Oh, and it snowed while were there!

And here we are in the snow, with my colorful scarf.And no, this snow didn't stick either.

Indianapolis

We just got home from our trip to the city of Indianapolis. I have to say, this is a fun little city. I say little, because I am from Los Angeles, but do note, we did not see everything we set out to see in one day. We did not see the Museum of Art, nor the Museum of Contemporary Art. We weren't even trying to go to the American Super Hero Museum, or the Museum of Miniature Houses, or the Indiana Medical History Museum.

Right after my last blog entry ("cuisine"), a lovely woman named Stephanie came up to us to ask me about my scarf. She sat down and chatted with us for a half hour or so, recommended places for us to visit, then exchanged emails. How fun!

We also stopped at a mall looking for a Bank of America ATM (by the way-- no depositing of checks to B of A accounts... anywhere in Indiana it seems), a mall called The Fashion Mall, Keystone at the Crossing. This mall turned out to be the most beautiful thing ever. All of the best stores and restaurants of So Cal were represented here. It was like the Grove and the Spectrum rolled into one beautiful indoor oasis. I went into a store called Anthropologie, which I have seen in California. Their website does nothing for how adorably their store was decorated for the holiday.


Every year, I buy an ornament or two for my Christmas tree at the after-Christmas sales. As I said before, the tree was one of the first things I unpacked, and one of those sale ornaments from a few years ago was one of the three things that broke in the boxes (I know-- only 3!). So I bought two ornaments at Anthropologie-- a pear with a lady bug, and a rag-doll deer. Very cute. Yes, both made in China. What can you do.

This mall also had: Crate and Barrel, Nordstrom, Tiffany's, William Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Apple store, Sony store, Restoration Hardware, an Art movie theater, Coach, Abercrombie and Fitch, Maggiano's, PF Changes, Cheesecake Factory, and so on. Now, any of you who know me, know I am not a mall person, and I am definitely not a designer mall person. But to see so many elegant displays and beautiful clothes-- there is something to be said about a city having these things to offer, whereas a small town like the one we are in seems to only have Walmart clothes available. And there is nothing stylish and sexy about shopping in a Walmart the size of two city blocks with 40 foot ceilings and cold concrete floors. The appeal of driving an hour to be in such a warm beautiful place... I can't believe the country is what could make me go name brand!

We are debating about our New Year's plans tomorrow evening. There was the idea of going to one of the local bars and seeing how it went. There is there "we're tired and homebodies" New Year's Eve in our New Home (a party for sure). And there is the appeal of going right back to the city. There is a funny looking non-profit artist's space having an event-- we might go there. Next Friday is a big Indianapolis art thing, so we may save it for then.

Hope everyone is having a good night and if I don't write again, Happy New Year's!

Cuisine

We have been trying to eat at local restaurants when we go out. We have also made several meals at home, but as the house isn't quite as clean as we would like yet, and we are used to going out, we have gone out a lot. I have been wanting to write about the local food scene for a while, but not just yet.

Right now, we are in a cafe in Indianapolis, called Paradise. Soup, sandwiches, free Wi-Fi, coffee, and the most delicious cookies, with chocolate chips all the way from Ghirardelli. Truly Paradise! Civilization! Would you be surprised to hear this is a chain? And would you laugh like we did to see it originated in Long Beach, CA? Despite never having eaten at this cafe at a California location, it was a delicious surprise to find in Indiana. Hope you visit it and enjoy!

Happy Holidays!

We celebrated the holidays before our drive. But I still decorated a little here. Surprisingly, Christmas lights are not a big thing here. Very few houses have them. There are a few snow-flake shaped light sculptures in the downtown area.


Today, we are taking it easy and I have had a chance to post here. I wish there were more pictures of a finished house for you! Or even some snow!! It is pretty here, snow or not. We have squirrels living in the trees in our yard. Yesterday another neighbor brought us 'welcome' cookies.

New House--Almost!

The sun room and kitchen are the only presentable, fully working rooms right now. Even they need some adjusting of decor, but they are mostly in order, and hence are my favorite rooms right now. The house has two bedrooms, a bathroom, a dining room (currently box-central), a living room, a sun room, a kitchen, a mudroom, an attic and basement. I love the basement-- "This box is in my way, can you take it to the basement?" It's a whole new level of the "honey-do" list. The only problem with the basement and attic are the stairs. Did people really only have 5 inch long feet one hundred years ago?


The kitchen is functional without excess. The counters appear to be from the 50s-- an aluminum lined laminate material. The yellow back splash tiles are authentic plastic tiles. There are nine drawers in the cabinetry-- I have never had so many drawers. What on earth do you use so many drawers for? One of them is an old built-in flour bin, a deep drawer made of metal. The door above leads to the basement.


Across from the basement door is this windowed door to the mudroom. Apparently, you leave your mudroom unlocked for visitors, and visitors are polite enough not to steal your tools out of the mudroom. This room is nearly the same tempurature as outside, in the 30s right now. The kitchen is hovering the 60s and 70s. Toasty!

