Chicken

I have not helped butcher chicken for a long time.   My uncle each year raises around 100 chicken and keeps 30 or so through the winter.  As a child, I learned a lot of my anatomy through watching my family butcher turkeys, chickens, deer, cattle, etc.  I was able to identify lung matter, livers, hearts and intestines before kindergarten.  Today we butchered about 15 chickens.  I helped pick feathers and clean the chicken before we stuck it in the freezer.  I was then asked to clean a couple of wash tubs.  

The tubs used to cool down the chicken before it is put in the freezer.  They are full of clean water and chicken that have been dressed and cut up are put there.  After a while they are placed in bags and put in the freezer.  

I have always just rinsed the tubs out and put them back where we get them from.  Sometimes we use a little soap.  This time, my aunt Jerri noticed there were quite a few spots on the tub.  We then began to scrub the tubs and found the sides of the tub were coated in layers upon layers of soap and old chicken fat.  I do not know when the last time these were scrubbed, but I worked on one tub for over an hour and was still not done.  

We ate a delicious dinner and then moved equipment to see if we could harvest.  Right now, the crew is in the field and the first wheat is cutting at about 13% moisture.  It is time to harvest and get the wheat out of the field. In the next few days, I will help out when needed, but I think I probably won't see much of my father for the rest of the trip.  Wish us a fruitful harvest.  

July 30

The farm is getting ready to harvest our winter wheat and we lease a combine, or harvester, to help cut the grain.  The machine was delivered on Wednesday and I helped Dad put on a second set of tires.  The wind was blowing about 20-30 miles an hour all day and it was HOT!  Mom and I spent a day in the kitchen baking bread and she also was teaching me how to make jelly.  Hopefully when I get back to Oregon, I will make some Blackberry and raspberry preserves.  Mom, Dad and I ate porkchops for dinner, and I ate my share of potatoes.  At around 8:30, the wind died down and I went running.  I don't miss the burning in my lungs I get in Montana.  In Oregon, there is enough humidity, my legs always give out before my lungs.  In Montana, I am short of breath and coughing much before my legs are tired.  I should come here to train if I ever want to compete in a race.  

Last Day in Glacier

We decided to do one last short hike before we left the park.  We ate breakfast, took down our campsite and drove to East Glacier.  I hopped in with R & R and we drove to Two Medicine to do the Running Eagle Falls hike.  When I was young the falls were called trick falls.  We walked the .3 mile trail to the falls.  There was no water running over the top, but there was a torrent gushing forth from the bottom.  We then drove back to East Glacier and parted ways.  I stopped in Ft. Benton for a burger (it was delicious) and returned to an empty house at the farm.  I did laundry and put all the gear back.  

When Mom came home that night, we sat and talked for many hours.  I had not spent quality time with my mother yet on this trip.  It was fun to sit and chat about our family and laugh.  

Logan Pass

Rachael opted for a day at the campsite while Ryan and I tried to do more hiking.  We drove to St. Mary and got on a free shuttle to Logan Pass.  The shuttle was packed with people and so was the parking lot.  I think it is removing quite a bit of traffic from the road, which is excellent.  At the top, the parking lot was teeming with people and three cars were driving in circles looking for a spot.  Ryan and I headed toward the garden wall and walked along the cliff for a while.  We saw many mountain goats in a similar spot to where Marie and I had seen them a year before.  

We then went back and decided to just do the hidden lake overlook.  It is a boardwalk trail, but some of it was still under snow.  We moved quickly to the overlook and ate lunch there, and then ran the whole way back with skiing/skating through the snow patches.  We had people looking at us like we were junior high boys, but it was fun.  We then went back to camp.  

We had spaghetti o's and Easy Mac.  It was not the best choice, but we all felt that it will help us appreciate "real" food when we got out of the park the next day.  We burned the end of our wood and ate the last smores and hot dogs.  

Fishin'

Ryan told me earlier this summer that he would like to try and fish in Glacier.  You don't need to buy a license, so why not.  We grabbed 3 poles from my house, which haven't been used for at least (emphasis on least) 9 years.  We drove to Swiftcurrent lake and Many Glacier lodge.  Rachael worked a season there when she was 19.  We walked through the lodge and looked in the gift shop.  

We then grabbed the poles and walked a mile into Lake Josephine and found a little inlet on the South west shore.  Rachael brought a chair and books to relax in while Ryan and I fought with the poles.  We strung the poles within a half hour which shocked me.  Ryan loaded a pole with a hook and bobber and cast it.  He then set it near Rachael and told her to watch it.  Ryan and I then played with all the lures that were in the tackle box.  

Since we were fishin' at noon in the heat of the day on a rocky shore with little shade, Ryan and I knew there was little hope for any catch.  We had a tremendous amount of fun anyway.  After losing one lure under a rock, Ryan and I moved to a small pond behind our inlet and cast into the water for 15-20 minutes.  Hikers would hike by above us and comment to each other , thinking they were out of ear shot, about how stupid we were.  I even commented back to a couple that stopped and stared for a while.  Eventually Ryan and I put bobbers and hooks on our poles and sat down to read as well.  At around 1:30 we decided to go back to the parking lot for lunch.  We made sandwiches and ate in the shade.  We then headed to St. Mary for a restaurant that served pie.  Rachael told me it was the best pie on this side of the park.  

We walked in and put our name on the 20 minute waiting list, and then went into the gift shop.  I bought some stickers and found my way into the restaurant.  We sat down and ordered different types of berry pies.  It was delicious and the atmosphere was good.  The counter at the front where we sat had an open view to the kitchen where twenty-somethings hustled around making the orders and chatting.  You could tell they were having fun and enjoying their summer near the park.  

We then went back to camp and napped.  I was sore from the hike yesterday and the rest was great.  We cooked chili that night.  Ryan and I ate the last of the beer sausage and made chili dogs.  We then discussed plans tomorrow.  Ryan and I thought we might try to summit a peak near Logan's pass and so we were going to do the Going-to-the-Sun Highway.  I slept like a brick again.  

TDP

We hit the trail at 7:45 am after a breakfast of oatmeal and hot chocolate. We had made our lunches and were making good time up the trail. We passed Atlantic Creek Campground and passed another "t" in the trail when I saw a little bird that looked like a meadow lark. I looked closely and it was a baby bird that was learning how to fly. As we sat and watched we found the mother very close by, sitting on a branch cooing as her 3-5 chicks were following. I am pretty sure it was a ptarmigan. As Marie and Rachael watched the birds, Ryan and I started on the trail and not fifty feet down the trial I startled a moose. I saw it's rump near the trail and it took off up into the woods. Marie and Rachael came up and were able to see it on the side of the hill in the woods.

