A Very Ziggy Christmas

I am not sure if this will be a continuing trend, but I seem to be the unofficial hav-wartz holiday correspondent. Maybe Chris will write the New Years post and document all our wild and crazy times.

On Dec 23rd we were still missing a Christmas tree. We both planned on surprising each other on the same day by purchasing a tree while the other one was sleeping. Chris was planning on picking up a tree on his way home from work in the morning, and I wanted to go get one after he arrived home to go to bed. Neither of us could execute these goals because the car battery died the night before. While Chris was out purchasing jumper cables for the car, the apt buzzer rang and I opened the door to find a delivery man with a Christmas tree in his arms. Chris' parents had ordered us a tree from a local florist, and the timing was great because while Chris was gone I had time to set it up in the living room. Instead of "running errands" like he said, he was out at a tree farm trying to pick out a tree to carry home as a surprise. Unfortunately they didn't have any in the size he wanted, so when he returned empty handed, he was happy/relieved to find his parent's gift. It was the perfect size for the living room and came decorated with pine cones and berries. We added lights and it made our little hearts fill with Christmas cheer.


On Christmas Eve we were starving so we decided against going to the grocery store and taking the time to make dinner. Instead we went on a walk through the city to see what restaurants were open. We ended up at Bill's Place, a family owned diner specializing in burgers. They cut and grind their own beef daily and some of their burgers were created by and named after celebrities; the The "Carol Doda" burger pays tribute to the legendary North Beach stripper with two matching patties sitting side by side, topped with olives. Get it...the burger is supposed to look like boobs :) I ordered a banana shake that was fantastic, and it was more than enough for both of us to share. After eating we had the joy of walking uphill 10 blocks back to the apt, but the food made it all worth it.

My parents sent me a San Francisco 49ers sweatshirt for Christmas. This is funny because they are the football team I became attached to in 4th grade because everyone else liked the Cowboys. I followed them throughout the years, eventhough I never lived in California or planned on living here. My dad would always get me San Francisco 49ers calendars and other memorabilia each year, and so this year the gift was especially fitting. I hope to attend a game at their stadium and wear the new sweatshirt sometime next year:)

On Christmas day, we drove to Kat and Ray's house in San Mateo...about 35 minutes from our apt. Chris worked with both of them while he was going to UCF but I had only met them once at their going away party, before they moved here two years ago. It was so thoughtful of them to invite us to be part of their holiday celebration, and it was nice to spend time with familiar faces when we were so far away from everyone this year. We met their adorable (almost 2 yr old) daughter Aria, Kat's father and sister, and we all ate dinner together, played video games and watched Christmas movies. It was a lot of fun and we hope to have them over for dinner at our apartment sometime soon.

Christmas magically extended to today, when Chris was able to find a nice tv for a great price on craigslist. He also surprised me with a gift he had been hiding under the table for two days:) We are hoping to get some more furniture this week while Chris has off work. Hopefully this translates into Kitzzy and Jason having something other than camping chairs to sit on when they are visiting San Francisco next week. Also with that new tv, we were able to watch one of Chris' favorite holiday past times...an old network televised Christmas special called "Ziggy's Gift". . . which as of last year we own on dvd. It teaches of Joy, Love, and more Love and Joy.

It was hard being away from family this time of year, but next year we know to purchase plane tickets well in advance :) We hope everyone is having an awesome holiday/winter break and that we talk to you all soon.

Afternoon Conundrum

No real news today, I just felt like writing something so I could rub it in Kacey's face that she hasn't written a post in a while. She is currently sleeping. I normally would be too, but a colleague pointed out that today is supposed to be the only sunshine we'll have for a week, and I didn't want to waste it. Unfortunately I made this decision only after Kacey stayed up most of the night, so she's missing out. I suppose I'm kind of missing out as well, sitting here at the computer instead of going to the park or walking along the coast. But there's something about not having a tiny weird human next to me during such activities that just makes them slightly less worth doing. Maybe I'll go bang some pots and pans together. But then she'll think I'm cooking her breakfast. Hmm...

A quick review

We've been in San Francisco for something like six weeks now. It has flown by in some ways, and dragged on slowly in others. During the road trip out and the first two weeks or so here, we were keeping a list of the (debatably) interesting things that we did or encountered, and planned to write about them for all the world to scrutinize/ignore on this fine blog you're reading. But as it turned out, after we finished the posts about the trip, we sort of lost our steam and didn't really write much about our "new life in the city." Instead of continuing to entertain the notion that I will some day share whimsical musings about the things on that list, I thought I'd take a moment now to expunge them from my brain. With new perspective, most of them seem incredibly inane, and I see little point in bantering on at length about them. But part of me is wondering whether sharing this in an abbreviated list form actually makes it even more useless than going on in detail about any of these items, because any significance they may have is only accessible through elaboration. Ironic.

