On Island Living

I've been really intrigued with island life since my second week at SALT. I came to Peaks for my neighborhood assignment. I had felt isolated, lost, and alone then. I've been back many times since. Exploring the island one little piece at a time...of course, it doesn't really take all that long to explore a small island, but there is just something about it. It's just so methodical here. You have to plan out grocery trips (if you don't want to shop at the only grocery store in town), and social trips since the ferry can be limited (although there are more ferries coming and going from Peaks than the others).

I've been daydreaming about what it would be like to live on an island...so you can imagine my excitement when Mira, SALT's writing instructor, posted that she may need a dog sitter for the week. I volunteered as fast as I could. First and foremost, Mira and her family were gracious enough to bring me into their home on my first exploratory mission to Peaks. She noticed that I didn't have the proper footwear for all of the slow I was about to trek on...so she offered here's to me. Her and her husband also offered me a map of the island and pointed me towards the right direction. Of course, I volunteered largely because I wanted to pretend to be an islander for a few days, but I also wanted to thank Mira for her kindness.

I decided, with Nelson's blessing, not to go to Worcester this weekend. To be frank, my pockets cannot afford the short trip every week...but I have been stretching it and "making it work." So I've been on the island on and off since Wednesday. My head feels clearer here. It's quiet and the dogs have been keeping me company. We explored the dirt roads together and took a nice hike on the beach during sunset. I've been getting a lot of reading done. It has always been a bad habit of mine to pick up a book, read a couple of chapters, and never finishing it. So my mission was to have a bit of a 'staycation' and try to chip away at this book I brought from home ("Her" by Christa Paravanni - a photographer who lost her twin). It's been quite therapeutic...all of it.

I'm also re-cutting my multimedia piece. The audio and B-roll rough cut is due today. I've learned that the difficulty with telling someone else's story is some how, you almost always suck at it. So basically, I'm trying not to suck. I've literally been cutting on and off since Wednesday.

I'm also working on re-sequencing my photo story, since I will not have any photos to critique on Monday (my very first time since the beginning of the semester and I feel weird about that). My goal today is to write a focus statement for the photo story and see if things become more apparent...fingers crossed...don't worry, I just learned what a 'focus statement' was yesterday...

Last night I hemmed and hawed over which photograph from my project I was going to submit for a show postcard. Everyone gets to submit just one photo, and I almost didn't, because I know my classmate's photo would win. Everyone, including myself, has been swooning over it and as of last night, there was only five submissions out of seventeen. I guess we will find out.

It's been raining all morning and I'm feeling sad about leaving Peaks.

Bus Life

You know, since I only have a learner's permit, I've been having to take the bus to Boston, weekly. I call these trips my "soul journey." Mostly because these days, I've been feeling like a hot mess. Not feeling like I fit in as an Asian and not truly American...but more on that later...

These weekly trips are for my multimedia and photography projects. I was warned that it would be difficult work on final project for both classes with the same subject, but I also got the reassuring "you can do it" pat on the back and the go ahead from both of my instructors.

I've been spending these bus rides (2 1/2 hours to Boston and then 1 hour to Worcester) writing a bit. "Cleaning House" as Nelson, my photography instructor, puts it. Really trying to capture my thoughts on paper. What I've been feeling. Any anxieties I may have. I spend most of the time reflecting on my life's journey thus far. It has not be boring to say the least. I'm hoping to compile these notes while traveling into something bigger. I've also been spending my time on the bus catching up on sleep. I've been putting in late nights at Salt and sleep is very scarce when you already have bad sleeping pattern...forgive me if I'm not making any sense, I'm falling asleep as we speak!

This past week has been a busy one. Our first final deadline is this Sunday. I've made sure to bring my computer and my things in case my partners need me. I'd love to write a little more, but my body needs a nap.

On water rights

Tonight the photo kids are having a sleep over in Fryeburg, a little Maine town on the New Hampshire border. We are here on a mission...well, a group project really.

The town is fighting Nestle and their proposed 45 years water extraction contract. Water is currently being pumped out of Fryeburg's aquifer and sold in plastic bottles while the town drinks well water...still, their water is more clean than our public drinking water in West Virginia. Of course, there is two sides to every story, so we're here to 'investigate' ...or document this fight, a fight that's essentially a global fight. Privatization of water...it's happening all over the world and it's happening in Fryeburg.

