#trip 4 i get back from dinner and check my load! 30 minutes left. it is still wet

[chaletnz]

Crossing El Salvador: Cerro Verde to San Miguel

We left Cerro Verde for what would be a two day affair to cross the borders getting us to Nicaragua where our real trip continued. I woke up very early to try and get a lukewarm shower at the campsite rather than the cold ones everyone else had been getting. It was a good way to refresh, and then I packed up ready to load my bag onto the van and have breakfast. Deme and I went back to the cafe but having learned from our mistake, we just ordered the regular cappuccino this time! Others in the group did paintballing while the rest of us took our morning easy. The group returned to the bus ready for our five hour drive to San Miguel sweating and covered in welts and bruises. Georgi had been shot particularly hard as she had accidentally hit Max in his manhood and he'd been given a free redemption shot that turned into him emptying the gun on her. The ride was long and dull and broken up only by some gas station stops for snacks along the way. We'd left around 11am from our campsite and had expected to arrive around 5pm to San Miguel. Traffic was quite heavy as we passed through what seemed like El Salvador's only main road. We stopped for lunch at Comida Mercedes in Cojutepeque which was, in a word - chaotic. Walter had attempted a Spanish lesson during the drive and taught us the names of some fruits and vegetables that we might like/not like and lettuce and cabbage which we should not eat at all until we reach Costa Rica due to pesticides. There was a stop to ride a boat around Laguna de Apastepeque for one dollar each, the music was blaring and we all crammed into the boat. The boaties rocked it from side to side to where I was a little nervous that either the boat would fill up with water, or we'd flip over and fall in the lake. After circling the lake and waving at everyone we came across the boaties helped us all back onto land. We got back into the minibus and after a couple more hours we had arrived at a mall in San Miguel down the road from our hotel. We had about 30 minutes to use the toilets, buy some snacks for the long day tomorrow to cross two borders, and look around the mall. We tried to find souvenir magnets for El Salvador but the only ones for sale were $7 and terrible quality. Instead I went to the supermarket to spend some money on some snacks for tomorrow. The cashier didn't believe the $20 bill I paid with was real so they had to check it out, and then he didn't have enough change either so I was stuck waiting for him to get change. I ended up being the last one back to the bus and felt so guilty taking my seat when everyone else was ready. Our hotel was a few more minutes away and then we could check in and shower at last! Walter made a reservation for us in the hotel restaurant and about half the group showed up. I sat with Tyrza, Wout, and Boukje, the Dutch speaking trio as well as Jess, Emily and Cam from the UK. Boukje and Jess split a grilled fish platter and Wout, Tyrza, and I split a barbecue grill platter. It was huge! It came out with chicken, beef, and sausages, as well as about 4 large potatoes cut up on the grill, a bowl of garlic bread, and 4 dipping sauces/salsas. Split between the 3 of us, we only paid about $9 each and ate until we were stuffed. With a few cocktails tacked on there it was still less than $20 for a relatively nice restaurant dinner and drinks. After dinner we headed back to our rooms for an early night before our 4:30am departure tomorrow morning to get to the border. I saw Emily and Georgi sitting in the lobby in a panic that the receptionist couldn't speak English and they needed a taxi. Georgi had dyed her hair again (after dying it two days earlier while at the campsite...) and it had gone fully orange. They were on a mission to try and find some toner but keep in mind these are the two who didn't even know the words to ask for a bathroom in Spanish, going out alone at night when we needed to be ready to leave at 4:30am! I told them to take a photo of the hotel sign and how to say "help" if they ran into trouble and wished them luck.

[annieintheaair]

Let's start a new life and get out of this town cause who we were there isn't who we are now.

Sometimes it feels like I live two different lives. Other times, it feels like I'm living three. There's Annie at home, Annie in her old home, and Annie at work.

When I was in 8th grade, my family moved from my childhood home to a new house, 30 minutes away. I'm a very sentimental person so even though my childhood home was old and small, I loved that house. Our new house was brand new and bigger with more land, too. I remember driving between the two houses and we'd go around this curve in the next town over from our new house and it always felt like I was living in one world and entering a different one. The curve felt like the separation of the two. I had my friends in my hometown and my friends in my new town. I had activities I was involved in back there and started finding new ones in the new place.

Since I moved last year, I've felt that feeling all over again. I go back to my old town often and it feels like I enter this other world when I reach the airport and cross into the Fort Worth side of the metroplex. All I want these days is to be back in one world and not feel so overwhelmed like I need to manage two lives.

This week has been really busy, as everything feels like it's coming to some sort of end. I worked Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights so far this week. Tuesday, after I finished my work meeting, which we rescheduled to 11:30am for the day, I loaded myself and my dogs into the car and headed back to my old area. It was a two Red Bull kind of day so I drank one on my way and picked up another at PJ's Coffee halfway through the drive.

I decided to leave my house early that day to avoid traffic so I had time to take a detour and take my dogs to their favorite park in our old town. There was only one other dog there, unfortunately, and it left after a few minutes so my dogs had the whole park to themselves. Kirby didn't mind but I think Ellie was sad and it was also pretty hot outside. We didn't stay very long before I drove them over to their dog sitter's house around 4:45pm.

I intentionally gave myself extra time so I was able to go to yoga at 5:15pm. It was mindful flow and meditation, which is one of my favorite classes to help me relax.

After yoga, I went to meet up with my friend Jillian for dinner. We tried a new ramen place and even though it was cute inside, the food was pretty bland and the waiter wasn't very friendly.

I was actually excited to go to work that night since I was flying with three of my friends-- Kia, Sheronda, and Debby. Work is so much better when I get to fly with people I want to be around. It turned out to be a good trip and I'm hoping for a lot more of the same next month.

Wednesday was insanely busy. As soon as I left work, I headed to my audiologist for my annual hearing test and hearing aid checks. I didn't get to see the graph myself, which would have been cool, but Evan told me that my hearing is basically the same and I only need to come once a year now instead of twice.

Immediately following that appointment, I went next door for an ear doctor appointment. She told me to do a nasal rinse and two nasal sprays to help with my ear issues but that my short flights aren't helping me because when I try to pop my ears, I'm actually stretching my eardrums. I don't want to do longer flights and honestly, it would probably be more takeoffs and landings each day than what I'm doing now.

I ended up finishing both appointments way ahead of time so I went to my favorite nail salon for a mani/pedi. I went with a really fun summery blue color this time. It's almost like a dark periwinkle and I love it. It was only 10:30am but I ordered a Blue Hawaiian to drink because they're the best there and working nights kind of makes 10:30am my nighttime. The lady doing my pedicure was trying to get me to drink more and told me I could have as many drinks as I wanted. They made them pretty strong, too, but I only had two.

I was supposed to have a chiropractor appointment but it unfortunately got canceled. Instead, I went to LaLa Land to get some avocado toast and a matcha latte while I worked on my computer for an hour or so.

I had a hair appointment at 2:30pm but got there a little early and I was glad I did since it started pouring outside. Then it began to hail and I was freaking out that my car was going to be destroyed (The Volvo was ok!). As I sat on the couch waiting for my appointment, my exhaustion started to hit me and I kept dozing off. It was such a struggle to stay awake after only sleeping two hours at the hotel that morning. I didn't bother to get my hair cut this time since I kept debating if I wanted to keep it long or go short and I didn't really need a trim this time.

When my hair appointment was done, I had the perfect amount of time to get over to yoga for my class. I guess the rain stopped people from coming so there were only four of us there. It was a good class and super relaxing listening to the rain outside while the sky got dark.

After yoga, I went to church for the final night of Students for the school year. We won't be back there until August. Obviously, I'm really looking forward to not doing the drive every week but it feels like I'm saying goodbye (temporarily) to that life and Wednesday routine. I'm really going to miss going to yoga and Students every week. Even though I won't be there every Wednesday, I still have a few things planned that I'll be there for in the coming weeks/months.

I picked up the dogs around 8:30pm and we headed home. The drive is so long and Ellie is clearly tired of doing it because she hates being in the car now. I don't blame her.

By the time we got home, it was nearly 10pm since I stopped at Chick-fil-a to get dinner. I thought about pouring myself a glass of wine but instead took a shower and got into bed.

I was up around 8:15am today to go to yoga in Fort Worth. I hadn't been to a class with that instructor before and honestly, now I won't be so disappointed about not being able to go to that Thursday morning class. It definitely wasn't my favorite.

I decided to cut back my yoga subscription for next month since I'm planning on flying a lot again and fewer trips back to my old town means I won't be going to yoga there for a while. I can't believe that it's the end of May already and almost June. My friend Shinayde was asking about my birthday and I told her honestly that I am not really into birthdays so she asked me my favorite dessert instead of a cake.

If I'm celebrating anything this year, it's having survived. Hopefully next year I can feel like I'm thriving but for now, surviving seems sufficient and acceptable.

I have so much to look forward to next month, even with things winding down. Jillian and I are planning on going to speed dating in a few weeks. It has literally been years since we last went so it will be fun to meet new people in the real world since I'm no longer doing dating apps.

I'm praying the weather holds out tonight so we don't have any delays. This month has been exhausting and spring in DFW is always pretty insane when it comes to the storms.

Finishing this blog from my breezy patio where the sun is shining through the clouds. My dogs and I are all enjoying some nice, fresh air.

Diggin' through memories I've been pickin' up pain, found all of our baggage don't fit under this plane. Hard to carry it anymore.

xoxo

Annie

[frecht]

where's that post that is like college is all about going up and down stairs bc i (3rd floor) did my laundry (1st floor) today and it was an ordeal. should have been 2-3 trips max but it was. seven (7)

[multifandomhoodies]

. Here’s a. bit of a write up on corps life. 

my big number one? I wanna go back lmao. I’ve been home for a few days and I’m already to go back out there. 

Anyways. I spent two months camping and working in the pacific northwest and. honestly it was the most incredible experience of my life. I was on a five person crew (four members and a lead) and of that group there were only two people that hadn’t already done a session of conservation corps either at this corps or a different one. This was my first time doing a corps! I was like. deadass shitting a brick before I left. I was so nervous to fly across the country (I’d never even flown before!) and go do something I’d never done for two months. I’ve been camping. I’ve been hiking. I’d worked outside for the last nine months and had two seasons of outdoor work in park maintenance. but this was living out of tent for TWO months. I was super excited but I was. so fucking nervous too. And god to fly? Airports seemed scary and busy and I was scared I was gonna miss a flight or not be able to find where to go. So the weeks leading up to my trip I was so goddamn nervous. But I did it lmao. 

And then. corps life. We spent the first day doing orientation where I met my crew!! and then left to head to our campsite where we’d do saw training the next three days. We left the parking lot of headquarters to Colter Wall’s “The Devil Wears a Suit and Tie” and headed to an area in the Willamette National Forest. The drive there was incredible. I’d flown into Oregon the night before and really hadn’t seen much because it was 9:30 when I landed and had only taken a short lyft ride to headquarters p early in the morning so. This was kind of my first time getting to see more than the freeway of Oregon. It was so beautiful. The big ass trees and the river and the mountains were just. incredible. And then that night two of my crewmates made entirely too much spaghetti which we had for two nights. We then had to use the leftover sauce for another meal. Fun fact! We only had spaghetti once more after that. In two months. Spaghetti is usually a staple on corps. Not on Red Crew. We were scared. Also the crewmember who doled out the pasta portions for that very first dinner of too much spaghetti was banned by our crew contract from doling out grain portions. After that, we went into saw training. Three straight days of saw training and evaluations on the last day. We were starting at seven I think? Like, meeting a five minute walk away in full ppe with saws ready to go at 7am. I think I wrote that I woke up at 4:45 the one morning but honestly that may have been the jet lag. Saw training was exhausting but it was so much fun too. There was a lot of information to take in and I’d at least run a chainsaw before. There were people that hadn’t run saws before at all. On the third day of saw training, we loaded up into our rig (by the way! 2021 ford f250. super duty cab. extended bed with a truck cap. gigantic. massive. imposing. it also had no labelling. it was not marked with anything corps related. it did not even have license plates. it was probably a little intimidating when we were bass boosting driving around in that thing. but whiplash inducing bass boosting because like. notorious big to mumford and sons back to back. can you believe that we never got pulled over in driving almost 5,000 miles). anyways. we did saw evals in a burned zone. I got my bar pinched. I know what I’d do differently now but I have a lot more saw time. But I passed! My whole crew passed and are now USDA National Sawyer Certification A Class Sawyers. Or Feller 3s depending on how you wanna say it. I’m super happy because I got my first professional certification at 19. Although my card says I got it after my birthday but I did my eval before I turned 20 so I’m gonna take it. 

After saw training, we went up to a suburb of Portland to. sigh. move sticks for Karens. The area we were in SCREAMED homeowners association. in the name of “fuels reduction” they had us pick up sticks and hike them down to the road. The sticks were down because the trees were dying from this shitty little park. The first week was cold and rainy and we moved sticks. We cleared out an area close to the road the first day and then the rest of the week we had to swamp (move/clear) sticks up a hill onto this narrow trail. Everyone had blisters because no one was used to walking up and down a hill all day. Carrying wet and occasionally rotting sticks. We’d hike it up the hill to the trail and then load sticks into shitty wheelbarrows and then take those down this narrow path on a steep hill when it was fully loaded with sticks. By the end of the week we were walking a good quarter/half mile to the the road with heavy wheelbarrows. It was miserable. NO one wanted to complain because it was our first project but. eventually we all came to the conclusion that it was bullshit. It had nice views tho. Still my least favorite project. Even thought it was miserable I still like. had fun?? 

After that we went into Washington and planted trees. We actually did this for two weeks but with another site in between. This site uh. did not have bathrooms. Learned how to use a cathole. It hailed the first time I used a cathole. That was exceptionally miserable. But we planted trees! I wasn’t a huge fan of the site our first time there but I warmed up to it. We planted over 3,000 trees in our two weeks. One of our project partners stayed out with us, which mad respect. He was so sweet. We all joked that we were a little in love with him. He wound up hanging out with us during a few of our campfires. He told us about this trip he’d taken back in college to Peru. At this site we coined the phrase “meat plate” which would stay with us until the end of session. Meat plate is dinner that is just, assorted meats that need to be gotten out of the coolers. Also on this site a crewmember got his hand in stinging nettle while taking a shit. The first week was cold. It was rainy and shitty, mostly on the weekend. We did check out the ocean though!! I’d never been to see the ocean and we took the 101 north from near the Willamette to where we were and stopped actually at Fort Stevens State Park and that’s where I got to see the ocean for the first time. In march! It was sunny but actually super nice. We all waded in and one of my crewmates jumped in. It was march. IT was cold. This is the Pacific Ocean. Anyways he’s built different. The second time at the site was a week later, and it was super pretty. It was much better weather. We planted more trees. 

Third week was further in Washington like an hour drive from Olympia. This was my first time seeing snow covered mountains that were massive in the distance. We cleaned up 195 trashbags of plastic plant protectors. Also kind of a shitty project but hey. Wasn’t hiking stuff up hills so. Our partner for this had people come talk to us for educational stuff which was okay, bad, and fantastic in order lol. The partner sent people from their org to be with the speakers (who weren’t part of the org) and we told the one lady what we’d been doing and she started LAUGHING and she was like “I’m sorry they gave you that project it’s because no one else wanted to do it” thanks. it was a shitty task but our partners were so nice that it made up for it. they even got a portapotty on site for us. no but they were all super nice. oh god they’d told us not to yell/slam doors/make loud noises because there was an owl in the barn on the property. we all were loud people and kind of forgot but it was okay we didn’t scare the bird. the bird scared us. one of my crewmates got up to go pee in the middle of the night and it swooped at him. this place was great for birds. We had a very angery killdeer beep at us!! we pulled out scotchbroom from the corner of the property and every time we walked near where it must have had its nest it would very angrily beep at us. It was so cute. We all loved it. My crewlead would always yell back at it. “What!! What do you want!!” I love that lil bird. Pulling out scotchbroom was a trip. To pull out scotchbroom you should in theory be ale to use a weedwrench to pry it out. Right? No. This was old growth scotch broom. This stuff was two inches in diameter as the smallest. It wouldn’t always fit in the weedwrenches. At one point it took me, my crewlead, and a crewmate to pull a scotchbroom with as much force/bodyweight as we could put on it. A couple times my crewlead put his entire bodyweight on to it and wound up falling into blackberry lmao. There was so much blackberry there too my god. It was so painful. We all kept joking about letting our crewlead just burn the area in a prescribed burn to get rid of the invasives. In the parking lot of a different preserve from the same partner org I found a red dinosaur who became one of our crew mascots.

