Surprises

Good Evening, America--

Where to begin? Sunday night I returned from an epic road trip. The journey was filled with amazing adventures...let me describe them, systematically:

First stop on the journey was Delaware. There's not a whole lot to say about Delaware. Joe Biden was one of their Senators for a while. Liquor stores are open till 10 PM. They have lots of affordable, random hotels. Other than that, it's a pretty modest and industrial area. Industrial was one of the big themes of the road trip. Many of the cities, i.e. Baltimore, Philly, and the state of Del., are inundated with factories, smoke stacks, and the like. You can tell that the urban economy is significantly different than cities in Tejas. It's much more blue collar and rough than one might imagine. Some may cite this as a negative quality, but I like to think it shows character.

Then, we stayed in the outskirts of Philly at this shady (kind of a reoccurring theme) road side inn. We woke up and went to this really good breakfast place (another reoccurring theme) dubbed "the cafe." Not very original in rural Pennsylvania, I suppose. Anyhow, we then went on a tour at independence hall, saw the lib. bell, Ben Franklin's grave, and the American Philosophical Society. The APS was weird because we were accosted by two random old ladies as soon as we walked in. Ironically, one of the ladies was named "Ursula." Self described as feisty, Ursula stopped Joe and I asked us lots of questions about philosophy and why we were interested in the APS. The irony here is that it was one day before Ursula and I's anniversary (Ursula James, not Ursula philosophy lady). Small world, I suppose. The APS had a pretty cool Darwin exhibit. FYI, he has horrible handwriting. Pretty cool guy overall. I learned that he only used the word "evolve" once in his entire "Origin of the Species." And it was the last word of the entire book. Funny how things turn out, no?

After that we drove to New Haven, CT--home of Yale. Of course, we drove and walked around the campus. Really interesting architecture, lots of bourgeois students, and a TON of pizza places. Apparently, ivy league snobs can't get enough of that stuff. We went to this one pizza and beer joint, and were served by the sweetest lady ever. Her name was Linda. Linda was pushin 70, lacking front teeth, and serving us food with an attitude. Funny how you go to an Ivy League University and stumble on people that you wouldn't think would "belong" in such an area. However, New Haven is kind of shit-hole. Lots of poverty...it looks like Yale is the only thing going for it. More irony, I suppose.

Another surprise of my adventure came when we found my Grandmother's childhood home in West Haven, CT. A little blue house--very quaint, and homey--located just north of main street. I got some pictures, which I still need to email to my mom.

After CT, we went into Providence. By this time, it's Saturday morning. Providence was wonnndeful. Very cute, clean, fun looking town with an AWESOME capital building. I totally got the feeling that I could live there one day. It's very centrally located too. Not too far from NY or Boston, or any of New England for that matter. It's a great little place, I would recommend anyone touring the area to make a stop there.

After that, we passed through Boston. We toured a couple of streets and went to lunch at the Cheers Bar. DONT EVER GO THERE. We were starving and it happened to be right there. But it's a tourist trap rip off with no soul. Don't go there...

Then, it was on to Maine. Ahhh, Maine. Home of lobsters, cottages, Mountains, Beaches, and postcard towns. It was almost too adorable. Everything was so put together, everyone seemed so happy, and my God it was so gorgeous. I posted dozens of pics on my FB, so check em out if you can.

After hanging out in Maine for several hours (because it was so awesome), we went to Portland to get some fresh seafood. Hmmmm was it tasty--lobster caught fresh daily. Only problem was that it got incredibly cold. We had to head down south around 7 Pm...but little did we know our journey was only just beginning.

Driving through southern New Hampshire and Vermont at night can be a little surreal. Forests were fairly dense, hills and mountains surrounded us. The night sky was gorgeous--completely clear. A very isolated, surreal, and relaxing area. When we decided to turn on "The Doors" and listen to the band's most creepy tunes, things seemed to be completely in place.

We drove all the way to Wilmington, VT. Wilmington is on the southern tip of the Green Mountains/ green Mountain National Forest. Very cute town (another theme), with a couple of fun pubs, lodges, and diners. Saturday night we went to this dive bar called the "village pub." The village pub reminded me of a dive bar in Texas--floors and bar were made out of wood, the people were a bit tired and run down looking. Overall, it seemed like a rough place at first.

However, this was Vermont, and we knew something had to be different. I struck up a conversation with our bartender; who eventually mentioned that "he was a gay man" and wondering who to vote for in the upcoming primary election. That's what you can't get in most places--a bartender feeling comfortable enough to tell you he's gay. In Texas, that could get a bartender killed (not kidding). Nice guy, nice place, nice conversation. Then we went to the bar across the street, where we met this awesome/crazy/very drunk man named "Dove." Dove was a half irish catholic half jewish man; in his own words, "a tough mix." Judging by the McCormick brand Brandy he kept feeding himself, Dove had lived through some tough experiences himself. Dove excoriated me for temporarily forgetting the last name of George Harrison, and almost punched my friend in the face for "being a wise guy." However, we ended up winning his heart over, and he bought us all a round. Good guy. Before we left he said something to effect of "people should be respected for no matter what there heritage is." Profound words for a man whose seemingly had his share of rotten luck. Ah, the surprises of life.

We returned the next day, only to find that life goes on as normal. This week has been horrible but great at the same time. I'm so inundated with work for my job, registration, and filling out paper work for summer job/housing. I don't know how I can handle it though. My job has been treating me well though. Another intern was hired today. He seems like a really nice guy, and I'm glad to have him working with me. Also, I've told some pretty good office jokes. Not to mention, I've got a lunch planned this Thursday, where I will talk to a "senior colleague" about how he got to this position and what it's like working in politics.

Should be a good work. Pray I get all this stuff done, it's driving me crazy.


Tim Clark