I'm going to stop here before I go any further. Tomorrow Nicole and I are taking to the roads on bicycles. Watch out everyone else!

On being a FANgirl

So tomorrow we have a lecture with Angelo Merendino. He is hanging his exhibit at Salt starting tomorrow and I am beyond excited. I've been following this work for some time now and I cannot wait to see it in person. I have so much respect and admiration for him so I'm probably going to probably stutter when I ask him questions!







I feel like we are so lucky here at SALT. Getting to speak to professionals and alums and asking them all sorts of industry questions is something you probably can't get elsewhere. At least not on a weekly basis. I am so grateful to be here.

On writing, photography, chanced encounters, and rants.

I told myself that I wouldn't leave the house today until I write one blog post. Writing has always been a concern to me. A good concern though, it's something that I'm trying to explore and conquer...one blog post at a time.

Salt Alum, Molly Caro May came in yesterday to speak about her first published memoir and it was an awakening for me. She read excerpts from her book and I was carried by her words. I was inspired to write...and also thinking ahead about my artist statement and project statement at the end of the semester. I am one run on sentence sometimes. During the Q & A portion, I felt brave and asked her if she "had any tips or recommendations on how to awaken the mediocre writer." After a short burst of laughter from my classmates, she answers that she gives herself journal prompt like questions and allows herself to write for at least an hour (I think)...or even minutes.

I came home and started writing...as usual, I fell asleep, this time, mid thought...

                 Don’t fluff the hustle.

                 Last week was difficult. It just was. I don’t know if I feel disconnected or what. But I couldn’t handle it. 

                 I felt like my brain was unraveling with every turn of wheels on the bus. 

                 What does it all mean? I don’t fucking know. I just know that I must make photographs…and make 

                 photographs that are compelling to me. Photography is the window and a mirror. Right now, if 

                 photography was a mirror, it would see me eating cake on the phot

What the hell? What was I even saying? I know I probably started talking about cake because I made a photograph of a chocolate cake out of guilt. I was guilty for not photographing the sweet buns offered to me by a sweet Filipino woman the first time I visited my subject's house. I have no idea what question I was writing this prompt to. 

Were I'm trying to get to is that writing has never been my strong point. I envy the lyrics and the poets (essentially the same thing), who can craft up a world with words. I hope that by the end of the semester, I've at least unleashed some sort of inner writer in me. 

To steer clear into another subject, we are working on a conceptual video. The term, conceptual, is still a thing I'm trying to grasp. I took my classmate, Nicole, to Peaks Island and we got to enjoy the beautiful scenery while filming the world around us. 

Here she is having an American Beauty moment filming a plastic grocery bag blowing in the wind. Everything was so beautiful around us and the time slipped away from us. It got dark quickly and we still had a ways to walk to get to the ferry terminal. As we were walking, right after I had just mentioned how I wished a car would stop and give us a ride...one pulled up beside us and rolled down the window. Desperate, Nicole and I hoped into the car ignoring our guts. He spoke in a deep tone and a thick accent and I was scared. I started the conversation right away that we were students from Salt and that the time got away from us and we needed to be on the 7:30 ferry and it was currently 7:30. He mentioned being a Documentarian himself and having just reached out to our director early that morning and asked us what projects we were working on. Nicole took the lead and mentioned that she was Switzerland working on a project about asylum seekers from Burundi. They started speaking French and I was only able to pick up a few words. My guts were wrong and he turned out to be very kind and offered us to come back to his place for a drink if we missed the ferry. Fortunately, the ferry was running late and Nicole and I both shot out of the car and sprinted to it without exchanging our information. The next day he reached out to our director again hoping to get into touch with us (especially the sweet Swiss girl). In a twist of events, we went from walking in the dark to meeting a real life Documentarian. It was a pretty neat experience. 

And a post about writing got completely away of me! But what a good exercise it has been. Maybe I do need to make myself sit down and write more...no more writing before bed when I'm exhausted. 

