we checked out of the Best Western and drove the car down closer to the falls. We couldn't check into the new hotel yet, so we parked the car at the Casino next door and headed down to the Maid of the Mist boat dock.

For the uninitiated, Maid of the Mist is a boat ride that I am pretty sure is one of the oldest running Niagara attractions - they started in 1846! Blue ponchos are handed out and the boat goes as close to the falls as possible for an incredible adventure. We didn't get as wet as we thought we would, but photos were interesting to take with the mist constantly dotting camera lenses with water nonetheless. If you are going to do just one thing at Niagara, this would be the thing to do.

Being that close to the falls, with the roar of the water and the mist rising up around you is such an amazing experience. It made me feel small and awe filled at Mother Nature.

Next we went on a Journey Behind the Falls, which is a series of tunnels that go behind the falls. You are able to look directly at the water rushing down from behind, which is a really nifty experience. The tunnels/portals are just plain cool and very old fashioned, it's almost scary to think that you are 150 feet down. And seeing the falls from behind them is an experience. The first tunnel is the best, in my opinion, the others are slightly anti-climactic because you can't see much and the effect is sort of ruined. The first one you are kind of next to the falls so you can see it from in front and behind - which is awesome.

After some more wandering and I believe some lunch, we checked into our hotel - The Oaks Overlooking the Falls, where we were slightly disappointed to be on the 4th floor. The view of the falls was okay, but slightly blocked by trees and a little bit distracted from by a parking lot. We tried to get up higher, but there were no rooms so we had to be content going to the 14th floor observatory for a better view.

I honestly can't remember much else from the second day. I know we wandered about the Casino a bit (and please note the awesomely steampunk-like fountain we saw) and tried to find a tourist channel on the tv for a little while, but other than that I think we mostly crashed at night. We were tired from a lot of walking, and therefore very exhausted. That night we might have eaten at The Famous, which was an awesome diner in the casino. It had a very 1930's feel about it, which I LOVED and also the most delicious chocolate chip muffin in existance. It had a slight citrus, orange taste to it and mmmm oh so good. I wanted to eat there again, but it was never where we were when we were hungry.

I had planned on showing you video that I took with my Nikon P4, however Windows Movie Maker won't import that type of video and I'm not sure what to do. So, unfortunately, no video today. Hopefully I'll figure it out for next time. Stay tuned for day 3, which I promise will arrive sooner than day 2 did. I've been a little busy over at FallenPeach lately :)

Niagara Trip Part 2 : Adventures on Day One

2010-04-30T13:13:00.001-04:00

We originally planned our Niagara Falls trip for three days (incl. arriving and leaving days), but soon realized that we would need at least one extra day. This is still a very small amount of time, but as it turns out - just right for a trip to Niagara Falls.

Sunday we drove from Connecticut to Niagara, which took about 8 hours including stops for gas and breakfast snacks. The biggest toll we payed was $15.30, an amount we weren't quite expecting. We called the Skylon Tower just short of crossing the border to make reservations for brunch - the cheapest option they have - and went immediately there before even our hotel.

The Skylon is an amazing adventure to start a trip with. You ride a yellow bug like elevator up up up to a three level observation deck and restaurant. The dinner level revolves so that over the course of an hour you have seen Niagara Falls in 360 degrees, which is awesome in and of itself. We, however, were eating at the brunch buffet - which does not revolve. Nevertheless, we had a fantastic view of the falls and couldn't help but stare (despite my fear of heights - going up that elevator was the hardest part for me, after that I was fine). Brunch was delicious and we followed that with a trip up one level to the observation deck for a more direct view of the falls. The wind and cold kept us from staying up there too long, however, plus we were ready to continue our adventure!

Sunday was the extra day we added on to our trip and we stayed at a Best Western about a mile or two from the falls. This was both good and bad. The hotel itself was beautiful, clean and the staff was extremely friendly. The pool area was obscenely beautiful, but we had not brought our suits so we didn't get to use it. The hotel was not, however, in the touristy or most beautiful part of Niagara. We had to walk down a slightly sketchy street in order to get to the tourist "street of fun" and even farther to get to the falls. We were okay with this, but if you are staying for more than one day and don't plan on driving and parking near the falls - I would recommend something closer. It seemed silly to us to pay to park when we could just walk, though, so we got plenty of exercise - especially that first day.

Ahh, the Street of Fun. Walking we saw continual signs pointing us towards "Clifton Hill - The Street of Fun" and after all that build up... boy were we excited when we finally reached it. Along with very amused and slightly disappointed. The Street of Fun is about three blocks pure TOURIST kitchy insanity. Three haunted houses, several Ripley's Museums, two wax museums, fast food galore, arcades, giant ferris wheels, bowling.... this was obviously where the action was.

Clifton Hill is great for getting fast food (slightly cheaper than the over priced restaurants) and for a laugh, but it wasn't really what we were looking for in entertainment, so after a few photos and a snack we continued on our walk to the Falls.

Niagara Falls is one of the most amazing natural sights that I have visited. So much rushing water, an almost constant rainbow and all that mist just rising up out of the middle of it all. If you ever have the chance, you should go and visit. And at least stop by the Canadian side - the view is much more spectacular and cohesive.

Stay tuned for Day 2 :)

Niagara Trip Part 1: Tools for a Roadtrip

2010-04-23T16:19:00.001-04:00

Because this is an adventure blog and I don't want to overwhelm you, I'm going to do a set of posts about our latest adventure. We drove from here in CT to Niagara Falls Canada for our two year anniversary and had a lot of great adventures there.

