Cross Country Caper - Route 66 (Part 2)

We got an early start out of Santa Fe, making only a few stops at the obligatory Native American post, an authentically named 'Armco Gas Indian Center', and a junk shop at the continental divide 'landmark' post.

We got into Sedona by mid-day.  The drive into town was a beautiful windy 2 lane highway through a grove of small trees, following down into a red rock river, which lead to breathtaking views of the canyons.

Once in town, we each had a chance to unwind with a massage from Diana at Uptown Massage.  That night we had dinner at an alarming corny faux-italian-villa-style restaurant, and hunkered down for the night at The Penrose B&B.  With incredible views, and hospitality it was definitively the most beautiful inn experience on our journey.

The following morning we awoke to the burning warmth of the dessert sun, and stumbled our way downstairs and onto the back porch for an impressively fresh and bountiful 3-course breakfast.

Another stop on our way out of town at a local farm stand, and indian trading post, for our last collection of trading beads and handwoven baskests; and we were off to the Grand Canyon.

Nearing the end of our journey, with still a long drive home, our stop at the Grand Canyon was short.  We drove north from Sedona, and paid our respects at the South Rim.

 

Our stop for that night would be Barstow, California. We made a pit-stop along the way for a late lunch of burgers and root beer floats, at Mr. D's.

The night in Barstow, was relatively unremarkable, and the only thing worth mentioning was the much needed morning dip-off in the motel pool.  The next morning it was a quick drive up HWY 5, and home again home again jiggity jog.  Now in the comforts of Martinez, CA it was time for a homemade blackberry pie, with berries fresh-from-the-back-garden berries.

Ahhh...what a trying journey it was!

Cross Country Caper - Route 66 (Part 1)

As the weather remains in a seemingly hopeless state of perpetual winter, I can only dream about days of warmth and sunshine.  With that in mind, I'd like to share some details and imagery from a cross country journey...

A few years back, in a momentary lapse of rational thought; my brother, mother, and I piled into Mom's Hyundai for an 8 day cross-country excursion.  Starting out in Brooklyn, we made a stop at Trader Joe's to load up our cooler with the necessary survival snacks:  Gourmet Hummus, Organic Mixed Juices, Seasoned Vegetable Chips... only the necessities.  With no real plan in mind, we decided to rocket accross Pennsylvania, and Ohio as quickly as possible and pick up Route 66 around St. Louis.

In an effort to keep our trip as authentic as possible (I often thought of our ancestors traveling accross this great nation of ours in their covered wagons, staving off 'Indians', starvation, and illness) we decided the most 'rustic' thing to do was to stay in local Bed & Breakfasts the whole way.  Our first night was in a little B&B in Columbus, we got in real late, hunkered down for a good nights rest, and woke to the smell of oven baked herby eggs.  After a short stop downtown to pick up some additional provisions, a Mophie IPhone charging pack for me, and some expensive hand lotion for "the car"; we were on our way.  Rocketing towards St. Louis we made our first stop, of many, paying homage to our Native American brothers and sisters at the Drifstone Pueblo Indian Crafts Center.

Here Josh found his inner spirit is a Native American Snake Charmer. 

About halfway to our end destination for the night, we stumbled upon Blue Springs Pie Shop.  Where after indulging in 3 of their flavors, we all agreed it was the finest piece of pie any of us had ever eaten on the road between Columbus and St. Louis.

 

After the exhaustive task of pie-eating and coffee drinking, it was back into the Hyundai, and off to St. Louis.  That evening, we found a great little B&B just outside downtown St. Louis, called Dwell 912.  After a rustic dinner at a 5-star up and coming restaurant, we hit the hay stack for some much needed rest.

 

After a grueling night's rest on our fluffy down pillows, and a breakfast of Tennessee eggs, with cheese and Jalapeno, it was off to Shaw's for a cup of artisanal brew.  Then it was back on the road, and off to Oklahoma City.  

