One Week, Four Cities, and a Dozen Donuts

Portland vs. Portland


This week I visited Portland. Not Portland, Maine (which, for those of you who don't know, is where I live now), but Portland, Oregon. You see, when I moved to Portland, Maine I got a job at a touristy shop. And whenever the tourists from Portland, Oregon came in they had this obnoxious laugh that caused my brain to deteriorate a little more each time I heard it.
Me: So where are you from?
Customer: Portland..... (awkward pause)....... OREGON! *Giggle giggle*
Yeah, it was okay the first two times, but after a while I wondered if the mayor had challenged every citizen of Portland, Oregon to visit Portland, Maine. Seriously, there is an overabundance of tourists from Portland, Oregon on the east coast. It's unnatural. But traveling by Amtrak through Oregon presented me with an opportunity to get revenge. There's just one problem: obviously, not many people from Portland, Maine go to Portland, Oregon because the people who asked about my homeland were very surprised whenever I told them. Not a fake surprise like mine had always been, but a genuine surprise. (Unless, of course they're all very good at acting. This is very possible.) Like the woman at the Oregon Historical Society. She said there was no visitor on the record books from Portland, Maine. So either people from Maine forget to sign the record book or no one goes to Oregon. I'm not too sure which one it is. 

Portland!

  Portland, Oregon

• One Voodoo Donut Shop 
•  Located on a very, very muddy river 
•  NBA team- The Trailblazers 
•  Lots of movie theaters that play Indie movies 
•  Free streetcar in town 
•  Powell's City of Books 
•  Nice Library 
•  Rains ALL the time. Don't  straighten your hair. Ever. 
•  Bigger than Portland, Maine. 

Quick note: While traveling, I've seen plenty of bronze heads that are placed in parks in honor of important people. I'm pretty sure if I was important enough to have a bronze statue of myself, I'd want one like this!

  Portland, Maine 

•  Dozens of Dunkin Donuts Shops
• Located on the Atlantic Ocean 
•  Minor League hockey, basketball, and baseball. 
•  Just a few very expensive Regal Cinemas Fairly 
• Decent bus system, but not free 
•  Longfellow Bookstore 
•  Nice Library 
•  Snow in winter, sun in summer. LL Bean  is a must. 
•  Smaller than Portland, Oregon.  

So, there's the basics. We'll start with Voodoo Donuts because that place is like heaven in a little rundown shop. Voodoo has pretty amazing donuts. We're talking iced with M&M's, Maple Bacon Bars (maple filled donuts with bacon on top), and tons of other pretty, incredibly tasty donuts. One Voodoo made up for the 13 Dunkin Donuts located within a five mile radius of my house in Maine. Because of this, my diet in Portland consisted of Voodoo Donuts three meals a day. I think the woman working there thought I was on break from Fat Camp, but I didn't care. You have to get Voodoo when you can, you know? Don't waste a good thing when you see it.
Portland, Oregon is located on a river instead of the ocean. I actually didn't know this until I got there. Oops. But the river is so muddy and polluted that a water quality report about 75 years ago stated "A fish would last longer in a frying pan." I suppose that made the city look into the muddy water of their souls and turn in their ways, because that place is crazy about recycling and other green things now. For example, they have a streetcar that you can ride for free in certain areas. I'm sure this doesn't actually keep people from driving cars in the other non-free areas, but it sure helped me :)
I also went to my first NBA game in Portland. I've never been into basketball, so I decided to go while I had the chance. I also went because I couldn't go to the Irish Festival due to my age. It was quite an adventure, actually. The Trailblazers played the Cleveland Cavaliers. I quickly learned that Cleveland had traded LeBron. This was not to their advantage during this game (or any game). Even I could tell they were hurting. We won 111-70. Which was great, because when the team wins coupons come flying at you. Seriously. I got a coupon for a free stack of pancakes at IHOP, a free Egg McMuffin at McDonalds, and a free Chalupa at Taco Bell (that one was because they scored 100 points. The crowd started chanting Chalupa! before half-time, hoping that we could secure a free meal before we died of boredom). So besides my $1.25 donut at Voodoo the next day, all my meals were free. I've never cared before, but  I was suddenly glad LeBron wasn't there.
The previous night had also benefited because of my underage status in the alcohol world. The hostel I stayed at planned a pub crawl for that night. Well guess what? I can crawl, but I can't really go into pubs. So I wondered around in the rain looking for something to do until I came across a movie theater that played indie films and documentaries. I walked up to the ticket counter and asked the lady what was playing next. The documentary called Hood to Coast was playing next. 
Note: Hood to Coast is a very intense relay race in Oregon that goes 197 miles from Mt. Hood to the coast. Relay teams are comprised of 12 runners who run 3 legs each. It's a pretty big accomplishment to finish it even once. But I didn't know this before I walked into the documentary. I'd never even heard of the race before!
So I went into the theater and saw a row of ladies in red jackets. It was them and me the entire movie. I suppose I can't blame the rest of Portland for not wanting to watch a documentary of running, but I thought there might be some more people present. The film featured four teams, following them through training and race day. And it's a pretty good documentary. It's really informative, interesting, and funny. But when it was over, I stood up and noticed that the row of ladies in red jackets behind me was actually one of the teams featured in the film from the Portland area. 
They're called Heart-n-Soul, and the average age of the 12 women is 63. They've run HTC 21 times as a team, and they all still run marathons, HTC, Ironmans, and other hard core races. They have all run Boston recently and plan to run until the day they die. Basically, they're running goddesses. And guess what? I got to talk to them after the race for a while! I was in absolute heaven. I mean, these women are inspiring. Running has been their lifestyle for so long that they can't remember a time when they weren't training for something big. And they're not even famous! They just do it because they love it. 
Basically, this was a hint from God to me to get my butt back outside and pound the pavement. It worked. Oh, and if you want to see the movie I know it's on Netflix. 
One more thing about Portland, Oregon- it has the largest independent book store in the country, called Powell's City of Books. I have found that that place and the library are both wonderful places to escape to when you've had enough of the rain.


