Autumn's portrait

Max and I taking a moment on top of Black Mountain, New Hampshire

Carriage Road in Acadia National Park

Pam, Arvid, (Me), Caroline, and Nate from Bradford, Vermont

Covered bridge in Vermont

View from halfway up Mt. Parkman, Acadia National Park, Maine

Acadia National Park

 We made it to the Atlantic Ocean.

 Self-explanatory...

Jordon Pond, Acadia NP

 View from Cadillac Mountain, Acadia NP, highest point in the park

Cadillac Mountain, Acadia NP

The Comfort of Strangers

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

(From Burlington to Bradford, Vermont)

This morning, talking to my mom, I found out that my former babysitter and dear family friend, Ms. Betty, passed away.  She had the most pleasant voice that I’ve ever had the privilege to hear.  I can still hear her, despite not having seen her for a couple of years.  She was bubbly, but also calm.  She sounded like wind chimes, but not in a strong gale.  She was sweet, but also to the point.  She was motherly, but laughed with you like a good friend.  She knew how to wake you up in the morning—with gentle cheer and the promise of homemade hot chocolate.  She always made a hot breakfast.  She was the secretary at the elementary school.  When my tummy hurt or I didn’t feel good, I could go see Ms. Betty and sometimes that was enough.  She had the unfortunate news of telling Mom that Larry B. had broken both of his arms on the playground.  (There was burned rubber leaving the driveway.)  She was soft and always smelled good.  When Mom and Dad were away, she filled the house with warmth.  I am so thankful for the memories of her.  I hope to live the way she laughed, with love and honest enjoyment.

This morning I made my way into the mountains near Stowe, Vermont.   By the time I had reached a scenic area on the mountain, I was filled with excitement.  Max and I spotted a trailhead and just set out…or…should I say…UP.  Now, Max at times has a hard time getting into and out of the car, so I was concerned that he would not enjoy much scrambling up rocks, roots, and dirt.  Not to mention the fact that what water that was coming down the mountain came down via the trail.  Max held his own.  I’m so proud of him.  At one point I thought for sure he couldn’t make it up a large boulder with a smooth stone face taller than my waist…but he scouted a different route and pushed on ahead of me.  So, I followed him for a while!  His smile was telling.  There was only one moment of panic when he tried to step up onto a root and his foot went through and lodged between the root and the dirt wall.  Momma to the rescue!

After coming back down, I toweled as much mud as possible off Max and myself, got water for both of us, and loaded Max into the backseat.  He was asleep before I pulled away from the parking lot.  Needless to say, he’s had a couple extra treats today.

The views are lovely, but, unfortunately, I missed the peak foliage.  However, Vermont is still the epitome of fall.  I am enveloped in gold, orange, maroon, and forest green leaves, boughs, and trees.  There are smells of wood-burning, crunchy leaves, cinnamon, and apples.  The vibrant gold that remain on the trees is outlined in deep shadows and set against a cobalt blue sky.  The sun shines at such an angle that the shadows appear in high contrast. 

I drove quite a way today, and had to stop to go to the bathroom right as I came to the Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream factory.  Awful timing.  So, after “going,” I got shuffled into a factory tour and had to go through a tasting room.  Next…the worst part…I had gotten so hungry, I decided to eat the next thing I saw.  So, I closed my eyes and pointed at the menu.  I had selected the Brownie Special with Whirled Peace ice cream and hot fudge sauce.  If only, I had landed on a nice crunchy salad.  (If only they served anything other than ice cream!) 

This evening, I pulled up to an adorable house, just beyond a dog-leg bend in the road, set behind some trees, and surrounded by chickens, and Leo, the rooster.  Pam, the aunt of my friend Nissa, was there to greet me, and I knew we’d be instant friends as she welcomed me with a hug.  (And she has a “coexist” sticker on her bumper.)  Uncle Arvid came home soon after, and we talked like we had known each other in a past life.  He makes extremely technical knowledge accessible to the not-so-technical brain (like mine).  Nate (son of Pam and Arvid) and Caroline (Nate’s wife) came for dinner.  They have a four-legged child who weighs 200 lbs and loves to play with Max…he’s an English Mastiff.  It’s like a Shetland pony loping through the dining room.