After our second week back planting trees, we headed back down to Oregon to work on a fuels reduction project. We were all so excited for this one. We’d gotten certed for saws at the beginning of the session and had been told that we were gonna be a saw crew doing mostly fuels reduction which our lead had specifically asked to do because he had experience with it. But this was our first real saw project with fuels reduction. The weather this week was amazing. It didn’t rain at all, which on the West side of the Cascades in Oregon in April is pretty weird. It was nice for us but Oregon was and maybe still is in a drought. yikes! anyways. this is when we went on a hike to Blue Pool in the Wilamette National Forest. We camped at a little municipal park with another crew! It was weird being around another crew again because we’d spent so long just on our own that we all starting to lose it a little. But the other crew was super nice and we played frisbee in the dark with them the first night we were in the area. The project? was amazing. We worked on private project with a conglomerate of partners in doing fuels reduction. This conglomerate of partners did a whole bunch of other stuff but we only did fuels reduction. That was a week of working in a burn zone moving sticks. Moving sticks and swamping and making sure piles were neat to be able to be chipped. We learned about dispersing and how to remove ladder fuels and where to leave small logs on the ground for ground fuel. My crewlead showed us hazard trees and took a few out. I really loved this project. I loved the “grab stick go” part of it. It was so much fun. I also got to run a lot of saw which was nice. And this property bordered a parcel of BLM land which wound up being the spot we went to go pee at. If you’ve never been West of the Mississippi river, which I hadn’t(!) you’ve never had the opportunity to be on BLM land. There is no BLM land in the East. I wanted to go on all five of big public land holders in the US and that’s the one I don’t have access to here at home. We actually wound up taking a “nature appreciation walk” because we finished our work early around this little nugget of land and it was so cool. It was right on the McKenzie river and it was beautiful. I found our second crew pet/mascot there, a large palm sized egg shaped rock named “Egg.” We were so filthy there. Four 10s in a burn zone makes ya pretty stinky when you dont get to shower. Actually, we weren’t as stinky here because we just smelled like ash. I had ash everywhere. We went out to eat after the last day and my crewlead hadn’t washed his face in four days and was completely covered in ash. 

Our last project took us 8 hours back into Washington. It was a long fucking drive. We stopped at Voodoo Doughnuts in Portland tho which was incredible. We rolled into our spot in Washington at 12:40. We slept with our sleeping pads and sleeping bags under a pavilion and were woken up by a ranger the next morning who thought we were homeless or illegally camping. This last project was also kinda bullshit. We were working with the Feds who kept telling us to slow down. We were at this project site for three weeks. The first week we cleared trails of downed trees and brushcut. The second and third weeks we helped General Maintenance take down trees and did so many runs to the dumpsite. We moved a lot of sticks and logs and my arms still look super scratched from moving branches. This spot was in the high desert of Eastern Washington and it was actually super pretty. I didn’t think I’d like the desert all that much but there was definitely a beauty to it. There wasn’t shit out there other than the dam. From there tho we were able to go to Leavenworth, this funky little Bavarian themed village up near the Cascades. We also went to Lake Wenatchee, which wasn’t as fun because we had to go move a fridge for the office staff. We spent about seven and a half hours on our last weekend doing this. I’m not salty. But it was super beautiful so. It’s okay. And we passed a prescribed burn on the way back to our site. 

There’s still so much more I want to write and talk about. I have to say I’m overall. just so glad I did this. I had the absolute time of my life. I have never had so much fun. I learned so much. I learned how to really put out a fire with a pulaski from my crewlead. He taught us how to use the Incident Response Pocket Guide to cross reference and look at the probability of ignition. I learned how to use a chainsaw decently well. I did a lot of things that were far beyond my comfort zone. To fly literally halfway across the country, from Ohio to Oregon, for two months and to live in a tent and work on a conservation corps, it was super beyond my comfort zone. I did things with a saw that were beyond my comfort zone and I had to trust in my ability to saw and trust in my crewlead to let me do something he felt comfortable with me doing and thought was in my capability. And it was it was so fucking cool. I really bonded with everyone on y crew too. I made some good friends. And just like. The things I was able to see and do were amazing. And it was so nice to spend so much time outside. I didn’t spend more than an hour or two at most in a building in two months. I worked in 50s and rain wearing rainpants and chainsaw chaps and I worked in the 80s and sun in chainsaw chaps. I was able to lift a full 5 gal of water (40lbs) onto my shoulder and I’m still super proud of it. I watched a ton of movies in the rig with my crewlead and one of my crewmates. I got to use my crewlead’s chainsaw which was a lot cooler, sharper, and bigger than our corps saws. I cried about trees a lot. I celebrated my 20th birthday in a state park with people I didn’t really know too well who surprised me with homemade rice crispie treats and snacks from the Chevron we were regulars for that week at. I hiked some really pretty trails. I gave a lot of hugs and got a lot of hugs. I became not as terrible at hacky sack. I realized that There Are People In My Life Who See Good Things In Me and I Just Want To Keep Making Them Proud. I realized that I’m incredibly hard on myself. This whole thing furthered my belief of goddammit if I wanna do it by god I’ll do it. It’s been a dream of mine since I was 15 to go be on a conservation corps. I got interested in corps life at 15 because of Youth Conservation Corps posting in Wayne National Forest in southern ohio and since then had just. Always wanted to do it. And that literally changed my life - because of just hearing about corps I got super into parks and researched it and was like “oh i wanna be a park ranger” and I started working at the park doing maintenance and went to school briefly for parks and rec management and then dropped out to work more in parks. but then this year, after five years of wanting to do it, I finally did a conservation corps. Not a youth corps but an adult corps. Five years! The biggest dream I had was to work on a conservation corps. I just wanted to use a pulaski on a trail once. And I did at our last project site, even just removing invasives. But just. This experience was something I’d wanted to do for so long and to finally do it and have it be as amazing as I thought was just amazing. My crewlead saw me taking pictures in Washington along the Willapa bay and was just like “corps is a slippery slope. You either hate it or you get addicted to it.” Tragically I’m addicted to it. I can’t wait until next January and March to get back out there. It was such an amazing experience and I feel like I learned a lot of really good soft skills and really good hard skills. I can’t possibly explain to anyone the full extent of what this meant to me and all the fun I had but. This is a long post and I have to go replace my phone so this will be it for now. In the off chance anyone made it this far, thanks. 

[ladynestaarcheron]

Like Pristine Glass - Chapter Eight

ao3 - ff.net - masterpost

(tagging these cuties: @humanexile @skychild29 @rhysandsdarlingfeyre @candid-confetti ​ @rhysandsrightknee @missing-merlin @azriels-forgotten-shadow @books-and-cocos@sezkins79 @city-of-fae @someonemagical)

so here’s chapter eight! I hope you all enjoy! if you do, I'd really appreciate you reblogging this in addition to liking (only if you like it obvi!) because my like to reblog ratio is between 10-30% (like 80 notes and only 12 are reblogs). likes are wonderful and I appreciate them but weblogs get me more readers and traction. but as always, thank you so much for your support, I really do appreciate it!!

also, I'm still looking for a beta! so here’s some more info on that.

November 9- Year of

The day after Nesta's proposal for dinner became Emerie's treat at the eatery, the two females greeted each other with a tentative nod. The next day it it was a Good morning and a You as well, and then the next day there was an-almost smile from Emerie.

They still worked mostly in silence, but it was far more comfortable than the tense couple of days behind them.

"Why have you ordered so many coats?" Nesta asked her.

"I...didn't think I did."

"Well, you've written in here more than we need. Look," Nesta said, showing her the book. "We've not sold these yet. So why do we need a dozen of these?"

"Other shops..."

"Forget the other shops. This is unnecessary. Especially if you downmark the ones we do have...and then wait a month...and then order these..."

"I don't understand," Emerie admitted.

"People will buy perfectly good coats for cheaper than the competition right at the start of winter, right? So they buy these coats that we have. Then they tell people they bought cheap coats at your shop. A month from now, in December, when all the clothiers will have ordered their coats already, all the leftovers will be marked down. We'll order then. And sell."

"Hmm," Emerie said.

Her tone was non-committal, but Nesta suppressed a grin. She knew she'd impressed her.

"So...how much do we mark them down by?"

"Thirty percent," Nesta replied, without hesitating.

"That's a little low."

"It'll pay off."

Emerie narrowed her eyes a bit. "All right," she said.

Now Nesta had to bite her lip to keep from smiling. It was good to be thought of as good again. To be trusted, respected.

She had not desired the feeling for so long...felt nothing at all for so long...and it was slowly coming back to her.

---

October 27 - 4 years later

Nesta does not mean for Cassian to be at her house when Amorette arrives, but he is.

He had come with her to bring the children home from nursery, and there had been whispering abound from her fellow townspeople. No one has yet asked her if he’s their father, but it’s quite obvious. If his wings did not give him away, his hair and his eyes, Nicky’s hair and Avery’s eyes, surely would.

She has not yet spoken to Zeyn, either. She tells herself that she isn’t being a coward, just that it’ll be easier after today. And that is partially true. She is always lighter, always more prepared to face whatever it is she has to do after her afternoon trip alone at the end of every month.

Cassian looks to her when Amorette knocks on the door and inwardly, Nesta swears. She realizes only know that unless she kicks Cassian out, the children will be left with the both of them. Him and Amorette. It’s too much of a clash for her between her two worlds, then and now, and makes her too anxious about the future, and she lets Amorette in with a muttured, “I’ll get him to leave.”

“You don’t have to,” Amorette says in an equally low tone. “If you don’t mind, I don’t mind.”

Nesta shrugs a little. She leads them into the kitchen, where the children are sitting with Cassian at the table, coloring.

He looks up, curious. He has not met any of her friends here, not properly, and she doesn’t want him to just yet. Although perhaps she’s just delaying the inevitable...and Amorette is a good person for him to meet first, she thinks. Civil, diplomatic, fair.

“I have to go for a few hours. Amorette’s here...to watch them.”

Cassian nods slowly. “I...can I stay?” His voice is soft. His hand clenches a little on Ollie’s shoulder. Subconscious, she thinks.

But it squeezes her heart a bit, as well. A whole mess of things had led to him missing out on the first few years of their lives and lately she’s been thinking more and more of her part in it, how maybe she is not entirely guiltless and he is not entirely to blame, maybe neither of them played by the rules and in the end, only their children really lost.

But she doesn’t particularly like to think about that. It’s far too complicated for now, right when she is about to leave, so she just says, “If you’d like.”

He smiles widely. His eyes crinkle for a moment, and she remembers that this smile was one of the  common ones that she would see all the time back in Illyria. Pure, unabashed joy, because that was who he was. The kind of person who felt that joy all the time.

She doesn’t smile back. Instead she looks away and crosses her arms.

“Amorette’s in charge,” she says to him.

“Yes, of course.”

“I’ll be not four hours.”

“Okay,” he says. He bites his lip, and she knows he is eager to ask where she is going.

But she doesn’t tell him.

“All right, angels,” she says, and her children look up from their coloring. “Mummy’s leaving now. Be good for Amorette and Appa, all right?”

“When are you coming back?” Avery says.

“After dinner.”

“Will you tuck us into bed?”

She smiles at Nicky and moves over to the table to tuck his hair behind his ears. “Do I ever not tuck you into bed?”

He laughs, a rolling sort of giggle that never fails to get a little laugh out of her as well. “I’ll be back soon,” she promises, and bends down to kiss each of them on their heads. Ollie reaches up and kisses her on her cheek, too.

“Dinner’s already in the fridge,” she says to Amorette.

“Go,” she says. “We’ll be fine.”

She nods at her and looks to Cassian, still sitting at the table. He meets her eyes.

“Well...see you later,” he says.

She swallows. Nods once. And turns to leave.

---

November 9 - Year of

He did not make a habit of watching her outside of the house. He was busy, after all. Rebellion was thick in the air of the neighboring camps, and even in his own he could feel it. That left him with more than enough to do, and that wasn’t even counting all Velaris had for him. So he did not need to spend any extra time worrying about and chasing after Nesta Archeron.

So he just checked to make sure she wasn’t getting into any trouble. Just stopping by her shop--not going in, just checking.

He wasn’t sure if what he saw could be classified as trouble.

What he saw...he thought...was that Nesta and Emerie were--there was no other way to say it--friends.

At least two nights in a row, Emerie walked Nesta to his house. And she lived above the shop! He would hear her laugh--Emerie, not Nesta--every now and again at something Nesta would say.

He supposed he should tell Feyre of her progress...but he didn’t want to leave; he’d just gotten back.. So he could just write it in a letter. The next letter he sent--it wasn’t really urgent, was it? And she was busy too....

Yes, he’d send it in his next letter. He would stay here for a while.

---

October 27 - 4 years later

Nesta tries her hardest to empty her mind as she walks. She finds it works best if her head is blank when she arrives at the lake.

She does this slowly, by dissecting everything that has happened to her over the past month, and then pushing it out of herself. This time is obviously harder than most, but she does so anyway: so there was the healer telling her Avery wasn’t getting enough calcium, and then taking them to their first flying lesson, and then the new load of books at the shop.

That was the first half of the month. Easy enough to mull over and then stop.

Then she thinks of Cassian arriving at her door. Meeting the children. Seeing her sisters again. Zeyn bumping into Cassian. Oh, all the forgotten gods, the competition in Chokecherry, how could she forget about that?

The walk is about an hour and a half. Normally more than enough time to clear her head, but now, standing in front of the lake, Nesta feels as though she’s more anxious than ever.

No matter, she tells herself. She has to do this.

She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. She focuses just on breathing for a few minutes. In and out. She doesn’t need to worry about any of it. She’s just here and now. Herself and the lake. That’s all there is.

Well. Most of the time. This time Cassian is there, right behind her, asking her about the children. And Elain and Feyre, a little behind him, and Zeyn is there, and Emerie and Amren, and Amorette, and Adil and Miri and--

Deep breath, she thinks. She closes her eyes tighter and tries to ignore her restlessness, tries to push past in and reach deep inside herself and pull out that thing.

Power. Magic. Abomination. The Cauldron. Death. Whatever it was that festered inside her, that she stole and refused to give back and now desperately regretted it...she grabs onto it and pulls.

Pulls as hard as she can. From deep inside of her--her soul, her core, whatever. It puts up a fight as it always does, but she pulls harder because she knows she can win. She does it every month.

It reminds her of childbirth, in a way. A miserable tight pain, then like being ripped in two, and then...relief.

Only briefly, now. Because now she holds the pulsating, living thing in her hands...and without opening her eyes...she hurls it as far away as she can, into the lake.

She only opens her eyes when she hears the splash. She does this every time, to scared to see what it looks like. If it’s really there.

Nesta wipes her cheeks of her tears. She’s never sure when she starts crying, and she’s not entirely sure why, but she does.

She checks her watch. She’s been here for an hour and a half, the same time it took her to walk here.

“All right,” she mumbles to herself.

There’s no reason to walk back. She cannot winnow, exactly, but she has her own method of traveling. It’s rather clumsy, but far easier right after her ritual at the lake. Her magic is more controllable after she rips most of it out.

She can feel it inside her, quieter. She’s never really learned how to deal with it, so she just...figured it out. It’s not graceful the way she’s seen High Fae use their magic, and not sleekly brutal like how Illyrians wield their power, but it works.

She has no one she’d trust enough who could be of any use with finding out the intricacies of...whatever it is. She did, once--but that relationship is dead, died long ago. Before she even arrived in Illyria.

