The Lure of the Sun

As some of you know, we long planned to hang a right and head west after visiting North Carolina. Well, that obviously didn't happen! My uncle unexpectedly moved to Charlotte from Manhattan a week before we were in North Carolina. From Boone, Charlotte was just a couple of hours southeast. Once we were in Charlotte, we realized Atlanta was only 5 hours southwest (and Canton just a mere 45 minutes north of Atlanta). What's a five hour drive to visit a friend Andrew hasn't seen in years? It's not that far out of the way and we're certainly in no rush...

So we headed south to Georgia to spend a couple of nights with Charley, Andrew's former roommate and RA, and his wife Andrea and two kids.

This visit for me (Kristy) was a chance to learn more about the wild Andrew from Fredonia College days. I had heard some pretty crazy stories over the past three years and always had a hard time reconciling the sweet Andrew I know and love with the one who apparently harassed a news truck wearing an ape mask on "No power Tuesday." I should probably stop there before I get in trouble telling any more of Andrew's secrets! 

Meeting Charley and hearing even more stories only left me more confused though! Haha! What could be done but seek out more friends?

So after a couple of nights we again started to do the math: only 10 hours south to Florida + sunshine + reunion with close college friends with clues about Andrew + beach time! = you guessed it...

Along interstate 75 south, it became even more abundantly clear that we were in the SOUTH, friends. No mistaking it. Aside from the billboards condemning homosexuals (and oddly enough, promoting vasectomies), there were flags, big ones.

We made the long drive in nearly one day because I realized that my great aunt and uncle also live in Florida, conveniently right along the way! A full Christmas display greeted us.

The following day, my Aunt Deanna & Uncle Bill treated us to a delicious lunch. Turns out they knew a special spot where manatees gather- the local power plant. No kidding. We got to see lots!

Bill & Deanna at the power plant 

The warm water from the plant attracts the elephant-relatives

So ends blog post #1 of Florida. As of New Year's Eve, we're still here with plans for a sweat lodge tonight. Turns out, by the way, that our intuition to chase the sun saved us from midwestern blizzards a couple of weeks ago. Whew.

Stay tuned, in the next couple of days we'll post photos from our Gilligan's island Christmas (we had a blast) and what turned into an extended visit with the Davis family.

Happy New Year to all and happy birthday mom!!!

"So come on you Asheville boys..."

Ahh yes, we're nearly to the point of speaking only in Gillian Welch quotes, we've been so obsessed since the concert early this month. No lines about Boone though, and that's where we spent most of our time in North Carolina, after catching a night of live music in Asheville (Carolina Choc. Drops if you recall).

As many of you already know, our good friends Chris & Bethy recently moved to Boone from Bethel. Chris was a Jesuit volunteer the year prior to my first JV year in 2005. He apparently also got the Bethel bug and stayed around for the following 7 years. Whew. Time flies.

Anyway, it was a real treat to visit with these guys in Boone. Leaving Bethel was a bit traumatic for all of us I think so it was nice to share our experiences downstates and console one another. Ha! Andrew and I spent a whole week hanging out with Chris in between his classes and paper-writing sessions (it was the last week of classes before finals!) and meeting up with Bethy for lunch at the sweet natural foods grocery store where she works. It's great to see Chris so excited about his graduate program- appropriate technology. Appalachian State is a beautiful campus right in the heart of Boone, within walking distance. We were also happy to spend some time with Jill & Jesse in town with their sweet babe Adah. (More former Bethel folks!!)

C.P. gave us a tour of some of the campus' sustainable building projects.