Dinner was a treat—pasta carbonara, fresh salad, and garlic bread.  I offered some help with wine and chocolate.  As a house guest, it is important to have both on hand.  

The next day, Caroline, took Max and I for a hike UP  Black Mountain just across the border in New Hampshire.  I was pooped from the previous day's adventure...or severely out of shape...and had to pause frequently under the guise of watering Max.  "Oh, that darn dog...he's a heavy drinker...whew..."  Caroline was very kind to pretend that she needed to stop to rest as well.  

Friday, October 15, 2010

Talk about having a hard time waking up!  Last night, a storm blew into Vermont bringing wind, rain, and chilly temperatures which made sleeping in a comfortable bed just the thing!  Alas, I left the warmth of the bed and prepared for the day.  Pam and I had made plans to do a little tourist-ing and shopping today, but first, she let a tall, blonde woman sting her with honey bees!  

Bee sting therapy is apparently very healing for many ailments including rheumatoid arthritis, lime disease, tumors, neuropathy, allergies, multiple sclerosis, bone spurs, sprains, and osteo-arthritis.  Pam is being treated for RA and a bum knee.  So I watched Pam be stung by twenty bees!  I also met Bobbi who read my fortune in African tradition with sticks and stones.  She was an engaged conversationalist with whom I connected easily and enjoyed hearing what she had to tell me.  

I cannot remember a time when I've met so many people that I so quickly felt comfortable with.  Being on this journey has opened a part of myself that allows me to simply be in the moment.  I can enjoy the comfort of strangers knowing that I will soon leave their company.  I've experienced a similar phenomenon in the past when I was leaving other places.  There is no fear to accept situations just as they are because they are mine only temporarily.  I hope to go home with the same fearlessness that I have been enjoying while on the road.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Bradford, VT to Bar Harbor, ME

FINALLY!  I have caught up with fall.  My path today led me through the White Mountains of New Hampshire, including a fly-by of Mt. Washington, the Northeast's highest point, and through the state of Maine.  I can't believe the color, it reminds me of the MAC counter at Nordstrom's with colors so vivid I can see them even with my eyes closed.  After a quick stop at the visitor's center, Max and I checked into the Days Inn....it is....let's say "blustery" outside today.  

Max had a lovely dinner of kibble, sweet potato, and flax oil.  I dined on FRESH MAINE LOBSTER...and all the fixin's.  Tomorrow, we are going to explore Acadia and Mount Desert Island.

Gold in the sunset...diamonds on the ceiling...

So...I just got back from comfort eating at a restaurant called the Texas Roadhouse.  Why comfort eating, you ask???  Because I'm cold, I'm tired, and my feet and back are killing me, not to mention a dose of homesickness.  Why the Texas Roadhouse???  Because it was close and "strapping on a feedbag" sounded promising.  Well...now I'm too full.  I feel dirty, probably something like how it feels to have an affair.  I guess in every situation one must resist having anyone else's honey biscuits.

Vermont is gorgeous.  The landscape is dotted with quaint little farms with, what seems like, an abundance of silos.  All throughout upstate New York and into Vermont the terrain is roller-coaster-y...my stomach was actually weightless for a few moments in time today.  Thank goodness Max has a seat belt!

It's cold...though it feels colder.  This side of the holidays feels colder because you know its coming.  It's not so much autumn, as the season of winter'a'comin'.  The sky today was the color of smoke.  I made it to Stillwater Reservoir today after 18 miles on a gravel road....no loons.  I'm thinking they don't come right up to the dock, though.  Perhaps I should have thought ahead and rented a boat.

This evening, I crossed Lake Champlain by ferry and headed into the Vermont countryside.  Looking back, I saw the most beautiful view of the Adirondacks all day...the mountains were varying shades of charcoal until they disappeared into the sky.  The sun sat low in the sky and the light changed from bright, to gold, to orange, to red.  I'm afraid the sunset was so beautiful, the sun embarrassed himself and turned beet red, and ran to hide behind the mountains.

Below are some pictures from the past couple of days:

Kelley's Island is such a lovely place, and very important to Colleen's mom, Elaine.  

