The End of This Chapter

Okay. It's been over two weeks since I've blogged, so I'm going to have to catch everyone up on my happenings. First thing's first: my Amtrak adventures have ended. My train tour was definitely the most exciting, independent part of my travels thus far. After my trip to Albuquerque, NM, I stopped in Los Angeles for a few hours for a layover. I only had about 5 hours, so I did what every tourist does: I marched myself straight to Hollywood Boulevard, saw the Walk of Fame, looked at the Grauman's Chinese Theater, and took a tour to the Hollywood sign and Rodeo Drive. Perhaps the most interesting thing I learned in Hollywood was that stars get their name on the Walk of Fame when elected by the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. Then they must pay $30,000 plus the installation of the star. I learned that Julia Roberts does not have a star because of this. I can't really blame her. But guess what? Charlie Sheen does :)
Then I hopped on a train headed to Houston, Texas to spend some time with my Aunt Andrea and Uncle Arthur. First of all, I have to say that my Aunt Andrea is the strongest person I know. Last September her daughter, my cousin Katie, died unexpectedly, and instead of completely losing it like most mothers do, she worked hard to accept the things she could not change. So Aunt Andrea, I say this: You are incredible. 
Houston is a pretty sweet place. Here are the Top 10 reasons:
#10: It is a commuter city. EVERYONE has to own a car. I never want to own a car, so theoretically I could never live there. Fortunately, that does make it a favorite vacation spot.
#9: There is this one week in the middle of April where the weather is mighty pleasant. Not hot, not cloudy, not windy, not rainy. Just... pleasant. I was there that week.
#8: It's on the water. I like being by the water. I just don't like being in it.
#7: Houston is one of the two "Space Towns" in the US, along with Cape Canaveral, Florida. This makes it very exciting to go to the space center and learn about rockets and planets. The day I went to the Johnson Space Center was the day the Center was snubbed for not receiving a retired shuttle for display from NASA. This led to a press conference, where I was asked for a quote by a reporter in a lime green polo shirt. I simply told him I didn't know enough about the situation to comment. Too bad, though. I could have had my fifteen seconds of fame. 
#6: The Houston Zoo is pretty cool. They have plenty of giraffes and sea lions (the ones at the zoo are less smelly than the ones on the piers in San Fransisco) and other animals. You see, I like to watch animals from a distance. I think they're cool to look at....sometimes. But don't expect me to gush about cuteness, or desire to pet, feed, or ride them or interact with them in any other way. Unlike most people, I will be perfectly content in life never owning a pet. Maybe a rock, but that's it.
#5: The WorldFest International Film Festival is a huge Indie film festival held in Houston for 10 days every April. Guess what? I was there for 5 of those 10 days. We ended up watching 4 movies, the best being a movie called Finding Hope Now. It's a movie about a pastor who lives in Fresno, CA and works to keep kids off the streets. The movie is beautifully directed and edited. I highly encourage everyone to go to findinghopenow.com and look for it when it comes out. It will be released in the same way as Facing the Giants and Fireproof. 
#4: The Menil Collection. Once upon a time there was a filthy rich family called the Menils. They liked art and decided to buy a bunch and put it on display so commoners like me could see it for free. Now, I've seen a lot of art while traveling, so not many paintings, sculptures, or photographs grab my attention like they used to. But the Menil had a fabulous African Art display with fabulous wooden sculptures and masks from centuries ago. I found those to be absolutely fascinating.
#3: Sue and Max came to visit. Sue is my Uncle Arthur's aunt, and she is the coolest 70 year old woman I have ever met. After growing up in a town with a bunch of grouchy, conservative retirees, it was refreshing to know that not everyone with white hair has left their mind in the 1920's.
#2: This one little bakery sells the most amazing Toll House cake. I ate a piece. I was happy :) Unfortunately, eating more than one piece would have meant buying a bigger pair of jeans. Mine have grown tight enough as it is.....
#1: My Aunt Andrea and Uncle Arthur live there!


