Travel Rewind: Black River Drive In

After Canada we crossed back into New York and made our way towards

the Adirondacks. Along route, we passed an operating Drive-In theatre.

We were both cursing it being the middle of the day and our dumb

unfortunate luck that we wouldn't be around to stop and see a movie

that evening. They were playing Final Destination 5 and Fright Night.

Neither would have been my first picks, but fuck that...IT'S A DRIVE

IN. But it didn't matter, because we couldn't go.

We started driving and it was getting later and later. We found a

campsite and it turned out we were only about 30 minutes down the road

from the Drive-In. You may be confused at this point. How could we

whining about seeing the Drive In and not going early in the afternoon

and then be camped out 30 minutes down the road? All I can tell you

is, there was a LOT of around your elbow to get to your ass driving

that day. I'm only glad we stopped when we did.

I went online and found out showtimes for the Drive In and it was

settled that after dinner we would go. I don't remember what we did

for dinner that night. I do remember that we put on our PJs and made

sure Ozzy stayed awake so he would be good and tired and sleep on the

drive there (so hopefully he would sleep through the movie).

We decided to miss the first feature, Final Destination 5. I haven't

seen any of those movies and I don't understand how you can have a

title that has the word "Final" and is number 5 in the series. I

wasn't over the moon about seeing a re-make of my beloved Fright Night

either, but it's the lesser of two evils. Either way, I thought it was

fucking cool to see a horror movie at the drive in. That just felt

right.

We pulled up within minute of the film starting. The girl at the booth

was about to shut for the night, so we barely made it. Unfortunately

we missed the concessions. BOO. We were really excited about popcorn,

nachos and soda. We had a tiny dinner to make room for all the junk

food we would now not be having. It didn't kill the mood tho. WE WERE

AT THE MOTHERFUCKING DRIVE IN.

We found a place to park, adjusted the seats and started the movie.

You didn't have to open your window and adjust a speaker into the car.

They told you what station to tune your radio to and you were able to

listen to the film that way. It was awesome. Ozzy slept through the

first half of the film and woke up around the second half. What's

great is that we were able to enjoy a film and not "disturb" those

around us. I was able to put Oz in the front seat with me and nurse

him back to sleep, where he stayed until the credits rolled.

And my film nerd self can't help but take a minute to reflect on the

film itself so here goes:

Of course it was no where near as good as the original. Re-makes

rarely, if ever, are. A really great cast did the best they could with

some pretty crap material. Colin Farrell was gorgeous, but had zero

charisma. I'm going to put this down to him using a bad American

accent and not being all sexy-brooding in his natural Irish accent. An

Irish vampire would have been sexy (something that I always felt was

lacking in the original. Chris Sarandon is a great villain, but he is

never sexy. Or maybe it's an 80's thing I don't get. Because I don't

think Michael Douglas is sexy either and his ass was always naked

during the 80's.). David Tenant was sorely underused, but hilarious.

It wasn't until I was listening to BBC Radio 4's Mayo/Kermode podcast

when it was pointed out that Tenant is doing a Russell Brand

impression, that the light bulb went off. Fucking brilliant and

hilarious.

The film is pretty clunky and uninspired. I was disappointed with

Sarandon's cameo as a motorist who gets bit. I think it would have

been cooler if he and Farrell had passed a knowing look in the dance

club scene. The 3-D sequences were pointless.

So while it sounds like I didn't like the movie, I had an awesome

time. Being at a Drive In made a bad movie completely worth it, and I

enjoyed it 1000x more than if I had seen it in a cinema or on dvd.

It was so refreshing for us to be seeing a movie. In our pre-baby

days we went to the movies almost every single week without fail. We

had thought about trying to take turns seeing movies while on the

road. Or going to an early showing during the week, when the cinema

would be all but empty. We haven't had a chance to do that yet. But

our eyes are always peeled for another Drive In.

Travel Rewind: Boldt Castly & Ferry

One of my favorite things about our trip is that I've been able to
meet some of my Imaginary Friends (aka Friends from the Net, for those
of you not in the know). On our trip to Boldt Castle I met imaginary
friend Christie and her husband Phil. If we hadn't met up with them I
wouldn't have any idea about Boldt Castle and it was a lovely day out.

It was also Oz's first time on a boat and he LOVED it. He loved the
rocking and sway and how it messed up his balance slightly. He loved
being out on the front deck and feeling the breeze (no, let's be
honest, it was wind and it was rough!) on his face. He was just a
squealing ball of excitement.
The trip to the castle takes about an hour and along the way you see
the Thousand Islands. What's so cute are all the houses that are set
up on these teeny tiny islands!
If you didn't follow the link to the castle itself, I'll fill you in a
bit. Mr. Boldt was building it for his beloved wife and when she
unexpectedly died, he ceased all work on their future home and there
it sat. Unfinished. Several years later (after Mr. Boldt) it was
decided to resume work, and the over the years the house has been open
from it being in complete disrepair. It's one of Christie's favorite
days out and I thought it was very cool that she has seen its
progression of renovation with subsequent visits. It makes her a part
of its history by being a frequent visitor. There are so many beautiful
details to find throughout the Castle. Christie pointed out all the
hearts that have been worked into the design, so I spent a good
portion of our visit hunting out all of the hearts. Unfortunately, I
didn't get a good picture of Christie and I together. When Phil was
taking a photo of us, I assumed that Griff was taking one as well. I
assumed wrong.


After the trip to Boldt Castle (and it's a full day!) we decided on an
easy dinner back at the campsite. Ozzy was really fucking tired and
C&P were kind enough to go pick us up a pizza. Griff decided to try
the Canadian dish Poutain, which is fries covered in cheese and gravy.
Not my thing, but Griff devoured it and when we were up in Maine he
found another resteraunt that served it and gobbled that up too.
Pretty much anything covered in gravy and cheese is a good meal to
Griff.


