Scranton to Chelmsford

We said goodbye to Heather this morning and left for Chelmsford! There weren't a lot of photo opportunities in Scranton but this morning we tried to find buildings that could be recognized from the opening sequence of "The Office." The only thing we found that looked kind of familiar was this...

... but upon further inspection, we realized it just kind of looks like the tower in the opening shot. We drove through New York and Connecticut, but the state line photos aren't that great, and we didn't even see one for Massachusetts!

It was so nice to finally get to Chelmsford. Josh's sister, Dana, lives in Chelmsford with her husband, Frank, and their children: James, who is 8 years old, Bella, who is 6, and Mary, who's 3. They gave us a great welcoming and even helped with our luggage. :)

We stayed outside and played with the kids for a while, and Bella serenaded us with her guitar. The weather was sunny and wonderful!

Dana made chili for dinner and it was amazing! We hung out with the kids in the evening and went to bed early, after watching a few episodes of Frank and Dana's new favorite show, "Doc Martin." It's from the UK and it's pretty great!

Our high was obviously getting to Chelmsford!! We didn't think we'd come up to Boston on our road trip and we are so happy to see Dana and Frank and the kids!!

Sigel to Scranton

There was snowfall last night which left the property looking lightly sprinkled with sugar!

Jeff and Samantha made eggs and bacon for breakfast... eggs from their neighbor, of course, and bacon from the neighbor's friend. It's really neat that they have completely eliminated processed foods from their diet, and I'm curious to try it myself... I don't know if I could live without cheese or bread or pasta, though!

We stopped at a small diary farm on our way through Pennsylvania.

We weren't really interested in anything they were selling, but Josh was interested in taking photos of the animals!

Josh and I toured the property by ourselves. After visiting the chickens, we went and saw the sheep... and realized that a chicken had followed us! She even forded the stream to visit the sheep.

As we walked back to the car, we saw all of the chickens making their way to the sheep! So cute.

We made it into Scranton in the late afternoon and met up with our host, Heather, at her apartment. Heather works for a non-profit organization that helps needy children, whether disabled or underprivileged. She figured we were in Scranton because of the TV show "The Office," which is set in Scranton (though filmed in California), but we actually stopped in Scranton because it just happened to be on our route. Apparently there's nothing else to do in Scranton other than things that relate to "The Office," so Heather took us to a restaurant that is mentioned on the show. We had a really, really delicious meal... the three of us split a strawberry salad; apparently Josh had never had a strawberry-walnut-bleu cheese salad before (I think it's a pretty common thing...) and he hasn't stopped talking about it! We also split a large pizza that was unlike any I've had before... the cheese was very unique, almost like an Alfredo sauce. Delicious!

After dinner, the three of us talked about our trip and Heather's trip to India and then headed to bed.

Our "ho" for the day is from Heather... she was hilariously boy-crazy. She couldn't tell a story without getting very distracted from some man walking by (and then talking about how attractive he was).. it was a little difficult to maintain conversation, but it was very funny!

Toledo to Sigel

Jeff made an amazing breakfast of scrambled eggs and pancakes for the four of us, and we chatted more before heading east. We made it to Pennsylvania before long and I tried to take a photo of the state sign, but they put a county sign right in the way...

We met our hosts, Jeff and Samantha, at their home in Sigel in the afternoon. They are both super hippies and that's why we decided to stay with them!! Sigel is an incredibly small town and they live there because Jeff works for a non-profit company doing trail maintenance for the National Park Service. Samantha used to work for the NPS but is now unemployed because there isn't much industry in or around their town. They're in their late 20's and met at a ridiculous-sounding private university in Massachusetts where there are no grades or degree programs!!

They took us on a short hike in the nearby National Forest. I think the weather was the coldest we've experience so far... it looks very pleasant in the photos, but there was a strong and bitter wind! I was actually wearing a t-shirt, sweater, hoodie, fleece jacket, rain jacket, AND Samantha's fleece jacket.

Josh did a little dance (and jump!) to stay warm..

There was a very neat tree that had grown around a rock, and the sap from the tree had frozen into a strange yellow fin and icicle.

After the hike, Jeff and Josh worked on Jeff's truck changing out glow plugs. Jeff's first car was an old Volkswagen bus that he converted to bio-diesel, and his current truck was already converted when he bought it. Josh also helped him heat and filter used vegetable oil to use as fuel! (I love the photo with the vegetable oil... Jeff's super long dreads are also in the shot!)