Her travelling is easier by trees. She leans against one and closes her eyes again. Summons black whips from the ground--she can pretend they’re roots, that’s what makes it easier--and feels them curl up around her legs. They yank hard on her, and she opens her eyes, and stumbles a few feet into one of the parks in Sugar Valley.

She’s back. She rubs her chest and breathes deeply. She doesn’t like her winnow-alternative, but she needs to get back home.

“Good evening, dearie,” says someone behind her.

Nesta turns. Aysel, one of her neighbors. And the biggest gossip Sugar Valley has. “Hello, Aysel.”

“Out on your own, then?” she says, in a would-be casual tone.

“Yes,” she says. “Just for a bit.”

The people of Sugar Valley know she leaves at the end of each month to somewhere else, but none of them know exactly where, and only Amorette, Zeyn, and Adil know what she does.

“Good, good, dearie,” she says, cheerful. “A lady’s got to have some alone time. Makes you a better mother.”

Nesta smiles briefly. “I was just heading home, actually.”

“Oh, I’ll walk with you,” she says.

Nesta sighs inwardly. She normally likes Aysel. She didn’t when she first got here--didn’t like anything much, when she first got here. Aysel is always good for keeping people in the know, and Nesta once cared about the comings and goings of people in her human village, and it’s nice to have a cup of strawberry tea and hear who said what and so forth from Aysel.

But it’s not particularly nice when she knows that she and Cassian are the most popular topic of discussion lately.

Aysel’s miserable at being discreet. “So, I heard you’ve had some visitors lately.”

Nesta can’t help but laugh a little to herself. Years ago this would have irritated her beyond belief, but she’s too fond of Aysel to be properly angry. “A few,” she says.

“And?” she prods.

Nesta sighs aloud this time. “You know, Aysel, there are some people I need to discuss it with first. I don’t want to hurt them.”

“Oh, of course, dearie,” she says hurriedly. “No, I understand. I was just telling Madam Sabina, she was telling me about Jale--you know, Jamal’s waitress? Well, she was saying she had seen her at Samir’s....”

It’s easy to walk alongside Aysel. Nesta nods and chimes in where she’s needed. She keeps her mind focused on how she’s going to have to have a conversation with Zeyn and Cassian and Adil and probably her sisters, too.

And with her step lighter after her trip to the lake, the tasks still seem daunting but nothing she isn’t capable of.

---

November 9 - Year of

When Nesta arrived home, he was waiting for her in the living room.

As usual, she looked at him only for a moment before moving to push past him to go to her room.

“Wait,” he blurted out, before she could leave.

And she paused.

He froze, taken aback. He didn’t think it would be this easy; he thought he’d have to plead more.

Although, he mused, he had been pleading for months, really.

“I made stew,” he said.

She raised an eyebrow.

“You could eat with me. I...would like the company.”

There. That was a new tactic. And fitting, he thought. Since she was finally, willingly staying in the same room as he.

She pursed her lips. “I’m not hungry,” she said.

Oh, her voice. He had not heard her voice like this in so long. He felt whatever it was inside him--that thing that he would not name--curl up against it in his mind, try and latch onto it, keep it.

“Join me anyway?” he said, struggling to keep his voice casual. “I meant what I said about company.”

“I’m tired,” she said.

“Oh,” he said. He didn’t want to push her. And he wasn’t sure what pseudo-polite strangers game they were playing, but he was not going to be the one to break the act first, so he said, “Well, next time, then.”

“Sure,” she said.

“Off to bed?”

“Yes.”

“Good night.”

“You too.” And she left before he could say anything else.

He sat back down on the couch. It seemed...the job with Emerie was indeed doing her good. And he thought he had definitely made the right choice in not going straight to Feyre.

Progress with Nesta was slow, but it was real. He only hoped that when she came back to herself she wouldn’t be so angry as to cut him out completely again.

---

October 27 - 4 years after

The children are already bathed by the time she arrives and she gives Amorette a grateful smile, but she only shrugs.

“Cassian wanted to,” she says.

“How...was he?” she says, her voice low so only Amorette can hear.

“He was fine. Antsy. He loves them, you know.”

“I know.”

“He loves you, too.”

She flinches.

“Nesta?” Cassian says. She looks over at him, blood rushing to her face, worried that he heard them from across the room.

“Hi, Mummy!”

“Mummy, look at my drawing!”

“Hi, angels,” she says, and joins them at the kitchen table, next to Avery. She drops a kiss on her head. “Were you good for Amorette and Appa?”

“We were so good.”

“We were!”

“Did you have fun, Ollie?” she says, reaching over and brushing his cheek with her hand.

“Yes,” he says.

“Yes? What did you do?”

“I colored with Appa. And Amorette.”

“And me,” Nicky chimes in. “I also colored with Ollie.”

“I also did!”

“Wow,” Nesta says, smiling down at them. “That sounds very fun, then.”

“Are you going to color with us now, Mummy?”

“Actually,” Cassian says, before she can answer. “I was hoping if I could talk to Mummy for a bit.” He holds his breath as he turns to look at her.

Nesta shrugs a little. “Sure.”

“I meant...maybe outside. For a few minutes?”

Nesta frowns. She looks over at Amorette, who nods.

“All right, come on,” she says. “I want to color, too.”

“Mummy’s leaving again?” Ollie says.

Nesta bends down to hug him tightly. “Just for a bit, darling,” she says. “I’ll be right outside.”

She can see Cassian swallow in her periphery. She lets him lead them out of the house.

“So,” she says, sitting down on the bench she has on her front porch. “What did you want to talk about.”

Cassian sits down next to her. “I wanted...to ask you...if you had thought anymore about your sisters visiting.”

Nesta takes a deep breath.

“Because I have a long-term goal here,” he blurts out. “And--I wanted to discuss that with you. But also I think...I mean, you’ll have to--you’ll agree. You agree, don’t you?”

Nesta rolls her eyes. “Slow down,” she says. “You’ll find I’m...of a clearer mind, after my trips alone. So...relax. What are your...long term goals?”

Now Cassian takes a deep breath. He looks her in the eye and says, “I want us both to be seeing the children daily and for them to be in continuous contact with both of our families. All of our families,” he adds, correcting himself.

Nesta’s lips quirk upwards. “I’d expect a more detailed battle plan from the General Commander of the Night Court’s armies.”

But Cassian doesn’t laugh, doesn’t smile. Instead he says, softly, “I don’t want this to be a war.”

Nesta turns. “It’s not,” she says. “We’re...on the same side. Right?”

“Right,” he says immediately. “And...I think...I know...your sisters are too. I’m not saying that you should forget everything that happened. I’m saying...start here. Not with--Rhys, or...anyone. Just your sisters. Here. Under your supervision. I’ll come too. Or I won’t. Whichever you think is best. But...that’s the only place I know...to start.”

Nesta’s quiet for a minute. She takes a shaky breath. “I know,” she says, “that you love them. And you want what’s best for them.”

“And I am the first to admit that I don’t know what that is,” he says. “I--I didn’t have a childhood to look back on and take ideas from. I only know what absolutely not to do. But...this is the opposite, right? A big family. Two parents. Aunts...and uncles. And cousins. And I know you hate when I bring it up, Nesta, but...having Rhys on their side is a good thing.”

“I do hate when you bring that up.”

“I know. People are quiet here, but it’ll spread. Someone will find out they exist. Feyre’s niece and nephews. And Rhys’. And my children. And yours. We want the risk to be greater than the reward.”

Nesta flinches--the reward. Slaughtering her children. Taking them away from her for the Mother only knew what purposes.

“That’s the part I do know,” he says quietly. “I’m sorry.”

“Stop apologizing all the time,” Nesta says automatically, without realizing it.

Now Cassian laughs. “Never thought I’d hear you say that,” he says. And it’s quite good to hear him sound...carefree. Teasing. A bit happy.

Because he’s the father of her children. If he’s happy, he’s a better parent.

“I don’t know what my long term goals are here,” she says. “And...what are yours?”

“I told you.”

“No, I mean, yours. Regarding you. Not the children.”

Cassian blinks. “Whatever you give me.”

“Well...what do you want?”

Cassian’s gaze shifts. “I’m not sure,” he says, and she knows he’s lying, but so is she, all the time, so she doesn’t push.

“My sisters...” she says slowly, “can come. For a short visit. Supervised by me. You can come.”

“Nesta--”

“It’s over when I say it’s over.”

“Yes, Nesta, of cou--”

“And they don’t talk about the Night Court.”

“Yes--”

“And they don’t mention anyone they know from there--”

“Yes, Nesta, I’ll let them know. Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me,” she says, a bit sharp. “I’ve thought a lot about this. It’s not for you.”

“No, it’s for them. Ava and Nicky and Ollie. Of course.”

Nesta nods. She doesn’t like it, but she’s not who she used to be. She doesn’t avoid things she doesn’t like. Not where her children are involved.

She hates when he brings up how important a relationship with her sisters, with...his side of the family is, because he’s right. She knows he’s right. She’s not enough on her own.

She can take care of them in Sugar Valley, but she’s relearning the lesson she learned when she crossed into Prythian the first time, when she set sail for Montesere, when she found herself here: the world is a lot bigger than just her own home.

---

Chapter Nine

[yungimmortals]

long drive | graves & miranda | part 1

date: friday, may 22, 2020

summary: two of the hermes siblings wake up at the crack of dawn for a road trip. final destination, myrtle beach. current location: somewhere on i-95 south.

“Hey! Monty! Let’s go!” Graves strolled into Cabin 11, making a beeline for the kitchen. “Loretta’s outside, doors are unlocked. Put your shit in the truck. Vamos, vamos! We got a long drive hermana.” He checked his watch as he dug through the fridge. 4:30. He closed the fridge, scooping up the food he’d gathered and dumping it rather unceremoniously into a bag. He snagged his water bottle from the counter and popped into his room to give it a once-over, making sure he had everything for the weekend. 

“Mira!” Graves called, after unloading more supplies into the truck. “We’re already behind schedule, andele.” He decided to forgo nicknames, his tone a little more serious than usual. “My mom’s cookin’ dinner tonight and we are not missin’ that!” Grave picked up his duffel bag and hooked the strap over his shoulder, seconds away from knocking on Miranda’s door.

Miranda opened her bedroom door, shuffling out of it with a few bags in tow.  "Okay, okay! Te escuché." She bent down to grab her magic bag, which was currently in its usual black backpack form, and threw it over her shoulder.  "Coño, don't remind me about the drive, I'm tired just thinking about it." She headed over towards the front door, pausing to slip on the flip flops she had left there before she finished packing. "Do you need me to bring anything out? Once I get to Loretta, I make zero promises that I'm coming back for you."

Graves shook his head, stepping back so she could pass. He made a shoo-ing motion with his hands in an attempt to usher her out the door. "Nah nah, she's already loaded up. I just need my-" he looked around the room, spotting the item and swiping it off the edge of the couch. "Hat, and now I have it. We're good to go. You're navigator and DJ, you know the drill." He put his hat on, turning it backwards. He gave the cabin one more cursory glance and closed the door behind them. "I hope Roz doesn't set the place on fire while we're gone." Graves hopped in the truck after loading in Miranda's bags and closed the door; he turned the key and the engine roared to life.

Miranda climbed up into the truck, dropped her backpack at her feet, and immediately started getting her phone connected to the stereo system Loretta had.  By the time Graves had finally joined her inside of the truck, she had already kicked her now bare feet up on the dash, and had her road trip playlist loaded and ready to go.  "Nah, we should be good, I didn't tell her what not to do, so it should be still standing when we get back.  I told Mace we were going to be gone, so maybe she'll swing by occasionally and check up on the place." She shrugged, ignoring the small part of her that was in fact worried about leaving her younger sister in charge of the cabin.  Once the engine started up, she turned on the radio to let her playlist start, leaning her head back into the seat as they started to drive.  The music filled the silence between them as they started getting onto the highway, and the farther they got from camp, the more excitement started to flutter inside of her. "I'm glad we're doing this, Gravy.  I didn't realize how badly I wanted to get out of that place."

He took the exit, as instructed by the GPS and looked over at Miranda. "Yeah, me too. I haven't been home since...I got here." It was weird to say out loud; now that he had, Graves' excitement doubled. "I can't wait for you to meet my mom. And Gran! And see the shop. And-" he cut himself off with a laugh. "I'm gettin' ahead of myself. This is gonna be fun as fuck."

Miranda nodded her head as he spoke, a smile appearing on her face at his very obvious excitement.  "Yeah, especially since you're such a momma's boy, and all." She teased, choosing to do that instead of thinking about the last time she had gone home herself.  She hated thinking about it, but the idea of going on an adventure to meet Graves' mom had her feeling a little on edge about the whole family topic.  Regardless, she plastered a smile on her face.  "I'm mainly in it for those fishbowls you showed me, but yeah I guess the rest of it is fine too."

"Hey, I have a great mom! Of course I'm a momma's boy. You'll love her too, wait and see." Graves bobbed his head along to the song Miranda had picked. He checked the time. 5:00. He was not awake enough for the drive ahead of them and decided that the first pit stop would be at a Starbucks. His ears perked up at 'fishbowls'. "Oh fuck yeah, Monty, you're gonna love Duffy's. Well- actually you might hate it, it's kind of a dive? But the fishbowls are fuckin' bomb and we can walk there from the house."

"Why the fuck would I hate it? I'm not an elitist or some shit. But I am very okay with being able to just walk down the street whenever I want a drink." Miranda rolled her eyes, shuffling in her seat a bit until she was comfortably situated while half facing her brother, then pulled a blanket out of her backpack and draped it over her legs.

Graves shook his head with a laugh. "We'll have to walk there every day then. It's like a ten minute walk to the main avenue and there's Duffy's and really good pizza and we can get ice cream at Sweetz and- I'm ramblin'. You have to wait and see." He looked over at Miranda as she got comfortable in the passenger seat. "You wanna nap for a bit? I'll wake you up at the next rest stop."

