Another dose of photos to feed your fix...
Friday, December 28, 2007
Posted by Courtney 12:14 PM 2 comments
Labels: america road trip southeast photos mototrip
Team America is Home!
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Team America has returned triumphant and victorious from our Journey into the Heart of America.
For the last several months beginning in August we took a trip to the other side of the world, that is, the East Coast, the South, and the great interior of America (also called the Midwest) and everywhere else that people consider as America. We returned to our homes in Southern California on this last Saturday night to enjoy the comforts of our own beds after many nights on the road. This trip of lifetime took us to 41 states (including California), we had to stop for gas 55 times which cost us a grand total of $3,645.40 which was divided 4 ways between all of us (AJ, thanks again for totaling up the gas log stats!). The overall total number of miles covered on the trip was 18,685.8 miles of beautiful American highways, and streets through cities, corn and wheat fields and national parks.
We also walked in the steps of the great American hero's big and small and observed the historical places that make America so distinct. From Seattle's Pike Place Market to snorkeling in the Florida Keys to the buffalo roaming wilderness of Yellowstone and to great American metropolises and the monumentalness of Washington DC we cris-crossed this great and diverse country of ours observing the people and interjecting ourselves into whatever culture would accept us while we were in their town.
From every random small (or big) church that we would go to on Sunday's to every random diner serving up something special, every culture had something for us which never ceased to captivate our curiosity.
Graciousness was also our guide as a countless number of individuals opened their homes, and their generous hearts to us throughout this grand adventure teaching a whole lifetime of lessons on generosity. Who without which the Journey into the Heart of America road trip would not have been possible or as cool as it was.
I have a lifetime of stories to tell about the places we went and the people we visited with. Perhaps I will in the coming days write individual snap shot stories (as they come to mind) about some of the things that have happened in these last couple months while on the road. Although, no amount of typing I will do will be able to support the fullness of the memories we have made together on the road but I will strain to put forth a number poignant stories I hope that might capture some of the essence of our great American journey.
As for now you can always check out our photo section of our trip blog which is probably the most comprehensive documentation of our trip (thanks mostly to the awesome photography skills of my girlfriend Courtney Patino).
In conclusion, we titled our trip a Journey into the Heart of America because we wanted to find the spiritual and geographical heart of America on our 4 month journey. As we drove from our last stop on our trip to our final destination of our homes in Southern California, we ate some awesome Greek food at the Mad Greek in Baker, CA and then after a good meal we discussed with one another if we had found either of those things (the spiritual or geographical heart of America) while on the drive home. And our synthesized conclusion came out to be something to the effect of that the geographical and spiritual heart of America is both found in the amazing and diverse people who make up this republic and also in the amazing places which are also so diverse from other parts of the country (and for that matter other parts of the world) and finally the American form of government (which has the goal to give all the people a say in the role of government).
And or, another conclusion that I think we came up with is that only in America could a country be so divided in different ways of life (religion, work, politics) on one hand and be so united to one another on the other hand in love for their country (by rallying around concepts like: independence, freedom, liberty, justice). The always eloquent AJ Harbison perfectly described America as "a comfortable juxtaposition of disparate elements".* So the divided-togetherness of America is one of the things which continues to make America great. Americans are a rare breed of people who are exceptional enough to be united in their ability to live lives different from one another as they each pursue life, liberty and pursuit of happiness in each their own way.
I'm glad to be home,
-Mike
*NOTE: A slight correction to the quote attributed to Mr. Harbison has been made in reference to an additional "a" which shouldn't have been there. See comment section of the post for further details. Thanks.
Posted by Mike Morabito 4:45 PM 8 comments
Hard Times in the Big Easy
Monday, December 3, 2007
A journal entry written about our tour of the damage done to the city of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina in August, 2005. – AJ Harbison
A note I had written earlier in the entry: Incidentally, I’ve noticed that people (sometimes in different places, sometimes individuals) always find their own particular way of referring to a disaster. September 11th is a prime example: President Bush always says “September the eleventh,” I always say “September eleventh,” some people always say “nine eleven.” I usually refer to Katrina as “Katrina;” some people in New Orleans said “the hurricane,” but most people simply called it “the storm.”
