Ahh, Sunday

I got up in time for church this morning, biked over there, did the worship/fellowship thing for a couple hours, then headed to the library to work on a couple papers. I was there for maybe an hour when I got a phone call along the lines of, "hey, you wanna come on a boat ride and go rock climbing with us?" Uh, only always.
So I ended up not finishing that paper this afternoon, which is why I'm on my computer now. And clearly, still not working on that paper...

what happens in vermont ...

... doesn't stay in vermont

stationary

I will spend two nights in a row in the same place for the first time since I was in Boston. With any luck I might hit even six or seven in one place. Crazy. I'm back in Seattle now. It's good to be home-ish. I'm not sure where home is, but I sure do love my family and my puppy. So it's good to be here.

Here's some estimates from my trip for you...
Miles on the train ~ 3256
Miles on a bus ~ 381
Miles driven/ridden ~ 5334
Miles flown ~ 3204
Total traveled ~12175 (almost 350 per day)
States gone though ~ 38

state number 50

I went through Nebraska today. It was the 50th state that I've been in. There are a few astersiks in there... I didn't stop in Ohio or Kentucky, but I have gone through them, so they're kinda on the list. I'm pretty stoked about it. And some of the states I haven't been in for a long time... like since I was 7.
Tonight I'm in Wyoming, which may be my 4th favorite state. I like it here. But not as much as Alaska...

Charleston - Richmond - Atlanta - Driving around

So I made it to Atlanta after going to Charleston and Richmond for a bit. I loved Charleston... there's so much history there... it's a geek's paradise. I got to hang out in Richmond with my Aunt Karen and see the historical house that she is restoring, which was awesome. Then I took my final train to Atlanta... I wandered around the city and made it down to Olympic Park, where I joined an Ultimate Frisbee game. It was pretty rad.
I met up with Ashley (future roommate) in Atlanta, and now we're on our way to Seattle. Our first stop was in Mississippi, which meant that I had to go through Alabama... State number 47. Then last night, I got to hang out with my cousin, Caroline, in Tulsa and meet her in-laws. It was super cool to catch up with them. Today we we're staying in Kansas (#49). Barring major trauma, we'll be in Seattle on Thursday night (through #50 Nebraska). I'm pretty stoked.

St Louis - New Orleans - Orlando

Still all over the map. I went to St Louis where I wandered around (shocker) and happened to find the Taste of St Louis. That was a highlight. Then I caught a train to New Orleans, where I watched people after the Saints game and then went to the French Quarter and watched some people some more. It was good times. Then I flew to Orlando this morning, where I met up with Jenna and Andrew (DR interns) and went to Epcot. My feet hurt, but I sure have seen a lot of this country.

Grand Rapids - Chicago - Milwaukee

Yesterday I was hanging out in Grand Rapids, then stayed the night at a friend's parents' house in Indiana, went to Chicago for a few hours and ended up in Milwaukee hanging out. I walked a couple miles in Chicago and then 5 in Milwaukee... not bad for having a 30 pound pack on.
Today I met a couple interesting people...
Joey was on the same train as me from Indiana to Chicago. He's from Puerto Rico and, when I mentioned the Dominican Republic, got excited about how they're just an island away.
Bill went to the Brewers game with me tonight. He was a police officer in DC in the 60s when riots started being all the rage.
Homeless dude spends his summers in Texas. He thought it was amazing that you could get an amtrak pass for 30 days for just $350 and informed me that he was going to start saving up right away.
I have met a lot of interesting people on my journey, and can't even tell you how many times a day I explain what I'm doing. But everyone seems to think that it is one of the coolest things they have heard of in a while.
I think, just maybe, I'm the coolest thing since sliced bread.

AT What?

On Saturday, we (cousin Heidi and I) hiked in New Hampshire on part of the Appalachian trail. It was so rad. It was a gorgeous day and i hiked on about a mile of something that I someday hope to hike all of. Eventually. Until then, that mile will have to do for the other 2174...

My personal Mecca

So we went to Ben and Jerry's... I was pretty much giddy the whole time. Then I tried to eat the Vermonster. It's the 20 scoop ice cream sundae topped by chocolate, cookies, whipped cream, and 4 other toppings of your choice. I went for 4 scoops each of cake batter, half baked, vanilla, phish food, and triple caramel chunk. And my toppings were oreos, chocolate sprinkles, brownies, and caramel sauce. It was a little bit of heaven, until I got halfway through. Then i just felt sick.

new york - new haven - providence - boston

today was a travel day. i started this morning in brooklyn (thanks to Alissa and the radical living community) and then headed to Penn Station yet again. i decided that rather than going straight to boston, i was going to see some of Connecticut and Rhode Island, so I stopped in New Haven and walked around Yale some... nothing too exciting. Then I went to Providence, where I got lost more than once wandering around the city. At one point, I'm not sure what kind of neighborhood I was in, but I was getting yelled at from time to time, and I went at least 30 minutes without hearing someone else talk in English. So I took the bus back to where I could find myself again. Then I headed up to Boston where I also did some wandering before finally meeting up with my cousin, Heidi. Tomorrow we're off to my personal Mecca... the Ben and Jerry's factory.

my first day in new york

i got in last night. i'm staying with stefanie, who lived with my parents my freshman year. she's my host sister for life. you know those people who no matter how long it has been, it's good when you see them again... yeah.
today i went exploring. i went to costco in brooklyn and then down to coney island where i had a nathan's hot dog... mmmm...

and tonight i went to get pizza. double mmmm...
it rained all day, which sucked, but i still wandered around a ton. good times.

my time in Pennsylvania

The day before yesterday marked the end of my first roadtrip portion of my journey. I ended up in Philadelphia. I saw the Liberty Bell and other historical stuff and then I walked all over the place and ran up the stairs from Rocky. It was rad. I stayed with a friend of a friend, which worked out super well. The weather sucked the second day that I was there, so I slept forever and then ended up getting a Philly Cheese Steak and then going grocery shopping. Pretty random, but rad none-the-less.

I left Philly yesterday on the bus up to Allentown (ish) and am hanging out with Andrew and Jenna, a couple people who I spent part of the summer with in the Dominican Republic. I like hanging out with friends.
On a crappy note, my camera broke a little, so I don't have any pictures to updates... I'll do what I can when I can... Over and Out for now.

my roadtrippin' days...

i went to san antonio on thursday night, and got to hang out there for a bit.
friday we drove to little rock
saturday (yesterday) we drove to chattanooga and got to hang out with a couple of dr interns from this summer. it was AMAZING.
today we went from Chattanooga to DC via West Virginia and the Shenadoah National Park. rad.
more later.