We have acquired a bed, bookshelf, dining table/chairs, and a desk. We are still lacking a couch. And a chimney through which Santa could deliver it, so we're kind of in a bind.


We have explored the surroundings somewhat, and we found a puddle and some weird green stuff that we didn't expect to be in a city.


Random stuff:

• This is the fourth place I've lived in a row where the closest business is a Walgreen's. I think this is a conspiracy to keep me eating their Mediterranean fruit & nut mix.
  
• Kacey seems to have discovered a taste for Indian food. Mild Indian food, anyway.
• There are other people in this city. We have even hung out with some of them.
  
• We are finding life without a microwave to be considerably more agreeable than we would have thought.
  
• We have now attended two ILM parties. Kacey won a puppy at one of them.
• I am growing increasingly accustomed to the night shift. My only remaining hurdle is sleeping while hanging upside down from the ceiling, and I've got a guy coming in tomorrow to install some support scaffolding, so I'm counting that box as half checked already.
• We've been going to Golden Gate Park once or twice a week to do a fitness course there. But the weather's been getting colder and the days shorter, so I think we're going to switch to open water night swimming pretty soon.
  

There are more moving in pictures to behold if you so desire.

That wasn't even a very good list. Man.

Mmmm gibblets . . .

From the outset this Thanksgiving seemed slightly doomed. We hadn't even purchased a dining table until a couple days before the big feast (thank you Aaron from Craigslist, we wish you the best of luck in France!)

We were expecting to include these items on our Thanksgiving menu:

1. hilarity
2. turkey
3. mashpots
4. yambos
5. green beans
6. cranbizzle
7. corn
8. those rolls (you know, the kind made out of bread)

Following the construction of this list, Chris asks, "If we have a turkey that will feed 12-16 people, should we cook enough of each of the other items to feed the same number of humans?" Decidedly so.

On the big day, in addition to waking up late, the pan I bought for the turkey was about a quarter inch too big to fit in the oven, the bird was still frozen when we took it out of the fridge, and in the end, we cooked it about an hour more than it required. But when we finally sat down to eat, our focus shifted from being tired and stressed to being thankful for all the food in front of us, and the opportunity to eat it in an exciting new place together.

During this holiday weekend last year we were attending my grandpa's funeral in Maryland. In retrospect, this Thanksgiving's culinary short-comings were quite trivial in comparison, and although the dinner may have taken place a little late, I am very grateful that my family is doing better and that they could spend this time together.

We re-lived this meal in its entirety for five more dinner cycles and for brunch on occasion as well. Starting today we will be exploring new turkey options such as sandwiches, quesadillas, soups, and more. We hope everyone had a great thanksgiving holiday, and in case you were too busy eating turkey to catch it, here is a link to the best part of thanksgiving 2008 (in my opinion)

oh yeah, and pictures.

Cue Obese Chanteuse

We left Las Vegas around 11am, and proceeded to drive through the Mojave desert. This eventually turned into hills, and we saw a bunch more windmills, which Kacey once again demanded that I photograph. We stopped at a ridiculously windy gas station, where the wind blew the car's gas cap fuel door thing closed repeatedly. EXCITING!

At some point along the way, we realized this was it. There were no more fun stops, no more diversions. We probably should have realized it a lot sooner, but the point was this: we weren't on vacation any more. There was no turning back and driving home to Orlando. Across this unfamiliar land full of new sights, we were driving home. For Kacey, it was a home she hadn't seen before, except for a picture or two on craigslist. I was somewhat worried that she wouldn't like the place I had picked out a few weeks earlier on a trip to San Francisco. But I still had an enormous half of an enormous sandwich to keep me from worrying too much. Alternating comforting bites of turkey, pastrami, coleslaw and rye, I listened intently to election results on NPR as each mile brought us closer to our new home by the Pacific.

Between adjustments to the radio tuner to keep NPR audible, I made a phone call. We arranged to meet our new landlord at the new apartment around the new 9pm, and we arrived in the new city around the new 8:00. Presumably because of the extra hour, Kacey told me that she had developed some sort of instinctual navigational system and wanted to try to find the apartment by feel rather than having me navigate for her. This may very well be the craziest thing she has ever said to me, but I stopped keeping track a long time ago. We ended up in the Castro, San Francisco's most fabulous neighborhood, where there were numerous people celebrating Obama's victory in the streets. The resulting commotion and unexpected pedestrians, combined with my lack of faith in Kacey's mystically acquired navigational skills, transformed her from a small, docile and adorable creature into a 5'3" ball of white hot rage. After about 25 of the most challenging minutes of the trip, we eventually set a course to the new apartment. At about 8:57pm, we reached our new home. Barren, dusty, and with repairs scheduled for the next day, the apartment welcomed us.

