just a few more!

Bonaventure Cemetery

So haunting!

So cool...

Ugh- I feel as bad as I look!

and some more pics…

North Beach Grill on Tybee Island- got some chips and salsa here

A historic lighthouse on Tybee Island

So pretty!

PICTURES!!

A bit of historic Williamsburg

Don't see too many of those flags round here!

Pretty sure this one is self explainatory

Hanging out in one of the first settlements

Finishing Up My First Week!

Hey there! So it has been a week since I first set out on my adventure. The past few days I was in Raleigh, NC visiting with some old friends. Chris and Ajana, who I haven’t seen in 3 years, moved down here after we all worked together at a restaurant in MA. Ajana is married now and expecting a baby and Chris has a rockin girlfriend who I got to hang out with while I was in town. Chris and his lady friend, Erin, let me crash at their place for 3 nights. The first night I showed up we played catch up for a bit then I hit the sack early as I was WIPED!! The next day was quite a silly little day, I must confess.

You see, my soon to be roommate, Ryan, LOVES NC and told me a few places to check out. After some lunch Chris very kindly escorted me around his town. The funny thing was every place I went to on the first day, I mean every place, was a grocery store of some sorts. The first place he took me to was recommended by Ajana- World Market. Totally awesome store that features some food and drinks from all over the globe as well as hand crafts and housewares. It was super chill. I found some fair trade organic chai (!!!) and a bottle of all natural pomegranate soda which is pretty tasty. The second place was Ryan’s suggestion, Southern Seasons, which turned out to be another grocery store with housewares. It was pretty funny. After that we headed home and Ajana came to get me so she could cook dinner for me at her place. The great part was that we needed to stop at a few grocery stores to pick up some things for dinner. It was pretty entertaining. So my first day in Raleigh was spent in all their grocery stores Well, maybe not all, but a good amount!

The next day we just hung around the house for a bit then grabbed some food. It was a lovely lazy day, but we decided to go find some karaoke that night. Or I decided and they were kind enought to oblige It ended up being Chris, Erin, Kendall (Erin’s sister) and me. So much fun! Chris didn’t sing (the bugger) but he sure did have a great time laughing at the 3 ladies!

The next day (which was yesterday) I took off for Savannah. I have been super excited to check out this city! I have heard nothing but wonderful reviews about it. I was incredibly sad to leave my friends- it was great seeing my old buds and meeting some new ones, but I had to march on as I needed to be in FL soon to meet up with another friend. The BUMMER is that I got so sick! I woke up this morning feeling miserable and stayed in bed for as long as I could without being a super big bum I did head out to see a few sights which I thoroughly enjoyed- Tybee Island, Bonaventure Cemetery and River street. Tybee Island is a cute lil island just off of Savannah. It was real quint and had a surfer feel to the area. It seemed a little run down, but it was cute none-the-less. After that I went to the cemetery. Morbid I know, but it is the oldest cemetery in Savannah and the landscaping and history were too good to pass up. I heard they do haunted tours through there- man I could not do that! I wouldn’t sleep for weeks! It is beautiful and eery and the same time. The trees covered in hanging moss give it a beautiful haunting look. I strolled around then decided I was ready to see River st.

Not really knowing what to expect, I was pleasantly surprised to see River street. Up until this point, most of the city I had seen was rundown and a little dirty. River st is, you guessed it, bordering the river and is lined with shops, cafes, pubs, restaurants- you name it they had it. There were also some park areas with a few monuments. Feeling not so great I didn’t get out, but decided to head “home”. I am hoping tomorrow I feel a wee bit better so I can do some early sight seeing before I take off to FL!!

Well, that’s it for now. I am just vegging in my hotel room at this point. So ready for bed and it’s not even 10!! So send me some healthy thoughts

Somewhere around day 2

Hello everyone! My word, I am having an amazing time! Yesterday I finished up my drive to Williamsburg, PA. Thank goodness for the trustee TomTom, which I have named Sandra Dee, as it saved me a few times from being lost beyond all belief. I missed a turn on the Rt 83 and ended up in downtown Baltimore. Let me tell you, my brief drive thru of the city was impressive to say the least. The buildings were all very industrial age design ( I believe it’s that era- I am definitely not an expert!) and I think I said “Wow” about 50 times before I jumped back on the highway.