Miranda laughed as well, though hers was laced with exhaustion.  "You, ramble? Never, Manito.  But, as long as they have black raspberry then I am in for ice cream."  She curled up slightly in her seat, and smiled when she heard Graves' offer.  "Yeah, I didn't really sleep last night, so that would be awesome." They talked for another few minutes, Miranda's voice slowly getting quieter before her end of the conversation dropped altogether as she fell asleep.

~~~ 

The rest stop parking lot was packed, considering it wasn't even 9 AM. It took Graves two loops around the place before he found a parking spot. He cursed himself silently for forgetting about the holiday weekend as he turned the car off and gave Miranda's shoulder a shake. "Mont, wake up. We're in New Jersey." When she didn't stir, Graves tried another tactic. He shook her arm again, talking louder this time, "Hey, hermana, levántate! I'll buy you coffee. There's a Starbucks here." As his sister began to wake up, he hopped out of the truck and sent two quick texts: one to his mom, the other to Macey, updating them with the progress of their road trip.

Miranda let out a small groan when she felt her shoulder get shaken, adjusting herself so that she was away from the source of the movement.  When it returned, but stronger this time, she let out a louder whine, though it cut off when she heard 'coffee'.  It took her a minute to wake up enough to register where they were, then another three to stretch and climb out of the truck to join Graves in the parking lot.  "Oh gods, coffee. Yes, please."

Graves stretched his arms over his head and yawned. "Okay, cariña. Let's make this quick, we still have nine hours to go. You grab breakfast, I'll grab the coffee?" He handed her a very wrinkled twenty dollar bill from his pocket then bumped her shoulder with his. "Meet you back here in five?"

Miranda looked down at the money he handed her, then back up at him and raised an eyebrow to silently ask him why this moment was happening.  Then she saw the look on his face, and the excitement in his eyes and decided not to say anything, instead pocketing the bill and following him towards the rest stop.  "Lo tienes. See you in five."  She started to walk, put turned around when she thought of something, but continued to walk backwards.  "Iced coffee!" Miranda turned back around and over to the food court.  The line made her take a little longer than five minutes, but roughly ten minutes later, she returned to the truck with two breakfast sandwiches in hand.

Graves was sitting in the driver's seat already, door open, his feet hanging out the side. The line for coffee had been much shorter than that for food and he'd beat Miranda back to the truck, taking the opportunity to check his texts. As she walked up to the car, he grabbed her iced coffee and handed it to her, eagerly trading for a sandwich. "Thank gods you're back. I'm starving to death, Mont. You ready to get back on the road?"

Climbing back into the truck, Miranda let out a huff. “I swear to gods, people are idiots. Someone was trying to get a vegan egg sandwich. At a rest stop. Like, where the fuck do they think they are, a gourmet coffee shop?” She rolled her eyes, exchanging food for a coffee and took a long sip. “But si, vamos, get me away from this place.”

He chuckled, waving his sandwich at her, "I assume this is not a vegan egg sandwich then?" Graves unwrapped his sandwich and took a bite before putting on his seat belt and turning the key in the ignition. "'This place' as in the rest stop? Or 'this place' as in New Jersey, armpit of America?" He joked before pulling out of their spot and getting back on the road.

Miranda laughed, returning her feet to the dash as he pulled back onto the highway.  "Sorry to disappoint you, I know how much you're dying to have something in common with 'tough guy' Brent." She teased, unwrapping her own sandwich and taking a bite out of it.  "I was going to say just the rest stop, but you know what, either one is fine by me at this point."

"Oh my gods, did Macey tell you about that?" Graves asked, indignant. He took another bite of his sandwich. "Brent is cool, and scary. Y'all stop makin' fun of me for bein' intimidated or I'm not talkin' to y'all about anything anymore." His eyes flashed to the GPS and he switched lanes before focusing back on the road. He repeated his earlier statement, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel in time with his words, "Nine hours to go, hermana. Luckily, we'll be out of Jersey in about an hour. "

"No? I was just there after the first night of fight night.  Brent just said the same exact thing Macey and I had already said you practically fell over trying to get back to the cabin after that.  Though now I will be texting Macey." Miranda took another sip of coffee.  "Cool, I'll give you. Scary? Sorry, can't agree there, Gravy."  When he switched topics, she decided to ease up, considering he was driving and was honestly in complete control of her not getting lost while wandering around Myrtle Beach.  She started the process of connecting her phone back to the stereo to get the music playing again.  "That's not bad, Any requests for the DJ?"

“Ah, fight night,” Graves confirmed, finally understanding the moment Miranda was referring to. He took another bite of his sandwich, mumbling, “punched a god” around his mouthful of food. He was thankful Miranda didn’t press the topic; Graves wanted to get to know Brent better. He didn’t really find the older demigod that scary, but he didn’t know him well enough to see the softer side that his sisters always pointed out. And if this guy had punched a god in the face without being vaporized on the spot? Well, Cam definitely wanted to call him a friend. He blinked, registering Miranda’s question a few seconds after she asked. “Hm, somethin’ we call yell along to? Somethin’ that’ll keep me awake until we make our next stop. It’s a long drive, but it’ll be worth it, I swear.”

Miranda nodded.  "Alright, I can work with that."  She debated offering to drive for a little bit, but her brother was stubborn.  Besides, it didn't even matter if she said anything or not, they both knew that they would swap if he needed a quick power nap, so she decided to not bring it up. Tapping her phone a few times, she pulled up a new playlist of songs they could easily jam out to and pressed play, reaching out to turn the stereo up as it started blasting out.

[alaskatraveler55]

Headed west to Alaska

Alaska Traveler 55 

 I started writing about our first adventure in Old Harbor, Alaska in 2016 when my husband took a teaching job in the native Alutiiq village off the road system on Kodiak Island. Fast forward to 2020. We spent two years in Old Harbor, back in Minneapolis for two years and decided to return to Alaska in search of a less complicated life in a small community surrounded by nature. I sit here this morning a bit more than a week after our arrival, looking out at the ocean from my new digs. We are about a block from the ocean and I can see a spruce covered island a little ways out and the occasional fishing boat passing by in the drizzling rain. 

The journey to get here has been complicated by a pandemic, truck issues, and the uncertainty of what this new place would be like. As we did in our last adventure, we moved sight unseen to a house save a few grainy photos, knowing that this time, our place would be unfurnished.

So here we go again, this time at 55, I’m starting in a new community, a new house and some new adventures worth sharing.

8/2/2020

Today starts our journey back to Alaska. We are moving to a new village on Annette Island in Southeast Alaska, to Metlakatla, the only Native Alaskan reservation in Alaska. It has not been easy to figure out how to navigate such a move during a pandemic, added to this our daughter’s own battle with Covid-19 in June and July. 

Our original plan was to drive our truck to Bellingham, WA to catch the 30 hour ferry to Ketchikan, and then a second 45 minute ferry to Metlakatla. The Corona virus, however, had other plans. We found out in order to get on the ferry we would have to have a negative Covid test within 72 hours of our departure. This meant finding a location in Montana or Washington with a quick result turn around time. After numerous searches and calls, it turned out that Montana’s asymptomatic test results were taking 30 days so they decided to stop testing. We purchased an approved mail-in self-administered test for $100 each but their results are back in a minimum of 4-5 days. This meant the ferry was just not an option for us.

A week from departure, we booked a barge from Seattle for the truck, flights for us from Seattle to Ketchikan and shuffled hotel bookings. We also had to re-think packing as all the items on the truck would not arrive until up to a week after we arrive in the village. We’d be under day quarantine and couldn’t shop at the grocery. I put dishwasher soap in my boots, a couple of rolls of toilet paper and sheets in my suitcase. 

We traveled to Bismarck, North Dakota today, wearing masks at each rest stop and washing hands frequently. All people were wearing masks in Minnesota, and that changed as we crossed over the North Dakota line. Our hotel doesn’t seem to have many guests, but some were not wearing masks. We walked nearly a mile to get Mexican food and ate it back at our hotel. The restaurant had inside seating and while staff were wearing masks, the patrons were not.

8/3/2020

This morning we got up and carefully prepared our self-administered Covid-19 test. This required correctly labeling, collecting the nasal specimen and finding a UPS dropbox on our way out of town. We stopped at a co-op near our hotel with a great selection of items for our tailgate breakfast of coconut yogurt, blueberries and granola. One thing that the Broadband employee in Metlakatla requested when I called to set up our service, was some large Ball jar lids. Each year, families can up to a case of fish and this year the lids that normally go for $3.50 a dozen, are $12 on Amazon. I’ve checked several Menard’s in search of lids, including today in Bismarck. There were only empty shelves both here and in Minneapolis. 

The drive was rather similar to our eastern North Dakota landscape until we reached the Badlands with pastel sedimentary rock outcroppings. We passed Hebron that boasted the Historic Ft. Sauerkraut and a large cutout of a baby, dinosaur and buffalo fossils. Upon entering Montana, we had to stop and have the canoe inspected, ensuring we wouldn’t be bringing in unwanted marine life.  The rest stops were farther apart, and at gas stations, we noticed that not only were people NOT wearing masks, they were looking at us FOR wearing masks.

8/4/2020

No trip is complete without some sort of car trouble. Last night when Mike tried to move the car, it was dead. Maybe we left the lights on, or need a new battery. It could be the alternator at worst. A massive rain descended on the Radisson parking lot and we decided to wait until morning to figure it out. That makes for less than ideal sleep, and there was a fair amount of tossing and turning. In the morning Mike went to the battery store and got and installed the new battery with less than optimal tools. Of course the ones he needed were somewhere toward the back of the truck.  We re-tied down the canoe and started off. The battery light came on again, and as a precaution, we decided to stop in at an auto repair shop to see if they might be able to tighten down the battery. A wisened mechanic with a long beard came out and checked our connection after untying the canoe. Turns out the worst case scenario-the alternator. He held up four fingers when Mike asked is he’d be able to fix it today:  $400. Now we are sitting on a bench outside the shop on a busy road, watching all the other trucks go by and glad that we built in a cushion and a short trip today. The truck just pulled up finished in less than an hour and 15 minutes.

Back on the road, this our short day, hoping to get into Missoula early enough to find some dinner. Those plans were derailed as we rolled into Butte as our gauges stopped working. We pulled into the Thriftway gas station and our battery was dead…again. I called AAA and they said they would send out a truck by 5:00pm and tow us to their shop in Helena (an hour and a half away.) We knew we wouldn’t get to Missoula with this scenario and opted to call around and see if we could find another shop since it was almost closing time. Mike found a shop half a block away and they came and towed the truck back to their station. The AAA tow truck pulled up just as our truck was loaded onto the other tow truck.

Turns out our first replacement battery was bad and it fried the new alternator. We had to get a new battery and alternator and there were calls to the previous repair shop crediting us with the alternator, but still we had to pay for a new battery and the installation. The mechanics were helpful and stayed late to get our car back on the road by 6:30pm. We had 125 miles to travel to get to Missoula…back on the road again.

8/5/2020

Excited to have our truck fixed and get on our way to Washington state, we checked the oil, transmission fluid, battery connections and retied the canoe. Today we’d be doing our major shopping in Spokane, getting dry goods to load the truck as things are so much cheaper in the Lower 48.  Mike turned the key to start the truck and the familiar sound of the past two days-click-click-click signaled that our battery was dead.  Untie the canoe, jump the battery, and head for the nearest service station. We knew the drill.  We stopped by 2 stations before someone was able to assist. The battery we got in Missoula was also a dud. This means we had to purchase battery #3 in less than 24 hours. This time no cheap battery, AC Delco all the way. ARGH!! We were able to return battery #1 for a refund, before heading out and hoping that this would be our last time at a service station.

We made our way through Idaho and stopped in Coeur d’Alene for gas and lunch. The main shopping and restaurant strip was filled with people, not wearing masks. We opted to eat our own food at an empty rest stop instead. We did get to Costco in Spokane and shopped in a busy store with the temperature at 93 degrees. We threw our stuff in the back of an almost full truck and drove to Ellensburg, about 100 miles from Seattle. 

8/6/2020

After a night of re-shuffling our stuff and getting the truck re-packed for it’s barge journey, we drove through the misty rain to Seattle, stopping at Safeway for more last minute provisions, and a bit of gas. To go on the barge, the tank had to be less than a quarter tank, so we guessed how much we’d need before leaving it at Samson Tug and Barge. We also stopped at the Asian Grocery to load up on sauces, oils, noodles and other items (cases of beer) we’d likely not find in Metlakatla. 

Samson Tug inspected the truck and we made sure everything we needed for the next week was in our suitcase, then the barge service called a taxi and gave us a voucher for the trip to the Seattle airport. The airport was not busy and we didn’t have to wait in line for baggage drop or security. Most people were wearing masks in the terminal, but not all. Our flight was uneventful and we arrived in Ketchikan, picked up our bags and waited in line to show the negative Covid test results from our mail-in test that had arrived the night before. This gave us the “golden ticket” or in this case, the orange ticket that said we had had a negative test. The airstrip in Ketchikan is on Gravina Island and there is a 5 minute ferry ride to get to the town. 

Most people had to test in the parking lot on the Ketchikan side if they weren’t able to produce a negative test within 72 hours. We found the shuttle to our hotel and were happy to be closer to our new home.

8/7/2020

One more day to secure provisions before heading out on the ferry to our final destination. The shuttle took us to the grocery and furniture store, and our driver was from Metlakatla. We loaded up on meat, veggies and other perishables which we put in the large soft-sided Polar cooler that my brother gave us. It kept everything frozen and cold for the rest of the day. Back at the hotel while getting ready to leave, we saw US Senator Lisa Murkowski and spoke to her and had our picture taken by her brother.  She is a Republican Senator, but has been put on President Trump’s bad list and Mike thanked her for her independent voice.

All our groceries and luggage are loaded into the shuttle and we go across the street from the hotel to get onto the ferry. We have a cart to schlep everything down a long gang-plank and onto shelves in the ferry bow. The cars are loaded on and we spend the next 45 minutes on calm waters navigating through the channel of islands until we reach Metlakatla. We dock and unload our stuff, get told to quarantine for 14 days and hitch a ride with the school superintendent.  The ride from the ferry dock to town takes about 20 minutes. The previous dock was close to town but required an hour and a half to get there.  Ferry services run twice a day so technically you can go into town and return in the same day. Fare is $58 roundtrip per person. 

We are dropped off at the new turquoise, 4 bedroom home we’ll be living in. More next week about our first week in Metlakatla.

[noisykate]

Azores to Falmouth - or nearly

The Azores are lovely, and deserve much more than the few days we gave them.  Another time, perhaps.

Horta is the main port of arrival, the marina full of boats which have had big adventures. The social atmosphere is very relaxed; everybody here has ‘been there, done it’ to a significant degree, and the normal tensions arising from watching new arrivals – do they know what they’re doing, can they handle their boat – simply don’t apply.  It is difficult to explain – the nearest I can get is that when you pull in to a service station on the M1, there are no learner drivers. It’s a bit like that. A bit.

It is truly wonderful to get back to sensibly priced groceries, decent bread and cheese, and restaurants which don’t hustle you out at 9pm and expect huge tips regardless of the food, because the staff don’t get paid.

The Azores are volcanic: the centre of this island (Faial) is a huge caldera, which we drove up to in our little hire car, with John and Sue, and Carl. We circumnavigated the island, stopping to walk around the area of the 1950’s eruption, which inundated the old lighthouse and a small whaling village on the western end. Stopping for a great lunch of mussels, which Carl thought he didn’t like – disguised with prodigious amounts of garlic, they were a huge hit. Surprisingly green and rural, the island is charming, cattle everywhere.  The architecture is Portuguese in style, but mitigated with a more subtle use of the highly patterned tiles we saw in the mainland.

We left Horta on Monday – 17th- after waiting for a predicted blow to pass through. It was a bit of a non-event in Horta, but we weren’t the only ones to play it cautious. Stopping at the fuel dock was a bit of a game, with three boats already in place, and a wind sufficient to pop fenders on the inside boat, a crippled French boat with a broken stay – and, it has to be said, rubbish fenders. Still, the weight of three other boats pressing him into the dock under the influence of 20 knots was a bit much. The marina seemed blithely unconcerned; this is clearly quite normal.