The part of the entry about the tour: Dan and Louise McConnell gave us the Katrina tour during our time in New Orleans. They’ve apparently done it many times, and were very good at it. They explained a key difference between the disasters in New Orleans and Mississippi, where Mike and I had done relief work on spring break in 2006. In Mississippi, they said, the damage done to the coast was the result of a 20-plus-foot storm surge: it rushed in, destroyed everything, and receded immediately. Residents could return to their homes and survey the damage that afternoon. In New Orleans, however, the storm itself didn’t do too much damage, except for wind damage in places further inland. What happened was that there was an 18-foot storm surge, and the levees along the canals failed and broke. All the flooding was from the canals, and not from the storm itself. And as a result, since the city is below sea level, the floodwaters stayed in the city, in some places upwards of three weeks. And that in its turn became stagnant and toxic, with household chemicals and dead animals and people floating in the water for a long time before it could be pumped out. Truly an awful situation.
We toured Lakeview, which had been right next to one of the levee breaks; we saw a few restored homes, many that still needed to be gutted or demolished, and many that were completely destroyed. We also got to see one of the levees that broke – the replacement wall was a different color than the original – and it was amazing to see how much had broken, and overwhelming to think of how much damage resulted. We drove through some of Jefferson Parish; some neighborhoods were coming back, but there were still a ton of buildings in awful disrepair and in no condition to be used anytime in the foreseeable future.
Then we visited the Lower Ninth Ward, which was right on a canal whose levees broke. It was unspeakable. Total, complete devastation. Entire blocks with nothing but concrete foundation slabs, and sometimes even those were gone. There weren’t even trees in most places, as they had either been destroyed by the flood or killed – drowned – by the standing water. It was eerie. There were a few houses that were being lived in, but they were nothing compared to how many houses were gone or standing but effectively destroyed. One man in particular, whom the McConnells pointed out to us, was living in a FEMA trailer with all kinds of stubborn and defiant paraphernalia outside, declaring that New Orleans was his home and he would not leave, and they would be back.
The destruction was truly breathtaking, and so saddening. We heard story after story from the McConnells about people who had been paralyzed by shock and were unable to make any decisions of any kind, much less determine a plan for rebuilding; people who had been unable to obtain any insurance compensation, and who had been denied money because of the smallest typos on a computer; and people who had lost absolutely everything, sometimes more emotional than physical. They told us one heartbreaking story of a man whose parents had chosen to stay behind instead of evacuating; when he returned after the storm, he found both his parents floating dead in the attic of their house. We heard dozens of stories, but knew they were only the smallest microcosm of the thousands of lives that were forever changed. We heard, from them and from others, about many people who have returned (including they themselves) and are rebuilding their communities and restoring hope, and Louise (who is the church’s liaison with the teams that come) told us about how unbelievably blessed they’ve been to have hosted more than 75 recovery teams. But it’s clear that the city will never be the same; two and a half years later, despite the progress that has been made, there is still a staggering amount of work to be done, and there is so much that has been lost that can never be replaced.
A T-shirt I saw in a store on Bourbon Street the next day:
BUILD
RE
STORE
RE
NEW
ORLEANS
Posted by AJ Harbison 11:32 AM 1 comments
Chewing on the Big Apple
Friday, November 23, 2007
Another journal entry adapted into a blog post--actually two this time: my first and final impressions on New York City. - AJ Harbison
When we got into New York City, three things made impressions on me quickly, or perhaps I had three initial reactions. The first was simply a sense of wonder: seeing the Empire State Building, Times Square, NBC Studios, etc. instilled in me a sense of disbelief that I was actually here, the city I'd wanted to visit for so long. That feeling stayed with me for at least a full day, and was reawakened when we saw the Statue of Liberty from a distance on Wednesday afternoon and visited it Thursday morning.