TrackTown, USA

Eugene, Oregon has been dubbed TrackTown, USA by runners all over the country. I suppose it's correct. I mean, it was where Steve Prefontaine went to school and where the University of Oregon is located. I was a little worried going to Eugene because I wanted to do two things there: run on the Pre Trail and see Hayward Field at University of Oregon, and I was going to be there for three days. But I had nothing to worry about! Because when I got to Eugene, which is a super cute little college town that goes comatose over spring break (which it was last week), I found out I have cousins in Eugene! And what's greater? They live only three-ish blocks from my hostel! I know, how ironic is that? Boredom: busted. 
My cousins Mike and AJ live there, along with Mike's girlfriend Katy and their adorable daughter Lexi. Anyway, one of the coolest things is that they have a cat named Curtis. He's deaf! So you can insult him and not feel bad. So basically I visited the spots on my checklist and visited with my family. I have to say, Eugene was a pretty cool place :)

Left to Right: Katy and Lexi, AJ, me, and Mike!

Sacramento


Sacramento was another family affair, but this one was planned. My Aunt Cat and Uncle Rudy live in Rio Linda, which is basically the same thing as Sacramento, according to my aunt. They're pretty cool people with a super simple lifestyle, which is what I hope my life is like when I'm that age. They're both in the military and they don't really cook and they like to watch TMZ and Two and a Half Men. Totally my kind of lifestyle. 
Speaking of Two and a Half Men, I got a Charlie Sheen shirt in Sacramento because I love Charlie Sheen. I mean, I've been waiting for a celebrity to go out of control like he has and not try to hide it. I would love to meet him one day.
Tuesday was a bit of a girl day, since my Aunt Cat and I got pedicures and manicures. I'm sure Rudy didn't mind being left out of that one. That evening we went Old Sacramento, which is the historical part of Sacramento. It has a lot of cool shops that sell cool things (like Charlie Sheen shirts) and they have a Joe's Crab Shack. It's been absolutely forever since I've eaten there, so it ended up being a fabulous evening :)
And so, this brings us to.....


San Fransisco!


Sacramento is pretty close to San Fransisco, so my Aunt Cat and Uncle Rudy took me there on Wednesday. And even though there wasn't much time to see every square inch of the city, we did go to Pier 39 and see the seals, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Alcatraz (all from Pier 39, which has a great view of the three). 
Anyway it's been a long time since I've seen seals and I couldn't help but think that they look like barking pigs with fins on the docks. I mean, they certainly aren't pretty, nor do they smell pleasant. And yes, I totally know that the wild seals in San Fransisco are cool. But I also couldn't help but wonder what the other seals think of them. You know how Americans generally rule people from New York City out of the normal American description? It's like, there's Americans and then there's New Yorkers. I wonder if the "real" wild seals do that with the "San Fransiscan" seals. Some seal in Oregon is probably like, "Oh, you saw a seal in San Fransisco?  Well, we don't claim them. They just bark on the docks all day." Just a thought.

 We also rode the streetcar in San Fransisco. That was fun, but we determined that the only reason those things exist is to please the tourists. They are neither punctual nor comfortable, and if I lived in San Fransisco I'd just walk to work. 
Guess what else I did in California? I had a Krispy Kreme donut! I know, I know, there is a Krispy Kreme in every state. But not in Maine. Because Dunkin is all over the place! And I love Dunkin, I do. But since I've been living off of donuts and cupcakes for the past month, I appreciated a little taste from the past. When I was little there was nothing better than Krispy Kreme...... (this is the part where I'm supposed to break out into some sob story about how I miss Krispy Kreme. But I won't. That is the story.)


And so now you're probably thinking to yourself "Gee, Gabbie's getting fat eating donuts and cupcakes all the time." Yeah, keep thinking that. I'm actually quite surprised I'm not morbidly obese right now. One day I'm going to write a memoir called "My Fat Year," and list all the donut and cupcake shops that made me fat and tell of my heartwarming journey back to health. Then it will turn into a movie and I'll make tons of money and go to book signings and appear on The View. 




Yeah, right.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Alright. I'm busting with random facts and you're just going to have to deal with it. It might even make my adventures sound more interesting than they actually are.
Guess what happens when a train hits a car? It's totaled. I told you that in  my previous blog, but now that I have seen it first hand, I repeat: Don't park on the train tracks. Especially in North Dakota. In three feet of snow. 
Lightning bugs light up because of the two chemicals in their stomachs called luciferin and luciferase. They react and make energy, which expels itself as light. The energy in lightning bugs is released as almost 100% light, and only .000somethingsomethingsomething percent heat, whereas lightbulbs energy is released only as 10% light and 90% heat, making lightning bugs more energy efficient than lightbulbs.
If you're a professional surfer, you need to go to Tahiti to surf because they have these special waves that are formed by the water hitting up against the reef and causing the majority of the energy in the water to hit against the reef and bounce back, creating a dangerous undertow. But the small amount of energy in the top of the wave that makes it pass the reef causes the water to fold over itself, making a wave like this: 

I know this because I watched a documentary about it in 3D.
The Space Needle in Seattle was made to attract people to the 1962 World's Fair, just like the Eiffel Tower was built in Paris to promote the 1889 World's Fair.