We had reached the end. But in many ways, we have reached the beginning. Between jobs, between homes, and between destinations, being on the trip was like existing in limbo. As much fun as we had, the prospect of standing on firm ground again is kind of appealing. Until the earthquakes start.

Saying goodbye and packing everything up in Orlando was like closing a chapter of our lives. Or mine at least; I don't know what kind of crazy stuff goes on in Kacey's head. The trip was full of new experiences, but also reminders of the past and visions of the future. As we begin the next chapter of our lives, we want to say thank you again to everyone who has helped us along the way, whether by taking us in, helping us out, or simply making us smile. We hope to see or talk to all of you again soon, and we hope that you have enjoyed following us on this journey. We've enjoyed sharing it with you.

What manner of zany adventures await our heroes? Find out on the Hav-Wartz blog. You're already on it; just come back in a few days or so and there will probably be something new. Oh, and here's a hint: it's likely to involve working, sleeping, or eating. All of which mean raw, unrestrained adventure and excitement.

Sin City

So we checked into the Mirage hotel around 4pm and spent about an hour wandering through the lobby of the hotel and casino. We had tickets to Cirque du Soleil "Love" (choreographed to the Beatles) at 10pm, so after grabbing a couple drinks we went for a walk on the strip. We watched a "peformance" of the Bellagio fountians, walked through Caesars Palace and were asked (while holding hands), "whether we were married or just practicing" two different times by the same person. Apparently marriage is really just a question of whether or not you are holding your partner's hand just right. Gentle with a protective grip maybe? I'll ask my parents later.

We returned to the Mirage and ate dinner at Carnegie's, a deli which is popular in New York City. Chris, after a fair warning by our waiter, ordered this.

Everyone stopped to stare when the waiter brought this monster out of the kitchen. Half of that sandwich tagged along for the remainder of the trip.

After dinner we took a brief nap and woke up to go see "Love." I bought a 5 dollar Sprite, which Chris wasn't too thrilled about; but it was sold in a commemorative cup and now we have something to cherish the experience forever:) The show was fantastic. It wasn't a typical cirque performance because it had a little more singing and dancing than flipping and flying, but it was a great balance of acrobatics, music, and theatrics. Plus the visuals were stunning. We both really loved "Love."

After sleeping in our seriously amazing beds, we woke up the next morning ready to gamble! We each started with 25 dollars. I know it sounds lame, but we were playing the nickle slots and it would have taken forever otherwise. Chris won 71 dollars at one point on a quarter slot machine and of course I lost all of my money. In the end we broke even, which happens to be the key ingredient for an uninteresting blog post.

Lets do a final recap of our trip through sin and back:

Scandalous attempt number one: Get Wasted!
We each had one drink.

Scandalous attempt number two: Gamble all our savings away!
We broke even.

Scandalous attempt number three: Dessert for breakfast!
Score!!!

So in the end, it was for the best that our worst offense was a sweet breakfast, because on our way out we saw this guy. And no one wants to offend him this time of year.

Las Vegas Photos

Dam you, Colorado River!

We were driving down the highway in Arizona when we saw a sign that said something about a security checkpoint we had to pull through. When we stopped, the following exchange took place:

Security guy: "Do you have any food?"
Kacey: "Not any more." (I have no idea what this meant, or what cataclysmic event she was alluding to)
Security guy [looking at a container of rice in the back seat on a stack of food packages and baking supplies]: "What's that, rice?"
Kacey: "Oh, yeah."
Security guy: "Go ahead."

I'm not sure if I should be more concerned at Kacey's apparent inability to classify food items, or the security guy's lack of interest in her blatant lies. In any event, this is how our Hoover Dam experience began.


So the dam is like... big and stuff. We weren't initially planning on stopping there, but we were a little ahead of schedule so we decided to do the basic self-guided tour. Kacey quickly read through the exhibits and proceeded to take pictures of the dam itself, while I leisurely filled in the gaps of knowledge from middle school about how electricity is made. Oh and muckers. They are important. I had no idea how wide of an area is served by the water and power provided by the dam. Seriously I think next year they're going to start irrigating the moon with it.

In all honesty, I never thought much about the dam before I got there, but it was pretty cool and interesting, so much so that I annoyed Kacey by slowly reading almost everything I could and just staring at the vastness of it. Sometimes I like to pretend I know things about engineering, which is completely untrue. But seeing stuff like the dam makes me think that engineering could have been a fulfilling career path. Then I remember that I like seeing dinosaurs move. And shiny objects.

The Hoover Dam is a triumph of engineering and the human spirit. Kind of like a Turducken.

Hoover Dam Photos

Alien insurance?

