Dear Ones, December 26, 2002
2002: "We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we desire." - Lao Tzu
2002 started off with a busy month at work as my company, Northern Light, was purchased by a larger company from Chicago, divine, inc. On January 15th Northern Light was publicly acquired and my offices moved from a cozy warehouse in Cambridge to an office park in Burlington, Mass. That's pretty much when the layoffs started. For the next month, we experienced layoffs regularly, but I continued to work up until April when suddenly it was my name on the chopping block. Finally, I've completed my generational requirements: get an overpaid job not in my field ("), for stock options ("), that aren't worth anything ("), while company goes bankrupt ("). Get acquired by new company ("), get laid off ("), look for new job for months ("). Now I have a great story to tell my grandchildren when they ask me what it was like to be alive in the 00s. I took a small break by driving from Boston to Ohio with my brother, Tad, for a Koster family reunion to celebrate my grandmother's 90th birthday. It was great to meet and visit with the cousins and my grandmother.
Of course as much fun as it is to now have my checklist completed, actually living through the whole thing wasn't all that great. First, there was the red tape involved in getting unemployment, and then the resume writing (always a favorite), and then the actual job searching. Alas, it turns out Boston in a recession isn't such a great place to be looking for a job, and on top of that, Boston rent on an unemployment check isn't such a great idea either. So, I did what any other unemployed 20-something would do: I packed up and I headed home.
Well, you know me, I can't just turn tail and go without a production. So I packed up what I owned in boxes, shipped it out, packed what was left into my beloved vehicle and headed off into the sunset. Actually, it was into a huge rainstorm, but you get the idea. This time I recruited my friend Brian Wilson to drive with me. He happened to be similarly unoccupied for the time being, so he flew out from Portland, Ore., and drove back with me.
So, the trip!
WEEK ONE: June 14-June 21: Boston, Massachusetts, to Orlando, Florida
"One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore." - Andre Gide
I was up until 3am the night before, shipping out some final boxes at the 24-hour post office. My friends, Ethan and Jessica, woke up with me in the morning and helped me repack my car (Lucy), and they took me to Dunkin' Donuts for a farewell breakfast. Then I scooped up Brian, and off we drove. Through the rain we drove to Stanton, Conn., where we had lunch with Brian's friends, musician Jen and her husband. From there we drove on to New York City and stayed with Naomi for the night (photo, Naomi and I saying goodbye in Manhattan). In the morning, we had dim sum in Chinatown before heading off to Washington, D.C. I dropped Brian off in Baltimore and headed down to spend two nights with my friend Kirsten in D.C. I spent a whole day wandering through the wonderful Smithsonian museums and slapping at mosquitoes. I walked through the Mall where they were putting up exhibits for the Silk Road festival - it looked amazing. Brian and I reunited the next morning and headed south through Virginia, stopping in Staunton to have lunch with Molly Lord, a friend from high school. From Staunton we drove through the Shenandoah National Park, which contains a section of the Appalachian Trail (see photo of Lucy "on" the trail, and of Brian's reflection taking a picture of me taking a picture of the Shenandoah River Valley). We also stopped at Monticello, where Brian compared a nickel to the Real Thing (obvious picture enclosed), and I narrowly avoided the temptation of some historic figs ripening on old Tom's tree (incriminating picture not enclosed). That evening we ended up in a small hotel in Bristol, Tenn., after a very eventful search for a campsite down an 8 mile gravel road. Note to future travelers: some campsites close after dark. Check before embarking on trips down unkempt roads.
From Tennessee to Asheville, N.C., where we met with my online friend, Ellie, for brunch. She brought along a friend for protection, in case I turned out to be one of those internet axe murderers you hear so much about. He was larger than Brian and I put together! After eating, Brian and I turned our noses south again, toward Jacksonville, Fla. Apparently, in the summer, it rains in Florida. A lot. In Jacksonville we stayed with my uncle, Fran, and visited his children, my cousins Josh, Caila and Alex.
WEEK TWO: June 22-June 28: Orlando, Florida, to Phoenix, Arizona
"We went through fire and through water." (Psalm 66:12)
Disneyland. Thanks to the torrential downpour from Jacksonville to Orlando, we arrived a bit late and were only able to see Disneyland and Epcot Center. More than enough, though, to wear me out. Epcot's fireworks were beautiful, and the "Honey I Shrunk the Audience" show made me laugh. Brian and I bought very hip, bright yellow Mickey ponchos to protect us from the rain. We stayed in a hotel in Orlando, then the next morning drove west to Tampa to fulfill a goal I'd had for the last decade: to finally meet my friend Joe in person (photo with the striped truck). Better than I could ever have hoped! We had a wonderful breakfast before heading off one of our longest drives: 11 hours to New Orleans. We did stop in Pensacola, Fla., for a sandwich and saw dolphins jumping in the Gulf.
New Orleans is probably a fantastic city. I'm sure thousands of tourists enjoy their visits each year. I, however, whined through the entire thing. Let the record show that Brian is a saint for putting up with me on this day. I was hot, the city was dirty, the buses weren't working, the museums were closed, and then I had to watch a Disney movie on top of it all! But, to be fair, the architecture was pretty and the plants were blooming wildly, and the thunderstorm was fun to swim in. And, okay, so Stitch is kinda cute… but I still say "Country Bears" looks like a terrible movie. Plus, to make up for everything, we had the most wonderful dinner in the entire world. And, yes, we ordered beignets in the French Quarter (see photo of the one we were too full to eat).
