Road Trip with Dad Part 1

My dad and I started our road trip Friday evening at 6pm. The plan was to drive over the George Washington Bridge, a bit through New Jersey, and then back into New York. We were to arrive at approximately 9:30pm, and then wake up bright and early Saturday morning to explore this wilderness part of New York and then go into Pennsylvania.

At least... that was the plan.

Step 1: Drive over the George Washington Bridge.

Step 2: We're lost already??????

Apparently I'm not a very good direction giver.

We were heading south.

We were supposed to be heading north.

Finally my dad just took the directions from me.

After about 30 minutes of driving south (there were no exits to the road we accidentally got on!), we were stuck in traffic.

This sign wasn't so cute when we were at a dead stop. And do you see the sign next to it? The Holland Tunnel is on the south side of Manhattan!!! What did we do??

OOh, look--another bridge. Too bad we had to stay on that road--still going SOUTH--for another HOUR!!!!!!!!

Yup. Still south...

We're not in the city anymore.

Now we're in SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY!!!

Finally we could turn around.

Back through all the toll roads...

Look. There's Manhattan again.

Wait, it's already 8:30pm.

Through the Holland Tunnel.

Funny, didn't we pass this OVER AN HOUR AGO?!?!

By the time we even started heading north (with the rest of the Manhattan island to go before even getting back to our starting point) it was 9pm.

We hit a rain storm that made it nearly impossible to see the road. And driving in New York is tough enough without this added mess. I loved the rain though, and it almost made coming back to the city after getting lost worth it. The video is a bit long, but I was trying to capture the lightning bursts. You can see them about 40 sec. in.

After that it was too dark and we were too frustrated to take pictures.

Eventually we got back to the bridge, and guess what?

We somehow got off at the wrong place again!

Lost.

Again.

In the dark.

In the rain.

At 9:30pm.

Lost.

AGAIN.

Oh, aren't we supposed to be pulling in by now?

Eventually we jumped on some random high way, with my mother's expert help (on the phone describing Googlemaps to us), a little luck, and a lot of blessings, (and no help from me) my dad managed to figure things out.

At 1am we arrived.

Honestly, in spite of getting lost and being tired, my dad and I had a wonderful adventure in getting there--and we hadn't even started the adventure of our exploration yet.

We had wonderful conversation and made lasting memories.

Besides, this is a much better story than "and we went to the motel," right?

Road Trip with Dad Part 2

The graves of Emma's parents, sister, nieces, nephews, and son.

Headstone for her unnamed child.

Headstones for Emma's parents, Elizabeth and Isaac Hale.

Memorial marking for the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood.

I signed us in to the registry so we will always be in the book as having been there.

This is the place Emma and Joseph built their first home together.

Archeologists are still exploring the Hale property at this time, but they believe this to be the well for the Hale home.

This is the current focus of the archeological dig. They've found a lot of tools and other household items; however, they believe the items date after the time of Joseph. So they're still exploring the area for further information and findings.

Joseph hid the gold plates in this wooded area while working on their translation.

Here my dad explained this foundation for the milk house. There are several divides in the foundation because the milk would have been stored in one portion but would have required running cold water from a well to keep it cold, thus the other sections.

This is what's left of the ramp that went to the upper level of the storage house on the Hale property.

If you look closely you can see the pattern of horizontally running sticks. These have been uncovered as the remanence of the storage house. They believe the logs were either supports for the upper level of the house or part of the roof.

The wheel and axle and other parts of farming tools.

Ladder frozen in time by the passing of time itself--this tree grew right threw the steps.

Next we took off trekking for the Susquehanna River.

Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were baptized in these waters.

According to my dad, the stripped bark on this tree indicates the height the water reaches here during flooding and spring run-off.

I couldn't help but get down and stick my fingers in the cool water.

We went off-roading!

(Good thing it was a rental car...)

Driving through minilakes won't hurt a car, right?

It wasn't only the car that got dirty...

Dad was ready in his slacks and tennis shoes to explore the wilderness.

I just tried to keep up!

On our drive back, I really felt a longing for the countryside; but instead we were already headed for the city.

Dream house.

My dad said these viaducts were historically significant.

Can't remember why though.

Umm... a lake and fountain in your front yard?

I want!

Then we officially left the land of green for the land of gray.

Good thing I have tickets to Wicked this week!!!

...I can say I still love this city!

But it was sure nice to surround myself in the beauty of God's creations for a weekend.

The Train Station

"Okay, Ladies and Gentlemen, if you do not let the doors close, the train will not leave the station!" she said in a very shrill yell for the 500th time. The doors would open and then close, open and then close, each time trying to reach the seal that would allow the train to move.


The doors of the over-crowded car would part as though it were gasping for air. Yet, each attempted breath only inhaled more water. The doors moved, only for a second, and three more people jumped on.

Attempted close #5--fail.

Again, it opened.

Only a two inch gap between the glass panels this time as it shut, and Time Magazine flew in to stop the doors. They opened again and a boot flew in. The woman who owned the boot tried to pry her way through, but only moments later she was trying to pry her way out--her boot was stuck, and so was the foot holding her body to the train--this time the doors did not open.


Another tug and the boot came out--we were off.

The man squished next to me coughed.

* * *

National Geographic was great. Started with some grunt work, of course, but I'm hoping to climb my way up soon enough. Today I began with an episode of the show I'll be working on ("Border Wars"), then logged supers and captions, and worked on web copy. So, just a start.

* * *

"Excuse me, is this 125th? Oh, I'm getting off here." Next stop? THE TOP!

Hellloooo, New York!

I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but I'M IN NEW YORK! I didn't think I'd ever make it here, but I am, in fact, sitting in the basement of my housing complex on the edge of Harlom in NYC! My friend, Rob, picked me up from the airport last night, and then gave me a walking tour of the city today. Here are my thoughts:

As I exited the airport doors, I felt the heavy air consume my body. It had been raining for several hours by this point, and the air was thick with moisture. The cars were nothing but stop and go--no room for weak brakes. One large truck literally looked both ways (if that) and then simply drove through a red light. Another car saw the red light and stopped under the light, in the middle of the intersection, until it turned green again.

I love the man who welcomed me to the house--dreadlocks and all! "What the pen isn't working? Well, this is a non-profit organization. What do you expect?"

The subways smell like urine and the city a cacophony of fragrances ranging from fried onions to cheep perfume to more urine.

We visited the Manhattan temple, and the security guard at the front door was helping herself to a large cup of coffee. It was rather humorous.

I live in a dorm apartment on the same floor with a Russian opera singer and Tommy.

More than anything, I am SO EXCITED to start my internship with National Geographic tomorrow!

I'll try and keep the updates more regular now. Maybe I'll even get around to recapping on what's happened in the past month.

A Whole New World

A new fantastic point of view
No one to tell us no
Or where to go
Or say we're only dreaming

Unbelievable sights
Indescribable feeling
Soaring, tumbling, freewheeling
Through an endless diamond sky

I've purchased tickets to New York!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can I go now? Please!

Africa

...I'm going there someday.

(Hopefully summer of 2010!!!)