Highlights along the way included: 

Passing an awesome gang of bikers, in Canadian Tuxedos (that's jean jackets paired with jeans)

a pit-stop at another Native American Trading Post

  

The Meramac Caverns and Gift Shop, the alleged hide-out of Jesse James

 The Route 66 Mule Trading Post, where several Johnny Cash and Loretta Lynn LP's were purchased

 and a late lunch and dessert at Crosstown BBQ and Andy's Frozen Custard stand in Springfield, MO

That night was our finest B&B experience to date.  Just outside Oklahoma City, with belly's swimming with pulled pork and frozen custard, we found ourselves driving back and forth through the pitch black night of rural OK in search of The Red Rooster Caboose & Inn.  After 2 or 3 loops back, we saw in the distance, just over the hill, the top of the Red and Yellow engine cabooses peaking back at us.  Inside the ornately decorated 'Main House', our host Debra Jeanne greeted us with homemade warm nut bread heaped with a mound of whipped cream, and glasses of Sangria, which she had filled to the rim from a growler of Carlo Rosso found in the crisper drawer of her fridge.

A night in the Yellow Caboose car, left my mother an I feeling like true pioneers, and we were happy to wake to a breakfast of bean and cheese slathered eggs, biscuits and gravy, and fruit.

 

A photo-op outside, courtesy of Debra Jeanne, and we were on our way.

 

 

That morning it was off to Santa Fe, NM, with stops at:

 

Another series of Indian Trading posts, where I purchased a pair of dusty blue mocassin boots, my double Wolf-Face spirit animal dress (which would remain the staple of my wardrobe for the remainder of the trip), and oggled some navajo princess braid keepers.

Lunch that day was in Amarillo, TX at Jorge's Taco Garcia.

We then took a detour on the old Route 66 through Tucumcari and Santa Rosa, NM.

 

Danford Dan's Music Shop: 
The hand written sign in the window reads:
"Socialism not the change we need in the world"

 

 

There was a storm in the distance as we drove into Santa Fe.  It was quick to pass, and left the most incredible light show.

That night dinner, was at the best restaurant we'd been to thus far.  A little place called Cafe Pasqual's, a pueblo-style adobe restaurant, with a menu filled with fresh ingredients, and subtle spices; it's an absolute must-try if you're in the area.

That night we stayed at the lovely, and hospitable Guadalupe Inn.

The next morning it was off to Sedona, AZ.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

Brooklyn Artist: Rob Corradetti

Click on the pic to see more of Rob's work...

...Or, you can check out his work in person now, through March 18th at Fathom + Hatch, as part of the Subject to Change: New York artists explore a culture in flux exhibit. 
(Public Viewing Hours: Mon-Fri, Noon - 6PM)

..

Diary of a Forager

Foraging.  What was once a sustenance model born of necessity and lack of agriculture is now one of the many important ways for urban hipsters to assert their “eco-consciousness”, and to get their photo printed in the New York Times Magazine.   The idea is simple:  Troll your neighborhood parks and sidewalks for spontaneously growing produce, claim them as your own, and take them home to create a delicious seasonal dish, probably involving Quinoa and Heirloom Pinto Beans. 

I had just moved to Silver Lake, which is the Los Angeles epicenter of hipsterdom, so I was anxious to prove my worthiness of admittance into this upper echelon.  Certain measures had already been taken: I got bangs, purchased three ironic sweaters, and started working a second job to pay for my $56 a week coffee budget. But it wasn’t enough.  I still needed that extra something… I figured I could start my own band and name it after an obscure 19^th century serial killer, open up a taxidermy/hat shop, or learn to forage. I chose the latter, because, by comparison, it seemed a bit more accessible … Below is an abridged record...

Day one:  Productive. I fashioned a fruit picker out of a broom handle and a broken wine bottle.  I am proud of this tool because it not only allows me to access fruit that is too high to reach, but it simultaneously lacerates it – saving me the time of having to do any dicing or chopping later.  I test it out on a small family of tomatoes that’s been growing on the hill behind my house, and it works so well, I wonder why no one has thought of it before. Turns out the tomatoes are infested with flies and mostly inedible, but at least I can get to them… Exhausted from my efforts, I turn on the DVR to catch up on episodes of “Charlie Rose”.  Fall asleep on the couch. 

Day Two: Mushroom day.  I’m thinking this will be an easy one, because my neighborhood is so vegetated, and so full of dogs. But just to be safe, I decide to do some research online to avoid inadvertently poisoning myself.  Turns out there are actually many different types of mushrooms, and learning which ones are edible is a fairly involved process requiring a lot of reading and looking at pictures.  I decide I should sink my teeth into this later when I have more time, so I bookmark a few mushroom websites, and spend the rest of the day watching “The Wire” and noodling around with my guitar.  Fall asleep on the couch.