My goal was to hit Triple Divide Pass by 11 am so we could summit and get down in time to take Marie to the train. We started walking pretty quickly and made it to the pass at 11:05. At this point we saw that where we wanted to walk was covered in steep snow fields. We would have to wait to summit the peak. After lunch Ryan and I walked up a ridgeline toward the peak, and had great views to the North and South. Rachael hiked toward Mt. James on a ridge line, but neither of us were more than 500 feet higher than the pass.

We decided to head down at around 12:45 and walk back to camp. We arrived back at camp at around 3:45-4:00. We all went straight to the creek to refill the water bottles with a filter and to cool down our feet.

Marie packed and we all went into East Glacier at about 5pm. We got there at 5:50 and Marie grabbed her ticket. We went to a grocery store where Marie grabbed snacks and ice cream, and we grabbed beer and chips. We waited at the station and put Marie on the train to go to Portland. Our summer journey together was over, but we still weren't home yet. Marie was going back to Portland to take part in an Earth Science Teacher workshop. I was going back to the farm after a few more days in the park.

Ryan, Rachael and I drove back to camp, and made chicken, potatoes, carrots and onions for dinner. I grabbed a chicked from the farm freezer and we wrapped it in tin foil and threw it in the fire. We did the same with the carrots and onions, but cooked dehydrated potatoes on the stove. It was delicious and we all went to bed with sore limbs and full bellies.

To Glacier

We left at 10am for the Park.  I have not car-camped for a while and forgot how much you can pack.  We brought four chairs, a picnic hamper with all dishes we would need, a cooler, 3 fishing poles, tackle box, clothes, day pack, two burner stove with fuel, and more.  

We stopped in Shelby to pick up last minute groceries, and then arrived in East Glacier around 2pm.  We stayed in a small campground called Cut Bank, which is advertised as "primitive."  It has a pump with non-potable water and pit toliets, but it seemed pretty nice to me.  We set up tents, put together some lunch and walked up a the trial that left from the campground.  We walked about a mile then turned back.  We ate a dinner of red beans and rice with some hot beer sausage we got from my Dad.  We then had smores and hotdogs over a fire.  We picked out a trail for the next day, the Triple Divide Peak.  We had thoughts of sumiting the peak so we set our alarms for 7am to get an early start.  

Tour of the Montana Prairie

We woke up early and saw that it had rained the night before.  We were still good to go hiking, and I was excited that there would be less dust in the air.  We drove 12 miles to my uncles place and we loaded up a pickup for the breaks.  

Dad, Paul, Dylan, Marie, Ryan, Rachael and myself piled in and took off for the breaks.  we also brought Mason, my uncle's dog.  The breaks are a set of coulees carved by rivers and streams in the past.  As you drive across the prairie you would not know they were there until you get right to them.  

We parked and started walking.  Our only destination was a petrified tree my uncle had found the fall prior while he was deer hunting.  We took off in the wind and walked through typical Montana prairie: sage brush, grass, cactus, flowers, and yucca.  We finally found a ridge and hiked down to find some sandstone cliffs.  Lewis and Clark wrote in their journals about the white cliffs of the Missouri River and we were climbing around similar formations all day.  

We ate lunch after admiring rock formations, ant hills, and wild flowers.  My uncle thought he was on the correct ridge to see the petrified log, but we could not find it.  I found a small piece of petrified wood, but no luck.  We then took off down a steep slope toward the next ridge.  

We all made it to that set of sandstone, but again could not find the log.  Marie and my Dad decided to slowly take their time and walk up the ridge toward the pickup while the rest of us scrambled down and up to the next batch of sandstone.  

As we approached, there was a cliff in front that my uncle was going to go around, but I guessed we could go up it.  We all made it, even the dog with a little assistance.  We saw a bat resting on the cliff as well as some holes in the rock big enough for a mountain lion den.  On top of that formation, we finally found the log.  

We then all walked back, met up with Dad and Marie and headed to find some teepee rings.  We drove a ways to another part of the breaks and got out.  Here there are stone circles the Native Americans used to hold down the edges of their teepees in the wind and weather.  They would roll away the stones and leave them until the next season when they would return. There are not many left in the prairie near us, but these neat.  

We then drove to the last place on the tour.  It is a cut in the side of a hill, where sea shells and sharks teeth fossils are left from the age when Montana was covered by a great sea.  I found 12 shark teeth and nobody went away empty handed.  It was this cut that sparked some of the geology and paleontology interest and helped decide my major in college.  

We then drove back to Paul's house, and Jerri had made a delicious lasagna dinner for us.  When we return home, I gathered camping gear and we all discussed our trip to Glacier Park the next day.  

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R & R

Ryan and Rachael, two friends from grad school, were wed July 14* in Boise, ID.  They then went and spent some time with his family in Cheyenne, and on their trip back to Oregon, they decided to meet up with Marie and I.  

Ryan and Rachael showed up to the farm around 2:30 on Wednesday.   I gave them the tour, and we sat down to catch up on our trips.  We started the farming game and we played right up until dinner was ready.  Rachael won this time, and after dinner we chatted then went in a watched the Notebook. I hadn't seen it, and it was ok, but did not meet all the hype.  The next day we were going to day the tour of our farm and a hike in breaks.  

That night there was tons of lightening and we all sat outside and watched it.  We went to bed with thunder still booming in the distance.

Round Butte

On the 22nd my uncle Paul, aunt Jerri, Mom, Dad, cousin Dylan, Marie and I hiked up Round Butte.  It is a fixture on my families skyline, but I have never hiked it.  I have hiked the larger square butte (creative names I'll admit) many times, but never hiked the smaller, mostly because it is entirely on private land.  My uncle Paul attained permission, we packed up the dogs  and  took off at 8am.  

We arrived at the base of the butte at around 9:30 and began hiking.  The first stop, was the tomb of Ole Osnes who had once owned the land.  He was buried in 1937 within a granite tomb.  

We then began the hike through Montana prarie to the base.  The grass was dry and poked through socks.  The worst part was the cheat grass.  It is a pain and has little sharp seeds that stick to anything.  Marie and I stopped often to pull them out of our shoes, socks, and pants.  

We got to the top and found a survey marker on the highest point.  We ate lunch and rested for a while.  Paul, Dylan and I wandered to find mountain goats and then head down.  We found a pair on the far other side of the butte.  Just as we headed down we ran into the others on their way down.  

We did not plan super well for the dogs.  Paul had his dog Mason pack his own water, but our new dog, Molly, did not have any.  Dad and I sacrificed some of our water for her.  On the way down, we did find a stock tank that the dogs were able to drink from, and Mason went for a swim to cool down.  

