Krista's Adventures in Wonderland

Tales from Wisconsin

kristagoodfellow — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 22:26:00 GMT

I realise that this is long overdue. I got a little caught up in wedding festivities and the like. I'm now in Ontario at my Uncle and Aunt's house but I would like to tell you about Wisconsin; rather than rattling off a 700 page essay here are some highlights:

The Wedding

Obviously, this was the main highlight, the reason I am over this side of the Atlantic and also around about the middle day of my stay. The day was lovely, at a hotel by a lake, the service was outdoors overlooking the water whilst the reception was inside and very tastefully decorated. There was a theme of birds and blue and yellow; Erin had been able to find some ceramic birds at a local antique shop and these were on top of the cake. The cake itself was an 80 pound baked cheesecake! That's enough for a pound of cheesecake for every guest! It was delicious. Possibly the best cheesecake I've ever tasted. Dafna will need to take some lessons.

Erin and her dress were also beautiful to behold. Her Aunt had made the dress and had done a great job, although it was very successful at catching mosquitoes with the layers and layers of fabric. Erin and Thomas managed to truly personalise the day by wearing unconventional footwear (Converse and Toms), giving their bridesmaids homemade jewellery and leaving the service to a Coldplay song plucked out of a harp.

My dad sang a song for Thomas and Erin, he sang it for them when they got engaged too. One of the bridesmaids played a song on the piano. Frosty gave an excellent groomsmen speech. The food was delicious. The photographer was hilarious. The bridesmaids jumped in the lake. The car was admirably decorated and included streamers that trailed behind the car for about the length of the car park. All in all, a good day.

The Lake

Most of the time in Wisconsin was taken up with wedding and sitting around chatting. The latter isn't so exciting to write about. However, we also had our very own lake house… or house by a lake. The lake was marvellous, it shone and sparkled in the day time and had a worrying glow to it at night. We had a pedalo (or paddle boat) which was fun, in it's own way, you never knew which direction it would take you when you turned the handle nor how fast nor when the paddles were going to break. Nik had to test out his swimming skills when we realised that the paddles were no longer turning for Frosty and he was slowly floating away across the lake. Despite the temperamental nature of Mr Pedalo, it did help us to discover an island, "coax" Thomas into the water and it provided adequate protection for Thomas' glasses on said occasion when we "coaxed" him into the water. The only casualty of the lake, unfortunately, were my trusty flip-flops. Never again shall I leave a beloved pair of footwear on a floating jetty thing, never again shall I abandon such wonderful things to the cruel elements of nature. A maniacal gust of wind stole them away, sweeping them into the blue where they set off like sailboats preparing to discover new worlds. Fare thee well, flip-flops, fare thee well.

Chicago

For those of you who are good at geography (or have seen a map of the USA), you will know that Chicago is not in the state of Wisconsin, it is in Illinois. However, I went on a trip to Chicago whilst staying in Wisconsin so it still applies under this section. We only had a short time in Chicago but it was still fantastic. Simply being in the streets made me feel like I was in the computer game, Midtown Madness, or living out a real life Blues Brothers. We parked at Moody Bible Institute, which is where Thomas is studying and we hailed a taxi (such fun) to go to Sear's/Willis Tower. Thomas decided that he would sit out this one and headed to McDonalds. The rest of us headed up the tower. A few queues, some security checks and a surprisingly interesting video later, we were there. At the lift entrance. Everyone squeezed in and a video was shown above us to demonstrate at which points we were passing other great heights. A giraffe, the Great Pyramid, the Eiffel Tower; once we were past the Empire State Building I knew that I was higher up in a building than I had ever been before. 103 floors up, 2 popped ears we burst out into the sky deck. The view is immense. A great lake on one side, Chicago around you and 4 different states in viewable distance. A key point of the tower were the glass boxes that stick out from the side of the building. You can step into these boxes and it looks and feels like nothing is holding you above the distant streets below. I'll be honest, it took me a few moments to get out there. I thought that it wouldn't be a problem until it came to taking that first step out of the visible, opaque, safe building onto glass. Isn't glass known for it's breakable qualities? You don't say someone has a concrete jaw and people who live in steel houses can throw all the stones they want. Anyway, I survived. It was exhilarating and terrifying but I would do it again. Last of all, we went to Navy Pier. I'm not sure what Navy Pier is famous for but there were pirates there and pirates are always a selling point for me. Except for real pirates which are probably not a great experience.

We also went to a baseball game, a great experience in terms of atmosphere, I'm not sure how many people were actually watching the game but there was a real buzz in the stadium. And to the International House of Pancakes and the Original House of Pancakes; I can tell you which was better for sure.

I'm going to sign off here. Tomorrow is Niagara Falls day and I think I'll have to get up early if I'm not awoken by a 2 year old before then. Good Night!