One of the highlights of our visit was hiking down Linville Gorge, which was about a 45 minute drive from Boone. We ended up losing the trail once we made it down to the river in the gorge- it didn't appear to be maintained well. Naively looking for an adventure I suppose, we made the mistake of trying to bushwack a quarter mile to intersect with the trail downriver. Our orienteering was right on, however, we didn't anticipate such a crazy rhododendron jungle off trail!! We found ourselves tasked with precariously walking over a lattice of twisting rhododendron branches, three feet off the ground. I was nearly impaled a few times by jagged branches (yikes), but in the end we triumphed! (Chris is, after all, a former wilderness guide for wayward youth...) Our whacking paid off- we stumbled upon a beautiful waterfall and found another perfectly maintained trail back up the ridge.

Linville Gorge

Chris & Bethy at their rental in Boone.

Random sidenote: I am suddenly and inexplicably a cat person! Cats love me and I love them, despite a lifetime of misunderstanding and fear. These cats and another of their siblings in the photo above followed Chris, Andrew and I on a long walk around a farm property outside Boone. I think this new cat connection is due to my Reiki attunement. I guess they can sense it- who knows? Andrew is thrilled, of course, as he has always been a cat lover. And for the record, no worries, I still love dogs too. :-)

Bethel does things to a person...

Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina

Despite a week of exploring, we managed to resist getting stuck in western North Carolina. Whew. It was definitely a cool place to hang out and we both loved the landscape, but I imagine it's the old-timers living alternative lifestyles that really make the Asheville and Boone areas special. Unfortunately, we didn't get to connect with any homesteaders or backwoods types. Maybe next time. And then we'll be so inspired we'll have to stay.

And so with a healthy fill of Appalachian air and some good ol' rest and relaxation, we took off for the short 2-hour drive southeast to Charlotte. There we spent a couple nights visiting my yogi uncle, Everett, and his girlfriend Katherine. Their new condo is in a fancy, yet empty, highrise building downtown. I'm pleased to report that during our visit, I beat Andrew in two games of pool. And Everett. Sweet! Andrew beat me back the next day but hey, I never thought I had even a chance! Anyway, many thanks to Everett for assisting me with my yoga practice and for stimulating our minds for the next few months. :-)

Uncle Everett in Charlotte

Well, from Charlotte we had planned to head west on the long journey to Oregon via Missouri, Kansas and Colorado... But plans change and so we chose to head just a few short hours south to Canton, Georgia to visit Andrew's friend Charley from college...

... and then we were lured quite a bit further south to visit more of Andrew's college friends, Beth & Matt... and somehow here it is almost Christmas and we're planning to continue the journey for a tropical, well swampy anyway, Christmas celebration in the Everglades! We're hoping our Alligator Acres experience prepared us for Alligator Alley... 

Happy Solstice & Merry Christmas!!

Meet the Newell fam

We're long out of Pennsylvania, but I've finally assembled some photos for those of you who have not met my family- or not seen them in a while. There are quite a few folks- family and friends- who somehow didn't end up in a photo.  And quite a few friends who I didn't get to visit at all, particularly in Philly. Sorry!! 

The nuclear Newell family (in order of age): Larry, Teri,
Kristy, Ashley & Gregory with Spencer & Cooper dogs

Newell siblings- yes, we are in the back of Black Beauty

Notice the sweet hot tub on the back porch- an addition
 to the home well after I moved out!

This was Andrew's second time visiting good ol' Mount Joy, Pennsylvania home of the Newell clan, but he's actually met my parents a few other times in Alaska over the past 3 years we've been dating. They like him a lot and I can see why of course. :-) In fact, he made the family Christmas card this year!

Granny and Grandmom Newell ready for an adventure to Oregon I think :-)

My great-grandmother, "Nana," who is a healthy 94!

In the last post, Andrew alluded to a crazy story behind the loss of my beloved wool blanket. Here's the long story...

I was on the way down from Rochester to PA with my sister, Ashley. She met us at the PA/NY border for a passenger swap. (Andrew headed back to NY for another week visiting family.) Two hours into the trip south, in the middle of some super quality sister time, I offered to take over at the wheel for Ash. We pulled off the highway on an adjacent road and were ready to return to the highway a couple minutes later when we discovered traffic had stopped. Our path was blocked by an accident- an SUV was in the middle of the two lanes flipped on its side! Though we were less than 100 yards away, we somehow hadn't even heard the crash.

