(no subject)
Quickish update; once I get my pictures off my camera there will be a huger post! And perhaps a link to a new VISTAish blog!
So...we made it to Oregon. Yay! We left on August 16th, which was...a Wednesday? and ended up in Minnesota around 8 or so that night. We drove through the UP, where I sampled a pasty for the first time (it was ok). I think it's a better, though longer, route - the increased sanity of the wilderness and backroad Wisconsin towns is better than the ickiness of Chicago and the possible traffic jams. We had a very nice dinner with my family and a much anticipated visit from Karina, who dropped off some awesome music for our drive.
The next day we set out for South Dakota. We stopped at the Corn Palace (overrated), the Badlands (awesome), and made it into Wyoming where we stayed in Sundance (named for the Sundance Kid, and not the site of the film festival. Also home to overpriced Best Westerns. On Friday we made it through most of Montana, stopping at the Battle of Little Bighorn Memorial, which was awesome. Aaron and I both bought books (surprise surprise) and I was very moved by the new memorials to the American Indians who fought there.
Saturday had the worst driving - going through Idaho was all mountains, and for an unknown reason our check engine light came on and we still haven't gotten it checked out. Our final destination was our new apartment, and the last hour and a half drive from Portland was interminable. When we finally got here, we dumped our stuff, ate at Pizza Hut, and went shopping at WinCo, which looks like a Cub Foods (same fonts, etc) but is shabby mcshabbsters. Cheap, though. Crashed on our air mattress that night. Sunday brought a short bike ride where we checked out OSU's campus and the door to our office downtown. We also picked up some furniture from the Goodwill and other stuff from the Fred Meyer (like Meijer or Target). Corvallis seems like a nice, small town. Very compact. I like it...so far.
Sunday night we drove up to Portland, checked into our hotel, and then took the light rail (the MAX) into the downtown. Our ride was augmented by an interesting discussion between a homeless guy and a guy who had been homeless about the homeless guy's future. We found our way to Powell's Books, where we bought more books (again, surprise.) We went back to the hotel and crashed before leaving at 5:30 the next morning for the airport (would have had to leave at 3:30 from Corvallis...ick).
We got into Utah, waited for the shuttle with a ton of other people, rode in a coach bus for 45 minutes (reminded me of all those orchestra/band trips), and then checked into our hotel. The hotel was pretty nice, although the food got worse and worse as the week went on. The training lasted three days, and I was in a group of people all serving in Oregon, which was nice to meet all of them. Aaron was in a conglomerate group, too bad for Aaron. Our training included talking about poverty, cultural stuff, getting volunteers, etc. Mind numbing and involving lots of writing on the overhead and presenting, making things in teams, roleplaying, and presenting skits. It was really nice to meet people though, and I hope to see a lot of them again soon. We had some fun times at the bars (such as they were in Provo) especially at karaoke, where I serenaded the crowd with Shania Twain's "Any Man of Mine" and Aaron and I brough the house down with our duet on The Darkness' "I Believe in a Thing Called Love."
Thursday night we flew back to Portland and drove back to Corvallis. Today we visited our office for the first time, met the outgoing VISTA, Matt, and opened bank accounts including a joint bank account for bills (!). All our packages arrived safely and it was like Christmas morning, only stuff I already owned. But it was close. Especially my new bike, which made it safe and sound.
Tonight we were supposed to go to Portland for a get-together for people in OMEN VISTA positions (more acronyms, anyone? OMEN = Oregon Micro Enterprise Network, the umbrella organization that Corvallis Neighborhood Housing Services (CNHS) falls under; VISTA = Volunteers in Service to America) but there was an accident on I-5 (pretty much the only way to get to Portland) and we couldn't even get on the freeway. We drove around for 2 hours trying to get there and then gave up; by the time we would have gotten to Portland the event would have been over. We were bummed, but it also let me take a two hour nap and we'll get more crap organized tonight. Perhaps including, but not limited to - a new blog! We are going to start a joint blog about our experience and I am going to put the crapload of pictures I just took off my camera.
So, this was way long, but at least I got everything down while I remembered. I miss everyone; it's so weird to be in a new place. It's good Aaron's here, though. We made good traveling partners, and we've been making dinner together. I hate eating alone. It's fun living together, such as we have for like 48 hours. The place looks like crap since we have no furniture, but the actual apartment is really nice. Spacious and in good condition. Serious lack of light, though - we have to get a ton of lamps because there's no overhead lighting, but there are awesome windows. The fridge also makes this Star Wars noise, but only sometimes.
