blogging tornado

ALL i want to do is blog. i keep getting distracted by work!!! it's been so crazy busy tonight it's not even funny. not even a little bit. i was upstairs long enough to boil some pasta and heat some chicken, but then i had to go downstairs and work and it got cold!!!! it was still good.

i was downstairs for an hour having a very serious conversation with a girl who i really like. it was a hard conversation to have. but, i think i did well. she left feeling better, which was the most important thing.

then, i wasn't upstairs for five minutes when i got another call. back downstairs.

then i came up and made supper real quick. but, then i heard a bunch of footsteps down on the second floor. and i'm like, "COME ON. are you serious??" they're supposed to be in their rooms by 9. and this is the HARDEST task in the world to enforce.

so, i go down. check one room - empty. check another room - empty. really? really? it's so hard to stay in your rooms!? check another room - whoa party!!

so i'm like, "guys, what's going on?" and they blame the bed bugs. not like that cute little expression, "don't let the bed bugs bite!" yeah, seriously. they're all showing me their bite marks and freaking out. great.

so i go into a bedroom and search her bed. don't see any bugs, but she refuses to sleep there. so now we have to come up with an alternate plan. there's already one girl who's not sleeping in her room because of the bugs. so, i have to come up with this alternate plan. i suggest she changes her clothes and sleeps in the living room. great, she agrees.

then, i'm not back upstairs 5 minutes and i get a phone call. "hi, um, i'm too scared to sleep downstairs."

ok, fine. i would probably be too scared too. so, i know she really, really wants to sleep in this other girl's room. so i make her a deal - she can sleep in the other girls room if they leave the door open. and i will be doing walk-throughs to check on them.

i really hope the bed bugs don't scatter up here. like, really, really, really hope they don't. where would i sleep?

in other news - i signed up to go to court again on thursday. THIS thursday. court is at 11. we're leaving at 9:30 because it's in Brattleboro, Vermont. different girl than last time. apparently this one should be easier. i still have to dress up, though. and i'm already getting nervous.

in other news - i signed up for a class! it's called: Medications: What Residential Staff Need to Know. starts april 25 and goes until may 8, i think. it's partly online, partly workbook.

i'm also going to be water safety certified! the whole gang here is going over to Dartmouth Hitchcock in mid-may to learn about water safety for the summertime. i'm excited about that!

and i'm also going to call the Red Cross this week to see about CPR/first aid certification. and i also need to call Eastman's to get my car inspected and an oil change.

MAN. such a busy bee. actually, i might put the car inspection off one more week, because next week is pay week. and Netflix money is due this week.

ok, hold on. time to go check on the girls.

wow, everything seemed fine.

so NOW, i suppose it's time for the photo portion of the entry. it's a big portion. probably equal in size to an Oscars entry. YEAH, get excited. there will be less Leo and Kate, but don't let that scare you away.

alright! i think we're charged and ready to go.

some background: so, last week Kara came to visit me. on Sunday, the plan was to drive up to Lake Fairlee and Lake Morey. we got there. so lovely! we forgot to bring the camera.

so then, we were about to leave Lake Morey, when we stopped at a gas station to use the bathroom. and, we saw a section of maps. and we said, "let's just buy a map and drive further north." grea idea!

and it was then that we decided that this week would be ADVENTURE WEEK. we were now hard core explorers.

so, we headed north on 91. so many mountains! we pulled over at a rest spot to decide where to go. we decided we would go to one more exit, and then get off. no matter what it was.

so we did!

off the exit and took a right. we ended up in McIndoe Falls. such a strange place. it was like driving into the deep south. houses with these huge columns in front. like tiny white houses. and a huge Inn in the center of town. it was just really strange.

and then we intruded into someones house, thinking it was a store. there was lots of stuff outside. there was a sign hanging off the roof. now, the sign didn't say anything on it, but we thought, 'sign out front, it must be a store!' so, we parked in front and ventured in to see what kind of people lived in this town.

and, we're standing inside the door in this room full of stuff. like, just stuff. art stuff. junk stuff. new stuff. rusty stuff. and then a woman comes out and me and kara are like, "um, is this a store?" and she's like, "no this is my studio! i normally never let anyone in!!" and at the time i was really worried she would get mad at us. she told us she was doing her taxes today. she didn't get mad. she was excited to hear that we were on a driving adventure. and! she gave us directions to more scenic places!

nice lady. she also mentioned that the population of McIndoe Falls is "down to about 120." good times.

so, we followed her directions and ended up in Barnet, Vermont. another strange little place. there was this super confusing roundabout that we actually had to pull over to figure out where to go. it was like, around this tiny monument. all very weird.

but, the drive was so lovely. and then we were running out of gas. so now we needed to find a gas station. and it seemed like we were driving to nowhere. the map said we were headed to Route 5. which would lead us to more places.

so, we made it to Route 5. decided to drive towards St. Johnsbury, Vermont. got gas at an Irving. full serve, which i was disappointed about until i saw the cute little guy come out. "hello jeremy!"