We are now 400 miles out, about 1/3 of the way to Falmouth. The weather has been all over the place, with some flat calm, some fog, and now some windy, rolly conditions, with winds gusting up to 30 knots, and seas up to 4m. The boat is behaving very well, the hydrovane (mechanical wind-driven steering system) coping with most of what gets thrown at it, although you have to be ready to take over for the squalls. Thankfully, these mostly lie in wait for Carl’s watch, to the extent that he is the only one who preps for his watch by putting full oilies on.

Sleep deprivation has taken its toll on tempers - mine particularly. Doing 4 hour shifts nominally gives each person two eight-hour periods off-watch, which should be plenty, but when the boat is rolling hard, it is difficult to get to sleep and then stay asleep long enough to clear the deficit. Fitting in communal eating times also cuts into it.

The food has generally worked out ok, if I say so myself. Homemade bread and cakes (all right, the cake was from just-add-an-egg packets) most days, and cooked-from-scratch dinners most days. The Omnia (stovetop oven) has been brilliant, as has the pressure cooker. The boat oven has hardly been used.

Overall, though, I am done with long passage-making. The magical milky-way star-lit nights with phosphoresce sparkling in the wake as we bob along in a gentle breeze are an absolute delight, but sleep deprivation, uncertainties over the weather, and the physical challenge of cooking and doing the normal stuff of life while being thrown about are the norm – glad I’ve done it, but don’t need to do it again.

Really, really looking forward to getting to Falmouth; family and friends, a long list of jobs, and the prospect of some paid work for both of us; me in acoustics, while Mike will be looking for something boat-related. Berthing master at a handy south-coast marina, with a free berth thrown in, would suit. Not holding our breath, but no chance if you don’t ask!

26 June 2019

We’ve turned towards A Coruna, in the face of persistent north-easterly winds, and the threat of a full gale in the Falmouth area a few days ahead. Now making slow but steady progress, hard on the wind. Winds 20-25 knots, occasionally up to 30, from just north of east.

We were getting advice to divert from Falmouth to either (a) a point south of Ireland, then east, or (b) head direct to Camaret (Brittany, near Brest). In the event, neither option was really tenable – (a) put us in the path of a still unknown quantity, which at times threatened to be quite nasty, and (b) simply did not work – we could not make a course which put us anywhere close. All thoroughly fed up, some more than others; Coruna was the nearest available and attainable land. Carl can fly to London from there, and we will regroup and sort ourselves out before continuing home. So very, very ready to be not on the boat for a while.

27 June 2019

Motoring the last few miles into Coruna. Boring. And a slightly anticlimactic end to our Atlantic odyssey. We expect to arrive in the very early morning, perhaps 4am, and will probably anchor until daylight.

28 June 2019

So we got here, eventually.  Marina Coruna, north-west Spain. Tintin got in first, and were anchored just outside the marina when we arrived at about 6am local time. No dramas, apart from the night of no sleep for Mike, as the 50-mile (=10-hour) band around this corner of Spain is very busy with large shipping, and the alarm kept tripping every few minutes, all night. No danger, plenty of warning, but little chance of proper sleep. I got off best, lying down at 11pm, getting up for a few short-lived non-events, then up properly at about 5am to help get in to the marina.

We crawled into the first appropriate berth, had breakfast, and bodged around, all very grumpy and sleep-deprived, until it was time to check in, which -as usual- took ages.

Carl and I set about sorting the inside of the boat; laundry, damp cushions and mattresses, grime everywhere.  Mike got back eventually, and bodged about some more, in a foul mood, before conceding that the problem was lack of sleep. Carl went off on his own to explore, his one-and-only chance to check out this part of Spain, and, with luck, pick up some of the special fids (rope-splicing tools) he had been coveting since Mike showed him ours.

Partly revived by about 3-hours on the saloon sofa, Mike and I had a beer and a light lunch in the marina bar, while the first of several loads of washing did its thing. We bumped into Carl, on his way back to the boat for his passport so he could check in to his flight – he looks pretty dreadful – almost as if he’d had no sleep.

We were delighted to find Barbara and Simon (Cartagena friends) in situ in the marina, and I was able to have a coffee and a catch-up of sorts, promising to make a better go of it sometime in the UK – their boat is destined for a mooring off West Mersea! They fly home tomorrow, having decided that the current (wrong for sailing north) weather is set to last for at least a week. We shall see.

And phoning home, of course – got hold of everybody to some degree or another, only to find that Rachel and David had planned a big surprise arrival party in Falmouth, which we have utterly harpooned by not going there at the appointed hour. So very disappointing, but deeply touched that they wanted to make the effort.

So – we’ve been stuck in the Bahamas, stuck in Puerto Rico, St Thomas, the Azores, and now Spain. So far, Spain is by far and away the most amenable.

1 July 2019

Weather here is cloudy, and it has been quite cold today, with blustery winds from the north. Still no sign of any change in the conditions which would allow us to head out.

Have wasted most of the day watching films on TV, disheartened after finding all my stored-away warm clothes damp and covered in mildew. Some may be revived by a wash, but some are clearly trashed. Nothing valuable, just really, really annoying.

We had a lovely evening with Jacquie and Kevin off Tintin last night; good food, good company, lively conversation.

Intensely frustrated to be here, and not back in the UK – things to do, people to see… spending time each day on weather sites, but still failing to find anything useful.

[chrysaliseuro2019]

An Unexpected Bonus

We wanted to look around Benevento a bit more before we left. Despite almost stumbling on it it had character in terms of some majestic buildings and a laid back ambience and we wanted to make sure that we soaked a bit more up before leaving. After breakfast at the hotel we set off for a look around. It was Sunday morning so unfortunately a couple of very good clothes shops for both men and women were closed though that probably saved the budget. It was pretty hot and we stuck to the shade as best we could while taking in some grand buildings. We had not done too much research into Benevento (it doesn't make the guide books) though Liz thought it had possibilities and hence plucked it out as a destination. We also had read via crits of the hotel that it was a handy pitstop for travellers to/from Rome. Glancing down one of the laneways we saw a Roman arch which merited some investigation. We had stumbled upon a treasure. The arch of Trajan built between 114 and 117 AD essentially to honour the Roman emperor Trajan was imposing and well preserved, albeit with an element of restoration over the years. The original buildings around it had been demolished due to earthquakes over the years so the arch stood stolid, defiant and magnificent as a reminder of the past and arguably the best preserved example that I have seen of this type of structure. The arch has various sculptures and friezes depicting Emperor Trajan in processions or meeting dignitaries amongst other scenes. We probably spent 30-45 mins just walking around it to look at it from various angles. It was both one of those uncanny and moving connections with life 2000 years ago and a glorious piece of ancient architecture. With some reluctance we dragged ourselves away with a few glances over the shoulder to get a final glimpse. Again one of those monuments that you feel that you should visit every year or two and just reflect on and enjoy though that is going to be unlikely in this case. We headed back to the car thinking Liz had done it again and found a small gem in the city of Benevento when we weren't expecting much more than a feed and a bed. Next we had decided for our last day in Italy prior to heading for Latvia that we should soak up some rays and basically just relax by the beach. Also we wanted to keep heading towards Rome so that the final day's journey in the car would be reduced. The hotel Miramare near Latina was our choice. A couple of hundred kilometres away from Benevento. We arrived around 4.00pm, checked in and immediately headed for the beach. It was hot and pretty chokkers with people though through the hotel we had a reserved area to sit on and free beach beds and umbrellas. Settled ourselves down in the front row and went quickly for a swim to cool off. Very pleasant and sandy beach. I headed off for ice creams and on return found a disgruntled Liz was in the process of moving to beds nearby - "the blue beds". We had inadvertently parked ourselves on "the white beds" which though labelłed as Hotel Miramare had to be paid for and were often reserved for a week by the same people. Though empty at the time and it now being 4.30 pm the attendant advised that people may return despite Liz's protestations. She was not happy. Anyway all good and in fact the blue beds offered more shade beside a small building as the sun was getting lower and the umbrellas were of less use. It was a lovely way to end the Italy venture. Our room was very pleasant with a good sized balcony looking out to sea and despite the fact that it was a commercial sort of environment, given the setting, facilities and ease of access to the beach, another day there would not have gone amiss. Early evening post a freshen up we went to the small hotel next door which had an informal open air bar which looked out to sea for a drink. A very pleasant 45 mins or so spent there. Time for dinner. Not too many choices close to the hotel that we were keen on. Either too formal and pricey looking or menu boring but there were only a few options. We decided to walk along the beach road towards Latina which was a couple of kilometres away. Every few hundred metres there would be a restaurant or bar even a couple of campsites. We saw a couple of places that we liked the look of. At the first one we tried, which was really full, they said we were too late as the kitchen was closing (it was around 9.30) which seemed a bit weak. We reckon the owner had made too much, it had been a big night and he'd had enough. Second one was fine and though it also busy, with the staff under a bit of pressure, we enjoyed it. Nice seat in a sort of garden setting. Liz's risotto with seafood was unfortunately a bit more like basmati with seafood but my clam pasta very good. Friendly service too. We retraced our steps to the hotel and it was a very tidy walk but no hardship on a pleasant night. Next morning we set off around 10.30 for the 90 minute trip to Rome airport. A little task first. Our foam beach mats from Greece needed to be ditched. We thought the campsite would be a good place to gift them so drove down and Liz gave them to a mum with young son as they headed for the beach. Not needed on this sandy beach but might be handy in the future. After initial surprise at what the deal was, mum was very grateful. They had come in very handy for us those mats and not sure how you could enjoy Greek beaches without them, together with the protective foot coverings for when you traverse the pebbles into the water. Off we set for the airport and the car not due to be returned till about 1.20 pm. We could take it easy and not rush. Usual shenanigans at the end finding a garage to refuel. We found one after driving around a little, just a couple of kms from the airport though not on the main road in. The navigator was showing signs of concern especially as I had ignored a petrol station with about 17/18 kms still to go to the airport. Relief all round. Also finding our way to the car hire return necessitated negotiating a cryptic maze of signs. The trusty Narelle, the voice of google maps, proved not so trusty on this occasion and lead us up the garden path. She got us to the airport but then took us to the departure area even though signs were pointing to car rental in a different direction. In the end we closed her down and followed the signs which weren't exactly easy but we got there with around 45 mins to spare. Flight not parting for 4 hours so we settled down to wile away the time. It went. Flight took off pretty much on time around 6.00pm and was uneventful. Air Baltic which we booked through Alitalia. One bonus of booking thru Alitalia was that we got a baggage allowance of 23kgs as opposed to the air Baltic standard of 20 kgs. We were both just over the 20 kgs mark so handy. Plane was pretty new and seats much more user friendly than the Aussie squeezy ones with minimal leg room that we all now have to put up with. The flight landed at 9.45pm - on schedule. What I hadn't appreciated was that the Baltics are 1 hour ahead of Italy so the flight was only 2 hours 45 mins not the 3hours 45 that I expected. Usual bus to the terminal job which seemed to take a while by the time it was loaded up and also leaving the plane was a bit slow. However that all paled as from then on things went like a rocket. Appeared to be no customs to clear. We didn't show passports though the check in process had scrutinised them perhaps they rely on Air Baltic's processes. As we walked into the baggage area out came the bags. We were sitting in a taxi around 10.10 with a 15 minute drive to the centre of Riga. We were meeting good friends Sue and Peter Box in Riga so having spoken to and texted Peter from Rome saying we would see them in the morning given our late arrival, I now called him to say if they were still up we would have a jar in the bar. They were and we did. It was a nice way to end a pretty hassle free journey. Perhaps the only discordant note was a regular(ish) one. The taxi driver into Riga was an absolute grump. In fact downright rude. The hotel advised that we could get a slightly discounted taxi journey using red taxis who would be given a voucher when they delivered us to the hotel which the driver could then reclaim. This guy seemed ropable about it. Perhaps he wanted the cash but in truth the meter seemed to be less than the value of the voucher. We were staying at a Radisson and there are 4 Radisson hotels in town. He yelled at Liz " there are 4 madam which one is yours" and so on. Not a good intro. Never spoke the whole way there. No "where are you from", no discussion about Riga. He did lift our bags out but quickly disappeared. Another bloke in the wrong job or perhaps he'd had a bad day. Anyway, Latvia! After much planning we were here. A buzz. Also to be sharing it with Peter and Sue.

[lifewithoutmeds]

September 9, 2022

I guess. I guess i’ve been in florida for three days by now, shockingly.

quick recap: flew in on wednesday, september 7th. flight from LAX was at/around 12:30 p.m. and I arrived to tampa around i guess 8:11 p.m. took an airport shuttle to the local Hampton by Hilton. checked in, got my room key, went to my room, and found it was locked from inside, thought there was some weird trick i wasn’t getting, tried over and over, and finally an exasperated indian lady opened the door angrily to let me know that that was HER ROOM and i, fragiley, apologetically left and went downstairs, was told there must’ve been some mistake, because that was my room, and i got a different room. later i learned she had checked in earlier with a similar-sounding last name and been given my room even though she had a completely different first name, and was, in fact, supposed to be at an entirely different hotel altogether, etc.

they told me my room was comped, which was cool, and i ordered some takeout from the nearby World of Beer, had my shuttle driver take me there and back (tipped of course), and ate some wings, cold tater tots, and a mediocre IPA back at the hotel room. thursday morning (apparently), i just kinda lounged around. i ate breakfast at 6 a.m. (bagel with extra cream cheese, scrambled eggs, sausages), got some water, lounged around, tried to sleep some more, then went down for more water and a bagel, asked for late checkout, and left at 1:00 p.m. got driven to the car rental place, waited til 1:40 p.m., when they let me have my car (scheduled for a 2:00 p.m. pick up), went to the local walmart to buy some fishing gear, then picked up ant around 2:30 p.m. went to a local peruvian place, then the almost two hours to my airbnb where we chilled for a sec before chris (the fiance) picked her up.

friday: made/drank some coffee at my place, then picked ant up for a local breakfast at “metro diner” which had a mindblowing $3.39 bloody mary. granted it didn’t end up being very strong, but i was so excited at this prospect and it so kind of set the mood for the rest of the day. also our waitress was amazing and we ordered fried chicken and waffles which were appropriately delicious and i loved it. i then dropped ant off and met chris’ mom, vivian, who was pretty cool and i looked at some of the stuff christopher was working on: namely customized camera gear and lasering stuff on youtube. 

i then left, and tried out a couple fishing places: Caspersen beach park (no fishers, very narrow shoreline, no sandcrabs, and everyone was looking for shark teeth), and then the Sharky’s/Venice pier, where i bought a $5 bucket and $5 worth of live shrimp and ended up catching a random assortment of fun fish, and only left because seemingly everyone else was and a “storm” was coming in, which it was, and it downpoured intermittently for the next hour.

met up ant and c at the local hobby lobby afterward, then at publix loaded up on beer and snacks, and introduced c to MD back at my place, before they had to leave to get v dinner. they’re eating homemade pizza now while i debrief, drink Peroni’s, talk to my mom, and wait til Lorena finishes her prescribed 30 minutes of ground school before we watch the L word via teleparty together (woot!)

plans: saturday: charterboat fishing in Naples at 7 a.m. (necessitating a 5 a.m. wake up and a 1 hour 15 minute drive away). get $10 parking passes. fish with lorena from 7 to 12 noon.

sunday: meet up with Lorena and visit St. Petersburg, possibly watch a DVD.

monday: either surf fish or pier fish.

tuesday: leave airbnb at 4:30 a.m. drop off car at 6:00 a.m., catch shuttle to airport at 6:00 a.m., get to airport at/around 6:10 a.m., run to terminal and catch flight that leaves at 7:00 a.m.

so far, pretty happy with how the trip is going.  will update further as things progress.

KG

[thedaveandkimmershow]

And so, yesterday, we ended vacation number 2, our Disney vacation, with Linzy's rideshare spiriting her away from our hotel.

We began vacation number three, our peace-out days, by returning to our room and lazing away a few hours.

Around three in the afternoon, we called in a rideshare to Blizzard Beach.

This time our driver was a former banker from Venezuela who moved here three years ago with their family. We asked if any other family members were able to move here and they told us their parents couldn't get visas.

They're definitely not in love with their former homeland's government.

And glad to be here in this country.

We arrived at Blizzard Beach just shy of 3:30 and the very first thing we did was indulge a round of miniature golf right outside the entrance to the water park. I managed to document (ish) all 18 holes in a YouTube playlist called Winter Summerland Miniature Golf with Kimmer. :-)

