Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Traveling for Charity

Not much to update you all on as far as my own adventures go- I've pretty much planned my weekend in Rhode Island/ Massachusetts down to the minute and am in the process of looking up deals and discounts and other ways I can save on transportation costs and admission fees. I even have my good friend Alicia (who joined me in Annapolis about a year and a half ago) driving up from her home in Connecticut to spend a day with me while I'm there. (I should also note that both she and a cousin of hers I also befriended are heckling me about when I'm going to get to their state!) After that, it's going to be all about getting to and from Washington and Alaska this August/September (doesn't someone- anyone- want to sponsor my plane ticket to Seattle?!)

In the meantime, I've just been reading random travel articles and I came across one about a girl and her dad hiking the Appalachian Trail. I was immediately interested, having lived so close to the range my entire life. About 2200 miles of trails and mountains ranging from Maine to Georgia. I walk everywhere but even that is too ambitious for me! The kicker is, she isn't just doing this for fun. She is raising awareness (and donations and food supplies) for local foods banks in support of stomping out hunger in America. How cool is that?

You can read the article here, and read their travel blog here.

Best wishes to them both!


Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Reasons To Travel While You Are Young

I happened across a blog article that pretty much sums up how I feel about travel. I am not married. I do not have any children. I've already graduated from college- twice. And while I do have professional and familial obligations (and vehicular restraints), none are so stringent that I can't make arrangements to somehow do and see what I want.

So yes, my blog looks a bit cheesy and perhaps even dated. I don't always get to post as frequently as I would like, and it DOES take me forever to caption photos on Facebook. But, that's kind of not the point (even though I AM improving!). The point is to go out and experience these places, my homeland!, in a new way.

C'mon my fellow wanderlusts! Let's GO!

Monday, May 6, 2013

Really Facebook?!



Pretty pissed that dozens of my pictures from my earliest adventures (DC, Puerto Rico, VA, etc) are just MISSING from Facebook! Not only are they pretty much gone forever, but I don't live in the DC area anymore to re-take them. I apologize if this has made my blog/page less likeable. I'm slowly going through and reconnecting what photos I do have within the previous blog posts and filling in with images from other travel sites when necessary.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Chicago Buildings

There are a TON of buildings in Chicago that are architectural and historical gems. As a history nerd (and a nut for cool or old architecture) I noticed awesome buildings everywhere we went. Too bad we were often just whizzing by on our way to an event or venue. One place I wish I has gotten a chance to see was the Chicago Water Tower- the second oldest water tower in the USA and one of the few buildings to survive the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. I only got to zip past on the way to the airport, so the picture I have kind of sucks.
Not a bad picture...but not even close to how awesome this place looks in person




So let's just get this out of the way, I have never heard of anyone refer to this building as anything other than the Sears Tower. No disrespect to the Willis Holding Group, but, yeah, it's going to be the Sears Tower to Americans over the age of 10 forever. Completed in 1973, this building was the tallest in the world until 1998, and is today the 7th tallest in the world. There's a bunch of history and nuances about the battle for tallest building you can read about on that link- but I wasn't so much interested in that as I was the fact that this building is by far the tallest I've ever been inside of and was another one of those American icons that I wanted to see for myself.

Decorative wall showing how many stories up you are about to rise
For $18 bucks (each), my friends and I entered Sky Deck (the touristy part of the building- people actually have to go to work here still, so gawking tourists would probably be a distraction) and walked through a meticulously managed maze of information and informative video clips about the building and Chicago history and influence. We didn't spend too much time in each area, but some highlights were bios of famous people tied to Chicago, and a glass display showing comparative building heights of some of the world's most famous structures. 

Does this mean 3.3 Million adults have been up here??

We were herded into steel elevators and took and incredibly speedy ride to the top of the Tower while being entertained by a video further discussing the height of the building. There were observation binocular things at windows, and signs showing what part of the city you are looking at (on our overcast day we could only see out about 5 miles, but on a clear day you can see as far away as 50+ according to one employee), more Chicago history in a mini exhibit on the walls, and of course a gift shop. It was pretty interesting, and with the last few drops of battery power on my iPhone I recorded a video with my friends while up there. Then we went over to the west end of the building, where the actual Sky Deck is located- a slew of glass landings that stick out 4 feet from the building so that all that separates you from certain death is a few inches of (well engineered) glass. For whatever reason I wasn't afraid to step out on the ledge, but there were plenty of people who were. In any case, it made for great silly pictures and awesome memories!

