Adventures of a Midwestern Girl (and Her Hillbilly Hermit Tennessean) in Sunny, Sunny California

My American experience, listed in the order I visited the states. I only included states that I stayed in for at least a few hours. So I didn't include Nevada and Utah, because I only drove through them a break-neck speed on the move out to California.

create your own visited states map

• Illinois - Lived there for the first 21 years of my life.

• Indiana - All my dad's side of the family lives in Indiana, so lots of visits at Christmas and in the summer. My aunt and uncle had a swimming pool!

• Arizona - Went to Tucson on a family vacation when I was quite young. 4 or 5? I'm only including it because I have a vague memory of the Old West gunfight on the streets of Old Tucson. I think I also vaguely remember the Grand Canyon.

• Wisconsin - Living in Illinois, of course we went to Wisconsin. Was this were the "I 'mell 'moke" incident occurred? Also went to Lake Geneva one summer in college for a weekend with my older pseudo-boyfriend, and again after college for Jose and Mandy's wedding.

• Minnesota - Stopped in a border town on the long drive up to Canada. I almost shouldn't include this one because we were only there for a lunch break, but we did visit some local memorial (I forget to what) and smelled that wonderful paper factory air long enough to get used to it.

• Virginia - Visited in high school to see my brother in his shows at Busch Gardens. Visited Jamestown and colonial Williamsburg, but the highlight was the food at the Old Chickahominy House. Dang, thems was good eats!

• Nebraska - Sophomore year of college, during that wonderful J-term break, I drove with friends to Colorado. While we past through a few other states, we only "stayed" in a couple of them. Our first night of driving saw us in Lincoln, staying at Jen's house. We went into town for a while; I think we hit a book store. And we went to the theater to see Cool Runnings.

• Colorado - Stayed in a condo in Breckenridge for almost a week. I had never skied before, and didn't want to try on that trip for fear I'd break something and have to drive back to Illinois crammed in a van with 8 other people. But I had a great time anyway, "hiking" through a field of snow up to my waist, hanging out in town, and playing strip swifel with my friends. It was a made up card game and we made up the rules as we went along. It was a very short game, stopping as soon as we were down to our undies.

• Kansas & Missouri - On the drive back, we stayed a night at Laura's place in Kansas City, KS. But we hung out that day in Kansas City, MO, which I hear is pretty much the better of the 2 KC's to this day.

• New York - After junior year, a few of us headed to NYC for a conference on Beat Literature. Allen Ginsburg was one of the panelists! We drove through a long night and ended up in NYC with no plans for lodging. As I've mentioned in other entires, my friends are not so big on the advanced planning. A month before the trip, I suggested we check out the hotels listed in the conference guide and the response was, "no, we'll just get a room when we get there." So the first night, one of us rented a room in the only hotel we could find/afford/that had a vacancy. It was about the smallest room I've ever seen, and the rest of us - who hadn't rented the room - had to sneak in. It was so small, people slept in the bath tub. So, the next day, we found the local youth hostel. While the price per person ended up being the same as the hotel, at least we each got our own bed.

• Connecticut - After the conference, we drove to Connecticut where Jose's little sister was graduating from boarding school. Jose's parents rented us a place to stay for the 2 nights we were there and took us all out to dinner, so going to the graduation was the least we could do!

• Michigan - Later that summer, I went up to Michigan with Ann and Mike to spend a weekend boating and jet skiing on the lake. A great, relaxing weekend.

• California - Well, duh. I moved here in 1996 for what was supposed to be 1 year, 2 tops.

