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From Raleigh, feeling a little punchy from a week with some very energetic people (including Evalina), I stopped in Williamsburg, VA, which was substantially less dorky than I expected. I had sushi. I could easily have spent another day and a half there without boredom or antsiness, but I didn't have it. I stayed late for a candlelight concert in the Bruton Parish Episcopalian Church (active since 1715), the organization that convinced John D. to fund the restoration. This was the first of three church attendances on this trip.
I toured the mansion, the Wythe house and did the Other Half tour (that was the best). The scrapbooked (fingers crossed) map has a series of numbers marked on it of the places I saw and in what order. The Raleigh Tavern tour was also excellent. I bought two books recommended by Ayindhe (sp?), the young man with the braids and the Timberlands who did the Other Half Tour: Tobacco and Slaves, and Slave Counterpoint. I started the latter in Pittsburg, but read very little from this point on in the trip. I stayed the night in the cheapest of the resort hotels, Governor's Inn.
If I return to Williamsburg, I want to do the plantation tour, the capitol and the gunsmith, also I'd like to do some drinking after hours in the district.
I proceeded to Pittsburgh, PA, where I got really, really close to Nikki and Billy's house, but had to buy a map at a gas station and call Billy to actually find the house, as mapsonus.com didn't quite figure it out when I got directions while in the Clayton public library. I chatted with Billy, Brenda, alphabetized name cards for the wedding dinner, went to Giant Eagle (awesome grocery store, thank you Nikki, even had organic bananas) with Brenda and made sausages with veggies and red sauce for dinner. I picked up Mary Kaye, Erik and Sean at the airport, then Nikki extended the dinner with chicken for them.
A lovely at home breakfast, during which I broke the plumbing. We got an early checkin to the Holiday Inn, then went to the mall to do some shopping for wedding presents. I got a placeholder cakepan, and ordered a set of Fiesta dinnerware and a coffee grinder (and saw the JAK book and sent a message to Rachel about it). I also bought a frivolous belt and a bracelet that went with the outfit from winter solstice that I wore to the wedding. In the evening, the rehearsal interrupted by a thunderstorm. Erik, Sean and I returned to the house to put the umbrellas on the porch inside. We had a beer (I had club soda with lime), and were called on the home phone to return to pick up the groom for a ride to the rehearsal dinner. They were very nice about getting me a dinner I could eat, when something either dairy or seafoody (allergic to shellfish) was in all the standard options.
The day of the wedding, a van was provided to shuffle us about from photos at Avonworth community center (where the reception would be held) to the church and then back for the reception. We had a case of beer in the van, and drinks nearly everywhere we stopped, including Howard's, the bar we all went to after the reception. I got slightly tipsy at the reception, but mostly sobered up after. I evaded the bouquet toss. The bride had a Steelers garter. Much singing at Howards, not started by Sean. Marvin got up on a chair to sing the penis song. I think Marvin and Pam will be getting married some years hence. Pam's cool. Great arms. ER doctor.
Sean and I had either a late breakfast or an early lunch at Boston Market, which is alive and well (and has pretty good oriental chicken salads) on the east coast. Further drinking, and lying about the bridal party's house watching football and listening to the bride's dad tell a variety of stories, including opening a SeaTac bar when returning from Vietnam (apparently he too was Special Forces, and is now a storm chaser). I napped on the floor and got caught up on laundry. I had intended to do that at the Evil Holiday Inn we stayed at. I read in the information package about a coin-op laundry, went looking for it, was misdirected to the basement laundry (for hotel staff use only) by housekeeping, was correctly directed to the laundry by front desk, only to discover one dryer and one washer, both in use. Upon my return the next day (today), the machines were gone. My first thought was how lucky that I hadn't been able to do my laundry. If I'd left clothes in the machines, I might have lost the clothes. Front desk didn't know what was going on, suggesting I'd gone to the wrong room, then eventually contacting maintenance and forwarding a ridiculous story about a leak. Whatever. The only really great thing about this hotel is the bed. Very very bouncy springs, or, as Sean said, "Energy Return System".
Sean and I ate at an Original Pancake House. It wasn't Etta's, but it was pretty good, and I got a fresh fruit bowl with my breakfast and even ate cantaloupe. Who would have thought it could happen. The waitress, like all women in Pittsburg, was anxious to get off shift to go home and watch the Steelers game and protect her big screen TV which she and her boyfriend would be moving onto the porch for a party. I eventually returned the Seattle contingent to the airport. Since I had a small rocking chair to take back to Seattle for Mary Kaye from her mom, and a case of beer from Penn Brewery for Erik, Tara helped shuttle Mary Kaye and Erik. The only serious car trouble occurred: the WRX wouldn't go up a steep hill to get off Lipp Avenue so I had to roll back and leave another way.
That night, I drove to a Super 8 in Niagara Falls, never stopping for dinner. I had cookies, my own, made in NC before I left (most were left for Rachel and Amanda).