My second reaction was surprise at the sheer size of the city. Our hotel was in midtown Manhattan, equidistant from Times Square and Central Park, and for the whole time we spent in the city (Sunday morning to Friday morning) we never left that one borough. We didn't see nearly as much as we wanted to see in Manhattan, much less so much as visit the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn or Staten Island. We met with Eleanor's friend Becky on Sunday afternoon, and as she, Eleanor and I strolled through Central Park, in response to my inquiries she explained that even Manhattan is further divided into uptown, midtown, and downtown, and there are further divisions of neighborhoods (e.g. Soho, Greenwich Village) and regions (e.g. the upper east side). I think that between the four of us on the team, the furthest north we reached was 97th Street (Eleanor visited Becky's apartment there), and we went as far south as Ground Zero and the Statue of Liberty; given the rivers on either side, the boundaries of our exploits were rather limited. And as I said, even within those boundaries we could have seen much more.
The third thing that struck me was that the city was rather a dirty one. I expected this, to some extent, from the reports of others; but compared to Chicago, which (by virtue of being visited first) became somewhat of a measurement of comparison, New York was not nearly as well-groomed. The joke was that looking up induced "ooh"s and "ah"s, but looking down provoked a much different reaction. Such a condition is undoubtedly caused by the sheer amount of people and vehicles the streets handle every day, and the civil services must find it impossible to keep up. The dirtiness of the city was not of such a degree that it made the streets entirely unpalatable, at least where we were; but it certainly gave New York its own distinctive flavor.
...
We left New York City on Friday morning.... And thus our visit to the Big Apple drew to a close. It was exciting for me personally to have the opportunity to visit America's largest, most iconic and perhaps most quintessential city. We found many of the stereotypes to be true: it was rather dirty, service was occasionally rude, traffic was terrible and often dangerous to pedestrians, and the hot dogs on the street were delicious (I got a fully-loaded one for three bucks; it was a good deal). We saw the "steel-glass canyons" (a quote from a U2 song) of downtown and the apartments of Soho, the ruins of the World Trade Center and the Statue of Liberty still standing proud. We visited a lot, but still felt like there was so much left to see, even in the small portion of the city we traversed. I had always wanted to visit New York, and it did not disappoint. I wrote before [in my journal] of the "melting-pot" aspect of the heart of America; a related aspect must be its comfortable juxtaposition of disparate elements. Certainly we found a piece of the country's heart in St. Johnsville, NY, in the miniscule town with its small church and diamond mine; and equally certainly can a piece be found in New York, NY, in the huge city with its overflowing Brooklyn Tabernacle and steel-glass financial district. They exist in the same state, as well as the same country; and both are proud to call themselves American.
(Photos of our time in New York can be found in our photo albums for Day 58, Day 59, Day 60, Day 61, Day 62, and Day 63.)
Posted by AJ Harbison 9:40 AM 0 comments
Falling
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
One of my favorite adventures on our Journey thus far was our encounter with Niagara Falls. We approached the falls at night for the first time. We took steps in the dark. The ground was wet. Mist coated our faces. And then, quite suddenly it seemed, we were gazing over arching, treacherous water.
I did not realize this before, but Niagara Falls actually consists of two chutes--The Bridal Veil Falls and Horseshoe Falls. The first, in my mind, looked like a giant veil, arching forward over the cliff's face. Horseshoe Falls resembled just what I might expect--a monumental horseshoe formed by the inward curve of the cliff.
The Falls roared in the darkness. Some parts of the Falls were lit by beams from Canada. Ah Canada, so close. She called to us and tempted us with her colored lights. But we would not cross. Oh no, the heart of Canada waits to be discovered for another time.
We returned to the cliffs the following morning. This time we geared up in sandals, ponchos, and plastic bags. We took an elevator to the bottom of the Falls and stepped out onto a wooden boardwalk which lead to an area just beside the crash of water at the bottom. Here we could touch the water, stand as the water smacked our heads and shoulders. Apparently, the Niagara staff rebuilds the wooden boardwalk every year due to damage caused by frost and rot.
I love to meet magnificent feats of creation. In my mind, they always seem to be personified. As I stood there, slapped around by water, touching the rushes with my fingers, I envisioned myself shaking the broad hands of a waterfall giant. I didn't care if I got drenched.