Max on the ferry...doesn't take his eyes off me for a minute.

Leading up to Niagara Falls...

No...not everyone looked this good in their ponchos...only me.

The Herkimer Report (From Monday 10/11/10)

Today was like many other days camping…awakened too early by the sound of semi-trucks whizzing passed on a much-to-close freeway.  I found myself in Westfield, NY at a KOA just across the street from a state park that overlooked Lake Erie.  I got up, roused Max, and packed a moist tent away.  Yes, my first rain of the trip…I made it two weeks.  After breakfast and “walkies,” we departed for Niagara Falls.

My, what a sight!  The falls are breath-taking.  Water boils over the edge at an incredible rate.  I took the “Maid of the Mist” tour where a boat sailed out next to Niagara, Bridal Veil, and Horseshoe Falls.  I was surprised that the power of the crashing water created such a gale that my souvenir poncho was both plastered against my front and setting sail in the back.

Max couldn’t go on this voyage, so I took him for a walk of the grounds and showed him the falls.  He was impressed…and thirsty…and had to pee suddenly.  Oh, those falls are mighty.

Beyond the falls was Canada…yes, I’ve glimpsed the great, white north several times over the course of the two weeks.  Our neighbors—so kind, so mellow, so happy—were always waiving and singing “Oh, Canada,” I felt this odd so I simply waived back and kept on walking.  By the way, Alan Thicke says, “Hello eh!”

This evening Max and I found another KOA after having such a nice stay last night (with the exception of freeway noise).  We are in Middleville, NY near the Herkimer diamond mine.  I’ll get back to you as to whether or not I wield a pick-axe and go Zoolander.  Though, it would be interesting to see Max wearing a hard hat with a little hammer in his mouth. 

Max:  the steadfast companion.  He is by my side every moment he can be.  He loves our walks through the little hamlets where we take our pit stops.  As do I.  Tonight we arrived around 5:30, and after renting a KOA Kabin and setting up our gear, we took a walk around the grounds.  The “kampground” is set in the nook of a river.  As the sun was setting we found ourselves perched on a tree stump a few feet above the rolling water.  It smelled like damp earth.  Above us was a canopy of pumpkin-orange mixed with bright yellow.  The broken-vessel boughs were inky outlines against the autumn leaves.

The colors have been muted until now.  Maroons, olives, and sepias were the main colors.  The Adirondacks offer the first of the fall colors really brought to life.  Tomorrow, I drive north to the Stillwater Reservoir, hopefully to hear the song of the common loon, and through the Adirondack Mountains. 

Milwaukee to Kalamazoo--and beyond!

Hello from Kalamazoo, MI!  It has been a wonderful last few days as I have neat friends with a beautiful home with whom I'm staying.  First let me recap:

I left Milwaukee aboard the Lake Express ferry.  I parked the car, Max and all, and made my way to the sun deck to watch the launch.  As we were pushing away from the pier, I spotted an elderly couple watching from a park nearby.  So I waved at them.  They both immediately snapped their heads around to see to whom I was waiving then turned back around confused.  As I was still waiving, the man bashfully returned my farewell before settling back into the park bench.  Below are some Milwaukee sights...

The ferry departed through the jetties and quickly reached 39 knots where my hair was so completely touseled that I had to use nearly a bottle of conditioner to get it smooth again!

Kalamazoo is a charming little city of around 80,000 people.  I'm staying with Mary and Jeff, friends of my cousin, Missy's.  They have a beautiful building in downtown where they live on the second floor, and I am pretty well taking over the first floor.  Looking around me I can see a commercial kitchen, fully stocked with anything one might need or desire, a bare brick wall, the other walls with handmade wood-paneling and a blueish-gray paint, a huge antique scale, tons of "trench art," a bar where I sit, a comfy red leather couch, and a lot of books.  The bedroom is the best part.  It occupies a room roughly the size of the bed, has a small shelf as tall as the mattress filled with books and a reading lamp....and nothing more.  It has a low ceiling, which creates the warmth and tightness of a grandmother's hug, especially since the bed and covers are oh-so-comfy.