The city from the Space Needle

Speaking of 1889, that was an important year for Seattle. Well, actually it was the beginning of an age that brought Seattle out of small town nothingness and turned it into a real location that America can be proud of. You see, Seattle was settled only for lumber. But the part where Seattle was today was actually a muddy sinkhole because the tide in the Puget Sound fluctuates approximately 20 feet every year (I don't know all those specifics, that's just what the tour guide said). But basically all the buildings in "old" Seattle are a story above what they used to be because it wasn't sanitary or safe to live in a muddy sinkhole. Here's why:
The wonderful invention of the toilet revolutionized Seattle's way of thinking. Actually, the man in charge of the main sawmill first said that no one on the west coast would buy a toilet because no one wants an outhouse inside their homes. I'm so glad he was wrong. 
But when people started to buy toilets they realized that they need a sewage system. So Seattle built a sewage system. Of course, when the tide came in once a year, it blocked up the sewage system and caused it to go in reverse, obviously causing major problems. The smart Seattleites came up with this: 

Toilets elevated off the ground. They were so brilliant. 
Anyway, after a few years of randomly being blown off the pot when the system decides to go into reverse, they decided to build the city a story higher than it was. So they started with the streets, raising them and leaving the sidewalks on ground level with ladders on the corners for crossing. This proved a problem with drunkards at night crossing the street. Hundreds of lumberjacks lost their lives to "involuntary suicide" because they couldn't cross the raised streets. This was around 1895.
So when they finally got the whole city on the same level to keep from sinking into the mud, they began using the old ground level buildings (now the basements) to keep food supplies. Here's the equation: rats+backed up sewage+the city's food stock+10 years= the bubonic plague occurring in the Western Hemisphere almost 500 years after the Black Plague in Europe, from 1905-1907. 
Obviously that wasn't good.

Okay. Here's some more fast facts:
Almost everything in the Northwest and British Columbia was named by the discoverer Vancouver. Seattle was named after an Indian Chief who didn't want his name to be used (it was against his culture) until they offered him tons of money. Then it became okay. The Puget Sound was named after one of Vancouver's Lieutenants, Mr. Puget (I've found there's really no need to memorize first names). Victoria was named after Queen Victoria, which I'm going to talk about now.


So Tuesday I went to Victoria, BC on the ferry. It was quite fun, even though I wasn't there for very long. I couldn't do everything, so I decided to go to the Butchart Gardens, a massive garden complex that is highly touristy and absolutely beautiful. 
Once upon a time Mr. Butchart was a cement guy. He made his living off of making cement. When he heard that there was a large limestone deposit on Vancouver Island in Canada, he packed up his family and bought the quarry. After 18-ish years of excavating limestone it ran out, so he moved to another place (I don't know the name of it) and left his wife and family at the house on Vancouver Island. One day his wife, Mrs. Jennie Butchart, looked out on her back porch and was disgraced by the limestone ruins. So she made gardens. 55 acres of them. Here was the first one:

And here are some shots of when she wanted to continue gardening:

Sunken Gardens

The Sunken gardens are where the original limestone was dug. In the middle you can see here a large cone-thing sticking out of the bottom. That was the "bad limestone" that Mr. Butchart dug around. Now people just go up to the top to do cutesy romantic things like kiss and propose. 

More Sunken Gardens

Lake in the Sunken Gardens...

Cutesy romantic spot.

Deer!

Even the trash cans are pretty.

And the Rose Gardens. Unfortunately, I went during the dead season so there were no roses, only thorns. So it was more of a Thorn Garden, which didn't bother me. But I must say that even in the dead season the place is spectacular. On a normal summer day they easily top 1,000 guests. But today there were only 3 cars in the parking lot besides our tour bus, and our bus only had 10 people on it. Needless to say, we had the place to ourselves. 

Thorn Gardens

Entrance to the Japanese Garden

The Italian Garden

The drooling pig. 

The Indoor Garden

Lunch.

Now I don't really know (or care) much about plants, but I do know that this place was spectacular. And Mrs. Butchart called herself a novice. Whatever. The gardens are open year round and they have 14 permanent gardeners (in the summer they triple that number). 


Oh yeah, and I went to Afternoon Tea at the Butchart Gardens. I would fit in so well in England if only it didn't rain so much...


I also had a tour of the town on the way to the Butchart Gardens. That was fun and I learned a lot of other useless (or useful) information. See this building here?

Victoria Parliament Buildings

Well this nineteen-year-old (we'll call him Mr. Smith because I can't remember his name) was commissioned to design the above buildings, the Victoria Parliament Buildings. All was well until he went to make the statue that went on top of the building (the one that is of a very important person in history whose name I also can't remember). When the molding time came for the bronze statues, Mr. Smith lost the mold to the right foot, so the statue of Mr. Important Name has two left feet. This made Mr. Important Name very angry and cancelled the rest of Mr. Smith's projects. 
Naturally this upset Mr. Smith, who decided to get revenge by building something spectacular right across the road. He ended up designing the Empress Hotel, a very historical inn that was built on a swamp right across the harbor from the Victoria Buildings. Of course, building a building on a swamp is pretty dangerous when you think about the sinkage they had in Seattle. But Mr. Smith was pretty smart and in the past 100 years the Empress has only sunk 3 inches. 
Mr. Smith-1, Mr. Important Name-0.

