Things and Stuff

[trinityvixen]

I haven't even been able to think about catching up to LJ yet, so forgive me, I'll get there, but I have some trip-related updates. I'll be brief. There's really only so much I can say about a trip of four days where two were spent in the car. (I kid you not: 18-20 hours on the road both ways.)

First, non-trip-related: it was an electrical fire. All appears to be well now, though I have not been outside to see what the situation is on the street just yet.

Trip-related:
-Holy crap, I hate Rte. 80. The downside of a trip whereby your starting and ending destinations are on the same highway is that there is NOTHING to do. I will never be so ungrateful for exits, turns, and route changes ever again. The other reason to hate Rte. 80 is that it is, for every state except New Jersey (I have never been so glad to be in New Jersey as I was last night), a two-lane highway with a lot of trucks on it.

Oh, and they frequently close down one lane for MILES to do construction. On the way out, I took over driving near Joliet, Illinois and the traffic was so bad, I had time to paint my nails at the wheel. (Two coats! Both hands!) On the way back, my youngest sister (not the graduate; she's staying in Iowa) got stuck in Pennsylvania so I offered to switch. We were able to open our doors and get out and walk leisurely around and take up our new positions. As soon as it opened up, I did 80 mph from there until I got back to NYC.

-I had to actively try to take more pictures of graduation than I might otherwise have bothered doing (since I am a shitty photographer and there were plenty of cameras) because I didn't want to have fewer pictures of my sister's graduation than of my family and I at the future birthplace of James T. Kirk. (More on that later.)

-Though we weren't quite there at planting season like we were last year, a good part of Iowa still smells like manure.

-People are super friendly in the middle of the country. It is a nice change but a weird one. I'm still not quite sure how to react when people at Wal-Mart are like earnestly wishing me a great day and inviting me to have a root beer float.

-I got to go on a waterslide! There was one at our hotel! This is apparently something hotels have now? Whatever: indoor water slide!

Comments

[slackwench.livejournal.com]

You came to Iowa and I missed you again? boo!

Oh, and yeah. People in Iowa are so friendly that it's creepy coming from NYC. It took a LOT of getting used to when I moved out here.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Where are you in Iowa again? Was I anywhere near you? I was at Iowa City. Iowa is way bigger than I ever remember, so odds weren't good that unless you were like an hour away I would have been able to do anything. Plus, it was a family outing and no one went alone anywhere, really because plans were never settled until the last minute.

But I'm glad I'm not the only one who goes, "WTF mate?" to the Iowans being like super happy.

[slackwench.livejournal.com]

I'm at Iowa State in Ames. Iowa City is University of Iowa, which means I'm now required to despise your sibling (if that's where she went). It's about 2 hours away, which is a bit far.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Yep, she was at U of I. Great, I've gone and started a fight because I went to Columbia and have no way to fathom the loyalties of rival universities!

[slackwench.livejournal.com]

Just think of Columbia and Princeton.

[edgehopper.livejournal.com]

Your family went on a Federation cruiser lifeboat shuttle?

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

See? One teensy-weensy giant fucking spaceship comes back in time and blows up one stupid Federation starship and suddenly Kirk isn't Iowan! THE RIPPLES.

The town of Riverside, IA has/had Gene Roddenberry's permission to be the official future birthplace of James T. Kirk. And no matter how popular the new film, that will always be the case.

(Though? There was a shuttle in that town...)

[fairest.livejournal.com]

A waterslide at the hotel?? Sign me up for next graduation. :P

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

SRSLY.

[saturn-shumba.livejournal.com]

I'm jealous of your future Kirk birthplace visit. Were there huge Star Trek-y signs in that town?

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

It's Iowa, not Vegas, alas. There was a flag on the main street (which is just a stretch of a highway that runs through "town") that pointed the way to a stone marker...behind a building. Hardly auspicious. There's also a plaque in a bar and a teeny tiny little home-made sort of museum where they have a bunch of memorabilia related to their annual Trekfest.

All in all, a rather sedate place. This all changes at Trekfest, apparently, when there are too many people for the wait staff at the bar/restaurant (the only one we saw) to stop and count them.