I did pop into a coffee shop somewhere in VA where I was able to post my previous blog. Man, people are so friendly down here! Everywhere I go I end up in a 10 minute conversation with strangers. It’s incredibly refreshing. Of course not all conversations are nail biting (such as a friendly man who rambled on about gold leaf books that he buys) but I did meet an incredible promising connection today which I will explain in a bit.

Once I rolled into Williamburg I found my hotel without a hitch (thanks Sandra Dee!!) and immediately asked the concierge where was the nearest karaoke bar. I was itching to get up and sing with some total strangers! He kinda laughed and informed me Williamsburg is consisted of two groups of people. 1- Elderly 2- College kids to young to go out. He promised he would research for me though as I was very insistent that I was all about the karaoke. I grabbed my things and headed up to my new home and was thrilled to learn Geoff (from the front desk) found me a spot. Ironically enough it’s called The Spot. Conveniently located just around the corner, they had karaoke every Sunday night. Oh the good fortune!! So I took a little rest before my big VA debut then took off to The Spot.

I loved this place. It was everything I was hoping for. A complete whole in the wall joint where everyone knows one another and loves doing karaoke for the sheer fun of it. At first I was greeted a bit indifferently. I had taken a picture of the sign when I was outside, so that made some people very weary of me. Once someone had the courage to ask me what the deal was, I told them I was on a road trip and was just taking pics of where I go. After that, I had about 15 new friends. Geoff, from the front desk, was right. This town is consisted of mainly all old people, but there were a few people my age so it was a fun mix. My first song (yes I did more than one!) was Julie Robert’s Break Down Here. Not to toot my own horn, but I must have done ok as everyone was pushing me to get back up. From there I sang Build Me Up Buttercup, Time After Time, Summer Lovin and Picture. The last two songs were duets I was asked to do with two fellas I had met. Neither of the duets were very good, but it sure was funny!!

After becoming BFF’s with a few people at the joint, I was advised to check out Jamestown and Colonial Williamsburg. A very colorful character named Chris, told me all about how there is an island I can check out in Jamestown that was recently discovered to have the keys to unlocking a lot of Jamestown’s roots. It’s really quite amazing. Being in a place where history first began. I only have a few hours, but I am going to try to see as much as I can today!

After I checked out of the hotel I popped into a local coffee spot to grab some tea and do some research on how to get to these certain spots. I, again, met a handful of people that instantly wanted to help me see the sights they know so well. One man inparticular, Sandy, conversed with me for a while. Turns out we both have a heart for Africa, he has done years of work traveling the continent while working with UNICEF. He now has a talk show (which he invited me on!)  which focuses on different African cuisine. He hosts different African country representatives to come talk about their country and share a particular regional dish. I can’t even tell you how cool this connection is for me. I explained to him my dream of opening a little haven for the street kids of Rwanda and he was just as excited. We promise to stay in touch and he is definitely one of those people that is good to have on file. I can’t even imagine the knowledge he has on running non-profits and for him to offer help in wisdom and potentially financial aspects is beyond exciting. This trip is better than I could ever have imagined.

So for now, I am signing off. I have some sights to see and some history to catch up on!

p.s. I seriously promise I will be posting pics soon

Road Trip Extravaganza ’09 – Day 1ish

Ok, here’s the story:  I very unfortunately could not rejoin my Rwanda team on this current trip. So, instead of being totally bummed in NH, I decided to take a little (cheap) adventure of my own! I am meandering my way from the great state of NH to beautiful FL. I have a few scheduled stops, but mainly I am trying to be open and pop in different local places to see a bit of America.

