Waking up in the City of Rocks

At the Weare Town Library, there are several very old, and very used encyclopedias about the Southwest of the United States. While still in New Hampshire, I spent many nights reading about different National Parks, routes to explore, and sights not to miss. I came across a single interesting paragraph and a photo of The City of Rocks, New Mexico and worked it into my route.

New Mexico was hot and excited and felt like the start of a brand new trip if only because it is everything the East Coast is not. Without smart phones or reliable GPS, my FPIC (French Partner in Crime) and I arrived at the entrance of the City of Rocks by pure dumb luck. The roads leading to it it were dirt, the road signs were few, and it was the pitch black hour of 12am. We pulled in to search for our camp-site, which I called ahead to book. No one was working in the little office so we went off to find the site ourselves and check in, in the morning. After a half an hour of fruitless searching we found some other campers who invited us to stay in the site next to them and assured us that no one would might that we weren't in the right site. We pitched our tent, climbed inside and settle in for a sleepless, wind and thunder filled night. 

We work up the next morning in New Mexican Wizard of Oz. The sight that greeted us when I opened the tent the next morning was so shocking that I just sat and looked at it for a half hour. I would probably still be there in shock if I didn't have to get up to pee. We were alone. The helpful campers from the night before were gone and had left us as the sole campers in the emptiest, quietest place I have ever been.

The view that met me when I climbed out of the tent was nothing I could have ever imagined. In front of me,  there was an expanse of fields followed by rocky mountains in the distance. Behind me and surrounding the tent were huge boulders that looked like they had fallen from the sky randomly. There were no mountains, cliffs, or anything remotely rock nearby from which they could have fallen. They were just...there.

The city of rocks.

My FPIC had only planned to spend the night and leave in the morning. But we couldn't leave. Instead we spent the day exploring the rocks, climbing where we could climb and marvelling at the quiet. My FPIC wore a poncho and cowboy the whole day so he could be a cowboy. We learned that the poncho and cowboy hat not only looks cool, but also was practical in saving him from the sun. I got sun poisoning.

Sun poisoning aside, it was the perfect day.

What country is this again?

As a first time visitor to the southwest of the United States, I find myself surprised all the time. Sometimes it is hard to believe that I am still in the same country where I was born and raised. Here are a few things we have ran across when driving through Texas, New Mexico  and Arizona.

In Austin, TX, my French Partner in Crime (FPIC) and I were walking around the city to see what was what when we saw large groups of people gathering on a bridge. We walked over to investigate and found that there were also people waiting in the river in kayaks and gathering on the banks of the river. What was everyone waiting for? We asked and we found out that everyone was hanging around to see the nightly

Congress St Bridge, Austin, TX

occurrence where the 1.5 million bats that live under the bridge fly out for the night. We waited too, of course, and were thoroughly amazing when, right on schedule, 1.5 million bats began flying out from the bridge under us. It took a full ten minutes for them all to exit. Even after they had flown off, we could still see clouds of them off in the distance. It was a really unexpected, amazing sight, and the first time I have ever seen large groups of people waiting and watching in the opposite direction of a sunset.

When passing through New Mexico, we stopped at White Sands National Monument. I expected, with the name, that we would be seeing some white sand...what found was 275(!) square miles of white sand. It was amazing. The best part was when we ran into a couple and their pet camel. They live in the mountains around the sand dunes and liked to bring their camel down to play in the dunes about once a week. It is funny to stand in the middle of miles of white dunes and watch a camel lay down in the sand. I felt very far from home.



The difference between cactus and trees is that cactus do not give off shade. We drove around the campground next to Saguaro National Park, AZ about 6 times before realizing that there would be no getting away from the desert sun. We pitched our tent in record speed and left to find a place out of the 100 degree weather. We are not made for that kind of heat. Getting up early the next day was easy. No one ever tells you how loud the desert is in the morning. With an alarm clock of about 1804575 singing/screaming birds and other animals, we were able to get up, eat, pack and hike all before the heat of the day at 11am. After 11:00 we just took refuge in the visitor's center and learned about cactus while all the rangers told us we were lucky because it was cooler than usual for that time of year. Arizona is beautiful and I can't wait to see more of it, but if I lived there I would be dead after the first summer.