We finish a little after 4:30 and, by the time we slip into a pair of those lovely, lovely floating chairs at Blizzard Beach, it’s about 5.

Now I don't know when this happened, but it was still full-on sunny 'n hot when we finished our round of miniature golf. So I'm pretty sure it was still sunny when we used the dressing rooms.

After that?

No idea. The sun was also lower in the sky. For sure at some point while we were floating effortlessly on the river we both realized the outdoor temperature was probably not enough to air-dry us once we got out. For sure I knew the day had turned overcast when I looked up into the trees somewhere after we went through the mountain to spot the owl we were told was perched up in those trees.

And yeah.

It was totally up there.

A real, live owl.

Rotated its head and everything.

Okay, a coupla songs I wanna draw your attention to because they fit so perfectly with the experience of floating a lazy river. They played occasionally on outdoor speakers during each of our four visits:

"Kokomo" by The Beach Boys and

"Don't Worry" by Bob Marley.

They defined the experience.

And now for a plot twist. 

Shortly after seeing the owl, coming up on quarter to six, we hear the unmistakable rumblings of thunder.

Shortly after that, one of the lifeguards tells us they probably have us get out of the river soon.

And on the heels of that statement, a crack of lightning with almost simultaneous thunder.

At which point the guards basically say Get out of the river...

Now.

So we hustle to the nearest exit point and get out.

More lightning, as we head to the front of the park.

More thunder... but farther away.

And then. 

And then as we're coming within sight of the dressing rooms... two bolts of lightning race to the ground somewhere in front of us outside the park. Two bolts, racing each other, separated by maybe a mile. At the same time, the crackle of thunder and a vibration we can all feel beneath our feet.

It’s unnerving.

Absolutely.

Unnerving.

There are a lot of scared kids right about now, too.

By the time we get to our locker and dressing rooms, everything in the park's shut down tight. Including the place you go to get towels. You know, to dry off?

Because here's the thing: we just got out of the river. Now we've gotta throw on our clothes and hustle out of the park. And for me, I'm wearing the only shirt I brought with me. The one Kimmer got me that surfers use.

So there you go. We get dressed. We're still wet. And when we exit the park and get on the bus... the air conditioning on the bus is going full throttle.

And now we're freezing.

Free...

Zing.

The bus driver's cool, though... he shuts it off for us.

Once the bus is on the road a few minutes later, we get to talking with a mother and her son who are sitting across from us.

New York's their hometown and they’re both concerned about hurricane Henry that's predicted to make landfall along the New York coast on Monday.

The day they both fly home.

We felt anxious for them.

I really hope they make it home safe.

Now, we had a plan before this fire drill happened. We were maybe going to have dinner at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Kimmer had a better idea, though. The Rainforest Cafe at Disney's Animal Kingdom park. Now, I only ever saw an entrance to the restaurant inside the park... but it turns out there's an entrance after the security check point, before the park entrance, off to the left.

Go figure.

Inside The Rainforest Cafe, indulging an appetizer plate and ciders, it's incredibly amusing to watch their indoor rainstorm complete with lightning and thunder outside. Amusing because it’s soooo much more catastrophic and straight up scary outside.

Speaking of outside, this is definitely not the Pacific Northwest. Because when it rains back home, it's cold and wet. Here, it's just hot and humid no matter what. So because it was hot all day... the concrete absorbed all that heat from the sun and continued to be hot both during the rain and after. Causing steam to rise off the pavement even after it stopped raining.

It's a very. Cool look.

So all around there's steam rising from the ground. And even though it's been pouring rain this last hour or so, and even though it's now full-blown nighttime... it's still quite warm out. With the occasional flash of lightning far, far away inside the clouds.

Here’s a little more of the lightning show if you wanna see more...

Finally, our ride shows up and we're on our way home.

This ride, however, turns out to be a blunt reminder that there are people so in over their heads... it breaks your heart. Or maybe they're fighting a losing battle. Or maybe…

They're simply running out of steam.

And I'm not even talking about people suffering from anything. I'm talking about the people, friends, family, who are valiantly trying to help those who are suffering. Whether that suffering's self-inflicted, the result of abuse, or the product of collateral damage.

They can't.

Keep.

This up.

For their friends or for their family.

They can't sustain the good fight. No matter how hard they try.

And yet.

They hear someone in pain tell them "I wanna stop. But I can't get it out of my head." And they still wanna help.

They see someone get arrested. And they wanna help.

They fully experience the weight of someone they love losing their life to meth, to heroin, to molly, to any number of addictions.

And they wanna help.

It's a tough conversation to be part of. At the end of it, though, Kimmer offers a pair of resources that help family and friends keep their heads above water:

Never Alone Recovery...

and Alanon.

And then we're home. And our day ends.

Okay so this morning we're up at 7-ish 'cause we've gotta check out by noon. And we don't need that process to be a fire drill.

So we ease into the day out on the balcony for the last time. We make and have the last omelet of our trip (mushrooms, rosemary ham, parisian cheese, and sun dried tomatoes) and savor it before beginning the process of packing our bags once again, cleaning out the refrigerator of all that Trader Joe's food we put in there and packing it for home, running the dishwasher, stripping the beds, and taking the last few photographs and a video of this place because it's worthy of such remembering.

By ten minutes after noon we're out the door and to the elevator where we meet a gentleman who's also checking out. When the elevator arrives, we get to talking and, when the doors open again, we exit into the hallway only to realize this is only the fourth floor. As in we've only traveled one floor down and here we are again.

Waiting for the elevator.

It takes awhile. And when it does arrive... it's packed with other travelers checking out. So we let that one go.

At some point, I'm not sure how or when, Kimmer 'n I both notice a luggage cart that's literally parked right next to/behind us. So we load all of our bags onto it and continue the wait and the conversation with our fellow traveler from Georgia who was triple checking his room before joining his family downstairs..

By ‘n by, actually just when he's about to give up and take the stairs... the elevator arrives.

We get on, now with a luggage cart in tow, the door closes, we go down, the door opens, we exit the elevator...

And now we're on the third floor.

This is definitely not going well. It also doesn't say much for our attention to, you know, detail.

Eventually our fellow traveler does take the stairs after we bid each other safe travels (he and his family have a six hour drive home ahead of them). And for the next few minutes we consider how poorly our attempt to leave this hotel is going.

When the elevator finally does arrive (again) we get in and observe very carefully that it travels the full distance to the ground floor.

And yes, a process that should've taken us thirty seconds just took us about fifteen minutes.

We are not proud of that achievement.

Neither is it going on our resumes.

By 12:30 we're checked out and we check our luggage in with the hotel to store for us whilst we enjoy that lazy river at Blizzard Beach one more time. It's actually the last of our "plus" visits including the miniature golf we played yesterday. So we're feeling good about buying the Disney Park Hopper Plus package.

At the gate, though, the biometric doesn't recognize any of my fingers... so the attendants call for Emily who scans my pass which somehow causes the biometric to recognize me, and thus...

Save the day.

Oh sure, it wasn't dramatic as all that. But it is a heckuva thing to be told I'm not who I've been this whole time while they were letting me into the park.

Anyway, they've only been using the device again since a couple days ago, Friday, so...

Yay Emily!!! 😁

Once inside the park, we're already wearing our swim suits so a few minutes later, around one, we're in the river. Not so lucky this time around with the floating chairs, we float the river on tubes instead until an elderly couple ahead of us at some point give theirs up as they exit the water. And then later I score one of those cool clear plastic ones with the green handles for Kimmer 'cause they're her favorite.

Aside from the musical tubes, it's a peaceful, super relaxing way to end our vacation floating around the edge of the park staring alternately up through the trees to the twinkling sunlight above. Not a care in the world right then. Just the two of us. 🙂♥️♥️♥️

A little over an hour later, about 2:15, Kimmer calls it 'cause we still need a little time to air-dry ourselves before heading back to the dressing rooms.

We kill that time with a grape fruit hefeweizen that the bartender not only loves herself... but she got her parents to try it and now they're big fans, too.

Three o'clock comes and goes and, five minutes later, we're in another rideshare talking Covid with the driver who's had it now twice. Who's had both injections. Whose former employer wouldn't allow employees to wear masks. Who was among a bunch of employees who got Covid early on that first time. Whose immune system's having a hard time. Who's undergoing a ton of medical tests. Whose lungs still haven't returned to full capacity. Who's frustrated and anxious, and worried about their future.

Now we're back at the hotel for a quick turnaround. All we've gotta do is grab our luggage from the hotel's storage and hail a rideshare. All of which we manage to do quickly, unlike our earlier attempted elevator ride prior to checkout.

It's a little after 330 by now and we're picked up by Manuel, a Hispanic gentleman from Queens. We only spend about 20 minutes with him... but it's a packed 20 minutes starting with our marriage and then how he married his high school sweetheart. I think they met in the early 80s (or before) so they're going on 40 years married.

Rideshare is a small part of what Manuel does, he's an accountant by trade. It's something he realized was his calling or strength when he was 18 or 19, eventually doing the books for local businesses and making sure they were right with the city regarding paperwork. It was during one of his visits to the city, filing some paperwork on-person, that he met a supervisor at city hall who was from Cuba... which opened his eyes to his own possibilities. Eventually, he went to work for the city himself.

Education is important to Manuel. Even if I didn't know that, what I would know about the man, what I would recognize in him... is a confidence born of expertise and wisdom. Someone with a command of life. Someone refined.

We spend our last minutes talking about our kids, the education we all sought out for them, and the education they received. Right up to the moment we’re pulling up to the curb in front of Southwest Airlines. 

We end our time here in the company of a true gentleman.

After that?

Well, it’s just the trip home which is pretty anticlimactic. 

We waited a bunch. Walked a bunch. Took a picture or two in front of the hotel where we stayed that one time we were treated to a Disney Cruise...

...and then walked a bunch more.

And then waited a bunch more until, eventually, we were on a plane and then we were on another plane... and that plane landed at Sea-Tac around 2AM, the next morning. Monday morning. And we got home around 3. With both of us scheduled to work first thing the same morning.

Yeah.

Not totally ideal.

The way I’d like to end this tale, though, is in the sky above Phoenix, Arizone.

You see the first leg of our journey home was Orlando to Phoenix. And, as we approached Phoenix, I noticed the dramatic shapes of the clouds in the glow of a sun that had already set.

If you haven’t noticed it before, next time you’re somewhere not home, look up into the sky. It seems the sky isn’t the same wherever we go. It takes on different personalities. Florida was like that for sure. And, it turns out, Phoenix.

It was glorious. It was brilliant. 

It was a perfect “The End”.

If you’d like to see a little more of what we saw in these final moments, click here.

And enjoy!

🙂

[3monthsineurope]

September 9 and 10, 2021

Thursday I got to spend time with Ingvar! I picked him up from 9 days in Alaska with his dad, the night before. So we went to the new apartment, ran errands, and went out to breakfast together. I really missed him! We hung out at home and then I packed for the family trip to Mexico! Mom, Dad, Haley, and I were going to Cozumel and Cancun! We were supposed to go to Mexico in June 2020, then November 2020, and now it was finally happening—in September 2021! Ileft Bellingham right before 5pm. It was hard to say goodbye to Ingvar after only 18 hours together, but at least we would be able to talk and text, unlike when he was in the boonies in Alaska!

I drove down to Camano and met Mom and Dad. Mom and I were sharing an extra suitcase, my medium Away suitcase that matches my blush carry on! I had a free bag checked with Delta, which is what we were flying. We loaded that up with Mom’s half’s, then the three of us drove down to SeaTac to spend the night. We stopped at Taco Time for some dinner, then drove down to the Red Roof in on International Boulevard in SeaTac. We got into the hotel around 8pm. We brought all of our luggage up to the room, room 102, and hung out for a bit. Dad fell asleep first (of course, hahaha), while Mom and I watched some TV and I also started the transfer of my new phone! I was so excited to get a new phone with a better camera! I fell asleep around 11.

The three of us woke up at 4:30 on Friday. It was time to go to Mexico! I washed my face and we checked out of the room around 5am. Dad and I walked across the street to Master Park, Lot B, where Mom always parks her car for trips. We hopped on the shuttle to the airport, then got dropped off near the Delta check in desks. We dropped off our medium bag at baggage drop, then headed to security. I left Mom and Dad for a few minutes to finish my Clear registration. Clear is a perk that comes with my American Express Platinum card. Clear is a service that checks you through security with your eye and fingerprint biometrics. I finished my registration with an agent, and went through TSA precheck quickly, then met up with Mom and Dad after general security. I was excited to take Mom and Dad to the American Express Centurion Lounge! We found it in B gates, right near our own gate, B7. The lounge opened at 6, so we waited in a line for about ten minutes, for it to open. At 6, we made our way inside. I love the Centurion Lounge at SeaTac! We sat at two high top tables and we all grabbed some breakfast. I had a mimosa and some toast with goat cheese and honey, and some sausage patties. We hung out in the lounge for about 30 minutes, then it was time to board for our flight!

Mom and Dad stopped at Hudson News and got some magazines, then we got our passports checked and boarded the plane. We were all three in row 31, almost to the back. I sat at the window, Mom in the middle, with Dad in the isle. Our flight was going directly to Cancun, which was really nice! It was going to take about five and a half hours. Dad read his paper and watched Jerry Miguire, Mom napped and watched a movie about Biggie and Tupac, and I tried to nap and did my make up eventually. I listened to some music on my older phone (it wasn’t all downloaded on my new phone yet), and we chatted some too. Before we knew it, we were landing in Cancun!

The three of us gathered all our things and took our time getting off the plane. We were going to wait about two and a half hours for Haley. We went through customs and got our passports stamped, then collected our medium bag at baggage claim. Once we exited the terminal, we were bombarded with people trying to “help” us (get our business, or take advantage of us). I ended up asking a nice looking woman how to get to terminal 4, where Haley was landing with JetBlue. She told us about a free shuttle between terminals and where to catch it. She was really nice! Another woman came up to me and was semi rude and pestering me, but we left her. We went outside and found our way to the free shuttle. We waited about ten minutes and hopped on, then arrived at terminal 4.

Outside of terminal 4, a guy helped us into a waiting area for family and friends. It was kind of confusing, but it ended up working out. We sat down at a restaurant outside of terminal 4 and waited a few hours for Haley. The three of us shared some chicken nachos and a chicken burrito. I ended up getting a huge frozen mango margarita, hahah! Dad had a beer and Mom had a Diet Coke. It sure was hot out! We were all sweating. We people watched and hung out. Around Haley’s flight arrival time we found our transportation company, Lomas. Martin was happy to see us, because it hadn’t been communicated to their company that Mom, Dad, and I were waiting for Haley. We had communicated and confirmed with our travel agency, JetSet Travels, but I guess they didn’t communicate that to Lomas. Anyways, he was happy to see us. We left our luggage with him and went into the terminal to wait for Haley.

Eventually, Haley cleared customs and came out— it was so good to see her! We walked back outside and Martin got the four of us into a private taxi to Playa del Carmen. The drive was about an hour and pleasant enough. We all got to chat and catch up. Our driver didn’t speak much English, but that was okay. He drove a lot of side streets and eventually dropped us off in a popular shopping street near the ferry. A man from Lomas named Ruben greeted us from the taxi and walked us through some streets to the ferry. He gave us our ferry tickets for 8pm, and left us to either explore or sit down at Senior Frogs, a popular tourist restaurant chain all around Mexico.

We decided to sit down at Senior Frogs, since we now had five roller bags with us. Mom, Dad, and I had Diet Cokes and Haley had a drink. We all shared nachos (again, hahah) and then it was time to board the ferry! We grabbed all our bags and put them through a security X-ray, and headed down the dock. We were some of the last people to board the ferry. They took our luggage which was nice, but also unexpected. We decided to sit upstairs to have a breeze. We were getting pretty tired, so we were looking forward to finally making it to our hotel. The ferry took about 45 minutes to get to the Cozumel island. Surprisingly, 100,000 people live on the island! While on the ferry, there was a man performing with different flutes and singing, which was really nice. Once the ferry docked, we grabbed our luggage and headed out of the terminal.