24 hours

Almost two weeks ago now, I finished my most dreaded 24 hour assignment. It took 5 no's to finally get a yes. I ended up asking a girl I met on the street and she volunteered herself actually. Thank goodness! I started following her after work on a Friday (my birthday to be exact). We went to her brother's house, the art walk, then to her home. I hardly slept on a yoga mat and got up to watch Saturday morning cartoons. We took a walk, ate chocolates, then she walked me to the bus stop. I felt like I had made a friend through the process. On top of that, I learned a good bit about myself and I really enjoyed the photographed made during the 24 hours. She was so sweet and gave me a birthday present once the clock turned 4:30 pm. We were standing at the bus stop.

Speaking of buses, I will be embarking on my second trip to Worcester, Mass. I decided last week to pursue a story there...both for my solo multimedia and photography project. It a two and a half hour drive from Portland but a six hour bus journey...starting from the public bus stop a block from where I am living. I would have preferred to follow a story here in Portland, but this story (in which I will dive into later), is very compelling to me...and that makes it worth the traveling and the money spent on bus tickets for the next month. I can stand to live off of ramen for a little while. I'm just worried about doing the story justice. I've been keeping a written journal, recorded while I'm on the bus...when I'm not feeling nauseous. This is definitely something I want to look back on.

My wake up call will be an early one tomorrow morning. I've got my batteries charging and I'm about to pack my bag. I'm not sure where I will be staying tomorrow night, but I'm sure I won't have a hard time finding a motel.

Following Strangers

Sorry I've been MIA for the past couple of weeks. School has been very busy and stimulating. So much so that sometimes I come home and end up doing absolutely nothing so my brain can be quiet. But this isn't a bad thing. I knew this coming to SALT that it wasn't going to be easy. I guess it's just very real now...duh, I'm five weeks in. So that's catch up.

I followed a stranger home. I did it. It was rewarding and exhilarating to know that out of the two most feared assignments, I had accomplished one and got to cross it off the ol' bucket list. I met a man named Steven on the street a couple of days before I followed him home and I was surprised that I even mustered up the nerve to ask him right away. I really didn't know what his story was excepted that he collects cans as a form of exercise to make a little side money. I guess I felt rather comfortable with him on first impression. Steven was great. I followed him around while he collected cans around Portland for at least three hours. It was 27 degrees and he didn't wear gloves where I was a vision of Ralphie's little brother from a Christmas Story. He had an exact route through the city (which varied between winter and summer) and knew every single trash can. I think the thing that was the most incredible was the fact that Steven has been legally blind since the age of 35. He has trouble seeing during the day but navigates the night extremely well. 

I felt a great connection with Steven and was really grateful for my experience with him. I'm grateful for this assignment too. I honestly would not have done this on a day to day life scenario. I think that's what its really all about her. Pushing myself out of my comfort zone. It's been challenging but nothing is ever rewarding without a challenge. 

Practice makes perfect

Last week, a few of my classmates and I got together to practice. My photo classmate, Roger, and I were inspired by Eugene Richard's Dorchester Days and asked, Bram, to be our model.

Dorchester Days was in black and white but I went against the grain and decided to go with color. After a couple of hours with Bram (radio track), Roger and I took a walk around snowy Portland.

On Learning.

"Learn all the hardest ways to do everything so you can do anything." - Anne Bailey

That's how our day started. I feel pretty tired and emotionally drained...but in a good way. I learned that my time on Peaks reflected my emotions in the past week. It's pretty erie actually. I was wondering aimlessly and alone on Peaks and what I hadn't thought about was that I had picked an island in the winter time. Like I had mentioned in the last post, I was having a hard time with the assignment in general. I've been feeling lost, homesick, alone, and isolated. I freaking choose and island! That's like the ultimate parallel to the word isolation. I choose to wander alone in the snow covered woods and into some time forgotten bunker. I was alone. I didn't get it.

My second day on Peaks I found what I was looking for. As a photographer and as a person. During our critiques today, I cried. I cried once I realized I had somehow imprinted my emotions onto my work. It's an exciting revelation.

This week's assignment was to follow a stranger home. Before I came to SALT, I read about it briefly on a blog and I freaked! It's actually one of my most feared assignments, but I did it! I followed a guy named Steven around Portland for several hours collecting cans and bottles and then he allowed me into his home. I learned a lot about Steven and I hope we can stay in touch.

