We Could See The World tonight

So much has happened in the last 34 hours!! I am going to try and condense it as much as possible...here goes...


After leaving Philly we b-lined it for DC. We got there just before 4 which was the perfect amount of time to walk from Art Garden to the Monument then say hi to Abe and back before dark. Vicky paid for parking at what she thought was a spot free after 4..more on this later. As the rays were the brightest we took in some great people watching at the monument, got emotional at the wall and read some truly inspirational words that surround Lincoln. After about 100 pictures we started the gorgeous walk back.

It was a really odd vibe while we walked around the city. The three of us were happy but almost totally quiet until something caught our attention enough to share with the others. I feel like touring DC is a pretty emotional experience when you think about the history of why all the monuments and walls and photos and museums....are there. Whether its art in the form of a sculpture or famous last words, architecture, science expirements or social expirements these things that people from around the world travel to see are here because that person had it in their heart to want to make change. The few moments between when the sun sets and the darkness takes over is my favorite time of day. We got to experience the city during this time and when its characters were out in full effect, and I loved every minute of it. I also love the fact that although the secret service think are very discreet at times-I still know that the dude by the pole with the black north face jacket is one of them...there was a couple-obviously of some importance-being followed through the new WWII memorial by 7 secret service. They then had 3 more scattered around wearing different styles of jackets trying to blend in or whatever. We all laughed at that. On the walk back we also saw some little band that was on tour riding around on scooters-kick push style. They were pretty hilarious to listen to while they walked right behind us.

Back to the parking-you probably all know by now that I was towed not once, not twice but three times in LA! Yes hold your comments because I have already heard them all. Well heres a fun fact you may enjoy...Washington DC does not impound cars that get towed, they simply move them to a legal parking spot within a 2 block radius of the parking violation! How do I know this you may be asking, because this just so happened yesterday! Vicky thought the sign meant it was free to park after 4 and did not realize it actually meant that in no way are you supposed to park there after 4pm! So after talking to a cop, splitting up and walking to the White House we found the car and directions to our next destination. Now you may think this was an awful experience but in fact it was amazing! I love the city at night, any city, and so watching the final colors fade and the lights come on was wonderful! Its always incredible to me just how much things change when the lights go down.

Short drive through a bit of traffic and some back country roads and we were at Jared-bubs cousin's house. We had picked up some dinner beforehand and cooked it up on arrival. Had a hilarious night with some true country boys. woke up and Jared took us up on the Skyline Drive to see the views of the Shenandoah Valley which were just absolutely gorgeous. Stayed until 1:30 then hit the road for Williamsburg. On the way my camera-which I bought 2 days before leaving home-decided it would stop working and accepting all memory cards...and if you know me you realize that this is just plain unacceptable...its like cutting off a limb or something. So multiple stops later and yours truly is pretty pissy but the new owner of a Nikon...that she had to pay for! Why, because I did not bring the receipt with me so they refused to swap out my camera. I bought the cheapest one I could-which is actually the camera I used last year and I enjoy a lot. I will use this until I get home and then return my other.

All right so its not even 10 but the past few days of staying up til 3 and getting up at 8 are catching up with all of us so Im gonna log off this William and Mary Law School computer that Allie so graciously let me use and head home to hopefully get some sleep and gear up for the 14 hour drive to Huntsville, AL tomorrow! I am excited to see Miss Tasha Rathbone-the newly Officer Rathbone if you please.

Until next time please dont forget to smile

SAAAAAAAAVAAAAAGE!

What a beautiful day! Troy, NY to Killadelphia...The drive to Royersford, PA was less than five hours and was worth the detour in every way!

Our dear friend Mark from the Conservation School back in Maine grew up just outside Philly and invited us over for Sunday dinner with his parents. None of us could have anticipated the amazingness of the evening! We arrived around 4:30 and were greeted with warm smiles, hugs and snacks. Kathy and Ty were two of the funniest and most hospitable people I have met in a long while. Kathy is truly wonderful in her quilting, she also started cross stitching recently and seems to be great at most any craft she touches. We chatted and shared stories for a while in the living room while munching on cheese and crackers. Got to see some great pictures of baby Mark and high school Mark when he was clean cut and wearing a suit!!!! Dinner time proved to be quite and event.

Kathy and Mark had prepared the food and Ty had made some great cookies for dessert. Dinner consisted of a great creamy chicken tortilla soup which had a nice kick to it, this was followed by open faced roast beef sandwiches and top ped off with chocolate chip cookies with milk(as promised!)

