On The Road
After ascending and descending to The Cross Of The Martyrs we made a brief stop in Santa Fe Plaza where we refueled and finally got some sunblock from the local Five & Dime. Once we were rejuvenated and better protected from the sun’s beastly ultra-violet rays, we moved on to our next stop…
What is so “special” about The Loretto Chapel is its reported Miraculous Staircase. Apparently in 1872 the architect of the chapel died before completing his designs and a method for the sisters to reach the choir loft. A regular staircase would have been intrusive to the small chapel, and using a ladder as men would do was not the best idea for the nuns or their all female student body from the associated Loretto Academy. Legend has it that the nuns prayed a novena to St. Joseph (aka Jesus‘ stepfather, you know the one, the carpenter), and on the day after the novena had concluded a mysterious carpenter showed up who built them a double helix staircase without the use of nails or screws…
You’ll notice in the photo on the left above that there is an iron brace coming from a solid beam next to the staircase. Both the iron brace and solid beam were apparently added in the 1980’s because the stability of the staircase caused by deterioration and use was called into question. The craftsmanship is quite impressive considering the time in which it was built. I was also very impressed by the presentation in the now defunct chapel. There was a narration by both a man and a woman telling the entire story of the staircase and the chapel with some very soothing background music. It was such a great experience that it inspired me…
… to get my picture taken throwing gang signs. That’s M for Miraculous, bitches.
Another thing that impressed me? The staircase was featured on an episode of Unsolved Mysteries! I LOVE that show! Robert Stack was the bomb!
Of course, the internet has their own wisdom about the Miraculous Staircase at The Loretto Chapel.
categories: Blogging Blogger Meet-Ups TequilaCon 2009 On The Road
One of the things we talked about while doing Lick. Slam. Suck. was a monument known as The Cross Of The Martyrs. During the 1680 Pueblo Revolt, 21 Franciscan Friars died in the fight between the natives and the Spanish. This cross is in honor of the sacrifice they made. It’s something that was on my list to see. Thankfully Poppy, Karl, Geeky, Sarah, and Ren joined me on this trek.
… and then you proceed up a winding path…
… and some more winding path…
… and then you reach the top…
… and it’s a cross.
I know. Big surprise there. But I do have to say that it is a cross with a killer view…
… which made all that climbing worth it.
That was our trip to the Cross Of The Martyrs.
categories: Blogging Blogger Meet-Ups TequilaCon 2009 On The Road
So this weekend Poppy and I travelled back to Vermont France so she could visit friends, family, and co-workers. Here’s a really quick list of the highlights that she may/may not expound upon:
• I’m lazy and didn’t pack myself… so I ended up with only one sweatshirt. It was my Πmp sweatshirt from T-Shirt Hell… which also happens to be closing.
• When we got there it was around negative seventeen degrees (-17). That sweatshirt btw… not rated below freezing. I. Was. Fucking. Cold.
• Staying over at Poppy‘s friends house I got to eat awesomely fresh food, sit around in warmth, and I got to hear about things that I may not have ever found out about. Like there is drama in places other than in New York City. I was elated.
• Poppy‘s brother has excellent taste in both movies and Lego Sets. I’m pretty jealous of the Legos he has. One day when we move out of the one bedroom into a two or more bedroom… I’ll get me a Lego Set for old times sake. Then I’ll even invite my mom over and make her take her shoes off so she can step on them barefoot and howl at me with a right hook. Good times… good times.
• Poppy‘s brother also happens to live near one of the best pizza places I’ve eaten at outside of New York City. They’re called Hoagie‘s… but they serve awesome pizza. I assume they serve good hoagies too… but then again you know what happens when you assume.
• Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is pretty much the 5 minute back story from the second movie (or maybe it was the first) with 85 minutes of crap added to it. Trilogy fail.
• Poppy‘s dad is pretty straightforward shooter. He’s not shy to ask the tough questions… like whether or not I was still employed. I like that in a man.
• Poppy used to work in one of the coolest places I have ever seen. Granted her actual basement office reminds me of when I worked at the paper sucking up all those developing chemicals and really was more spooky than cool. The building where we took that picture above is really nice and modern… although I would fucking swear that those people in there were NOT college students. They looked like they belonged in high school. Seriously. It was pretty cool though… even with all the stairs.
• It was also pretty freaking weird. For whatever reason, along with the flag of the United States and the state flag they also fly the Flag of Planet Earth:
All this country, state, and planet patriotism (which I have to wonder if whether or not the flag order is correct… isn’t the planet bigger than just one little old country?) coming from the same city where I almost got sucked into the ”Fuck The Pig State” protest.