Leaving Carlsbad we had originally planned on camping at Bottomless Lakes State Park and visiting Roswell the next morning. But because our visit to the caves was shorter than anticipated, we decided to stay the night at a hotel in Roswell instead. Of course this drastically increased our chances for an alien encounter, but a nice bed with blankets will always win over a cold desert floor(at least when one's camping gear is buried in the depths of their trunk). Additionally, I think most of our warm blankets were waiting for us in a box at the greyhound station in San Francisco.

We arrived at a hotel around 5pm and when they asked how much we wanted to insure our belongings for against alien abduction/destruction, I didn't know what to say. Do aliens use laser beams these days or mind powers? If lasers, the damages would be irreparable. I can afford a little emotional therapy for my toothbrush but if the bristles are burnt to ash I just can't work with that. This involved way too much research so we decided to just try our luck. Besides, isn't it true aliens want to abduct your body, not your toiletries or feather pillows. At least this was my understanding. Maybe I would learn different at the museum the next morning.

The museum admission was 5 dollars a person. We each got to wear a neon green sticker which would allow us to return all day until 5pm!! It is hard to believe that the whole Roswell phenomenon began with one man's discovery of some unfamiliar metal on a farm. Mac Brazel, you are a legend.

The museum was a spacial time-line, including pictures of UFOs and crop circles, various gov't attestations, and plenty of pop culture memorabilia(this is for Becky). And as the grand finale to our self guided tour, we found ourselves facing a reclined prosthetic alien being! Good show UFO museum. Good show.

The true spirit of this small town could not possibly be captured within the walls of this museum. If anything it was a barrier to the real and true Roswell. Stepping outside one could see this was a town of acceptance. Look at the Arby's photo above. They will serve aliens, and probably with a smile.

America voted for a black president this year, and I imagine Roswell would have no problem voting for a green one either.

Roswell photos: http://flickr.com/photos/kcjane84/sets/72157608802547551/

Carlsprettygood

I read this cool essay by Ansel Adams while we were at the Carlsbad Caverns park, in the Chihuahuan desert in New Mexico (which apparently has more biodiversity than the Everglades). The essay was enlightening and inspiring. Unfortunately, college trained me too well to forget everything I read after a few days, and I'm writing this post from the future. I contacted the park to ask them what the title of the essay is so I can find it again. I'm waiting to hear back. I think it was about the fragility, connectedness, timelessness, and beauty of nature. Which seems typical of something you'd read at a national park, but somehow I thought it was special. So there.


The Big Room is something like 700 feet underground. Before we got there, for some reason I thought I had read that the underground chamber was 700 feet tall. And I had seen an image that I thought was enormous natural stone pillars leaning on each other. Which I also thought were 700 feet tall. It kind of reminded me of the Mines of Moria from Fellowship of the Ring. But somehow I was wrong on both counts. Although the chamber is quite large (I think the largest in the western hemisphere in some category, like a natural limestone cave or something), its ceiling is nowhere near that high from the floor. And I have no idea what image I had seen, because I didn't see any such enormous natural freestanding pillars.


What we did see, though, was still pretty spectacular. There was one quote from an early explorer of the cave (or maybe it was Ansel Adams) about it being both creepy and beautiful, and just about the most alien-feeling place on earth. That seemed fitting. Almost everthing was a pale off-white color, with some very faint hints of colors in different areas (I guess the lighting they use is supposed to reveal the natural color of the formations). You can read all about how the caves were formed online, I don't know if it's something I should bother getting into here because I'm bound to omit or misquote something. Well... I'll try real quick. Basically, acid and acidic water carved away the limestone to form the caverns, and then trickling groundwater slowly deposited minerals and created all the "decorations," or stalactites, stalagmites, columns, draperies, popcorn, and soda straws. A lot of the decorations look like specific forms, like lions' tails, people, and gothic architecture. There were other cool things too, like huge blocks of gypsum, fallen boulders, and lots of bat guano. Apparently the caves were discovered by following the thousands of bats that make their homes their in the summer. Discovered in the Christopher Columbus sense I mean. I guess we missed the bats' nightly exodus from the cave's natural opening by just a few weeks, which is something I'd definitely want to see if I make it back there again.

So... not quite what I expected, but pretty cool. If you are ever in the area, I'd recommend it. Apparently the guided tours are pretty good, but we didn't end up doing one.

Our Carlsbad Caverns photos
Also, if you are feeling like a traitor, you can check out some of the National Park Service's photos.

Texas poop-rise.

After a fun night in Amarillo (as described below), we embarked on a long drive through Texas to reach our next destination. During about 90% of that stretch manure air filled our car like one would expect gas to fill any small gray 2005 chamber on four wheels.

