The road back from Quest was a bit longer than the road out, but pleasantly so. I had never been to Wall Drug while they were properly open, and my kind companion indulged my desire to see it. The "pharmacy museum" was distinctly underwhelming, but now I've seen it and don't need to repeat it. :P

We also detoured through the Badlands, which I also had never seen, and that was a lot more fun. Even the signage - see subject line - was amusing. We got out to walk at a few of the trails and had the perfect day for a stroll - it was warm and sunny, but not oppressively hot. I only took a few pictures, but the views were stunning. Amazing what a little water and a little time will do, eh?



Back in Sioux Falls, we unloaded the car, loaded my car, ordered a pizza, and quickly were done for the night.

Monday, I got to sleep in a bit, worked for a little while, got caught up on email, wished my host good luck and good-bye and then hit the road. I made my customary detour to have brunch (well, lunch this time) with zarhooie  and, as a bonus bit of luck, got to see Miss Appleflan on campus. Finally, I was off and returned to Madison about 10PM on Monday. A very, very full couple days, but enjoyable.

This weekend I traveled west to meet a very special little man. My sister spawned last fall and gave me my very first nephew, so I went out to meet him. My mom had gone right after he was born, but I wanted to wait until the spud was a little more interactive and my sister wasn't overwhelmed with serial guests.

So, Friday bright and early I drove to work, parked the car, and walked the half mile to the airport. Everything proceeded amazingly smoothly. 9AM flight, 10:30AM transfer in MSP, 12PM arrival in Billings. By 1PM, I was inspecting the nibling.
( Utterly gratuitous baby pictures )

It's sort of weird to see my sister as a mommy, but she seems pretty good at it. :) The weekend was pretty low-key - we had lunch when I arrived, then a quick shopping trip, then hanging out at home, dinner at home, and a movie. Saturday was a slow start to the day, followed by shopping, more shopping, oh-dear-gods-how-long-does-it-take-to-pick-a-shirt shopping, dinner, baby bathtime, baby bedtime, a game of Uno for the adults, then bedtime for the adults. This morning, my sister and I went for coffee, then they dropped me off at the airport.

( All the annoyances I missed on the trip out were revisited on me threefold on the way home.  )

It was good to see the nibling, but it is good to be home.

This weekend brought a lot of good things.

*************************************************************************************

First off, I have pictorial documentation of Thing 28/29 and Thing 29/29.



Little linen bags - small projects, but handsewn and useful! Every few years I become intensely dissatisfied with my kit and feel a need to improve it. I feel some of that coming on and want to start with being better about eliminating (preferred) or hiding (acceptable) modern items in my kit, ergo the bags. :)

*************************************************************************************

This also means that I successfully completed the Thing-a-Day Challenge, posting one new Thing on LJ before midnight every day for 29 days straight, with only one cheat the night I posted late because of social practice. Yay! Thanks to those of you who played with me and kudos to alienorh, who I think is the only other person on my friendslist to attempt and complete the challenge.

*************************************************************************************

Most of the weekend was spent on the road traveling to and from the Midrealm's Golden Seamstresses competition. I went a few years ago and this year they invited me back as a judge. Happiness and Joy! Sewing geekage in a box! As usual, the event was barely-contained mayhem, with 20 solid hours of sewing triumphs and disasters (and disasters rescued to become triumphs, too).


Around Midnight


Final crazy moments

Of course, I forgot to bring my camera to the final judging. I stayed up almost all night (I caught a quick nap around breakfast time) so I was fried by then.

*************************************************************************************

It was a spectacular lot of fun... I am jealous of Midrealm's nifty toy! And what do we do when we covet someone else's toy? We STEAL it! ;)

I proposed an event at tonight's General Meeting - exact name, rules, etc to be determined but posted shortly - that will closely follow the Golden Seamstress model. The dates will be August 22-23 and the site will be the Jefferson County Fair Park (same site as for It's Only a Flesh Wound). So! All you sew-y types - start your scheming engines! This will be just a few weeks after Pennsic, so you will have the opportunity to employ the goodies you get in the merchants and the knowledge you gain in the classes. Those of you not making Pennsic... well, you'll be better rested. ;)

*************************************************************************************

In more personal news - my sister called me during my layover in Chicago on the way home. Eeek! She's preg-o! I'm gonna be an auntie sometime in late September/early October! I am so excited for her and can't wait to start sewing itty bitty little outfits. :) 

Today's Thing - Directions!

I recently started decorating and outfitting my spare room. I decided I wanted to have a "high-end hotel"-type feel to the room, with all sorts of amenities on hand. I already had stocked the closets with fluffy towels, wooden hangers and a selection of toiletries and oft-forgot items but decided I should also include a "local guide" like many hotels have, since I sometimes "host" guests while I am out of town myself.