Samantha and I talked for a long time over tea and she told me about their intense organic diet. It's like a cleanse, and the first two weeks they just ate vegetables they had fermented themselves, plus bone broth that they had made themselves by boiling leftover chicken bones from the butcher. They've been slowly reintroducing vegetables and meat back into their diet, and now it kind of sounds like the "paleo" diet, where you eat food that a caveman would've eaten. Samantha made a fantastic coconut broccoli soup for dinner - even Josh liked it, and he's not a big fan of soup! - and she also roasted a chicken with beets, carrots, and potatoes. All of the vegetables were from their medium-sized garden in their backyard, and the chicken was from their neighbor. It was fantastic!

We stayed up talking for a long, long time before finally going to bed. Our high for the day was definitely meeting Samantha and Jeff... they are one of the most unique couples we've stayed with on our whole trip!

Ann Arbor to Toledo

Josh and I left Ann Arbor this morning and headed north to Detroit. We both have seen photos of Detroit's "urban decay" and think it is really neat, so we decided to take a little tour of the city and see what we could find. I think it would've been smarter if we looked up the best places to go, since we didn't see that much "decay"... but the best thing was definitely this old train station that was at one time their Grand Central equivalent.

The building is enormous and has really fantastic architectural details that are now seriously falling apart. As we drove around the city, we went through a really sad area by the water... it looked like at one time they had tried to renovate and make a park, putting in benches and lamp posts, but I guess that project fell through. Now there is a half-completed park next to abandoned buildings...

I was surprised by downtown Detroit; it looked really nice and was very busy with pedestrians and cars. I've read that Detroit is becoming more gentrified and I really hope that's true!

We drove back to Toledo in the early afternoon for one last day of apartment hunting.

This time we visited an apartment complex in Perrysburg, a suburb south of Toledo that was ranked one of Ohio's "Best Hometowns" in 2009. There is a historic downtown area of Perrysburg and also a lot of new construction of shops and apartments, and this is where I found my new home! It's a really beautiful new apartment complex, perfectly sized for me, and I'm excited to move in in June. :)

In the evening, Josh and I met up with our host, Kristen, at her apartment. She is a first year medical student at the University of Toledo, and she lives with her boyfriend, Jeff, who is going to school for physical therapy and works as a personal trainer. Kristen took us to a Metro Park, another neat aspect of Toledo: there are a bunch of Metro Parks (which are just large parks) in the city that are well maintained and have miles of paved and unpaved running trails... and deer live in them!!!

We had leftover Indian food for dinner (delicious!!) and the four of us talked for a long time before going to bed.

Our high was finding my apartment! I'm so excited to live in such a neat place, and Josh is happy that I'm happy. :)

Toledo to Ann Arbor

This morning, Josh and I drove out to Napoleon, Ohio, which is where I will be working. Napoleon is a small manufacturing town, and that's where the largest Campbell's plant is located! I was in Napoleon before for my on-site interview but I didn't really do anything there; Josh wanted to explore the cute downtown area because he loves small, old towns, so we grabbed a cup of coffee at an adorable coffee shop on the main street before heading to Ann Arbor.

We decided to take a break from apartment hunting and visit Ann Arbor, a really neat college town outside of Detroit. The University of Michigan is here, so it has a very similar feel to Gainesville or Boulder; we've realized that all large college towns have the same great atmosphere that we love!

Josh and I walked around the UM campus (unfortunately, we forgot the camera in the car, so no photos...) and explored the really busy downtown area next to campus. I love college towns!

We met up with our host, Matthew, in the late afternoon. Matthew is in his early 30's and lives in a beautiful old farmhouse just outside of Ann Arbor. His parents are antique dealers so his whole house is furnished with amazing antiques. Matthew's job used to be fundraising for universities, but he recently decided to go back to school and won a fellowship that will fund his Masters and Phd; it sounds like an amazing fellowship because not only is it attached to him (rather than the school), it also requires him to visit foreign countries and give fundraising advice to international schools. He had just returned from a trip to Pakistan and he's visiting India next month! He loves to travel so he has a really great deal, obviously. :)

We are Matthew's first Couch Surfers and we were completely spoiled! He took us to an Indian restaurant in downtown Ann Arbor and the food was really amazing. Josh and I have never really had Indian food before, but wow, we love it now (especially Punjabi Lamb Masala and Seafood Korma)! Matthew gave us a little tour of Ann Arbor before we headed back to his house. We hung out with him and watched TV before heading to bed in our awesome bedroom... I seriously love his house!

My "ho" for today was when Matthew served us tea... I love black tea, but Josh doesn't really like any teas (except sweet tea of course). Surprisingly, Josh took a cup of tea that Matthew offered... and he loved it! Josh has been talking about that tea all day; I definitely need to remember that brand!