I'm learning that if I continue to push myself through these assignments, they are not as bad as I had visioned. NOTE TO SELF: be less dramatic.

Oh Yes

For the past couple of days I've done nothing but walked. I explored Peaks Island for two days on foot with improper snow shoes (only one of the two days) and I walked to some unfamiliar areas of Portland during the snow storm. 

_______

Before I talk about what I found during my exploratory missions, let me be honest, our "neighborhood' assignment this week really kicked my ass. I don't know if I mentioned this the other day, but I felt like Nelson (my instructor), set the bar pretty damn high. To be even more honest with you, I didn't feel good about photography since day one of class. I felt like maybe I've been "doing it wrong." I never had any formal training, most things I know is self taught. I learn the business side from the ground up, much like the technical side of photography. I am not well versed in the who's who of photography. Basically, I felt discouraged. But I am excited to learn, eager really. I'm also excited about finding myself again as a photographer. 

_______

 

Day 1 on Peaks was pretty great. I got some help from Mira and her family (Mira is the Writing Instructor at Salt) after I met them at the ferry station. They were so kind to give me proper snow shoes and pointed me in the right direction (as far as where to find certain things on the island). I walked until I got exhausted. I was alone for the most part so my journey felt lonely. I originally wanted to walk and cover the whole island on one day but I was defeated. 

When I got back on the main land, I met one of my classmate and told her what I was doing. When she told me she thought it was pretty ambitious, I started to feel paranoid. I didn't want to be ambitious and miss the point of the assignment...but I didn't want to play it safe. So threw my plans of going back to Peaks to finish exploring out the window and began to doubt myself. 

The next day I went to my favorite coffee shop and looked around. I thought about the word neighborhood and thought that maybe I could profile the shop. I felt pretty confused so I emailed Nelson. He mentioned that a coffee shop is not quite a neighborhood and said that he was sorry I didn't like Peaks. But it wasn't that I didn't like Peaks, I was afraid to get the assignment wrong...but why? It's the first freaking assignment for goodness sakes! Like I said, I have been questioning my photography since I arrived so it was easy for me to get discouraged. So I decided to go back and revisit. This time exploring the other side of the island. To my surprise, the second day really solidified my choice of choosing the island. I took a lot of photos...A LOT. I will have to narrow it down to 20 for my critic tonight. Here are some photos that I took with my iPhone whilst exploring. 

found my motto for my time in Portland

exploring during the storm

asked a local about hidden gems, he pointed me to the fish market

found a hidden gem in a alley way

Portland is full of graffiti 

beautiful light on Peaks Island

this here is actually a frozen pond from ice skating

Peaks Island was beautiful

lunch break on the coast

a view from the shore of Peaks

swamp grases are tall!

narrow snow covered boardwalk

Battery Steel built during WWII

can you tell why I'm in love?

What I've learned in the past couple of days is to really trust my instinct. If I wanted to profile Peaks as a neighborhood, why not? Say yes. I really need to believe in myself, my abilities, and judgement as a photographer. At the same time, be open to new methods, critics, and experiences because after all, I'm here to learn.

Week 1

We've been thrown in to the water and learning how to swim for the first time. I'm pretty sure one of the track professors referenced that, but I can't remember whom. That's basically how this week has felt. We've gone over our syllabi, assignments, expectations, partners, and lectures. We've been thrown onto the street to strike up conversations with strangers and to record sounds.

I never thought the day would come for me to attend school, so walking into Salt on Monday was a pretty big deal. Shane was right, it finally hit me. It was a mixture of nerves and excitement. Sitting in the sacred photo cave gave me a sense how intense this experience is going to be. There's an importance of hard work and dedication just floating around.

What I love about Salt is that our instructors are extremely knowledgable in their field. They are all working professionals. Nelson, my photography instructor, is a talented photographer and is basically a photography genius. He's like the dictionary of photography. I'm so excited that he will be teaching us photo literacy, because I have no idea who the forefathers are. Names never stuck with me so I'm trying really hard to absorb.

