New Travel Blog

Pheww, I made it back alive and sane. Panama City to Savannah to Home is a long drive, but it wasn't so bad. I mostly slept. And read. And stared out the window as I tend to do.

As I've mentioned, I've been consumed the last little while with getting my new website up and running, and it's pretty much there. I'm sure I"ll be tinkering with it for months to come, because there will always be something I want to change, but here it is:

www.postcardsandpassports.com

Let me know what you think!

I'll probably be concentrating mostly on that blog for the next couple of weeks until I get a routine straightened out, so ole Lost in Thought might be looking a bit neglected. Such is life.

And that is all! I hope everybody is having the same lovely weather that I came home to today. Spring has sprung and the snow is effin gone! (For now...Lord knows there will be some sort of freak April snowstorm that happens just to bug everybody and remind us that we do indeed live in Canada)

Ocean phlegm and other oddities

So we are leaving Florida soon, and I'm totally cool with that. I'm over the spring breakers yelling at all hours of the night, stepping over vomit on the beach, and being hooted at everytime I walk anywhere. God I'm old.

I've spent most of my time here working away on my new website. I'll post the link up soon if any of ya'll are interested. I'm finding it to be a frustrating process, but my comprehension of HTML has improved a smidgen. I'm still messing about with colours and whatnot, and annnyways.

I'm driving back to Canada with my parents, and I really don't know how to feel about this. Dreadful? Nostalgic? Excited? Time will tell. I went on a shit load of road trips when I was younger, so this brings to mind those days of yore, when I almost always had a great time. However, 20+ hours in the car? That'll be interesting.

We will be in Savannah on Saturday and I cannot even wait. I've been wanting to check out Savannah for a long time now.

I was going through my pictures that I have taken so far, and to be perfectly honest...there's not a whole lot to take pictures of here, so I have about 100 pictures of sunsets, which are nice and all but look more or less the same. Anyway! I've parred down the pictures to just these few.




It's weird,I've seen deer at home, in fact we have a plethora of then. Why then, was I entirely obsessed with capturing photos of deer in St. Andrews State Park? I have no idea. Wildlife in other places always seems so much cooler than wildlife in your hometown. I also took about 20 pictures of a duck before I was like, "what am I doing???"



I thought this Pelican was cool. These we don't have at home, so I'm allowed to take 20 pictures of it.





This breakfast caused me to never want to eat pancakes again in my entire life. Ever. For some reason, whenever I see something made with pecans, I immediately have to order it. So I ordered "pecan pancakes", which was fine and all, until she brought them to me. There were three pancakes that covered the entire plate, and I wanted to vom as soon as I saw them. I could barely eat one, let alone three. When the waitress came to collect the plates at the end of breakfast, she was like, "I guess next time you'll have to order a short stack honey!". I was like, a) there will be no next time, and b) I didn't even know that was an option, thank you for mentioning that while I was ordering. Never again.



I stared at this jellyfish for a long time before I realized what it was. At first I was like, what is this? Ocean phlegm? Then I got closer and you could see through its body. Still, gross creature. They look so cool whilst in the water, but on dry land? yukkk.



Sunset #1



Sunset #2

And there you have it! Two weeks worth of pictures! I'm off to tackle the wonderful world of websites again!

This?

Has made my vacation 150% better than it would it been had I never seen it. I pretty much really hate McDonalds...but this commerical makes me hysterically laugh for a long time. And then I sing the song alll day. Never in my life would I actually eat that fish, but I highly admire the effort.

Random Notes from a warmer climate...

Oh crikey, I'm getting so behind on reading everybody's blogs. I'm trying.

I recently got hired as the local expert for Niagara for Planet Eye Traveler, and it's awesome, but also time consuming. I've also been busy applying for other jobs because I need to find some way to support myself upon my return home. I"m hoping to find something part time and not horrible. Preferably something that doesn't involve sitting for 8 hours a day.

I have a ton of Florida pictures to put up here, but I will have to do it later as we are leaving soon to check out some ghetto garage sales and then go on an airboat ride through a swamp. The boat is called the "Wild Thang". Yesssss!