Let's get quizzical

kristagoodfellow — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 15:27:00 GMT

Wedding preparations are in full swing so I don't have much time to write fulfilled, excitement inducing blogs so instead there is a quiz.

News for now. Thomas almost locked Frosty in a wooden trunk with no key.

States in America have special names. New York is the Empire State, etc. The challenge is to name as many of the states as you can without looking up the answers. I'll post them in a few days:

1. The Aloha State

2. The Last Frontier

3. The Hoosier State

4. The Natural State

5. The Old Line State

6. The Centennial State

7. The Constitution State

8. The First State

9. The Sunshine State

10. The Peach State

11. Yellowhammer State

12. The Gem State

13. Prairie State

14. The Grand Canyon State

15. The Hawkeye State

16. The Sunflower State

17. The Bluegrass State

18. The Pelican State

19. The Pine Tree State

20. The Golden State

21. The Bay State

22. The Great Lakes State

23. The Magnolia State

24. The Show Me State

25. The Treasure State

26. The Cornhusker State

27. The Silver State

28. The Granite State

29. The Garden State

30. The Land of Enchantment

31. The Empire State

32. The Tar Hee State

33. The Peace Garden State

34. The Buckeye State

35. The Sooner State

36. The Beaver State

37. The Keystone State

38. The Ocean State

39. The Palmetto State

40. Mount Rushmore State

41. The Volunteer State

42. The Lone Star State

43. The Beehive State

44. The Green Mountain State

45. The Old Dominion State

46. The Evergreen State

47. The Mountain State

48. The Badger State

49. The Equality or Cowboy State

50. The North Star State

Extra points if you can say which ones I have visited on this trip.

Following the yellow brick road

kristagoodfellow — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 01:01:00 GMT

"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."

That's right, Dorothy, we have just passed over the state line from Kansas to Missouri. We'd already been to Missouri quite a few times but on this occasion we have departed for good. I don't know what mystery place we are stopping in tonight but I can only assume it will be Oz. I have unfortunately forgotten my ruby slippers and Toto (aka Kojoi). My parents will have to decide between themselves as to who is the scarecrow, tinman or lion. Personally, I think that my dad has a suitable hat for the scarecrow (it's made of straw), the car should be the tinman as it's made of metal which leaves the lion for my mum.

At the moment, the yellow brick road is surrounded by farms, fields and a lot of American looking barns. They probably look American because they are American.

Last night, we were treated to a three-course Trinidadian meal courtesy of our very own mini trini Shana. It was delicious! If I ever need to be persuaded to go to Trinidad, I need only remember that meal and I'll be on my way. I'd tell you what it was that we ate but I can't remember what it's all called. For starters we had banana shaped potato thing with some sauce that you put on. The sauce was sweet and spicy. Next we have chicken with cranberry in the middle and cucumber and cheese wrapped around it with some rice. For dessert we had… er… I don't even know how to describe it but it was tasty. If a Trinidadian ever offers you a meal, don't pass up the opportunity.

We left bright and early this morning. Well, I say early, it was about 8.15am which isn't that early really. I'd tell you what time it is now but my laptop is still on English time so I've no idea. Maybe 9.20?

We have just stopped for breakfast. Yay! Omelette time. Just before this we stopped for fuel and the station had an interesting bathroom. Two toilets; standard. One room; ok. No cubicles; odd. Maybe the builders thought that people might want company whilst using the facilities? I don't know. Maybe that's just Missouri.

Fun with Nik and Shana

kristagoodfellow — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 09:49:00 GMT

"If I went West, I think I would go to Kansas."
-Abraham Lincoln

Having been in Kansas for a few days now, I have visited a few different places, we have been to Truman Lake, a WWI memorial, a theme park and a lot of shops.

Truman lake is a large lake in Warsaw. I was quite excited about the prospect of driving all the way from Kansas to Poland but it turns out that this Warsaw was in Missouri. Shana drove. Nik was in charge of the radio. Mum was head of crochet central. Dad and Rex were looking after the back of the car. I tried to keep control of Koijo the dog. Two hours later we were there with a bigger repertoire of country music, a lot of scratches and half a blanket. The lake itself was very nice. It was big and had lots of trees and hills around. There was a visitors centre that told us a bit more about the lake and the area. In comparison to the museum that we visited in St Louis that described the settler-native relationships from a far more native point of view, this visitors centre looked upon the natives as a "rebellious" bunch of "indians" who resisted the settlers attempts to "control" them. Now, I'm not a expert on US-native american relations but I'm pretty sure that the language used was not helpful. The actual lake was beautiful; we saw lots of eagles flying over it and you could see a long way because the weather was so clear.

