Travellin' Man
It's no secret, I love to travel! Since my first solitary, international trip back during my freshman year in college, I have always loved an adventure or a journey, whether near or far. So far this year has already gotten off to a good start with two trips right back-to-back.
First, as I've already written about, Dylan and I took a vacation to Boston, MA which also included a side-trip to New Haven, CT.
We landed in Boston on a Friday night and my friend Courtney and her husband Tyler were there to pick us up, something Dylan and I aren't accustomed too. Usually when we land somewhere, it's up to us to make our way to the hotel or wherever we're staying (unless we're going to my parent's place in Kansas City, of course). Courtney and Tyler turned out to be great hosts, and the first order of business was taking us out to eat with my friend Bethany, who they had never met, but went ahead and made all the arrangements with regardless! It was so fun to go out to dinner with friends that I hadn't seen for years, who had never met each other before! We had a great time catching up and eating tapas.
The next day was our Boston Bar Crawl, which Courtney and Ty organize for about 80 of their friends! On the way to breakfast, we walked through Boston as Tyler pointed out landmarks and explained some of the history behind them. We saw Boston Commons, the waterfront, the state building (with the "General Hooker" entrance; as opposed to the high-class hooker entrance maybe?) and the Freedom Trail among many other sites.
Venturing out on our own the next day, Dylan and I went to the Prudential Center and went up to the skydeck to get a bird's eye view of the city which was terrific. They had audio tour devices where you could go at your own pace and listen to stories and information about buildings and landmarks that you could see out the windows, which was very fascinating.
We rented a car and drove to New Haven through snow and sleet, which Dylan had never really driven in before but I thought it would be good for him to do. It wasn't that long of a drive anyway and we made it there OK. Our hotel was actually in Branford so we were about 10 minutes away from New Haven's downtown. We checked in to the hotel and of course took advantage of the indoor pool and hot tub.
We ventured in to New Haven several times, the first time we went looking around trying to find a gay bar but the one we found online did not look too promising so we decided to just walk around instead. Going up this one street, I saw a basement bar that had a neon rainbow sign for some beer, so we ducked in to see what it was. It was a quaint little bar and restaurant with mostly older gay guys, so we sat down and had a drink. The bartender told us we should try this place called "Bar" as it was having a gay night the next evening.
The next day, we went to the Yale Art Gallery which was amazing. I can usually appreciate art galleries and museums for a certain amount of time after which I get listless. But, without even realizing it, we blew over three hours in the gallery and I wasn't bored at all. It was like a greatest hits gallery, there were so many of my favorite artists in there, and so many others that I had at least learned about in school, as well as some very enlightening and interesting temporary exhibits. After that we walked around Yale and then went for Pizza at Frank Pepe (see the blog entry titled: New England on my Mouth" for more on that).
That night we did go to "Bar" which was OK but too loud, and because Yale was on spring break, it didn't seem as exciting as it could have been otherwise. We didn't stay too late.
Finally, our last day had arrived and we checked out of the hotel and loaded back in the car. On the way back, we took a different route up to Boston so that we could stop at Mystic Seaport (where I got several souvenirs) and drive through Rhode Island (so I could add another state to my list of those I've been to).
Courtney and Tyler took us out to eat one last time at an authentic Italian place in the North End on the way to the airport. We just happened to park right next to Paul Revere's house, so we got a little more history thrown in for good measure!
We were sad to go, but it was kind of nice to get back to the warm LA weather - not that it had been so bad in Boston. People had literally tried to tell Dylan that we should not be going to New England in March, but the weather turned out to be really nice, with the exception of the snow on the way to New Haven.
Just a little over two weeks after we got back, it was time for me to go to the airport again! This time I was flying to Kansas City, but with a one-way ticket.
Dylan was kind enough to wake up at 5 something in the morning to take me to LAX, as I was flying out at 7:40 am. I had planned to take public transportation to the airport, but I just wasn't up to the task when my alarm clock went off at 4:15am.
I got to KC around 1pm and my mom picked me up in her new Toyota Highlander Hybrid, which was sort of the reason for my trip. Since she got the Hybrid, they decided to give me their old car, a Toyota Avalon. So I was going to pick it up and drive back to LA.