In addition to the foul scent, this section was probably the least interesting of the entire drive (aside from a new found ability to see past vast land expanses). With that said, no one will probably bother clicking any photo link I make now...so I will just force you to look at pictures by including them in this post.

Interesting Picture One: Cotton Field.

Interesting Picture Two: Damn, I think the cotton was about all I got.

Don't think we will be seeing you again too soon Highway 62.

WTF, Amarillo?

I don't really know how to describe the horrors that took place in Amarillo. It's still difficult to talk about to this day.

You might say it was Google's fault. Google had us get off the highway about 20 miles before the exit we should have taken for the hotel we had reserved. At our previous gas fillup, we had budgeted enough to get us comfortably to the hotel. But we learned soon after exiting that the hotel was nowhere to be found. In fact, it seemed like nothing was anywhere to be found. There were indistinct lights in the distance in every direction. So we constantly felt like we were near something, but we didn't know what. Farms? Oil fields? Or just creepy yellow lights erected to disorient and infuriate out-of-state vistors? As the dashboard gas light came on, we wondered whether we were about to embark on an adventure with AAA. But after 15 miles or so on the business loop (a highway we never should have been on), we discovered an oasis in the desert:


This gas station was our Ecstasy of St Theresa. It was Halloween, so there were a bunch of people in costumes, which made everything even weirder. At least I'm assuming those were Halloween costumes. In the grand scheme of things, I was about 39% relieved. We got gas, but our phone call to the hotel yielded very little directional information. We spent the next half hour driving west on what I assume is the main drag of the eastern outskirts of Amarillo, waiting for a sign of an actual city and growing increasingly disappointed.

And then, all of the sudden, we were bombarded with every sign of an actual city you could ever imagine, simultaneously. I wish I had taken a picture, but we were both awestruck and focused on finding the hotel. It seemed like the entire city was one enormous shopping center, extending for miles in every direction, with every chain of restaurant, electronics store, clothing store, everything you have ever seen. I wondered if perhaps at some point in its history, Amarillo was incredibly isolated and had only small local businesses, then the idea of chains was introduced and they just did it Texas style. Which I am assuming is "do it big, or don't do it at all." This was the exact opposite of the ethereal suspicious lights in the distance. Everywhere there was a store with a brightly lit and clearly readable sign. I had no idea where the people lived, or if they all drove in from the outlying areas. I am sure Amarillo is in fact a lovely city with a rich history, lovely residences and respectable citizens. But that night, it was our hell.

We had hoped to get to the hotel early to catch up on some blog posts and internet research for the days ahead, but we were rapidly getting behind schedule. We continued driving around this commercial orgy for probably half an hour, alternately deliberating about whether we should just get back on the highway and bypass this forsaken land, and cursing this terrible place. We had already reserved and paid for the hotel, and I really wanted Kacey to be able to rest. So after two more phone calls to the hotel and a bit more driving, we eventually found it.

The irony is that, in retrospect, it should have been very simple to get to the hotel. In the area around it, there are one-way access roads running parallel to the highway on either side. The hotel was located on one of these access roads, its sign visible from the highway. But because we exited early and the planets aligned to spite us, we were coming from a completely different direction and had no idea such an organization of roads existed.

In the end, the responsibility for this catastrophe is probably distributed among Google, the hotel clerk, and us. But that night, it was all Amarillo's fault.

Things We Learned in Tulsa, Oklahoma

1. Tulsa squirrels are ridiculously fat.
   
2. Concrete from 1957 is not to be trusted (see also)
   
3. Erdinger Hefeweizen is pretty awesome.
4. Wienerschnitzel, German goulash, and hot potato salad are also pretty awesome.

We left our hotel in Springfield, Missouri and drove a few hours until stopping in Tulsa. At some point in the past few weeks, I became incredibly lazy with road trip planning (probably about 5 minutes in). But Kacey diligently did a lot of research to determine how we could break up the drive into decent-sized chunks, minimize driving in the dark, and see some interesting stuff along the way. In Tulsa, she found a rose garden where we stopped to stretch our legs in the sunshine and take some pictures. Once we got there, we also visited the Tulsa Historical Society, then went to a German restaurant for lunch. After our Tulsa experience, we climbed back into the car and headed off towards our next destination: the tenth circle of hell, also known as Amarillo, Texas.

Tulsa pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kcjane84/sets/72157608779632616/

Happy Halloween!

So we forgot it was Halloween. . . until we had to pay a toll on the highway. From then on our memory was restored.

Thank you Banana Boy(aka Johnny #1758) for giving us enough concentrated holiday spirit to last us well through winter.

Cheapest gas award goes to. . .

Somewhere we stopped between Springfield, Missouri and Tulsa, Oklahoma. What a convenient time to move across the country.