Anyhow, I'll update more later. I have to go assemble a $16 table.
So...we made it to Oregon. Yay! We left on August 16th, which was...a Wednesday? and ended up in Minnesota around 8 or so that night. We drove through the UP, where I sampled a pasty for the first time (it was ok). I think it's a better, though longer, route - the increased sanity of the wilderness and backroad Wisconsin towns is better than the ickiness of Chicago and the possible traffic jams. We had a very nice dinner with my family and a much anticipated visit from Karina, who dropped off some awesome music for our drive.
The next day we set out for South Dakota. We stopped at the Corn Palace (overrated), the Badlands (awesome), and made it into Wyoming where we stayed in Sundance (named for the Sundance Kid, and not the site of the film festival. Also home to overpriced Best Westerns. On Friday we made it through most of Montana, stopping at the Battle of Little Bighorn Memorial, which was awesome. Aaron and I both bought books (surprise surprise) and I was very moved by the new memorials to the American Indians who fought there.
Saturday had the worst driving - going through Idaho was all mountains, and for an unknown reason our check engine light came on and we still haven't gotten it checked out. Our final destination was our new apartment, and the last hour and a half drive from Portland was interminable. When we finally got here, we dumped our stuff, ate at Pizza Hut, and went shopping at WinCo, which looks like a Cub Foods (same fonts, etc) but is shabby mcshabbsters. Cheap, though. Crashed on our air mattress that night. Sunday brought a short bike ride where we checked out OSU's campus and the door to our office downtown. We also picked up some furniture from the Goodwill and other stuff from the Fred Meyer (like Meijer or Target). Corvallis seems like a nice, small town. Very compact. I like it...so far.
Sunday night we drove up to Portland, checked into our hotel, and then took the light rail (the MAX) into the downtown. Our ride was augmented by an interesting discussion between a homeless guy and a guy who had been homeless about the homeless guy's future. We found our way to Powell's Books, where we bought more books (again, surprise.) We went back to the hotel and crashed before leaving at 5:30 the next morning for the airport (would have had to leave at 3:30 from Corvallis...ick).
We got into Utah, waited for the shuttle with a ton of other people, rode in a coach bus for 45 minutes (reminded me of all those orchestra/band trips), and then checked into our hotel. The hotel was pretty nice, although the food got worse and worse as the week went on. The training lasted three days, and I was in a group of people all serving in Oregon, which was nice to meet all of them. Aaron was in a conglomerate group, too bad for Aaron. Our training included talking about poverty, cultural stuff, getting volunteers, etc. Mind numbing and involving lots of writing on the overhead and presenting, making things in teams, roleplaying, and presenting skits. It was really nice to meet people though, and I hope to see a lot of them again soon. We had some fun times at the bars (such as they were in Provo) especially at karaoke, where I serenaded the crowd with Shania Twain's "Any Man of Mine" and Aaron and I brough the house down with our duet on The Darkness' "I Believe in a Thing Called Love."
Thursday night we flew back to Portland and drove back to Corvallis. Today we visited our office for the first time, met the outgoing VISTA, Matt, and opened bank accounts including a joint bank account for bills (!). All our packages arrived safely and it was like Christmas morning, only stuff I already owned. But it was close. Especially my new bike, which made it safe and sound.
Tonight we were supposed to go to Portland for a get-together for people in OMEN VISTA positions (more acronyms, anyone? OMEN = Oregon Micro Enterprise Network, the umbrella organization that Corvallis Neighborhood Housing Services (CNHS) falls under; VISTA = Volunteers in Service to America) but there was an accident on I-5 (pretty much the only way to get to Portland) and we couldn't even get on the freeway. We drove around for 2 hours trying to get there and then gave up; by the time we would have gotten to Portland the event would have been over. We were bummed, but it also let me take a two hour nap and we'll get more crap organized tonight. Perhaps including, but not limited to - a new blog! We are going to start a joint blog about our experience and I am going to put the crapload of pictures I just took off my camera.
So, this was way long, but at least I got everything down while I remembered. I miss everyone; it's so weird to be in a new place. It's good Aaron's here, though. We made good traveling partners, and we've been making dinner together. I hate eating alone. It's fun living together, such as we have for like 48 hours. The place looks like crap since we have no furniture, but the actual apartment is really nice. Spacious and in good condition. Serious lack of light, though - we have to get a ton of lamps because there's no overhead lighting, but there are awesome windows. The fridge also makes this Star Wars noise, but only sometimes.
Anyhow, I'll update more later. I have to go assemble a $16 table.