A note on my hosts:  I have now met...wait for it.......someone that is a member of both the A.C.L.U. and the N.R.A.  I will refrain from further comment.

On Thursday afternoon, Mary took me for a bike ride through the woods.  I looked up at one point and the near trees were sillhouetted against the far trees which shined as a sulfur-yellow backdrop.

Max is quite comfortable here.

Yesterday, Max and I drove to Lake Michigan at South Haven.  We walked along the jetty and out onto the beach.

This is Max's first glimpse of waves.  I laughed for nearly five minutes because he tried to bite and catch the waves.  We soon found a stick and made the most of the water. 

I had lunch in a quaint little town called Saugatuck while Max slept off his play in the warm car. 

My hosts and I have shared several delightful meals together, I was even privileged to cook for them.  Last night we went to Jeff's son's land in a town called Paw Paw where they had set up a very well appointed camp.  There was a big, warm campfire burning between the camper trailer and the creek.  Max immediately found a friend of comparable body mass named Lucy.  Lucy and Max played in the creek and had such a grand time.  His two baths left him fairly clean.  Last night ended with many welcoming, kind, new friends, and s'mores by the fire.

This morning Mary and I went to the Kalamazoo farmer's market and I purchased provisions for the next leg of my trip.  I found a ton of organics, including chicken!

Tonight, I will clean and organize the car, cook some food for the road, buy ice and gas, and get ready, once again to hit the open road.  It has been a nice stop. 

Observe and Report

Yellowstone Photos Part II

Badlands National Park

Max wanted to Skype with Colleen too

Max on the Mississippi

Why does the doll museum need bars???????

A long day's journey into Milwaukee

Yesterday was a long day on the road.  I awoke in Chamberlain, SD and broke camp around 7 a.m.  Max and I saw the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD before we crossed the border into Minnesota.  We listened to Garrison Keillor and songs about traveling and the road.  In the afternoon, we crossed over the mighty Mississippi and into Wisconsin.

The best bit to the day was watching a robin's egg blue sky turn to charcoal black.  As Wisconsin turned its face from the sun, it nestled its nose into layers of pastel gossamer...pink, tangerine, purple, steel blue. 

Max and I arrived at one of the most beautiful hotels I've ever seen around 8:45 p.m.  I walked Max and fed him his dinner.  He had plenty of attention at this dog-friendly hotel as the entire staff doted on him and fed him dog bones.  I quickly took a shower and found that the bar was still serving dinner.  I enjoyed english pea soup with fresh herbs topped with crisp prosciutto and also a mixed green salad. 

This morning over breakfast I thought whether I should reveal this particular escapade because it is so luxurious.  The Iron Horse Hotel is truly a haven for a tired soul and its pup.  However, in keeping with truthful reporting and my additional thoughts over breakfast, I realized I must report.  The following are notes I made at breakfast on a piece of scratch paper....

I'm sitting in the breakfast room, which is aptly named "The Library," at a large rectangular table with six antique, wooden chairs and bronze reading lamps weathered from age and the distinct pattern of human interaction.

As I glanced around the room, I thought, "What is it about libraries?"  To make a successful room do you really only need dark leather couches distressed by repeated entry of hind-quarters, and volumes holding reports of life being lived?  Truly, what is more inspiring than reading accounts of the possible, or someone's imagination on fire by the quandary of the impossible?

Each day new books are written.  With the amount of stories in the world, you'd think that if you didn't like the one you were living, you could just go to The Library and choose another.  However, maybe that's why there are so many books...because there are so many individuals.  I remember Donella Meadows and her steps to intervene in a system.  The most important is to change the story you tell yourself about yourself.  Maybe changing the story is the easy part, if you can call it that, and believing what you tell yourself is where difficulty lies.

Just thinking my way around the room maks me radiate with an excited urge to push away my double-hickory-smoked bacon, egg whites, and sourdough toast with Bonne Matin raspberry jam, and devour these catalogs of information.  Food for thought.  These books...some are bigger and some are smaller, but they're all the same (thanks to Eddie Greer for the quote with many applications!)....meaning they all convey a message for each person.  That is true power.  You don't have to believe or like the words that are written for you to receive the message.  It may be in understanding a new word, realizing that motorcycle maintenance and buddhism are not for you, or seeing the new, perceived love-of-your-life amidst a collection of black and white photographs---yes, how could you have ever thought you would marry a man who didn't wear an ascot? 

