Amazing Race Leg 3- Where the heck is Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania?

Let me review with you, dear audience, why I was on this crazy Amazing Race. I had several reasons for taking the trip that I did. My dear Stacey was finishing up her maternity leave, and had invited me many times to visit her family in the south since her move. I was determined to make it to her before she went back to work. I told myself that if I went to North Carolina, that was going to do a little tour of the state while I was there, since my college roommate Kathleen had moved to Durham. I also have another dear friend Becky, who lives on the coast. As you have seen, the stops in Charlotte and Durham were doable, but pushing to make it out to the Wilmington beach area. Since Becky and her family will soon be moving to Florida, I guess my eventual visit to them will be another adventure.



Now, how the heck did I end up combining this grand tour of North Carolina with a trip to middle of nowhere Pennsylvania? My very dear friend from school, JoEllen, has a very fun and cool husband Tom. We do lots of CONE events, and boat travels with them along the Charles River. Tom lovingly restores 1967 Camaro Pacecars. For several years now, Tom has been making his way out to Carlise, Pennsylvania for the All GM Nationals show. JoEllen has joked with us about being a camaro widow, and how when she has attended with Tom, she was like a groupie. She has lauded us with very funny stories of her experiences at the show and the Holiday Inn. At some point during this year, JoEllen suggested that at the end of the school year we should all go with them to PA, and do fun things down there. It seemed like most of our other friends had other things going on, but I was still interested in going. It turned out that I wouldn't be the only tag along (which I was kind of concerned about). Tom's parents would be coming, along with Tom's sister Randi, whom I have traveled to Super Soap Weekend with, her husband Billy and their daughter Kay, also Randi's best friend Janet and her husband Jason. I basically never saw Tom the whole weekend. He was very busy with his car friends:)



The big question was, could I get to North Carolina and then fly to PA in time before the weekend was over? Well, yes of course it turned out! I had to fly very, very early from Raleigh to Dulles, in Virginia. I had a bit of layover, but was very happy to see Dunkin Donuts when I got off the plane! Alas, they did not serve Iced Tea, but I was needing a coffee anyway. I hung around the airport, and awaited my little jet to Harrisburg. Both were quick easy flights, and as we descended in to Harrisburg I admired the mighty Susquehenna River and also noticed a large power plant right along the river. Hmmm...I wondered...I mentioned it to JoEllen later and she told me that it was the infamous "Three Mile Island" of the nuclear meltdown of 1979. Nice! A little extra history for the trip! I believe I have mentioned earlier that JoEllen and I love "The Amazing Race" and would like to be the first teachers to win! She was considering leaving me tasks at the Harrisburg Airport so that I could find my own way from there- perhaps having an Amish man pick me up in a horse and buggy, and requiring me to churn butter along the way or something. JoEllen brought a long her charming son Michael, aka Miguel to pick me up. The rest of the gang, sans Tom, was back at the hotel, and we would all head to Hershey Park from there. (Enjoy the clip of Michael greeting me at the airport at the bottom- it is currently being difficult, so I'm posting without it and will post later.)



Speaking of the hotel, this Holiday Inn in Mechanicsburg, PA is some place. It might just be the Mecca of middle of nowhere. JoEllen had told us funny stores of her previous trip. It's a very nice, average Holiday Inn. Before I arrived on Saturday morning, it had played host to a......wait for it.....a Kick Ball Tournament. Adults in matching t-shirts playing out back at the field behind the hotel. It's also appears to be the most sought after Wedding location- there were no joke, four weddings there are on Saturday. Some of them even happen outside in a tent next to the pool:) When I arrived there was a giant flea market happening in the front parking lot, and there were also two bars/clubs as part of the hotel. One was called the "Legends Lounge" and I got momentarily excited that this might be the spot where John Gosselin of "John and Kate Plus 8" had been spotted with his elementary school teacher mistress back in the spring. (Turns out that it is come kind of chain, but I wasn't far from where they were in Reading!) The sight to be seen was the "Tiki Bar". In Boston, it reminds me of Marina Bay in Quincy. Fake grass huts, probably some pretend sand, and oh yeah- giant torches out front and apparently open until 4 a.m. There isn't much to do out there. I didn't make it in to this lovely place, but we heard some very interesting stories from car buddies of Tom's on Sunday morning. I hadn't noticed earlier in the day that one of the brides having her big day at the hotel appeared to be pregnant (not judging), but apparently since she had to turn in early, her new hubby went to hang at that Tiki Bar- where he became the chief pourer for the wet t-shirt contest! nice, right! At some point she came and dragged his butt out of there...