As Ashley is a nurse, we quickly pulled over and she rushed to the scene. I'm very aware of feeling a complete trust and reassurance that this was all unfolding for the greatest good of all. I had a strong sense that our pull off was synchronistic. I felt like I was supposed to be there- perhaps to offer some grounding or presence, what I've learned is called "holding space."

I wandered over to the first smashed up car where a man and his teen son were shaken up but OK. There were a couple of people over at the flipped vehicle so I figured I should stay out of the way. I walked back to the car to grab my blanket, which I've kept with me in the front seat the whole way from Alaska. In fact, this has been my wrapping blanket since I picked it out at the Portland market two years ago with Leah. It's a beautiful wool blanket from Tibet and I've definitely added lots of good energy to it over the years. Anyway, I grabbed the blanket and headed towards the flipped car to check on Ashley. By then the few people who gathered had cleared. I was surprised to find a middle-aged man inside the SUV still. Though he was out of his seat and sort of crouching on the side of the vehicle, he apparently couldn't get out.

I didn't think I had anything to offer and was initially resistant to flock to the scene, but I quickly realized that no one was present with or comforting this man. Ashley was asking some questions and began holding pressure on his gaping head wound. It was pretty clear that he was in shock, and we saw a puddle of blood on the other side of him in addition to the blood covering his face. Again, despite the jarring scene, I knew very well that there were no victims here. I intuitively crouched down beside Rick and was able to reach through the smashed-out sunroof. As he was shivering, I wrapped him in my blanket and was sort of half-hugging him. Rick grabbed onto my hand through the blanket as I talked to him to calm him down and reassure him that he was not alone.  I felt really connected with him as we both sat there in the cold. He talked about his son in gasps and confided a few other personal details of his life through tears.

Within a few minutes, the firefighters arrived and shooed Ash and me away. Over the next hour, we watched from a distance offering prayers and Reiki, as the professionals employed the jaws of life to cut Rick free. (It seemed to me that he could have pretty easily scooted out but who knows.) Eventually he was lifelined out on a helicopter- ostensibly because we were a good hour drive from Harrisburg and the nearest hospital. 

I felt and continue to feel gratitude that I was able to be there and offer presence and grounding during this experience. I hoped to send Rick a note or follow up with him some way, but due to HIPPA laws, the paramedics couldn't divulge where he was headed or how to get in contact with him. Wherever he is, I wish Rick good health and all the love and courage he needs to create a meaningful life. I can't imagine how frightening and lonely it'd feel to go through such trauma; but maybe this was Rick's chance to start anew. I'll never know. For me though, I was able to see that it was my ego at work that nearly convinced me that I didn't have anything to offer. I fully trust that life conspires to provide us with the situations we need to transcend suffering and illusion. I pray that we all have the courage to see the opportunity in every situation in our lives.

On another note, our travels have unexpectedly taken us further south than we anticipated- all the way to Florida in fact! We're planning a warm Christmas- shoot, why not? Plans are overrated anyway. Who knows if we'll even make it to Oregon. Ha!

More to come... including photos of Chris & Bethy in Boone in the next post. 

Random Blog Post Number A Hundred & 99

In an attempt to satisfy our ever-growing fan base we decided to post some of our more random photos.  Some of these were cast aside and left for dead, some were deemed unsuitable for public consumption, and some, alas, are just plain inexplicable.  Enjoy...

Two men and a baby (in a bar).  Kristy was against posting this photo and was adamant that it be stated on the record that she was not present for this outing.  Andrew is all for full transparency and disclosure.  Needless to say, the Bills lost.

Waking up in yet another Walmart parking lot, this time in Tennessee.  Or, great scott, did we actually just come out of hyperdrive at 3.4 jigowatts?

I fondly refer to this man as none other than Banff himself.