By the way, that is indeed an advertisement for chewing tobacco you see in our mudroom.


The house is very charming. We have not unpacked everything yet, nor cleaned things to our satisfaction, but it is working out nicely. I love the door knobs.

New hometown: Indiana

I should have taken a picture of the house at night when we arrived. The next day (Saturday) was so warm, all the snow melted, and the next day, the temperature dropped to the 20s. It did snow a few times throughout the day, but nothing stayed on the ground. No white Christmas after all.

On Friday night, we stopped to look at the house and say hello to the landlord. She is a little old southern lady who is busy as a bee. She and her husband were at a neighbor's party, so we stopped in to say hello. The neighbor was also an older couple (70s) who had never had children. The lady is a Yoga instructor and interior designer. She reminded me of a character from the Yaya Sisterhood... she was offering cocktails and laughing and telling us about her adventures white-water rafting. She hugged us when we left and said something about being more of her adopted kids. I don't know how more welcomed we could feel!

Crawfordsville, IN

Hi everyone,
I am too tired to blog tonight. But I wanted you to know we made it safe and sound! Here is a pic of the house from two months ago. Just so you know, it has snow all over the yard now!

Tomorrow I will try to catch you up on Missouri and Illinois. I have to say, Missouri was really fun and beautiful. Pictures may not describe how lovely it was, but I will try. We didn't have a chance to stop in Saint Louis, but it was so beautiful-- definitely an underrated city!

I will send you pics tomorrow of the snow and the house. The hallway is red. The bathroom has wallpaper. We are in another motel, probably the nicest of the three nights (the same we stayed in over the summer). I feel terrible the cats will be shoved in the car one more time, but at least that time will be short!

When we checked in, the counter girl said, "Have you been here before?"
"Yes."
"Oh. Because you look like out-of-towners."
I said to J, "and let's hope we still do in six months!"

Missouri

Missouri was a beautiful drive. I was glad it was daytime when we made this leg of the drive. It has the red soil of Oklahoma (not quite as red, but still very red), and has these wild rock formations that are pushing out of the ground, that had to be cut through to make the road. Sure enough, there are a number of caves and other geologic formations of interest in Missouri. We didn't stop for them, but might have to go back for a visit!


We stopped at an antique store where we saw a REAL aluminum tree!! Don't think I didn't think for a moment if there was anything we could toss out of the back of the car to make room for it!

Saint Louis was a brick city that appeared to be both returning to the earth and revitalizing. There were old buildings being repurposed into loft apartments, next to others that were burned out and graffitied. I thought it was an interesting looking city, but we didn't even stop for gas, so what do I know?


We crossed the mighty Mississippi. We are officially East of the Mississippi!

Springfield, Missouri, 36 degrees F

We pulled into Springfield around 10PM local time. That's 8PM in California, by the way. J wanted to drive farther, but I was hoping we could get some sleep and have an actual early start Friday. The fog was rolling in too, which made driving difficult. There is supposed to be a big storm coming in to the north in the next two days, which will bring rain to our destination on Saturday and Sunday.

It's cold here, but manageable.

I took this picture at the last pit-stop we made before calling it a night. The car next to me stopped and let out two girls, around 15 years old. They were wearing capri pants, t-shirts, and sneakers with no socks, and big down coats with fur-lined hoods.

1755 miles from home in California. 496 miles to home in Indiana!!

Update:
The comments were restricting users earlier. I changed the settings so you can now comment freely!

Turner Turnpike, Oklahoma

The bad part about driving in December, is the sun sets so early. We were driving a toll road out of Tulsa to the Oklahoma border when we lost our light. I have not had much experience with toll roads, and when I first saw the sign that said "Free restrooms ahead 8 miles," I thought it was very funny. Then I realized if you got off the freeway to use a restroom, you would have to pay the toll, then again at the pay point every thirty miles. The "free" restrooms were located in service stations in the median area, which had one gas station and a McDonalds. Talk about a captive audience. Oklahoma can probably fund all of its roads using McDonalds purchase price for this exclusive audience.

Two story cats

Cherokee Tranding Post, Oklahoma

We took a break at the Cherokee Trading Post. I like to look at Native American crafts at these types of shops. I was disappointed that a lot of the more popular items-- leather goods, small knick-knacks-- were made in China. They did have an amazing selection of Navajo pottery, with bios of the artists who signed them. Out back, there was a pen with three buffalo, a long-horn, and a calf. The biggest buffalo, Bucky, was quite happy to come to the fence and pose for photos.We ended up buying buffalo jerky in the shop. I felt a little guilty, but honestly, it was the best jerky I have had in a while. We got some in Roswell that was the worst I have ever had, so there you go! They also had fudge, which was excellent!

Leaving Texas

The largest cross in the Western Hemisphere. Because EVERYTHING is bigger in Texas.