The Empress Hotel

Okay, I'm running out of facts and stories.But basically that's what I learned here in Seattle and Victoria. Sorry if it all sounds a little confusing- that's why I'm not a history teacher. 
But I absolutely love Seattle and could probably live there if I could find the control button for the rain. Oh, and guess what? I ran every day in Seattle :) Yay! 
Today I head out to Portland, OR. I absolutely can't wait to go into a tourist shop and tell them I'm from Portland, ME. When I worked in a touristy shop in Maine I absolutely wanted to murder every person who came in the store and told me they were from Portland, OR because they all did this obnoxious giggle-giggle thing. Here's my revenge...

Nougatocity

Nougatocity \nu-gat-a-si-tE\ (noun). A heightened yet fleeting state of accomplishment that makes you realize how unbelievably unmotivated you normally are. 


This is the definition that appeared on the inside of my Snickers bar Friday afternoon, and I realized I get this feeling very rarely because frankly, I don't do anything. For example, I will replay the conversation that went on in my head Thursday morning when I woke up:


7:00 am- Alarm rings
Good Gabbie: Okay, Gabbie. Let's get up and go running. There's a fitness center in this hotel. We should take advantage of that considering we're in Minneapolis and there are meters of snow piled up on the sidewalks.
(Note: I had to stay at a cheap hotel on Wednesday night because my train got in too late for me to check into a hostel. It might as well have been a hostel because a) the walls were so thin I could hear everything my neighbors did, b) the continental breakfast sucked, and c) well, I just wished they had let me check into the hostel late, that's all.)
Bad Gabbie: I'm not sure why you're suggesting this. It's so early!
GG: Well, considering you set your alarm for 7 last night, we could say it was your idea.
BG: I was under the influence of motivation. Please disregard any decisions made last night.
GG: Oh my gosh. Just get your lazy butt out of bed. 
BG: No way. I don't get up in the morning to run while I'm on vacation.
GG: This isn't exactly vacation, considering you've been traveling since December. Let's go.
BG: No thanks, I'll just lay in this bed. Besides, the Mall of America doesn't open until 10. And I don't want to get there until later because they have a lockdown drill this morning.
GG: Okay, fine. We can workout at 8.
Gabbie's body- sets the alarm for 8.
8:00 am- alarm rings.
Repeat the above conversation.
9:00 am- alarm rings.
BG: See, Gabbie? You're awfully tired. You needed the rest. There was no need to get up that early to go workout. Let's go eat breakfast.
After breakfast-
BG: Okay. You're too full to go run and workout. That's not good for your stomach. That bowl of crappy corn flakes and that bagel could really mess with you.
GG: *Sigh* I suppose. Let's get ready and go to the mall.


Now you see, Friday's conversation was a bit different. I was in a youth hostel in downtown Minneapolis (and it didn't have a fitness center).
GG: Let's go run, Gabbie!
BG: ARE YOU INSANE? Look at the temperature. It's way too cold to go run outside.
GG: Oh yeah, you're right. Go back to bed. 


So yeah. Not much nougatocity there because Good Gabbie doesn't even have a chance. It's just pure unmotivaton. But on Thursday afternoon I saw a sign at the Mall of America that read: Fat people are harder to kidnap. See? Safety should be my main concern. Bad Gabbie has won over. Don't worry, I'll totally start running and working out... in Seattle. Or Portland. Or Eugene. We will have to see about that...


Oh yeah, I almost forgot that I was  supposed to write about Minneapolis. 
Minneapolis is a pretty cool place because they have the Mall of America. If you love malls, you need to visit before you die. If you hate malls, then just don't go. That would be a bad idea.  You see, I have a love/hate relationship with malls. I love the convenience factor. Everything is so close; stores, restaurants, movie theaters, spas. It's like a little patch of heaven on earth. And this one had a theme park and an aquarium, so it was, in my opinion, sitting on the right hand of God in heaven. But of course, I also hate them because it's absolutely impossible to not spend a lot of money. I'm not sure why I thought I could walk into the MALL OF AMERICA of all places and have a small budget. Actually, I didn't put any room in my budget for this visit because I forgot I was going to a mall. Oops.
But truth is, I'm not a big spender because I have a pretty strict clearance/sales rack-only rule. But still, ten $5 items later and you start to wonder why they built malls in the first place. They must have come from the devil. 
But I say this to all the girls who I've ever shopped with (mostly Katy Pagano and Lacee McCall): Thank you so much for always being there to convince me to buy things. Because of you, I still have my sanity. 
I have a bit of a willpower problem. When it comes to running in the cold in the morning, I can't get out of bed. But when I'm in  store fitting room, I can't seem to buy anything. I probably walked around Marshall's for an hour holding an item I picked up in the first 30 seconds I was in the store. But I wasn't too sure if I wanted to buy it. So I tried it on about five times and then set it down and walked out of the store because I was convinced it would be a waste. But then I felt bad about wasting an hour in the store for a shirt that looked pretty good when I could have been riding the awesome roller coaster in the middle of the mall. So I went back and bought it. But then I felt bad about buying it. If someone had just been there to tell me it was good, I probably wouldn't have lost my sanity in Marshall's, or in any other store I went to (and I went to a lot). 
Around 5 I decided that my brain and soul were going to explode if I walked into another store and attempted to buy something. So I watched a movie. I saw Just Go With It, with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston. It was such a cute movie. Go see it. 
But after the movie I went to retrieve my luggage from the lockers and got directions to the train from the wonderful woman at the information desk. Go into Sears, take a right, walk to the parking garage, go through the glass doors and down the stairs. Got it. 
I repeated these directions in my head so I wouldn't forget them. Go into Sears, take a right, parking garage...
What does that sign say? $5 shoes? 
And my concentration was lost as I wandered into the colorful store that I had missed during my previous shopping hours. And naturally, the process started over again, except this time I had dropped my luggage in the middle of the store and was trying on every shoe they offered in a size 8.5. I am sad to say that the Mall of America owns part of my sanity. RIP.