I've basically made that ride a few times: first, Spring Break in college (98 or 99) when me, my brother, our friend Dan and my friend Angie and her roommates piled into a rental van and drove almost all the way to LA, stopping at Needles CA where our hotel room was. The second time, my dad drove my mom, brother and myself out to LA when Brandon and I were first considering moving to LA. Then, the third time was when we actually did move there; however, we took the southern route for some reason that I'm not sure of now. But this time I decided to take the I-70 route again, so that I could stop in Hays and see my cousin Andrea and her family, and my aunt and uncle, Lisa and Ronnie, and my cousin Caitlyn.
My parents would not let me leave Saturday morning as planned, ostensibly because there were too many snowstorms west and south of Kansas City, so there was no way to go where I wouldn't have to drive through snow, sleet, ice, or a combination of the three. I thought I could handle it but the choice wasn't mine so I stayed an extra night. My parent's dog, Royal, slept on my bed with me both nights. He is such a good dog and he gets walked more than any other dog I know! He always gets to go out twice a day, rain or shine, at least when I'm there - probably most any other day too.
I finally hit the road on Sunday morning and made it to Hays in the afternoon, where I met up with my relatives and had lunch while we visited at the bowling alley. I was pretty good about sticking to my schedule, and left after just a little over two hours to get back on my way. My goal was to make it to Grand Junction, CO, and get a cheap hotel room for the night.
It was smooth sailing all the way through the rest of Western Kansas, with my stereo cranked up while I enjoyed seeing the sights that had been such a part of my childhood. I thought of so many times when I was a kid and we would go to Colorado for vacation. My parents' friends, the Nondorfs, would always invite us to go with them to their condo in Winter Park, and after that we would just go on our own sometimes to Copper Mountain. In high school, we made several trips to Denver for fun and shopping. But it had been over 10 years since I had been out that way.
The sun was going down as I passed Denver and started to go up into the Rocky Mountains. Higher and higher I went until suddenly these white specks were flying everywhere. I couldn't figure out why they didn't seem to be hitting my windshield at all, so I rolled my window down and stuck my hand out. They were just little pieces of ice, not wet enough to necessitate turning on my wipers. It was trippy looking, but not dangerous or scary, I decided. So I kept going full steam ahead and then BAM! It turned into full-fledged snow, making visibility go way down, and then building up on the pavement into a crunchy icy mess. The cars all started slowing down, some much more dramatically than others. I hate driving through mountains in ideal conditions, but this was just frightening for me. I thought I would have no problem driving in snow, but I wasn't thinking of adding nighttime and mountains to the equation!
I saw that the next major exit was for Dillon, and taking it as a sign despite the difference in spelling, decided that I would get off the interstate and get a hotel for the night, even though it was only 9:30 and I was still hours from Grand Junction.
I had accidentally driven past the Super 8 motel where I had planned to get a room, and ended up right by a Comfort Suites. I thought I would check the price there, but as I pulled into the parking lot, my car started to slide on the ice, and a little light came on the dashboard to tell me as much (if I hadn't already figured that out). So, I decided I was probably just going to stay here no matter what. Luckily, the room was not too much more than I had hoped, and was still under $100, so I was pretty happy about that.
I got a good night's sleep and woke up really early for me, around 7:30; took a shower and was going to have some free breakfast but upon entering the continental breakfast area was met with a loud roomful of families and snowbunnies. It was just too much, and nothing on the breakfast counter looked like it was worth dealing with the crowd, so I promptly turned my key in to the front desk and warmed up my car.
The first hour or so was still a little scary, going up over the Vail Summit with snow on the road and only little ruts made earlier by a snowplow to really go by. You couldn't see the lines on the road of course. I tried to just go with the flow, passing the really slow cars but staying behind the more quickly moving ones. Finally, I hit dry land, or rather it was wet from the snow having all melted already. I got to Grand Junction around 11am, and soon was in Utah. I had tried to make sure to spend as little money as possible in Utah, so as to not line the pockets of more Mormons who want to take away my civil rights, so I only stopped for gas once and just put in enough to get me to Nevada.
When I got to Vegas, I practically felt like I was home. I have driven to and from Vegas so many times that it felt so close. The last part of the trip went by very fast, and I ended up getting home about 9:30pm which was not bad at all.