Day three in Toledo

Josh loves historic neighborhoods so when we first visited the Old West End, I knew we'd have to go back. Today we drove around looking for "For Rent" signs in front yards and calling potential landlords. We saw a few apartments that were in okay condition but nothing that special. As we were walking to the next apartment, Josh said that he was hoping we could find a duplex or apartment where the landlord also lived in the building... preferably a nice old couple as the landlord. Little did we know that was the exact situation at the next apartment!

An older woman and her husband own a beautiful historic house that was converted to a duplex in the 1950's, and they were looking for renters for the entire top floor. The concept of a duplex is so neat... the upper floor has a private entry and a kitchen; it's basically just two large apartments in one home. The apartment was beautiful: original hardwood floors, newly renovated kitchen and bathroom... it was $800 per month, everything included, but it was 2,000 square feet! Such an enormous apartment! Josh and I left feeling optimistic about it but we decided that it is just way too big, even though everything else about it was amazing!

We saw a few other apartments today, including one in a new apartment complex in Sylvania, a suburb north of Toledo. The apartments are beautiful, so that one goes on my short list!

Josh and I didn't do much else today. He is such trooper for helping me find a place to live!! :)

Day two in Toledo

Josh and I spent today looking online for apartments to visit, visiting apartments, and driving around to explore all of the neighborhoods of Toledo. It's a much bigger city than I expected, and the neighborhoods and very unique and well defined. There's Ottawa Hills, one of the wealthier and more suburban parts of the city; the Old West End, a very neat historic area that has beautiful houses mixed with decrypted buildings; downtown, which has some very neat loft apartments in old factories; Sylvania, a pretty suburb just north of Toledo; Perrysburg, a very new, nice, and clean suburb south of Toledo; and many more! It was an exhausting day, looking at nice apartments and ugly apartments.

Adrienne met us at the downtown library, which was unexpectedly beautiful inside! They have seasonal "film festivals," which is really where they show an interesting independent film once a week for free. So neat! We watched "Fresh," a food production documentary similar to "Food, Inc." Josh and I joined Adrienne and her friends for delicious Mexican food after the movie, and then spent the rest of the evening doing more apartment hunting. We're exploring the Old West End tomorrow!

Dayton to Toledo

Our host and his roommates cooked an amazing breakfast for everyone this morning: pancakes, eggs, bacon; it was great! Josh and I headed out right after.... to the Air Force Museum! ....

Right when we arrived, we saw a sign that said "Free Tour Starts Here." The tour was just about to start, and we thought it was perfect timing! I think that was the biggest mistake ever. The tour started off with maybe 20 people, and our tour guide mentioned interesting facts about the oldest planes in the museum. However, the tour group slowly started diminishing... until it was just Josh and me and an older couple. The reason? It is a 4+ hour tour of the entire museum!!!!!!!!!

I explored the gift shop and watched the educational videos while Josh took (literally) hundreds of photos of planes. He picked these out because they're his favorites:

And this one is my favorite!

The tour finally ended when the museum was closing. Yes, we were kicked out of the museum! Josh and I hopped in the car and headed to Toledo. We got into the city in the evening and just had time to hang out at our host's house for a bit before getting to bed. Our host, Adrienne, has lived in Toledo her entire life and gave us great suggestions for things to see and do in the city. I will actually be moving to Toledo in June, as I'm starting with Campbell's Soup as a Supply Chain Engineer that month. :) Josh and I decided to visit Toledo so I could do some apartment hunting before I move out here!

My "ho" for today was when Josh asked the tour guide, like an hour into the tour, if we'd be seeing the Valkyrie. The tour guide said yes, so Josh stayed on the tour. But then 5:30 PM came and the museum was closing, and we still hadn't seen the Valkyrie. As the tour guide was ushering us back to the front of the museum, Josh reminded him about it, and the tour guide kind of absentmindedly glanced around the hanger we were in and apologized, saying that it must be getting worked on. I felt so bad for Josh - the one plane he really wanted to see and he didn't get to see it!! There is only one Valkyrie in existence and Josh has been wanting to see it for a long time... but I don't feel that bad, since he got 4+ hours of planes anyway. :)

Bloomington to Dayton

We left Bloomington in the early afternoon and headed to Dayton! Josh wanted to stop in Dayton to visit the Air Force Museum... honestly, I was kind of dreading visiting this museum, because I learned in Ogden, Utah that Josh can spend hours at an Air Force Museum.

We got into Dayton around 4 PM; too late to visit the Air Force Museum but enough time to visit the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park visitor's center. They had a neat exhibit on the Wright brothers and the beginning of flight! Josh's face was basically frozen in a wide-eyed half-smile for the hour that we were there...