Well, you know what went down Friday morning, and after that little episode I decided to make my way over to the Minneapolis Institute of Art, aka, the best thing about Minneapolis besides Brett Favre. My original plan was to go the the art museum in the morning and the Swedish Institute in the afternoon, but I got a little sidetracked at the museum and never quite made it over to learn about the Swedes. Oh well, I guess that's what Google is for.




Well, that was supposed to be the end of my blog until I got to Seattle. But the adventure to Seattle was quite entertaining, so I'll write about it :)


I was supposed to board my train at 11:15 on Friday night. The train was late, so we boarded at 12:15 on Saturday morning. Minor setback.
I woke up Sunday morning to multiple announcements concerning multiple delays because of snow. Our route went through North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, and Washington State, and as you can imagine there's lots and lots of snow around this time of year. So it's apparently not a big deal to be delayed a little on this route because of snow. The announcement that really woke me up was the one that said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, you may have noticed that we stopped again. We hit a car."


I shot out of my seat. At lunch I asked the waiter how many times this happened. He proceeded to tell me that they hit cars only about twice a year, which is pretty good considering how many cars cross train tracks every year.
But the best part of this incident was the conductor's speech after this:
"Ladies and gentlemen. This should be a warning to all of you to not risk jumping the tracks when a train is coming and you're driving through snow. If you are in a car, and we are in a train, we will always win."
Best. Conductor. Ever. 
Kalia, the girl sitting across the aisle from me, and I looked at each other and started laughing. Basically, we kept each other entertained for the next 24 hours. 
So basically, one delay after another put us about 9 hours behind schedule (the freight trains kept getting in our way). But here's the funny part: I didn't mind. You see, trains are way better than planes or buses. People are friendlier. You have a lot more room. The view is much more scenic. There's more food. You can actually get up and move around when you're bored. The bathrooms are bigger. There are no luggage restrictions. There is no security. You just show up at the train station with your stuff, hop on the train, and go. Then, you get off the train when you get to your destination. Sure, the ride may be a little slower, but people who are taking trains aren't exactly looking to get places fast, they're just looking to enjoy the ride. So remember: if you want relaxation, take the train. If you want pissed off people looking to get to their destinations and yell at crew members, take a plane. I absolutely can't wait to see what will happen on my next train ride :)

Oh, Chicago.

Yeah, it was a bit different from Costa Rica.

Chicago was awesome. Chicago was incredible. Chicago was beautiful. Chicago was full of fun experiences. I loved Chicago.
There. That's my description of Chicago because I'm too lazy right now to come up with a more creative intro. Truth be told, I could live there. Actually, I desperately want to live there one day, which works out perfectly considering I never want to own a car or a house. I'm pretty sure the average Chicagoan does not own either. 
My flight arrived in O'Hare around 4:00 pm on Friday, and just as in any other major city, the traffic was horrible (on trains and on the interstate). I took the Blue Line from the airport to the Loop, and then transfered to the Brown Line, which I was supposed to take to Fullerton, get off, and walk a short distance to my hostel. This was great, except by the time I got off the Brown Line it was pouring down rain and dark and freezing cold and, of course, windy. On my walk to the hostel I took a few wrong turns, which wouldn't have felt life-threatening if it weren't for the rain and all the angry people sprinting by and my suitcase getting more soaked with water every second. But finally I made it to the hostel, checked in, and took a nice, warm, long, hot shower. 
I stayed at the Chicago Getaway Hostel and it was pretty impressive. The staff is super nice and friendly, the rates are reasonable, the location is great, and everything is kept immaculately clean. So if you're ever in Chicago and need a cheap place to stay, look them up. 
Saturday was a blast. I woke up, took a run around Lincoln Park, and went to the museum of Science and Industry. (Just a note: I love museums, and I have recently developed the obsession to read every poster in every exhibit. Lucky for you, I'm too lazy to document all my findings. This should keep my blog posts at a reasonable length.) I learned lots at that place. Did you know that happiness is 40-50% genetic? Or that everything in and on our planet either begins or ends in granular form? This is why the study of avalanches is so important. The MSI also has a baby chick hatchery where you can watch chicks hatch. And you can look at cloned mice. I also put my hand under this magnetic machine and saw the blood moving through the veins. Yeah, that was pretty cool. And I saw how robots make toys (I already knew how the robots worked, so the museum worker was a little embarassed when I informed him of their operations. He obviously did not learn the X, Y, Z coordinate planes in geometry.) I also watched a few silent films and watched an IMAX movie on the Hubble Spacecraft. I stood in the wind tunnels in the Space Storms exhibit. They weren't very interesting, considering they just messed up my hair. 
But the best part of the Museum of Science and Industry? The gift shop. Normally I hate gift shops, but this one had a special on very cool T-shirts. I got one that says PLUTO (and then it has a picture of Pluto), and has the years 1930-2006 listed. Below that it says, REVOLVE IN PEACE. Best shirt ever. And now I own one :)
Saturday evening was also quite marvelous. You see, I'm traveling on a budget, so I have to eat cheap. I set out in search of a cheap eatery on Clark St. after my museum adventures. I saw this enormous sign for OODLES OF NOODLES flashing around rapidly in many different colors. To me, that screams WE HAVE CHEAP FOOD! COME EAT NOW!, because nice restaurants don't have those signs. So I go to open the door. Except that there were two identical, unmarked doors beside each other. I tried the one on the left and opened it, assuming it was Oodles of Noodles. The place was packed, and as I made my way up to the counter to order I realized it was not at all a noodle shop, but rather a gourmet cupcake shop. 
I'm not talking about just pretty cupcakes (they had those, too), but I'm talking cupcakes filled with cheesecake and topped with blueberries. And peanut butter filled with Nutella. And chocolate filled with raspberries. And butterscotch filled with caramel. And they had one called Cookie Monster. And they had one called Tiramasu (but it was a cupcake). And many, many more. I felt like such a fat kid. But at $4 a cupcake I had to limit myself. I chose the peanut butter Nutella one, and it was the most delicious thing I've ever tasted. After I devoured the beautiful cake, I realized that I only had $6 left to spend on dinner. So, being the super smart person I am, I went across the street to the Supermarket and bought a pack of Ramen Noodles and a bag of pretzels. I got my cheap noodles after all! And my dinner only added up to $6, which goes to show that junk food is much, much cheaper. 
Sunday morning I took the train out to St. Charles, a suburb west of Chicago. The Awana Summit Convention (which I've attended for the past three years) was being held at a resort out there. This was my "senior year" (if you want to call it that), so I recieved my citation (like a diploma from Awana) at the big ceremony with two of my greatest friends, Toni Groff and Erin Giest. We were all in the same Awana program at Crab Creek Baptist Church when we lived in North Carolina, but over the years we have all moved up north; Toni to Minnesota, Erin to Iowa, and me to Maine. So needless to say, it was a lovely reunion.