After we were not allowed to help clean we hung out some more, got directions to Abs place in North Philly, listened to more stories about Mark-including his epic performance of Van Halen at Air Band. Also heard about their epic family trips to a camp in Canada where Fidel Castro, Norman Rockwell and other elites used to chill. Kathy then played mom to Bubba and I...she packed us food to take and the coolest part of the evening-which felt like Christmas-was when she sewed our clothes! My plaid shirt had about 85 holes in it that she patched up amazingly, then she fixed my jeans and Bubs shirt. Mark gave me possibly the coolest/trashiest homemade screen printed back alley sold Paul McCartney concert Tshirt. Although we could have moved in and stayed forever we left shortly after 8 to meet up with Vicky's friend Alex Murphy whom she met in Thailand. We had a snack (although Im not sure how any of us fit anything else in our bodies after the huge Savage meal.) and paid for it via gift cards from the Savages. Alex is gearing up to go to Africa with Peacecorps.

After the most intense bloody nose I have ever had we said our goodbyes and were off to Philadelphia. Bub drove and got us their without missing the exit. After short introductions and a lovely back and forth with Cesar bubba and Vicky decided to sleep while Abs, Cesar and I went out to see Jae and South Street. Jae had been at the Eagles game earlier and introduced us to his roommate. Took some photos and were off to Lorenzo and Sons for pizza bigger than your head, where i got yelled at for taking photos-surprise, surprise. Got home and after some short pillow talk, crashed around 3.

Decided not to go to Midtown and pay for parking so we chilled at the aparment with Bruce the psycho kitty who tried to eat my compute and face patted Vicky all night.

Off to Washington, DC

Dont forget to smile

Hold on to what you've got...

Waking up yesterday and realizing that there was not a white curtain over the window and it was the sky was a bit of a let down. The day changed dramatically when we were driving through Mass. The sky was this amazing shade of blue with clouds just floating past each other.

During the 4 hour drive we listened mostly to The Beatles and 311. We could not however get Franti lyrics out of our heads.

This is going to be a short post since we have to leave fairly soon in order to get to Mark's in time for dinner and possibly stop at the Jersey Shore to visit Anne, Jermaine and the kids. I am so excited to see the Elliotts tonight in Philly!

So briefly, Troy NY is the home of Uncle Sam it is also the home of RPI where our host (and vickys best friend) Ellen is going to grad school. She made us a delicious dinner with real food and after catching up for an hour or so we were off to her friends apartment to celebrate the fact that he just finished his discertation! We met some great people, played intense games of fooseball, learned about an artist named Eltron 3030(?) and drank yummy wine. After a dance party and the 50th game we went to a martini bar to try a blue lagoon with swedish fish in it then over to Ryans Wake to listen to a band and ended the night at the Ruck which is open til 4am...we however made it home by 3. At which point jewelry was thrown and sleeping bags were stolen as well as beds...6 hours later Ellen made us all french toast which was delicious! She is considering joining us in VA to visit her friend Ali which would be awesome.

Fun facts-2 days before we left Bubba fell off a rail and busted his shin, the night before we left he kicked asphalt barefoot and busted his toe, yesterday he cut his finger on obsidion and today he messed up his hand breaking into his truck! What a guy :)

Off to shower then hitting the road.

Until next time...dont forget to smile
-J

The sound of sunshine

It's that time of year again...the weather is changing, the leaves have fallen, my feet are itchy and it is time to head West. This time however, I will not be making the journey alone. Daniel (from this point forward known as Bubba) and Vicky will be joining in on this adventure. The plan, which is apt to change at any moment, is to head down to NOLA then over to LA up to Washington down to Idaho for Thanksgiving and to drop Vicky off then either back to LA or wherever I fall in love with this time. Yes its true mama's little wanderer is on the move but this time my intentions are slightly different. Besides wanting to meet amazing people and make a difference in the world I am hoping to find a place to settle for awhile where I can go back to school and call home for a bit.

In getting ready for the adventure there was lots of loose ends to tie up, errands to run, packing, food to plan, packing, goodbyes, packing and more packing. In true Jenni Ricci travel style I of course did not pack any of my stuff until the day/night before...actually mostly the morning we left. To back track a bit the week leading up to departure was a crazy one. One last day of work, going to UNH for Halloween, visiting Bubs family and finally getting to meet Autautumns man, ridiculous amounts of errands, etc. etc. (Although I was not able to hook up with everyone hoped I still love you all.) The eve of departure was spent with friends and with the help of the amazing Lyns we were able to pack 9 boxes of food into 4! Bubba also managed to bust his toe open just minutes after making fun of me for wanting to bring a big supply of first aid materials! The last move west meant a lot of overpacking so this time I constrained myself to 4 bags-2 of clothes and shoes, 1 of art supplies and 1 of random necessities-ipod, journals, sketch pad, photo stuff, etc.