Back at the top, I was brought back to my senses. I unrolled the soaked legs of my jeans. I brushed remaining water off of my forearms. We returned to the car, and I secretly said my farewells to the roars and hushes of the Falls behind me.
Photos of our day at Niagara Falls
~Eleanor
Posted by Narisilme 4:04 PM 1 comments
For Nostalgia's Sake...
Friday, November 2, 2007
... a long overdue post on Yellowstone National Park. Adapted from a personal journal entry on the subject. - AJ Harbison
For a while at the start of the trip, it was hard for me to believe that we had actually begun a four-month long adventure; it felt more like a normal (and ultimately short-lived) vacation. Some time ago, however, I decided that I did, indeed, feel like I was on the road trip. Somewhere in Seattle, I think. But now I definitely feel that way. Eleanor and I are sitting on the beach of a lake in Yellowstone National Park, looking at an amazing view of water stretching almost as far as our eyes can see -- the hills and woods on the other side are hazy from being so distant. It's amazing that this amount of space can be contained within one park; but of course this is only the smallest part. I've decided on the trip that I don't particularly enjoy camping, but I accept it (perhaps "endure" is too strong a word) as a means of staying overnight between our house stops. But being able to stay here in Yellowstone certainly makes the inconveniences of camping worth it. The amount of diversity of wildlife and landscape within the park is astounding -- mostly due to its sheer size -- and the most exquisite natural beauty is blatantly flaunted everywhere, as if God meant to prove that He is never short on resources. Since we arrived yesterday evening, we've seen a large elk; a moose; three buffalo meandering through a parking lot; a hawk; a pack of howling coyotes we heard last night; a gaggle of talkative geese currently floating around on the lake; endless varieties of trees, grasses and brush; mountains and large rocks; this beach; the intriguing landscape of the hot springs and geysers; and today (walking back from the geysers) Eleanor and I stood not 50 feet from a buffalo, wandering across an asphalt walkway, eating grass, and considering the humans watching it and taking pictures less than the bugs it swatted with its tail. Truly this is a wondrous place.
(You can find pictures of almost all the things in my "litany of wonders," as well as many others, in Courtney's photo albums of Day 19, Day 20, and Day 21. You can see a picture of us with the Yellowstone National Park sign in the album of Day 22.)
Posted by AJ Harbison 6:09 AM 0 comments
Pat’s vs. Geno’s vs. Jim’s: A Quest for Philadelphia’s Best Cheesesteak
Sunday, October 28, 2007
We couldn’t come to Philadelphia and not try a cheesesteak, right? Well, how about 4 cheesesteaks. Everyone claims to be the best, and how could we decide unless we tried them… all… side by side by side… more or less.
Our first tip was from Vince Viggiano up in Connecticut. He told us about the rivalry between Pat’s- The King of Cheesesteaks and Geno’s Steaks- The Best In South Philly, and how it paralleled the rivalry between the WNBA Summit and Auriemma. As we wolfed down our first cheesesteaks from a food cart across from Independence Park yesterday, we thought we should really try to find the famed steak restaurants if possible. The quest became more serious when I received a voicemail from my Uncle Moose telling us again to visit and , and also to find Jim’s for a truly great cheesesteak.
So today after church at Tenth Presbyterian Church, we hauled over to Geno’s and Pat’s, and each had half of each vendors sandwich. Pat’s was much quicker, and the men order them with onions and provolone cheese. Upon the advice of a local, the ladies opted for the popular “whiz” option, which includes Cheese Whiz, as well as onions. Now, it’s hard to be critical of any cheese steak sandwich, such a beautiful combination of fresh roll, melty cheese, fresh, thin sliced steak, and juicy grilled onions… anyway, it must be done! For the sake of America!
Of our first two cheesesteaks, we found Geno’s to be the better tasting sandwich: the bread tasted fresher, the meat jucier, and maybe even the Cheese Whiz added the extra special touch, much to our surprise. Pat’s was still good, and would be worth another try, maybe with Whiz, to be fair, and was definitely a faster choice, if you’re in a hurry.
