UFA. School. Ballas. Tite. Murder Apartment. Wierd Wednesday. Trapped in the Closet. Original Alamo. Besties. Good ol’ times.

[direktlink]

album: keep still
year: 2007

Let’s face it—if there were a Travel Blog Hall of Fame, TripCart’s Travel Blog would be in it. Hey, while we’re on the subject of Halls of Fame, here’s a list from our database of Halls of Fame (for all sorts of random things) found all across America:
(in no particular order)

• National Baseball Hall of Fame – Cooperstown, New York
• Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum – Nashville, Tennessee
• International Tennis Hall of Fame – Newport, Rhode Island
• National Women’s Hall of Fame – Seneca Falls, New York
• Women’s Hall of Fame – San Diego, California
• Astronaut Hall of Fame – Titusville, Florida
• International Swimming Hall of Fame – Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
• International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame – St. Louis, Missouri
• World Figure Skating Museum & Hall of Fame – Colorado Springs, Colorado
• Cardinals Hall of Fame – St. Louis, Missouri
• Colorado Ski Museum-Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame – Vail, Colorado
• Georgia Music Hall of Fame – Macon, Georgia
• National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame – Chicago, Illinois
• National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame – Saratoga Springs, New York
• Hockey Hall of Fame – Ontario – Toronto, Ontario
• Lacrosse Museum and National Hall of Fame – Baltimore, Maryland
• World Golf Village and Hall of Fame – St. Augustine, Florida
• American Police Hall of Fame – Titusville, Florida
• IGFA World Fishing Hall of Fame & Museum – Dania Beach, Florida
• National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum – Leadville, Colorado
• Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame and Museum – Colorado Springs, Colorado
• Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame (SFM) – Seattle, Washington
• Oregon Sports Hall of Fame – Portland, Oregon
• Judah L. Magnes Museum (including Jewish-American Hall of Fame) – Berkeley, California
• The Barbie Hall of Fame – Palo Alto, California

It’s nice to honor those men and women who have worked hard to make a name for themselves, who have succeeded in sports or business, who have been role models in years past in present.

• Fall Foliage Staycations
• Highest Rated Ski Resorts by Google
• Shopping Malls – a tremendous boost to TripCart.Com

I’m taking a break from my “Literary Travels” to say this: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! So going to Philadelphia for the summer didn’t end up working out b/c my grandparents decided to move out of their house and into an apartment so everything is in boxes and my grandfather had hip surgery and my parents thought it would be too much if I were there—even though I think I could’ve been a big help. So instead I’m HOME, in Richmond, which is NOT where I want to be. AND I’m a stupid counselor at that stupid camp that I SWORE I wouldn’t work at again. AND my parents are driving me crazy. Maybe most teenagers are used to that, but since I go to boarding school and generally see my parents for AT MOST two weeks at a time, but usually a lot less, spending THE SUMMER home is extremely daunting. And it’s only been a month so far…
The only silver lining of this dark, dark cloud is that my parents are letting me take one of the cars up to Philly to visit my grandparents after their big move, which is in a few weeks, after the first session of camp is over. And I’ll be stopping in Baltimore on the way to visit a friend from school. I’ll probably be gone for 10-12 days total…more if I can convince the authorities…
The only solace I have while I’m still here is Short Pump Town Center Mall, the Library of Virginia, and Kings Dominion. And I guess I have a few friends stuck here too. We all bitch and whine together. What else are friends for?

I seriously posted that last post and before I signed off (like a minute later) I already had an email from my mom telling me that I’d better be safe and email or call her when I get back. (Mom, PLEASE don’t sit by the computer all day waiting for me to write…..seriously, aren’t you supposed to be working??)

And so, here is just a very short post for all my dear readers: rest assured, I am safe. New River Gorge National River (didn’t swallow me up as I thought it would). Though I think rafting just may not be my thing.

First of all, the rapids weren’t even so bad (supposedly). I think they were a level 3 or something, which are “wimpy” rapids. We had a simulated “flip over” as soon as we got in the boat, and even that left me screaming and splashing around for dear life—mind you, we were in 2 foot deep water.

But MAN, I have never seen such peer pressure. The other people in the boat FORCED me to stay on the boat, saying that I’d be ok and that we “probably” wouldn’t flip over anyways. And they were right, kinda. No one flipped over…but me…three times! But, as goddess is my witness (that’s for you mom, I know how much you love that), I would not allow that frothy, glistening water to win our raging battle. And so each time I fought, and each time I came out on top, stronger than the last time.

By the time we got to the last rapid, people were actually laughing so hard and not focusing on the rapids at all, that our whole raft capsized throwing us all into the calm of a patch of river that was just near a truck that was waiting to load us up and take us home.

Ryan says I’m a good sport. Or sportess—he’s making fun of me.

It should not go unmentioned, however, that my brush with death was nearly worth it due to the breathtaking scenery that surrounded us. A little before and little after, we hiked through the area and I really took the most amazing pictures of cascading waterfalls flowing off of sandstone cliffs.

And then I remember that this is why I needed to get out of the city. To try new things and to experience the divinity of nature. And that is what I found here—that is what I keep finding.

Even this house that we’re staying at. They have acres of land and children and animals who all seem so happy and at peace with their surroundings. They open their home to travelers and allow them to taste from sweetness of their lives. This is family. This is something great.

