mucho travelling
Today I have been in two states and two countries.
And apparently if the state of your driver's license and your car's license plates don't match up, you are a threatening person driving into or out of Canada.
And I even saw someone I knew today!
The personal part of my trip has come and gone. I spent two days and three nights up in the U.P. (Upper Peninsula, Mich.), a place I probably would never have travelled to if it hadn't been for Ben. It's actually quite a beautiful place, and I really like the town he's in right now, much better than his old town. His old town was very white trash, but this one is like a cozy little community.
The first night we stayed with his friend Josh in Marquette. Well, one of Josh's dogs was in heat, so even though Raleigh's neutered, and honestly has no clue what to do (you should have seen the confused look on his face when she kept putting her butt in his face), unfortunately he had to sleep in the car. When we got to Ben's place in Grand Marais, we had to be all espionage with Raleigh. He lives in employee housing, which means no dogs allowed. So we had to wait until dark to bring Raleigh in and then take him out way early in the morning, before it was light and before his boss came to work.
But that's about as much of this part of the trip I'm willing to discuss. But I don't mean that in a bad way, that anything bad happened, because it didn't.
Yesterday I drove downstate into the main part of Michigan (or the Trolls, according to the Yoopers, but who follows anything they say). I knew that my trip entitled me a trip right through beautiful Flint, Michigan (please note the sarcasm), and the go east into Canada. So, I decided I'd seen enough of the gross, super industrial region of Eastern Michigan, and drove the extra hour down into Ann Arbor. Now, naturally, this was on a Saturday, and it was on the Saturday of a home game. Amazingly I found a hotel, and drove up into town. Turns out the town is entirely revolved around the college. I couldn't find anywhere that was playing the Colorado game that a) wasn't super crowed or b) wasn't super smoky, until I found this sports bar right next to the parking lot I had parked in. So I got to watch both tthe CU and the UCLA game on big screen tvs right next to each other. I also had the opportunity to speak with this drunk man who was old enough to be my father about LA, Colorado, Detroit, etc. It was very odd, and definitely not the experience I expected going to Ann Arbor, nor the experience most people will have then they are there.
Today was a fairly long travel day. I went through Detroit, and crossed over into Canada, where I had trouble at the border (see the intro). I spent a very long, boring time driving through Canada. It is quite reminiscent of the American midwest, except some of the signs are in French. Towards the end it became entertaining, because I travelled by the edge of Lake Ontario and over the Erie Canal, where I actually got to see one of the locks filling up to let a boat go through. Then, naturally, I stopped at Niagara Falls. I'd never been before, and I didn't think I'd be too impressed. I drove up to them, and saw the smaller one, and was awestruck. Then I turned the corner and saw the main one, the horseshoe one, and was absolutely amazed beyond all amazement. I even got a really good picture of me and Raleigh in front of it.
So, back in the US. I hit up Rochester, and visit Alex. It was fun, we went out to dinner, and got to catch up, relive old memories, and discuss whatever odd plans we have for the future. Both of us are at least on the same track in that we're planning on being in school forever.
And I just arrived in Syracuse, New York, which is my pit stop for the evening. I'm visiting the law school in the morning. I drove in at night, but was totally shocked. It was absolutely different than I thought it would be. I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but I thought it would be like a slightly bigger version of Boulder. Not a mini city. We'll see what daylight will bring, I suppose. But I should get going. Early morning tomorrow, which will be followed by a nice drive out to Boston.
And apparently if the state of your driver's license and your car's license plates don't match up, you are a threatening person driving into or out of Canada.
And I even saw someone I knew today!
The personal part of my trip has come and gone. I spent two days and three nights up in the U.P. (Upper Peninsula, Mich.), a place I probably would never have travelled to if it hadn't been for Ben. It's actually quite a beautiful place, and I really like the town he's in right now, much better than his old town. His old town was very white trash, but this one is like a cozy little community.
The first night we stayed with his friend Josh in Marquette. Well, one of Josh's dogs was in heat, so even though Raleigh's neutered, and honestly has no clue what to do (you should have seen the confused look on his face when she kept putting her butt in his face), unfortunately he had to sleep in the car. When we got to Ben's place in Grand Marais, we had to be all espionage with Raleigh. He lives in employee housing, which means no dogs allowed. So we had to wait until dark to bring Raleigh in and then take him out way early in the morning, before it was light and before his boss came to work.
But that's about as much of this part of the trip I'm willing to discuss. But I don't mean that in a bad way, that anything bad happened, because it didn't.
Yesterday I drove downstate into the main part of Michigan (or the Trolls, according to the Yoopers, but who follows anything they say). I knew that my trip entitled me a trip right through beautiful Flint, Michigan (please note the sarcasm), and the go east into Canada. So, I decided I'd seen enough of the gross, super industrial region of Eastern Michigan, and drove the extra hour down into Ann Arbor. Now, naturally, this was on a Saturday, and it was on the Saturday of a home game. Amazingly I found a hotel, and drove up into town. Turns out the town is entirely revolved around the college. I couldn't find anywhere that was playing the Colorado game that a) wasn't super crowed or b) wasn't super smoky, until I found this sports bar right next to the parking lot I had parked in. So I got to watch both tthe CU and the UCLA game on big screen tvs right next to each other. I also had the opportunity to speak with this drunk man who was old enough to be my father about LA, Colorado, Detroit, etc. It was very odd, and definitely not the experience I expected going to Ann Arbor, nor the experience most people will have then they are there.
Today was a fairly long travel day. I went through Detroit, and crossed over into Canada, where I had trouble at the border (see the intro). I spent a very long, boring time driving through Canada. It is quite reminiscent of the American midwest, except some of the signs are in French. Towards the end it became entertaining, because I travelled by the edge of Lake Ontario and over the Erie Canal, where I actually got to see one of the locks filling up to let a boat go through. Then, naturally, I stopped at Niagara Falls. I'd never been before, and I didn't think I'd be too impressed. I drove up to them, and saw the smaller one, and was awestruck. Then I turned the corner and saw the main one, the horseshoe one, and was absolutely amazed beyond all amazement. I even got a really good picture of me and Raleigh in front of it.
So, back in the US. I hit up Rochester, and visit Alex. It was fun, we went out to dinner, and got to catch up, relive old memories, and discuss whatever odd plans we have for the future. Both of us are at least on the same track in that we're planning on being in school forever.
And I just arrived in Syracuse, New York, which is my pit stop for the evening. I'm visiting the law school in the morning. I drove in at night, but was totally shocked. It was absolutely different than I thought it would be. I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but I thought it would be like a slightly bigger version of Boulder. Not a mini city. We'll see what daylight will bring, I suppose. But I should get going. Early morning tomorrow, which will be followed by a nice drive out to Boston.