Best friends and Holy Lands
After I made my last post, I hung around the mall until I pretty much had to leave. Then I found out that Blair's flight was delayed again, but only by half an hour or so. So I got in the car and drove to the airport, which is in the opposite direction of my house from the mall a far enough distance that it didn't make sense to go all the way home. Then her flight was further delayed... so I found the airport and decided to drive around a little. Then I got lost. I considered making a voice post and pleading for someone to call me and give me a little MapQuest aid (I called Lee, but he was asleep and didn't answer), but then I had a totally revolutionary idea. I went to a gas station and bought a map. My sexy map-reading skills got me back to where I needed to go.
I had quite a bit of time, so I took a random exit off the highway and drove and drove--and I found myself in Chappaqua, New York, the home town of Dar Williams! I was so excited. "This is where it all happened," I thought dreamily, driving through the vacant commercial district. "This is where all the ideas began. 'Are you out there, Jimmy Olsen? Johnny Memphis?'" I looked around to see if I could spot the local theater where the babysitter might have leapt up with a sparkling horn coming out of her head in the prestigious Chappaqua production of the Unicorn, but I didn't see it. I was getting a little loopy by then.
I also drove by the Reader's Digest Global Headquarters, an unassuming-looking gated compound. Oooh! Aaah!
Eventually, I gave up and went to the airport to wait, and her plane landed at 2 a.m. We stopped at a 24-hour diner in Danbury on our way home.
The next day, I gave Blair a gift I had crocheted for her. Well, I crocheted it for her baby; she's expecting her first child in August.
I made the baby the sock monkey hat and blanket from Stitch 'n Bitch Crochet: the Happy Hooker.
I busted out my mom's fancy-ass camera that I haven't really explored yet to photograph it. Lee was pleased to have his picture taken with DeeDee.
I had a short list of things I thought we could do while Blair visited: I wanted to go to duck pin bowling at the St. Joseph's bowling alley. It's a bowling alley at a church. I've been eyeing that thing since I moved here, and I finally called to find out what the deal was, but I was disappointed to learn that it's not open to the public. They use it for some kind of league. I have only a tenuous grasp on what duck pin bowling even IS, let alone what a league might be like. Will I ever get to try?
We also said we wanted to go to the Melting Pot for fondue, so Friday night, after getting up really late (hey, we went to bed really late), we gussied ourselves up and drove to the nearest location, a few dozen miles away. It was raining like the dickens, and that delayed us considerably as we tried to get out of town over flooded roads, but we made it, only to have to wait 45 minutes for a table.
Here's Blair across from me in the bar area, enjoying a cup of coffee while we waited.
When we got home, we watched Sarah Jessica Parker's little-known 1983 flick, Somewhere, Tomorrow. This movie is awesomely bad, and I recommend it heartily. I found my copy at the dollar store, and the racks continue to overflow with it.
Saturday was still rainy as all get-out, and our sleeping patterns didn't improve. We went out shopping for the materials for the next project we wanted to do: prepare and devour some crab legs. Finding the crab legs proved to be more difficult than I anticipated; we wanted to try some kind of fish market or farmers' market instead of the grocery store, but I'm not familiar enough with my area to know what kind of place like that is available, if any. We ended up buying them at the grocery store, and man oh man, they were good! I was so pleased at how easy they were to make. I will definitely be doing that again. Thanks to Gabi for the simple, yet effective advice on steaming crab legs.
After crab legs, we continued our Sarah Jessica Parker theme and watched Girls Just Want to Have Fun.
Sunday, we got up a little earlier than the previous two days, and we went to lunch with Lee at Maggie McFly's. Then we went to the mall so Lee could buy some pants and shoes for an upcoming business trip, and Blair and I browsed baby stuff at Burlington Coat Factory. Oy, there are so many different contraptions and tools for mothers to use--and lots of adorable stuff that I know I'll love picking out when I'm getting ready to have a baby. I do love to collect accessories.
After the mall, Blair and Lee took naps while I went to Mass. Then Blair and I watched a documentary called Always a Bridesmaid; it was pretty good. Blair had Netflix and cool taste in movies, so she brought that one. If I had Netflix, I'd still probably end up wasting my monthly fee by renting, like, First Daughter and then not watching it because it doesn't actually look good, and wondering why I rented it but not wanting to waste the rental but then forgetting I have it...