(*I have no idea why that last paragraph is underlined in blue. )

Look to the Future

I've started and deleted this entry a few times. I'm homesick. For England.

Wha...Wha...HUH?

That doesn't make sense. I wasn't really expecting it to fall on us this hard, but Christmas has always been a *HUGE* deal for us. We go completely overboard on the decorations, the food, the presents. We always talked about how big and tacky they do it in the States and we always looked forward to the day when we'd be here with our kids at Christmas. So why does it feel so weird this year?

Well, we're not settled. All of our decorations are still packed and we just don't have our "home" yet. It's lovely to be surrounded by family, but I guess for nest-ers, it's difficult to be out of one's nest.

I looked this song up on YouTube tonight because in the UK they play it nonstop this time of year and I miss it. So here it is, Merry Christmas.

I've been everywhere, man

So we're done. I have a lot of posting to do and I still intend on posting all of it. So it may be weird for you to read about travels that have already happened, but now I'll have pretty steady, reliable internet access it will be so much easier to post about all the things we did and places we saw.

So how did coming home come about? Well I guess you could say it started in California.

We spent 4 lovely days in the same place, staying with a friend and her family in a very comfy home. Our kids played together, we still did some sight seeing, but in the evening we came back to a house with indoor plumbing and kitchen. It was nice. Very nice.

From there we traveled further down Cali and had a pretty good time. Griff and I came down with colds and it was pretty rough going. Oz didn't catch the cold, but he was teething and those canines were just starting to peak through (and at this moment are still taking their precious time coming through. Canine incisors, I shake my fist at you!).

Then we were working our way to Vegas. And when we got to Vegas we realized, "Hell, there is not a lot you can do with a baby in Vegas". We *knew* this going there, but then it was really sort of a let down when we got there.

(FYI there were a lot of things happening in all these places and I fully intend on expanding on each and every one of them.)

So in Vegas we broke down the last few things that we really, really wanted to see and decided that after Roswell, New Mexico we would just book it home and not tell anyone. We had originally wanted to be home for Thanksgiving anyways, so this was really just cutting the trip another week short. But funds were running low and so was our will to carry on. So done. We really enjoyed our last week and now we have a little money left over to get our hair cut. I'm done with feeling like a dirty hippie all of the time and eating camp food or road food.

It was a fucking awesome journey.

We got into Greenville at around 11 and scared both my Mom and Dad to death. There were a lot of screams, tears and laughter. I love doing stuff like that.

Happy Trails

My Poor Blog!

Would you believe me if I told you that I've actually been writing things about our trip pretty consistently, I just haven't been able to upload them WITH pictures? It's true. I know I have left you all dangling with us in Canada, while at this moment, I am sitting in a basement in Olympia, Washington.

This journey has been so crazy. A big surprise was how much we loved the midwest. Initially we wrote that part of the country off and wanted to just shoot across to get to the West Coast.

BIG MISTAKE.

Kansas had some of the kindest people ever, Nebraska had some lovely surprises, South Dakota was breathtaking and we had the best time driving through Wyoming and Montana. We've seen snow peaked mountains. It's an image we can't seem to get enough of.

I am hoping I will get an opportunity to sit and catch up on all my blogs soon. I always feel like if just had that ONE DAY, to sit and catch up, I would be happy. But we move. Every. Single. Day. It's hard enough to find an hour's quiet time to one's self, let alone SEVERAL hours.

I've done loads of knitting, and I keep collecting yarn from all these amazing shops and my list of things To Knit just keeps growing longer and longer. I hope I will be able to get most of it accomplished for christmas. I'm sort of counting on it.

I'm also looking forward to the day when the trip is over, I've had a long soak, and I can start taking photos of all the things we've collected on the trip. I hate that it's eaten into our budget of things to do/see, but Griff and I are collectors. We like to be surrounded by things. Not fancy, expensive things. But we love trinkets, christmas ornaments and books. O the books. And yarn. So there will probably be many posts explaining all our awesome finds.

AND THE HAT. We have so many stickers. My car will be tat'd up to make all the teenagers jealous.

So just know, I haven't forgotten about this space, and I've written 20 or so blogs about the things we've seen and people we've met. Sometimes I don't realize how amazing this trip has been until we sit and talk about some the encounters we've had. Let's just hope blogger pulls its finger out and lets me start uploading photos again, soon enough.

Just 2 Guys...

Enjoying their breakfast in the morning. It's visions like this that make me want to live on the road forever.

The 'Other' Big Apple **

This is one of those things about the Road we were really looking forward to and always enjoy. Bizzare roadside attractions. We had been driving for a fair few hours and Griff needed us to switch. I spend most of my time in the car knitting, so I'm always happy to switch with Griff when he needs a break. Just as we were coming up to an exit, we spotted the apple. It's like the Peach, but an Apple, and less butt-like.

But it's wasn't just an Apple. It was an Apple Pie store. We had fun going up the big apple, and we did eat a not so great but completely edible lunch. I didn't buy an Apple pie, but Apple dumplings (which weren't that great, I should have gone with the pie. My bad.).

The Apple was great.

...O and I should probably mention that the Apple was in Canada.

**New addition to the blog! You may notice below, that Griff is going to start commenting and adding his own little notes here and there. So enjoy!

GRIFF---

I actually loved the food, it was basically a cheeseburger covered in BRown Gravy and a precurser to the canadian specialty of Poutine which I loved.

Family on top of the Apple

In case you didn't notice, it's a big fucking apple.