• Adventure Travel in Roanoke, Asheville, Smoky, Blue Ridge, Shenandoah and Southern Appalachian Mountains
• Cool and Fun Things to Do in Roanoke, Asheville, Smoky, Blue Ridge, Shenandoah and Southern Appalachian Mountains
• Most Scenic Drives – Skyline Drive and the Smoky, Blue Ridge, Shenandoah and Southern Appalachian Mountains
• Nature and Wildlife in Roanoke, Asheville, Smoky, Blue Ridge, Shenandoah and Southern Appalachian Mountains
• Off the Beaten Path in Roanoke, Asheville, Smoky, Blue Ridge, Shenandoah and Southern Appalachian Mountains
• Outdoor Sports and Recreation in Roanoke, Asheville, Smoky, Blue Ridge, Shenandoah and Southern Appalachian Mountains
• Places to Visit in Roanoke, Asheville, Smoky, Blue Ridge, Shenandoah and Southern Appalachian Mountains
• White Water Rafting in New, Gauley, Cheat, Chattooga Rivers, Smoky, Blue Ridge, Shenandoah and Southern Appalachian Mountains

I usually start getting my students excited about Earth Day a good month in advance, but since this time that coincided with my honeymoon, I started the Earth Day buzz about 2 months ago, introducing a 2 month unit on the nature of New York City. This is my absolute favorite time to be a teacher. I have the children collect leaves and dirt and branches and flowers and we decorate the room with signs of springtime. We do school-wide recycling projects that the kids get really enthusiastic about. We go for nature walks in Central Park and field trips to botanical gardens. We’re going to The New York Botanical Gardens next week and I guarantee that the kids will be able to give a tour themselves by the end of the afternoon.

We have another half day field trip planned to Riverbank State Park. With a great view of the Hudson and the Palisades, and with plenty of room to picnic, it provides the perfect atmosphere for discussing the high and low places of the earth, the water and sky, and the grass and the buildings that make up our home planet. I just need to get over to the Kings Plaza Mall to pick up a big sheet for our picnic—obviously we wouldn’t use something disposable… (I think I left my picnic blanket in Hawaii.)

The school’s got something planned for the actual day of Earth Day (April 22). On the Sunday before (20th), I will DEFINITELY be at the Green Apple Festival in Central Park.

Do your part for the environment and sign this petition to help stop global warming.

Happy Earth Day!

P.S. Banana Republic gives 1% of sales during Earth Week to The Trust for the Public Land.

Will New Mexico be next? The Associated Press has said that New Mexico is eying the new non idle law that California has just started using, for trucks weighing more than 16001 lbs.

Florida, Minnesota and Colorado have also moved to join the band wagon in efforts to lesson the green house effects they say truck idling is harming.

Before you know it trucks will no longer be able to idle anywhere in the USA.

Love

I love you
Not only for what you are,
But for what I am
When I am with you.

I love you,
Not only for what
You have made of yourself,
But for what
You are making of me.

I love you
For the part of me
That you bring out;

I love you
For putting your hand
Into my heaped-up heart
And passing over
All the foolish, weak things
That you can’t help
Dimly seeing there,

And for drawing out
Into the light
All the beautiful belongings
That no one else had looked
Quite far enough to find

I love you because you
Are helping me to make
Of the lumber of my life
Not a tavern
But a temple.

Out of the works
Of my every day
Not a reproach
But a song.

I love you
Because you have done
More than any creed
Could have done
To make me good.
And more than any fate
Could have done
To make me happy.

You have done it
Without a touch,
Without a word,
Without a sign.

You have done it
By being yourself.
Perhaps that is what
Being a friend means,
After all.

by Roy Croft

Take it easy, take it easy
Don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy

–Jackson Browne (Take it Easy)

She sang beyond the genius of the sea.
–Wallace Stevens from "The Idea of Order at Key West"
I don't know what this means exactly, but I like the way it sounds.

Life is full of obstacle illusions.
–Grant Frazier

The mind is like a magazine…a new issue every 4 seconds. –my yoga teacher in class, but quoted this from someone else…

What thou lovest well remains,
The rest is dross
–Ezra Pound, from Pisan Cantos, LXXXI

Follow the grain in your own wood.
–Norman Fischer

Out of the strain of the Doing,    
    Into the peace of the Done.
–Julia Louise Woodruff

(I love this one, so true.)

You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it. –Robin Williams

The famous speaker who no one had heard of said:
Ladies and jellyspoons, hobos and tramps,
cross-eyed mosquitos and bow-legged ants,
I stand before you to sit behind you
to tell you something I know nothing about.
Next Thursday, which is Good Friday,
there’s a Mother’s Day meeting for fathers only;
wear your best clothes if you haven’t any.
Please come if you can’t; if you can, stay at home.
Admission is free, pay at the door;
pull up a chair and sit on the floor.
It makes no difference where you sit,
the man in the gallery’s sure to spit.
The show is over, but before you go,
let me tell you a story I don’t really know.
One bright day in the middle of the night,
two dead boys got up to fight.
One was blind and the other couldn’t see,
So they fought in front of a referee,
(The blind man went to see fair play;
the mute man went to shout “hooray!”)
Back to back they faced each other,
drew their swords and shot each other.
A deaf policeman heard the noise,
and came and killed the two dead boys.
A paralysed donkey passing by
kicked the blind man in the eye;
knocked him through a nine-inch wall,
into a dry ditch and drowned them all.
If you don’t believe this lie is true,
ask the blind man; he saw it too,
through a knothole in a wooden brick wall.
And the man with no legs walked away.

The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.
–William James