Finally, today we got up early enough to get Blair packed and ready to go with enough time for us to visit Holy Land USA, the Waterbury landmark I've been dying the most to see.
Check out that link for a brief summary of this place, and know that when we went today, the Holy Land was in an even deeper state of disrepair than it was when the people of Roadside America visited and photographed (and videotaped) it.
The park is gated, but there's no fence, so we simply walked around the gate. This handless, noseless Jesus greets visitors:
Here I am at the entrance:
Mary's... house?
This sign was just lying on the ground, broken and etched with graffiti as young as three years old. I'm surprised this hasn't been taken; so much has been stolen, and a number of items (such as the Hollywood-style sign labeling the Holy Land) seem to be just gone.
The temple, I think.
Some of the trails were quite treacherous, especially this stone-covered earthen staircase that clearly had suffered tremendously in the weekend's rain. Blair decided not to attempt it, which made me feel relieved, because the last thing I wanted was for her to fall on her belly at the abandoned Holy Land.
Detail of a monument to "the Dignity of Marriage Stressed in the Bible":
We found another way to reach the summit of the Holy Land, though, where this is planted:
It's gigantic and visible for miles. Some nights, it's lit up. Supposedly, the locals tell their children that this is the cross on which Christ was electrocuted.
It is, of course, decorated with graffiti.
The view of the city is pretty neat from up the base of the cross. Next time I go, I'm bringing binoculars so I can see if my house is visible. I think it might be.
When I got Blair to take this picture, she made me let go of the fence; I was kind of fake-leaning on it, and she said it was nasty. Oh, yeah.
(I'm wearing a T-shirt I bought on eBay; it's a New Orleans Mardi Gras 1978 shirt that was still in the package! Yes, I defiled it by opening it, but that's why I bought it: for wearing. And check out how it's short-sleeved; the warmer weather is so nice. Don't ever leave me like that again, Sun!)
It was an exciting, fulfilling trip to the Holy Land, and while we saw the main attractions, I know there's more to see. I hope to go back there and do more exploring.
We saw a potentially scary dog hanging out around the car as we approached it on our way out, but he ran off, and we drove to Danbury for lunch at the Sesame Seed. Then it was off to the airport. Here's hoping Blair's flight home was faster than her trip out here.
ETA: The pictures are still sizing themselves, I see. This annoys me greatly.
I had quite a bit of time, so I took a random exit off the highway and drove and drove--and I found myself in Chappaqua, New York, the home town of Dar Williams! I was so excited. "This is where it all happened," I thought dreamily, driving through the vacant commercial district. "This is where all the ideas began. 'Are you out there, Jimmy Olsen? Johnny Memphis?'" I looked around to see if I could spot the local theater where the babysitter might have leapt up with a sparkling horn coming out of her head in the prestigious Chappaqua production of the Unicorn, but I didn't see it. I was getting a little loopy by then.
I also drove by the Reader's Digest Global Headquarters, an unassuming-looking gated compound. Oooh! Aaah!
Eventually, I gave up and went to the airport to wait, and her plane landed at 2 a.m. We stopped at a 24-hour diner in Danbury on our way home.
The next day, I gave Blair a gift I had crocheted for her. Well, I crocheted it for her baby; she's expecting her first child in August.
I made the baby the sock monkey hat and blanket from Stitch 'n Bitch Crochet: the Happy Hooker.
I busted out my mom's fancy-ass camera that I haven't really explored yet to photograph it. Lee was pleased to have his picture taken with DeeDee.
I had a short list of things I thought we could do while Blair visited: I wanted to go to duck pin bowling at the St. Joseph's bowling alley. It's a bowling alley at a church. I've been eyeing that thing since I moved here, and I finally called to find out what the deal was, but I was disappointed to learn that it's not open to the public. They use it for some kind of league. I have only a tenuous grasp on what duck pin bowling even IS, let alone what a league might be like. Will I ever get to try?
We also said we wanted to go to the Melting Pot for fondue, so Friday night, after getting up really late (hey, we went to bed really late), we gussied ourselves up and drove to the nearest location, a few dozen miles away. It was raining like the dickens, and that delayed us considerably as we tried to get out of town over flooded roads, but we made it, only to have to wait 45 minutes for a table.