The hike was great, although I did sunburn my neck.  That night Marie, Dylan and I played the Farming Game.  Dylan whooped up on us.    

Montana

I slept well and Marie did too.  We woke up after Fargo at around 5 am, and went into the observation car to watch the sunrise.  I have not seen one for.....a long time.   I then went back to sleep and woke up at 8.  We decided we should eat in the dining car once on our train trip, so we went and ate breakfast.  We were seated with a man from Michigan headed to Vancouver to see his daughter and a man whose family is from Manitoba, and they were going to Seattle to see a Mariners game.  Marie and I both had french toast, and enjoyed our visit as we passed through North Dakota farm land.  It made me nostalgic for home.  

We arrived in Havre at around 3pm and when we stepped off the train it seemed hot and dry.  My uncle Paul picked us up and we stopped at Artic Circle for some food before heading home.  We arrived at the farm around 5 pm and we sat up and talked with my parents and my cousin Dylan.    

Aquatennial!

We woke up to a delicious breakfast of eggs, toast, fruit, coffee cake, fried potatoes, coffee, and freshly squeezed orange juice.  As we sat outside enjoying the weather and digesting our food, we decided we wanted to try and see the milk carton boat races and sand castle competition at the Aquatennial.  We packed a cooler and took off for the lakes.  When Marie and I heard "Milk-Carton Boat Races" we both thought they were boats made from a single milk carton that raced down a creek or something.  I figured watching the contest could give me a quick idea for a class project.  Instead the boats need to carry a human and be propelled by humans.  It was quite entertaining.  We only saw the last heat, but I was happy.  We then strolled through the sand castle building competition and saw some very creative entries.  My favorite was two swimmers cutting through waves.  

We then drove to a sculpture garden.  The art was mostly modern art, and was interesting to walk through quickly.  There was also an exhibit about housing and technology for third world countries.

  

We then played mini-golf on a course where each hole was designed by a different artist.  There were holes that had a pinball machine powered by a bicycle, plastic bottles swinging from ropes, and many other elaborate holes.  It was short but a lot of fun.  

We then went to find food, and found ourselves in the same place as the night before.  There was a live band called the Minnesota Barking Ducks.  They put out some great blues and set a good mood for dinner.  Afterwards we made our way back to Elizabeth and Bill's to relax and pack before boarding the train that night.  On our drive, our hosts pointed out local landmarks, as well as buildings that my uncle had worked on.  

We boarded the train for Havre, MT at 11pm and I fell asleep promptly after.  

Chicago annd Minneapolis

Grandma dropped Marie and I off at the bus stop at around 9 am. Marie and I arrived in Chicago around 11 am. We found a free shuttle and found our way from Union Station around town. We were looking for a pizza place. We had New York style pizza, why not look for Chicago style?

On the shuttle we spotted a pizza place and ate there.

We rode back to Union Station and boarded the train for Minneapolis St. Paul. The route took us through Milwaukee WI and I got to see the Miller Brewing Plant out of my window. I have a friend that has recently (last month) moved and began working there.

As we approached Minneapolis, we were behind schedule, so I called my aunt to warn her. As I got off the phone, the conductor called to tell us that we would still be on schedule. I called back to tell her we would make it on time. As we approached, we had to stop because of freight traffic (BNSF owns the rail, Amtrak just runs on it) and we were late anyway.

My aunt Elizabeth and her husband Bill decided it was still early enough to grab a drink. We stopped at Tuggs, with a great view of the skyline, and sat outside and had a few drinks. Marie and I got to bed around 2 am.

Last day in Rockford

I finished looking at photo albums my last full day in Rockford.  I took pictures of pictures to help me remember everything and wrote down notes.  I started a family tree online, and read accounts of my grandfather's dating and traveling.   

Julie and Grandma agreed to take us around town, and help us pick up a few things before we left.  We stopped and bought a blanket (trains are cold, despite the heat outside) and snacks for our last legs of the journey.  We then travelled to a peace memorial, which had flags representing all of the nations and languages that are represented in Rockford, Il.  It had quotes and a nice flower garden around the outside.  

We then went to Rock Cut State Park and saw a lake and a few trails. The water was extremely high and had almost completely covered an island in the lake.  We got out and walked a little bit then returned home.  

That night I spent hours with Julie, Carl, Amy and Grandma, showing off pictures and telling the stories of our travels.  

July 17

The next day, Julie and I picked up Marie from the bus.  We took her home, ate lunch and then Marie decided to take a nap.   Grandma and I went back to the photo albums.  I was loving the history stuff.  I also got to photo albums that I was in!  

I spent the afternoon asking questions and learning to identify relatives from old pictures.My Grandfather was adopted, and his adopted parents both remarried.  I now know the three sets of great-grandparents for my one grandfather.   The picture is my grandparents.  

 Marie woke up and caught up on reading.   My cousin Emily came over and stayed for dinner with us.  It was nice to see more relatives.  It was my first trip to Illinois in 6 years.  

After dinner, Julie, Carl, Marie and I went for a walk at Midway Village.  We walked  along a bike path that took us to a Vietnam War Memorial.  There was a helicopter parked there and a nice stone memorial with all of the names of the soldiers from the area.  We continued to walk and share stories from our travels, as lightening bugs flew all around us.  

When we got home, I took out the guitar and played for Grandma, Carl, Julie, and Marie.  I played for an hour or more and played Marie and Julie to sleep.  

Rockford Illinois

I arrived in Rockford about noon the next day and was greeted by my aunt Julie and my grandmother. They drove me back to my grandmother's house and I ate some lunch.  

One of my goals on this trip was to find out more about my extended family on my dad's side.  After lunch Grandma brought out about nine photo albums and we sat and went through them together.  I took notes on names, stories, places, and dates.  I learned much about my family including the fact that nobody knows my great-grandparents anniversary.  It was a taboo subject because there was a child out of wedlock in Sweden, and they came to the US.  My cousin Amy came over for dinner and brought her sister's guitar for me to play.  My uncle Carl came in after work to eat.  It was fun to visit with them, but they had to get ready for work in the morning.  After they left, I sat with my grandmother at her table and sang songs on the guitar for an hour or so before we went to bed.  

Pittsburgh

We chose to do a trip to the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Raccoon Creek State Park and the city of Pittsburgh.  We made lunches and embarked on our journey.  

The university was a beautiful campus that has changed alot in the last 30 years.  From being 3 buildings to now a whole complex that appears like most collegiate campuses.  We strolled through the student union building, gym, and science building.  We also glanced in a chapel that was made of stone and was a small, modest, but beautiful building.  