I've changed my mind about Florida/Beach vacations. I used to be very leery because I'm kind of a jumpy person and I need to be doing something at all times, but I've learned to slow it down a bit here, and it's kind of nice. At home I usually am always stressing about something, but I haven't felt that familiar feeling in the pit of my stomach since being here, and I will love Florida forever for that!

I am endlessly entertained at sitting and watching the ocean. This may make me sound like a complete old lady, but I could seriously stare at it for hours. I am determined to spot a whale or a dolphin. And the sound of the waves? I adore it. The other day I was walking the beach and I saw a jellyfish. It was so cool. And disgusting looking.

Yesterday we went to the loudest bar in existence and I tried oysters. They were always something I thought I would hate as I am not one for really chewy food, but shockingly, I liked them! There are oyster bars all over the place here! And the parking lots are just covered in empty oyster shells. When I first saw that, it made me gag a little bit, because ewww, but I suppose it's better than just throwing them out.

We sat on the beach yesterday for an hour and I ended up with the mother of all burns on my legs. It's weird...when I was a kid, I simply turned brown. Not now though. I should know this by now...I am pale as can be, so I have no idea why I thought I would get this beautiful tan. I am currently lobster red. And I rubbed my forehead when suntan lotion, but only in one part apparently, so I have a giant spot on my face that is white, and the rest is red. It's a nice look!

I also signed up for MatadorU...finally! And I'm the process of setting up an actual travel blog. I am stuck on the name. I stink at coming up with clever names for things. It's the part I dread most whenever I write a blog post/article or whatever.

The accents down here are so cool. Except! I can never understand what people are saying. I love Southern drawls, but I cannot even tell you the number of times a person has been talking to me and I just stare at them blankly, repeating, "pardon?", about three or four times before they inevitably give up, or someone I'm with translates for me. Mostly it's the old men I can't understand, and let me tell you, there's a lot of them here. Everybody is super friendly though; I have had numerous strangers put their arm around me and pat me on the back. It's so jolly here.

ohh and apparently we are leaving RIGHT now...I will catch up with everyone soon!

Annnd I"m here.

Woah. Yesterday was one of the longest travel days eva! It's kind of hilarious now that I've actually slept...but I didn't think we would make it. Plus...you know how the day before travelling always turns into the longest time ever? Like the time seems to slow down considerably? Ahhh yes, I usually love the nervous anticipation of knowing I"m going somewhere, but yesterday was a bit much. And it wasn't even like we had to sleep at the airport or anything, which I would be really unimpressed with.

We got up at 3am to leave for the airport...we were supposed to fly from Buffalo to Atlanta, and from Atlanta to Pensacola. But Atlanta got a "snow storm", so all flights to Atlanta were cancelled. So for whatever reason, they rerouted our flights so we would now be going from Buffalo to Chicago, from Chicago to Atlanta, and from Atlanta to Pensacola. We sat in the Chicago airport from 3 hours and in the Atlanta airport from 5 hours. It was a lot of sitting. And a lot of eating airport food. I bought several coffees, all which cost me about 5 bucks. Anyway, it wasn't horrible, but I'm just glad to actually be here! The sun is shining today, and although it looks like it might be a little cool....we are right by the ocean and sand and there is no snow!

Also...when we actually got to Atlanta there was not even any snow accumulation on the ground...it was raining. I guess it may have been snowing earlier in the day, but the way everybody was talking I was expecting a total blizzard!

Well, I'm going out in search of hot beach boys that aren't senior citizens! Tomorrow I'll do a post on skeet shooting which I finally got to try and which I highly recommend to everybody! So. much. fun.

My last day...

and it's odd, I feel kind of...sad. I guess that is to be expected when any era of your life ends. I've been at this job longer than I've ever been at any job, and I must admit that it has gotten real cozy. So cozy in fact that if I didn't shake myself and move on, I probably would have fallen into some kind of boredom induced coma.