Weird… but a lot of fun.
So everybody knows Poppy moved to New York, right?
Well here’s a quick recap of our recent adventures in moving…
Dumplings
Now in my defense, I had worked an overnight in addition to my regular day tour before leaving on this trip. Additionally, I had not really eaten any true food of substance… but I know that Cracker Barrel can usually be found off an Interstate on the route we were going. So I held out for a little piece of heaven…
Yes, that’s right folks, there off exit 15 of I-91 at the Cracker Barrel on Whiting Farms Road we got our grub on with meatloaf, sugar cured ham, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, fried apples, and the scrumptious chicken and dumplings. I was quite the satisfied diner. The service was quick, the meal was very good, and the price was quite righteous as well ($20 for both of us) so I was a happy camper.
Here’s the thing about the Cracker Barrel dining experience though… it’s like a ride at Disney World. It starts and ends with you in a retail store. So of course, on the way out, we grabbed some of their country goods (chocolate covered sunflower seeds, apple cinnamon snacks, 10 flavors of thin sticks) to bring with us into the country of France. With those purchases, effectively doubling our original bill, we went about on our merry way.
Scenic Views
Now I have to be honest, I know I am probably public enemy number one in the State of Massachusetts because of my vocal criticism against their cereal hating Representative Edward Markey. As if that wasn’t proof enough that Massachusetts is a completely screwed up state, allow me to provide to you exhibit B. This is what you see at one of their ”Scenic View” rest areas:
Yep… that’s exactly what you think it is. A mound of fucking dirt. Really now Massachusetts… can’t you do any better? Obviously not. So I went to great lengths to make it at least a LITTLE better. This meant I had to climb up onto a friggin’ picnic table. If you’re going to advertise a scenic view… then make it a scenic view and not such a fucking eyesore.
I swear that state has issues.
France
So after this little stopover I slept while Poppy drove on into France. We had a very nice dinner at a very scenic Friendly’s that Poppy totally paid for. It’s nice to be a kept Dawg. Really.
Then we went to Poppy‘s friends house where we spent the night… which I would recount here… delicious lava cake bite by bite… but I know that at some point Poppy will do so for your utter enjoyment. I will freely and openly say though that it was a very good night’s sleep.
Hauling It
The next morning was the fun part. Getting the truck and then getting the stuff. For whatever reason… we ended up leaving later than I think we intended to. However… nothing says good morning like an apple raising homemade muffin. Quite scrumptious. So we went and got the truck from a place that looked… well… pretty damn shady. The truck we go though was pretty sweet and pretty damn newish…
Yes, that is Sacajawea on the side. I think she probably has only been in France through the power of living vicariously through U-Haul. With the truck in our possession we went to Starbucks. I know… I’m a traitor… but when in France you will drink what Frank drinks. If I ever do find Frank though, I assure you I will convert him to the power of Dunkin’ Donuts. Really.
From there… it was on to the Poppy Cave… where I was worked like a fucking Dawg…
… all while the boss lady supervised and flipped me off…
,,, well okay… so she did alot of the work too. Once we got the load into the truck and secured as best we could with $3.96 cord… we went and had lunch at McDonald‘s due to a low blood sugar condition. Once we got that out of the way… we were on the road for the Big Apple!!!
Massachusetts Again
I have to mention this… because ultimately it pissed me off. Once again, at Exit 15 off I-91 on the corner of Whiting Farms Road and Old Westfield Road is a Shell gas station. This station is advertised from the Interstate. We gassed up there on the way up, and again on the way back. However, on the way back was the first time I was looking to use the restroom at the gas station. Now besides the fact the two clerks were inbred morons who didn’t understand what the term “restroom” meant, it turns out they in fact do not have one for the general public. Right… how stupid is that? Of course there was one behind a door marked Employees Only… but that’s where these two geniuses undoubtedly dump their baby batter to the latest issue of Cow Fancy and the Amber Crombie and Fitch catalog.
The solution according to the two inbreds was to either use the restroom (or bathroom as they called it once they figured out what I meant by restroom) at the Friendly‘s next door or at the Barnes and Noble across the street. How sad is it that the illiterate have to direct Interstate travellers to a bookstore to use a restroom? I’m not even going to get into the whole shitty repaving and grading job of Old Westfield Road that Mass DOT is doing (HINT: There is no line in the middle… so obviously this four lane road suddenly has become four lanes travelling west because Massachusetts drivers are SO smart)… but it is a MASSive migraine for people who know HOW to drive.