Therefore, today's Thing is a practical thing - Eithni's Guide to Madison! I included common things like local and regional points of interest, local eateries, transportation options, and such, but I also included more specific info that is likely to be of interest to my guests, like the local practice site and the best fabric and thrift stores in town.



Front, including Madison maps, transportation schedules, fliers, and the local "Annual Manual" guide to Madison.          


Back, including regional attractions like the Mustard Museum. The red-backed page is directions to the local Urgent Care, because I am paranoid.

Just for fun and to complete the "hotel-like" feel, I also acquired a Gideon Bible. *grin*

Due to recent issues with the airlines and a general reluctance to drive all the way to Detroit all by myself, I was looking for alternate modes of transportation to Golden Seamstresses. I need to have a reliable method of transportation since this year I have been asked to judge and in return I have asked for permission to spy and bring the concept back to Northshield. Yay! Sewing geekage!

I have a really special story about train travel through the Dakotas, but with recent successes on the East Coast, I though I'd give Midwestern Amtrak travel another try... I am hoping for the best, but I have some trepidation over the trip. In any event, wish me luck...
 

Tidbits from here and there around the East Coast trip - the trimmings and selvages as it were...



Friends Old and New

One of the best parts of my trip to the East Coast was time spent with friends. I got to spend a lot of time with jtdiii but I also got to meet and catch up with a lot of other folks. We spent New Year's Eve at a local SCA house party, which seem to be the same the Knowne World over - large house, multiple roommates, LOTS of food, a moderate amount of alcohol. I got to meet a lot of people from the East Coast groups and enjoy hearing about the local activities and stories. As a special delight, I spent a significant part of the night on a squishy couch, geeking out about early period metalwork with Cariadoc of the Bow. Sadly, I had not brought my laptop to the party, so my ability to share the geekiness was limited to what I could remember or pull up on my iPhone. The following day was even better - I spent the morning wandering the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum with jtdiii and mtgordon. I had not seen mtgordon for about seven years, since he was last in town for a friend's wedding. It was wonderful to see him and spend some time catching up. Then, we went back to his apartment and I got to meet his wife, son, and mother-in-law. Hi little son is so cute! Even if he didn't seem so sure of me, scowling up at me and only cautiously approaching the strange girl. *grin* Unfortunately, my enjoyment of the conversation and company overpowered my shutterbug tendencies and I failed to take any photos.  I know that mtgordon has a lot of photos online, and now some video too, so if you know him and want to see the spawn, drop him a line. Seeing him was definitely a highlight of the trip...



Inter-Kingdom Anthropolgy - East Kingdom 12th Night
On my trip, I also had the opportunity to attend the East Kingdom's Twelfth Night. It was a fun, low key event. I picked up several nice little treasures in the merchants, got to see that defector, rufinia, and got to observe SCA life in the East. I had been hoping to go to the Laurel meeting, but missed it, in part because I kept seeing Ice wandering about the event. However, apparently in the East the King does not go to the Laurel meetings, that is a job for the Prince. Since it was a Twelfth Night, they were serving a King Cake with the lunch buffet. The tradition is that the finder of the bean baked into the cake becomes the King or Queen of Misrule for the day.



Sadly, they chose to award a prize to the finder, instead of a crown. *sigh* I got a lovely little deck of cards, but was sad to not have the opportunity to create some havock - that IS my specialty, after all! ;)




Going places - Miscellaneous Sites seen

In addition to the other places mentioned in previous blogs, I visited several other places on my trip. I stopped into the Elizabeth Ann Seaton home, in large part out of curiosity about these tiny red brick buildings huddled at the foot of metal and glass skyscrapers. Elizabeth Ann Seaton is the first American to be canonized a saint, so I picked up a few holy cards for my mom and other devout relatives.

Of course, in my travels around the city, I passed through Grand Central Station on several occasions. On a couple occasions, I wandered around a bit, admiring the architecture, the painted ceiling, and - of course - the beautiful chandeliers!



One of the more surprising little jewels was the New York Medical Library  -  they had some interesting displays about medical equipment from the 20's, but the real joy was seeing their newly-restored Flemish Tapestry. If you should have the opportunity to go see it yourself, be forewarned that it is mostly a medical library and they are not used to tourists. They will ask you to sign in the building's lobby and check your jacket and purse with the front desk of the library, but they will allow you to take photos of the tapestry.



The Museum of the City of New York was right next door to the Medical Library, so I thought it would be fun to dally there for a bit as well. The museum was largely a disappointment, however. The exhibit on antique toys was interesting, but limited. The top floor was filled with recreations of rooms from the Rockefeller mansions, and was probably the best part of the museum, but probably not worth the price of admission by itself. I would not recommend going unless you have an interest in one of the special exhibits.



Things I missed...