It was then time to head to a park for lunch.  We drove into the state park and found a picnic table near the lake in the shade.  We sat and ate, played cards and laughed through

 conversation. 

We then drove into Pittsburgh.  I was amazed at the beautiful sky line.  Pittsburgh is located where the Ohio, Allegheny and (?) rivers meet.  The first thing we did when we arrived into town was located an incline and took it to the top of the hill.  The incline was like a gondola on tracks that connected the lower riverfront to the upper hills.  We took pictures from the top and then went down to find a restaurant.  We walked around Station Square, which is kind of a touristy market.   We did find a nice little restaurant with tables outside and a view of the

 rivers.  Marie wanted to walk to the other side of the river, since we were near a walking bridge.  We found a place called point park and sat at a beautiful fountain for a few hours.  We watched the sun go down 

and then walked back through downtown Pittsburgh.

  There was large glass building shaped like a castle that Katie wanted to see closer, and below the building we found a courtyard with fountains tables and art work.  We stayed for only a short while and walked back across the bridge.  

Katie and Marie took me to the Amtrak station then and dropped me off.  I was going to visit my grandmother and I would take a day with her, while Marie spent another day with her aunt.  I got on the train at midnight and tried to get some sleep on my way to Chicago.  

Monastery Life

Marie and I were both given breakfast amenities in our hermitages.  I made some eggs and toast and was very content with my relaxed breakfast.  I then walked up to the main house and met up with Katie and Marie.  We then went down to the monastery's creek and sat along the bank and talked for a few hours.  We decided to head back to the house for lunch, and it was around 1:30 when we got there.  We planned a trip to Pittsburgh the next day and Marie and I went back to our hermitages for a nap.  

We both woke up around 5pm and walked up for dinner.  All of the sisters and us ate a delicious dinner of cabbage rolls, potatoes, salad, and pie for dessert.  Marie and I talked about science teaching and thrilled our audience with some experiment ideas that they could do at the monastery.  After dinner, a few of us sat down and played pinochle and other card games.  

Marie and I headed back for another early relaxed night in our respected hermitages. 

Our first Amtrak

The morning of our departure, Bob and Kathy decided to take Marie and I out to Valley Forge to see where Washington's troops wintered. We drove out the nice country side and received a great commentary from our drivers again. We did stop briefly by the place which was taken over as Washington's headquarters and Marie and I walked through quickly. We then drove into Philly to catch our train. We hugged our goodbyes outside the station and Marie and I boarded to go to Pittsburgh.

We arrived in Pittsburgh that night and were met at the station by Marie's aunt Katie. Katie is the reverend mother at a Franciscan monastery in the Ohio hills near Stuebenville. She and about 20 other sisters live, work and pray in a beautiful field of grass surrounded by tress and a creek. Katie took us to our hermitages, where each Marie and I were to stay. Each of us had basically our own personal cabin equip with a stove, toaster, shower, fridge, etc. It was quick relaxing and gave Marie and I each a bit of personal time. I made myself some tea and toast and I read much of my book before I fell asleep.

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

Marie and I woke up to blueberry pancakes and fresh coffee. Bob and Kathy are doing a large remodeling of their house so the kitchen has been moved into a different space. This made the breakfast more difficult and a great treat. After breakfast, we all got ready to go into the downtown area. Bob and Kathy were looking at home furnishings and Marie and I were going to the Independence Park Area. We drove by the Art museum which house the steps made famous in the movie Rocky, but were in a hurry so we did not get out and run up them. We then drove toward Independence Hall with a great commentary of the buildings and city from Uncle Bob. As we arrived, Marie and I jumped out of the car at a red light and I almost left my cell phone. Luckily as the light turned Marie hustled back and grabbed it. 

We started at the visitor's center and found the line for timed tickets of Independence hall. We were put in the final tour group and 30 seconds after we recieved our tickets we were told there were no more for today. We walked around the Visitor's center for a while and then watched a movie entitled, "Independence" about the founding of our nation and the buildings we would see.

We took off to explore the park. The line to see the Liberty bell was wrapped around the corner of the building, and so we went to the end of the building, and the bell could be see through windows. 

We felt that the wait was unessecary, so we continued to look around. We found the only entrance that the Parks service now allows visitors into the Independence Hall grounds. The line for the hall was huge, but we found a few other buildings open. One housed copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Articles of Confederation. While these are not the originals on display at Washington, they are copies that were used in the meeting of the Congress. There are editing marks from George Washington and others. The Declaration I saw is actually an older document than the one in DC. There is also the suspected ink pot in which they dipped their pens to sign the Declaration. 

Marie and I then walked into Congress Hall. This hall was the meeting place of the house and senate when Philly was the home to our nation. We went on a led tour and in the building was Washington's second inauguration, and John Adams had his inauguration there as well. This proved to be one of the few times power changed hands in any nation without a family, feud, war, or death that happened. Washington stood in the room as Adams gave his speech, as Jefferson stood as well gaining the title of vice president. 

We had a few hours before our scheduled tour of Independence Hall so we went to look at the American Society of Philosopher's museum. The museum highlighted five people, and their contribution to the wealth of knowledge to our nation. It was a quick visit but informational. We then headed to Benjamin Franklin's House. On our way we found the interpreter of Ben Franklin as hired by the city of Philadelphia.

The house was my favorite type of interpreting the past that I have seen. They erected metal frames where the home(s) would have been. They have bricks laid over the whole base of the house, but had windows downward to view a few relics. They found foundation and a pit used for the deposit of human waste. They also painted on the ground where the rooms would have been. I felt it invited many people at one to see the space that was torn down long ago. There is also a museum nearby with other artifacts. 

Marie and I also went to a post-office that has the unique postmark of Ben Franklin's signature. We mailed postcard to our parents from there.

Finally it was time to make our way back to Independence Hall. We stopped quickly in a military museum that was the original home to the department of defense. It then consisted of about 5 people. Now we have the pentagon...Oh well.

                

The Independence Hall was interesting and the Ranger that led the tour was very informative. We learned about the founding of our nation and more background about the time, then just what went on in the hall. I am not sure if any of the furniture was authentic, but it was fun anyway.

We then headed back out toward Bob and Kathy's house and were picked up at the train station one more time. My Uncle Robert works as a Philosophy Professor at Bryn Mawr and decided to give us a tour while dinner was cooking. The tour was fun and I even saw a bench that was in honor of one of my relatives on the grounds. We then picked up Kathy and viewed Haverford where she helps run the Chemistry labs. It was great to see more collegiate labs and compare them with what I work with at the high school.

We had a great dinner and conversation. We then watched the last part of Ted Koppel's China special on the Discovery Channel.