I am pretty much all rested up now from my trips, no longer a weary traveller, but enjoying my down time of just being at home now! Who knows where or when I'll go next?!
First, as I've already written about, Dylan and I took a vacation to Boston, MA which also included a side-trip to New Haven, CT.
We landed in Boston on a Friday night and my friend Courtney and her husband Tyler were there to pick us up, something Dylan and I aren't accustomed too. Usually when we land somewhere, it's up to us to make our way to the hotel or wherever we're staying (unless we're going to my parent's place in Kansas City, of course). Courtney and Tyler turned out to be great hosts, and the first order of business was taking us out to eat with my friend Bethany, who they had never met, but went ahead and made all the arrangements with regardless! It was so fun to go out to dinner with friends that I hadn't seen for years, who had never met each other before! We had a great time catching up and eating tapas.
The next day was our Boston Bar Crawl, which Courtney and Ty organize for about 80 of their friends! On the way to breakfast, we walked through Boston as Tyler pointed out landmarks and explained some of the history behind them. We saw Boston Commons, the waterfront, the state building (with the "General Hooker" entrance; as opposed to the high-class hooker entrance maybe?) and the Freedom Trail among many other sites.
Venturing out on our own the next day, Dylan and I went to the Prudential Center and went up to the skydeck to get a bird's eye view of the city which was terrific. They had audio tour devices where you could go at your own pace and listen to stories and information about buildings and landmarks that you could see out the windows, which was very fascinating.
We rented a car and drove to New Haven through snow and sleet, which Dylan had never really driven in before but I thought it would be good for him to do. It wasn't that long of a drive anyway and we made it there OK. Our hotel was actually in Branford so we were about 10 minutes away from New Haven's downtown. We checked in to the hotel and of course took advantage of the indoor pool and hot tub.
We ventured in to New Haven several times, the first time we went looking around trying to find a gay bar but the one we found online did not look too promising so we decided to just walk around instead. Going up this one street, I saw a basement bar that had a neon rainbow sign for some beer, so we ducked in to see what it was. It was a quaint little bar and restaurant with mostly older gay guys, so we sat down and had a drink. The bartender told us we should try this place called "Bar" as it was having a gay night the next evening.
The next day, we went to the Yale Art Gallery which was amazing. I can usually appreciate art galleries and museums for a certain amount of time after which I get listless. But, without even realizing it, we blew over three hours in the gallery and I wasn't bored at all. It was like a greatest hits gallery, there were so many of my favorite artists in there, and so many others that I had at least learned about in school, as well as some very enlightening and interesting temporary exhibits. After that we walked around Yale and then went for Pizza at Frank Pepe (see the blog entry titled: New England on my Mouth" for more on that).
That night we did go to "Bar" which was OK but too loud, and because Yale was on spring break, it didn't seem as exciting as it could have been otherwise. We didn't stay too late.
Finally, our last day had arrived and we checked out of the hotel and loaded back in the car. On the way back, we took a different route up to Boston so that we could stop at Mystic Seaport (where I got several souvenirs) and drive through Rhode Island (so I could add another state to my list of those I've been to).
Courtney and Tyler took us out to eat one last time at an authentic Italian place in the North End on the way to the airport. We just happened to park right next to Paul Revere's house, so we got a little more history thrown in for good measure!
We were sad to go, but it was kind of nice to get back to the warm LA weather - not that it had been so bad in Boston. People had literally tried to tell Dylan that we should not be going to New England in March, but the weather turned out to be really nice, with the exception of the snow on the way to New Haven.
Just a little over two weeks after we got back, it was time for me to go to the airport again! This time I was flying to Kansas City, but with a one-way ticket.
Dylan was kind enough to wake up at 5 something in the morning to take me to LAX, as I was flying out at 7:40 am. I had planned to take public transportation to the airport, but I just wasn't up to the task when my alarm clock went off at 4:15am.
I got to KC around 1pm and my mom picked me up in her new Toyota Highlander Hybrid, which was sort of the reason for my trip. Since she got the Hybrid, they decided to give me their old car, a Toyota Avalon. So I was going to pick it up and drive back to LA.