Of course, even with a lot of time on the East Coast, there were a lot of things I did not have the opportunity to see. Most of Boston was canceled because of  weather and other misfortunes, so the MFA and the "Freedom Trail" are things for a later, and hopefully warmer, visit. I did get to the Met, but even spending seven solid hours there (and deciding that I could sacrifice lunch to the need to see more of the exhibits), I could have spent another week there. I never did get to the Cloisters, in part because of other priorities and again in part because of the weather making the outside gardens inaccessible, so that is also a must-see for a future trip. Likewise, I saw very little of Central Park, which would be fun to stroll some time... when it is warm... and dry... :P And while I did acquire a huge amount of fabric, I will, of course, need to visit the fabric stores again. ;) After all, 10 yards have already found a home with mightyjesse, more went to PJ as a belated birthday present, three more are slated for Twelfth Night gifts as-is, and several more have already been cut and sewn into Twelfth Night gifts for next weekend. See? I clearly need more... Both more fabric and more East Coast! :)

A trip to New York City is not complete without visiting certain key sights – Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, and Times Square among them. One of the things I had always wanted to do was to see a musical on Broadway. Some favorites, old and new were showing – Chicago, Grease, and Phantom among them. However, I wasn’t really in the mood for any of that, nor for the non-musical theatre offerings… No, I went for a timeless show, one that appealed to my sense of nostalgia, that brought back shadows of childhood friends... I went to Avenue Q.

*grin*

It was, as anticipated, a lot of silly fun. And I got to torturekumakun that I had center front orchestra seats (but then I brought him a souvenir, so it’s OK ;P). The cast was great and did a fabulous job of bringing their characters to life, both physically and vocally. Usually they sang in a muppet-esque range, but occasionally, particularly the lady singing for Kate Monster, they were really able to show off their vocal skills. Fun, funny, and wonderful.

Those of you in the Twin Cities have the opportunity to see the touring company for a few more days - I highly recommend it. 

What can I say… I got to the Met at 10AM and left when they threw me out at 5PM and could have spent several days more wandering about. I spent some time in the Greek and Roman exhibits before realizing that I could not continue at that pace and still see even a quarter of the collections. I had to admit to myself that I had little interest in modern art and absolutely none in the art of Africa, Oceania, or the Americas, so I only browsed the former and simply took the shortest route through the latter.

There is entirely too much to even begin to summarize the few galleries I did see, so I’ll simply highlight my very favorite pieces.

I am now done (or at least nearly done) organizing my photos from the trip. I have organized them into a number of folders. Many of them include SCA-related images. The available folders include:

I very much love my house, with its Tardis-like levels and Sweet Midori kitchen, but I have long dreamed of someday building a lovely castle… I now have an amendment to that. I don’t need a castle as if I could move into the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Mrs. Gardner built the building to house her collection and opened it to the public as a museum in 1903.

In any event, this was a wonderful museum and I very strongly recommend you see it, should you find yourself in Boston.

Flight segments: 4
Changes and/or delays: 7 (with the final leg being canceled altogether)
Average time of delay, per flight: 50 minutes
Times they have had no idea where the crew even IS: 2
Times the automatic system has hung up on me: 2
Times I'll fly United again: 0

***************************************************

EDIT: now the flight is completely cancelled, and I'm on the Van Galder bus home. *sigh* Now I'll have to deal with getting the luggage delivered, etc. Blah. Reason #47 why I hate checking luggage. Mmmmm... But the fabric makes it worth it.

Bright thought: I was paranoid for some reason and bought travel insurance on the flight, so I should be able to at least get a refund on the bus ticket.

***************************************************

EDIT 2: Bastards. Apparently the lady at O'Hare lied to me. The oh-so-helpful-barely-speaks-English guy in India WILL NOT authorize my bags to be delivered to me (after wasting 20 minutes of my time making me describe the bags (isn't that what the ID#'s are for) and their contents, and their origins, and my SEAT number for Chrissakes). And the travel insurance does not cover cancellations due to fog, and they did not give me a reason for the cancellation of the flight I was SUPPOSED to take in the first place. Grrr... I'm on hold AGAIN (time currently 25 minutes) to try to find my baggage. Very Grumpy.

...Or what many of you would mundanely call “libraries.”

A few years ago, it became my habit to, when visiting large or historical cities, to attempt to visit their central library branch. Often, these buildings are large, beautiful structures and contain untold treasures in their holdings. Boston and New York are certainly no exceptions and in both cases, I was most pleased to be able to visit the premises and some small part of the collections.

One of my primary objectives on this trip was the acquisition of tasty fabrics. What follows is a completely gratuitous catalog of my purchases, minus those that are slated for individual gifts. Beware the following fabric porn...