Pointers Pizza: A long time coming

When I was in college I had this phase where entering all kinds of contests ruled my small little world (unintentional height reference). I tried to eat the most ice cream I could in 10 seconds to break a world record. I ran through walls, jumped across spinning logs, and wore a Velcro suit while swinging across a pool of water on a zip line to stick to a surface on the other side, all to hopefully make it on tv and earn some money. In between it all I saw a program on the travel channel for the top ten places to pig out. Pointer's Pizza stuck out as one I delusionally thought I could do with the right partner.

Years passed and I was without a partner and had no excuse to make it out to St. Louis. Then one day I met a boy named Chris, who got a job at ILM. Yay partner and excuse. We knew immediately it was going to be one of our stops. We didn't schedule to get there til later in the evening which meant we couldn't officially compete in the challenge. You have to call ahead, and there can only be one team competing at a time.

For those unfamiliar with the challenge, you have to be a two member team, eat the entire 28 in, 10 lb pizza in an hour without leaving the challenge area. There must be two meats covering the entire surface area, or four vegetables if you prefer.

We knew we had a 3 hr drive after our meal, so of course we ordered the Pointersaurus. We chose four different toppings but split them up into quarters. I liked the sausage and pepperoni and I think Chris liked the green peppers best. Neither of us found the onion section interesting so most of that quarter remained intact. We didn't put our best feet forward but Chris still gave a strong performance, having eaten an amt equivalent to a normal large pizza. I think I only ate 8 squares/corner pieces. With the right partner I think Chris could win the money. Until I get that iron stomach transplant I'm waiting for, I am just not the right person for the job.

We met defeat around nine and left with two medium sized boxes of remaining pizza and one giant Pointersaurus box lid (a memorable keepsake that will soon become our first apt wall hanging). We decided not to hold onto the leftovers for the remainder of the drive and Chris went across the street to an ice cream stand to give it away. It went something like this;

Chris: "Do you want this pizza?"
Some kid: "Yep."

The rest was history. Goodbye St. Louis, thank you for your arch and your pizza.

Pointers Pizza Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kcjane84/sets/72157608780796059/

St. Louis: What do you mean no happy meal?

Obligatory arch picture. Either Chris was really hungry or it was that the silver arch looked pretty gold in the late sun, because he was walking around asking everyone where he could find a happy meal. Actually that is not true, because we had to save our hunger for the pizza challenge later that day, and also because he is a grown-up and happy meals are for children.

St. Louis was exciting because it was the first stop on our trip that neither one of us had been to. My expectations were this; get out of the car, take some pictures, walk up some stairs/ride a tram to see an incredible view, peace out and eat some pizza. I was pretty mistaken. As soon as we approached the arch we were met with colorful fall leaves and beautiful natural scenery.

Beautiful trees: check. Now to go ride that white spherical orb with two strangers in uncomfortable confinement up to the top of the arch just like I had pictured.

Yes, that smile is tinged with anxiety because I had no idea whether or not I was getting off at the top of the arch or if I bought a ticket of another kind. I figured that whatever was out there would be better than sitting in the imitation space transporter. . . and it was. Believe it or not we were at the top of the arch and it was glorious. If you can manage to get over any claustrophobic issues you may have, I highly recommend this voyage. The ride back down was a little more fun because it was just the two of us and we got to take awesome pictures like this one.

Okay sooo now its time to eat pizza. . .wait, nope. . .one more thing. . .the entire Museum of Westward Expansion on the lower floor of the arch; which according to one enthusiastic tour guide, "is the real gem of one's visit." Chris and I read excerpts from Lewis and Clark's expedition and saw real animatronic American Indians, who talked to us all about their past and how they were tricked by the white man into trading their land for nothing in return. This retrospective display was nice, but mostly filled with information I learned in the 7th grade. So after one last walk around outside we were finally on our way to stuff our faces with a pizza fit for a brontosaurus (or an apatosaurus as the kids call them these days).

St. Louis Arch Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kcjane84/sets/72157608773021176/

Ohio: Fifteen Minutes of Fun

After spending the night again at my grandma's, we had doughnuts for breakfast for the second day in a row. I'm not complaining. We drove to Columbus, where my parents, Becky, Kacey and I went to the Wexner Center for the Arts to see an Andy Warhol exhibit. I don't really know what to say about that. I never really knew much about Andy Warhol, and he never really figured very prominently in any of my art history classes (somehow I never made it much further than the early 1900s). I don't know how comprehensive the show was, but the premature and uninformed opinion I have reached is this: on one hand, I can see a few contributions he made to the art world. But on the other hand, I guess you might say his fifteen minutes are up.