Hiked through Apache lands...

In the Southwest we also...

Camped out in the City of Rocks...

Crossed through some areas where, for miles, the only things we saw were
 ourselves and the dirt road we were driving on...

and witnessed both staged and real live(!) shoot-outs in Tombstone
and Tuscan Arizona. Yikes. 

That's all for today! More later.
-Laura

Houston, We Have a Problem

Hello!

On our road trip around the United States, my French Partner in Crime (FPIC) and I made a stop in Houston, TX to visit some friends.

Upon first glance, Houston does not really seem to have a lot to offer to a passing visitor. The city is very industrial with few places to walk around. Out of Google's "Top Ten Places to Visit in Houston", seven were shopping malls/plazas. Not too exciting for people who have a week to kill. Lucky for us, our friends and friends of friends had better advice than Google.

The best tip came from a night of trivia at the Front Porch, where your hamburger is barbecued for you on a grill out front. In between trying to guess order of Texas cities according to size and remembering the actors from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, our teammate brought up Brazos...and we are glad she did.

Brazos Bend State Park is know for being home to alligators. We went expecting to read some signs and pamphlets, chat with a park ranger, and walk around. What we found out is that the park is know for alligators because it is FULL of alligators. It is hard not to spot them. And there is the thing...they are not barrier-ed off, or behind a fence or anything. They are just there living, and crazy people like us go and visit them. There are signs everywhere that say things like...
-Don't let your dog wander off or swim
-Stay away from tall grass
-Don't throw anything in the water
-Remember, alligators are fast
-Stay at least 30 feet away from the alligators

This last recommendation proved hard to follow. We were walking back on a trail when we came across an alligator right on the path, just waiting with it's mouth wide open. We were like, uh oh Houston...we have a problem. We couldn't get by without going past and we couldn't do past without coming within 4 feet of the open mouthed alligator. All we could do was wait and look at him looking at us.

Look at him! He is ready...

I am writing this blog now...so I have not been eaten, but I won't lie by saying I wasn't worried for a moment there. It certainly made for an interesting afternoon and a +1 for Houston. 

Until next time, Laura 

4 Cities in 4 Days

It has been one year since my French Partner in Crime (FPIC) and I moved to the north in Vermont. After months of -20 degree temperatures (Fahrenheit) and dealings with an insane downstairs neighbor, we decided that one year was enough. We have embarked on a journey across the United States in search of a new home. Monday, with a car full of snack and camping equipment, we headed south. Here are a few highlights so far from the road.

Day 1 - NH to Pittsburgh, PA (10 hours)

Why Thank you Pennsylvania! 

Our first day on the road we passed quickly through New England, stopping only for gas, until we reached Pittsburgh, PA. The city is small, with most of it's inhabitants living in the areas surrounding rather than in the city. Walking around after working hours leads to an "I Am Legend" feeling of being the last people living on earth. We stayed with a young couchsurfer host who does film work for reality and National Geographic television programs. He took us salsa dancing and gave us a late night history lesson from Mt. Washington, over looking the Pittsburgh skyline at night.

Day 2 - Pittsburgh to Nashville, TN (9 hours)

An Elvis sighting in Nashville 

We arrived in Nashville after what seemed like an endless drive through West Virginia, Ohio (very flat) and Kentucky (pretty and green). It poured rain but Nashville was still everything I wanted it to be with a blinking neon downtown area, streets of recording studios, cowboy boot shops, friendly people, good breakfasts, and a chance to hold a guitar and sing into a fake microphone at the visitor's center. Our couchsurfer host was a grad student getting her PhD in Anthropology with  the most cuddly dog imaginable. I wish we had had more time to spend in Nashville...maybe on the way back.    