After our multimedia labs today I started exploring. The sky is dumping snow on us and I'm pretty sure its been snowing for 12 straight hours. I thought it would make for some great neighborhood photographs. I struggled to find courage to photograph today. I only snapped about five frames. I'm not sure if I'm just not seeing what I'm interested in, or if Nelson's is and isn't is making me rethink photography. Not that I wasn't methodical before, but I'm just a bit more careful about what a landscape photograph looks like now.

Today was our last day of class for the week so I am taking the ferry to the islands to explore a bit more. I've got some leads on a project story, but my brain is still pulling me in five different directions. Hopefully being in open water will give me a sense of clarity.

Back to school

Well, today is the day. I start school in less than half and hour.

Last night I met up with some of my future classmates and realized that there will only be 19 of us. 19 is a small number, a rather intimate number I might say. I stopped by the SALT housing and it's pretty beautiful...part of me wish that I was able to afford it...but I really love my place here on Mellen and I'm so grateful to the Tierney family for letting me stay.

Some of my classmates and I went to Otto's pizza last night to grab a slice and a beer. We talked a bit about our background, about how we found out about Salt, and most importantly, why we are here in the first place. I've already met 3 of my track mates (there are only 5 of us!) and they are really great.

I'm so nervous. I wore a red shirt today because that's considered lucky in Thai. Now I'm not superstitious about stuff like that, but I don't know. I woke up and felt like wearing red...am I channeling my inner Tiger Woods? Regardless, I hope to take away as many things as Salt is able to offer. A lot of people have asked me what the school will do for me and my answer today is Salt will do exactly what I can take from it. It will give me to opportunities to find tune my craft and open my own doors. Because ultimately, you have to do things yourself in order to succeed.

Greetings from Portland, Maine

It's unbelievable for me to think that just a year ago (almost to the day), I was on my way back to West Virginia from my first trip to Portland, Maine. It was a solo "lets check out this city'' trip, so I did a lot of walking and adventuring in the cold. I had walked into what I thought was an art gallery and to my surprise, it was a school. The Salt Institute of Documentary Studies...I wanted to be knee deep in it...I remember just going on and on about the program, an intense three and a half months long certification course, to anyone and everyone who would listen and I also couldn't stop talking about the fact that it was way out of my league.

So I went home, researched a bit more and decided that I was going to apply. You know, just give it a try because they could really say is no. I really love Maine, so naturally, I loved Portland, so it all seem like a great fit. I started my application process, in August of 2013, hoping to meet the early decision deadline. I hemmed and hawed and put it off for a while because it was a bit too expensive for me. When my grandmother passed, I basically put everything down. I didn't even want to look at the application. The mere thought of moving away now was out of the question. I wanted to be close to my family, I wanted to be close to home. After receiving an email from the school about my unfinished application, and a lot of encouragement from my family and friends, I finished up my application and applied...at the very last hour on the night of the deadline. Long story short, I got accepted a couple of weeks later.

The moment I got accepted into Salt was very bittersweet. I was extremely excited at the thought of going to school, but I knew that I couldn't do it financially, even after receiving a grant from them. It's times like these that you learn how much you are loved. My good friend set up a fundraiser on my behalf, people offered to send me care packages, another friend and his generous family offered me a place to stay in Portland, and the school agreed to put me on a payment plan...something they do not often do. You might be wondering why I didn't apply for a loan...I did, I just could not get approved for anything...not even a starter credit card.

We arrived in Portland early this morning on little sleep...high on excitement I suppose. We spent an extra hour in the car waiting for the sun to rise and braved the cold morning air as we watched the sky turn from dark blue to purple to pink and orange over the bay. I'm slowly settling in to my temporary home for the next couple of months. It's crazy how everything has worked on for the best. What a difference a year has made.

Hello Friends!

I know it seems like I never returned from my train trip, but I am in fact alive and well. I've decided to come back to blogging for the first time in a few years. A few things have changed during my absence from Pretty Little Fings. To start, I am sad to say that I've put down the sewing needle to pursue my love of photography. This love has driven me to start a business, a photography blog, and now into school. 

Late last November, I was accepted into The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies!!  In a week, I will be heading up to Portland, Maine, to embark on the next phase of my life. Please follow me here as I keep you updated on my adventure in higher education, being out of my comfort zone, and basically scraping by. There will be lots of photos (get ready!), many tears (get ready), lots of late night ramen eating, traveling, and rants of bettering my future and fine tuning my career. 