Next, we headed over to Jim’s on 4th and South… not that we were still hungry, but there was a competition to be settled. The line to Jim’s wrapped through the restaurant, out the front door, and around the corner. We waited for a while, and finally found that it was well worth the wait. Jim’s had windows into the kitchen line-up, so that we could see the piles of fresh meat and produce constantly going onto the grill and the sandwiches. AJ and Eleanor decided about halfway through the line that they had already eaten enough, but Mike and I were up for the fight, so we stuck it out and ordered our cheesesteak with Whiz and onions. We got to talk to some nice Japanese guys in line behind us, and then they sat at our table upstairs. Mike and I ate our sandwiches, enjoying the quality ingredients all the way through. Although maybe they could have used more cheese, the rolls were super fresh, the meat hot and juicy, and the sautéed onion slices were big and juicy. It was altogether a delicious sandwich.
Altogether our analysis placed Geno’s at the top of the list for best sandwich overall, followed closely by Jim’s which had the best quality sandwich, and then Pat’s, which was a good sandwich, but hey, somebody’s got to be last.
So when you go to Philly, give ‘em a try for yourself, or at least get a good one somewhere.
Happy Eats.
Courtney
Posted by Courtney 7:32 PM 0 comments
Labels: mototrips philadelphia cheesesteaks cheese steaks geno's jim's pat's food review
From the Road, Love, Courtney
Saturday, October 13, 2007
We are on the road out of Niagara Falls and Buffalo, New York. I can’t believe we’ve been on the road for 7 weeks today and that we are crossing our 16th state. We have done and seen so much… it’s unbelievable. And still there is so much to see and to do. Tonight we’ll stay near Albany, New York, and tomorrow make our way to Maine, for our first stop on the Atlantic.
So, I never told you about the rest of our trip to Iowa. So much to tell, so much fun! Our first full day in Iowa was a great adventure. Tara and Carol, our official Iowa Experience Coordinators, had to work, so we got the special treat of Courtney Hunt as our tour guide for the day. We had a blast. Courtney took us down to the Lock and Dam where we got to see how boats and barges get around the river. It was so cool to see the system in action. A bit of hydrophysical genius that has become an essential part of the river’s performance as a mode of transport for the many producers that line its banks. After a great lunch at Harris’s Pizza we went to the Rock Island Arsenal. We put on our most American faces (and Mike put on his I [heart] USA hat) and got through the islands tight security, then went to the arsenal museum, where we saw hundreds of weapons that were produced at the arsenal and used in many significant military confrontations. It was a really interesting time, especially since Courtney knows so much about weapons. On the way home from the arsenal we got to stop at another lock and dam, where we saw a barge go through, along with a handful of recreation vehicles. We had a great time. On the way home we stopped at Whitey’s ice cream and got some tasty treats from the local favorite. Courtney took us back home and let us take a nap (and Mike did some more fishing) before we went with Tara, Dane, Carol, and Courtney to Stinky Pete’s restaurant for some delicious steak and a really good time. The food was awesome, and the ambience was just as fun… the salad bar is in a bathtub and there are cut neck-ties hanging all along the ceiling! It was a perfect finish for a really exciting and educational day.
Thursday, Tara, the Quad Cities Queen of Cool, showed us a great time. She took us to the visitor center to check some stuff out, to her favorite coffee shop, and then into Davenport to visit the River Music Experience, where we interactively learned about how music has developed along the river over the years. It was so fun and interesting. Next, we crossed the street to the Figge Art Museum, where we saw some really interesting and beautiful artwork. We also stumbled into the kids area where we had some fun creating our own artwork on the whiteboard and looking at artwork by kids in the community. It was a great day seeing things that we never would have known to look for in Iowa. I’m so glad we had Tara to show us around. We headed back home and chilled out for a little while (and Mike fished some more), and then Trisha, Travis, and Alex came over to go with us to the “Argo Mall” for pork tenderloin sandwiches. These incredibly tasty sandwiches were a new experience for all of us, but we enjoyed them like old pros. Of course, the Argo experience was much more than just the food: we also got to see a patron pull up on a tractor, our server/bartender/cook/guy bickering with Carol, and some other fun characters. Eleanor and I got to ride back to Courtney and Carol’s in Travis’s mustang convertible (so much fun!) and then we chilled out for a little bit and let our food settle before Tara took us to her bar. We had a really fun night trying some tasty new drinks and meeting Tara’s favorite bartender buddy. Tara loaded the jukebox with some great music, which eventually put us in the mood for dancing, so we hit another spot where we could dance our hearts out. It was so much fun, and by the time we got home, we were totally beat.