I've basically made that ride a few times: first, Spring Break in college (98 or 99) when me, my brother, our friend Dan and my friend Angie and her roommates piled into a rental van and drove almost all the way to LA, stopping at Needles CA where our hotel room was. The second time, my dad drove my mom, brother and myself out to LA when Brandon and I were first considering moving to LA. Then, the third time was when we actually did move there; however, we took the southern route for some reason that I'm not sure of now. But this time I decided to take the I-70 route again, so that I could stop in Hays and see my cousin Andrea and her family, and my aunt and uncle, Lisa and Ronnie, and my cousin Caitlyn.
My parents would not let me leave Saturday morning as planned, ostensibly because there were too many snowstorms west and south of Kansas City, so there was no way to go where I wouldn't have to drive through snow, sleet, ice, or a combination of the three. I thought I could handle it but the choice wasn't mine so I stayed an extra night. My parent's dog, Royal, slept on my bed with me both nights. He is such a good dog and he gets walked more than any other dog I know! He always gets to go out twice a day, rain or shine, at least when I'm there - probably most any other day too.
I finally hit the road on Sunday morning and made it to Hays in the afternoon, where I met up with my relatives and had lunch while we visited at the bowling alley. I was pretty good about sticking to my schedule, and left after just a little over two hours to get back on my way. My goal was to make it to Grand Junction, CO, and get a cheap hotel room for the night.
It was smooth sailing all the way through the rest of Western Kansas, with my stereo cranked up while I enjoyed seeing the sights that had been such a part of my childhood. I thought of so many times when I was a kid and we would go to Colorado for vacation. My parents' friends, the Nondorfs, would always invite us to go with them to their condo in Winter Park, and after that we would just go on our own sometimes to Copper Mountain. In high school, we made several trips to Denver for fun and shopping. But it had been over 10 years since I had been out that way.
The sun was going down as I passed Denver and started to go up into the Rocky Mountains. Higher and higher I went until suddenly these white specks were flying everywhere. I couldn't figure out why they didn't seem to be hitting my windshield at all, so I rolled my window down and stuck my hand out. They were just little pieces of ice, not wet enough to necessitate turning on my wipers. It was trippy looking, but not dangerous or scary, I decided. So I kept going full steam ahead and then BAM! It turned into full-fledged snow, making visibility go way down, and then building up on the pavement into a crunchy icy mess. The cars all started slowing down, some much more dramatically than others. I hate driving through mountains in ideal conditions, but this was just frightening for me. I thought I would have no problem driving in snow, but I wasn't thinking of adding nighttime and mountains to the equation!
I saw that the next major exit was for Dillon, and taking it as a sign despite the difference in spelling, decided that I would get off the interstate and get a hotel for the night, even though it was only 9:30 and I was still hours from Grand Junction.
I had accidentally driven past the Super 8 motel where I had planned to get a room, and ended up right by a Comfort Suites. I thought I would check the price there, but as I pulled into the parking lot, my car started to slide on the ice, and a little light came on the dashboard to tell me as much (if I hadn't already figured that out). So, I decided I was probably just going to stay here no matter what. Luckily, the room was not too much more than I had hoped, and was still under $100, so I was pretty happy about that.
I got a good night's sleep and woke up really early for me, around 7:30; took a shower and was going to have some free breakfast but upon entering the continental breakfast area was met with a loud roomful of families and snowbunnies. It was just too much, and nothing on the breakfast counter looked like it was worth dealing with the crowd, so I promptly turned my key in to the front desk and warmed up my car.
The first hour or so was still a little scary, going up over the Vail Summit with snow on the road and only little ruts made earlier by a snowplow to really go by. You couldn't see the lines on the road of course. I tried to just go with the flow, passing the really slow cars but staying behind the more quickly moving ones. Finally, I hit dry land, or rather it was wet from the snow having all melted already. I got to Grand Junction around 11am, and soon was in Utah. I had tried to make sure to spend as little money as possible in Utah, so as to not line the pockets of more Mormons who want to take away my civil rights, so I only stopped for gas once and just put in enough to get me to Nevada.
When I got to Vegas, I practically felt like I was home. I have driven to and from Vegas so many times that it felt so close. The last part of the trip went by very fast, and I ended up getting home about 9:30pm which was not bad at all.
I am pretty much all rested up now from my trips, no longer a weary traveller, but enjoying my down time of just being at home now! Who knows where or when I'll go next?!
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