11-5-10
The day has finally come! Bubba and I woke at 6ish so I could pack and he could run up to Sunday River and do one last ski run before leaving-which is a pretty sweet note to leave on. By the time he got back at 10 Vicky and I had showered and had everything on the porch, threw it in the truck and found out that there was actually extra room in the truck which was a nice surprise. Ran downtown to say goodbye to mom and dad-which was super emotional as always but this time for many different reasons. Hopped back in the truck and away we went. Bubba drove to Kennebunk while I tried to hold the emotions back but the tears still flowed, then after a short stretch I drove to Prov.

Ryan Garrett I love you but you are not the best at directions. I figured it would be easier to just call Woody when we got close and get directions to his apartment since by now hes been living here for a few months...to my surprise and after a lovely little detour we realized there were not 'hills' as were described nor were there going to be '2 yellow lights and a red one where you are supposed to stop.' Ten minutes and a phone call later and we were checking out the new diggs and meeting Nick. Ran to the bus stop to get Ian then back to the apartment. Met a fellow named Mario at the corner store as I was picking up some libations for the evening. When I asked about a particular wine from Portugal he gave me a ten minute lesson on the craft of good wine and then told me I should mix it with triple sec!?! A walk around the block and 30 photos later I got back to find a debate about dinner going on-Ian and I really wanted Woody to cook Jambalaya or anything but ultimately we decided to go out.

Piled in the car we drove to midtown and found a street spot almost directly across from Lupo's which was sweet. Bought our tickets to see the one and only Michael Franti! We decided on a little Greek pizza place which was relatively inexpensive for the amount of food you got. After dinner we still had an hour to kill before the doors opened for the show and that was great because Vicky needed to run to CVS to replace one of her hearing aid batteries. We also found this great wine shop with specialty wines and liquors from all over the world Dropped everything off at the car and got to the club just as doors opened.

Here is where this day gets REALLY good...
Once inside we quickly looked at the merch and I realized the opener (whom none of us knew before hand was the opener) was Bobby Long. Now you may not be familiar with that name but I sure hope you familiarize yourself soon.



I know what some of you may be thinking 'oh my god more of that twilight stuff' but he is a tremendously talented musician. He sounds like Ray Lamontagne and I dont know maybe Randy Travis had a music love child. He also reminds me a lot of Ray when he plays because he looks like he is in pain and that the lyrics he wrote and sings still sting and burn as they are uttered.



I was in complete awe as I stood there watching and soaking him in. I was also terribly disappointed by most of the crowd who were so set on seeing Franti they talked over and completely missed the talent of this young lad.
After Bobby's set there was only a short set switch filled by the music of Outkast, Usher and others. This resulted in people getting down with their bad selves.

Franti took the stage and played for 2+ hours! Now when I say he played he brought sunshine and laughter and played his heart out for 2 of the best hours ever. The dude is like the energizer bunny bouncing around not getting tired and always really believing in the power of people and the power of love! I was taken to church again last night by this beautiful man.

His son Cappy was in the audience for this show standing right in front of us, and seemed like the happiest dude ever. Other highlights-a man proposed to his wife by asking his little firefly to light the way for the rest of their lives, Franti came into the crowd and sang next to Woody and Ian 3 times which just makes the show that much more intimate.

After the show we tried for an after party that we were invited to but it was 21+ so no dice. Stopped and grabbed some aqua then headed home where we crashed almost immediately. Woody, Ian, me and Bubba slept in the bed and Vicky was at the foot. After some goodnight Jonboys we were out.

Saturday morning was spent lounging with the bros-we all slept in til 11! Well the boys and I did, Vicky was up exercising at 9:30 which is a rare occurrence that she was up before all of us. Woody made blueberry pancakes for everyone while his roomie Nick made fun of him for burning just a few and using fake butter. Found out Nick is really into Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, which thanks to the Savage I now know quite well, and is himself quite the guitarist! After breakfast we all took turns playing DJ and introducing each other to new music. Some examples are Bloc Party, Evergreen Terrace, David Guetta, Michael Franti, La Roux, Collie Buddz and more. Right before leaving Woody played his guitar for us and possibly Nick will too.

Off to Troy NY to spend some time with one of Vickys friends...

Until then please dong forget to smile.