After our fun night on the town we could have slept in pretty hard, but Friday had big plans for us. We got to meet up with “Uncle Arnie” a good friend of Courtney and Carol’s, who took us up in his 4-person plane to see the Quad Cities area from the air. The views were absolutely breathtaking; the patchwork of the farmland and the massive winding wild river woven together perfectly. This experience was so much fun, and such a treat. This was definitely a highlight of the trip for me. Mike and I went up with Uncle Arnie and Dane, and AJ and Eleanor went up with Uncle Arnie and Tara. We all had a blast. Our flight was followed up by lunch at Maid-Rite, home of the loose meat sandwich. This was also a new experience for all of us, who usually have our hamburgers all in one piece, but we really enjoyed them. We never could have guessed that Iowa would be the home of so many new foods for us, but we were glad to try them! As if a day of flying wasn’t enough adventure, we also got to go over the river to Comedy Sportz with the crew for some Friday night interactive entertainment. We had SO much fun. The premise of Comedy Sportz, is that two teams of improvisational actors compete in improv. games (kind of like “Who’s Line Is It, Anyway?”) for points, and in the end one team, either Red or Blue, wins the match for the night. First, Mike got to be a judge, then the actors took some of our suggestions for their games, such as setting one of their scenes in Argo, Iowa (that was so funny!), and then I got to judge a Chubby Bunny competition, and Eleanor had a song improvised about her, which was amazing. We had such a fun night, and laughed harder than ever before. At the end of the night I don’t remember who won, but I’m pretty sure it was us, because as we left the theatre all of the actors were chanting “Eleanor! Eleanor!” until she emerged. What a great night. The icing on the cake of this amazing day was that Tara made her world famous top-secret lasagna. Finally, we finished our laundry (we had tons to do), and fell asleep, amazed at all we had seen and done, and all the fun we’d had in Iowa.
Saturday morning we had a monster breakfast cooked by Courtney, pulled our magic trick of packing the car, and headed off with lots of love and well wishes, and snacks, toward Chicago.
Thanks a million to the entire Hunt Family for all of your hospitality. We really got a great taste of Midwestern America and had a great first meeting with the Mississippi River!
Posted by Courtney 5:02 PM 1 comments
Labels: Iowa, mototrips, Road Trip, roadtrip
New Video!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
That's right, it's finally up. Check us out.
http://youtube.com/TeamAmericasVideos
Love,
Courtney
Posted by Courtney 3:14 AM 0 comments
Labels: roadtrip road trip video mototrips
If only computers were a little more human...
Sunday, October 7, 2007
... then their bodies could heal like ours, instead of breaking and then just sitting there. No matter how much rest and vitamin C I give the little guy, he's just not improving.
Tonight I write from the kitchen table of the every gracious mostly stranger Adam Smith, who has lent us his home for the evening. My computer is leaning percariously, wedged up by the power cord under the power plug, to hold the metal part at the apropriate angle and pressure necessary to make this all possible. The trial process on this has been pretty frustrating and exhausting for both Mike and I, but I'm glad to have enough of a solution finally to get some pictures uploaded and write some more of the promised blog.
I just finished uploading pictures of our trip to Iowa. It's so fun to look back at all of the incredible things we have been able to do. We visited Madison, Wisconsin, which is a very cool city, on the way down to Dubuque. Dubuque is the hometown of my mother and has a ton of family history for her parents. It was great to see the city, somehow frozen in time. We took the tram up to the top of the street and looked out over everything... the Mississippi River was huge and intimidating, even from a distance. We took a short walk around downtown, visiting the church where my grandparents were married and the hotel where my mom's grandma worked. If the bricks of Dubuque could talk, I'm sure they'd tell stories of many hard working and happy people who raised families and built histories there.
