A Ridiculous Road Trip, Part 1: MD, DE, NJ, NY, CT, MA, NY, ON

I am coming to you now from a town in South Dakota called De Smet. Specifically, the De Smet Super Deluxe Inn and Suites. I'm so happy about that name. If you're a true Laura Ingalls Wilder geek, you might remember that as the town where the Ingalls family finally settled. If you don't, that's okay. But that's why I'm here. I'm getting ahead of myself though. Let me start at the beginning.

For about 6 or 7 months, I've been planning a road trip. A trip so ambitious and (to my crazy mind) self-indulgent, I titled it A Ridiculous Road Trip in all my planning documents and lists. And the name stuck. And the hashtag was available, which is a thing, so there you go. Eventually the time for planning was past and the spreadsheet and custom google map came to life. I packed my little red Mini Cooper (mostly with stuff I'm taking to people in Utah) and left my house for 2 months. My husband is with me for this first phase. And now to the travel narrative...

Last Friday morning, Eric and I headed to New York City for the wedding of a darling friend named Kait and her equally darling fiance named Ray. I met Kait around 5(?) years ago when she was a missionary for our church and was assigned to our congregation in Maryland. When she and Ray got engaged, I just really wanted to be there, and then it became the jumping off point for my trip around the USA. It worked out so well and was so much fun. That first night we stayed in a hotel in New Jersey and I was able to fit in a photo shoot with a favorite family on Saturday morning. Saturday evening was the reception in Connecticut, so we drove over to a KOA in Niantic, CT for the second night. The weather was beautiful, with cool breezes and a hint of fall in the air. Here are some photos of days 1 and 2.

The Delaware Memorial Bridge is the first big landmark out of Maryland, so it feels like the real beginning of the adventures. 

Here they are, just outside the Manhattan Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I'm so glad we went. 

I love Central Park, and playing with apps that make my photos look like paintings or vintage photos. This one is done with an app called Formulas. Eric and I walked through Central Park after some wedding photos on our way to get some dinner.

I love the energy of New York City. 

We watched the fountain at Lincoln Center before our yummy dinner at Fiorellos. At which there may have been an actual bucket of chocolate mousse. And lemon pie.  

The temple at night with that bright spot being the angel Moroni shining in the dark. It's very well-camouflaged and fits in perfectly with the city, but still has the quiet elegance of a Temple. 

Our campsite in Connecticut. It worked out great to camp, and the only real problem we had was with the 5 mph speed limit (it's actually hard to keep from stalling going that slow in a manual) and that part on our brand new tent that broke the very first time we put it up. Fortunately, Bob, the awesome host of our campground, found us some zip ties. I had some duct tape and voila, a fix. So far, so good. The weather was perfect, with that lovely crispness one likes to feel when one is camping. 

Here's the fun party tent. There was a felafel truck providing dinner, a candy bar for treats, and s'mores for dessert. It was beautiful, simple and really festive. 

Me and my lovely pal.

Sunday morning we headed to my friend's house in Michigan, right in the palm of The Mitten. This was a true slog of a day--12 hours of driving, border crossings into Canada and back out again, nothing too exciting (except finding out that Eric's passport was expired and that the Canadian border guard was saltier than the American one). We did do a drive-by of Niagara Falls, but even on a random Sunday in the third week of September, it was mind-crushingly crowded so we elected not to pay the $20 for parking for a 5-minute glimpse of the falls. We drove through and enjoyed the mist and the rainbows and the Disneyesque landscaping all along the main thoroughfare.

Before that, we did stop in Albany, NY and try to go to church. We got to the parking lot just 15 minutes before the meeting was to start and it was totally empty. In our experience, that means one thing: Stake Conference, which is a regional gathering of congregations for a big meeting...at a different building. There would have been no way for us to know that was happening.

The best part of the day was the spectacular weather, plus we saw or at least caught glimpses of Lakes Ontario, Erie and Huron. Mostly, it was just fun to have all that time with Eric. Our lives are pretty busy right now and I'm grateful he's with me.

An authentic Niagara Falls Mist Rainbow. It was just too crazy and crowded to get out and go see. If I'd never been before we might have considered it, but both of us have been multiple times.

So there you have it. The beginning of my adventures in road-tripping. Next time, I'll be reporting on Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and South Dakota. 

For my own record, completed audiobooks:

• The Crown's Game 
• Little House in the Big Woods
• Little House on the Prairie. 

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Book Review: Little Women

Little Women
Louisa May Alcott
Genre: Fiction, Classic Literature
I listened to the audiobook, purchased from Audible and read by Kate Reading

Summary from audible.com:

Little Women is one of the best loved books of all time. Lovely Meg, talented Jo, frail Beth, spoiled Amy: these are hard lessons of poverty and of growing up in New England during the Civil War. Through their dreams, plays, pranks, letters, illnesses, and courtships, women of all ages have become a part of this remarkable family and have felt the deep sadness when Meg leaves the circle of sisters to be married at the end of Part I. Part II, chronicles Meg's joys and mishaps as a young wife and mother, Jo's struggle to become a writer, Beth's tragedy, and Amy's artistic pursuits and unexpected romance. Based on Louise May Alcott's childhood, this lively portrait of 19th-century family life possesses a lasting vitality that has endeared it to generations of readers and listeners.

This is the first time I've listened to an audiobook of this classic title, and it kind of wasn't my favorite. I've read this book so many times, and Jo just sounds different in my head, I guess. I don't know if it was the reader (who was fine, by the way), or the familiarity with the story, but this version moved slowly for me, in spite of it being a longtime favorite book.