Train Trip: day 10

HELLO SEATTLE!!!!

i wanted to shout that at the top of my lungs this morning after i woke up and realized(remembered) that i was reunited with Seattle once again. it's been two whole years since i've breathed the fresh/light air and walked it's streets but i still remember my last trip vividly. 

we got our start at 8:30 this morning and headed to get a crumpet at The Crumpet Shop. i was so happy to get to be the tour guide for a change and was also glad the girls loved Crumpets...cause let's face it, if they didn't like Crumpets, then we could no longer be friends. we walked around Pike Place Market, got lost in the sea of uniformed Japanese school girls, went down to the Pier to see the Puget Sound, went to an antiques store, and stopped by a printing press. we met up with our friend Vincenzo, went antiquing a little more, then headed for the Capitol Hill neighborhood. we walked around, went to a huge music store (where i bought a cd! first time in years!!), got some yummy ice cream, and walked a million miles to Volunteer Park. Volunteer Park was pretty gorgeous and he took us to the top of the water tower, the green house, through the Dahlia garden, and pointed out the cemetery in which Bruce Lee was buried. 

we took a bus into the Ballard neighborhood and had dinner at a rather cool vegetarian Thai restaurant. YUMMY! we caught up a bit at a tea house, Mira, where i drank a Bourbon Street Rooibos after our new friend, Taylor, recommended. we met up with my friend, Shelly, at a really cool placed called King's. i sampled a few beers and decided on the Deschutes organic ale, while Ashley had a locally made ginger beer. we all caught up for a bit and it was wonderful.

unfortunately, we were all a bit tired so we hoped a bus back downtown. now i'm sitting in the common room of the Green Tortoise watching the Big Bang Theory. oh! did i tell you we were staying in a hostel? no? well, we're staying at the Green Tortoise on Pike and 1st. it's a cute little place where they have free dinners 3 days in a week (we just missed ours tonight) and free breakfast every morning (you have to make it yourself!) i'm sharing a bunk with Meg and i'm sleeping on the top bunk. i feel like a little kid again!!

my battery is slowly dying so i should go. our Seattle adventures have been super fun. tomorrow we depart around 4 in the afternoon. i love it here and i know i'm not going to want to leave. (i just love the fresh air here!) after stopping in Spokane, Wa, we begin our 2 day trek back to Chicago and home. i'm so excited since we'll be passing some beautiful parts of the US. I'll be keeping you updated as much as possible for sure. 

Train Trip: days 7,8, & 9

Portland has treated us so well and we all fell in love here. as soon as we arrived, Teresa, my friend's sister, scooped us up from the beautiful train station and gave as a grand tour of the city by car. she took us to the Saturday outdoor market which was wonderful, took us to different neighborhoods, and then took us to the Green Dragon for dinner. we got to taste the exclusive VooDoo Donut's maple bacon beer from Rogue at the distribution center and i got to try a lot of different beers at dinner.

Teresa took us out into the Portland nightlife and took us to a place called Ash St. Saloon to see a band she really liked. apparently, it was the band's last show in a while as they are taking a hiatus after 11 years (they are from Portland). the first band was great. they were from Seattle, called, the Lonesome Shack. the second band was not my favorite (their set was so long and it made me want to go home). the last band that Teresa wanted to see was called Hillstomp. they were pretty good and got the crowd going. the drummer was playing the wash board and made some drums from buckets while the guitarist played a couple of numbers on a cigar case banjo.

we left the scene a couple of times to try to get some VooDoo Donuts, but unfortunately, we weren't very lucky and the line was ridiculously long...so we decided to get a Dutch taco instead (filling in a folded waffle) and boy was it the right choice!

we woke up the next day and went to breakfast at Zell's. they served free scones and gave us free pumpkin pancakes and it was all delicious. we hung out and thrifted in the Hawthorne neighborhood for most of the day and then headed to the Vegan block so i could get my tattoo at Scape Goat Tattoo. i met Silje Hagland online via Instagram (like twitter but with photos) and started talking to her about a tattoo and it all just materialize. later that night we went to the Together Gallery in the Alberta Street Arts district for a Cheap art show where you can bid on the pieces and stayed around for a minute to check out the band. it seems like Ashley and i would really like it there. we went to the Bye & Bye down the street and tried some of their house mixed drinks...i had a beet infused drink!