We hopped back in the Expedition and cruised down the state to the Quad Cities area, to the home of Courtney and Carol Hunt. We were greeted by Tara, Travis, Alex, Courtney, and Carol, who instantly made us feel right at home... only better because there was food everywhere and a really big TV and a river in the backyard! Courtney and Travis grilled up some burgers and we ate until we couldn't take another bite. Mike was anxious go fishing, so Tara and Dane got the fishing poles out and we hung out on the river listening to AJ play guitar and enjoying a bonfire. I'm proud to say I had the first catch, and a pretty big one! It was a shiny perch, which are apparently no good, but it looked good to me, because it was a fish on my pole! I was really excited, and then really grossed out when I had to touch it. Right as I started to warm up to the little guy, it was time to throw him back. This was only the beginning of our fun with the river and with the Hunts.
For the sake of my team, I have to adjourn this story till tomorrow. I'm exhausted and we lost another hour to the time zone gods today. But don't worry, I have plenty more adventures about Iowa, Chicago, and St. Louis to tell, as well as plenty of others about the other places we've stayed. In the meantime enjoy some new pictures of Iowa fun and family. And if you still have free time go ahead and check my spelling.
Much love from the road, and more to you soon!
Courtney
Posted by Courtney 9:37 PM 0 comments
Labels: computer trouble, Iowa, mototrips, Road Trip
Portland, OR
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Here is a quick update of what we've been up to:
We are currently in Illinois outside of Chicago. The last couple of days have been spent enjoying city life in downtown Chicago, it has been great! Before that we had a super time with my (Mike) cousin Lisa her family outside of Milwaukee, WI which was then followed by a fun couple of days living right on the Mississippi river just north of Davenport, IA, where we visited with Courtney's cousins. We are going to stay in Illinois one more night before we continue on to "the Gateway to the West{" St. Louis. Anyway, we are still trying to catch up on blogging so below is my memories going back to the time we were in Portland.
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Our time in Portland was simply not long enough. We spent only a short amount of time there but from our very short impression of the city it looks like an awesome place to be. It is a very artsy city full of cafes and cool neighborhoods which are very green. Also we stayed in a hostel for the first time on the trip which was a pretty adventurous experience all together but it definitely got the job done for the night.
We woke up on Sunday morning and went to a church called Imago Dei (where Donald Miller goes) before we jammed out of Portland to make it to our next stop on the tour across America, the Gorge Amphitheater in George, WA to see Dave Matthews Band perform later that night.
The Journey continues...
-Mike Morabito
Posted by Mike Morabito 4:25 PM 0 comments
Hello America,
I'm writing from Chicago, the Windy City, the Second City, a very lovely city. It's about half-past midnight here, and I'm writing from the dorm room of a gracious almost-stranger by the light of my monitor for the sake of getting an update to the many faithful readers who have had no new content in quite some time. I'd ask you to praise my committment as I pry my eyelids open, but then we both know my last post was almost a month ago, so I won't push it. (But don't you love all those brilliant photos I've been taking?!)
Anyway, enough of me talking around my inconsistency and backwardly trying to prepare you for the typos and grammar errors that are sure to flow from my tired mind... Let me let you in on some of the fun.
Today is our 3rd day in Chicago. We're staying at Moody Bible Institute with a best friend of a best friend and his friends (somehow youth and faith can instantly turn mere acquaintence into comfortable friendship, allowing people to crash in your dorm room and eat your food with ease and grace). Thanks a ton to Paul, Elle, and company for SO graciously letting us stay with you guys in the city. It has been a huge blessing! This morning Mike had breakfast and went to Eccumenism class with Paul. After that (and a little extra sleep in time for the rest of us) we cruised on the L (yep, the eLevated train line) down to the Art Institute for what was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Art work that I have seen a million times and places in books and on posters and magnets and ads, I saw for the first time in their pure form. Monets, Reniors, Picassos, Pollacks, only to name a few-- absolutely breathtaking. There is a new flavor to the reality of the beauty of God when I consider the beauty of creation's creations about creation. So many levels removed from the First and Most Beautiful of creators, and yet so much beauty that I can hardly contain it in my mind. Our God must then be even more beautiful, so much more, this I cannot even imagine.