To Philly

We packed our bags on Friday and headed out for lunch with Patrick. We found a small palce called Salada which served salads and hamburgers. We got our food to go and sat in Central Park a last time to eat. Patrick then walked us to the subway station to travel to China town.

We we got to China town and found the area with our bus, people kept pointing us in different directions. Then when we found the bus, it was parked illegally and was ready to move as we approached. It drove around a while, and then a man came over to tell us to load a different place. As we stood a block away the bus then came back to the original loading place, and we hustled back with our luggage. Thank goodness they are so cheap, because the China town buses are not too organized. We drove through New Jersey and into Pennsylvania on a bus with a very poor driver. We weaved in and out of lanes and I felt like we were swaying from side to side most of the time.

When we reached Philadelphia, we walked to the Market street station and found tickets to Bryn Mawr. I almost missed the train as I was looking for brochures of the public transportation system. When we arrived at our stop, Bob, my mother's brother picked us up and took us to his home. Kathy was there preparing a salad for a friend's party. They toured us through the house, showed us where to find food, how to do laundry and the left us for a nice quiet evening. Marie and I had not had much down time, so it was fun to eat, read the newspaper and I watched a ballgame. Bob and Kathy came home later and we sat and talked about our trip and other life in general things. It was a great break from the hustle of the city.

South Manhattan

On Thursday, Marie and I woke up around 9 am and left the apartment to find the Tenement Museum. I stopped along the way and cut my hair at Lucky Guy's barber shop. I have never been treated so well during a hair cut. The man finished by massaging my shoulders. It was great, $14 and a cooler head for summer.
Marie and I took the subway back down to Chinatown and walked over to the museum. We got tickets to a 3:00 tour for FREE from Patrick's roomate, Matt. Matt belongs to the American Association of Museums, and because of that gets free tickets to any museum. 

I flashed the card and they gave us two FREE tickets. I may join next year.
The museum took place at 97 Orchard street. It was a tailor shop with apartments above it.  The apartments were furnished with clothing, furniture, dishes, etc. from different eras and the tour guides told stories about the families that lived in each apartment. It was very interesting as our tour was led by a man who grew up in an immigrant apartment in Brooklyn.
After the tour we took part in a Kitchen conversation around the topic of immigration today. There were people from Minnesota, Mexico City, France, Ft. Lauderdale, and our host was from Serbia. It was interesting but could have been shorter. It was like every discussion based Master's class I had been too.

After the museum, Marie got some Gelato from a close by shop and was happy with the Fig flavor. It didn't taste that interesting to me. We then wandered around to find the Brooklyn bridge and try and walk across it. I lead us slight astray but we found the edge of the East river and a view of Manhattan bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge. We walked quite a way already, but then headed back to the subway station to find a line to the Staten Island ferry.
When we got to the station there was a giant crowd that piled on the ship. If you go to NY, this is another FREE activity.

 

The Staten Island Ferry goes back and forth from Manhattan to Staten Island and takes mostly commuters from what I could see. The ferry passes right by the Statue of Liberty and gives the best view of Manhattan. We took a lot of pictures on the hour long ride back and forth.

Marie and I then walked to another station and found a line to Ground Zero. When we came up from underground, there was a quiet feeling about the place. The buildings fell in a two block area that is now fenced off and only accessable to certain vehicles. Pedestrians have to walk around the perimeter and are only allowed a glimpse in on the Northwest corner on an overpass and the South side near the firemen memorial.           

The absence of cars makes the feeling of the area slowed, somber and quiet. Marie and I were both pretty quiet during the walk. Two buildings on the South side were still marred by ash and soot and were being renovated.

We left ground zero and walked to find John's Pizza on Bleeker Street. John's pizza shop was great. Marie describes the wait staff as being a Puerto Rican construction crew that works at a pizza joint at night. They were not your typical waiters. The pizza was touted by some passer by's as the best in the city and the twenty minute wait was worth it. The crust is toasted but not too much, thin but not too crispy or doughy and the sauce and cheese were tasty. On the wall they had three pictures of celebrities there, a professional boxer, a linebacker for the jets, and Barbara Streisand.

After John's we returned home to find Patrick and his roomates playing videogames. We stayed up chatting again and packed our bags to depart the next day. New York was a great city to visit and I would love to go back again. It has a completely different feel because they built everything up. Not only is the financial district tall, all buildings are tall. It is quite the place.

Yankee Stadium

On Wednesday, Patrick woke up a little after Marie and I and we all ran through central park. We ran a lap around the Jackie-O reservoir and then a small loop around the north part of the park. Patrick and I commented on our Uncle Paul's letter about jogging on the farm, and Patrick said he didn't have the heart to tell Paul he could run miles without running by buildings. The run was nice with lots of trees, and it was all along wood chips or gravel, no pavement. We got back and showered before departing for the game.
I talked Marie into going to a baseball game with me. Before this trip, I looked in Washington DC, Baltimore, Philly, NY, and Chicago for possible ballgames and the most promising one was Yankee stadium. The Yankees were playing the Rays, and Marie found the tickets on Stubhub.com. We got bleacher seats in the far back, right under the Dunkin Donuts sign. The game was great, except the Yankees won in the bottom of the 10th inning. I was rooting for the Rays. It was fun to be in the house that Ruth built and see the monument park. 
After the game, we returned to the apartment. As we left the subway the skies dumped buckets of rain on us. We made it home fairly dry and ate leftovers with Patrick and his roomates. We then went to attend a movie, "Tell no one." It was a French movie that was Great. Before the show we stopped by Dylan's Candy Store. It was sensory overload. The stairs on the way down to the main store were all sorts of candy put in fiberglass. The soundtrack the whole time played candy themed songs, and there was even a wall of famous people who had come in, put their favorite candy in a dish and signed their names. Intense.
After the movie, Patrick took Marie and I down to the lower East side. This had a downtown Portland feel. It was a very alternative seen and there were lots of restaurants and bars. We settled on a sushi bar close to Tomkin's square and had cheap pitchers of beer and some sushi. We then travelled up the street and had amazing fries at the Belgium Fry Place all the time being entertain with Patrick's stories of running with bulls in Spain. We walked by Washington square and saw some big churches and more large buildings before we headed home. It was a very fun night with high spirits and lots of laughs.