It turns out that I liked Houston so much that I decided to skip New Orleans and extend my stay there. I figure New Orleans is probably more fun when you're 21 anyway.
So after a fabulous visit with my aunt and uncle, I flew to Miami for a cruise, where my family, along with my mom's brother and his family and my grandparents were celebrating my Grandma Elaine's 70th birthday. It was quite marvelous, I'm not going to lie. You see, I hadn't seen my super-cute brothers, Andrew and Aaron, in 4 months, and I only had 10 days to spend with them. This meant lots of the following: loud squealing upon sighting them, cheek pinching, kissing, waving with a flirty look on my face, and lots of bear hugs. Aaron secretly loves this, I know it, but Andrew doesn't. You see, Andrew is 14 and in 8th grade. He's so cool he could melt ice (or so he thinks). So he didn't exactly appreciate it when I ran up to him squealing and kissing him while he's trying to make new friends aboard the ship. Oops. I know he still loves me.
For those of you who haven't been on cruises, let me tell you a bit about them. This was my second one, and I must say that there's no better way to vacation than to take a cruise. You do three things when you cruse: Eat, drink, and dance. The drinking and dancing goes hand in hand, though, because often times I would make my way to the Lido deck around midnight and observe 200+ white, middle class Americans following the dancing instructions of staff on a balcony. Most of these dance moves resembled those of the Wiggles. Apparently, dancing like the Wiggles is suddenly appropriate when you're under the influence, aboard a cruise full of people whom you will never see again. 
Our cruise made two stops, one in the Cayman Islands and one in Jamaica. Jamaica was cool. I got a dress that resembles the Jamaican flag and ate authentic Jamaican fast food, which is meat patties. In the Caymans, we snorkeled. Remember how I said I didn't like to interact with animals? Yeah, well those fish got insanely close to my face. Basically, I just spent my whole time swimming away from flocks of Dory-like fish. I suppose it was good exercise, though. In the Caymans I also ate a turtle burger, which is totally illegal in the US. 
The other cool thing I did on the cruise was a Chef's dinner with my mother. We got to tour the kitchen and eat a dinner specifically prepared by the Head Chef himself. For a cruise like ours, the ship normally holds about 3,500 people and houses about 1,100 staff. There are 117 cooks that work to feed all the hungry starving tourists aboard the ship. The kitchen process is a remarkable thing to watch, as little raspberry halves are perfectly placed on fruit cocktail plates and every plate comes out looking like a work of art, not just food. 
So after the cruise I flew back to Portland, where I slept in my bed for three whole nights. Barrett Davis, whom I visited in Amsterdam, came to see me while I was there and we had a blast walking around Portland, watching movies, and packing for Thailand! He was also there to witness my major freak out over colleges. That will all be explained in my next blog, I promise.
So that brings us to.... Thailand! As I type this I am on a flight to DC, where I will spend 5 days waltzing around the Smithonians while my mother attends a conference. Then I fly to Thailand! Yesterday I looked at the forecast for Nan, Thailand, which is where I will be near. Every day showed 100% lightning and thunderstorms. I suppose it's the rainy season, which is precisely why I brought a raincoat and my leopard umbrella! Perhaps on my next blog I will greet you in Thai.
Until next time,
Gabbie