Day 3 - Nashville to New Orleans, LA (8 hours)
New Orleans is a funny place. I was in constant conflict in deciding whether I loved it or hated it. It is awesome to wander around the French Quarter and see the cute buildings with their terraces and flowers but frustrating to be doing this with about 238472387 other people with cameras, sunhats and good walking shoes. The French Quarter lacked a bit of the authenticity I was looking for and seemed to be working only for tourist's benefit. It wasn't until we ventured out in search for sandwiches that we found a bit of "real" New Orleans with shops, restaurants and bars not filled with people who were taking pictures of themselves eating or drunk (or both). This part was very nice and I wish we had thought to do that sooner. I would visit New Orleans again, but I would want to make sure to stay with a local.

Day 4 - Western Louisiana
On our way to Houston, My FPIC and I meandered through the western part of Louisiana and stopped at a few historical sites. I am not sure if tourists are more rare through this area, but everywhere we went we were received with enthusiasm and more information than we could imagine. We visited one plantation where we planned to take a self-guided tour but ended up spending over an hour talking with the three women at the front desk. We got the whole history of the plantation plus their own lives plus a recommendation of enough things to visit in Louisiana to stay a month. Our next stop went similarly and we left with more stories, maps and recommendations to stop by a music festival that was nearby. We stopped by Lafayette to visit the festival expecting to see a few local bands and maybe some food stands...but instead we found that this was the 27th International Festival of Louisiana! There were 6 stages playing with different bands from around the
world every hour for five days. We saw an excellent

group from Israel, some break-dancers, rows and rows and artisan vendors and a funny group from our next of the woods in Quebec wearing kilts and playing violins and accordions. Instead of just dropping in we ended up staying the whole afternoon and not wanting to leave. We even got interviewed by a local newspaper guy who saw our NH license plate and wanted to know if we had driven all that way just for the festival (sadly no but we might consider it next year). It was great and I consider it to be the best part of our voyage so far.

Stay tuned as we head off to Texas and even more off the beaten trail!
<3 br="" laura="" nbsp="">

Westward Bound

Because of my seemingly endless unemployment...my FPIC and I have decided to take advantage of this time off and take the trip we have always dreamed of. We plan to pack hiking boots, tents, lots of pasta, a few maps to go and find the next place to work and live.

Stay tuned...we take push off next week.  

Let's Go Outside...It's Not a Nice Day

I knew that it would be a cold winter in the north of Vermont. Having grown up in New Hampshire, I had no romantic notions about the upcoming winter weather and gathered my collection of winter clothes in preparation. I was surprised, however,  to discover just how enthusiastic the locals get about the winter. It seems that the farther north you go, the more people you find outside...and I am not just skiing.

During an online search of the Northeast Kingdom winter carnival, I stumbled on a picture of a castle made completely out of ice in Quebec. It seemed so cool that I proposed an impromptu weekend to Quebec to my FPIC and within a few hours had found us a couchsurfing host. We bundled up, packed all our blankets (our car's heater is broken) and headed north. Our host was an engineering student with long hair and a hammock in his living room, who's only response to the freezing temperature was to say he was wearing long underwear. Within minutes of meeting him, he invited us to an improv show which was hilarious mostly because neither my FPIC or I had a clue what was going on through the strong Quebecois accents.

Our first day in Quebec was mostly spent shopping due to the fact that it was impossible to stay outside longer than ten minutes. We braved the weather long enough to visit the ice castle (so cool) and nearly died waiting in line to try out a luge track (totally worth it). We returned back to our host's house to find he had arranged a dinner of spaghetti and Canadian bacon for us and his water polo team (not joking). We spent the rest of the night discussing Canadian health care and watching memorable water polo clips on Youtube.

Our last day in Quebec warmed up to over 0 degrees (F) and we were able to explore a bit more. Our host took up to see the Montmorency Falls. The waterfall was frozen except for a light mist that froze on contact with our jackets and soon left us encased in light capsule of ice that cracked when we moved. The result meant that even though we were standing at the bottom of the falls, we did not get wet until we mistakenly went inside to use the bathroom and our ice covering melted.



The best outdoor winter activity I have ever seen was found at the Quebec winter Carnival. We had just about finished wandering around looking at the ice sculptures, drinking free hot chocolate, marveling the outdoor ice bar that served wine in cups made of ice, and gawking at the dancers who had their tutus and scarves strategically sewn onto heavy woolen pants and snowgear; when we found Human Foosball!