Before we embarked on our trip, I spent a good deal of time googling "How to make a platform bed for your pickup."  There is way too much information on the internet regarding this matter, but I feel like I need to give back so the next insane roadtripper can see a simple (yet elegant) design.

Kristy wrapped in her once-favorite blanket.  She recently relinquished it to help a man in a car-wreck.  He was bleeding from his head (rather badly), was cold, and eventually had to be taken out of his car with the jaws-of-life.  More on this later.

Savoring a snack beneath Mount Edith Cavell in Jasper NP.

Kristy thought I needed a belt.  I thought otherwise.

This sign inspires too many jokes for one blog to hold.  You'd be surprised how often we have seen this sign.  Needless to say we went to the show and I was instantly asked to take off my shirt - hee haw!

Again, you'd be surprised how many times we have seen this man, sometimes sans axe.

This sandwich was scary good...in a West Yellowstone motel.

Andrew and his sis' tearing down the house.

I couldn't resist posting this sign pic again.  We think it's letting motorcyclists know that they're in for a good time later on down the road.

Kristy is really, really hoping this works out, and she is planning an extensive post on this later.  Brace yourself.  Thank you Occupy!

Andrew overly excited about the pristine waters of Lac Louise.

We thought pasties were something inedible.  Anyone?

Prairie dogs are probably the cutest animals on the planet.

Our Halloween spirit was alive and well along with a birch-bark picture from Ruby.

This was one of the more interesting picnic stops - an empty firing range in Alaska.

I think Kristy got tired of me saying, "sources thermales!"

This was how much I liked my 19th century suit.

We have no idea what this structure is, but it looks pretty darn fun.  Somewhere, Wyoming.

Kristy loves all things tunnel and hobbit-like.  Here she is sneaking away with what looks to be a rather large bag of marijuana.  It's actually a rather large bag of dehydrated kale we brought from our community garden plot in Bethel, of which we still have about eight or so bags.  Speaking of kale...

This one goes out to Greg Simmons who needs to eat more leafy greens, especially in the desolate winters of sun-starved Bethel.  Also, has anyone heard of the man who created this awesome shirt?  He is apparently being sued by Chik-fil-A.  Who has ever even heard of Chik-fil-A?!  EAT MORE KALE!

Andrew and Willie in Nashville.  Ahhhh yeah.

Andrew, driving his mother's car, speeding with reckless abandon towards his second ticket in less than two hours, both for running red lights, both tracked by Big Brother with the help of invasive video technology.  I maintain the pedestrian should also have received a ticket for jaywalking.  

Touche, State of NY.

STAY TUNED!!!

Where Were We? (On the Road Again)

Our apologizes for the month-long hiatus.  Kristy and I have been mostly stationary (Black Beauty has been getting antsy) as we’ve been visiting family and friends in New York and Pennsylvania.  Our last stop on the blog, Niagara Falls, is one hour from my family in Irondequoit, NY.  Kristy was able to visit for about a week there with myself and my mom and sister before heading south to stay with her family in Mount Joy, PA.
  

Andrew, Laura and Cathy Simmons

As for the said ‘harrowing tales’ of family visits, the only gruesome tale to tell is that I received two $50 tickets for running red lights on the way to and from a dentist appointment.  The kicker is that I was caught by video cameras placed at the stop-lights, and that, of course, I was wrongly accused and continue to maintain that I was merely passing through yellow lights.  Damn Big Brother.  Beyond that tangent, we had a great time.  The weather was amazing and we were finally able to experience above 70 degrees for the first time this year! 

Kristy and I also visited my friend of 28 years, Tom, and his wife Kat in Brooklyn to meet their new baby boy, Miles.  We had a great time helping out with Miles and relaxing with Tom and Kat. We also spent an afternoon with my Uncle Joe and his wife Laralu in the NYC.  

Proud papa, Tom with baby Miles- 3 weeks old

Laralu & Uncle Joe Gioco - thanks for a great walking tour!

