More Sydney, Perhaps More Coherently

Until recently, I had this insane, stoic idea that jetlag was not real. I still think that it's overrated when one is going through only a couple time zones, like from the east to the west coast of the United States. But, my friends, when one goes halfway around the world, it is like having a debilitating, if very temporary, disease. Justin and I have been awake today since 4 a.m., and yesterday were so dead tired at 9 p.m. that we decided that we couldn't have dinner lest we fall face first into our soup. 

So mornings and evenings aren't our best times. But that leaves most of the day, when we are awake, chipper, and properly caffeinated. Yesterday, we used that good time to traverse all 10 km (6.2 miles) of the Manly Scenic Walkway. Special thanks to Margot for recommending it: it was a really lovely tramp, and a truly gorgeous ferry ride over.

A view from the ferry on our way over to Manly.

Manly is a local community north of Sydney that may properly be called a suburb or a beach town, but is really more of a fiercely independent locality that defies both labels. According to our Lonely Planet guide (and the Internet), it was so named by Captain Arthur Phillip after he was impressed by the manly physique of the Aborigines living there, a factoid that amused us greatly -- we assumed it was named for Sir Herbert Manly or some other obscure Briton, like most of the names in Oz. The Manly Scenic Walk meanders from Manly Beach on the Pacific Ocean through the manicured community and up into a portion of Sydney National Park, which afforded us a good few kilometers of bush walking and incredible views of North and South Head, the gates of Sydney Harbor, with the Pacific beyond.

I like the ocean.

This is where I am eaten by a flying shark or a saltwater crocodile or something.

I don't have many photos of the bush, but I will just point out that the Australians are even burly about their trail repair: the National Parks folks were repaving the path with stones that had apparently been hauled up in gigantic plastic bags, like the ones that you get when you shop at Ikea. We had a nice walk all in all, and learned a bit about native flora and fauna. One bird's chirp sounds exactly like a firing laser. This place is cool.

We spent the evening watching Savion Glover, a world-class tap dancer who was, amusingly, a member of the cast of Sesame Street for five years, perform at the Sydney Opera House. It was a treat to be able to see a show there, and I think that Glover's feet might not actually be attached to his body. Glover and two other excellent dancers tapped on three individually miked hardwood floors, often to rhythms that were borrowed from earlier artists like Charlie Parker (Justin picked up on it!) and often in a kind of breakdance-like competition format. Truly great.

Today we head out for our first big Australian adventure. We are taking the train from Sydney to Perth, a journey that includes a span of rail that is the straightest stretch of track in the world across the Nullarbor Plain (so named because it is empty (null) of trees (arbors)). It will take us three days in our little sleeping car through the harsh outback to reach Perth, and we probably won't be able to access the Internet during that time -- but we'll have plenty of stories on the back end.

ciao everyone!

Meredith

PS: for whatever reason, Blogger's photo-upload interface is great when we log in as me, and terrible when we log in as Justin, which is why I've been authoring most posts. But I promise he's here. I haven't eaten him yet.

PPS. Did I mention that Australia has weird animals?

This one practically crawled into Justin's lap!

Safely in Sydney, and Jetlagged Beyond Comprehension

Sydney!

The computer in this hostel is uploading photos at about the same speed at which my brain is working, which is to say approximately molasses divided by snail, so this may be a short, poorly illustrated post. But we made it!

We hopped on a plane in Newark and flew directly to SFO. I hadn't thought particularly hard about the fact that we were driving from San Francisco to New York and then flying from . . . New York back to San Francisco; it didn't really strike me how ridiculous that was until we were over Ohio or wherever and Justin peered out the planer window and said, morosely, "Look at all those miles being deleted." In any case, we waved at Ghiradelli chocolates in the international terminal, made our connection with the only hitch being our sore backs, and then spent 14 hours in the air to get to Sydney. We watched the sun rise over the Pacific.

We've stayed alert and awake all day with flat whites (not entirely sure yet whether that's a cafe au lait or a latte, but it's my Australian in-country coffee order, and I'm not going to fiddle with it) and a long meandering walk through Sydney's astoundingly beautiful harbor area. It's a shiny city, and gosh, what can you say about the Opera House? We have tickets to see a guy who is reportedly the best tap dancer in the world there tomorrow night, so we'll get to spend more time among those shiny tiles. And we triumphantly walked halfway across the iconic Harbour Bridge.

We stood underneath where the flags are! That is the scientific definition of the middle of a bridge.

We also discovered that the commonest Australian birds look totally crazy. I think that us taking photos of the ordinary local fauna must look like the equivalent of tourists in the U.S. taking photos of pigeons, but I can't help it. I'm stocking up on weird Australian trivia, which I will share with the universe at a time when my brain does not feel like tapioca. We've successfully stayed awake until 9 p.m., and are now declaring victory and going victoriously to sleep.