Cat Drama

Surprisingly, she did much better today that the past two. J did a fabulous job loading the car (hence our very late start), which placed the cats right between the two seats so they could both see us easily. After the initial outburst (seen here), Dharma went to sleep. Every now and then she would wake up, meow at us until we talked to her, then go back to sleep. We considered driving all night it was working out so well.

Heading out of the hotel

Had a good sleep. Ready for more driving. Our goal for the day is Springfield, Missouri. I have also been looking at some strange stops on the Roadside America website. I don't know if we will have time to stop, however. There appear to be storms closing in on us!

Amarillo, Texas

Taking a night in a hotel. The cats were so grateful to be able to run around a room. It also came with free Wi-Fi! We ordered Texas BBQ take-out and beer, because in my reunion with my email, I found out I have been offered an artist residency next summer! More info later, but we had to celebrate!!

1200 miles down, 1050 miles to go!

Update:
I forgot to mention that north Texas has one of the more cool satellite images on google.

Entering Texas

It was dark while I was driving, but basically looked flat, featureless, with a long, straight road into darkness. There was also the bonus of cow manure smell, and the tell-tale packing plants on the road side. I have never cared much for Texas. It could be because of my politics. It could be because I received my one and only traffic violation here in the middle of a fight with a family member.

I was really tired, and J was already asleep from his all-nighters. Our cat, Dharma was so panicked by then, nothing would stop her from meowing. She was starting to get a hoarse/smoker's voice. We will be sleeping in Texas, so I will have to come to terms with my feelings!

Clovis, New Mexico, 61 degrees F

The land appears flat and featureless as far as the eye can see. The road stretches as straight and empty ahead of us as it does in our rear view mirror, a line connecting two points from horizon to horizon. It makes the sky look huge, ocular, and crystal blue, with only a few filmy clouds lying to the north and south parallel to the ground to make the sky look even more wide. Although the land appears to be flat, it actually rolls gently, and jumps up to meet the huge domed sky, forming a bowl of sandy yellow land that looks smaller than more places despite its desperate isolation.

Roswell

For no reason in particular, I was very excited to have one of our stops in Roswell, New Mexico. I an not a believer in aliens or anything, but I am amused by the hype. There is also an artist residency program there, so I wanted to see the town.
One thing I was struck by: it is the only town I have seen with a prosperous downtown center of small businesses, AND a number of big box stores, including a super Walmart. That was a site to behold. We did not get a chance to go into the UFO Museum or the UFO-shaped McDonalds, but it was fun to drive past.

Billy the Kid Trail

We bribed him to pose with banana peels.

Mescalero, New Mexico, 24 degrees F

The desert suddenly jumped back and yielded a pine forest on rolling hills, tiny hodge-podge buildings awakening with morning activities. The ground was drizzled here and there with dollops of white frosting that did not register as snow for many miles. As each town passed the car windows, the desert returned until we reached the land of the Mescalero Indian. Here, the forest snapped around the car like a rubber band and the road complicity transformed into a winding mountain journey. Small cement restraining walls lined the road covered in authentic Indian grafitti. The town was made of similar mix-matched buildings, with the notable detail of having not one single example of a chain store-- grocery, gas, clothing, or otherwise.

We pulled over here for a break and the ground crunched like snow-- this is what it means when earth is frozen solid.

New Mexico, 26 degrees F

I woke up around 6 AM. J drove all night to try to make up for our late start. I had been at the wheel all day before conceding control around 2 in the morning (1AM California time-- we crossed our first time zone). I dosed on and off between 2 AM and dawn. The cat medicine wasn't working anymore-- Dharma meowed the whole night.

We got into New Mexico and missed most of Arizona in darkness. Actually, we passed the Thing right when I was falling asleep. It was closed so we couldn't stop. I took over driving and he went to sleep. I only let him sleep a little while, because to was too beautiful a drive to enjoy alone.

Update
I saw the Thing once when I was eighteen and on a road trip with my Grandma. I won't give it away, although I am sure the above link does. Let's just say I was surprised to find something so cathartic and silently unexpected. My first site-specific art piece, made in 1998, was in direct response to this piece, and named for it. I regret we are in such a hurry to get where we are going we cannot stop at more roadside phenomenons such as this.

Phoenix, Arizona

Stopped to have a late dinner with J's brother.

Blythe, California

Blythe is the end of the line in California. We were hoping to stop and take pictures of the river, but the sun was basically set as we crossed. Good bye California. At least, for now.

California Desert

We left later than I had hoped. It is amazing how many things need to be done before you can leave your home state behind. This image was taken on the way to the river over Thanksgiving weekend, on the full moon. There will be another full one this Saturday, the 22nd. Our first night in our new home in Indiana!

Leaving California

Today, J, two cats, and I loaded up the Matrix with the remainder of our possessions (the majority went on a moving truck last week) and headed out on our Great American Road Trip, on our adventure in moving.

I will be posting as we go, and including link locations and images. Click on the titles to see where each entry was written. Below is the approximate map of our trip.

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