Balcony view from Joe & Laralu's artist cooperative apartment near Hell's Kitchen

So, our route took us from Rochester, NY to Mount Joy, PA (in Lancaster County), and from there we took a side trip via train to Brooklyn, then back to PA for Thanksgiving with Kristy’s family.

Quality sister time with Ashley!

Kristy's father,  Larry, reviewing the fine art of putting on tire chains

As you can clearly see in the above photo, a re-pack was in order. Thankfully, we worked out an even better system so that I could bring more tools on the road! (Kristy was really excited about more tools.) We have a few other photos of Kristy's family but on another camera so you'll have to wait until the next post to meet the fam. Suffice to say that it was a great visit- though it always feels too short to visit everyone!

After the holiday weekend, we then drove to New Jersey to visit Kristy's friend Lindsey and her family who live near Cape May. (Kristy and "Ty" played field hockey together in college.) It felt pretty momentous looking out over the Atlantic Ocean and thinking just how far we'd come over the past eight weeks.

Lindsey and her family were great to hang out with, and they treated us to a fantastic fresh seafood dinner. Wow! Actually there was lots of great food during this visit. It was my first time having lobster, mussels and clams, and I have to say, I am now an official seafood fan. 

Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Tyler for converting Andrew!
Now if I could get him to like olives... ~ Kristy

Celebrating Kristy's birthday

From New Jersey we treated Black Beauty to a taste of the ocean on a ferry to Delaware (sorry to miss you Brandi), and from there we traveled across the Chesapeake Bay via tunnel and bridge before heading west towards Nashville.  Although the road to Nashville was a bit out of our way we felt it was more than worth it because we had tickets to see one of our favorite musicians, Gillian Welch, on December 1st, one day before Kristy's 29th birthday.  

No flash photographs so this was the best we could do.

Needless to say, the show was amazing.  Gillian plays with her musical partner, David Rawlings, who tore it up on the guitar.  The two sang together so beautifully and powerfully that the crowd convinced them to perform two encores.  This was definitely one of the highlights of our trip so far.  Nashville was also a very cool place to explore, with live music coming out of numerous bars at all hours of the day.  Plus, we enjoyed fried green tomatoes and blackened catfish. Yum.

Great way to spend a birthday!! 

Broadway in Nashville

From Nashville we drove a few hours back east to Knoxville to visit Roberta, one of Kristy's roommates from her 2nd Jesuit Volunteer year in Bethel.  For all you Bethelites: Robbie is doing really well! She's working full-time and going to grad school for Social Work. Her sweet abode feels like it's in the boondocks (which is of course a wonderful compliment!) but it's only a few miles from downtown- wow, right? 

After a night of shared memories and strange, old Bethel prom photos, Kristy and I drove a bit south to catch some of the Great Smoky Mountains before heading to Asheville, North Carolina to see another concert, this time performed by The Carolina Chocolate Drops with an opening performance by Frazey Ford.  We met up with our good friends from Bethel, Chris and Bethy, who moved to Boone, NC over the summer so that Chris could pursue graduate school.  We're currently hanging out in Boone with them. (Photos to come!)


Interjection from Kristy: First of all, the Carolina Chocolate Drops were great- definitely worth mentioning. I was pretty disappointed that Frazey Ford, one of my favorite artists lately, didn't play any of my favorite songs off of her recent album, Obadiah. Turns out there was no drum set or band backing her up. I didn't even get to get a photo with her. Shoot. 


Anyway, the next day a crazy thing happened in Asheville. Nope, I didn't run into Frazey. Bummer. But I did run into a guy with whom I graduated high school and attended church- Jon Nicholas. This is especially wild because he was only visiting Asheville for the first time as well- on a work trip from NYC. 

Jon works as a Greenpeace canvasser.

We're happy to be visiting with old friends and promise to post again within a week. That is, if you haven't given up on us yet.