The art Institute was wonderful. I could spend another month there. But, as always, we had to go (because they closed)... so we walked around the city, which is remarkably well groomed and well lit for all the big-city-hype, stopped for some dinner (AJ and Eleanor) and some coffee (Mike and Courtney) and enjoyed the busy city energy. The walk back to campus brought us past a small night club with a handful of people our age hanging around outside. We asked what was happening, since we weren't quite ready to hit the hay, and ended up enjoying some great jazz music and free barbeque! If you're in the city on a Monday night, "Ruby" is the place to be!
We arrived in Chicago Saturday afternoon, and were ready to hit the ground running. The city has a ton of nice, underground parking for a pretty steep price. Luckily we get to divide those big numbers by four. So we parked downtown and pitted our bargain-finder against the grey-line bus ticket salesman. Mike got us a killer deal on passes, so we took a fun tour and got to know the city a little better.
Battery crashing... more soon about Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, all the way back to where I left off!
I don't want to lose this post so I'm going to post it now, but I'll be back soon.
C
Posted by Courtney 10:28 PM 1 comments
Labels: Chicago, mototrips, Road Trip
Bend, OR
Sunday, September 23, 2007
The Journey continues….
From the Road,
-Mike Morabito
Posted by Mike Morabito 11:39 AM 1 comments
Grants Pass, OR
Saturday, September 22, 2007
We were excited to see what Oregon had in store for us as it was the first state we were going to travel to from California (where we are from). We traveled from the redwoods heading northeast towards Grants Pass, OR which is a relatively short distance from the border so we had a few opportunities to get distracted along the way. We visited with a huge Paul Bunyan figurine, which talked and then ate some wild blackberries right off the bush before we got back in the car to continue north. We were traveling from the cool and damp area of the redwoods off the coast of California towards the dry mountainous area that surround Grants Pass and we enjoyed the differences in terain. We had a good time traveling to Oregon and even got the chance to take this photo at the border.
Once we arrived at the home of the Emmons, Richard Emmons and his two dogs greeted us on his beautiful property, which was a little bit outside of Grants Pass. He gave us the tour of his property, which included goats, chickens, a water well, and many other things, which also made the property cool. After we got our things settled in the loft/bonus room above their garage, some of us went for a swim in their pool, which was refreshingly cold. Later on we snacked on cheese and crackers before AJ (the team musician), got to jam out with The Emmons Sisters who are a folk music group who are quickly gaining attention in the blue grass music scene as a great up and coming group of artists. The Emmons sisters in addition to being a great music act also have the pleasure of being the daughters of Richard and Kathleen who are also their biggest fans. We hung out with them until late in evening, while AJ jammed with the sisters I got to have a great conversation with Richard about business, life in general and got to hear some great stories from Richard about working with my father (Joe) a number of years ago.
After all this, we went straight to sleep because we had a big day of traveling the next day. We were leaving Grants Pass on our way to Portland with a half-day stop in Bend to visit Eleanor’s father who was on a short-term business assignment there at the time.
In the morning we really enjoyed a solid breakfast prepared by Kathleen, which included some of the best tasting eggs we have had on this trip thus far. After Richard Emmons prayed for us and we said our Good Bye’s we were on our way towards Bend. We left Grants Pass thankful that we had the opportunity to spend time with the Emmons clan.
The Journey continues…
From the road,
-Mike Morabito
Posted by Mike Morabito 11:01 AM 0 comments
Redwood National Forest, CA
Friday, September 21, 2007
The next morning we had a solid breakfast of eggs, ham and pancakes. I (Mike) made the eggs and ham while Courtney made the pancakes, which were generously covered in the sweet nuttyness of the Butter Pecan Syrup which was provided by Courtney’s mom from before the trip began (Thanks Tricia! It tasted great).
After breakfast, a few of us got showers which cost us each a couple of quarters for five minutes of hot water and then we packed up the car and left the campground to travel to our next destination, Grants Pass, OR where we would stay with friends of my (Mike’s) family, the Emmons.
From the road,
-Mike Morabito
Posted by Mike Morabito 10:33 AM 0 comments