Breaking Bad

My adventure in Albuquerque was supposed to start out just like every other city: I would step off the train and walk or take public transit to my hostel, where I would then check-in, shower, and scout out a place to eat dinner. Well, that didn't happen in Albuquerque.
The moment I entered the train station, I realized I had lost my little note card that had the directions to my hostel. Oops. But I knew Google Maps had said it was 0.7 miles, and it involved a right turn and then a left turn. So, I figured, Hey, I'm not stupid. Albuquerque can't be that big of a city. I'll find it.
Well, it turns out Albuquerque is a big city. Not really people-wise (it has a population of about 850,000) but everything is very spread out. So when I started wandering, I didn't really know what I was getting myself into. It turns out I took a wrong turn and wandered into the "homeless and dangerous" part of the town. When I got to a deserted street corner, the man smoking on the little tree stump said to me "Girl, you're lost. Turn around, because when you cross this street, ain't no one going to protect you."
Great, I thought. Not even 15 minutes into Albuquerque and I'm going to mugged, shot, or raped. Fabulous. So I did what I never, ever allow myself to do: turn around and go back the direction I came from. 
By this time I had another solution: I would go find a Starbucks and buy a cup of coffee, then use their Wi-Fi to Google Map my hostel again. So I wandered toward the big tall buildings which normally represent the business part of the city. And businessmen need coffee from Starbucks. When I got to another street corner about 10 minutes later, a crazy guy started telling me about his "work" on the other corner everyday, and that I should come by and support "local business." I wasn't worried about him, though, because there were other people on the street corner who were giving him the oddball look. One of those people was a woman who was about four and a half feet tall, juggling a cigarette, a diet Coke, and a Blackberry. She sarcastically said, "Oh yeah, and we're also shooting Breaking Bad in that building across the street if you want to come support us."
Now, I've seen the previews for Breaking Bad, and it doesn't look too bad. I've just never watched it, and I had no idea that it was filmed in Albuquerque. "Really?" I replied. Then the light bulb in my head went on. She looked safe. I asked her if she was from there, and if she was, Did she know where the hostel was?
She didn't, but she did pull out her Blackberry and Google it. Score!
But then one of her coworkers started coming down the street. "Oh," she said, "this is one of our producers. He knows this place like the back of his hand." So she called him over and asked him if he knew. He did, and started giving me directions. (Keep in mind that he was quite large and nonathletic looking.) He suddenly gave me a crazy look, and asked "Are you going to walk there?" 
"Well, yeah, I was going to." I mean, I hadn't wandered that far from my 0.7 path to the hostel. I wasn't crippled.
But he said "No, no, no. It's way to far to walk. I was just headed over to that neighborhood anyway. Let me drive you." So he pulled up his Jaguar, loaded my suitcase into the trunk, and drove me the half mile to my hostel, all the while talking about the upcoming season of Breaking Bad and the stresses of shooting it. Now all I have to do is start watching Breaking Bad.


So yeah, that was kind of a cool thing. I'm sure you didn't need to know that, but I just felt like telling you. The rest of Albuquerque was cool, too. I wandered around, went to the Petroglyphs, went to the Museum of Nuclear Science and History, and went to the 305th birthday of the city of Albuquerque. 
The Petroglyphs were cool. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera, so there's not much to show or tell you except that they're pretty cool old rocks painted by the ancient Indians. Google them.
The Museum of Nuclear Science and History was not as interesting as I thought it would be. I'm not too sure why I thought I would get to watch them split atoms and make atomic and hydrogen bombs, but I did. And guess what? They didn't do that at the museum. It was just a bunch of information about nuclear science and radiation. So I suppose it was cool if you like to read about splitting atoms instead of actually splitting atoms.
And this brings us to the birthday party. The main tourist trap of Albuquerque is called Old Town, located surprisingly close to my hostel (like, a mile walk). And it has tons of shops and cute eateries and an old church. But Saturday was a bit different because it was the fiesta for the 305th anniversary of Albuquerque. The place was packed and there was music everywhere. I watched some Indian dances. That was pretty cool. Then I watched a Flamenco Company dance. Did you know that Albuquerque is the Flamenco Central of the world? Yeah. Everywhere else in the US, parents take their kids to ballet and soccer. In Albuquerque, they take them to Flamenco lessons. 

I have to say that Albuquerque was nice, mostly because it was my first time since Costa Rica when I didn't have to where a coat. But there's one problem: Nobody walks anywhere in Albuquerque. So walking down the street in a totally nice part of town feels a little wrong, because even though it's a Saturday afternoon, no one is outside. It's a little gloomy. But I do love the stucco style of all the buildings. I could get used to that.
Okay. So I'm on the train now to Los Angeles, where I have a 6 hour layover between trains. My plan is to book it over to the Walk of Fame and hopefully run into Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift or Katie and Suri Cruise. Or maybe all of them. That would make me super happy :)
Until next time,
Gabbie

A Slight Catastrophe

When I planned my Amtrak adventure, I was fully aware that plans could change as a result of natural catastrophes, failed alarm clocks, train wrecks, or Charlie Sheen. I just didn't think they would have a domino effect. Of course, I should have known that any minor glitch would cause multiple delays (which would require lots of repair) in my back to back travels. And I think I did know that, I just chose not to think about it.
The original plan in Gabbie's Big Train Ride said I would get on the train on March 24th in Sacramento around 11:00 am (leaving me plenty of time for beauty rest after a few busy days visiting my Aunt Cat and Uncle Rudy) and arrive in Salt Lake City around 3:30 am on the 25th, where I would retreat to my youth hostel and crash until sunrise, when I would wake up and do whatever you're supposed to do when you visit Salt Lake City. 
 Except someone messed up. I won't way who, mostly because I don't know who. But they messed up big time. Because whoever was supposed to put the Flanders (snow equipment) on the train and inspect them didn't do their job, because when we got to Colfax (a town about 2 hours east of Sacramento), they discovered that the snow equipment did not work. So the workers had to call a crew up from Sacramento to fix them, which takes a few hours. 
This would have been great, had Mother Nature not decided to take advantage of the situation. Because as we pulled into Colfax, the steady rain that had soaked Northern California since sunrise turned into snow and ice. Well guess what happened then? They had to shut down the freeways for "safety issues." So the maintenance crew couldn't fix our giant snow plow.
So the conductor had another brilliant idea. We were going to wait for the Number 5 train (which was coming from Chicago to California) to come over the mountain pass. Then they would just give us their working snow equipment. This meant waiting a few more hours in COLFAX: Population 1750 (according to the sign outside the lounge car window). I was cool with that because Colfax feels the need to provide its residents with public Wi-Fi everywhere. I could not complain. 
Unfortunately, plan #2 didn't work. Because after train Number 5 passed through the mountains there was a slight avalanche. Scratch that. There was a massive avalanche. One so bad that they wouldn't be able to send trains over the pass for at least a week. Since the beginning of my travels, I've totally been cheering on the trains when we cross the mountains, you know, the whole "I think I can" deal. But this darn train just couldn't. So when train Number 5 finally arrived in Colfax, we hooked up to them and rode back to Sacramento, arriving around 11 pm. I spent 12 hours on a train watching the rain, and I now consider Colfax one of the cities on my "Been To" list. 
The next morning I spent hours on the phone with lovely Amtrak customer service representatives. They are wonderful, let me tell you.  They booked me on (what they thought) was the next train out, to leave on Tuesday. With this new arrangement, I would skip my Salt Lake and Denver stops and go straight to Omaha. Then I would cancel my stops in Los Angeles and Tuscon, only stopping in Iowa, Albuquerque, Houston, and New Orleans. 
So with the entire weekend to spare, I went back to San Fransisco to do what I do best: wander around eating local junk food and imagine myself living there. (I really do this fabulously, by the way.) I also had dinner with the marvelous Chandra Lowe, one of my friends from Portland who was in SanFran on business. As I returned on Sunday night to Sacramento, my father informed me of the call from Amtrak. My train was cancelled for Tuesday! I wanted to jump off my train in frustration, but I did what I do second-best, which was smile really big at the lounge car attendant who sold me my Snickers bar, told him to have a good day, and put my change in his tip jar.
Further delaying my trip to the mid-west would mean I would have to cancel one of my family/friend visits in either Omaha, Iowa, or Houston. Not wanting to do this, I booked a flight to Omaha since all rail and road traffic through the pass was terminated. Now I'm going to rant. I'm not one to complain about the airlines' bogus security procedures and the days I've wasted waiting either in line for security or for planes to take off or taxi to the gate. But after taking trains for a few weeks straight, hopping on a plane was quite maddening. First of all, I had to check a bag, which I never, ever do. And I had to pay for it, a service which is normally free on Continental Airlines. This meant I had to wait in line for my boarding pass and for my bag to be checked. Then I had to wait in the security line for a good 20 minutes, where they found the snow globes I had bought for my friend, Erin, to be a threat to national security. Deep down I knew that snow globes couldn't be carried on. I just forgot when I was packing my bags. So after convincing them that the glitter was actually glitter and not some explosive metal that would kill everyone on board, they allowed me to walk back down to the check-in desk, beg for my checked bag to be pulled, repack all my underwear in front of the staff, and put the snow globes in my suitcase. 