So, if New York City is the city that never sleeps, then Jersey City is the cranky old neighbor guy.

jtdiii and I spent a lovely evening wandering around the city - watching the ice skating and looking at the tree in Rockefeller Center, looking at the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building all lit up for the holiday, and generally getting our bearings (see pictures below). At the end of our wanderings, we went to Chinatown to get some dinner, but the restaurants (other than some fast food joints) were all closed, so we decided to go back to the hotel and just order a pizza. Pizza, at midnight, on Friday night, just across the Holland Tunnel from NYC. No problem, right? Wrong. The front desk clerks were anti-helpful and none of the pizza joints in town delivered past midnight. Apparently NONE of the restaurants in town were open or would deliver after midnight. Huh.

 

Our gourmet dinner ended up being Lean Pockets and Diet Cokes from the hotel store, Fruitabus from my purse, and a chocolate frog. Yum!

 

 

...or comments on travel to and around the East Coast and including pictures of the Brooklyn Bridge, Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty.

 

Travelogues are often boring, in part because they are often rigidly tied to the chronological order of the sights seen and things done. Therefore, in an attempt to be more coherent and interesting, I will continue my holiday story thematically rather than chronologically.  I’m a bit of a shutterbug (although nowhere as expert as some of you) so many entries will be well illustrated and I will probably have additional views of items and places. If you are interested in more details/pictures/whatever, just leave a comment or email me and I’ll see what I have. Posts should be appearing over the next few days to a week, covering my adventures in New York, Hartford, and Boston.

It has been brought to my attention that I never did tell folks about my vacation decision and some of y'all are nosy. Due to multiple reasons (financial, medical, familial and social), I decided to stay in the country for this vacation adventure. While I would have liked to travel abroad, this option provides several benefits over Europe. This means I will be spending the holidays with my family in the Milwaukee area before traveling out to the East Coast to visit friends and attractions in Boston, Connecticut, and New York City. I will get to enjoy adventures in the fabric district, The Met, the Cloisters, and more, as well as visiting friends old and new, especially mtgordon's little son. (Baby! Squee!) I'll be available electronically intermittently throughout the holidays and back in Madison in early January. I hope to see many of you at Jararvellir's Yule Moot (January 13) and many more of you at Nordskogen's 12th Night. Take care and Happy Holidays...

I find myself conflicted... I spent a chunk of the evening working with the student travel people (another perk of being the perpetual student), but did not find any cheap-o flights. :/ I am also wondering at the wisdom of traveling to a non-English speaking country by myself with unresolved family/health issues. Gack.
create your own visited countries map or vertaling Duits Nederlands
create your own visited states map or check out these Google Hacks. It would not be the end of the world to just enjoy some time off at home, I suppose, or do a more "local" trip where I could get home quickly if need be. But it somehow seems a waste to have two weeks' vacation and NOT flee the country. :P Dither.

So the freaking passport finally showed up yesterday. Apparently the squeaky wheel gets the grease. ;) 

This means I now have options for my December adventure, but options mean decisions and dithering. The Italy plan is a pretty good one, if I can find a plane ticket that won't cost an arm and a leg. But now a jaunt out to the East Coast is looking more and more interesting as well - between fabric and New Year's in NYC and an old friend with a new son in Boston, there's a lot going for that plan too...  

Dither, dither, because it is what I am good at, at least at this stage in the planning process. there are just so many exciting options, I am loathe to CHOOSE until I've done some more investigations. :P Next Thursday or the following I should go to the student travel place on campus and see what my options are flight-wise. (Ah, the many benefits of being a perpetual student! Granted, the ILL privileges are used much more often, but it is still nice to save a tidy little bit on airfare all for being addicted to education.) Anyway, I probably have about a month before I have to decide - just enough time to do some research and pleasantly ponder...

First the ranty bit: Why the hell is my passport not here yet? I paid to get it expedited and it still has not shown up and I am feeling really twitchy about not having it. Not that I have current plans to flee the country today, but the day is still early, after all...

Second: further thoughts regarding potential destinations, in particular, where would I go if I could not go abroad? 

Monday night gflower got me thinking when she reminded me about the lovely fabrics she brought back for me from the New York fabric districts. I have been to the Philly district, which apparently pales in comparison, and had an absolutely splendid time. I would have to spend a solid two days or better just shopping, though, and I somehow think that particular vacation destination would not be any cheaper than Italy. But still, the Met, and the potential to do Times Square for New Year's Eve, and all that... a potentially appealing option. 

Ottowa is another place I have been thinking of, at least in part because I'm a de Lint fangirl and it would be kewl to go see him play. But that would still need a passport, I guess, being in Canada and I don't know that I could occupy myself for a week and a half in Ottowa anyway - perhaps a smaller trip.

Then there is Seattle, where I could visit my cousin and his oh-so-cute little son... again, I don't know that there is enough to occupy me for that long. Maybe also go see friends in CA?

Perhaps this bears further thought...