I swear… that state has issues.
Paws Down
We finally got paws down to the Bitch‘s garage at around 9:00pm. We offloaded the truck by 10:30pm. Now is where shit went ape. We needed to return the truck because parking it by us is near impossible, and a commercial truck on local residential streets shouldn’t be there between midnight and 6:00am. U-Haul has a 888 number to call so you can find out where to return the truck. Here’s a surprise… after 5:00pm no one answers that phone. A call to the regular 800 number revealed that we should just find the closest one in the phone book and drop the keys in the overnight slot. So my father, who loves and adores the Yellow Pages more than James Earl Jones found the closest one. No problem right?
It turns out that building was for sale. A quick call to the control center gave me three more options.
Option number one was turned into a laundromat.
Option number two was turned into a liquor store.
Option number three actually had trucks parked there! So finally, at 12:30 am I parked the truck… and went to look for the key drop box. Guess what? No drop box. So we did the only thing I could think of… we parked the truck and took the keys with us. Poppy would deal with it in the morning since I had to be in at work. We got home around 1:00am.
Of course… it couldn’t be THAT simple. It turns out that location is “not in service” as a U-Haul dealer. So after work we had to go bring the truck back to yet ANOTHER location. Needless to say… I was pissed. I was even MORE pissed when I had to put another $30 worth of gas in the tank I wouldn’t have had to put in had it not been for all the driving the night before, and pay $16 for 3 blankets that were supposedly missing.
Yeah. Not happy.
An Open Letter To U-Haul
Dear U-Haul,
While I appreciate the newness of a number of your vehicles, I am happy they go when I press on the gas, I love the fact they stop when I press on the brake, I really think you need to do something about the whole return process. Really. Let’s just print the address of a real open location on the paper you gave us instead of printing an 888 number no one answers after 5:00pm.
Fucking duh.
Sincerely,
NYCWD
In Conclusion
In conclusion this morning the professional movers will be moving the items to the 4th floor apartment where we dwell. So today will be a final move of sorts… and after that gets done… we’ll be busy decorating and putting Poppy‘s desk together.
So yeah… moving… it’s an adventure.
I think I’d almost prefer babysitting.
How can someone smash 3 action packed fun filled days into just one post? I have no clue… which is why I won’t try to do it as tempting as it might seem. Like a good bottle of Tequila itself… it deserves time to sit and ferment to produce the best that it has to offer.
So Poppy and I headed out of New York City around 1:30pm. We were fairly on time… having had wrapped up my morning’s work and then had breakfast. I had turned my device alerts on for Twitter so I could follow the progress of a few people. Let me just say that twittering and driving don’t mix well… and holy hell do those people twat alot!
We got to The Sheraton on 17th Street and Race Street at around 4:00pm with a little help from the GPS. After driving around the underground parking lot looking for the entrance to the hotel for about 5 minutes, we finally saw the 12-inch by 12-inch signs with an S and an arrow pointing the way to a wall that read HOTEL ELEVATORS. Needless to say… the elevators were on the other side of that wall. So we parked and went to check in to our smoking hotel room that Poppy had booked awhile back (February/March?). So imagine our surprise when we found out that The Sheraton had gone completely non-smoking since May 1… the day before. Here we were with a smoking reservation in a non-smoking hotel.
I turned to the manager and said, “So you guys don’t send notices out when you have a policy change on the type of rooms you offer?”
The manager said to me, “No unfortunately it is a very recent change.”
“So even though we have a print-out that says SMOKING, you won’t honor that?” I just had to confirm with him as my hand started to twitch nervously.
“Well, should you choose to smoke in your room there will be an additional $200 cleaning fee added to the bill,” the manager explained with a slight smile that bordered on the sadistic. Bastard.
I nodded as understanding as I could be, but then warned the manager as he handed Poppy the room keys, “When the blonde whirlwhind yelling ‘Woo-hoo! Fuck yeah!’ comes in here… I suggest you run for your life.”
I knew this change would not make for a happy Britt.
Needless to say… I never saw that manager again for the rest of my stay.
Pictures are reportedly worth a thousand words. Well I think the photos from my Flickr set and the TequilaCon Flickr Group are worth a little more… but you can be the judge.
categories: Blogging Blogger Meet-Ups TequilaCon 2008 On The Road