Toni, Erin and I with our Citations!

Monday was pretty cool. I went to Millenium Park in the morning and the Field Museum in the afternoon. I was quite impressed with the Field Museum. They have a bunch of cool exhibits, like the one with hundreds of pairs of shoes from all over the world. And they have the largest, most complete skeleton of a T-rex named Sue. I watched a 3D movie about Sue, which was pretty cool. I'm not a huge fan of 3D movies (I think the last one I saw was SpyKids 3D), but this was neat, especially with the loud dinosaur roars. Sue was found in the Black Hills in South Dakota, and is named after her discoverer, Susan something-or-other. She suffered from diseases and from arthritis, but otherwise lived a good life. She was only found in 1990, so she hasn't been on display for very long. Sue also helped scientists discover that T-rexes had a wonderful sense of smell (so don't believe that scene in Jurassic Park where the T-rex is super close to the humans). 
They also have this special exhibit called The Horse. At first this didn't appeal to me since I hate horses. But the exhibit emphasized on horses' impact on civilization and animal domestication. Horses actually used to be smaller than dogs, with multiple toes instead of hooves. And horses originated in North America but migrated to Europe and finally died out in the Americas. That's why for centuries the only horses could be found in Europe. And wild Mustangs are actually escaped horses from settlers from way-back-when, just in case you were wondering. 

Sue's head.

After the Field Museum I took the Metra back out to St. Charles for the night. You see, the Summit Convention has many events: Citation ceremony, Bible Quiz, Fine Arts, Volleyball, and Awana Games. Normally I'm a participant in Fine Arts and Quizzing and Games, but this year I just tagged along for the Games with Flemings Chapel Baptist Church. I've played with them since my sophomore year (I'm surprised they always want me back) and it's always a blast. Last year we were 4th out of 30+ teams, and this year we were 6th out of 26 teams. But this year was better, because for the first time we beat our biggest rivals: Community Heights. Nothing else mattered when we beat them in the semi-finals. I'm pretty sure every one of us didn't care what happened next because, for the first time in what seems like a century, we beat Community Heights. Whoo hooo! (I completely understand that if you don't know what Summit is, you're probably very confused. That's okay, just play along.)
So Tuesday night I took the Metro back to the hostel in the city and made another journey to Molly's Cupcake shop. It was a wonderful night of relaxing and talking with other travelers at the hostel. Oh yeah, and packing. 
That brings us to Wednesday, my final day in Chicago. I was torn between two museums, the Museum of Surgical Science and the Adler Planetarium. I didn't have enough time to do both because they opened at 10 and my train left at 2 pm. So I did Eenie Meenie Miney Mo. And I chose the Museum of Surgical Science. It actually turned out to be awesome, especially if you like anatomy. They have lots of cool displays of all that anatomical stuff. It was bascially a refresher of everything I learned from my Anatomy class last summer, but since my class was online it was nice to see things in real life. And the museum was smaller, so there wasn't lots of pressure to whiz through and cover every topic. 
So basically, Chicago was incredible. The only things I didn't do were go to the Planetarium, the Navy Pier, or the Willis Tower, which is fine because now I have an excuse to go back. And maybe next time I'll go when it's a little warmer, like during baseball season so I can see my Cubbies torture their opponents for 9 innings :)

It was all just a dream.

We built that wall with our bare hands.