After the Warhol exhibit, we went to a French restaurant called La Chatelaine to pick up some sort of late lunch. I had a croque-monsieur sandwich, Kacey got some soup or something, there were quiches involved, you don't care about these details. You are here for the babbling nonsense. Or the pictures. Or you're not here and I'm deluding myself into thinking anyone cares. Sorry, it's getting late. Anyways, La Chatelaine holds some ambiguous significance in my head because one time I bought authentic French bread there for a potluck-type meal in French class, and because I met there with my high school French teacher, Mme. Matticola (rencontrer, methinks), on a few occasions after I graduated to catch up, share pictures from the French exchange trip my senior year, reminisce about how I should have worked harder. etc. And I got a chocolate croissant because they are awesome. I keep telling myself that soon, I'm going to read one of the three French novels I own. I am hoping that once things settle down with the new job and I adjust to the night schedule, I can make some time to do it. Maybe I will start taking the bus and will read then. It's not like I have a ridiculous tendency to sleep during automobile rides, after all.

Becky, Kacey and I picked up Brandon and Kierstin right after school in Columbus and headed off toward a farm/pumpkin patch about 40 minutes away. We were a few minutes ahead of my parents and brother in a second car, and we stopped by my high school, Fort Hayes, for an incredibly quick drive-through visit so Kacey could see what sort of facility creates the monsters that are Havreberg children. The campus has something like 8.4 billion buildings and was used as a military base around the Civil War. Somewhat interestingly, the Presidio, where I'll be working in San Francisco, also used to be a military base and is also populated with quite a few old renovated brick buildings. Although the Letterman Digital Arts Center is only a few years old. This seems like an appropriate time to give another teacher shout-out to both my computer graphics/art teacher Mr. Walton and my math teacher Mr. Smeltz, who in many ways laid a foundation for me getting this job, taking this trip, writing these words, etc. Um and other teachers probably did cool stuff as well.

Anyways, once we got to the farm, we started the pumpkin patch experience by playing in the fun barn, which was their term for "ridiculous amounts of hay, plus slides." It lived up to its name and you can check out some fun pictures like this one:



After the fun barn, we waited in the fun line for the fun hayride to the fun pumpkin patch. I planned this whole thing... well, I asked my mom to, because I wanted to ensure Kacey had an authentic pumpkin patch experience. Not like in Florida where they just truck a bunch of pumpkins onto some lawn in front of a church and you walk around hating your life and regret ever moving there. This was the real deal. We got little prepackaged apple juices afterwards.


Brandon is that little silver huddled mass between my mom and Erik. He is kind of like an armadillo.

After the pumpkin patch we dropped the kids off at home and went to dinner with my cousin Amanda and her husband Aaron. She grew up in Minnesota and we usually only saw each other every 2 or 3 years. Now she's in grad school at Ohio State, and I've seen her a little more frequently in the past few years. I don't know how being in San Francisco will affect that recent trend.

This was our last night in Ohio. My mom conveniently had several days off while we were there, but she had to get up early the next morning to return to work, so we woke up at 5am to say goodbye to her and Becky. A few hours later, Kacey and I packed up the car and had a small breakfast with my grandma before we set off toward St. Louis. Now I'm all sad. Stupid blog.

Ohio Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kcjane84/sets/72157608619717876/

Ohio: The Illness Chronicles

My grandmother loves beef. And black labs, but not in the same way. It is because of this multifaceted love that we started our day by eating large burgers at Jake's restaurant in Mount Vernon. Except Becky, who ordered a bunch of side dishes instead. This went pretty well until she tired of me stealing her potatoes, at which point she called upon her vegetarian superpowers and reanimated some of the trophy animal heads on the walls. It was a fun lunch.

Later on, we drove (sans Grandma) back to Columbus, where we picked up my dad and went to see a film. I think I have set a new personal record for greatest number of family members present when unexpected sexual themes are depicted. I am now tied with Kacey's first four minutes of Superbad with her parents and sister present. Thank you, Coen brothers.

After the movie, we went to a Mexican restaurant called El Vaquero, which apparently means "Space Doctor" in Spanish. They have TVs where they show loops of the first zero-gravity open heart surgery, time-lapse photography of xenobotany cultures, and other interesting milestones. I bought Becky and Kacey each a strawberry margarita, which was Becky's first drink since she turned 21 in September. First reported, anyway.

I was originally going to attend a concert with my brother Erik on the second night in Ohio, but I contracted some sort of devil-like flu thing about a week before we set out from Orlando. Sadly, this prevented me from joining Kacey on her last visit to see her family in south Florida, and had me still expectorating like nobody's business and generally feeling like crap tonight. So instead of the concert, the foregoing events took place. Well, some of them. Some of them I made up because the real events weren't believable.

High in the Middle and Round on the Ends

Ohio is famous for many things. For example, William Howard Taft, the fattest president ever (so fat that the White House needed a new bathtub to accommodate him), came from Ohio. And that is why, out of all fifty states, I chose to be born there.