Picture if you will, people wearing red and blue jerseys over their winter jackets, strapped to long poles by pieces of seat-belt, and standing on glare ice and you will have the best sport ever invented. My FPIC and I tried a couple of rounds. It is funny to play a sport where you fall if your teammate falls and your movement is limited by your own winter pants. I don't think I have laughed so much ever.



We returned back to our car and headed back to Vermont with a new appreciation for the cold and a bag of M&M's frozen so hard they could be used as weapons.

Before I end, I want to share one last gem from Vermont. While walking on the lake by our apartment one day (because walking on a lake is a normal activity :)) we found something odd frozen into the lake. Now what is something that you would only ever find while walking on a lake in Vermont? Why an empty gallon jug of maple syrup of course.

That is all for today! :)

It's Not the End of the World

On the day the world was scheduled to end, I was in an airplane. I figured that there was no better way to tempt fate than to take an international flight that involved three different airplanes and stops in four different countries. As we all know, the world did not end, so instead of having a front seat view from the air of the world imploding, I was stuck in an airport in Toronto.

Although I am not new to transcontinental flying, this was my first time traveling at Christmas. I was tightly scheduled to take a bus from New Hampshire to Boston where I would catch my plane that went from Boston to Toronto Canada, Toronto to Frankfurt Germany, and Frankfurt to Brussels Belgium where I would be picked up by my French Partner in Crime (FPIC) and drive south to Lille, France to visit his family for the holiday.

The only problem was that my flight from Boston never left. In fact there were no planes available on any AirCanada flights as they were all stuck in a giant snow storm in Montreal. By the time I got to Toronto, my flight to Germany had left long before without me and my only option was to wait in line with all the other lost passengers to speak with someone who could put me on another flight. For two hours. You make friends when you wait in a line for two hours. I became very friendly with a lovely family of five who were coming from Victoria and heading to Norway to visit family, a nice German girl who was heading home for the holiday, and an American guy who was trying to make it to London to see his girlfriend. We swapped travel horror stories and complimented each other on being insane enough to get into international relationships.

When it was my turn at the front I was informed that the next flight to Frankfurt was the next day. I quickly explained that I didn't care about going to Frankfort as long as my final destination was Brussels. The lady then said there was a flight to Munich in 10 minutes and if I ran I could make it on that flight. I ran.

In Munich I found I had to wait six hours for a flight to Brussels. The only thing to do was have 9 cups of complimentary coffee, attempt to read a German newspaper and fall asleep on a bench across from 5 Spanish guys doing the same thing. The best part of the trip came when it was time to board. The stewardess came on and said..."the boarding of the flight to Brussels will be delayed because we have no plane and we have no crew".

Fair enough. We'll wait.

A bit more concerning was when she came back an hour later and said..."we found a plane and will begin boarding as soon as I check to see if the captain is ok"...and then shuttled us out on the tarmac to the very end of the airstrip to a tiny plane that we boarded via stairs. I had many questions. Where did they find this plane? What happened to the captain?

I finally arrived in Belgium, a little late, ragged and without luggage.  My FPIC was there to greet me, laughed at my lack of bags, and took me to have a hot wine and a waffle. I decided I like Brussels.

We then drove to Lille, bought me some clothes for Christmas and spent a very lovely time with my FPIC's family. The Pere Noel came and put presents in my shoes, we ate a buche de Noel, and shared wine from the year I was born. It was a Christmas just like my grade school French lesson book described.

Ok, enough talking. I would like to share a bit of travel advice before I end this. Lille, France is amazing. It is old and beautiful and colorful. It is filled with amazing shops, wonderful cafes, and very friendly people. I would argue that it is better than Paris. I would recommend anyone who has a soft spot for European charm to visit Lille. Even though it was rainy and cold, I loved every part of it.

That's all for today.
Thanks for reading.

Ferris Wheel in Lille Set up for Christmas

Streets of Lille 

Lille Train Station

One of me learning to ski...you may notice that I am not actually in this picture. That is because I learned to ski wearing a bright red, full body snowsuit that my FPIC wore when he was 14 and do not wish to share the photos of me. Not only was I a beginner on the french slopes, but I was easy to spot.