This room has stories, more than a few that are unwritten.  You can tell from the exposed pillars made square with wood now dry and cracked yet fidel.  There is one brick wall and a fireplace with an open hearth in the corner.  Large turn-of-the-century windows suround and let light into the dust pages of opened books on the top shelves.  I am waste-deep in books on all four walls of the room.  A sunbeam has found one of the languid leather couches.  I hear Frank Sinatra, kitchen noises, and white noise coming from exposed ducts.

In this room words and phrases come with ease, as if my brain is inspired just be simple proximaty to works of language.  My stomach is satisfied and my soul is soothed.  These are good feelings in which to tarry.  I sit in my antique wooden chair, sip ginger lemongrass tea, and silently converse with this room as we both observe each other.  I have no expression but an ever-so-slightly upturned mouth.

Ain't So Bad

On the third of October two-thousand and ten, the girl and her dog, Max, awoke to a beautiful morning in the Black Hills of South Dakota.  She packed the car and took Max on a walk through some nearby woods while waiting for friends to join them. 

The grass was tall and short...almost like thinning hair.  There would rocks big and small, most black with a silvery luster.  The girl couldn't help herself and, returning to childhood habits, picked up a couple of the rocks for a make-shift collection at home.  The girl's mother, from whom she most certainly got her snap, crackle, and pop, had said that the flower beds around their home never needed tending because Lacey had brought home enough rocks in her pockets to completely cover them.  Thinking about this story, traveling back to the playground in her mind, the girl smiled and loved her mom very much in that moment.  Something that could have been an aggravation was seen as endearment.  She likes this about her mother.  It's this attitude that taught the girl how to look for the bright side in life.

When the friends from Texas, Kaye and Eddie, arrived and after hearing their story about hitting a deer the night before, they caravaned together to Wall, SD and the entrance to the Badlands.  The girl had a premonition that she shouldn't rely on her GPS, Lily, to guide them as Lily has a mischievous side and likes to take the girl, her dog, and her friends and loved ones on many improptu adventures or "scenic routes" that...well...aren't really that scenic.  It turns out she should have listened to her gut feeling....as she wasted half a tank of gas in a one horse town by way of side streets.  Lily had her last laugh indeed.

Finally, the crew arrived in Wall, filled up with gas and peanut butter and headed into the park.  The girl was thrilled by the sight of the incredible melted mountains.  They were elegant and ghastly.  Water and time had observed the topography, the mountains, their density, their weakness.  Porous material had been found, flooded, weakened, and washed away.  As with humans, all that had no integrity collapsed...and all that remains is integrity itself.

We aren't supposed to think about the passing of time.  The wasting away.  But everything has a life cycle.  This was a reminder.  It caused fluttering, brief moments of gut-wrenching pain.  This girl has struggled for most of her life in putting her finger on what exactly it is she is supposed to do.  The problem lies really in what she does know...that she is supposed to do something very particular.  She has felt out of place so often because of this outlet she searches for.  Or maybe it is a feeling for which she seeks.  Not even she is sure, but she knows there is something missing, and the reminder that time is of the essence was felt heavy on the chest.

After lunch and rambling at the world-famous Wall Drug Store, the girl and her new friends said good-bye.  As she pulled away from Wall and onto the interstate, she had a feeling that she did not recognize.  She sat for a long moment just discovering this feeling.  It was neither good nor bad, but necessary.  She realized she was feeling much like what she imagined a baby bird felt like as its momma pushed it from the nest:  ready, scared, exposed, hopeful, raw, seeking.  That baby bird was suddenly aware she was in the unknown.  Her journey now became a test of faith. 

Faith.  Vital as oxygen.  And she drove on.

Mt. Rushmore and New Friends

Hello from the Black Hills!  This is a quick posting because I'm meeting some friends in about 30 minutes.  We're driving out to the Badlands today.  From their I'll move on across South Dakota.  Below is a picture of the scenery from Spearfish Canyon in the Black Hills.