Tuesday July 8

Marie and I woke up in Patrick's apartment to find his med school roomates and him out for the morning. We ate some cereal and went to meet up with Marie's old roomate Melody and her boyfriend Ira. We walked through central park and found our way to the Guggenheim Museum. On display was the work of an artist Louise Bourgeois. The artist was inspired by childhood pain and a rocky relationship of her parents. It was an interesting display, and in side galleries there was work from more modern artist than we had seen. We saw Picasso, Lichtenstein, Jackson Pollock, and Andy Worhol. There was also a room full of paintings from the Bauhaus movement. This inspired an Oregon wine maker and he made wine with some of the art on display for his labels.From the museum we went to find Indian food. There is a whole street, 20th, that is called Curry Hill. We glanced at 3 menus and picked a vegetarian, Hallal friendly restaurant. The four of us settled on doing the lunch buffet and enjoyed a variety of dishes.
From here we walked to Strand Books. Supposedly, Strand books has the most books of any place in the country, but I think Powell's challenges it closely. Strand was packed pretty close together and the book shelves seemed right on top of each other in some places, but it was still large. We said our goodbyes to Melody and Ira in the aisles and went to Times Square to find Broadway tickets. Everyday at one location in Times Square, all the broadway shows put the tickets availble on sale for a reduced price. You can only pay with cash and they are on sale from 3-5pm. We showed up around 2:45 with the rest of the tourist crowds and slowly pushed through line. As we approached we realized we did not have enough cash. Marie stayed in line as I ran to find an ATM. I got back and Marie was almost at the window. I pushed money through the crowd and Marie was able to buy tickets as street hustlers were trying to give me advice on tickets for money. We bought two tickets to Avenue Q. I would describe it mostly as Seasame street for adults. We then took the subway back to Patrick's and we cooked dinner. A simple pasta with a big salad. After dinner, we rushed back downtown to see the show. We went to the Golden Theatre and laughed alot in the following 2 hours. As we returned to the apartments one of Patrick's roomates left the subway at the same time and walked us home. We sat up talking about medical school and Oregon. We went to bed late.

China Town Bus/ New York City

Kirsten and Daimon decided to drop us off for the bus on their way to work. We said our goodbyes on before we left, because the drop offs would be on the go. We drove by Kirsten's work and she exited. Then Daimon dropped us off at the China town bus. Marie and I had our bags and a printed ticket from the day before. We walked up to the first bus we saw, showed our ticket and they ushered us aboard. We waited until the bus was full and the driver took off, 5 minutes before scheduled departure. A woman in back yelled for the driver to stop, frantically dialed her cell phone and tried to explain to the driver that her husband was coming, the driver told her to sit down and just took off. Beyond that, there was no complication. We drove past Baltimore and onto the Jersey turnpike. Our driver for this trip was great. Marie and I read books, and listened to music for the four hour busride. We started to get close to New York and tall buildings surrounded us on the skyline. We saw the profile and then back of the statue of liberty and then drove through the Holland Tunnel. We arrived in Manhattan's China town and called my cousin Patrick who lives uptown at Mt. Sinai Medical School. We hopped on the subway and met Patrick at our stop. He walked us to his apartment which is all student housing, but very nice and the most spacious stop on our journey. We sat and chatted and prepared our visit. Patrick had to take a test that afternoon/evening, so after a nice rest, Marie and I went to purchase groceries as Patrick took his test. The grocery store was small and cramped but had TONS. The aisles were shoulder width apart, but some people chose to try and maneuver shopping carts around. When we were done, I had never experienced the type of panic and disrespect as I did when it was time to stand in line for a register. It was my first taste of New York attitude. There were no "excuse me" and if you hesitated at all your spot in line disappeared to a more impatient person. Wow. We returned back and Marie and I waited for Patrick to finish his test.
We then went out for a night in New York. We stopped at a fallafal place and got food to go. We walked five blocks to Central Park and sat on a bench eating. Patrick explained how he did not believe the stigma of Central Park being dangerous after dark and he had jogged many times at night. As we sat we saw lots of people and many single female joggers. I do not believe it either. We then walked to the edge of the Jackie-O resevoir. We were treated to a great view of the city lights and Patrick did his best to pick out the sky scrapers: Chrysler, Empire State, Trump Towers, Rockefeller Center, etc. As we sat there we decided, heck, lets go to Times Square.
We took the subway and when we came out, we were immediately bathed in the tremendous glow of the lights. Even the sign for the Subway was glitzy. Every building had a giant Television projection on the side of it showing ads or the station's programming if it was housed there. There were lights everywhere, and tourists everywhere. The strangest thing is that there is no sound except the passing cars and an occasional honk from a cab. Many of the movies show time square in slience or hidden behind a soundtrack, but it is how it actually feels. We then walked by Radio city Music hall and found Rockefeller Center, where NBC is housed. We saw many of the broadway play houses, and Patrick showed us one FREE site in NY. There is a glass elevator in the Marriot Hotel nearby and it goes very high and very fast. We took a ride and I recommend it if you happen to be at Times Square.

We then saw the South part of Central Park and rode home. We met Patrick's roomates and stayed up late discussing medical school experiences, and novelties. It was a great intro to the big apple.

White House

On Sunday I had set up a tour with one of my friends from college who works as a speech writer for the president. We showed up at the White House, went through security and proceeded to the West Wing. Our first stop was the press room where most all the press conferences take place. We took our picture by the NPR chair and then proceeded to see the offices of the West Wing. We got out to the Rose Garden, saw the Oval Office, the Cabinet meeting room and my friends office in the building. Every hallway was graced by pictures of our president and his travels. The photos change periodically and give a view of the travels and the visits that come with being the leader of our nation. It was interesting to see the pictures and the message that they sent. There was also lots of art in the wing, and John commented on how much had Native American subjects and a Western theme. There was even a few CM Russell, a famous western artist from central Montana, in the oval office and nearby rooms.
The best question came from Marie who asked my friend, Nik, how often the president sticks to the script and how often he improvises. Nik said that the President does what he wishes, and many times will not follow the script much, even though he is very involved in the speech writing most of the time.
We then got to tour the Eisenhower building next door. The building houses many more White House staffers. The architecture was great and we saw the office which was Nixon's private office during his presidency.
The tour was great and I feel that I know a little better the workings of the West wing.
We then drove down to the Nationals stadium. I love baseball and just wanted to walk around it. As we were walking around, two of the teachers I work with in McMinnville yelled my name and said they were taking a tour of the stadium. We must have been 3 of maybe 100 people at the stadium at that point in time. Very random meeting. They had been in town for the 4th and were at the mall for the fireworks. Small world.

We then headed to a market and bought some food to bbq! On the way home, John, Daimon, Marie and I got out to see the zoo as Kirsten went home to start food. We saw the apes, invertebrates, and were headed to the pandas and birds when a tremendous rainstorm happened. We were all soaked and after trying to hide under a tree for a short respite we decided to keep exploring. The rain continued and we watched hippos swimming, birds drinking, and lots of erosion around a construction zone.