My adventures started Friday the 20th when I took off to NYC for the day with a few lady friends. We were helping my friend, Michele’s, nephew complete the best school project ever! Not sure if you are familiar with children books or not, but  there is a book called “Flat Stanley”. Not too sure of the whole book, but I know that Flat Stanley flattens himself so he can travel to all these different places. So Michele’s nephew, Colin, sent a flattened version of himself and we then took him to NYC! The day started off a bit rough- we missed our bus (apparently when you book a seat on buses it is not a guaranteed seat so beware travelers!) We took a later bus and made it to the city around noonish.

Our first stop was Times Square (!) and we proceeded to take pictures with Flat Colin. As my dear friend Emily was holding Flat Colin in the air to get a pic of him with a billboard, a very upset woman started yelling that we can’t do that! How dare we try to make an animated object suspend in mid-air! We all pretty much were wide eyed and thought this woman was a lil off her rocker, but then she started yelling “Flat Stanley would NEVER be suspended in air! You are doing it all wrong! Put him on the mailbox!!” Of course giggles ensued and from there on we tried to make sure Flat Colin was not a suspended animated object in our pictures

Miss Emily decided to spice things up by jumping across the walk ways like Will Ferrell in “Elf”. Oh my word- I almost died from laughing!! Jen and her attempted this amazing act a few more times- the best part was that not a single person raised an eye brow. They really must see it ALL in NYC!! I had to leave early so we hit up Central park (gorgeous!!) then I jumped on the sub to catch my bus ride home. It was a short short short day in the city, but totally worth it as I loved every minute with my lady friends!

My original plan was to meet up with my good bud, Bobby, once I made it back to Boston, but being exhausted + a dead phone + no idea where I was did not = meeting up with Bobby SO I returned home, but the bonus of this was that I was able to snag Jen’s gps so I wouldn’t get incredibly lost on my excursion again

The next day was an early one. I took off to Wakefield to meet up with a new buddy of mine, Tommy. We went to Maple Farm Animal Sanctuary to help around the place with some chores and to love on the rescued animals. It boggles my mind how cruel people can be towards other humans AND animals. These poor defenseless creatures all had a tragic tale, but they are now living their life out in a wonderful environment at the sanctuary. I fell in love with a cow and a goat and became even more happy with my choice of being a vegetarian.

After our stint at the sanctuary, we returned to Wakefield, MA so I could take off officially on my adventure!! I had booked a place in Wilkes-Barre, PA as it was 5.5 hrs away and I figured I would NOT want to drive any further. Man, was I right The trip was pretty non-eventful , but totally fun. I just rocked out to my tunes, watched a ton of highway pass under my wheels and just thought of all the fun I had ahead of me. My favorite part was when I was in Nowheresville, PA and found a an all 80′s radio station. Oh man. I bet I scared the bears. Nothing beats exhaustion like belting out old school Bon Jovi. Trust me.

Once I made it to my hotel, I must have looked like one of two things- a train wreck or the happiest person in the world. Or maybe both. I felt like both that’s for sure. Despite needing toothpicks to keep my eyes open, I decided to head out and see a bit of Wilkes-Barre. Well friends, it is I think a very deceiving little place! It lokos so quaint and adorable- the center of the city has a beautiful round-about ( I think I am making that word up) and is all lit up with white lights. Sweet right? Oh no. I decided to stop off in a local “pub” the concierge suggested and was BLOWN AWAY by the atmosphere there.  Lets just say those kids know how to party. Being slightly entertained by watching all these strangers, I decided to leave after a bit as I was beyond tired. Once I returned “home” I just saw my pillow and fell asleep.

The next morning (which is today, the 22nd, for all you needing dates) I packed up and started out on the road again. I can’t wait to fill you in on my adventures today, but that will have to wait until my next post. It’s getting late in the day and I still have about 100+ miles to travel.

So until then- here is a little tip I learned- Green Jasmine tea is WRETCHED.  Seriously wretched, but I am still drinking it because I paid for it. Oh the tragedies

p.s. I will be posting pics so keep your eyes peeled for those!