My friend Melanie taking a picture from the top of the Tower
Those are my leopard-clad feet...quite a journey back to the ground indeed!


The FLW Row Houses...people actually live there, so no inside tours :(

This was a VERY brief stop in my time in Chicago- literally maybe 5 minutes there total. I especially wanted to see these houses in particular because they are the only row houses Frank Lloyd Wright ever designed. FLW set his studios up in Chicago, and there are 400+ of his 536 buildings still standing around the world. Chicago has a few of FLW focused tours available and while I didn't actually take one of the tours (my friends and I stopped here en route to President Obama's house) I'm glad I stopped through. Other than their unique look and color from the rest of the block (most of the other houses and the school across the street are red brick), the only other thing that let's you know this place is special is a small pillar with hard to read information on it to the far right of the buildings.

Seriously, can YOU read this?
Speaking of President Obama's house, we had a hilarious time trying to look at his Chicago home. Naturally being the President the place is heavily guarded, and hidden behind all sorts of barricades and trees. My silly sorority sister, after we had already caught the attention of the Secret Service Officer on duty, sticks her hand out of the car trying to get a picture-- at which time warning sirens blared out. We zoomed off, fearful of being arrested, but later we had a great time laughing about our "dangerous bout with the government".

That's it for Chicago- see you guys on the next adventure!

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Take Me Out To The Ball Game...

Howdy readers! Here's another installment of my awesome weekend in Chicago. The last touristy place I went to before I left was Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs baseball team. Let me first admit that I know very little about baseball as a sport so I took this tour strictly because of the history this place holds and frankly, I've never been inside a baseball stadium before, so why not? (In a cultural and historical context I know a bit more about baseball, but stats and team rankings and all that? Naw, not me!)

Wrigley Field Sign
I took a tour on a Sunday afternoon, and they are offered on a fairly regular basis. The tour guides were freakishly friendly and informative (I mean seriously, Chicago was absolutely awesome on the customer service front) and they all seemed interested in baseball as a whole. When they found out I lived in Pittsburgh they began telling me Pirates statistics and factoids about PNC Park (where the Pirates now play).

Super nice tour guides. My guide was Molly Phillips, on the far right
It was a bit chilly (and windy) when I took my 90+ minute tour, but I learned quite a bit. Wrigley is the second oldest baseball park in America (Fenway in Boston is the oldest- I guess I have a date with that place this July!) and is home to the first ever concession stand in a sports venue. Molly (my tour guide for those who didn't read the captions) gave lots of interesting facts about the Field. I kept getting distracted by the luscious looking grass- I mean seriously it looked fake it was so perfect looking- but I picked up quite a few tidbits. For example, there is an "elephant gate" that used to connect right to the street before a new outer wall was built in recent years, and it got its name because when circuses used to be held at the field, that was the entrance that they let the elephants in through. I learned a ton of sports legends- everyone from Babe Ruth to Michael Jordan- have come through Wrigley. I learned about why there are roof-top seats in adjacent buildings (and a little about the financial and contractual pros and cons of having them). I learned what a "bleacher bum" was, learned that the famed ivy that usually covers the wall can be an arm's length thick (the ivy wasn't there because it was still too early for it to sprout), and learned about the W and L flags that signal to everyone if the Cubs were victorious or not.

By the Elephant Gate
The tour was quite extensive, we went everywhere from the field, through the stands and bleachers in several different spots, both the visiting team and home locker rooms, the dug out, and the press box- everywhere pretty much! I thought it was a pretty decent tour, and loved all the history the place has. I know it isn't as flashy or impressive as a newer place like PNC Park, but to me I think that's what gives it it's charm. (Apparently I'm in the minority on this though. Here's a recent article featuring comments from people shamefully calling the place a dump!) I think that's a horrible way to view a place as beautiful as this and folks should feel ashamed for treating it that way. I hope Wrigley Field lasts another century (it will be 100 years old very soon!) and that they continue to give tours and educate the baseball-illiterate public (such as myself!)
View from the Press Box
Framed W sign in the home locker room that celebrated the Cub's 10,000th victory

Me in the dugout
I still have a little bit more to discuss about my trip to Chicago (The Sears Tower and the Frank Lloyd Wright row houses!) but those will come another day. Until then, please feel free to check out my (still uncaptioned) Facebook photos and follow me on Twitter and Pinterest. Very excited about the rest of my upcoming trips, but until then thank you for reading my blog, and I'll see you on my next adventure!