The people that I work with are super and nice and have just been so very lovely for the whole time I've been here, but the work itself? I really need to do something that is not only more challenging, but something that I'm a little more passionate about.

I will not miss the mailman though. No person in the history of my entire life has ever annoyed me as much as that guy. He is seriously ridiculous, and I cannot handle him. Everytime I see him, I am left with a feeling of rage that doesn't go away for about 15 minutes. Even just writing about him makes me agitated. annnnd breathe.

So as much as this is needed, a little bit of fear is creeping in, because what if I fail miserably? I'm totally happy about this decision, but the looming future is a little stressful is all. That being said...I'm totally excited!!!

So I'm off to see my dog buds soon, then I'm going skiing tomorrow, then I'm leaving for Florida on Monday night. Florida will basically be a working vacation, and honestly, work will probably be necessary to fill the time. Because I'm not entirely sure what there is to do in Florida beside sit on the beach for extended periods of time. Which is fine...I'll just be doing that like a total nerd with my laptop. As long as there is no snow, I will be happy as can be.

Annnd, I will be able to start actually posting more regularly. Change...it's a comin.

Crazy Dog Lady Strikes Again...

Hey, if anybody is interested in reading another article I wrote on Canine Profiling, specifically the issue that happened in Brampton with those two dogs being taken away, you can check it out here.

haha, I never get tired of talking about it! And honestly, it's because people still respond in such a ridiculous manner. In one discussion, a guy compared pitbulls to raccoons and was like, "if you think pitbulls can be trained not to be aggressive, let's see you train a raccoon!". And I was like, a) what the hell do raccoons have to do with anything? b) that doesn't even make sense, why would I ever want to train a raccoon, they are creepy and c) you're an idiot.

I think in a lot of cases I'm just preaching to the choir, but I always hope there is that one person out there reading it who just thinks, "huh, I never thought of it like that".

You just never know I suppose.

The things you find the basement...

Okay, so I've mentioned before that I'm selling a whole bunch of random stuff in order to make some money for a travel writing course. And I'm pretty much there...but I'm totally going to keep selling stuff as long as I can find it because it's hilarious, and the people that have been coming to buy my stuff are interesting, and there is nothing I like better than interesting people.

Anyway, I was in the basement and I came across a giant tote that I hadn't looked through yet. In addition to Beanie Babies, Berenstein Bear books, and a Rosie O'Donnell barbie doll, it also included this:





My Michelle Tanner doll. That talks. Creeped out yet? Do you like the dent in her forehead? Unfortunately, she doesn't speak anymore. I even changed the battery and was going to take a video of her speaking because it used to be so hilarious and robotic, but no such luck.

Phrases that I remember her saying include:
"Don't call me squirt!"
"My name is Michelle"
"No way Jose"
"You got it duuude"

I have no idea why I kept this doll. And now I have no idea what to do with it. I don't really want it, but I also don't really want to throw it out. I'm pretty sure if I put her in the garbage can she will come to life at night and stab me in my sleep.

"My name is Michelle, bitch!!"

Soo yeah, now she's just sitting on the couch staring at me.

Ummm anybody want a disturbing and mute doll?

Two more weeks, two more weeks...

Two more weeks of this, two more weeks. I cannot wait to be outta here.

I just took a walk to go grab something from the storage area and it is snowing like mad, but wet snow that blows diagonally, so it ends up directly in your face. I decided to stop and get a coffee on my way and a cute boy smiled at me and held the door at the store and it was pretty much the highlight of my day so far. Anyways...I eventually get back to the office and go to the washroom, and heidi ho, my makeup is running all over my face and I looked like I had been punched in both eyes, and I most certainly looked that way when I was in the coffee shop. FML. Anyone know of a good waterproof mascara? Clearly I need to stop cheaping out and buying the $5 stuff.

This weekend was so much fun.

We went to see the movie Valentine's Day and it was at this old school theatre that I loved. The people selling tickets were in actual booths and there was a "refreshment centre". And a preview for Sex and the City 2 came on before the movie...I cannot even wait. They appear to be in Egypt or something which seems odd, but I don't even care because I just miss that show. Valentine's Day was...meh. Way too many characters and different story lines for my liking. Plus, I had to pee so badly for the last half hour that I could not even concentrate. In retrospect, I probably should have just went to the washroom, but I have a thing about not missing any parts of movies. I hate being confused then having to ask people what I missed. I really don't want to be that person.

The drive home through the snowy steep mountains was hella scary, but I white knuckled my way through it. The roads are pitch black, and I couldn't turn on my brights because it just reflected the snow, so I couldn't see any potential deer eyes, and oh my god it was scary.

I found this game at Target called Quelf. I gotta say, it is the most hilarious board game I have ever played and was quite possibly the best $25 I have ever spent. It is seriously the most random thing in the world. And it is the best game ever to play when you are drunk. You basically pick up a card and have to do whatever it says or take the penalty. It's a little bit Girl Talk and a little bit Dweebs, Geeks and Weirdos (ummm was anyone else obsessed with that game??) We sang drunk renditions of kumbaya, take me out to the ball game and for one turn I had to make a halloween mask out of household materials and wear it for the entire game. And the cards always say, "you have to do this without laughing", which really, is kind of impossible. Stacey picked up a card at one point that said something like, "pretend you are a singing, rhyming prison guard, who has no lips, has his knees stuck together, and who is covered in maple syrup and feathers. You must make up a rhyming song about how you got that way". I almost peed my pants. Oh man.

Tubing was good times, and nobody broke themselves. It was flipping cold though. Apparently you are supposed to wear goggles while tubing? Who knew??

One night at around midnight, I got a sudden urge to go play in the snow, and two of my friends were like, 'ummm no", but luckily Sarah came out with me. We did some snow angels, and then made a pretty sweet snow carving. Well, as sweet as it can get when you've drank several bottles of rye/vodka.

All in all a great weekend! It made having to come back here even harder, but I just need to keep repeating-two more weeks, two more weeks.

Tonight, I'm off to the t.dot for a reading. Chuck Thompson, whom I have a huge crush on, and who is one of my favourite travel writers ever, will be reading along with some other authors. Here's hoping I can come up with a coherent sentence to say to him! And also that it stops snowing so we don't need to drive through a blizzard to get there!

Ahhh Weekend Away

I don't know if it has come through in my blogs, but I"m a leeetle stressed at the moment. Stressed in a good way if that makes any sense at all.

I'm going away with the girls this weekend up to Ellicottville, New York. It's only like two hours away, but it feels like a million miles and I can't wait.

We go every year, and it essentially involves hanging out in our pajamas, a whole lot of drinking and ridiculous drinking games, watching random 80s movies such as The Karate Kid and that's about it. Actually, last year we tried snowboarding, which let me tell you, was interesting. And by interesting, I mean incredibly painful.

There is also a place to go tubing which is just the about the most fun thing ever. You get towed up the hill on a pulley, and then race your friends down a huge ice hill. The potential for injury is high, but the potential for awesomeness is even higher.

ALSO, also, right next to where we stay there is a pub. The grossest, most rednecky pub you can imagine. Like, there is no way in hell you would ever use the washroom there or god forbid eat anything from the kitchen. Even the mixed drinks are questionable. The pub parking lot is usually full of trucks with gun racks. There is a huge sign out front that says "Welcome Hunters".

We stick out like sore thumbs, despite the fact that we in no way look spectacular.



But you know what? The people are nice. Except that one time we almost got our asses kicked by a skanky girl and her huge boyfriend. Apparently we "looked" at her boyfriend wrong, and one of my friends almost got a high kick to the face. Seriously, the girls boot was literally an inch away. After that happened we had some other lady create a distraction by waving her arms all wildly and we hightailed it outta there. I only win hypothetical fights. I can jab, jab, upper, upper with the best of them, but if someone's actual face was on the recieving end I would likely cry.

K, I so need to see if I can find a picture of the pub now....



Classy right? I can't wait.

Happy Weekend!!