road trip

my college roommate sam got married in nh and after the wedding i camped in her parents' back yard. the next morning up i was up and on the road by 8:30am. drove straight through to ohio and got to my aunt molly's by 7pm. working, hanging with the family, etc. peer pressured the cousins into shotgunning beers. a lot of my family lives in ohio and i haven't seen many of them in two or more years, so my aunt helped get folks to stop by over the couple days to say hi. also tuesday was my sister's birthday, so while i've been seeing my family, i had them each record a short birthday message and i put everything together into a video to send to her. i think it turned out nicely! also got in a short bike ride to have lunch with my cousin shane!

i got to columbus on wednesday evening, i drove after work down to see my cousin kelly. we hung out for a while and chatted but overall had a pretty lowkey night. the next two days were mostly chill, we biked a couple places around the city and hung out with some of her friends. on saturday we did some errands, checked out a bike from craigslist, etc. at some point during the previous few days we got it in our heads that we were going to bike to cincinnati to see our other cousin rory and his wife molly, so we figured out what that trip would look like, bought some of the supplies we needed, and started prepping. saturday night we went over to another of kelly's friends houses for dinner and had a very nice time with them. they made homemade ravioli with homemade ricotta, and a homemade pesto with foraged ramps. it was truly among the best ravioli i've ever had?? we didn't stay out too late because the next morning we were determined to wake up at 6am to do this bike ride. in reality we got up at 6:30am but still we got dressed, ate breakfast (overnight oats with chia seeds, peanut butter, jam), and packed up our things, then were on the road around 7:30am. we biked for literally 12 hours (9.5 hours of riding time plus some breaks), and over 119 miles. we finally ended up at rory and molly's house - they had ALSO made homemade pasta, with delicious roasted carrots and broccoli. another incredible meal!!! we had a super nice night with them and i am very glad we did the trip!! also we have been watching a lot of the tv show catfish and it is a real treasure.

the rest of my time in columbus was really nice, also pretty relaxing. i did one more solo bike ride, about 25 miles, on a path in columbus and listened to my audiobook (say nothing) while i rode, which is maybe my new favorite activity. on friday afternoon kelly and i left and drove to chicago - she decided to go visit a friend and i was trying to get there for ag's birthday activities. lauren, vna, and andrew were all in chicago also, so friday night we went to a couple spots and then ended back at sophie and ag's house. we stayed up way too late but it was really fun. saturday morning ag, lauren, and i walked and got breakfast at a place nearby, then we went to the beach for the afternoon. more pals met us at the beach and it was a perfect afternoon. after the beach, we went to micocenter and bought go pros because we kinda spontaneously decided we were going to record our agventures and it would be way more funny if we both did it. we also got these headbands so that we could just wear them on our heads. saturday night there was a little party for ag, we wore the go pros, and it was very fun. we got some great footage (stay tuned). once again ag, lauren, and i stayed up way too late and eventually fell asleep all three of us in ag's bed watching catfish. on sunday we brought lauren to the airport, then ag and i drove to the indiana dunes and walked around in the dunes, sat on the beach, ate ice cream, and just had a nice little afternoon together.

the week in chicago went by way too fast !!! shannan, ag, sophie, and i all had to work, so most of our days we just did that. one night ag and i clipped some of our go pro footage; one night we facetimed with jesse and lauren and watched a couple episodes of the new l word gen q; one night i met up with my friend peter and some of the other sierra club illinois chapter staff; one night sophie and i had a date and we went to ulta so she could buy makeup and i bought hair bleach + dye... then friday night we all went to an airbnb in wisconsin for sophie's birthday. her twin eve and some of both of their friends also came, and we went out to a nice dinner then had a small party afterwards. the next day, we had breakfast, then i helped two of sophie's friends change their brake light because it was out, and then ag and i stopped at this farm where you could pick your own sunflowers, zinneas, and wildflowers. it was so nice!!!! we had such a great afternoon. then on sunday morning ag and i got up ~early ish and made the drive to minneapolis.

driving to minneapolis ag and i made an extremely chaotic but very fun playlist and pretty much scream-sang the entire way from chicago. it was so fun. when we got to lauren's house we pretty much immediately left again and went to one of the lakes nearby. lauren took us to a kinda secret spot and then some of her other friends met us there. it was so relaxing and also it was like 90 degrees so swimming was perfect. on monday we ate breakfast at a nearby cafe, worked, and then picked nikola up from the airport, and that night went to a bar where we ate delicious cheese curds and played pool and had a really fun time. tuesday night we played a game in the park across the street from lauren and nikola's house with these light up golf balls where we had to hit targets far away, sort of like golf but we were throwing the balls instead of hitting them with clubs. then wednesday nikola took us to a different swimming spot that also has this mud pit, we swam again and played spike ball which is an extremely fun game. every day we pretended it was saturday so also that was fun. minneapolis has incredible bike infrastructure and i am sad we didn't bike more while visiting but we did get in one short ride!!