I typically make it home once or twice a year, but unfortunately it doesn't look like I'll be able to for Thanksgiving or Christmas this year. So our road trip made what some believe to be a ridiculous out-of-the-way stop. But at some point in our trip planning, I did some math. According to my calculations, the Ohio stop ended up taking us only 1000 miles out of our way, whereas a straight Orlando-Columbus round trip would have been around 2000 miles. So I win, naysayers.

Once we adjusted our trip schedule to factor in the 9-hours-late start from Orlando, we actually got to my parents' house slightly earlier than expected. This was a great improvement over our previous drive to Ohio, during which I was sleeping at a critical moment and Kacey drove us an hour into Kentucky or something. My own ability to get lost is somewhat legendary in my family, due to a few notable blunders during my first few years of college. My rationale is that I never really drove much until I left Ohio, so even though I'm "from there" and "should know your way around, you idiot," I just never had to deal with it before. In all honesty, I never even knew the route my bus took all through high school. Kacey and I were initially going to buy a GPS system for this trip, but we ended up doing everything with 8 pages of printed Google maps directions and a US road atlas. In an unexpectedly pleasant turn of events, this trip proved to be incredibly successful in that regard. I don't think we lost more than an hour due to navigation errors over the whole trip. So we win, naysayers.

The first night we stopped briefly at my parents' house in Columbus, then went with my mom and my sister Becky to my grandma's house in Mt. Vernon, acquiring some Donatos pizza en route. This was notable in part because Donatos originated in central Ohio, and eventually came to Orlando, but apparently is dying off there, much like myself. It is more notable, however, because Donatos is delicious. But I guess the residents of Orlando don't necessarily agree. So you win, naysayers.

I wrote all of this about a few hours' drive and some pizza. AND THERE ARE TWO WHOLE DAYS LEFT!!!

Oh yeah and I think there is only one picture from this night:

Change of plans

We finally arrived in Atl at 10:30pm, but because of little sleep the previous night (and the promise of chocolate fudge brownies), we changed our plans by accepting the Swartz family's offer to stay the night. Originally we were going to continue on to Birmingham and stay overnight with our friend Patrick. We were insanely tired so although we are sad we didn't get to see Patrick during the trip, we were very grateful for the hospitality and the chance to catch up with the Swartzes . . .while eating the aforementioned brownies:)

The next morning Larry Swartz gave us enough food to last the entire drive to Ohio. He also stocked me up with some cheese, because as a young Schwartz-ling I had a history of eating it all out of their fridge. Chris and I barely got out of GA before finishing the dbl decker deli sandwiches we made, so all the extra snacks came in handy for the remaining (now sandwich-less) 6 hour drive.

Not many photos were taken with humans here because 85% of the visit was spent sleeping. However I did fit in a brief photo shoot with the Swartz' beagle named Prince. He was looking at the awesome creek behind their house. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the creek... I had a very engaging model. Anyways, I hope we can visit longer next time or at the very least be more wakeful.

Atlanta photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kcjane84/sets/72157608752938759/

Just a small delay. . .

The left photo was taken at 6am (when we were supposed to be leaving our apt). 9 hours later the picture on the right was taken. Our late start was due to misjudging the size of my car, and spending extra time packing an additional 6 boxes that our roommate Chris Pagoria would send to us later. Thanks again Chris for your help with shipping!

Below is what the car looked like when we finally left Orlando. I am not sure why, but at the time that seemed like the perfect location for a solitary running shoe. After a final goodwill drop off, we were on our way to Atlanta GA to visit with our friends the Swartz Family!

Additional Awesome

I also wanted to say thanks to the unpictured humans who came to the goodbye dinner and had to go before the pictures happened. And everyone who contributed to the camera fund. And the people who couldn't make it to the dinner. And the people who helped us arrange everything for the trip by giving us help and advice about this ridiculous undertaking. I know secretly you were all just eager to get rid of us and wanted to expedite the process, but we appreciate it nonetheless.

And also, a big thanks to the humans in San Francisco who let me stay with them, showed me around, bought me food and shiny objects, and generally welcomed me and once again made things easier for us.

Friends + New Camera = Awesome Goodbye Dinner

First Post! We want to thank everyone for coming to our last dinner in Orlando and for the surprise gift. It was great to see all of you and we can't wait to get together and eat loads of Italian food again. Lauren and Jessica, did you ever finish all of your leftover of spaghetti?

The camera is getting a lot of good use and the links to all of our photo galleries (as we slowly create them) can be found at the top right of this page or at the bottom of each blog post. Yay roadtrip!

Orlando dinner party photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kcjane84/sets/72157608611919981/