• Tennessee - Having been with Steve for 8 years, I've been to Tennessee (his home state) several times. In addition to family gatherings, I also went to the 2004 SLA conference in Nashville. Tourist-wise, I love the Jack Daniels Distillery. We seriously tried to have our wedding there, but they don't allow ceremonies of more then the couple and a witness or 2 for liability reasons. Our wedding at Evins Mill was perfect, though. Also visited Burgess Falls and the Hermitage, among other things

• Hawaii - Steve and I went on vacation to the Big Island in 2000. We saw Kilauea, and some petroglyphs, and waterfalls a plenty. We rescued one of the sweetest cats ever from homelessness as a stray and placed her in the pampered home of one of the richest ladies in Waimea - it's a long story. Maybe I'll post the entry from my old site sometime. And Steve proposed, 6 months before he was "supposed" to. We went back in 2004, starting in Kauai where we survived a flash flood and were rescued by the Coast Guard, then going back to the Big Island where Steve broke a $300 wooden bowl. For those of you familiar with the story, the bowl is still in the box.

• Florida - My brother moved from Virginia to Florida, and we flew down there for his wedding to Sue. It was a great weekend. The reception was loads of fun with the karaoke and the open bar. Steve and I had to drive my parents back to their hotel and almost literally put them in bed. They are still embarrassed by this, but I think it was great fun! The next day, Steve and I went to Disneyworld and Disney's Animal Kingdom.

• Oregon - My one and only real business trip, I went to Medford, OR for my last job to do a client's needs assessment meeting. I didn't see much; maybe I shouldn't even include Oregon.

• Washington - Steve and I have visited Washington twice since Aaron and Vera bailed on California and moved up to the Seattle area. It's a beautiful place. I don't really know how I'd feel about the weather if I lived there, but I didn't mind it for the visits. Loved the Underground Tour and would recommend it for anyone interested in the irreverent side of history. We also went to Salmon Days while there the last time to watch those salmon spawn. At the end of the path, we peaked into their final destination at the hatchery where truly horrible things happen to them.

• Maryland - Went to Baltimore in 2006 for the SLA conference. Being a conference, I didn't get to see too much of the town, but I did go to 2 parties at the National Aquarium and a dinner on the USS Constellation.

• Louisiana - Okay, this is a preemptive listing since I'll be in New Orleans this summer for the AALL conference. I know - New Orleans in July. I think I'll bring an extra deodorant or 2 to carry with me in my computer bag and purse. I'm looking forward to my Scandalously Good Walking Tour, though.

Posted by Anne at 09:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The world and state maps were going to be together in one entry, but that turned into the Longest Blog Entry Ever, so I've divided it up into 2 separate entries. First the Visited Countries.

create your own visited countries map

America - Well this is a no brainer. I'll go into more detail in the states entry.

I went on my first international trip on a choral tour after my freshman year of high school. Incidentally, the choral trip was also the reason I started working at Taco Bell at the tender age of 14. My parents made me pay for half of the trip myself. At Taco Bell wages (minimum wage at the time was $3.35), this took a while. While I think traveling and exposure to other cultures is a good thing at any age, I will admit a trip like this might be a little wasted on the young. What do I really remember?

• Netherlands - I remember going to a diamond. . . is factory the right word? It wasn't a regular jewelry shop, but a major appraisal and cutting center. Very sparkly stones. We also saw, but did not tour, Anne Frank's house. And I bought my own pair of highly decorated wooden shoes. They were the smallest size I could get because, the larger the shoe, the more it cost. Instead of a hotel, we stayed with host families in the Netherlands for a day or two. We brought our offerings of crappy American pop culture tchotchkes. Unfortunately, I was a little rumbly in my tummy when we arrived, so one of the first impressions my host family got of me was when I stepped out of their bathroom. They were all standing in the hallway waiting for me, and the look on their faces when they caught wind of the situation was terribly embarrassing. Remember, I was 14. Bodily functions of any kind were mortifying.