From New Orleans we drove through a rainstorm (it's a theme) across the border into Texas, where we met Brian's friend for lunch in Houston before continuing on to Austin. Here we split up: I stayed with my cousin, Raphael, and Brian with his friend, Lois. Austin was incredibly hot, but a nice, manageable dry heat (compared with New Orleans: the sauna of hell). Raph's family took me on a tour of the city, which was actually quite verdant and sweet, you know, for Texas. Plus, his kids are the cutest on the planet. On the second day, Brian and I reunited and we headed up to Dallas/Fort Worth to stay with my Aunt Vicki in her house by the lake. And to visit the turtles! We had a wonderful meal from her garden and played with the dogs and relaxed in the nice air conditioning.
From Texas straight through to Carlsbad, N.M., where we headed straight for the caves. Bumbling about in the deep we met a very sweet couple from Florida who joined us to watch the bats fly (a lot of waiting, but absolutely worth every second to see the swarm of bats replace the swallows, all in a silent rush) and then took us to dinner at their hotel. We opted to sleep in a hotel, too, rather than the cold, hard BLM ground… the next morning, I think we rather regretted that choice, as the hotel bed was every bit as hard as the ground might have been!
WEEK THREE: June 29-July 5: Phoenix, Arizona, to San Francisco, California
"I'll walk where my own nature would be leading." - Emily Bronte
From Carlsbad to Phoenix, the long straight drive turned out to be very exciting when we spent over an hour trapped on the freeway just a few yards behind a huge 8 vehicle accident caused by [speeding in] a dust storm. We waited at a stand-still, the dust storm still swirling around us, until the police finally led us around the accident (taking traffic down a hill onto a small, parallel access road). While we waited, we invented useful tools for long drives, such as a laminated message book (I can explain more, but that may lead to copyright infringement). When we finally arrived at my cousin Jessica's house, it was late and we were exhausted and so happy to have made it in one piece! Jessica's wonderful family played host for two days, and Brian and I took the time to visit Montezuma's Castle and Well. At the well, we climbed down to the river to dip our toes in the ancient irrigation ditch, and once there, we discovered an ancient park ranger. He drew us native symbols on a hand-shaped piece of sycamore bark, and serenaded us with "Blue Moon". Before leaving Phoenix, I also got the chance to briefly visit my cousins, Forest, Echo and Ariel, at the café where Echo and Ariel work.
From Phoenix we drove north to Moab, Utah. On our way we saw the smoke and met returning victims of the huge fires this summer. We stopped at Canyon de Chelle, which houses several beautiful cliff dwellings, and at Four Corners. Four Corners is as cheesy as a tourist stop can be, but it was still fun to finally cross that one off my list: hands and feet on the burning cement. I even got my picture (included) taken with a couple of nice guys dressed up in fancy regalia. That horse, by the way, loves fry bread. She'll steal it from you if you aren't watching!
We arrived in Arches National Park just in time to run like madpeople up the steep path (well, Brian ran. I walked.) to see the sun set on Delicate Arch. Since it was Brian's birthday, I felt the need to remind him that life is precious, and so took him the not-so-safe way back from the arch to the trail. See Brian, I TOLD you we could do it! We barely made it down the hill before dark and then grabbed dinner at a nearby diner and camped for the night. The next day, we toured more of Arches before we set out for Zion National Park. At Zion, with not much time left to make it to Las Vegas before dark, we chose to hike a portion of The Narrows. The few hours in the canyon on this "trail" (really a river deep in a 200 foot canyon) were by far my favorite of the entire trip. I can't wait to go back and hike the entire trail. Every turn revealed new and amazing formations, plants and colors.
The contrast of Zion to Las Vegas… well, that sentence alone should explain. We left the cool of the canyon and arrived in a steamy hot Vegas night, fighting our way through tourists and casinos to get to our room. The next day we rode the Stratosphere (a 40 foot drop from the top of the highest building in Vegas)… twice… before heading west into Death Valley (photo: Lucy and I were really hot). Did you know they have Sand Dunes there (you can't tell by the photo, but personally, I was shocked)!? Not much else, but it is beautiful in its own, sparse way. The sun set as we drove out of the valley, and we watched the stars through my sunroof without any city lights to interfere. After much trouble, we found a hotel and woke up the next morning to snow-capped mountains and enormous evergreens. I was so in awe, I left my pillow at the hotel.
The next day we spent driving through Yosemite, such a contrast again from Death Valley. Everything looked impossibly green, but after Arches and Zion and Shenandoah and Carlsbad, Yosemite's high peaks and grey rock weren't as impressive as I had expected. Maybe 7 National Parks in 6 days wasn't such a good idea afterall…
WEEK FOUR: July 6-July 8: San Francisco, California, to Portland, Oregon
"A voice inside the beat says, "I know you're tired, but come. This is the way." - Rumi
From Yosemite we drove straight through San Francisco to Sausalito to stay with Brian's friends, Patrick and Rhonda. Patrick introduced me to Amoeba (a used CD store… it calls to me even now…), then I left Brian to celebrate July 4th in the city and drove down Hwy 1 to Santa Cruz to stay with family friends, Geoff and Judy Alexander, in their beautiful valley. The next night I visited my friend, Jessie, and then stayed with my friend Dani, a co-worker from college, in Berkeley. We discussed the possibility of my moving to San Francisco… if this were a novel, we'd call that foreshadowing.
From San Francisco we packed up and headed to Chico where we visited a night with my great aunts, Alice, Nellie and Dora. Then north even farther, to O'Brien, Ore., where we had dinner with my Aunt Kandy and visited my grandparents in their brand new house. From O'Brien straight up I-5 to the Wildlife Safari before finally arriving at home. We stopped for dinner in McMinnville before I deposited Brian at his home in Portland. And then, I crawled into my own bed, and slept.
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