There were also a little replica village that had been built by the visitors centre. The man told us that he had built it himself using old fashioned tools and techniques… these included old fashioned mirrored windows and corrugated metal roof. We had a little look around the house, shop and outhouse. I think it would be ok to live in apart from the outhouse and tin bath, I don't think I'd be up for that. We also signed the visitors' book. 3 entries with the same surname but from 3 different countries? Excellent.

The WWI memorial and museum is the only of its kind in the USA. Unfortunately, the museum suffered a power failure on the day we visited and so it was closed but we were still able to see the Egyptian style buildings and memorial tower.

Worlds of Fun is a theme park about 25 minutes away from Nik and Shana's. It was rightly named. I had worlds of fun whilst there. The park is split up into different continents; hence the name. There was Americana, Europa, Africana, the Orient and then they had a bit of a brain block. I think they were looking for a continent that had a lot of sea because there were water rides. A continent with a lot of sea? Maybe with a lot of islands? A place where fish are an important part of life? Ah! Got it! Scandinavia! Scandinavia?!? Really, Worlds of Fun, you are going to shun the South Pacific (Australasia) and Asia for Scandinavia? To add insult to injury they also had allotted part of the park to Snoopy World. I think someone needs to brush up on their geography. Despite this, the rides were good. They had a very tall one called Mamba where the worker on the ride said "Sit up right and hold on tight cos Mamba's about to strike. Boom boom hisssssss," every time a carriage left the station. We got about 3 quarters of the way up the tallest part of the ride before I realised just how high it was and started to freak out a little bit but it was fun after that. Another ride, called Detonate, was on a vertical pole. Once you were on the ride you didn't know at which point it was going to suddenly launch into the air and up the track. Whilst waiting for Boomerang, a backwards ride, to start, the worker asked if we are nervous before saying "I'll give you something to be nervous about" and pressed the button to start the ride. Unfortunately for him the ride broke before it had left the station so we were left sitting there for 10 minutes waiting for the technological folks to come and set us free. There was also a little girl behind us on this ride that hadn't wanted to get on in the first place and was in tears for most of this experience. The worker assured us, once we had been freed, that he had pressed the right button and didn't break the roller coaster simply to give us something to be nervous about.

Last, but not least, we have been shopping. Challenge of the week: find an outfit for Mum and Dad for Erin and Thomas' wedding. Team Krana (Krista and Shana) took action, presenting the targets with items of clothing. Target dad was overcome quickly with the options and styles being simpler for males. Target mum took significantly longer with half of the team succumbing to the pressure after a few days. Krana was even able to persuade target mum to try on a dress at one point but it was declared unsuitable wedding attire. Finally, today, after hours and hours of searching and trying on we finally found some suitable clothes for a low low price. Awesome (as the girl in the shop said about 20 times). Mission accomplished.

The American Dream

kristagoodfellow — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 00:36:00 GMT

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of fast food."

I have never seen so many different fast food restaurants in such a condensed space before. It's as if they just pop up from the ground. You'd think that with so many that there wouldn't be enough customers to keep each one going but they all seem to be pretty busy most of the time. So far I have sampled Denny's, Sheetz, Burger King, Panera Bread and more. Although they were all delicious, I can't imagine eating them all the time without eventually becoming unable to fit through the door.

The wild, wild west

kristagoodfellow — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 03:20:00 GMT

The gateway to the west is a huge arch in St Louis, Missouri. It was so large that it didn't look real, even standing by it. We had the opportunity to go up this 630 feet (192m) monument. To get up the beast you first have to clamber into a small pod. They squeeze 5 people into these, so me, my parents and 2 amish folk got in. The ride up was stressful to say the least. It felt like a rickety amusement park ride and i was half expecting it to fall at any moment. Fortunately it didn't. We survived!

The view from the top was pretty epic. They say that you can see up to 30 miles on a clear day. It was definitely a clear day. I've put some pictures up on the photo section and I'll put more on Facebook when I get round to it.

The trip down was pretty similar to the ride up. Just as terrifying and nauseating but at least by that point I knew the view was worth it.

We also went on a river tour on the "Tom Sawyer". We learnt intriguing facts from the captain such as "On our right is a pile of rock salt covered by some tarps. That's there because we had too much rock salt at the end of the winter so hopefully we will have enough to spread on the roads next winter." Fascinating. Being on a fake steam paddle boat is fun and it is definitely exciting to be on a fake steam paddle boat on the Mississippi river.

We went through the gateway to the west, so as my dad said, the rest of America will be wild, filled with cowboys and bandits.

The remainder of this section of the trip didn't take long (or, at least, I wasn't awake for most of it), and now we are in Kansas with Nik, Shana, Rex and the menagerie.