G'day mates,

Meredith

Final state line, until October: we're in New York!

Half an hour til we get to hug the family!

Chicago, and The Bean

First of all, a gigantic thanks to the fabulous Sarah Weinman, who graciously offered to house us in her beautiful new apartment despite being hemmed in on all sides by moving boxes. It was a real treat to see Sarah twice in a week, and we really appreciate the comfortable couch and good company.

Now, a few photos from our tourist jaunt through Chicago. Grateful for a morning out of the Volvo to stretch our legs, we wandered through Navy Pier to try to get a glimpse of the tall ship convergence there. I think all I want to say is that Navy Pier is very long, and I am very short. But I liked looking up:

Then we wandered through Millennium Park. It is beautiful.

Justin basks.

And did I mention that we are obsessed with the bean Cloud Gate?

Cloud Gate is one of my favorite pieces of public art in the world. It interacts both with the city's space and with its viewers, which is difficult to do, and I think it's just darned magnetic. I took about ten thousand photos from every conceivable angle and would have liked to have stayed longer just to watch the crowd of visitors wander around this thing, entranced, posing, leaving fingerprints. It's a wonderful homage to Chicago, too, which is one heck of a photogenic city -- you can't beat that skyline against the backdrop of Lake Michigan on a puffy-cloud day.

I also like Chicago because one of its main streets is named after me!

Look closely! Upper left corner! Dearborn street! Get it??

We're at a motel in Ohio, now, and are really looking forward to dinner in Irvington tomorrow with my family -- Matthew, Tommye, Aunt Cindy & Uncle Des included, which is an unexpected treat. We may not be blogging much because of rapid-onset family time tomorrow; stay tuned as we turn our sights toward Australia. We'll be in Sydney early next week.

xox,
Meredith

Chicago is awesome.

On the Road: Cheyenne to Illinois. And LT's Organic Farm!

We're in a very serious coffee shop in Chicago, having our first decent cup of joe in many days. Chicago is going to get its own post after we visit Millennium Park and do other Chicagoey things. This post should just bring us from Cheyenne to our arrival in the Windy City. (Side note: I always thought that the nickname was due to the presence of Windmere Fans, but Wikipedia disagrees).

We shall not speak of Nebraska.

Arbor Day?

We drove through it mostly at night, anyway. I spent most of our time in that state remembering why, on road trips, I usually eschew driving days longer than twelve hours.

We crashed in a cheap roadside motel and woke up with backaches and a deep longing not to have to get in the car again. I specifically told Justin that I would not stand for another single bit of junk food. That's why LT's Organic Farm, Clinic, Restaurant, and Institute of Preventive Medicine was such a godsend.

That's LT in the foreground. Justin already mentioned the Burners, but they were full of effusive words for this place. We learned that they had spent the past four hours here, noodling around on their guitars and "checking out the tomato plants." Actually, we did some of that too.

The meal was stupendous. Inventive, diversified, light, organic, local, Indian-inspired, and served to us with a great deal of dignity and pride.

And then I spent a long time wandering around taking arty photos of plants.

We got a little bit of a speech about proper eating from LT himself, who speaks with the conviction of the converted, but we didn't mind: a very small price to pay for the best meal we'd had in days.

This place is right of I-80, with a road-food sign, just before Des Moines as you're traveling east. If you're ever in the neighborhood, go there. You won't regret it.


Now we're off to enjoy Chicago and the lovely weather we have brought here. Ciao! 


XOX
Meredith

Organic restaurant in Iowa!

We saw a sign for "LT Organic Restaurant" and found this amazingly
quaint organic farm run by an indian family. They are making us some
free range chicken masala on red beans with spinach and potato
chutney. A far cry from Carl Jr.'s.

There were some dredlocked hippie types on their way to burningman
when we pulled up. That is their car in the picture. Funny that of
all places to run into them it was here at the organic farm and
restaurant.

On the Road: California to Wyoming (but mostly Utah)

I'm writing this from the lobby of the Prairie Hotel in Cheyenne, WY, after having accidentally thrown the local coffee shop into chaos. (Justin ordered a blueberry yogurt from the glass display case. The clerk looked flustered and asked what he was talking about. He had no idea he sold yogurt. We think that the little Dannon might have been sitting there since the town's founding in the mid-1800s. The rest of our order proceeded similarly.) 


We've been making ninety-mile-per-hour time since we left Tahoe, flying across the flat desert lands of Nevada, Utah, and now Wyoming. We hope to make our way pretty solidly into Nebraska before tonight.


Such speed requires sustenance.

However, we doubt we'd qualify for the land speed records that we saw some dudes trying to break in the Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah. This photo does not capture the weird, ultraflat, whiteness of Bonneville.

We had to stop in Salt Lake City, a place neither of us had ever been, to visit the Mormon temple there.

We took some smootchy photos and hoped we weren't offending anyone.

and everyone threw up a little bit.