I realized way to late into this trip that I could've been doing more with the flip cam. I think that I may have been bold enough to "interview" some people on the plane and such. I am off to Vegas in a week and half, and I will have my partner in crime Natalie, so maybe I'll have some funny stuff when we return.



I think I will break this post in to two- and come back tomorrow (?) and tell you more about my exploits in PA! Hershey! Gettysburg! Crystal Cave....oooohhhhhh!

Amazing Race Leg 2- Raleigh-Durham-June 25-27

It seems that I am home from my trip and settling in well to my typical summer routine; absolutely nothing. I guess that's my only excuse for my I haven't finished posting the rest of my trip.

When I last left you, I was going to be leaving Stacey and her family behind and picking up my rental car for the big drive across the great state of North Carolina. Stacey brought me back to Alamo at the airport to pick up my wheels. Now, I had heavily researched how I would execute this leg of the trip. Renting a car one way, which is what I was doing, is not as easy as one would think. Let me scratch that; it's easy, it just ain't cheap! In true amazing race style, I could've taken a bus (which ran a lot of times during the day and would've given me excellent people watching) or Amtrak- but there would only be two options each day, early in the morning and 5 or so in the afternoon. I even looked at flights. Now a one-way flight between these two cities was like some ridiculous number of $400. I could have flown one -way, with a layover in Atlanta, for almost the same price that I spent renting the car. I felt like the car gave me the most flexibility and was a real adventure.

After you've paid at Alamo, the nice people direct you to the parking lot where you can take any car the section that you've paid for. I was very excited when I got out there because I saw the perfect Amazing Race vehicle- a white VW bug. How great would have I looked crossing the state? Alas, someone grabbed it before me, and I had to settle for a white Civic. I had to head back to Stacey's to grab my stuff, and then I was off. (See video clip at the bottom of me on my way!)

I had prepared a little ahead of time for how I would keep myself occupied during the drive. I wouldn't know the radio stations, and I wouldn't have my Sirius satellite radio or my built in blue tooth from my beloved Ford Escape, so I couldn't depend on talking my way across the whole state. I decided to bring a book on CD. Now, I recommend and even push upon reluctant readers, the concept of the book on tape or CD. I have actually never listened to one before. The book that I chose is called "The Mysterious Benedict Society". It was a book on my Massachusetts Children's Book Award (MCBA) list from this past school year. I had never read it, and it ended up winning the whole kitten caboodle. I thought I should probably check it out!

Now it's quite lengthy- yet not until I was in the car and trying to cross Charlotte city limits to pick up the highway, did I realize that this book was 13 HOURS on CD! I realized quickly I would barely get through one CD! I was also initially concerned that I didn't have the attention span for "just listening" and was the kind of kid who would need the book in front of them in order to pay attention. I did get in to the book; orphans, secret society, adventure, blah, blah, blah and even had to buy a CDman at Target in Durham so I could keep listening to it on my trip. I might even finish it...........before Christmas!

The trip was very easy, and before I knew it I was pulling into Kathleen's driveway. I stupidly realize that I didn't take a picture of her, or her and me, or her lovely husband. I do however have a picture to share of the other two characters who kept me company over the couple of days; meet Chloe and Harley.

Harley is the Yorkie and Chloe is the lovable mutt- some retriever in her- Theresa, she physically reminding me a bit of Scout! If I thought Charlie in Charlotte wanted to get some licks in, these two were merciless. That had a lot of loving to bestow on me.