It was all just a dream. A three day dream full of adventure, victory, and sadness. It wasn't as cool as Inception, but it was pretty close. We had some heroic moments, some disastrous moments, and some downright awkward moments. I'm actually quite thrilled to be alive right now. Seriously. Here's what went down:


We woke up Monday morning after a long night of watching movies and the Academy Awards (which was actually quite annoying, considering the performance given by Anne Hathaway and James Franco), and headed to the Indian zone. Well, we took a bunch of detours and made a few stops first. We stopped at Jazmin's apartment to drop off furniture (she goes back to college next week). Her apartment has a banana-yellow refrigerator. I've never actually thought about refrigerators until now, and now I know that I want a banana-yellow refrigerator.


Next we stopped at McDonald's for lunch. I have to say that I have never eaten as much fast food in the States as I have here. In the past month I have eaten at Burger King and KFC once each, and at McDonald's four times. I find it ironic that I had to leave America to become a fast food junkie. We'll see how well I adjust when I return...


After lunch we drove to the hardware store to buy boots, and I sure am glad I bought them. You see, before we left for the trip I was told to bring money for boots. I simply thought, Gee, I already have these pretty purple tennis shoes that I love dearly. Why not just wear those and save my money? Well, because that would have been a major mistake. 


You see, we got to the Indian zone around 3:30 (we left the house around 9:30 that morning, if that tells you anything about Costa Rica time). I had been told that we were going to hike up the mountain, stay for one night, build a wall, and come back down. This means I packed an extra shirt, a pair of socks, an extra pair of underwear, and my toothbrush. I mean, how bad can 36 hours on a mountain be? I spent 12 years of my childhood on a mountain and I turned out fine.


Yeah well, this mountain was different.  I consider myself fairly athletic. I have lots of 5ks, a few triathlons, and a marathon under my belt. I can climb a mountain. I was told that it would take two hours, although the natives can do it in 45 minutes. And Monday afternoon I found I can climb a mountain carrying my backpack, a cooler of food, and my sorry self up a trail of red mud to the very top of a mountain in one hour, eleven minutes. But I can't do it easily. After five minutes I was huffing and puffing (where was my inhaler?), sliding in the mud (thank God for those sexy boots), and begging my legs to keep carrying me. I was following Mario (the pastor)'s wife. RJ followed us for a few minutes, and then dropped back. The rest of the gang was way behind. 


I'm a bit competitive. Okay, scratch that. I'm VERY competitive. And I wasn't about to let myself fall from the native's pace. No way. So I huffed and puffed, sweating in places I didn't even know could sweat. My poor shirt was drenched and my sunglasses were sliding off my face. About 30 minutes into our journey, Mario's wife turned around. Cansado? she asked me. Heck yeah, I wanted to say. Can't you see I'm a fat American who ate McDonald's for lunch and can't carry this cooler across the parking lot, let alone up a mountain? But no, I did what I always do. My face lit up, and I replied in a high pitched, cheery voice, No!


It's this lack of proper communication from my brain to my face and mouth that concerns me. I think it's some kind of legitimate disorder. After all, that's why I was hiking up the mountain in the first place. I began to rewind in my head: 
Lacee: Hey Gabbie, wanna come to youth with me?
Me: That sounds like watching paint dry. Of course!


Robin: Gabbie, do you want to come on a missions trip to Alaska?
Me: It depends who's going. *looks at the list* No (expletive) way. I'd love to!


(Repeat the above with Seattle).
The youth group: Gabbie, since you've been on so many other mission trips, do you want to go to Costa Rica this summer? We're doing a VBS.
Me: Don't they know I hate grimy kids?? Sure, why not? 


Pastor Luis: Gabbie, do you want to come back to Costa Rica in your gap year?
Me: No way, it's as hot as hell down here. Nothing would make me happier!

Pastor Luis: Gabbie, do you want to hike up to the indians?
Me: I hate hiking and roughing it. I do. I really do. Don't say yes. Don't say yes. Don't say yes. Don't say yes. YES! I hate you.


Mario's Wife: Cansado?
Me: You bet. I hate this. I want to die right here, right now. No!


And that, my friends, is why I was hiking up that dreaded mountain on Monday afternoon. And after one hour and eleven minutes, we reached the top. This is one of those legit mountain tops, where you have a 360 degree view of everything. There was nothing I wanted to do more than drop my bags, punch the air, and scream expletives at the top of my lungs, cursing the mountain. You know, just like they do in those mountian climbing movies. But I didn't (again). I just calmly walked to a bench, sat my stuff down, and walked around. It was beautiful. It really was. But that doesn't make it worth the climb, in my opinion. We are going to have to get a lot of work done to make it worth this journey, I thought. And luckily, we did. We built a wall.


But it wasn't easy work. There is no electricity and no running water. I'm not just talking about no indoor plumbing. I'm saying if you're thirsty, you take a five gallon bucket down to the river, fill it up, and carry it back up. Have you ever carried a 5 gallon jug of water up a mountain? Yeah, neither had I until this trip. I had the opportunity to take part in this ritual on Tuesday morning, and it's not something I want to do again. I will now always remember to give thanks for water, even if it's one of those little outdoor spickets that you have to pump. I'm fine with that as long as there are no more rivers, but really I prefer indoor plumbing. 


Obviously, since there was no electricity or plumbing, cooking was a challenge. Luckily, we had Zulay and Mario's wife, both of whom enjoyed cooking outside over a fire and roughing it (puzzling, I know. I don't even like to cook with a real kitchen). If it weren't for them, I would have simply resorted to eating leaves and woodchips, so I think God should give them a special place in heaven for keeping the gang alive on that mountain. 