We got picked up, made the car wet and stink, and then ate great food. We all enjoyed an evening in, and Marie and I packed for NY.

July 5

On Saturday, we again took a late start to get downtown. Marie had a friend from high school, Anna, who lives in Baltimore join us for the day. We drove down near the White House and met up with Anna, who had also not been to the Nation's Capitol. Our first stop was the old post office which has the second best view of the city besides the top of Washington's Monument. DC offers great free entertainment.

After panoramic views and oohs and ahs, we walked down to the Capitol Mall, the big grassy field, not a shopping center, where a folk celebration was happening. Each year countries around the world and states are honored by celebrating their folk culture. This year it was Bhutan, Texas and NASA. There was no music or food from NASA featured (sadly) but we all enjoyed a Bhutanese rice dish and Texas "Dance Hall" music as we ate our lunch.

We walked toward the Natural History Museum and one of the worst crowds of the weekend. We tried to get to the minerals and gems, but instead found our way through the history of civilization and a section with mummies and artifacts from ancient cultures. It was interesting, except that it was shoulder to shoulder traffic. We finally found the minerals, and I was able to touch the moon rocks and a dust from Mars, on my way to viewing amazing gems and ore samples. The rooms were better organized here than in Harvard's Natural History museum, but some of the samples from Harvard were more impressive. The largest line was around the Hope Diamond, and Anna was the only one from our group who caught a glimpse. We then made our way to the National Art Gallery and viewed a room full of Van Gogh, room full of Monet, and the only Leonardo Da Vinci in America. It was two sided and very neat to see. There were also great statues and I wish we had a little more time there.
We then went to find a beer after a day full of tourists. We found a place called the Front Page and enjoyed some drinks and appetizers. Anna retreated back to Baltimore, but John traveled down to the capitol and met us there. We also ran into friends of Daimon and Kirsten's from college.
After a decision to meet up later in the evening, Daimon, Kirsten, John, Marie and I went on a mission to find Ethiopian food. We stopped a place and with much confusion finally got seated and served about an hour and a half after we came in. The food was tremendous. We then went to a bar called the Big Hunt and met up again with Daimon's friends. The walls were covered with Murals of men hunting mythical beasts and animals of giant proportion. It was quite enjoyable.

...as we celebrate our independence day...

We woke up late on the 4th and to avoid the incredible crowds downtown DC, we left. We drove down south into Virginia to see Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington. We parked in a overflow lot and walked to the gate. Once we entered, the line for the mansion tour was about an hour long, and we only had four hours until closing. We stood in line and did some people watching as well as got to witness a reenactment of taking a prison in for questioning. We walked into the mansion, and the line moved slowly through each room as an interpreter spoke about what we were looking at and its place in history. The tour was good and the house was interesting. On the backside of the house, there was a rolling green that leads down to the wide Potomac river. Most of the visitors to Mount Vernon were out on the lawn with their families enjoying the day, and a George Washington character paraded the grounds and posed with tourists for pictures. We moved on (without our photo with a fake founding father) and walked toward the other buildings on the property. There were big stables with a horse and mule. There were houses for buggies, a smoke house, wash house, etc. At the bottom of the hill, there was a small working farm and a barn of Washington's invention, made with 16 walls and two stories. It was used to seperate the grain from stalk during wheat harvest by way of having horses trod upon the whole stalk, and the grain would fall between cracks in the floor to the downstairs. Workers would then collect the grain and clean it using a cleaner not to different from the one I used last summer on our Montana farm. The farm had examples of tobacco, wheat, and corn. There was also a replica slave quarters. One of the most interesting subject to me was the different type of fences that were used on Washington's farm. After the farm we walked to the burial and memorial area. There is a shrine to Washington and his family and a nice memorial for the slaves that were buried on the property.
At that time, we were slowly getting moved back to the entrance as the grounds were closing. We walked through the two museums at the entrance to the grounds which had on collection many dishes, paintings, letters, swords, as well as Washington's famous dentures.
We then drove through Alexandria and stopped for delicious fish and chips. We walked down to the riverfront for some ice cream and then headed back to DC. We arrived in the city looking for a most precious commodity, parking. After about a half an hour we found a parking spot, and took the metro to one of Daimon and Kirsten's friends apartment. The apartment is right above the Iwo Jima Memorial and from his window, we were gifted a view of the Lincoln and Washington Memorial as well as the Capitol. We all had a drink in hand as fireworks went off above the Capitol and ten minutes later were filled up with National Pride and the fact that things blew up for ten minutes. The fireworks were very impressive even while put to a soundtrack of what sounded like British 80's punk. We stayed at the party for a while and then retreated back to Daimon and Kirsten's for the night.

July 3

I am officially a week behind on my posts. WHOOPs.
July 3rd, we began the day by touring John Hopkins campus. Marie and I got to see John's lab and a few other buildings. We wandered around a place called Hamden, which is very similar to Hawthorne in Portland. Lots of little local shops that feature a variety of things. We ate lunch at a little Asian restaurant then headed downtown. We stopped at Camden Yards, the baseball stadium where the Baltimore Orioles play. I used to be a HUGE oriole fan when Roberto Alomar, the greatest player ever, played for them. I did not see into the stadium much, but Marie and I walked around the whole outside, as I recalled tales of Jeter's fake homerun that a fan caught, playing in the yard pretending to be the entire lineup of the Orioles, as well as tidbits about Frank & Brooks Robinson and Cal Ripken.
We then walked down to Inner Harbor and found a visitors center. We escaped from the heat there and found, what I consider, the best water fountain in the East. It was cold, and with a steady, strong stream. We wandered up Federal Hill and looked at the city scape, then walked down along the water looking for a cold drink. We also frequented back to the great fountain in the Visitor's center. Around 5pm, we walked back toward Camden Yard and caught the train back to DC.
My sister in Law, Kirsten, picked us up in DC and drove us to her place. When we got there, Daimon, my brother, and she had planned to see a free concert in a park near their house. We went with a picnic of hummus and pita bread and saw two bands play. The park filled with fireflies as the sunset and the music was ok. We then decided to do a tour of the monuments at night. Daimon says there is no better way. We drove to the Jefferson Memorial, then to FDR. The FDR is my favorite, but Daimon tends to believe that it is not monumental. We then went to the World War II memorial which was not around when I came in high school. It is a fountain surrounded by 50 columns each with the name of a US state. It was a pretty impressive monument. We then walked to the Korean War Monument, which at night, has a very somber, and eerie feel to it. We then walked to the Lincoln and through the Vietnam memorial.
We all loaded up into the car, and then we met with one of Daimon and Kirsten's friends who works for PBS and the Newshour with Jim Lehr. We had some drinks, closed down a few bars and headed home.