• Germany - We visited mad king Ludwig II's Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria. No pictures allowed - bummer. I also remember getting fresh fruit at an outdoor market and waiting around to see the cuckoo clock tower cuckoo. There was a reception after one of our singing gigs at a church. I remember trying desperately to like the beer I was given, because I was 14 and being given beer. At church. There was a carnival one night in one of the towns we stayed at. I remember going on one of those rides where you sit in a little car and you whip around frantically, hurtling toward a wall, then stopping short, and whirling away in the opposite direction. But the walls on this ride had scantily clad women painted on them. Nothing like being tossed around in a sea of ginormous nipples at such a tender age. We visited Dachau on this trip. While most of the buildings were destroyed down to their foundations, I remember the museum's solemn exhibits. While there, we went in the Catholic Mortal Agony of Christ chapel and, with no audience, we sang "All My Trials" and "Battle Hymn of the Republic", me starting to cry about halfway through. I distinctly remember being uncomfortable when the decision was made to sing "America, the Beautiful" last. I didn't want to do it. It somehow didn't seem right in this sacred place to end what were effectively our prayers with a patriotic number. It would have been different if it were a cemetery for American war dead, but it was not.

• Austria - We only stayed in Austria a day or two. We stayed at a quaint little hotel in the country with cows on the hills, the clang of cow bells on the wind ("Guess what! I got a fever, and the only prescription... is more cowbell!"). It was like the hills were alive. . . with the sound of music.

• Switzerland - Up to the top-ish of the Matterhorn we went. You can't actually go to the tip-top, but you can get pretty high up there. Cold! I bought a music box while in town.

• Italy - Spent a day in Venice. It was really hot, so I wore a sundress. I didn't know I couldn't go into St. Mark's cathedral with bare shoulders. By the time I bought a scarf from a vendor on the street, the rest of my group had started the tour and I was left behind. I remember being distinctly disappointed by the pizza I ate in Italy.

Canada - In high school, I went a week-long canoe trip to Quetico Park in Ontario. Beautiful country and a great time, but I had trouble carrying the dang canoe. It wasn't really the weight that was the problem; I was able to haul a backpack of similar weight just fine. But I could not balance the canoe over my head. Every time I tried to carry it, it would tip forward or back to the ground. My most vivid memory was of the bear coming to our camp our last morning in the wild. We were very fortunate that it happened on the last day, because s/he ate all the rest of our food. I was able to bring home one of the heavy plastic containers that had had sugar in it. It was just torn apart, and still wet with bear drool when I showed it to my parents.

UK - Junior year of college, I went to England for 3 weeks on a theatre trip during January term. J-term was great all around, but the travel trip was best. We saw about 14 plays during the trip and had to write a report on each, and it was a full credit class. We visited the site of the new Globe Theatre, still under construction at the time, and Shakespeare's reconstructed cottage in Stratford-upon-Avon. I remember thinking about the history of England. We were at some old palace or building and I was reading a placard about something that had happened in 1400-something, and I started reciting "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue". At that moment, it really hit me that here was a country with History with a capital "H". Three non-theatre memories: Near the end of the trip I went out clubbing with the rest of the group to the Equinox. It was a lot of fun for a while, but I was a bit put off by the smelly Italian guy who thought it was very sexy to wear a leather jacket with no shirt to a hot, sweaty club and grind against unwilling ladies. I got into a heated argument with some crack-pot at Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park, just as you are supposed to do. While in England, I also bought a Cuban cigar and smoked it one evening down in the hotel bar. It was so strong I got a buzz, but back up in my room, I got sick. Ah, the robust flavor!

Ah, the honeymoon! Obviously, this trip was relatively recent and I remember a lot so I'll just hit the highlights.