We didn't actually work on Monday, unless you count climbing the mountain and cooking over a fire work (which I do). It gets really dark really early, so we were in bed by 8:00. No problem, right? Wrong. Here was our sleeping arrangement:

Left to right: Me, RJ, Jazmin.

It may look like a sleepover, but it's not. The house was actually raised off the ground, and there were slits in between the wood, so the cold mountain night air seeped in quite rapidly. And people (I won't mention who) liked to snore and talk in their sleep. And it rained. And we only had one sheet each. Without pillows. And no one brought a jacket because I mean, Hey, it's Costa Rica! I've been melting my entire stay, so why bundle up now? Yeah, okay. No one slept at all. And since we went to bed at 8:00, we were all restless by midnight. 
And see,  I could have totally done this for one night. Really. But when we woke up Tuesday morning we were surprised (astonished, actually) to find out that we would be staying one more night. I wanted to break down and cry. By noon I was filthy from getting water and carrying logs and trees to the building site and digging holes. And I was thirsty and hungry and tired and sore from the night before and, most of all, I wanted to watch TV. But I kept myself under control since we still had a lot of work to do. After all, I'm physically able to do this kind of work, so there was no point in wasting my ability. And I knew I could last until Wednesday night without a shower. If I had showered Monday morning, that would have been great. But, when I thought about it, I hadn't showered since Saturday night when we got back from Mahanaim. Once again, expletives ran through my head. 
I had slept so horribly on Monday night that I devised a plan to ensure a better night's sleep on Tuesday: I would work myself to death so that when my head hit that wonderful wood floor, I wouldn't be able to do anything besides pass out. That didn't work so well. Instead, I was even more awake. But RJ, Jazmin and I had decided that snuggling together would help us stay warmer throughout the night. Yes, we were warmer, but every time someone moved (which was about once every 20 minutes) we all woke up and struggled to get comfortable again. Obviously we weren't meant to sleep those nights. That's okay. We're all just a bunch of teenagers. It's not like we like to sleep or anything....


So Wednesday I was filthy, tired, thirsty and hungry. (We had food and some water, but I don't like relieving myself in the woods, so RJ, Jazmine and I tried our best to limit trips to the restroom. Mission: Accomplished). After finishing our wall, we hiked back down the mountain (it only took about 30 minutes!) to find that the cars had been broken into. Nothing important was taken except RJ's iPod. He tried to play it cool, but I know he was weeping on the inside. Moral of the story: Don't leave things in cars. 


So I survived. We survived. Praise Jesus. The funny part is, on the way back to Grecia I actually had a brief train of thought. It went like this: 
Ha, I could do that for a little while. No problem. I'm strong. I could live without my computer. I could cook over a fire. Well, first I would need to learn how to make a fire, but that's beside the point. The people are nice. It's a beautiful place. I could do that. 
Yeah well, then we passed McDonald's and Jazmin wanted to stop for dinner. My train of thought switched expeditiously switched tracks.
What was I thinking? I couldn't do that. Forget it. I love McDonalds, electricity, and showers way to much to suffer like that. No way. Absolutely no way.


Well, the thought was nice while it lasted. I totally went on the adventure because Jesus told me to, and if I had to do it again, I would. I could. Maybe. All I know is that I will never take the following things for granted again:
-Microwaves
-Stoves (even though I don't use them that much)
-Ovens
-Refrigerators
-Food other than rice and beans
-Electricity
-Easily accessible water
-TV
-My computer, Leon
-Showers
-Hot showers
-Insulated buildings
-Paved roads
-Non-muddy trails
-Pillows
-Mattresses
-Clothes to layer when it gets cold
-And a bunch of other stuff I don't feel like typing.


So I woke up this morning, in a bed with a pillow and real mattress, in a real building, and I couldn't have been happier. I also felt like I had just woken from a coma. For some odd reason I couldn't remember what had happened. I feel that it was my body's way of telling me that we're not cut out for the whole "roughing it" thing. 
Here are some pictures:

Beginning our journey.

Zulay and Jazmin climbing

Still climbing.

The horribly foggy view.

This is Mario. He's the pastor of the church. He has five sons, one daughter, a super nice wife, and one arm.

Pastor Luis eating breakfast.

Me eating breakfast.

Jazmin!

The kitchen.

Fixing the roof.

Carrying the logs.

Zulay works, too :)

Jaz and her happy face.

The first parts of the wall!

My happy face.

Campfire songs.

Piece by piece

Yeah, don't take RJ on a construction trip...

The happy face slowly disappearing...

Pancakes from the mountain. Yum.

My sexy boots after the hike up. Thank goodness I didn't wear my purple shoes...

Mario's house.

But whatever. Today was my last day in Costa Rica and I couldn't have had a better time here. I've been to La Palma, Golfito, Panama, San Jose, Coronado, Mahanaim, and the Indian zone, as well as the Poas and Arenal volcanoes. I've stepped out of my comfort zone (okay, I was kind of pushed out), and I am super proud of myself for that. I'm also proud of RJ for not dying on me during these adventures. He seemed pretty close at times. 


Now I'm off to the States to tour the country by Amtrak. I'll be visiting 16 cities, so I'm sure I'll have lots to write about!


Oh yeah, and while I'm still on the Costa Rica topic: I'm organizing a construction group to come down first week of January to build a church in La Palma. I promise, it's not like the Indian zone. Don't let this post scare you off. If you can build things and want to come to Costa Rica, let me know! (Or if you speak Spanish. We'll need some translators). My email is hoekstra.gab@maine.rr.com.




And here are some more random pictures of good times down here: