Still no stitching, but I did go back to the beach (with a caveat)
If good intentions were dollars, I'd be rich by now! I keep meaning to stitch, other things just keep distracting me. Weekend before last, I spent it scanning in old photos so I could have them digitally and I didn't finish (nor have I scanned any since). At some point, I will have to spend the time in Lightroom cleaning them up, but that's a project for another day.
Last weekend, I went to the coast on another one of my world-wind road trips. I went with a school friend who had never seen the ocean and has been asking to go along. I always have this idealized vision of taking someone on this amazing journey to a new place, single-handedly being responsible for changing someone's life by showing them something they have never seen before...but it never seems to work out that way (and yet I keep doing it, the very definition of insanity). Maybe because my first trip to the ocean was life-changing for me and I think everyone will feel that way. One of these days, I'll learn to just go alone since I'm the only one that seems to be as moved by it as I am. Plus, I keep taking people who don't get the concept of how I travel, despite ALL my warnings. If I've heard "that sounds amazing, can I go?" once, I'd heard it a million times, so I let someone tag along and it's always the same old thing! I explain, in extreme detail, the rules ahead of time because I've been through this so many times, and yet, it's always the same old thing. The rules are ALWAYS as follows...
***I leave between 1 am and 3 am, depending on how far I'm going (because we have a long way to go), so go to bed early because sleeping in a car is NOT restful and you'll have a headache.
***Bring drinks and snacks because I don't stop for food *unless* I manage it make it back through Biloxi in time to stop at Wentzel's.
***If you want to see "pretty" gulf water, we have to go far into Florida which means we won't get back until somewhere between 3 and 6 am on Sunday, so prepare to be in the car for 30+ hours.
***I take the Supernatural approach to music - driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole, so whether you like Take That or not, prepare for 30+ hours of it because it's my road trip music and I sing along.
***I have the bladder of an elephant and I HATE gas station bathrooms (plus, I'm usually just too chicken to stop unless I have to get gas), so unless your eyes are yellow, don't expect a lot of bathroom stops and, if we do, I'm old school and I prefer rest areas because THEY have armed security guards.
But alas, every person that goes with me, despite the warnings, doesn't sleep ahead of time (thus sleeps in the car and gets headaches or leg cramps or whatevers), broken records of "when do we eat, when do we eat, when do we eat?", complains about the lack of scenery since I have to drive the "quick" way to get to Florida (which means straight through the nothingness of Alabama), even though I take the scenic coast road back (which they are too tired to enjoy), and complaints about my musical tastes (although no one has complained about my singing...yet), and then there is the constant begging for bathroom stops at gas stations, ugh! My least favorite thing? My passenger playing with their phone at night! The screen hurts my eyes while I'm driving and it's a distraction I don't need! And yet every companion I've ever had does it because they get "bored".
Ummm, I just took you through five states and various kinds of landscapes, major cities, small scary hick towns, to the ocean, down the coast and back down a completely different route through more cities and towns and completely new scenery for a total of 1500 miles in one day. You rarely been out of Arkansas and you just saw more in one day than you have in your entire life, why aren't you impressed? Why, prey tell, are you bored? Maybe because you are playing with your phone instead of looking outside? I always see something new, experience new things, and NOTHING soothes me like the ocean does. Months and months of work stress gone just in 40 minutes of walking on the beach (yeah...I only got 40 minutes this time because my companion got tired), but still, it was enough and it will probably last a couple of weeks at least. Let alone, it's a major feat that I'm able to do this at all...even going to Target to buy the snacks was extremely hard for me, and yet I can drive to the coast, go figure! I am really wired funny!
There are a lot of amazing little surprise places in this country, some far away, some just around the corner, but I'm always amazed that rarely anyone ever ventures out to see them. Yes, I'm lucky enough to not be tied down so that I can just practically jump in the car and go wherever almost whenever I want (I do have some monetary restrictions, even a coast trip costs a couple of hundred bucks in gas, so it's not something I can do all the time), but I don't understand why more people don't want to go out and do the same! Even as a kid on road trips, I was looking out the window at scenery and, as I got older, taking pictures out the window because I was fascinated with the world. People today are too busy playing on phones or watching movies on screens built into headrests. Everyone has to be kept occupied with something 24/7 and the world isn't fascinating enough anymore (at least, apparently, for anyone else).
A lot of people tell me how much they love travelling, but the more I question them, the more I find out they flew to their location, took taxi's everywhere, rarely left their hotel or saw many sights (because they only planned to be there a couple of days and did no research), and then flew home. I find that sad because technically they didn't "travel" anywhere but a plane and a hotel. Maybe I just watched too much Travel Channel as a kid and have an idealized view of this country, but rarely ever am I disappointed in where I end up and what I see (even if sometimes parts of the journey there isn't the greatest). Obviously, travelling outside the country is a different beast, but still, America has a lot to offer for those willing to try! One of my favorite sites is Roadside America, because there is always weird little things to find on roads you might find yourself on (or places just around the corner).
But I think I got a couple of good pictures, especially of the hurricane Michael damage (that is still quite prevalent, even 9 months later), so I'll get some of those up as soon as I get them cleaned up for you guys! Hopefully, if I can get these pictures done and the others scanned in, I can get back to stitching!
Needless to say, when I decide to go on my big road trip to Arizona, I am DEFINITELY going it alone, scary or NOT! The more I look at some of those Arizona and New Mexico roads, the more horror movies I can think of that they remind me of, but I'm still up for it! I've found dozens of places I want to see (and several places I'd like to go, but know I can't stop at on my own, so they won't make the list), so maybe I'll do that around my birthday sometime when it gets cooler in that part of the country! If anyone lives between Northeast Arkansas and Meteor Crater in Arizona and knows of some great visiting spots, let me know! I'll add them to my list!