• Australia - Sydney was nice, but our travel agent put us in the CBD (Central Business District) which shut down at 5:00 pm. Would have been much better staying in Darling Harbour or the Rocks. Went to a really weird show at the Sydney Opera House called Runners Up, by Legs On The Wall, about the Australian obsession with competition. It was that (cheap and in the studio theatre) or the $300 tickets to see an opera about the Dingoes Ate My Baby incident. I was kind of intrigued by the opera's concept, but didn't want to shell out so much cash, especially in the first 2 days of our trip. Went up to Queensland to see the Australia Zoo. Didn't see the Croc Hunter, but we did find his house, we think. I loved the round-a-bouts; Steve, not so much. The highlight of the trip was our stay at Silky Oaks Lodge in Cairns. This was the one part of our trip where we really splurged on the accommodations. It was very expensive, but oh so worth it. If we ever make it back to Australia, I will forgo the rest of the excursions in order to afford another stay at Silky Oaks. Took a hike in the Daintree Rainforest, a twilight river "cruise" in a little motor boat in a crocodile-filled area, and snorkeled on the Great Barrier Reef. I even threw caution to the wind (I'm not a strong swimmer) and paid the extra $20 to go out of the main tour area and snorkel with a marine biologist and about 10 other people. Finally saw a platypus our last day there. We flew from Cairns back to Sydney early that morning and had an 8 hour layover before our flight to New Zealand, so we hopped on the train and went to the aquarium.

• New Zealand - Flew from Sydney to Wellington on the southern tip of the North Island. Had a strange encounter with an airport employee about my buckwheat back pillow when we got there. She was afraid I was going to go all Johnny Appleseed and spread buckwheat seeds through the country. When we reenact this event now, Steve gives her a German accent as she tries to confiscate my "veat bag". Went to Te Papa (national museum of New Zealand). Lots of interactive exhibits and cool Maori artifacts. Drove up to Rotorua through Napier (skip Napier if you're not really into art deco architecture). Loved the geo-thermal sites in Rotorua and went to a Maori version of a luau. Up to Auckland for the end of the trip. If you ever go there, visit the War Memorial Museum. The exhibits take you through each of the wars New Zealanders have participated in. Very cool immersive exhibits - in the World War I area, you are walking through trenches. There are oral histories incorporated throughout. After the exhibits, you step out into an atrium where the names of all the New Zealand war dead are engraved on the walls. It was extremely moving.

Next up: The States!

Posted by Anne at 08:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Holy crap! Whatever you think about the war in Iraq, this guy is really scraping the bottom of the justification barrel. I can only imagine the Adminstration wishing Poe would stop "helping" them.

Congressman invokes Klan Wizard in pro-war floor speech

A Texas Republican Congressman invoked a founding Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan in a floor speech he delivered yesterday in support of the Iraq War.

"Nathan Bedford Forrest, successful Confederate general, said it best about winning and victory and the means to do so. He said: 'Get there firstest with the mostest,'" said Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) in a one-minute floor speech at the beginning of Monday's session in the House of Representatives.

He then called on Congress to fund the war in Iraq.

"Congress needs to send the generals the mostest, Mr. Speaker, needs to send equipment and personnel that is needed. Doing this will help our mission in spite of the Congressional Surrender Group's desire to retreat and quit," he added.

Poe left out Forrest's history as a founder of the Ku Klux Klan in addition to fighting on the side of the Confederacy.

A video of Poe's speech can be access at the website of ThinkProgress.

Posted by Anne at 08:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The first time I convinced Steve to watch SpongeBob SquarePants, he was very dubious. Now, he loves the show, probably more than I do.

Knowing that, and knowing Steve, should it come as any surprise that this totally reminds me of him?

Posted by Anne at 08:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I got an invitation for my 15-year high school reunion in the mail the other day.

I know I went to my 10-year college reunion last fall, so it follows that my 15-year high school reunion would be this year.

And it isn't even the 15-year part of it that's crazy.

I won't be able to go to this reunion; I've never made it back for a high school reunion. But I'd like to try and get back for the next big one. And that's where I blow my mind.

The next time I get a special invitation for my high school reunion it will be for the 20-year mark. 20 years! I won't have been back to my high school for 20 years (not counting my brothers' memorial service). I won't have seen these people for 20 years.

How the heck did I get so old?

My only consolation is that Steve's 20-year high school reunion was last year. No matter what happens, he will always be older than me.

Posted by Anne at 07:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)