So, Mom had met these very kind people on several cruises that she has done.  They are Eddie and Kaye Greer of Lubbock, Texas.  Boy, are they a treat!  We had a great time meeting and visiting Mt. Rushmore together.  Last night they took me out to dinner.  Oh yes indeed....I had buffalo steak!  It was delicious.  See pictures below from Mt. Rushmore.

This is a picture of Mt. Rushmore before carving.

Oh, Give Me a Home, Where the Buffalo Roam...

There is no way I can paint a word picture vivid enough for you, dear friends, that could come close to describing the sights I have seen since my last post.  To say that there has been many different landscapes poured out before my eyes would be such a disservice to both the landscapes and my eyes.  My eyes could not believe themselves on more than one occasion.  I'm sure the landscapes enjoyed my eyes' ogling, as they didn't blush and slink away, but stood there just as bold and brazen as could be.

Yellowstone and The Grand Tetons deserve much more description than I have time for....so I will tell you about them in note form:
-  These two national parks are beautiful gems in this nation.  There is magic there.
-  The land is quite literally hotter'n hell.  Yellowstone has geysers, mud pots (also called paint pots--see video), fumeroles, and springs, to name a few. 

-  The first moment I shed a tear from emotion on this trip was in Yellowstone, around 8 a.m. when I was driving from the Madison campground toward Old Faithful.  I saw a multitude of geysers spewing water and clouds of steam into the air.  Since it was freezing outside, the steam was seen for quite a distance.  The rising sun burned flame and gold on the billows of steam.  It was a sunset climbing out of the land.  I was overcome.

-  At night there are voices of animals calling out to each other across the expanse.  The cry begins as a whistle, but becomes more of a yearning...a high-pitched-to-low-pitched, long, drawn-out, slow melancoly.  I'm afraid someone's lover has gone astray.

-  Campfire cooking is just as good as I remember, but much more arduous.  My first night I made chicken with wild sweet potatos, onion, chanterelle mushrooms and rosemary.  The second night I made a can of soup and for some reason had to wash dishes THREE times!
-  Max, not having his winter coat yet, was cold.  The first night around 5 a.m. I awoke to very audibly walk to the potty (best word really...trust me)...loud enough so that the grizzlies, wolverines, moose, buffalo, elk, and chipmunks (mean little buggers) would know I was coming and mosey along.  Poor Max was sound asleep--snoring even--but each time he snored a shiver would pass over him.  I bundled him in extra blankets including a wool blanket from the Queen Mary II (Thanks Margaret!) and curled up next to him.  The next night he wore my Patagonia fleece vest to bed and was as snug as a bug in a rug.
-  Dryness.  Let's say that every vital part of me, and many less than vital parts, are dryer than a cracker made of cotton.  My nose gushes frequently which is funny because I just as frequently am without a tissue.  I think I'll have to do laundry more frequently than I at first believed.  Hmm.
-  PG-13 area----By my last night at Yellowstone I was...well...ripe.  So, I took a whore's bath.  Ya know--feet, armpits, and undercarriage.  I felt like a million bucks.  Don't think I could get that much.
-  Sorry Mom for the preceding.....but, I should be a good citizen and tell the truth as long as I'm doing this.
-  The Grand Tetons remind me of synchronized swimmers for some reason.  Maybe because they are such beautiful mountains, almost all the same height with gorgeous matching exteriors over pure raw powerful bodies. 
-  The aspen trees have on their fall frocks of deep goldenrod, some with a touch of pumpkin-orange.  I didn't hear the quake, but I know its there.

-  Buffalo beside the road, on the road, in the road, walking down the road, beside the road, BESIDE THE CAR!!!  "Whoa Nelly!  That there fella is bigger than the Murano."  Max, in a showing of bravado to protect Alpha, growled at the buffalo...from the safety of the backseat.  Good dog.

Well, those are the notes.  Today, I will set out to Devil's Tower and make Mount Rushmore by noon.  This is perfect because some friends of Mom's will be there at the exact same time.  We've already planned to have dinner together and see some sights.  Since this will be the first meal I've bought since the huckleberry pie incident, I'm hoping for something yummy---South Dakota???---buffalo steak!!!