Portland was fun until we had to weave through traffic to get to the train station the next morning. apparently, it was the first rain in a while and people were freaking out. we ran through the station and missed our train by one minute...BY ONE MINUTE!...luckily, we werent the online ones who missed the train, so they were able to put us on a later train. well, that train was delayed by 3 hrs! we sat at the station unmoved for 2 hrs and were at a stop and go for a long while on the tracks. we were restless and not happy campers at all.

when we finally got to Seattle it was well after 7 and we were all exhausted. we went out for a quick bite to eat an Asian Fusion place that offered extremely cheap sushi and bowls of food for half off during their happy hour. we decided to call it an early night and headed back to the Green Tortoise Hostel and went to bed so we could be ready for the next day's adventures.

all in all, we loved Portland. we may even have a place to stay in the come spring time, but who knows. i hope everyone is doing well back home!

Train Trip: Day 5 & 6

Day 5 & 6 has been a lot of sight seeing on the train. We stopped in Tucson, Az in the middle of the night and Meg and I stole away and had a quick drink...so adventurous!) We got into LA and hour early so we went to Phillipe's to have breakfast, and took a quick walk through Chinatown and shooed fro fresh baked good and fresh fruits. We walked through Olvera St and saw a lot of Mexican influence art. LA's Union Station was beautiful. The tiles an the high arches were picturesque. We said bye to a friend that we had made on the train (who use to hop freight trains) and boarded the Coastal Starlight towards Portland.

We've been on this train since 10:30 am of yesterday. While going through the coast of California, two older volunteer Rail Trail men came on board and gave us a history, as well as military, crash course. It was really neat since it was my first time in Cali and seeing the coast made me realize how far we are from home...literally across the country!

Last night we almost hit a truck! The conductor had to pull the emergency break when a rig was spotted on the tracks. We stopped for a little, then definitely booked it for the rest of the night...I felt it! Yikes!

We met a guy named Joe, from Luisiana en route to Portland that we've been hanging out with and he's been a hoot. Joe told us about his future plans to go to horticulture school minoring in business and photography. (I even taught him a bit about his camera!) going through different parts of the country he would tell us about different plants and trees we were seeing and that was super helpful. Meg and I had breakfast with him this morning and said our goodbyes when he got off in Klamath falls, Oregon. We just passed Klamath Lake and it was beautiful. We are about three hours away from Eugene and I'm excited to step out and see what the weather would be like. Can't wait to see Portland in all it's glory. I hope I like it there.

If we're on time, our arrival to Portland should be around 3:40 pm.

Train Trip: Day 3 & 4

We still had our sanity when we finally stepped off the train in Austin. We spent a day and a half on the train with red hat ladies, a yound mom who kept losing her baby, and a friendly older couple. We passed through the golden fields of Illinois, we stetched in Little Rock and St. Louis, and felt sad when we hit Texas and everything was brown and dusty. (that was a major run on sentence!)

We were lucky to have gotten in contact with a friend of a fried of our's named Emily, who graciously picked us up from the bus station (we went there after the train to buy tix...more on that later) and let us stay in her house on the East Side.

On our first night in Austin we were introduced to food trailers. We had an amazing Asian Fusion dinner in the back of a bar where we sipped on some Austin Brewery's IPA. We met up with a friend of Meg's friend and they took us to a cute bar called Cheer up Charlie. I realized how painfully hip Austin was then and there when I saw a guy dressed in gym shorts, a blazer, cowboy boots, a rapist stache, and horn rimmed glasses...and people think I'm a hipster back at home...they don't even know. We called it an early night after a few more beers ($1 dos X's!).