drive through St. Jay's. nice place. there was a "teen lounge" right downtown that very much intrigued me and kara. pulled into a very randomly placed JC Penney's. planned more of our day. we decided that we would go back to Route 5. head west until we hit Montpelier. then head south on 89 to Lebanon! great plan!

so, we headed west on route 5. passed lots of mountains. lots of lakes. lots of strangely placed Inns. ended up in Montpelier! by population is the smallest state capitol in the country! fun fact!

nice place. lots of sweet shops. not like, candy stores. but like, lovely places. i think this was our first experience with "disappearing things."

on our way there, we passed the junction of 89. we thought, "okay, it's right there." so, we drove through the town, admired the capitol building, etc. and then said, "ok, let's leave now." so, we headed back to the 89 junction and we were driving for like, 15 minutes before we said, "wtf?! where did it go?!?!" it was GONE.

so, we turned around. we had gone really far back. and when we drove back, it had reappeared. the 89 junction. it was weird, though.

and we drove 89 back the entire way. what a lovely day! we came back to the house and planned the rest of our ADVENTURE WEEK.

Tuesday night after my staff meeting we headed to the ice cream place in the parking lot of the Home Depot. I KNOW it sounds super sketch. but no! it was delish soft serve. 24 flavors!

then we headed west on route 4 to Woodstock, Vermont. wow! what a great place! there's a little brick house for sale right downtown that i want to buy. i actually want to buy it really bad. we passed this delish looking bakery that i had read about online.

then, we headed west some more. passed through Kilington, Vermont where there is a big ski place. Kara enjoyed this part much more than i did.

we arrived in Rutland, Vermont! the second biggest city in the state. ghost town. everything was closed! we parked the car and walked all around the city. nothing was open. we heard the orchestra rehearsing at The Paramount, which was exciting.

then, we were hungry. so, we decided we would get some appetizers at this place called Table 24.



nice place. really good food. nice people.

after we ate, we headed back. east on route 4. it snowed pretty hard for some of the drive. i know, snow!

wednesday was our big adventure day. we headed to Lake George, New York. the great empire state. this is where the photo documenting comes in. ENJOY!


we left at around 9:30am. i suggested, "oh! let's stop at the delish looking bakery we passed yesterday!" so, we headed west on route 4. we planned to stop at the Quechee Gorge first.

(note::: new teal jacket. new trendy pins :::)

so, there is this huge gorge right in the middle of everything. it's quite spectacular. we pulled over and walked across the gorge bridge.




i guess you can't really tell, but we were SUPER high up. like, scary high. what a great gorge! what a great start to the adventure!!!!

after the gorge, we headed to Woodstock to go to the delish looking bakery. we drove through town looking for it. hm, must have missed it. we drove pretty far looking for it. turned back. drove back through town looking for it. no bakery. turned around. drove back through town looking for it. NO BAKERY. this was our second experience with disappearing things.

we never found that bakery again. we looked it up online and it should have been RIGHT THERE. and i'm 100% sure i saw it the previous night. it was freaky.

instead, we stopped at the Woodstock Farmer's Market. we split a coconut chocolate chip muffin and a donut. um, THAT DONUT was so effing good it was crazy. we talked about it all week.

and then, we kept driving.






wow! what a great drive! probably around 3 hours after we began the adventure, we arrived in Lake George!!!! so beautiful! and also, a ghost town this time of year. there was this creeper abandoned amusement park. and this really beautiful building that i wanted to buy.

lake george!










aw, it's me and Kara!!!! notice i'm wearing a scarf. IT WAS FREEZING. also, notice in the two pictures of me, MY PIERCING. in my left ear. at the top. THAT IS NOT CLIP ON. i still can't believe it or get used to it.

Lake George was a nice place. we stopped at the only place open in town and bought t-shirts for $6. nice! this little gift store had EVERYTHING with your name on it. we looked through racks and racks and shelves and shelves of things with your name on it. first: there were bears. and! the Julie Bear just happened to be above the Maria Bear!!!


how cute! and then! we moved onto the 'door sign' section and found this!!!!


the 'Caution Julie' sign was right above the 'Caution Kara' sign!!!!! we decided it was a pretty good "sum up" of our adventure week.

then, we stopped at a gas station and got a free area map.

we tried to go to the top of a mountain, but it was closed. there were barricades in the road, and, as you'll learn later - barricades do not keep us out....

SO. Lake George was pretty much abandonded. even the McDonald's were closed for the season. like, they get NO BUSINESS. it was strange. but, eerie and beautiful.

then, we headed more north to Ticonderoga, NY. we were looking for lunch. and then! we came upon a roundabout in the center of town. there was a beautiful statue in the center, so i whipped out my camera and took this incredible shot:

I KNOW. isn't it beautiful!? and it happened to be perfectly positioned in front of that beautiful house. now, this shot really boosted my photography ego. after this, i decided i would start my own photography company and call it, "I'm that Good."

after this, i decided to do a series of this statue. we ended up driving around this roundabout three times. and each time, i got a different view of the statue.



i really like the different background in each of the shots. the first one, the house is very close to the road, the second one there's lots of grass, and in the third, some cheesy motel. loves it! what a great roundabout!

we ended up eating here:


The Hot Biscuit Diner. i had a tuna melt. delish. nice people there. FYI, cash only.

we continued to head north until we hit.....