We met a man from Lomas, Carlos. He was in charge of us and all of our transportation. He told us he would meet us at our hotel, Allegro, the next day, at 10am to talk about all our transportation details. He put us into a taxi, and we drove for about 20 minutes. We finally arrived at our hotel! It was about 9:30. What a long day! We checked in and discovered that we had two rooms, one for Mom and Dad, and one for Haley and I. Dad wasn’t super stoked about it, but there wasn’t much we could do about it. We gave the front desk all our info and got bracelets for all inclusive and then a man helped us to our rooms with all of our luggage. Our rooms were just one building apart. We both had top floor rooms. Each building had 8 rooms. Haley and I hung out in Mom and Dad’s room for a while, then it was time for Dad’s bedtime.

Mom, Haley, and I left Dad to sleep and headed to the bar in the main resort building. It was so fun to have all inclusive! I had a few glasses of sparkling wine, Haley had a few glasses of white wine, and Mom had a few Diet Cokes. We listened to some live music and watched some dancing. We were very happy to be in Mexico! The bar closed at 11, so we all went back to our rooms. I took a shower which felt soooooo good. When I got out of the shower, Mom knocked on our door. She was missing her phone! Yikes. Haley went with her back to the bar, and thankfully they found her phone! Phew. That would have been a huge bummer. Haley came back to the room, and we called it a night. We went to sleep around midnight, happy to all be together and in Mexico! :]

[theoutdoorpursuit]

A Virgin Tip To Alaska

The Last Frontier, a vast wilderness tucked between Mother Russia and our friendly Canadian neighbors up North. It certainly didn’t feel like America, yet they spoke the language and happily accepted all of my American Dollars. To say the 49th state was unique would be a vast understatement, nearly as vast as its endless vistas. I grew up in the Appalachians, hiked the Rockies, yet these were but foothills compared to the monstrous Alaskan peaks. I put my boots on the ground, ate and caught my fair share of halibut, searched for Grizzlies, and soaked in the never ending sunlight. Here are my takeaways from a first-timing Alaskan Tourist:

Float Planes Are A Way of Life

Researching Alaska months prior to my visit, I had every intention of riding a Float Plane through the mountains and landing in one of the endless remote glaciers in Alaska’s wilderness. After an 8 hour flight across country from Atlanta to Anchorage, my desire to leave the earth had left me and it wasn’t because of the lack of access. The hotel we stayed at in Anchorage backed up to the busiest Float Plane lake in Alaska. Non-stop, throughout the day, planes cruised back in and took back off out into Alaska’s unknown. I can only imagine the views and the bumpy ride that entailed on one of these $100 dollar four hour excursions. 

Alaska is a sportsman’s paradise and almost all hunters and brave anglers reach their remote destinations by Float Plane. We learned that on a typical five day hunt, a plane drops off a group and are informed to draw an “X” in the sand if they need an early emergency pickup. A plane would fly by once a day. No phone service. No one else around. It doesn’t get much more primal in today’s world than a backcountry Alaskan hunt by plane.  

The Sun Never Sets

We arrived into Alaska during the first week of June which means one thing, The sun “set” at 11:15 PM and rose at 4:00 AM. But here is the kicker, the sun never truly set. It merely dipped down behind the mountains. It’s always light out in Alaska in June. Our first night in Anchorage we ate dinner at 7:30 PM… 11:30 PM at home. I struggled to keep my eyes open as I nibbled at a halibut burger, while the sun, high in the middle of the sky, taunted me as if to say “We’re just getting started buddy.” One morning, we left for a fishing trip at 3:15 AM and it looked as if the sun had been up for an hour. I’d advise looking into a hotel or cabin that has black out blinds or at least purchase an eye mask because the constant light was quite detrimental to the sleep cycle. I couldn’t help but wonder what the winters were like as they would be the opposite, dark nearly all day long. Talk about intense seasonal depression. I guess the light is better than the dark, but I had never been so excited to see the sun set as the day I returned home and climbed into bed. 

Grizzlies are Tough to Find… Moose are Not

The animal I wanted to see the most… from a distance, the ever elusive Grizzly bear, was not sighted. I saw plenty of black bear, but the majestic beast on every Alaskan postcard was nowhere to be found. I took the bear spray everywhere I went, even on the two mile hike in the backyard of the ski resort, looking like quite the tourist with a camera around my neck and a bear spray canister holstered to my hip. Thankfully, no bear spray was discharged in the making of this trip. 

Now what was surprisingly everywhere was the Alaskan state animal, the Moose. These things are the equivalent to white tail deer on the East Coast. They’re on your hiking trail, in suburban backyards, and terrifyingly close to the roads. The major Alaskan highways are lined with ten foot high fences to deter Moose from coming in contact with a car, which would not be a pretty sight as these beasts can be well over a thousand pounds. We certainly drove with caution as every few hundred yards a Moose crossing sign warned of potential danger. Go for the Grizzly, see a hundred Moose, as they say.

Everything is Far, Hence the Planes

Anchorage, where we stayed the first part of the week, was fairly convenient. It’s a normal, small sized city which has about 300,000 inhabitants, half the population of Alaska. While in Anchorage everything from restaurants to grocery stores was an easy 20 minute drive. Everywhere else in Alaska is a haul. We drove 8 hours total one day from Anchorage to Denali, 2 and a half hours to Kenai, and then a combined 3 hours of driving to our fishing trip in Seward. We put many of miles on the rental car and while normally traveling long distances after you’ve already traveled long distances is devastating, the scenery and roadside wildlife made the road time worth it. It’s no wonder planes are abundant. I saw but a small sliver of the massive state and felt like I drove the distance of my home state of Virginia. If you want to see it all, you’ll have to see it by air.

Pictured Below: While Alaska is vast, one doesn’t have to go far for an adventure. In the heart of downtown Anchorage, anglers can hook on to world class Salmon passing through the states largest city.

It’s Never “Warm” In Alaska

I left the balmy, Southern, 90 degree temps of Virginia, excited for some cooler weather in Alaska, but of course I underpacked on warm clothes. I wore my only sweatshirt every morning. The highs in Alaska during June are in the low 60’s, however the mornings were a chilly 40 something degrees. On our morning drive to our fishing adventure the car’s thermostat read 35 degrees. Nothing says summer vacation like long johns, a winter beanie, long sleeved Under Armour, and a rain jacket over top of a sweatshirt as a desperate attempt to keep in warmth. Again if this is what it was like in the summer, I cringe to even comprehend a cold, dark Alaskan winter. At first thought, conversing with our firstmate who had made the move from Virginia to Alaska, I was jealous, until I remembered this poor sap had to endure the cold for likely 9 months of the year.

Everyone Leaves With A Box of Fish

Enter into the Anchorage Airport and people all around you are hauling their catch in foam coolers. It is a sportsman’s paradise after all. We learned that freezing your catch and checking your cooler as a carry-on for $25 dollars is the most cost efficient method to get your harvest back home. Shipping frozen meat can add up quickly at over $6 a pound. We ended up with close to 40 lbs of halibut and after two days in our cabin freezer it easily made the 10 plus hour journey home in a foam cooler, still mostly frozen when we arrived at our house.

Don’t Drive To Denali Without A Camper And Couple Days to Spare

Mount Denali. “The High One” 20,000 feet of mountain, the tallest in North America. You can’t go to Alaska without seeing Denali right? That was our thought. Four hours there, four hours back. The drive itself may be worth the road time. Following adjacent to the mountains with Denali in the background was a scenic view unlike any other. However when we got there we soon found out that you could only get so far in your own vehicle. Only about 15 miles are available to personal vehicles, the rest of the vast national park has to be seen from a registered camper or tour bus. 

Fun fact: At least a few backcountry backpackers get lost every year in Denali and have to be rescued, searching for the “Magical School Bus” from the popular book and movie Into the Wild. 

“The Magical School Bus” was not in the sights of our day trip so we settled for one of three possible hikes. Albeit limited, the trail we hiked, “The Savage Alpine Trail” was possibly the coolest hike I’ve been on. 1,500 feet of elevation in a four mile hike was a workout, but the views were truly unbelievable. Near the summit we spotted a lone Dall Sheep which paid no attention to us as we climbed within a hundred yards of the rare beast. The hike, accompanied with Caribou and Sheep sighting, made the long day trek worth it, but a return trip to Alaska’s most infamous park will entail a multiple day trip into it’s never ending backcountry.

Everywhere You Look, is A Desktop Background

Since returning home, I’ve had many people ask me to explain what Alaska was like. It’s difficult to put into words how truly breathtaking the country is; you simply have to lay eyes on it. No words, picture, or 4k video would do it justice. From the plane ride into Alaska to driving around Anchorage, the surrounding setting is something unimaginable. The mountains touch the sky, the air tastes pure, its as if your walking around in a National Geographic documentary, constantly. 

I bought a DSLR camera before our vacation, I needed something more than an Iphone to capture this trip. While I got my fair share of solid pics, it became increasingly frustrating throughout the week as every turn on the road provided an image worthy of a Desktop background. You know the picture I’m talking about, pre-loaded on your computer, annoying beautiful to the point you wonder if such a place actually exists. I snapped away and each night I’d fume over which photos to keep. They were all, “Instagrammable.” Bring a camera and several memory cards.

[withabackpackandcamera]

July 1st, 2021

Day 6: From Puffins to Cool-Looking Mountains: Making Our Way Down The Colorful Eastern Side of Iceland

This morning, my brother woke me up to tell me that our car replacement from Blue Car Rental had arrived to take the place of our dear Lucy, the red Kia Sportage that died on us, and that I needed to deal with whatever needed to be dealt with to finish the car switch. So I had to wake up and go down to accept our new replacement car, which was a green-gray Toyota RAV4 with 65,000 km already on it. A well-used car that was definitely on the other side of the used-ness scale compared to Lucy. 

Once I was done with Blue Car Rental, I went to pack my bags before grabbing a hot breakfast downstairs with Cynthia, as my family had already enjoyed their breakfasts well before we were awake. When we arrived at the serve-yourself breakfast tables downstairs, we were wowed by how many options of hot foods and pastries and other items we had to choose from. What a treat! So, we loaded up with delicious food and chowed it down quickly so that we could get back on the road. 

With yesterday’s leftover schedule melded into today’s original itinerary, our first destination for the day was Borgarfjörður eystri, located pretty far away in the eastern fjords. The whole point of driving out there was to see the famous puffins of Iceland, something that we decided to see out at Borgarfjörður eystri rather than in the Westfjords. After a long drive through changing landscapes and around fjords, we arrived at the Borgarfjörður eystri marina, where we found a shiz ton of puffins standing around and flying everywhere! Everywhere you looked as you climbed up the wooden steps to the puffin nesting area, you saw puffins! And such beautiful and interesting-looking birds! Oh, and there were seagulls too. What a sight! 

For about an hour, we stood around with our smartphones and DSLRs taking photos of the beautiful puffins. And I took a ton of photos. Of puffins standing. Of puffins sitting. Of puffins flying (though those were difficult to predict and capture). Of puffins landing. Of puffins poorly landing. Of puffins with sand eels in their mouths. Of puffins doing a bunch of other things. It was really cool to take photos of these spectacularly-colored birds! Especially because Minh lent me his super telephoto lens, which was clutch in capturing great close-ups of the birds. 

After taking a ton of photos and being happy with a few of them, I headed back to the car to meet up with the family so that we could continue on our way to Seyðisfjörður. The drive there was beautiful, filled with picturesque views of the surrounding fjords as well as the melting ice and snow atop the mountains bordering the fjords. As we neared Seyðisfjörður from the mountains, we were greeted with the beautiful summer landscape surrounding the town. It was so serene and gorgeous. There were pretty cascades of waterfalls winding down the mountain slopes towards the fjordside town of Seyðisfjörður. Wildflowers were in bloom everywhere. And the sun was shining bright with some clouds scattered throughout the skies. 

When we arrived in town, we parked our car and walked straight toward the very Instagram-famous rainbow-bricked road leading to Seyðisfjarðarkirkja, the baby blue-colored church at the end of the rainbow. We spent a few minutes waiting for other people to clear the way before taking group and family photos in front of the picturesque spot. While walking through town, Cynthia and I walked into a couple of boutiques and checked out their products before leaving. After that, I ended up walking by myself around the lake to the other side of Seyðisfjörður before making my way back toward the car. 

By the time we had all gathered up again, it was lunch hour. We grabbed our leftover foods and snacks in the car and brought it out to a nice patch of grass and an open picnic table and enjoyed lunch under the warm sun. After finishing some leftovers, we took a few more photos around town before turning back to the car. 

Due to time constraints and how much ground we had to make up after yesterday’s debacle, we had to cut some of the things I wanted to see, like Hengifoss and Stuðlagil Canyon, out of the schedule in order to get to our evening’s guesthouse with enough time to head back out to photograph Vestrahorn at sunset. Luckily, our drive through the east fjords provided plenty of gorgeous views to see along the way. 

We drove and slowly made our way to lesser-known Eystrahorn. At first, Minh drove. Then it was me. Then Cynthia got her shot at driving, which she thoroughly enjoyed. We arrived at a viewpoint of Eystrahorn mountain somewhere between 6:00pm and 7:00pm. And even though it was ridiculously sunny when we arrived and the conditions were not great for photos, we found a place to park and walked around anyway. We walked down to the black sand beach to view the mountain and the surrounding ocean before driving off to another viewpoint for a brief viewing. From there, it was a straight shot past Höfn to Guesthouse Nypugardar, our basic but nice-looking cabin lodging for the evening.

After checking in, we ate the funniest, cheapest, and most ridiculous-appearing-dinner-while-traveling ever! Which consisted of leftover sandwiches and instant ramen and pho that we had packed for the trip and wanted to get rid of before we flew home. The reason that the dinner was so ridiculously funny was because were missing a ton of kitchen things that would’ve otherwise made things easy and simple, namely a hot plate or stove top to appropriately prepare our ramen, enough boiling hot water to ready the instant noodles, and bowls big enough to fit our food (they actually had NO bowls so my family had to settle for medium-sized coffee cups hahahaha). What a ridiculous sight it was to prepare an instant meal without a well-equipped kitchen or a kitchen at all! Hahahaha!

Once we were done with dinner, Cynthia, Minh, and I quickly got dressed and left for Vestrahorn as the sun started to set in the sky. The drive there took a surprisingly long time but we eventually arrived in good time. Not that it mattered though since it was a dud of a sunset with such dense clouds obscuring the sky and the bland horizon surrounding the Vestrahorn area. Without much to be excited about, Minh and I walked around to check out the black sand beach in front of Vestrahorn mountain to try to make the most of our time there. 

And there wasn’t much to be excited about on the beach either. But with sunrise not too far off (since sunrise and sunset during the summers in Iceland are relatively close together), we decided to stick around and see what photo opportunities sunrise would offer us. With some down time and nothing landscape-photography-worthy, Cynthia and I asked Minh to take some quick, informal, long-overdue engagement photos of us on the black sand beach (which we had planned on doing near Vestrahorn earlier this trip). Because of the dark conditions and very windy and cold weather in the wee hours of the morning, Cynthia and I didn’t stay out too long and tried our best in the very little time we stood outside to get some decent and usable shots before seeking shelter again in the car. After spending about 20 minutes taking engagement photos, I switched with Minh and took some photos of him with his beloved Vestrahorn.

By the time I finished with Minh, which was around 2:30am, sunrise was quickly approaching. With the sun starting to rise somewhere behind the clouds, the background sky behind Vestrahorn started to light up in pink and orange colors, mostly behind the right side of the mountain. With better photo ops this time, I set up for some Vestrahorn sunrise photos and took some photos of the area and then of Minh before we both escaped back to the car for our drive back to the guesthouse. 

5 Things I Learned/Observed Today:

1. A quick summary of a puffin’s life based on observation and some info placards. They live in deep holes and burrows dug into the side of sea cliff mounds. When they fly, they don’t really glide… they flutter their wings in a strange way. They go hunting for food in the ocean and their food of choice: sand eels. When they fly back to their home mounds, they don’t necessarily land right at their own doorstep; they sometimes land really far, really close, or crash into some other puffin’s burrow. If they have food and seagulls are around, they are constantly bullied, like a kid being bullied out of his lunch money. Otherwise, they sit around all day and groom themselves while staring out into the ocean or at other puffins. Interestingly enough, whenever the seasons change, they move out and live on the sea. When the warm season arrives at home, they consistently return to the exact same burrow that they’ve lived in and carry on at home until it gets cold again. And lastly, puffins mate with the same mate year after year until one of them dies. Lifelong lovers. That’s sweet! 

2. Seagulls are SO lazy! Too lazy to fish for themselves! Instead, they hang around the puffin mounds and bully the hard-working puffins for the food they diligently caught. Tsk tsk. 

