TRAVELOGUE #3 6/23/2008_4:04 PM EST

Here we can be found, in Connecticut, living the vagrant lifestyle. Making mashed potatoes, watching an unhealthy amount of television dramas, strolling along the old-money college boulevards, and finding the cheapest Indian Restaurant within walking distance. Besides the heart-achingly high cholesterol prices of oil on this, the North-Eastern Seaboard, our attentions have been directed towards the nearby mountains. Hiking the steep grade was a painful reminder of how sore muscles can be made to ache.

The trip to this area started from a departure out of Roanoke, West Virginia (not the infamous first North American Colony Roanoke, North Carolina, like we had first believed). Disappointed we were, to say the least, until we latched on to the free food and WIFI that the local library was offering.
We followed the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway back up through to Shenandoah National Park, hoping to see bear but settling on deer and gopher instead.

Mammoth Caves of Kentucky takes the cake when comparing scenery to Shenandoah.

We headed off to Washington, D.C. afterwards, where parking tickets flow like water, and bureaucrats clog the streets like a corrupted artery filled with cholesterol.
The Museum of Natural History is incredible.

We spent hours in the first floor alone and hadn't seen a minor fraction of what that landmark has to offer. The Capitol Building and Washington Memorial are gigantic, the White House is unobservable from the road, and the rain is very cold and bone penetrating.

We drove on and on through the night, bypassing the 41 dollar a night camping prices of Emittsburg, Maryland, and settled on the “free” community park price in Gettysburg. After waking, we took in breakfast at the Lincoln Diner, where the best pancakes I have yet to eat were served. Melissa and I drove to the nearby Gettysburg Battle Field, where in 1863, three days of Civil War took place.

There were numerous monuments and graves to gaze at, and a nationally erected monument to take pictures with. The spot where Lincoln delivered the oft-cited “Fore score...etcetera, etcetera,” speech was visited as well. Remarkable.

We continued straight on until we arrived in Middletown, Connecticut. Melissa's brother is awesome and so are all of his friends (Nate, Kate, Josh, Kelly, Carrie, Joe, there are too many to name!) thus far. We plan on heading into Hartford and the University of Connecticut a little later on this week, and checking out New York, New York is high on our to-do list. Tonights dinner consists of baked tofu and goat cheese with pears, zucchini, squash and yellow onions alongside a fresh salad and my world famous garlic mashed potatoes. (PS: It went over well.)
-James

And now, some video set to homemade music again.

another day in care-adise

More Blue Ridge Parkway

made with music from the road...

Video of the Blue Ridge Parkway

Blue Ridge Parkway

From Crossville we headed east into the Blue Ridge Mt. to Asheville, North Carolina. There is not much to say about Asheville other than it is a city surrounded by gorgeous mountains. It could be considered an awesome hippie town if it weren't so terribly trendy and expensive. There is the largest home in America nestled there in the mountains, guess who owns it? The Vanderbilts, that is right the very people who own Vanderbilt University in Nashville decided to establish an elitest Nashville in the sky, hence the name Asheville. We saw a show there at the Orange Peel, venue ok, headliner (Rilo Kiley) not great, yet the surprise opener Gillian Welch phenomenal. We left Asheville a couple days ago and are now heading north along the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is absolutely gorgeous. We have now spent two night in the Appalachains and each night have fallen asleep at overlooks just off the highway. That's right we have gone to sleep and awaken with some of the most incredible views in the area. Our next stop: Shenandoah National Park.