Josh and I went to our host's house right after the museum. It was a very neat, old house in a historic district. Sadly, the neighborhood was really falling apart, with a lot of boarded up houses and trash in the yards and streets. Our host, Michael, said that at one time it was a very wealthy neighborhood, which was obvious from the size and grandeur of the houses, but now it was definitely in a state of disrepair. This isn't a photo of the house we stayed in, but it's indicative of the houses in the area... at first glance, it looks great... but if you zoom in, you'll see that it's falling apart. :(

I was still feeling not that great, so I took a nap in our room while Josh interacted with Michael and his friends and roommates. I slept 9 hours last night, 3 hours in the car, and then I took a 3 hour nap in the evening... it's crazy how exhausted your body gets when it's fighting off an intruder!! Josh said that they heard gunshots while they were hanging out in the backyard... definitely a risk when living in a neighborhood like that! (Don't worry, everyone was fine.)

When I felt better I went downstairs and joined the conversation. I didn't feel so bad for sleeping when I realized it was a bunch of young guys talking about whiskey and home brewing beer. :) We had a nice evening eating barbecued chicken and vegetables and talking to Michael's interesting friends!

Sick in Bloomington

This post is for Wednesday, March 16 until Friday, March 18. Unfortunately, I woke up extremely sick on Wednesday morning. I had been feeling a little under the weather on Tuesday, so I shouldn't have been surprised to wake up feeling awful... but it really put a damper on our trip! Josh and I decided to stay with Zack while I was getting better, since traveling would obviously be no fun, and I don't think our hosts would like it if I brought my germs into their homes.

On Wednesday, Josh and Zack went on a hike. Unfortunately, just like we've found in most places, March isn't the prettiest time of year... the snow has melted, leaving brown and muddy grass, but Josh and Zack still had a fun time :)

I stayed in bed all day on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, eating chicken noodle soup and sleeping a lot until I finally felt better on Friday. Josh didn't mind... he played "Railroad Tycoon" while I rested. :) At the end of the week, we decided to hit the road!! Hooray!

We had a great time with Zack and he was so nice to let us stay with him. Thanks, Zack!!

Day two in Bloomington

Zack took us on a tour of the Indianapolis University Law School today, which is where he can be found almost every day! The campus was very pretty even in the drizzly weather; I'm sure that it's gorgeous in the warmer (and greener) months.

It was $2 Tuesdays at a local bar, so we ate delicious and greasy burgers and fries for super cheap. We also explored the free Art Museum on campus, which had a neat Andy Warhol exhibit.

Zack made pizzas for dinner and had a few friends over. It was fun to listen to Josh and Zack talk about stories from their youth... like Zack putting on productions of "The Wizard of Oz" in their living room. :) Our group went back to Kilroy's after dinner because the $2 special also included beer! We had a great time with Zack and his friends. :)

The best part was that after the three of us got back to Zack's house, we watched a movie called "Frozen" on Netflix - it had actually been recommended to us by Marie and Brandy in Oklahoma; they said it was a great (and terrible) horror movie... and we were not disappointed! It was hilarious and awful!

Chicago to Bloomington

This morning over breakfast, Brian looked up free days at Chicago museums and we learned that today is a free day at the Field Museum! Josh and I said goodbye to our hosts, packed up, and drove into the city. I wish that we had had more time to spend with Brian, Trish, and Zeke... they are such a cute family! Especially Zeke; at one point, Trish called us Mr. Josh and Miss Megan, and Zeke repeated that to us every time we saw him. :)

The Field Museum was pretty cool, but I'm very glad that we didn't pay. The Horse exhibit that is advertised all over Chicago actually was not included with the free ticket, but we were content with the regular exhibits.

After a few hours exploring the museum, we were hungry! Our last thing to check off on our Chicago to-do list was eating a Chicago-style hot dog. We bought two from a vendor near the museum, and wow, it was delicious! A Chicago-style hot dog is a kosher beef hot dog topped with yellow mustard, chopped onions, sweet pickle relish, big tomato slices, pickled hot peppers, a dill pickle spear, and celery salt. I cheated and didn't eat my hot peppers, but the rest of it was really great, definitely something I want to make at home!

After eating our lunch, we drove to Bloomington, Indiana, where Zack is going to law school. We got into town in the evening and Zack made us a delicious dinner of salmon and vegetables. After dinner, there was a hilarious series of events that led to the three of us discovering Zack's roommate's security system. His roommate is out of town for the week since it's Indiana's spring break, and we accidentally learned that he has a motion sensor light and webcam pointed directly at the door to his room! Josh and I thought it was hilarious, but Zack didn't think it was so funny!