My time with Kathleen was the shortest of all the legs- and on Friday when we went off I didn't have either the regular camera or the flip cam to catch some of the sights of Duke or UNC Chapel Hill. They were both lovely, huge! At Duke, I thought about how the Dawson's Creek people tried to pass this off as Harvard, ha.

Of course not long after I arrived on Thursday, did we hear the news of Michael Jackson. Shocking! Expect a longer post on my entertainment thoughts soon! The next leg cam quick, and EARLY on Saturday morning- and I will share info on that tomorrow- I promise!

Enjoy a couple clips! (Yikes Matt Lauer and a really unflattering still of me....oh well)

Amazing Race- Charlotte June 23-25

It's hard to believe that I've been out of school a week, because it sure feels like a month! It also seems unbelievable that I have already gone on vacation and am back! It was hands down the best thing I've ever done; to leave right after I got out of school.

To review- Monday, June 22nd was my last day of school. Typically, it would take me several days to break down my classroom. (We have to pack up everything because they remove everything to clean the room.) I had told myself several months back that I really wanted to be out of there on the day we get out this year. Booking the trip to leave Tuesday morning only made this more of a necessity. The kids were very helpful as I told all about my "Amazing Race" and that they must help me get out the door.

After school saw me drinking with my school friends at our watering hole. The last day of school tends to be a later night of reverie. It was rather strange that it was a Monday, and we didn't like the Monday waitstaff at all! They obviously didn't know who we were:) Thank goodness Angela one of our two favorite bartenders was there! Around 9 there was a discussion of moving on to somewhere else (where my friend's sister is a waitress) but I had to be smart and go home and pack!

Tuesday morning- I get up, double check for all my stuff (but still managed to forget my bathing suit) and drive to Joellen's in Arlington. Her house will be the mat for the end of the race, and she was nice enough to host my snappy Ford Escape and to even haul me to the airport. My flight to Charlotte on USAir was at 9:45 am!

Now, I'm not a great flyer. I attribute this partly to the fact that I don't fly very often. I think if I did fly more frequently, I wouldn't be as anxious. Before last week, I hadn't been on a plane in almost two years. I have flown a handful of times solo. I did realize as I stepped up to check myself in, I was a little lost without Natalie, who is my most frequent flying buddy. When I got through security, it turned out all I had was a receipt. I had managed not to print my boarding pass- I don't think of myself as helpless too often, but sometimes I guess I am. Back to the kiosk....

Then off to the plane- a middle seat on a full flight! Dope! There went my plan to write my thank you notes to the kids. I didn't want to be throwing elbows in anyone's face. The flight to Charlotte was a nice easy one, and by 11:30 I was waiting to get off and be greeted by Stacey!

I had a great 2.5 days there. It was quite HOT, which for all of us in New England would be a welcome change. My main function of this trip was to support Stacey as she purchased her back to work wardrobe. Somehow this morphed into me doing a lot of stimulating of the economy of North Carolina. I thought that was very nice of me

Of course, I was also there to meet Cameron, who is even more beautiful than her pictures show. My economy stimulating included the cute outfit you see in the video below!

My other buddy of this leg was Charlie. I had previously had the pleasure of meeting Charlie at Christmas. He spent most of my time there licking my feet, my arms, my legs, you get the picture.


















The visit was so fast- and hopefully I was an easy-going houseguest! I did bring my Flip Cam from school and finally broke it out as I was leaving. Enjoy a little snippet of Miss Cameron (special appearance by Charlie) in the outfit I got her. Leggings!!!!

More race info to follow.......

Breaking up is hard to do!

I've been making lists to myself of blog ideas, because I've actually had a couple good ones. My infrequent blogging can be attributed to my lack of time (mostly) but also lack of ideas. I have lots to blog about trip wise- but we'll start with this entry first.

A month ago, the longest relationship I have yet to have ended.

I bought a new car:)

I haven't owned that many cars- I chuckle on Facebook when I'm invited to fill out "Five Cars I've Owned"- I haven't owned five cars (excluding my parents vehicles that I drove). I've just had three littel red cars.