after work thursday ag and i went to rei and got some fun camping gear, then drove up a bit past duluth to two harbors and camped for the nigth on lake superior. driving into duluth was beautiful, and the sun was setting as we were getting to the campsite. we set up our tent, checked out a local brewery called castle danger, and had a nice relaxing night. we woke up a little before 7 the next morning to see the sun rise and had planned to do a bike ride along the coast of the lake but it was super rainy and windy so we decided not to. we drove up the shore instead and made some fun stops, then eventually headed west toward washington state forest to lost lake. it was much nicer weather at our next campground so we walked around, set up camp, and hung out. there were only two other groups of people camping at this place so it was really quiet and peaceful, and also very beautiful!!! late morning we started making our way toward fargo, it was a nice drive and mostly on back roads instead of big highways which was nice. fargo is a cute little city, and we had the most delicious dinner at brew bird then saw a little more of the downtown area. we went to this bar called cowboy jacks and they had a playlist that was more chaotic and deranged than the playlist ag and i made together (which is now almost 11 hours long...)

after fargo we headed south to palisades state park in south dakota. it was a dream come true!!! it felt like a classic example of you're in the middle of the desert and all of the sudden you're in an oasis and don't quite know how you got there, and maybe it's a mirage because you're delusional from dehydration or maybe it's real and you will never know. our campsite was *very* close to the river, there were some really nice trails, we swam, there were cool rocks, we rested. it was amazing.

we spent two nights in omaha and it was a much needed rest. one of our neighbors at our airbnb had a classic nebraska accent and we were lucky enough to get a "well shit, you just look like you just graduated high school!" out of him (directed at ag) and we have not stopped repeating that line since. omaha is a funny place, seemed like mostly old people live and/or vacation there. we did go to a great vegan restaurant for dinner one night and had yummy ice cream. also we went to a gay bar. we walked in and there were about 6 gay men sitting at the bar and no one else. we did not stay long and i got grumpy but in retrospect it is a funny story.

in omaha we found out that the kansas city royals were playing a home game the night that we were in town, so we bought tickets and went to the game. it was very fun!!! baseball is so fun. we sat next to a woman who was from the kansas side of kansas city and she gave us so many recommendations of things to do (like eat bbq and drink whiskey, neither of which we did) and very openly judged my tattoos. we loved her and only refer to her as our kansas city angel.

we spent two nights in the ozarks. deep missouri is a kinda scary place but once again we had an amazing campsite. we went skinny dipping the first night, ate frozen custard from andy's the second night, and ate frozen custard from randy's on our way out of town. there was an establishment called backwater jack's that we considered going to -- we drove up and looked at it from the parking lot but we did not go in. but they had one of those pools were you could order drinks from the pool and a live band and it looked like a lot of fun, but we both fell asleep pretty much immediately as soon as we got back to our tent so it was probably for the best that we didn't go. also i burnt my finger and i have a blister now.

best night. stayed with ejd in st louis, went to the gay bar and this one was extremely fun. we danced a lot. emma and her boyfriend michael have a dog named scooter who was very cute and snuggly, and also we played a vr car racing game that was very fun. also we ate brunch in the morning that was very delicious. it was a nice change to be in someone's home who i knew (not an airbnb or camping) and with a pal.

we got to indianapolis by sunday evening, we found a pretty nice airbnb that had good space for us to work, since monday morning we both had to go back to work. very sad that vacation was over. monday night we met up with andrew, ate mexican food, ag drank an enormous margarita, then got beers, then watched an extremely random collection of music videos (this one is the highlight). on tuesday we had to check out of our airbnb so we worked at a coffee shop for the day, then met up with my coworker rebecca and walked around another part of town. it was a very nice day!!! and great to meet rebecca irl and not just on zoom.

back in the car again. we got back to chicago on tuesday night, and the rest of the week was pretty quiet, we worked, etc. friday was my birthday so i worked a little, kinda took it easy, and then friday night went out to a few gay bars with a handful of pals in chicago. it was very fun!!!!! we had to show proof of vaccination at both bars we went to, so it was probably relatively safe (and since then we have all tested negative for covid), and we drank probably too much, danced a lot, and overall just had a lot of fun. saturday we were absolutely wrecked so we were very lazy, but did go out to brunch (at like 2pm or something) and generally took it easy. then on sunday we went out to breakfast again before i eventually left chicago for west virginia.

both of my grandparents were born and raised in west union, west virginia. my uncle renee lives in west union now, across the street from the house where my grandma grew up and where my grandparents also eventually lived. i think i was 13 or 14 the last time i was in west union? so it had been a while. i had a really nice time with renee, he mostly showed me important family landmarks and gravestones, and also talked about creating and updating Doddridge County Roots, which is the genealogy website that he runs. doddridge county has the highest rate of fracking in the entire state, so the relationship with fracking and the oil industry is sorta complicated, because on one hand it provides jobs, and the tax revenue for the county from fracking has helped build a public library, a better public high school, and better athletic facilities. but on the other hand, we need to transition off of fossil fuels if we want a livable future, and there are still people getting sick, there are still people who can't afford to eat or repair their homes, etc. there's a lot more to say here but i think that'll do for now.

i left west virginia and headed to philly on tuesday, and got in late evening. parked my car in west and ash picked me up from there, she was house sitting in center city so we stayed there for a couple nights. i mostly worked and then we hung out at night, watched a silly halloween movie, etc. thursday i went back to west and met up with bre, we went for a bike ride along the schuylkill river, had a beer at the parks on tap by the art musuem, and then picked up some very yummy mexican food on the way back to her house. friday i worked for a bit, then went for a walk with abby, then for another with batya, and eventually in the late afternoon/ early evening started the drive back to maine.