So what of this beloved story? It's current again, with a fresh tv adaptation earlier this year (which I really liked), a new movie coming soon (which looks promising and sweet) and some accompanying debate on blogs and in the media about whether or not it's a good story for women and girls or a bad one. I think I will leave that in the eye of the beholder. For me and my values, it's a good story for women. I like how this family moves in their time and environment, and I'm willing to let the story stand on its own. It's got great character development, a rich setting, lots of toothy conflicts and solutions, and a terribly satisfying happy ending that's frankly just right for me.

Anyway, I'm glad to have the story in my head again. I will probably watch the PBS version while I do some editing later today. I love the characters, I relate so much to Jo and her feelings of awkwardness and longing. I relate to her relationship with Laurie--I never fit in, I was friends with lots of boys and sometimes, dang it, it got awkward. I married a guy that no one expected, and then I had a bunch of boys! So really, I am Jo. ;-)

Next time though, I will read the real book or the kindle book, and let the voices of all the characters sound in my own mind, the way they have since I was a little girl.

ps. (I have no idea why the movies are okay for me, but not this particular audiobook. Sorry about that inconsistency, but oh well.)

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Book Review: The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning
Margareta Magnusson
Genre: Self Help, Memoir, Homecare, Decorating
I listened to the audiobook, purchased from Audible, and read by Juliet Stevenson.

I listened to this delightful little book on the one-way drive from Virginia to home. While it is about the Death Cleaning in the title, it's also about a life well-lived. It is almost a kind of memoir told through the lens of possessions. She is not a minimalist, preaching that we ought to have nothing but the things we use, but instead she gently reminds us to keep and care for the things that truly connect us to our life. She teaches a kind of sweet, careful curating of our belongings.

She does discuss some processes for slowly and gradually beginning the task of preparing for one's inevitable death, but it's not a how-to book. It describes her experiences and highlights her philosophy.  She emphasizes that death cleaning is not sad, but is relieving and helpful. It allows us to enjoy what we have during our remaining time and also make things easier for our loved ones after we are gone.

I loved this one. The narrator, Juliet Stevenson has one of the loveliest, most soothing voices ever, and this book felt comforting, encouraging and delightful. The author has a sharp mind and a subtle, dry sense of humor that keeps it from any kind of pretentiousness or preachiness. It resonated with me as I seek to do this very thing. I love my stuff and the joy it brings me, and this gave me some practical framing for the task ahead of me to leave this earth having treasured all the things I've been privileged to own, yet without burdening my children with the task of dealing with too many of them.

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Neighbor Fun

Something I haven't written about yet is the fact that Corinne and her family moved to Utah. It's been a fairly major adjustment for me, because I made them a huge part of my life. I love them as much as I love any family member, and the truth is that I miss them terribly.

Thankfully, I have other people in my life. People that I love and treasure, and who help me feel useful and needed and who give me reasons to get out of my nearly daily funks. I'm still so much in a stage of "waiting to exhale" as I brace myself for various difficulties I've faced for the last few years.

Anyway, this last week had some very fun moments with these people I love. Next door is Kim. She's a kindred spirit for sure, and I love how she has cultivated a friendship with me--someone older, no little kids--it would have been easy when she moved in 2 years ago for her to dismiss me as someone too different from her, but she hasn't and I just love her.


I had her boys over for a Sunday afternoon while she got a nap and we had a great time.

My dear sister-friend Felicity is truly like a sister--I love the ease and fellowship that we have. It matters so much to me. She invited me over for the last-day-of-summer waterfest in her yard. What a blast. Wet hugs from her people, laughter, splashes and general goodness. I brought my camera, otherwise I totally wanted to join in. I told Felicity I needed to take some purely fun pics, and it was awesome. Two of the pictures I took got featured in some instagram, so that's fun!

I am so glad that I have made a habit of keeping little children in my life during this transition time from when my own were small to having grandkids. I think it has kept me young, helped me stay happier, and is a good thing. I know little kids don't do it for everyone, but they are essential to my sanity, I think.

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A Joyful Trip to California

A while ago, I offered to come and help with photography for Beth's daughter's wedding. She took me up on it and last week I flew to California for 6 delightful days. I got to celebrate my birthday with friends and strangers, got to enjoy the golden desert as well as the turquoise coast. I feel so comfortable in her home, and was so glad to be helping and involved with the preparations and celebrations. I'm just about done editing the photos I took, and I am happy to say that I was able to tell the story of the reception, and that makes me happy. Here are some photos:

From Instagram:
These California times were completely refreshing. A wedding at the temple; lovely evening walks in the desert; Joshua trees; time with precious, lifelong friends; the glory of the coast, and more: This state is golden in my book. 👌🏻☀️🌊🌴🕶

The day of the wedding, I helped out by making this twig and grapevine initial for the reception. I totally winged it, but it turned out okay. 

I always enjoy seeing a joshua tree up close. They are true trees, with bark and everything! 

One of my favorite things about big skies is being able to watch the sunset on one side, and the moonrise on the other side. Love. That. 

There are actually a million colors in the desert. 

Then we went to the coast for a day. The other side of the split personality that is California. It's actually split three ways-Mountains, deserts, sea. This time I got to two of the sides. 

The sweet, misty air of Ventura. 

Toes touching the Pacific. 

Beth, Jenny, Me, Karyn. It was good to be with all of them. They were an important and major part of my teenage years. 

All the exotic cars on the highways in the LA area. Here's a Ferrari for ya. 

Rule number 47: If you have the chance to spend the morning in a treehouse, do it. 

Heart rock, sunset, walk in the desert, this pretty much sums up the weekend. Beautiful, relaxing, just what I needed. 

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