This was my worst food day on the trip. No peanut butter at the Super 8 (and soft nasty bread). I was starving early, so I got a junior whopper at a BK on the Thruway (limited choices). It was not very good. I went through a McDonald's drive through and got a small fry (the flavor continues downhill, or maybe I've gotten sick of fries) and a chicken mcgrill, which was sort of okay, but had a nasty soft bun. I stopped at Niagara Falls and Seneca Falls (birthplace of women's rights) and then motored into Brookline, NH. Roland had a fabulous dinner partly prepped: thick steak, steamed squash and peppers and boiled potatoes. He had a bottle of Vielle de Ferme, a cheap French table red. I got to see the completed shop space in the barn and I slept on a futon, the best bed on the trip for sleeping. No cat, because his allergies were so bad with the last one. We made a store run, and so had food for breakfast. We assembled gear for a hiking trip the next day and finalized plans for which to do.
I hadn't realized New England also suffered from the drought. The color, peak for this year, isn't as good as 2000's pre-peak late in September. Nevertheless, our 6 mile round trip, 1800' elevation gain hike up Mt. Cannon, and down via Kinsman Ridge and Lonesome Lake was exhilarating, beautiful and challenging (particularly the ladder on the way up, and the initial downclimb on the way down -- an hour of using my hands, glad I brought gloves).
As this is the east coast, you don't have to climb to get to the cell-antenna laden tower at the top. In this case, you can take the ski area's tram (usually you can drive). From the top, we had a spectacular 360 degree view of several states and part of Canada. Wow.
We dined at The Common Man on the way home, an excellent mid-level restaurant (the area won't support more than that outside the season), worth returning to. Stick to your ribs food (ribs, squash, potatoes, salad, bread), but done right.
We stopped at a Rest Area/Liquor Store and I bought several bottles of Blanton's and a Knob Creek. I left one of the Blanton's with Roland, who had never had the pleasure.
My sore pecs made me happy to be driving home for the next four days. I didn't have to stop for a long while after an at-home breakfast at Roland's. I was caught up on laundry and intended to get home in four days -- and, ideally, early enough to have dinner with Sean on the last day. Dinner was at a Quaker Steak, where I picked up sauces for Sean and foolishly had some myself but without major consequences (Louisiana Lickers contains parmesan cheese and butter. Whups.) The first night was in Sanduskey, OH, at the only Comfort Inn with no peanut butter (but they did have a non-dairy spread). I stayed in a jacuzzi suite without use of the jacuzzi, for a lot less than the usual rate as it was the only non-smoking option left. That's the Cedar Point exit -- but Cedar Point season was over.
I had considered stopping in East Lansing, Michigan, to see Duncan and/or Ann, who I had met at the wedding. I had discussed with Ielleen the possibility of meeting in Chicago on the return, as well. In the event, I was racing west to get through a cold front moving east as quickly as possible. I found a Hardee's for lunch, snacked on fruit and veg in the car, and eventually stopped at an Applebee's for dinner. I'd never been to one, feeling a strange aversion, and now I sort of understand why, but will happily work through it for the good service and non-allergenic oriental chicken salad. Good iced tea. Good coffee. Great service from knowledgeable waitresses. Nice experience in Austin Minnesota, just outside La Crosse. I also stopped into a Barnes and Noble and bought Simon Schama's volume 2 of the history of Great Britain on audio tape and Michael Cappruzzo's Close to Shore on CD. I had finally discovered how great books read aloud are for keeping one focussed on the road.
I made it to Sioux Falls, to revisit the Comfort Inn I had stayed in on the way out, worrying about the cold front.
I stopped briefly in Mitchell, SD to look at the Corn Palace, which I find as incomprehensible as you probably do. I stopped in Rapid City for lunch at an Applebee's (the previous day's dinner being so good, it seemed worth an instant replay) and a pair of very comfortable black Ariat cowboy boots from Western Way. Some time in the last ten years, cowboy boots were dragged into the 20th or 21st century, and are now amazingly comfortable with virtually no breaking period. Now actually encountering Weather in Wyoming, I stopped very briefly for a pie and fry at McDonald's (I'd given up on the sandwiches again and Hardee's were harder and harder to find), hoping to make it through a good chunk of Montana before giving up for the night. Up and down through hills taller than the mountains I had summitted earlier in the trip, I encountered fog, driving rain and clouds dark enough to make me think night had fallen three hours early, snow flurries and some wind. With no winter clothes in the car other than my wool jacket, I kept thinking how screwed I was if I had to get out and walk at any point.
I eventually stopped in Billings for a (free) dinner at McKenzie River Pizza Co. I had been seated in one of the corner deuces near the entry where everyone seems to seat me on the road alone (I don't complain and they're always available and always non-smoking). That table was apparently never used, so three servers ignored me, then all helped me get food and a weather report -- and the dinner was comped. I left a 30% tip, went outside, looked up, saw a couple stars and headed west, stopping in Bozeman at a Comfort Inn next to a Wal-Mart, thinking I'd buy a sweater in the morning.
Instead, I left before they were open, and stopped at a mall in Butte, which wouldn't open for ten minutes, but had available restrooms. The shops looked dull, so I continued to Missoula without waiting for the stores to open and found an Old Navy next to a Wendy's. Several fleecy items, one side salad and the Wendy's grilled chicken sandwich (better than McD's, but still pretty bad) later, I was on the home stretch.
I rolled into Seattle early enough to get sushi in Ballard with Sean.
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Copyright Rebecca Allen, 2002.
Created October 25, 2002 Modified November 25, 2002