Welcome to the Purple Honda, the place to go for news about the summer road trip Joseph and I semi-recently embarked on. Many people asked us to keep them updated about our whereabouts and happenings. If you were one of those people, this blog is for you. We (at least I) will try to post regularly about what exactly we are doing as we venture across the country.
Of course, we're a little late getting started for a variety of reasons. In anticipation of Joseph's forthcoming post about one of those, I did not nay say an earlier suggestion of his to start a blog. It's all in his head. But, more to the point, we've done quite a few things already that some of you probably haven't heard about, so I'll provide a quick recap. For those of you who have heard about this stuff, just skip it. It hasn't changed.
In the beginning...there was New York. I flew out from Chicago at the beginning of June and met Joseph in the city. Due to differences in opinion over what is defined as morning, I managed to make it to a number of bakeries, coffee shops and museums over our time there before Joseph had even stumbled out of bed. Of course, I regularly pass out at what he considers obscenely early hours, which evens things out. My New York highlights included Levain Bakery, 9th St. Espresso at Chelsea Market, the Met, the Museum of Modern Art, the Philharmonic and Riverside Park. It sounds like an extremely pompous list, I know, but considering that I'm spending most of the rest of the summer living in a tent, I think I was entitled to indulge myself a little in New York.
Which brings us to our first tent living location: the Bonnaroo music festival in Manchester, Tennessee. Fours days of high heat, blazing sun, monstrous crowds and so much live music it made your head want to explode. (Of course the first three helped with that as well.) It was so hot, that by 8 am we were forced to crawl out of the tent, already sweating, to the awning and hope for a breeze to help us sleep a while longer. Because when the concerts go until 4 am (not that I ever made it until then), you want as much sleep as possible. The music at Bonnaroo was incredible. I saw so many shows that I can barely remember the all, but my top two were definitely Stevie Wonder and Jay-Z, who played back to back on Saturday night. In addition to having great music, both had incredible stage presence and excellent shows, holding a small city's worth of people captive for their entire respective sets.
After Bonnaroo, we finally got around to doing some of the reason for this trip : rock climbing. From Manchester, we drove to the Red River Gorge in Kentucky (with a brief stop in Nashville to see the Parthenon. Literally. A full scale, concrete replica of the Parthenon. Pictures to follow.) We camped at Miguel's, the local climbing shop/pizza joint/campground, and spent a solid four days on the Red's overhanging, pocketed walls. The climbing was great even though we weren't climbing at peak potential (I'm blaming finals and senior week for our lack of end of year training). By the end of our four days, we hadn't even begun to dip below the surface of the hundreds of climbs at the Red, but our fingertips were shredded and we had other places to get to, so we moved on.
After a weekend spent recuperating at Joseph's parents' in Pittsburgh, we arrived at the New River Gorge in West Virginia, home to the longest arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere. Just like at the Red, the climbing was spectacular. We spent two days climbing at Summersville Lake, where the cliffs rise literally feet from the edge of the water, perfectly available for a dip at the end of a sweaty day of climbing. Wisely, we took a rest day in the middle of the week, leading to much less shredded fingertips and better climbing at the week's end. Once again, in what is becoming a theme, we barely scratched the surface of the climbing available at the New.
From West Virginia we headed down to Miami, taking two days to make the drive. My main thrill on arriving in Miami was to have a kitchen to cook in again. Of course, the beach and the pool were both welcome as well, but the kitchen was really where it was at for me. Miami was mostly a place for us to relax, so we did a lot of sitting around, reading and playing the game of the summer: Set. I cooked, Joseph did things with his friends from Miami, and things were good. We spent the Fourth of July with my roommate Ben and his family, who were kind enough to welcome us to their family party. We ate some great steak and corn on the cob, went wake boarding, and lit off a bunch of fireworks. What more can you ask of a Fourth?
But after a week and a half in Miami, we were ready to move on again. We planned out the next leg of our trip and left Miami on Wednesday, the 7th of July, heading west. Our first stop is New Orleans (not very far west, admittedly, but at least we made it out of Florida after a fourteen hour drive). We are here in New Orleans for only one day, and will hopefully get at least a taste of the city. I've already scouted a good spot for dinner, and then a little bird told me that we had to see some music while we are in the city, so that is on the agenda for after dinner.
So there it is, the tale of the last month. We've gotten in some pretty disparate things, and there are many more planned for the next couple of months. So stay tuned in here, and we'll keep you up to date with our adventures for as long as the internet and my coffee supply hold out.
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