This post is going to be about tools that we used to make this trip possible.
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First, I guess the most important one is my Mini Cooper, Dante. Pepper White and beautiful, Dante has been far and wide with me and us and is always ready for an adventure. Mini Coopers are tiny little cars, but they have great gas mileage and have a surprisingly large amount of space in the back with the seats put down. I've driven on adventures to South Carolina with this car and two other people and even that was pretty okay. Two people is best, though, for a mini cooper road trip adventure.

Second, we bought a new Acer Aspire netbook (with part of my tax return - woot). Last long trip we went on we used a regular sized laptop and it was a bit of a pain in the ass. The computer wasn't the most up to date to begin with, and it was big and bulky in the front seat. The netbook is a great size for road tripping and is actually a lot faster than the other adventure laptop.

Another great feature is the webcam. Unfortunately, though, I haven't figured out how to record video with said webcam on the netbook. I'm not sure there is a direct way, I may have to download a program or something for it. Anyone had any experience with this?

One small problem with the netbook is the shiny, glossy screen - which can cause some annoying glares depending on where the sun is. We haven't had too many issues with this yet, but I'll keep you updated on future trips.

Third we got a new GPS system for the netbook. Last major road trip we used Microsoft Streets and Trips... and while the program did its job there were definite quirks that got on our nerves. Also, the actual GPS piece was a bit flimsy and eventually broke towards the end of the trip. The new system is the Earthmate LT-40 and looks a lot more sturdy. Also, it gives you an estimated time of arrival that changes per your speed and stopping times - which is AWESOME and makes me super happy. It also seems a lot easier to plan a trip and change that route on a whim. Again, this was a short trip to try it out but I'll keep you posted on any longer journeys if it still holds up.

We also bought a power inverter for the car so that we could keep the netbook plugged in, which was extremely helpful and also worked great. I can't remember the brand right now, though.

Those were our main four tools for this trip and I'm glad to say that they all performed amazingly. Next up I'll talk about some of our adventures in Canada, stay tuned.

Yesterday: Sleeping Giant

2010-04-15T11:27:00.001-04:00

it was a looong day

Yesterday we hiked for three hours at Sleeping Giant. We were in search of 5 letterboxes and found 2. Three were either missing or the directions were too vague. By the end my feet were aching from the rocks we had scrambled over and I just wanted to go home. Today, I'm glad we went and glad that we were out there that long - I just wish less of it had been near vertical.

This was at the top of the first big hill we tackled, well almost the top. We took it really slow and I'm getting better at handling steepness. I still don't like heights though.

We found a beautiful, but skeeter filled swamp that neither of us had seen before. A skeeter got me in the ear and it still kinda itches. Almost immediately after this we were scrambling over rocks on the side of a bigger swamp and couldn't help but make all kinds of NeverEnding Story references...

We did make it to the tower at the top, eventually, and munched on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while we relaxed. Then we headed back down.

It was a long day, but it was good. I'm glad we went two days in a row, but now I need a day off for my legs to sort themselves out. I think that's the second longest hike I've been on. Matt's trying to train me up for a three or four day hike in the AT sometime next month and to that I say.. well let's see. I'm still super out of shape.

Sleeping Giant part 2

2010-04-13T18:43:00.001-04:00

We had a bit more success with our Sleeping Giant hike today. We hiked for about an hour and a half and found the letterbox that we were seeking, which was pretty exciting. It was a good hike, although I'm still really out of shape - so I was not enjoying it as much as I should have been.

We may have a longer hike tomorrow, and maybe a picnic at the top of the mountain.

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In addition to these hikes, we have a few adventures in the works - the small one is to Niagara Falls, the Canadian side, for our anniversary. We are also trying to plan a huge cross country/book writing/photography/roadside america type road trip to compete with a similar trip we took last year. More details to come as we start planning this out.

The Heat Defeated Us

2010-04-07T16:35:00.001-04:00

Looking outside we thought - hey it looks like a beautiful day to go hiking. So we did. We checked the weather (it said 86, but since when is weather.com ever right?), put on some shorts and headin on up to Sleeping Giant.

We printed out directions for a series of letterboxes and were ready for action.

It seemed hot out, but that was okay. We hiked to the first letterbox - but couldn't find it. The directions said that some of the other ones might be missing, so we just guessed this one was missing too. Sad, but there were more to go. Unfortunately, we hadn't read the directions ahead of time - and this hike was going to take us up the Giant's Head, which is a very steep hike that I am just not up for right now. I need to be in much better shape to tackle that. It's one of the hardest hikes at Sleeping Giant.

So we headed back with the intention of meeting up with the next set of directions on the tower trail, but that was when the heat defeated us. Some reports say it hit 95 degrees today and I wouldn't doubt it. All I know is that is strangely muggy and hot for April and I don't like it much. I want Spring, not Summer. I was having trouble breathing and my allergies were acting up, which wasn't helping. Normally I'm not quite this wimpy, but it was just too hot to be out there.

We've decided to go back on a more normal Spring day, and hopefully next time our hike will last longer than 30 minutes.

Have you ever had a day when the humidity just wore you out before you got very far?

Introductions

2010-04-05T13:23:00.001-04:00

NOWHERE - could be read nowhere or now here. Definition: 1. in or at no place; not anywhere. 2. having arrived.

NERDS - Lindsey and Matt, artists on a grand cross country adventure. Definition: 1. intelligent but single-minded people obsessed with a nonsocial hobby or pursuit: ie. road trips.

Welcome to our new adventure blog. Normally, we blog over at fallenpeach about photography and crafting and things like that - but another huge part of our lives is having adventures. So we've started a new blog to document and talk about adventures that we have and would like to have.

We'll talk about hiking and road trips and all kinds of stuff like that here, and we'd love for you to follow along and tell us about similar adventures you've had as well. We want to place some letterboxes in Connecticut as well, so keep an eye out for our directions to those both on this blog and at our website, fallenpeach.com.