Port Henry, New York. our goal was to drive over this bridge. this bridge is one of the only bridges that goes across Lake Champlain. and it was in Crown Point, NY.

so, we see a sign that says, "BRIDGE TO VERMONT." so, we take it. and i'm getting super excited because i'm so excited about crossing this bridge. and this is what we find:


this lame little bridge that crossed some railroad tracks. (i also liked the signs with question marks on them. kara said it was for information, but i liked to think they were 'surprise! you don't know what you're getting if you come here!' signs.")

at first we thought it was a disappearing bridge, since we had experience with disappearing bakeries. but, we didn't want to give up. so, we immediately turned around and continued to drive further up. until we hit the Port Henry beach.




took some lovely pictures of Lake Champlain. and THIS is when we saw the real bridge. the Champlain Bridge. what a sight! we realized that the tiny, lame bridge would lead us to the magnificent bridge. we turned around pretty quickly.

THE CHAMPLAIN BRIDGE



a lighthouse memorial as seen from the bridge. we tried to go afterwards, but it was under construction. lame!




the bridge ROCKED. and in total we drove over it THREE TIMES!!!! awesome! it was really high. Kara made "roller coaster noises" on our way up. half a mile long! a great experience.

so, we drove over the bridge. entered vermont. turned around. drove across the bridge again. entered new york. from the top of the bridge, we could see some "ruins" which were in a historical site. so, we went.

WOW. at first, we drove in and it was obviously closed. but, the gates were open. there was one car there. but, we parked anyways and got out and walked around.

yeah, we probably weren't supposed to. but, when would we be back?! and if we did come back during summer, it might be swarming with tourists! this was perfect.


(the bridge, as seen from the ruins)




um, so how much do those last two shots rock?! yeah, they rock hard. i knelt down to get the building, as well as the title of what it was!!!! "i'm that good."


wow, what great ruins. it was so beautiful. and kind of spooky too.


Lake Champlain, as seen from the ruins.

and then, we were freezing, so we left. BUT. we drove to the entrance and the gates were closed. THE GATES WERE CLOSED. all i could think was, "oh crap we are trapped inside a national historic site." what's worse, intruding onto a national historic site, or intruding into someone's house?! yeah, because we did both of those things.

so, i got out of the car and opened the gates. LUCKILY, they were not locked.



now, i could have easily left the gates open for any riff raff to come in. but i didn't!

dear new york,

you're welcome.

love, julie

it was funny. and terrifying.

after this, we headed back to vermont.

snapped a few creepy shots:


creeper place.


creepy and gorgeous shot of the trees, which were all leaning towards one side. no, it wasn't windy. promise.

then, we switched up our route. we were going to take route 17 and go around the Green Mountain National Forest. but then we were like, "why go around the forest when we can go through it!!!" so we did!!!! we drove through the national forest.


(disregard the blurriness of this shot. i'm still that good.)


so, we're driving, looking like we're going to come to nothing. when, BAM, we hit the village of Ripton, Vermont. it looked like kind of a strange little mountain town. and then we learned later on that the world's oldest and most prestigeous writer's conference in held in Ripton. weird.

also, Robert Frost lived there.


and Middlebury College has a campus in the forest.



a strange little ride. Kara was really hoping we'd see lots of deer, moose and bears. i was very strongly not hoping this. we didn't see any wildlife.

and then, we left the forest and it was dark. it started to snow pretty hard. and, i tried to snap a picture of the snow falling to prove it was snowing. and i got this creeper shot instead:


it was a road sign that turned into a very creepy hitchhiker. yikes.

and then we headed home!!! wow, what a great day! we were exhausted. creepy things, beautiful things, eerie things, yummy things, nice people, mountains, bridges, farms, long roads, lakes and gorges. we saw everything! and had lots of sister bonding.

i'm pretty tired now. just about 1 hour and 50 minutes thus far into this post.

i hope you enjoyed your trip along eastern new york! i'm probably going to retire to bed now. hope the bed bugs don't bite.

i've been like, all itchy this entire time. not like things are biting me. but, just the thought, ya know? 'Just a Thought', great Shirley Jackson short story. everyone should read Shirley Jackson.

actually, she lived in Bennington, Vermont, which was a place that Kara and i wanted to adventure to, but we ran out of time. Bennington is supposed to be a window to another universe or something. lots and lots of strange things have happened there. Robert Frost also lived in Bennington. which makes me think that we should just rename New England to something like, Robert New Frostland, or something. New Robert Frostland. he's just everywhere.

so. okay, then.

i'll talk to you again soon. everyone have lovely tuesdays. we have staff meeting. i have a feeling it will be pretty emotional.

oh! but someone from Smith College is coming to talk to us about using sign language with babies. i'm excited. i hope i can somehow drop that i went to Hampshire.

alright friends. goodnight. sleep well. sweet dreams.


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