Capitol Hill

Our first day in DC, Marie and I had a tour of the capitol at 2pm. We took a bus downtown around 10:30 and found the capitol (not hard), then decided to see some buildings. We walked into the supreme court first. There is a large hall with busts of the chief justices of the past as well as a view into the courtroom. Downstairs we found a large statue of Justice John Marshall and some of his accomplishments. We then wandered over to the Jefferson building of the library of congress. This building is very ornate in the decor and architecture. One temporary exhibit was art of European explorers and the new world. There was drawings of South America flora and fauna done by Maria Sibylla Merian who was also on display at the Getty in Los Angeles. There was also a piece on Christopher Columbus and the Taino Natives of Jamaica. This brought our trip almost full circle already.
We found a quick lunch next and then headed to Ron Wyden's office to check in for our capitol tour. Marie and I were two of twelve on the tour. We rode a subway from the Dirksen office building to the Capitol. We saw lots of architecture and statutes in the capitol. Each state was commissioned two statues but Oregon had three. We saw both of Montana's statues as well. We walked under the rotunda, the crypt where Washington was almost buried, and saw the Catafalque upon which former Presidents coffins stood on while they lie in State. We continued through the main floor and finally made our way into the House Chamber. This is the place of the State of the Union speeches, as well as the regular House business. We made our way out, and walked toward Union Station. As we got there, we bought our tickets to Baltimore and then found that the train was delayed. As we approached the doorway to get on the train, we saw a HUGE crowd trying to leave for Baltimore. Everyone near us said, "We have never seen it this bad." I guess that is the theme of our week. They ended up boarding two trains at the same time, and we had a fairly express ride to Penn Station.

Upon arriving in Baltimore, we took a taxi ride the long way to my sister's boyfriend, John's house. Inside we were met with delicious peanut sauce and vegetables. John bought a house last year and is fixing it up one room at a time. He gave us a grand tour including a functioning worm bin in the basement, an on-demand hot water heater with telephone, two blow dart guns, an atlatl and a mastodon target. We discussed life, chemistry and plans for tomorrow.

Happy 4th

We are in our nations capitol for the 4th. I am two days behind on the blog, and I am trying to catch up. I apologize for the grammer mistakes, but I write these quickly as I have time on the internet. I hope everyone is enjoying their summers and has a safe holiday!

Flight

We left for the airport on Tuesday morning, and when we got off the bus in Montego Bay, Scott went on a mission to find us two foods we hadn't had yet: cheese patty and spice bun and cheese. We wandered around downtown, with much less hassle than the first time, even though we had luggage. We found a place called Tastee which serves Jamaican patties. Scott ordered us all a cheese patty which is the equivalent of an American fast food cheeseburger. It consisted of taco meat and cheese put in a flaky pastry crust and fried.

We then waited outside a store for it to open so we could get the spice bun and cheese. As we waited an armoured car came up to deliver the money for the registers. Two men got out with money and another walked up with a shotgun. The only troubling part was that the finger was always on the trigger.

We flew out of Montego Bay without issue and landed in Fort Lauderdale along with 3 other planes. A few people behind us said, "we've never seen it this bad." As we stood in line for customs, many people were chatting about how they had a connection in 30 minutes and that they would miss it. I would guess about 25% of our plane missed their connection. We stood in line for an hour and a half and were actually thankful for our extended layover.
We arrived in DC that night at 11 pm and my sister's boyfriend John picked us up. We drove to Georgetown to my brother's house and crashed for the night.

Community Center/ Last meal

Monday was a lazy morning. Marie and I tried our hand at snorkeling one more time. The water was cloudy, so we decided to stay out of the water. I tried to tan for a while, but I think I failed pretty miserably. After lunch we walked down to the community center in Belmont and saw where Carrie works. Next door is a sewing shop, where woman from the comnmunity make napkins and other items to sell, as well as do repair work on resident's clothing. Marie picked out a few napkins to buy. We wandered around Belmont and the beach untill Carrie got off work.

The villas next to Scott and Carrie are vacation get away sites for familys, and each Monday they do a social cocktail hour. Scott and Carrie are invited by the owners to come and discuss their experiences in Jamaica. Marie and I got to tag along and we were there with only one other couple from Pheonix. We discussed education and Jamiaca over a couple of drinks and then we excused ourselves to go catch dinner. We walked next door to a small roadside restaurant. We looked for Jerked chicken, but sadly the stand was out. We settled for Curry goat, fried chicken and festival. Festival are little deep fat fried corn ball dumplings. Yum.

We continued the merriment when we got home and participated in Jamican wine tasting. The islands only label of wine is RED LABEL WINE. I would describe it as a cherry juice that has fermented. There was LOTS of sugar involved. We also bought a ginger wine and a tonic wine called "Magnum" which is suppose to "put lead in your pencil" and the guy that sold it to us said it was "Magnum-ificient." The ginger wine tasted like red label wine except for the after taste, which was ginger. The tonic wine tasted like red label wine, except for the aftertaste too. It tasted like wet chicken, or branding cattle. Jamaica wine tastes like branding cattle.

Hike

On Sunday, we woke up early to go on a hike with people who work with Carrie and a few other Peace Corps Volunteers. Carrie's office is in a business space called the Reliable Adventures Jamaica. It is a tour company that works with Sandal's Whitehouse and takes tourists into the local mountains to experience nature and learn about the history of the island. We started at around 8 o'clock on a road near a village called retirement. Wolde and Dacita were our guides and they were very knowledgeable about all of the plants and animals along the trail. We stopped at a farm along the way and bought soursop and bananas. When we reached the peak, or zenith, we were treated to a great view of the coast and hills. Wolde continued to express how lucky we were to see the most beautiful place in the world. We started our hike down and Dacita went into the history of the island. We learned about the Taina Natives, Christopher Columbus, the British, Slaves, Maroons, and the current political parties. It was a very informative hike and was a great experience.

When we returned to Scott and Carrie's house for lunch. All eight of us on the hike came back. Dacita made a soursop juice that was incredible and Carrie and Scott made a bean salad that we put on homemade tortillas. It was a delicious lunch, especially after our long hike. After the meal Wolde and Dacita left, but Kelly and Matt, the other peace corps volunteers, stayed for a while. We went down to the water and Marie and I tried to snorkel. The water was cloudy so we returned to shore. We threw rocks into the water for a dog that lives in the yard, and then we went back to the house. The six of us sat around reading, talking and enjoying each others company.