Bitches Be Trippin

I have a few thoughts after the end of our tour. First off, you can get free hot water from any convenience store (even the one where the guy was so stoned he couldn't find the "hot water button") So that and a box of teabags is a constant stream of caffeine on the road. Second, always stop. Our mad dash back to Santa Rosa didn't allow for it, but I will always regret driving past the salt flats, seeing a group of drivers there, and not stopping to chat with them. Three: always talk to everybody. Yeah, 9 times out of 10, the person behind the register isn't that interesting, but the one who is always makes up for it. Ask them about the local cryptids, their pets,  what they like about their job - the answer will surprise you. Hipster brunch. I make light of this, but it's occurred to me that the economy is so difficult, that lots of young people have made a living serving coffee, living in their workspace, and making a way in the world that isn't c...

Be happy and healthy and glad to be home. We made it home yesterday after an epic 13 hour drive from Salt Lake City. Snow! and fall color! Mostly it was about getting home, seeing what the damage was, and giving Nat some relief.  But I can't leave out the sights between House on the Rock and Salt Lake City.  From Des Moines we went to Kansas City, via Excelsior Springs, home of the Hall of Waters. What a fantastic deco building. You just kind of wander in, because it's mainly used as offices for the water district and a place to pay your bills. But if you make a right, you enter the actual hall Yes, it does say hot and cold saline The hall is gorgeous, with original tile and lighting fixtures.  They don't have any real plans for it at the moment, but it's being taken care of rather than falling to disrepair.  The rest of the town is so adorable, it's like the Gilmore Girls. Except perhaps a bit spookier. But as Franki...

I thought this captured some of the surreal-ness of the day.  Tuesday we left Chicago and drove to Des Moines. Usually that's not a phrase that evokes excitement or apprehension, but what would our trip be with just a boring drive from point a to point b? When we left Chicago, the sky was dark, heavy, and low. It put one in mind of tornadoes. Me: Well, that would be exciting - Tor-na-does! Tor-na-does! Frankie: Did I ever tell you about my irrational but crippling fear of tornadoes? Me: Gen-tle breeze! Gen-tle breeze! We only had one stop planned on our way to Des Moins, and that was  House on the Rock , Wisconsin. This was our first clue Like so many others, I heard of this place through the book American Gods, and the fact that it is real sealed the deal. I'm not, however, sure that real is the right word for it. It was, however, interesting to eavesdrop (what a wonderful word that is) on the conversations of other people trying to comprehend the w...

On Monday we had our visit to UIC scheduled. It was also the day when reports started coming in about Santa Rosa. What's been happening there has been breaking our hearts. I'm doing the only thing I can do about it from here - reading about it incessantly. Needless to say, we were distracted. I pretty much spent the entire orientation on my phone looking for news. UIC has one aspect that's very interesting - it's home to Hull House , the settlement house established by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Settlement houses were part of a big reform movement, providing child care for working mothers, support for labor groups, English and citizenship classes, in an attempt to help these poor areas thrive. It's a really fascinating movement. Plus, lesbians to the rescue! After that, we went to the Garfield Park Conservatory, designed in 1908. Still not a pretty as Golden Gate Parks It's a huge facility, encompassing a couple acres including the pro...

Or at least a lot of catching up.  Today is Wednesday and we are in Kansas City. Last day we posted about our trip was Sunday. So buckle your seat belts.  Our first stop on Sunday was to Graceland Cemetery. As Benjamin Franklin said: "Show me your cemeteries and I will tell you what kind of people you have." Graceland is the resting place of the well to do of the time - it has jewish, catholic, and black people among its members. Seems like the main priority to get in was to be well-off, which is definitely reflected in the monuments.  Aida much? Legend has it if you rub ... oh never mind.  There we some amazing mausoleums (some of Chicago's golden age architects are buried there) and some fantastic fall color. The people that work there were also very nice. They had the office opened up for a Chicago Architecture Foundation tour (they are having open house tours this weekend) and the guy noticed that Frankie was looking ...

I promise I will share all the delights of our last 36 hours in Chicago (even the parts that involve napping), but right now, I just can't. I woke up this morning to find out, through Facebook, that people were being evacuated. That there were fires raging all over Santa Rosa, some within a few miles of our house. It's bad enough to have the conversation about what to keep/what to leave. But it's worse to know that some of your favorite people on earth have had to do that and now have to live with the result. We have friends who lost everything. And I'm helpless to do anything for them. If there is even a smattering of good, it's the realization that even in this horrific time, or even potentially more horrific ones, we have the capacity to help each other and be good. It's the only thing that really matters and gets us through.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the reference: Leslie Ann Warren is a goddess So yes, today we are in Chicago. It took, however, a truly heroic amount of driving to get here. Lucky for us, overnight the foliage started changing. I have to say that, while very pretty, the Great Smoky Mountains are more like Very Nice Smoky Mountains.  The other thing we could see more of during the day was the alarming amount of kudzu in the area to the north. I didn't get any great shots of it, but there was places where the ground, bushes, trees and even buildings were completely smothered in green vines.  We stopped in Knoxville, home of the Sun Sphere and several Waffle Houses in order to refuel.  Either the sun sphere or the worlds largest snitch The Waffle House is a chain restaurant which, one would suppose, is known for its waffles.  One would be wrong.  As Frankie eloquently put it in their Yelp review: Never before ha...

We started Wednesday in St. Louis. We ended it in the Blue Ridge mountains of Tennessee. Just a tiny little 500 mile dido to see Dollywood. However, we couldn't leave St. Louis without visiting the City Museum. The City Museum is... well, imagine your fantasy tree house, aquarium, craft room, climbing structure, all in one place. Then fill it with slides, and mosaics, and recycled architecture, and art, and hidey holes. Imagine surprises in every corner. Imagine that you go down a slide, climb up through some branches, and find yourself in the middle of a model train set being attacked by space monsters. Worlds largest pair of underpants Hipster cafe An ADULT SIZED BALL PIT!!! I swear to God, within 10 minutes of visiting I was trying to figure out a way of hiding out in the top floors and staying forever. We're covered in bruises and abraded skin, with weird sore muscles all over, but part of me really want to go there and play forever...