Sunday, July 13, 2008

Indie Anna: An odyssey of sorts

Well of course I couldn't let Jenalee drive 2,000 miles alone...
So we and the sunglasses (always the sunglasses) packed up the puppies

and our sense of adventure.

...Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and finally we found Rapid City, South Dakota. And my belief that the state didn't actually exist was...proven wrong.There was much debate over who the second head was. It turns out he's Thomas Jefferson, though after we discovered that, Jena still thought it was Andrew Jackson...for a while.


Luckily we were able to get a nice biker gang from Arkansas to take our picture with "the boys".
Washington and Washington....get it?
Oh.... and Washington. And me. It was fun to find home in a strange nonexistent state.

This was our "we're-so-excited-we're-about-to-see-Mt. Rushmore-faces




YES IT WAS THAT EXCITING.










And I also found Hawaii, my future home.





One of my
goals for the trip was to find awesome old tourist traps. Mitchell, SD, home of the
world's only Corn Palace and stuffed Native American, Zach, was perfect.


Minnesota welcomed us on day 2 with a lovely sign. We discovered the "m" in Minnesota stands for "muggy."


...But we also discovered Fairmont. The most adorable little porcelain Midwestern town. They had no McDonald's. but they DID have an opera house. And a lake.































Jena and I read The Jane Austen Book Club in front with Buster, and Hazel slept soundly with the water in back.

Yep. still sleeping.Iowa, Illinois, and finally Indiana on day 3. We entered Jena's new home in "The historic "cottage home neighborhood" of downtown Indianapolis.

Her house was built in 1890.
And is adorable.

And this is the view from her front steps and little park a house away.


I loved it all. But mostly this store, "Save a lot." It, along with "Unique Thrift Store" really made the trip worth while.
Along with the Mad Libs
And Lame Deer, Montana
And the dogs
And the storms
And the crazy, friendly, midwestern people
And so many adventures I can't count them.

Energy drinks, postcards, and sing alongs,Anna

2 comments:

ROSA E OLIVIER said...

"eres como la noche, callada y constelada."...!?...

Saluto mille!

Abby said...

I did not realize I could covet someone's rental home - wow, was I wrong! Jenalee's cottage is a visual treat with tantalizing scope for the imagination. Can't you imagine spending a quiet evening on the porch enjoying the fragrant breezes while rocking back and forth and sketching the view or snapping green beans? All of this of course spent in the company of Anne Shirley. Jen, since your perpetually-in-the-making blog is still under construction, if you read this, know that were one additional straw upon my back necessary to break my reserve and send me on a road trip to Indianapolis...I think seeing your house just did it. I am passionately jealous of your handsome chalet. Congratulations! Remember, if either of you two sisters ever tire of such perfection (quaint cottage or Hawaiian paradise), you are always welcome to visit me in my humid cinder block hut. I love you two!

Carry

I want to carry you
and for you to carry me
the way voices are said to carry over water.

Just this morning on the shore,
I could hear two people talking quietly
in a rowboat on the far side of the lake.

They were talking about fishing,
then one changed the subject,
and, I swear, they began talking about you.

Billy Collins


that's all, folks

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