On the road again

kristagoodfellow — Fri, 8 Jun 2012 23:35:00 GMT

Yesterday we drove. We drove and drove and drove until the word drove lost all meaning and we were over 600 miles further west.

Due to the monotonous nature of driving down the same road for 11 hours I will just tell you about one aspect. The candle shop.

We stopped at a candle shop. The sign told us that they had the best restrooms in the world and that was enough to lure us in. The shop was filled with aromas and scents of every nature from the classic vanilla to the more unusual mocha candles. Another highlight of the shop was that it looked like a giant candle from the outside (See photo). The bathrooms weren't bad either.

Washington, D.C.

kristagoodfellow — Thu, 7 Jun 2012 23:59:00 GMT

Washington, the home of the Capitol, the Smithsonian, the President, a giant Abraham Lincoln and sun burn. Yes, that's right I have been hit with the sun burn curse. I had avoided it so well and 2 hours in Washington, D.C. and I'm as red as a radish. Flying into Washington Dulles Airport was not dull at all. They have giant bus trains that move up and down to let people in, drive around and then let people off. I still don't know why they had shark fins on the top. After over an hour queuing in immigration, which I didn't mind because I'm british and that's what we do, I was in! Hello USA!

The trip from the airport to the bed and breakfast was an adventure in itself. We decided to drive through Washington (D.C, not the state as that would have taken a really long time) and after a little bit of in-the-dark-sight-seeing and a lot of getting lost we were on our way to Annapolis, Maryland. The bed and breakfast in which we stayed, Laurel Grove Inn on the South River, was lovely. We had a whole apartment, 2 bedrooms, a sitting room and bathroom to ourselves with access to a kitchen full of nibbles. The bed was about half my height, I am not short, and it was exceedingly comfortable. Also, the view was exceptional.

Yesterday, I had my first opportunity to drive on the wrong side of the road. What a terrifying experience. The hardest part is turning onto a new road and ending on the the correct side. I made this mistake 3 or 4 times; I like to keep my parents on their toes. It was also the first time I have even driven an automatic. My left foot is getting bored and my hand is starting to hurt from punching the door looking for a gear stick but overall it's quite fun in a challenging way. Things I've noticed about driving in America:

- Speed limits seem to be a guideline. In general most motorists drive 10mph faster.

- In a kilometre based car, it's difficult to go miles per hour.

- Fuel is super cheap here.

- If you make a mistake in a Canadian car then it's ok because other motorists will think you are from Canada and the good name of the UK is maintained.

We went to a place called Bowie, pronounced Boo-ee, to meet up with a man who went to university with my dad. We then listened to Space Oddity in honour the town's name.

From Bowie we went to Washington. I had seen on the news that the President was sunning up in California so obviously he couldn't have us round for a cup of coffee. Maybe another time, Barack. Me and mum walked from the Capitol down the mall to the Lincoln Memorial. The buildings are truly stunning. White stone glinting in the sunlight, domes, pillars, lovely. Unfortunately we didn't quite have enough time to look around the inside of the buildings but it was a privilege to see them nonetheless.

All of this Roman architecture got me thinking about America. The temple architecture makes me question in which god they trust. In a couple of thousand years archaeologists will be uncovering a giant statue of Abraham Lincoln keeping an eye on how things are going in the Capitol.

We ended the day with a barbecue, aftersun and Top Gear in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. A little change of itinerary due to some left luggage.

Photos: An American Tale: Krista Goes West

kristagoodfellow — Wed, 6 Jun 2012 21:25:00 GMT

Time is Relative

kristagoodfellow — Wed, 6 Jun 2012 12:40:00 GMT

I've found that time inside an airport moves significantly slower than in the surrounding world. The queue for check-in takes at least a week and those hours waiting, delayed, in the departure lounge can seem like a lifetime. In a way its a little bit like Narnia. You enter, you live an eternity of waiting, and come out the same age as you entered albeit dazed, tired and slightly more learned for your experience.

I arrived at Manchester Airport this morning at 8.55. It is now 3.55 and the current estimated time of departure is 3pm. In general I don't mind delays; they are often inevitable and there is nobody to blame but there is something daunting about the idea of waiting for 7 hours and then getting onto a 7 hour flight. Fortunately for me, I have no connecting flight from Washington; it will be my final destination of the day.

Before I left for the airport, I was given some challenges for on the flight. I probably won't fulfil them but just to share them:

- Call a steward, ask for a cup of tea, on her return pretend to be asleep. Repeat as necessary.

- Hold onto the hand of the passenger in the seat next to you as you take off. Don't let go.

- "Fall asleep" and gradually make yourself comfortable on the passenger in the seat next to you.

A ha! It seems that my flight is being called. That means I need to finish here. After all, I can't risk continuing this on the plane as the passenger in the seat next to me may start getting nervous.