Day Three:  I awake energized.  I remember that I’ve seen some blueberry bushes in my neighborhood… but I can’t remember where exactly?  After thinking it over for a few hours, I have a pretty clear picture in my mind of them being somewhere on the walking trail around the Silver Lake Reservoir, so I grab a canvas bag and my ipod, and head out on my fruit walk.   

A half an hour of listening to the “Age of Adz” later, I realize I’ve forgotten that I’m supposed to be looking for blueberries.  I remind myself to start keeping an eye out for them…  A half an hour later I realize I’ve forgotten again.  Luckily the Silver Lake Reservoir walking trail is a loop, so I just keep walking.  I take out my ear buds and repeat “blueberries blueberries blueberries” in my mind like a mantra so I don’t forget.  I do the entire loop like this but find no blueberries…. maybe they were somewhere else after all…  But where? This is the only place I walk… 

I decide to come back to the blueberries on another day when I can remember where they are (I’m sure it will just pop into my head when I’m least expecting it). Determined to not return home empty handed, I swing by my neighbor’s front yard to check out her grapefruit tree.  The grapefruit that’s fallen to the ground is solid like a rock, and the grapefruit that’s in the tree is too high up to reach. I should have brought my fruit picker. 

Day Four: Enough pussyfooting, it’s time to really get serious here and organize my thoughts. I decide to take my bike out because I can cover more ground.  The game plan is to ride around and scout, stopping to record the spots where I discover edibles, then come back for them later with my fruit picker.  Also I can keep my eyes peeled for the blueberries. This actually goes fairly well. There’s an Avocado tree, plus a few Lumquat trees and Rosemary bushes, so I return home to fetch my fruit picker, and head right back out the door. Now I’m really rockin and rollin.  I make it about three blocks, before I hear the bloop bloop of a siren, and I turn to see a police car crawling along beside me. Then a cop with a loud speaker instructs me to “put down the weapon”.  This seems unnecessary - he’s fully armed, and it’s broad daylight.  I mean what am I gonna do, come at him?  But I don’t want things to get weird, so I acquiesce and set it down.  He asks me what I’m doing with a broken wine bottle on a stick, and I explain to him that I am going to pick some of my neighbour’s fruit with it.  He absorbs this information, and then informs me that he could arrest me for “attempted robbery”, but instead he’s just going to confiscate my tool and issue me a stern warning to “stay out of other people’s yards.”…  Asshole.  I head home, dejected. Maybe I’m just not cut out for this type of high risk work… Just then, I see them: Blueberry bushes!  They were on the sidewalk outside my house all along!  I didn’t think to look for them there.  I pick the bushes clean, which yields about 5 cups of usable berries, enough for a tasty pie… Which I’ll make tomorrow maybe, I’m too tired right now, and I’ve already made a lot of progress today, I should rest.

Day Fifteen: I never got around to that pie, I’ve been too busy.  I kept thinking, “I should put those berries in the freezer so they don’t go bad”… Anyway. The bushes are still bear, so I’ve decided to take some time off from foraging until the berries grow back.  That will give me some time to really organize my thoughts.  In the meantime, I’m going to start work on my next project: A book of poetry I’m calling: “Give me Your Socks! (And other slogans)”. 

Craft Fairs!

'Tis the season for shopping, and I say, if you've gotta do some gift hunting, keep it local. There are some really excellent craft fairs in the NYC area. Check 'em out: Bust Magazine's Craftacular (it's one day only, tomorrow, Dec. 12th)
 
The Kings County General Store (two more weekends, Dec. 12th & 19th)  
Check out this Holiday Pop-up shop hosted by the gang at Cool Hunting (open now thru Jan. 2nd):

Traveling Like a Vagabond

It's easy to get swept up in all the guidebook-glamour of what to see and where to be when traveling, that we often forget to allow ourselves to get lost, and explore. Now don't get me wrong, I still carry a map with me while I'm "getting lost" in a country, but if you're like me, and seeking opportunities to get off the beaten path, here are some great resources:

For alternative travel ideas, and tips on how to have a "real travel" experience check out Afar Magazine.

Photo by Chiara Goia

If you'd like to connect with locals, try staying with one. Check out local accommodations before you go, at sites like: Global Freeloaders, Couch Surfing, and Hospitality Club. I traveled this way all through Europe, and met some wonderful people along the way. I traveled this way all through Europe, and met some wonderful people along the way.

For a local experience that really gives back to the community look into Volunteer Vacations, through organizations like Rustic Travel. Also check out, the Daily Green's list of great Eco-Vacations.