I'm done venting now. Because once in Omaha I had a marvelous visit with some old friends. For those of you who don't know, I was born in Omaha because my parents lived there while my mom was in residency. So with mom and dad working 23.5 hours a day, they dropped me with the day care miracle from heaven: Sally. 
Sally was (and still is) one of the coolest old ladies around. She is the one responsible for my health and safety for the first 4.5 years of my life. She's basically like my fifth grandmother (I have a lot of grandmothers). So I went back to visit her. We did all sorts of stuff, but the first thing she made sure to do was show me my old house. It's green now. I don't seem to remember it being green before. We also went to the Air and Space Museum, the DeSoto Wildlife Reserve, the Capitol Building in Lincoln, and the Jocelyn Art Museum. We also watched half a dozen chick flicks that were made in the 90's. 
Air and Space Museum: Just a bunch of big, retired military planes. (But still neat.)
DeSoto Wildlife Reserve: Only if you like looking at tons of bare trees searching for a few wild animals. But they did have a really cool exhibit about a sunken ship from Civil War times that lost all the artifacts in the mud. Then, when they finally dug them out a century later, the lost cargo was perfectly in tact. Of course, the oxygen actually corrodes the artifacts, so they have to preserve them now that they discovered them. But seeing 500 pencils that were supposed to go to a schoolhouse in California perfectly in tact after a century in the mud? Well, now I can say I've seen it. 
Capitol Building in Lincoln: Oh, this was good. Somehow we managed to visit on the day that 80 fourth graders were visiting, and we were part of their tour. Whoopee! Actually, what was more entertaining was seeing the tour guide ask a bunch of questions, and then see Sally try to beat them all out for the correct answer. That woman could write a history book on Nebraska. 
Jocelyn Art Museum: This was great, too. There was an exhibit at the Jocelyn about the art from Ukraine, stuff that dates back to 5th century BC. I would tell everyone to go see it, but the exhibit isn't going to be there much longer. Basically, if someone wanted to impress me, they could steal one of those million dollar pieces of jewelry from 2000 years ago and give it to me for Valentine's Day. But just a warning: I'm sure if you were caught, you'd be punished by the US and by Ukraine. But you'd still impress me :)
Eye-Oh-Uh!
I never thought anyone lived in Iowa except my awesomest, bestest friend, Erin Geist. But guess what? More people live there. Shocking, I know. But it's true. I went there. They have real civilization, like McDonalds, Targets, and Starbucks. Although Erin informed me that if a town really wants to become a "town," it needs a Casey's Convenient Store. If it has two Casey's it's a big town. And three or more? Well, we're talking about New York City. 
During my visit we went to Ames (she goes to church there), Marshalltown (that place has a cute coffee shop with good cheesecake), and Des Moines (which has a shopping mall). We also went to State Center, which is where she resides. Let's talk about State Center. You know those movies where the entire town consists of three blocks on one street with a restaurant, a store, a lawyer's office, an accountant, and a library? Well, those exist. At least, one does in State Center. I was amazed. We toured the town in about 27.38 seconds. And that's not the record. 
Anyway, I had a fabulous few days to visit with Erin and her family and see a little bit of Iowa before hopping back on the train. They're a pretty awesome family, I'm not going to lie. We watched Tangled (which is adorable!) and shopped a lot. They totally got me addicted to the Food Network. Did you know that cake makers can screw up a cake's color palette? Yeah, me neither. Oh, and we watched the NCAA Championship game! I'll just throw this out there, I was all for UConn after Carolina dropped. Too bad I didn't bet on them...
I got on the train Wednesday morning and went to Galesburg, Illinios, where I would spend about 5 hours and take another west-bound train to Albuquerque. This part of the trip went smoothly. I walked around Galesburg for about 20 minutes with my cup of coffee, then sat down in the park and read my book for the next 4 hours. I only did this because spring has already arrived in Galesburg and is there to stay. It keeps teasing Omaha and Iowa with the whole, 80 one day, 50 the next game, making it very hard to go to a park and read a book all afternoon. 
Speaking of books, they're expensive! Now that I can't just pick up a book from the library, I actually have to buy them. I'm pretty sure I've spent more on books this trip than I have on food. Okay, that's a lie. But I've spent a lot on books. Maybe it's time for me to get an e-reader.


And next time I'll blog from Albuquerque! That is, if no corn avalanches decide to cover the tracks in Kansas....




Note: Every stop in this blog had wonderful friends and family who took me in, fed me, and let me have a hot shower or two. So a huge shout out to my Aunt Cat and Uncle Rudy, the Geist Family, and Sally and Jerry Linquist. 
Note #2: I totally forgot to take pictures of the mid-west. Forgive me. Erin and I were going to take Senior Pictures on Monday, but Mother Nature decided to drop the temperature and add wind, so we decided against it.