3. Colorful is the best word I can think of to describe Seyðisfjörður. Seyðisfjörður is a beautiful fjord-side town dotted throughout with houses and buildings painted in a wide variety of colors, from red to sky blue. Not only are the buildings colorful, but also the nature around it, especially in the summer, with the colorful wildflowers, the blue color of the waterfalls, streams, and ocean, as well as the green grasses and plants all around. And I haven’t even mentioned the famous rainbow walkway in town! 

4. Eystrahorn really is an unmarked mountain worth photographing and is located about 30-45 minutes from Vestrahorn. Though, to be honest, the best photos of Eystrahorn are probably via drones. It’s much harder to photograph with a DSLR. The vantage point just isn’t there.

5. On the eastern side of Iceland, there is a very very short gap between sunrise and sunset. Literally like 2 hours. I wonder how that interval changes as you move around to different parts of Iceland…

[travelingtheusa]

TENNESSEE

2021 May 4 (Tue) – We went to Oak Ridge this morning.  It was called the Secret City back in the 1940s. Oak Ridge was one of 3 cities where the atomic bombs were produced.  Its population went from 1,000 to 50,000 people in 6 months.  Unfortunately, the museum was closed.  So was the Museum of the Appalachia and the Museum of Tennessee. We got to see a short film at the NPS office, which was a little booth located in the corner of the Children’s Museum.

     We then drove to Knoxville.  There wasn’t much to see but we drove around to look at the city.  We drove into the Old City and past Market Square. The city had lots of old buildings mixed with new construction.  We stopped at Corner 16 for lunch.  It was an excellent choice.  The food was outrageous.  We bought some of the chili to bring home for dinner.

 2021 May 3 (Mon) – We packed up and left Lebanon at 9:30 a.m. It was raining and rained for most of the drive.  About three-quarters of the way to our destination, the skies opened up and it poured. The rain was so heavy we could barely see past the hood.  There was a break in the rain just as we arrived at our new campground – the Windrock State Park Campground in Oliver Springs.  It rained all night long, sometimes ferociously.  There was lightning and thunder and, at times, hail.

     The campground is very high class.  We spotted at least 3 Prevost RVs.  Those are very expensive rigs.  This campground is up in the mountains and is nicely laid out, neat and clean with plenty of space between sites.  There is extra space for ATVs.  This seems to be a favorite spot for ATV riding.  The campground is at the head of many trails leading off into the wilderness. We’ve been watching them come and go for the two days we’ve been here.  Covered in mud and debris and smiling from ear to ear.

 2021 May 2 (Sun) – We drove into Nashville today to go to the Johnny Cash Museum.  His life story was quite interesting.  His parents couldn’t agree on a name when he was born, so they named him J.R.  Years later, when he tried to enlist in the Air Force, they insisted that he had to have a first name so he chose John.  That morphed into Johnny as his musical career took off.  

     It cost us $20 to park for two hours.  The parking lot appeared to be 3 in 1; three different machines for different areas of the same parking lot.  It was strange.  The town was bustling with people.  It was so crowded that we had to step off the sidewalk to go around clusters of folks gathered outside restaurants and shops.  No one was wearing masks outside, although you still have to wear a mask indoors. Looks like things are finally starting to loosen up.  Infections around the country are dropping as people get the vaccine and venues are beginning to open again.  It feels very hopeful.

     We wanted to have lunch in Nashville but it was too crowded.  We hopped in the truck and drove back to Lebanon. First stop was at the number one and number two restaurants, according to Trip Advisor.  But, you guessed it.  Too crowded with long wait times.  We finally wound up at Cracker Barrel.  The gal who checked us in said it was 20 to 30 minutes.  We waited almost an hour.  The food was good, as usual, but the long wait took the bloom off the rose.

     After lunch, we stopped at WalMart to get some groceries.  Then it was a stop at the liquor store to pick up some spirits.  And finally, we stopped at a gas station to fuel up for tomorrow’s trip.  We got back to the campground at around 3:45 p.m.  It started raining later in the evening. Weather forecasters are saying it’s going to rain for next two days.

 2021 May 1 (Sat) – We packed up and after a brief stop at the dump station to empty the tanks, we were on our way.  It was 2-1/2 hours to Lebanon where we are staying in a KOA. This campground is very tight and also on uneven terrain, like our last campground.  It is lucky we have a pull-through site.  It would be very hard to maneuver between all the rigs and on a hillside.

     Once we were set up, we took the laundry to the machines and did the wash.  

2021 Apr 30 (Fri) – We drove to Lexington (still in Tennessee) for lunch at Dan’s Café.  It was a small house converted to an eatery.  It had a 50’s flair to it.  The food was good.

     After lunch, we drove to Parker’s Crossroads and toured the battlefield. The north and south clashed there and had an intense 5-hour battle where neither really won.  The confederates were able to escape and cross the Tennessee River but not before causing havoc for many miles on their mission to disrupt Union rails and resources.  The battlefield is spread out with walking tours and storyboards recounting the activities that went on at that point.  The Visitor’s Center had a video that told the story of the battle.  It was quite informative.

     Next door to the visitor’s center was the Tennessee State Veteran’s Cemetery.  We drove through the grounds.  There were only about 50 graves.  It is a new cemetery just established in 2018.

     After getting some fuel, we stopped at a gas station shoppette to pick up milk.  They had loads of beer and soda to go with lots of snacks, but no milk.  The closest supermarket was 24 miles away.  We drove over the bridge to the next gas station shoppette and were able to find milk there.  Thank goodness!

     We got news that the Washington, D.C. caravan we signed up for has been cancelled.  The caravan was scheduled to take place the first week in July and the plan was to march in the National Parade on Independence Day.  The parade, which is run by the National Park Service, has been cancelled. In addition, several other tourist places around Washington, D.C. will not be open.  Also, the number of rigs signed up for the caravan fell to 11. That’s below the minimum threshold of 15 rigs for the caravan to go.  We will still go to D.C. for the 2 weeks we planned to be there.  So will our friends, Rick & Brenda from Florida. Our other friends, Hank & Brenda from Texas, cancelled out of the D.C. caravan but they will join us on the drive from D.C. to New York for our caravan around Upstate NY.  I sent an email to the manager at Fort Belvoir to tell her we will still be coming for the 2 weeks we reserved.

2021 Apr 29 (Thu) – We pulled up stakes and left Memphis at 10 a.m. It rained during most of the drive. In addition, as accident occurred right in front of us.  The traffic was at a stand still for an hour and a half.  Two tractor trailers and two cars got into it.  One of the cars had 3 kids in it.  Luckily, no one was seriously hurt.  

     We finally arrived at the Natchez Trace RV Park at 1:30 p.m.  It was a little tricky getting into our site around the trees.  The slick mud didn’t help things a bit.  The trailer wouldn’t level right either.  It kept resetting itself and the RV was on a tilt.  

 2021 Apr 28 (Wed) – We dropped off Bonnie’s urine sample to the vet’s office this morning.  The vet came out and told us there is no urine infection.  She also refilled Bonnie’s liver medication for 3 months. I asked for 4 but they only had 3 boxes. Oh, well.  You take what you can get.

     After the vet, we drove to the Blue Plate Café where we met Steve & Diane for breakfast.  Not only was the food good but the company was also enjoyable.  We stayed for over an hour and a half.

     Next stop was at Vitamin Shoppe where I got some vitamins.  Paul is still not feeling well.  He’s still suffering the effects of the vaccine.

2021 Apr 27 (Tue) – I took Paul to lunch (or did he take me?) at Las Tortugas Deli Mexicali.  It was a different kind of set up.  You ordered at the counter from a menu that was in Spanish with English in parentheses. We recognized very few of the dishes. We both wound up ordering sandwiches which were very good.  We brought leftovers home.

     I called the vet’s office where no one knew anything about what I was calling about.  I left a message for Dr. Bates to call.  I called again at 5:30 pm.  The doctor got on the phone and said she left a message today.  There was no message on my phone.  She didn’t know anything about a urine sample so we agreed to bring another one in tomorrow.  She said she would refill Bonnie’s liver medication.  Five months’ worth will be waiting for us when we drop off the urine sample tomorrow.

     Just as we were sitting down to dinner tonight, there came a knock on the door.  It turned out to be Diane.  She and husband, Steve, were on our Utah caravan.  He served as the Weatherman.  They will be staying here in the campground until Friday.  We agreed to get together for breakfast tomorrow.

     Paul is feeling cruddy tonight.  He is feverish and achy.  Guess the vaccine is doing its thing.

      We got a call from a campground in Ticonderoga, NY today.  The manager had looked over the list of RVs I sent her and decided they couldn’t accommodate the larger rigs.  They cancelled our reservation.  What a disaster!!!  Less than 3 months to go and we lose a campground.  We would be lucky to find another place that can fit 22 RVs at this late date during the height of the tourist season.  I felt sick.  Paul jumped on the Internet and did some research.  I tried calling the campground we were going to stay at before the cancelled one to see if we could just extend our stay.  No luck.  They are booked solid for the week after us.  Paul found a place 65 miles east in Peru, NY.  I called and they were able to fit us in.  I sent a list of campers and RV sizes.  Hopefully, things will go OK.  I also got a call from another campground on our caravan saying our deposit was due May 1st or our sites would open up.  I quickly sent off a missive to SMART HQ to send out a check.  That could have been a serious problem!  Luckily, the fates were looking after us.

 2021 Apr 26 (Mon) – We went out to lunch at a BBQ place.  The food was good.  Then we dropped off a urine sample at the veterinarian.  Bonnie is acting like she has a urine infection again. *sigh*  She just can’t seem to get past this thing.  The vet she saw last time was not in, so a tech took the sample and said he would handle everything.  Also pass on our request to refill Bonnie’s liver medication.

     We then went to CVS where Paul got his second COVID shot.  I picked up some Mother’s Day cards.  As we were standing on line, Paul saw a young man wearing a motorcycle helmet put two car chargers in his pocket and walk out.  He yelled at the guy but the clerk, who was ringing up a customer in front of us, just giggled about the incident.  She just shrugged it off.

     I called the vet’s office later to see what happened with the urine sample but nobody had anything to say about it. Guess I will talk to Dr. Bates tomorrow.

2021 Apr 25 (Sun) – It was cold this morning.  The heat pump went off about 2:30 a.m. this morning.  We keep that off because of the noise it makes.  It turns out the furnace was not working.  It looks like the techs did something that made the controls work improperly.  We cannot get the furnace to turn on.

      All Vanleigh personnel were gone early this morning so I posted our issue on Facebook. Sure enough, the tech folks were still monitoring the website and responded to my post.  The tech said he would send us a new program for the Spyder Control Panel.  Apparently, he knows exactly what they did.  Aaaaarrrggghhh!!!  We’ll have it sent to Travis & Sam where we will be in two weeks.

    We packed up and left Hot Springs at 10 a.m.  It was a long drive.  We pulled into a parking lot at a mall around noon to make ourselves lunch.  We arrived at Agricenter RV Park in Memphis around 2:30 p.m.  The host couldn’t find our reservation and it turns out that I had made reservations for a different date.  He was able to clear up the confusion and find us a spot.

    After that lovely RV resort in Hot Springs, this feels like a slum.  Lol.  The RVs are very close to each other in rows with grass that needs cutting, no trees, and stone campsites.  The road is asphalt that needs some repairs.  Several of the campers are long term as we saw 40 lb. and 100 lb. propane tanks outside their RVs.  The cost was higher than I expected but reflects a military discount.  Guess we can expect charges to continue to increase with all the new RVers out there and no new campgrounds to accommodate them.

[canaryatlaw]

okay, let’s get this written so I can actually get to bed by like, 2 am. today was at least super productive, I didn’t get everything done that I wanted to but I still got a ton of stuff done so that’s good. I woke up to my alarm at 11:30, 15 minutes earlier than normal because I had to drop off my rental textbooks package at the UPS store, but then I realized it’s literally right on my way to PT and it’ll take me like, 30 seconds to run in the store, give them the package (postage already paid for) and leave, so I hung out for a bit then left at 12:05. Dropped the package off, went to PT. I’m kinda pissed, because my last period was like, almost cramp free for like the first time in my life, but now of course they’re back with a vengeance, and it was super uncomfortable and painful in PT, so I was ready to get out of there. As soon as I finished I ran to the bathroom and put the cramp thingy on and thankfully that helped. From there I caught the bus, took it south, then walked a bit east to go to Target. My family’s coming in tomorrow and idk how much they’re gonna like, want to eat at my apartment, but I figured I should at least be a bit prepared for such things, and plus I was running out of groceries period because I hadn’t been to the store for a while. So I ran around and stocked up on things, my mom asked if I could get some water bottles so I got a big 24 pack of them, which while checking out I put in the bottom of my cart, which of course took up a bunch of room, them piled the rest of my groceries on top of it, fitting almost all of it. I knew this would be impossible to wrangle on public transport, so I just grabbed an uber home. Because of the water bottles in the bottom, my cart thing was like, unbelievably heavy. my uber driver was a somewhat older man and he tried to pick it up and was like oh boy, this is heavy haha so we both got it in and out of the trunk, and then trying to get it up one flight of stairs to my apartment was like, the most difficult thing. the stairs each have like a little lip at the edge that hangs out over the one below it, so if I’m pulling it behind me instead of just going from edge to edge, it had to come over the lip and like, it was the worst. it took me at least 10 minutes to get it all the way up and I was super out of breath afterwards. Guess I can forget any feelings of being strong from PT exercises when I’m clearly really fucking weak. Anyway, I got to my apartment and put everything away, then ran downstairs and put my first load of laundry in. while it was being washed I decided to tackle the dishes and mess that was the kitchen, almost all of which being my doing, and since we don’t have a dishwasher (ugh) it took quite a while, but I got through it all. I ended up fitting everything into 3 loads of laundry, which believe me, was an accomplishment given how much dirty clothing I actually had. After I finished with the dishes I made a dutch baby for dinner because I do what I want, then got my final load of laundry out and dumped all the clothes on my bed to hopefully dry out because our fucking dryer doesn't work very well and leaves like, all the clothes damp. And then it was time for Arrow. very meh episode for me, I was waiting for my girl Black Siren to show up the whole time after last week’s cliffhanger with her, so them pretending like that didn’t even happen was annoying. it also didn’t feel like it advanced the plot very much, it was just like oh hey gunfight, now there’s another, gunfight, and one more, over and over again, which just isn't very interesting to me. Oh well. the finale next week better be good if you’re pulling in my girl Sara Lance, even if you’re probably killing off her father and I will literally never forgive the writers if they do that. but, you know. After Arrow was over I started dyeing my hair, because I hadn't dyed it since mid-March and I wanted it to look nice and bright for graduation pictures, especially because the graduation robes are like, red and blue (very strange choices, I know, but I’ll live) so hopefully it’ll look good with that. while the hair dye was in I started folding all the laundry on my bed. I had been hoping to be able to sort through all of it and pull out my summer clothes to switch my wardrobe over, but I knew that would take way more time than I had, and it’s not a super urgent thing (I can always just pull some summer clothes from the suitcase as needed) so I’ll put it off for now, being that I’m going to have some free time ahead anyway. Showered to get the dye out, then went back to folding clothes which took forever, and now my dresser has clothes hanging out of like, every drawer two they won’t close, lol, I have way too much clothing. And after that I started getting ready for bed and now here I am. It took me a little while between getting on my laptop and writing this, because they just announced on twitter that Jes Macallan is doing her first ever con, and IT’S IN FUCKING AUSTRALIA and like Jess and I have had this conversation so many times like worrying if we couldn’t get to her first con and what we’d do to get there, so this is legit like worst case scenario. I did entertain the thought enough to look up some flights, but the absolute cheapest I could find was like, $1350, and routed through Hong Kong, and with the massive travel time the trip would end up taking an entire week (in order to be there for the whole day both Saturday and Sunday, we’d have to leave on Wednesday to get there on Friday, then leave Monday and get back Tuesday, so that’d be a whole week away from everything, and Jess would still be teaching at that point so that couldn’t really work). AND and, it’s the weekend of my cousins wedding that I’m expected to be at, so there’s that too. Ugh, this sucks lol. but okay, it’s late and I’m tired, so I’m gonna hit the hay now. Family is flying in tomorrow, hopefully all goes well and we’ll have some fun. Goodnight my friends. Love you all dearly. 

oh, the thing I wanted to tell you about my anonymous exam ID number. we get a 4 digit number every semester to use for exams because it’s blind grading, and if you write my full birthday out (like MM/DD/YY), my number this semester was the first two and the last two digits (so 2 for month and 2 for year) and I just thought that was kind of amusing because it was definitely a coincidence. One semester my number was a 1957, which was super convenient because it was so easy to remember, lol. Okay, I done for real now. Goodnight.