Here's Blair across from me in the bar area, enjoying a cup of coffee while we waited.
When we got home, we watched Sarah Jessica Parker's little-known 1983 flick, Somewhere, Tomorrow. This movie is awesomely bad, and I recommend it heartily. I found my copy at the dollar store, and the racks continue to overflow with it.
Saturday was still rainy as all get-out, and our sleeping patterns didn't improve. We went out shopping for the materials for the next project we wanted to do: prepare and devour some crab legs. Finding the crab legs proved to be more difficult than I anticipated; we wanted to try some kind of fish market or farmers' market instead of the grocery store, but I'm not familiar enough with my area to know what kind of place like that is available, if any. We ended up buying them at the grocery store, and man oh man, they were good! I was so pleased at how easy they were to make. I will definitely be doing that again. Thanks to Gabi for the simple, yet effective advice on steaming crab legs.
After crab legs, we continued our Sarah Jessica Parker theme and watched Girls Just Want to Have Fun.
Sunday, we got up a little earlier than the previous two days, and we went to lunch with Lee at Maggie McFly's. Then we went to the mall so Lee could buy some pants and shoes for an upcoming business trip, and Blair and I browsed baby stuff at Burlington Coat Factory. Oy, there are so many different contraptions and tools for mothers to use--and lots of adorable stuff that I know I'll love picking out when I'm getting ready to have a baby. I do love to collect accessories.
After the mall, Blair and Lee took naps while I went to Mass. Then Blair and I watched a documentary called Always a Bridesmaid; it was pretty good. Blair had Netflix and cool taste in movies, so she brought that one. If I had Netflix, I'd still probably end up wasting my monthly fee by renting, like, First Daughter and then not watching it because it doesn't actually look good, and wondering why I rented it but not wanting to waste the rental but then forgetting I have it...
Finally, today we got up early enough to get Blair packed and ready to go with enough time for us to visit Holy Land USA, the Waterbury landmark I've been dying the most to see.
Check out that link for a brief summary of this place, and know that when we went today, the Holy Land was in an even deeper state of disrepair than it was when the people of Roadside America visited and photographed (and videotaped) it.
The park is gated, but there's no fence, so we simply walked around the gate. This handless, noseless Jesus greets visitors:
Here I am at the entrance:
Mary's... house?
This sign was just lying on the ground, broken and etched with graffiti as young as three years old. I'm surprised this hasn't been taken; so much has been stolen, and a number of items (such as the Hollywood-style sign labeling the Holy Land) seem to be just gone.
The temple, I think.
Some of the trails were quite treacherous, especially this stone-covered earthen staircase that clearly had suffered tremendously in the weekend's rain. Blair decided not to attempt it, which made me feel relieved, because the last thing I wanted was for her to fall on her belly at the abandoned Holy Land.
Detail of a monument to "the Dignity of Marriage Stressed in the Bible":
We found another way to reach the summit of the Holy Land, though, where this is planted:
It's gigantic and visible for miles. Some nights, it's lit up. Supposedly, the locals tell their children that this is the cross on which Christ was electrocuted.
It is, of course, decorated with graffiti.
The view of the city is pretty neat from up the base of the cross. Next time I go, I'm bringing binoculars so I can see if my house is visible. I think it might be.
When I got Blair to take this picture, she made me let go of the fence; I was kind of fake-leaning on it, and she said it was nasty. Oh, yeah.
(I'm wearing a T-shirt I bought on eBay; it's a New Orleans Mardi Gras 1978 shirt that was still in the package! Yes, I defiled it by opening it, but that's why I bought it: for wearing. And check out how it's short-sleeved; the warmer weather is so nice. Don't ever leave me like that again, Sun!)
It was an exciting, fulfilling trip to the Holy Land, and while we saw the main attractions, I know there's more to see. I hope to go back there and do more exploring.
We saw a potentially scary dog hanging out around the car as we approached it on our way out, but he ran off, and we drove to Danbury for lunch at the Sesame Seed. Then it was off to the airport. Here's hoping Blair's flight home was faster than her trip out here.
ETA: The pictures are still sizing themselves, I see. This annoys me greatly.