Last weekend, I went to the coast on another one of my world-wind road trips. I went with a school friend who had never seen the ocean and has been asking to go along. I always have this idealized vision of taking someone on this amazing journey to a new place, single-handedly being responsible for changing someone's life by showing them something they have never seen before...but it never seems to work out that way (and yet I keep doing it, the very definition of insanity). Maybe because my first trip to the ocean was life-changing for me and I think everyone will feel that way. One of these days, I'll learn to just go alone since I'm the only one that seems to be as moved by it as I am. Plus, I keep taking people who don't get the concept of how I travel, despite ALL my warnings. If I've heard "that sounds amazing, can I go?" once, I'd heard it a million times, so I let someone tag along and it's always the same old thing! I explain, in extreme detail, the rules ahead of time because I've been through this so many times, and yet, it's always the same old thing. The rules are ALWAYS as follows...
***I leave between 1 am and 3 am, depending on how far I'm going (because we have a long way to go), so go to bed early because sleeping in a car is NOT restful and you'll have a headache.
***Bring drinks and snacks because I don't stop for food *unless* I manage it make it back through Biloxi in time to stop at Wentzel's.
***If you want to see "pretty" gulf water, we have to go far into Florida which means we won't get back until somewhere between 3 and 6 am on Sunday, so prepare to be in the car for 30+ hours.
***I take the Supernatural approach to music - driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole, so whether you like Take That or not, prepare for 30+ hours of it because it's my road trip music and I sing along.
***I have the bladder of an elephant and I HATE gas station bathrooms (plus, I'm usually just too chicken to stop unless I have to get gas), so unless your eyes are yellow, don't expect a lot of bathroom stops and, if we do, I'm old school and I prefer rest areas because THEY have armed security guards.
But alas, every person that goes with me, despite the warnings, doesn't sleep ahead of time (thus sleeps in the car and gets headaches or leg cramps or whatevers), broken records of "when do we eat, when do we eat, when do we eat?", complains about the lack of scenery since I have to drive the "quick" way to get to Florida (which means straight through the nothingness of Alabama), even though I take the scenic coast road back (which they are too tired to enjoy), and complaints about my musical tastes (although no one has complained about my singing...yet), and then there is the constant begging for bathroom stops at gas stations, ugh! My least favorite thing? My passenger playing with their phone at night! The screen hurts my eyes while I'm driving and it's a distraction I don't need! And yet every companion I've ever had does it because they get "bored".
Ummm, I just took you through five states and various kinds of landscapes, major cities, small scary hick towns, to the ocean, down the coast and back down a completely different route through more cities and towns and completely new scenery for a total of 1500 miles in one day. You rarely been out of Arkansas and you just saw more in one day than you have in your entire life, why aren't you impressed? Why, prey tell, are you bored? Maybe because you are playing with your phone instead of looking outside? I always see something new, experience new things, and NOTHING soothes me like the ocean does. Months and months of work stress gone just in 40 minutes of walking on the beach (yeah...I only got 40 minutes this time because my companion got tired), but still, it was enough and it will probably last a couple of weeks at least. Let alone, it's a major feat that I'm able to do this at all...even going to Target to buy the snacks was extremely hard for me, and yet I can drive to the coast, go figure! I am really wired funny!
There are a lot of amazing little surprise places in this country, some far away, some just around the corner, but I'm always amazed that rarely anyone ever ventures out to see them. Yes, I'm lucky enough to not be tied down so that I can just practically jump in the car and go wherever almost whenever I want (I do have some monetary restrictions, even a coast trip costs a couple of hundred bucks in gas, so it's not something I can do all the time), but I don't understand why more people don't want to go out and do the same! Even as a kid on road trips, I was looking out the window at scenery and, as I got older, taking pictures out the window because I was fascinated with the world. People today are too busy playing on phones or watching movies on screens built into headrests. Everyone has to be kept occupied with something 24/7 and the world isn't fascinating enough anymore (at least, apparently, for anyone else).
A lot of people tell me how much they love travelling, but the more I question them, the more I find out they flew to their location, took taxi's everywhere, rarely left their hotel or saw many sights (because they only planned to be there a couple of days and did no research), and then flew home. I find that sad because technically they didn't "travel" anywhere but a plane and a hotel. Maybe I just watched too much Travel Channel as a kid and have an idealized view of this country, but rarely ever am I disappointed in where I end up and what I see (even if sometimes parts of the journey there isn't the greatest). Obviously, travelling outside the country is a different beast, but still, America has a lot to offer for those willing to try! One of my favorite sites is Roadside America, because there is always weird little things to find on roads you might find yourself on (or places just around the corner).
But I think I got a couple of good pictures, especially of the hurricane Michael damage (that is still quite prevalent, even 9 months later), so I'll get some of those up as soon as I get them cleaned up for you guys! Hopefully, if I can get these pictures done and the others scanned in, I can get back to stitching!
Needless to say, when I decide to go on my big road trip to Arizona, I am DEFINITELY going it alone, scary or NOT! The more I look at some of those Arizona and New Mexico roads, the more horror movies I can think of that they remind me of, but I'm still up for it! I've found dozens of places I want to see (and several places I'd like to go, but know I can't stop at on my own, so they won't make the list), so maybe I'll do that around my birthday sometime when it gets cooler in that part of the country! If anyone lives between Northeast Arkansas and Meteor Crater in Arizona and knows of some great visiting spots, let me know! I'll add them to my list!
Comments
Linda
I am still very impressed by how you make this huge trip to the ocean again and again, I don't think I could do it, even as a passenger!
I definitely prefer train travel over car travel too. Mind you, in this country if you travel more than about 500 miles you run out of land!