We wandered around the tabernacle and immaculate landscaping with big statues of important Mormon saints. We pressed buttons at the scale model of Jerusalem in the visitors center to make it light up. Justin wins for comment of the day when he said that one of the large religious paintings looked "really Bibley." Did you know that some of the landscaping plants used at the Temple are extremely hot chili peppers? I sure didn't.


The moon over the Wasatch range was insane. It was deserving of much conversation, especially later in the evening. It was so bright that the moonset actually woke us up in our tent that night. We thought it was dawn.

We took a little detour to Park City to sample the local brew pub's fare and look at the old Olympic ski jumps. (PS: why does anyone do that!? Those things look deadly!) Wasatch Brew Pub's award-winning specialty is the Polygamy Porter: "why have just one?"

We camped in Rockport State Park, a pretty little lake, for the evening, and then got on our way eastward. 

My car doesn't have a name yet. Should she?


Now we're in Cheyenne. I desired a photo with one of the gigantic boots that surround the town square. I got my wish.

All for now! Yee-Haw!


Meredith

Nevada. Next services: 254 miles.

John and Megan's Wedding

This weekend we went to John and Megan's wedding in Monte Rio, a couple of hours north of San Francisco on the Russian River. It was also a big reunion with all of my friends from Boalt - Elaine had rented a compound of houses with hot tubs and kitchens. People showed up on Friday afternoon and started to figure out where to sleep. Here Matt and Cort ro-sham-bo for a better room:

One of the rooms was, um, dated. But it had a minibar!

The owners had even setup a fire for us. It lit with one match:

The wedding was right on the Russian river. Everyone looked beautiful. Here is Megan walking down the aisle with her mom. Moments before I took this shot she let out her characteristic Megan Burke laugh.

Roger, Elaine, and Zain cheersing while the bridal party took photos:

There is some kind of tradition (gaelic I think) of throwing a stone into a river while wishing happiness to the new couple. After we hurled some stones, Sarah and Camile waded in:

John and Megan cut the cake. I heard John mumble under his breath, "This is the creepiest tradition" after they did the feeding:

Then came dancing and drinking:

And then shots. Of which today I regret.

One of the best weddings of the best people I know with the best people I know.

On the Road: Seattle to San Francisco

Justin picked me up from work on Wednesday and we drove from Seattle to Portland. Thanks to the unflappable Ben for housing us, showing us Breakside, and introducing us to the finer points of Cascadian Dark Ales at Bailey's.

There is a lot of Oregon before California.

Then there is a lot of California before San Francisco. Some of California has Shasta in it.

It was inefficient, but a stop in San Francisco to have beers with friends was necessary. Of course.

And many thanks to Katie Scho for housing us in her gorgeous place in Berkeley for the evening!

San Francisco has apparently been eaten by fog. Nonetheless, as we drove into the menacingly fluffy bank on our way into the city, we were hopping in our seats to see everyone and cavort around the Mission. We are egregiously excited to move back here in November. Abrazos to our city friends and see you on the flip side!

Meredith

Bye Seattle!

Moving out

Well the movers are here and I'm standing in the hallway trying to
stay out of the way. After they leave I'll clean the place and go get
Meredith to start our drive to Portland. I'm really excited about
being back in the bay area for Megan and John's wedding.

Overture

Hi everyone!

Justin and I are about to set off on an epic journey. Roughly, we're going from Seattle to San Francisco to New York (quickly) in a car, then to Australia and New Zealand in a plane, then from New York to San Francisco (slowly) in a car. This blog should keep you informed of our whereabouts and shenanigans.

For those that don't know, the story of our three-month hiatus from our careers is as follows. When I took a federal clerkship in Seattle and Justin took a paid year off from his law firm (most of which he spent in Ecuador) we knew that our year apart must, if at all possible, end with a big long vacation together. The question, of course, was: where should we go?

On the one hand, we wanted to go somewhere far away -- somewhere we wouldn't be likely to return. This is probably the last time we'll have a long time away together. We're both overachievers with awesome law careers ahead of us that are likely to eat up most of our active years. On the other hand, our dear and vitally important families are scattered across the United States, and we'd be terribly remiss not to visit them, too.

So we settled for American Road Trip (3 weeks) + Australian Epic Adventure (7 weeks). Three weeks in a car all smushed together at once would cause us backaches and cabin fever, so we split up the road trip, putting the Australian bit in the middle. In Australia, we basically want to travel as far away from the beaten path as we can safely go. In America, we want to visit as many friends and family as will take us.

We're leaving on Wednesday, August 18th, and we're terribly excited!

See you on the road,

Meredith and Justin

P.S. Yes, "The timorous may stay at home" is from Murphy v. Steeplechase Amusement Co., 250 N.Y. 479, 483 (1929) (Cardozo, J.). We know. We're nerdy.