I have proudly driven- a red '86 Nissan Sentra, in which the only thing that worked was the air conditioning, a red '92 Toyota Tercel, that had no airconditioning. These were my two used cars, both red, both two-door. I was very excited in 2002 to buy my first new car. I new I wanted A/C, and I knew that I wanted four doors. I ended up with my Mazda Protege. I was so proud to be buying a brand new car, and with 0% financing to boot. Ironically, I chose red freely this time- figuring that I would always be looking for my red car in the parking lot if I didn't buy red.





My Protege was very good to me. Very dependable, very comfortable. We had seven great years- but 90,000 miles later, things were starting to go south. I was mulling over a new car, wishing not to have a car payment, but realizing with the economy being what it was, it was a good time to get a new car. The decision to finally go forward happened the Friday before Memoria Day weekend. Like any other day, I drove away from my house and headed to school. A mile or so after leaving my house, I looked around at a light to see who's car nearby was making that terrible noise- then I realized that it was me! My muffler had gone! It was a sign!

I thought I knew what I wanted- I had my heart set on a Mazda CX-7. To make a long story short, I ended up not liking driving it all! (Isn't it funny how that works out) I shifted my affection towards the Mazda Tribute, but two Mazda dealerships could not really give me what I wanted. I wanted some good numbers. (they were offering some 0%, but not for long enough)

I was totally drained after hours of shopping on Saturday and I had no car to show for it. On Sunday, I made a random decision to check in with Ford. You see Ford owns Mazda, and Ford makes the same car at the Tribute, called the Escape. I'm sure that you know that American companies are a little desperate, and they had the 0% financing that I wanted. I had plans to buy the vehicle from an old "friend"s dad who runs a Ford dealership-but they were not open. You snooze, you lose, right. I ended up at a random other dealership that I knew was owned by a different family who's kids had gone to my high school. (The son in the family does some assorted handy work for my parents.) Turns out that their dad who owns the dealership was in that day- was happy to meet me and ended giving me a great deal! Money for my Mazda, waived a bunch of fees, and I kind of sat there in shock- I couldn't walk away from this.

If you know me pretty well, you know that I am a BIG emotional sap. I was heartbroken to say goodbye to my car. I painstakingly cleaned it out- and boy did I have a lot to clean out of it (six moves you know, equals storage being in your trunk) As I was doing this, I thought about all that had changed in my life in the time that I've had this car. It saw me through six apartments, seven roommates, and two boyfriends. This car is the longest, and I guess the most successful, relationship that I've had. Now I was abandoning her.

I picked up new mini-SUV on the Wednesday after Memorial Day weekend. My heartache went swiftly- I parked the Mazda out front and when I came around with the new wheels, she was already gone:( I have remarkably made peace, and I LOVE my new car.

As you can see, I chose the radical Sport Blue. I highly considered another red, and also gray. (To tell you the truth, I really liked all the color choices.) People keep telling me they love the blue.

My new Escape is pretty awesome- it has two-toned camel interior, and yes even a month later it still smells new! I have Sync technology- built in Blue Tooth, meaning I will eventually be able to say, "Call Mommy, Esq" and I could also say, "Play Cold Play" from an IPod. (Of course I had to get a new phone, to go with this new car and I only have an IPod shuffle, so who knew that I would have to factor in these purchases along with the car.) It has built in Sirius Satellite radio- and I have found great love for the 90's station! It's like a flashback every couple minutes! You will also be proud to know that I have kept it very clean! I bought myself a rubbermaid container to stay in the way back and that is where I keep my grocery bags, umbrella, etc. I've even vacuumed and washed it. I won't leave any trash or drinks in it.

I really missed my Escape when I was gone on my Amazing Race- and I do love being back up high (since I learned to drive on a minivan, driving all these little cars was actually kind of trying) I see them everywhere, and I am proud to report that it was the best selling small SUV in May- when I bought mine, so I must be doing something right. It's also only a two gallon bigger tank than my Protege.

Now if I could only find a guy to drive with me.....