A hot shower after a good night's sleep on a futon felt amazing in the AM. We headed out into Austin and got coffee and breakfast at a trailer called Trailer Perk and walked for miles down sixth street and down Guadalupe St the girls wanted to go to. We grabbed a slice at Mellow Mushrooms and met up with a friend of mine from middle school that I hadnt seen in at least 10 years. It was a nice reunion, full of questions about life and Austin. After we parted the girls and I decided to try out the bus...rather easy...and headed towards The South Side. We Thrifted a little, found a cupcake trailer and got attacked by cupcake hungry bees, and met Elijah Woods...no big deal. I'm here in a costume shop when Meg nudged me and we both looked over and screamed on the inside. We debated whether or not to ask him for a photograph when it was decided that I would be the one to do it...no problem...I was a bit nervous...so I walked back into the store and politely asked for a photograph, he complimented me on my chestpiece and I geeked out a little, our faces touched and I freaked a little more, I got my photograph and geeked out a whole lot more! I was such a nerd I asked him if he lived in Austin and proceeded to tell him about my train trip...what a nice guy!

Walking down the street towards The Congress Bridge, we giggled like little school girls. We stopped to see the bats (which was incredible) and walked back down sixth street. We stopped at Affinity Tattoos to visit my old friend, Vic. And grabbed a yummy dinner at another trailer park...YUMMY!

After repacking our stuff (and desiding to send some junk home in the next state) and saying our goodbyes, Emily dropped us off at the Greyhound station where we headed towards San Antonio. I have no idea how we're still awake right now with the amount of walking that we've done but we're here, waitin for our 5 o'clock train to LA.

Our trip to Austin was wonderful and it wouldnt have been as nice without the help of some new friends, and even old ones too. I'll definitely come back again in the future. Austin was batty.

Train Trip: Day 2

After lack of sleep from day one we found ourselves in Chicago on day two. The early morning rush around the city was a bit of a turn off for me. We didn't really meet too many friendly people either. We made our way on foot to a breakfast place called Eggsperience that we'd found on Yelp. The food and good and they served big portions at an affordable price...but their coffee was horrible! ($2.69 for a house mug of terrible coffee!) it made me miss drinking Counter Culter coffee from home.

After gorging ourselves full of good food, we made our way towards Millennium Park to see the Bean. We made pit stops at a local grocery store to stock up on some fruit and dinner for later (a lesson learned from the night before). I got two avocado sushi rolls for $3.99...something you can't get for that price back home. When we got to Millenium Park, we took photos at the Bean and marveled at the structure. It was pretty dang cool. I spent a long time trying to figure out a pose for a photo that would make me look like I was standing on the Bean, but I gave up shortly after when they girls didn't seem very amused.

We made our way back to Union Station since we didn't have much more time to explore and lounged around for a bit. Meg goselected for a random bag check as we boarded the train to Austin...they wiped her luggage with a piece of paper and ran it through a machine and that was that. Our trip from Chicago to Austin will take us roughly 17 hours and 1121 miles or so.

I'm disappointed to say that Chicago didn't make much of an impact on me as far as considering it a future hometown. Sure, I loved the architechture and the structures of the old subway, but it made me feel like I was in DC. I talked to a friend who had been there and loved it and we both came to a conclusion that it could have been because I didn't have enough time to explore the greener side of the city. Perhaps another trip back in the future is needed.

Train Trip: Day 1

My bosses told me that a journey is not an adventure until something goes wrong. Well, I guess we got off to a pretty good start when we found out that our reservations started on the 8th (the day we called Amtrak)instead of today, September 18th. (and yes, i FREAKED out for a few minutes and the counter ladies couldnt find our reservation info) Because Amtrak thought we missed our rides, our reservations were messed up and we had to add a stop to Spokane, Wa.

We forgot to stop at a grocery store to grab some fruits and bread for dinner and by the fourth hour of the ride, we were starving. Train dinner was out of the question because it was so expensive so we started eating the snacks we got, but that quickly ended since it couldn't keep us full. We had to bite the bullet and bought $2.25 Cup O' Noodles to hold us over and so far so good

All is well now and we are en route to Chicago. We just passed Pittsburgh and are hoping to be in Chicago around 8:30 the next morning.

So far on our first leg of the trip we've met a couple named John and Marsha. John sat down with us at the dining area and shared a little bit about his life. He and Marsha have been married for 38 years and met when he moved into an apartment above her's in New Jersey. He talked to us about his favorite city and told us some jokes...dirty ones we'll be sure to tell our dear friends back home.

Since i'm updating on my phone, I won't be able to load the photos. Maybe when we stop in Chicago, i'll add some. Goodnight friends. Let's hope all we get some sleep.