Update #3: Task #5 -Visit All 50 States

See older lists here and here and here

Just crossed some off this summer - South Carolina (Days 1, 2, 3) Ohio, and Kentucky. 


I've also started to map out the rest of the states. For example, who do I know that I can go visit there or what landmark or national park or what-have-you. I'm a-plannin' but a lot of travel equals a lot of expense, so it might be a little while before I cross off some more. But I am thoroughly okay with that - there's no deadline except my life-time. 

States I've Lived In: (4)

California, Indiana, Missouri, Texas

States I've Worked In/Already Visited: (26)

Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, Wyoming

States I'm Already Planning On:

Wisconsin ('13)

States That I Still Need To Visit: (19)

Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia

Downtown Des Moines Farmers Market

I had heard many good things about the DM farmer's market, and I love me a good farmer's market, but I was not prepared for the immensity and complexity of this market. In addition to the farmers hawking their freshly grown goods, there were food booths galore, as well as arts and crafts booths, and other amazing goodies. Plus there were street musicians, and people wandering around trying to sell really tiny puppies.

Speaking of the puppies, I think they are too young to be sold at the age they are, but I didn't talk to them long enough to see if they were selling them at a later date when they were more mature. That aside, they still were darling little things, don't you think?





But let's get down to the real things at hand - don't all these things look good enough to eat?



















So many sights such as a pickup truck full of cantaloupe:



Or people making amazing kettle corn in already horrifying heat:



Or someone hawking growing your own mushrooms to eat:



Refreshments were had - such as this delicious breakfast burrito:



while we listened to this guy while we waited:




I went back again the following week, and my only really exciting find was this man who did amazing weaving right before our eyes:







The details and the colors blew me away. I'm sure his work was very expensive, because it was amazing.


So if you're ever in downtown Des Moines, during the summer & fall (i think), check it out. It'll be well-worth your time!

A Rainy Day Off

This summer, in our schedule of crazy, we did have a few days off towards the end. And without fail, it would rain on said days off.

Even with the looming thunderclouds, my friend KS and I decided to go up anyway. We had plans on visiting the Zoo and the Botanical Center. We did both - but not without complication.

The Zoo is where we got caught out in the rain. No mere sprinkle - it DOWNPOURED. We were soaking soaking wet. Unbelievably so. We managed to make it to shelter in the Zoo's train station and waited for it to die down. We ran back to the main entrance where there was an inside exhibit. We wandered through there where I got some amazing photos of seahorses.





And then back outside when we'd dried out a little and it had stopped raining. We visited the Wallabys & Roos (where they are allowed to roam free) and the goats (which we fed).







And a gator who was sitting on a log, but not how you think:



We then went to the Botanical Center where we dried off further courtesy of a bathroom handdryer and explored raindroplet-ed flowers:












I think it was worth the soaking we got - even if both of the places were smaller than expected. As always, you can see more photos in my Des Moines, IA set at Flickr.

Des Moines Sculpture Park

When I can, I enjoy visiting other cities' outdoor art. St. Louis has an amazing sculpture park called Laumeier and I visit it not often enough. On a rare evening off, a friend and I went up from Indianola to Des Moines and explored a few sites I had earmarked to revisit when I had the time.

Specifically, I wanted to see the Sculpture park, and at night. During the day time, it's a nice little collection of great art, but at night, they gain new life.

Example:



looks great by day, but spookier by night:



What I really wanted to see was this:









Amazing, eh? I thought so. Explore more in my Des Moines, IA set. :)

Palo Duro Canyon

Many day offs ago, BF and I went to the Palo Duro Canyon. It's apparently the 2nd largest canyon in North America (guess which one is first).

BF had never seen a canyon before (he's a NY'er) so he was a bit more enchanted than I. Nevertheless, a canyon is still an impressive feat of geological history.

Here's a few photographic highlights:











More can be found on my flickr photostream a few pages back... I uploaded them awhile ago but forgot to blog about it.

Hawaii, Day 6 & 7

Day 6 dawned cloudy but we held out hope for an afternoon on the beach. But before we could be lazy, we had to get our workout. Diamond Head is a nearby State Monument which was also part o the Coastal Artillery defense system. It's a short (0.8 mile) but arduous (560 ft elev) hike. There are two very steep stairwells, of 74 and 99 stairs respectively. K, my companion, is in much better shape than I am, if anything by virtue of where she lives. Houston is not very hilly and my parking lot is flatter than flat. NYC gifted her with a steep hill near her apartment and steep stairways to and from the subway. Therefore, I was not surprised to find myself lagging behind. What I was surprised about was my great inability to get a lungful of air, (what I'd later learn was the very early signs of the bronchitis).

As much as it was a harder-than-necessary hike, the views were well-worth it. I could have done without the crowds and the gnats that awaited us. And as a popular visitor's destination, they could maintain their trails a bit better considering the foot traffic it recieves.





Both of us, in shape and not, were looking forward to our lazy afternoon on the beach. We started out in our original spot, but it was windier that day and we decided to move further down the beach behind the seawall. We played frisbee in the water for ages and later, I used to frisbee to look for shells. The shells I found were miniscule but gorgeous. It was all fun and games until I found a larger shell, complete with current resident. Needless to say, there was a startled squeal and dropping of frisbee. I retrieved it moments later, critter-free and was very much done with shell-hunting.





Unfortunately, that was pretty much the end of our island adventures as my traveling companion became ill that night, and we stayed in the next day, sleeping and storing energy for our long trip to the airport that evening, via bus.

Despite the very last part of our trip, it really was a blast. Would we have wanted more sunshine and more beach time? Sure. Would we have wanted to see more of Hawaii, like other islands? Sure. Did we have fun? Absolutely.

In an effort to save funds, we created our own cocktail in our room, supplied by the ABC stores. Equal parts rum (bacardi gold), pineapple juice, orange juice and grapefruit juice. The grapefruit juice's tartness helped balance out the super-sweetness of the pineapple juice. As far as we can tell, no one else has combined these particular ingredients and named it - so we named it after our lodging: the Royal Grove Cocktail



All in all, visiting the Land of Blue Stop Signs was fun and I look forward to my next trip.

Hawaii, Day 5

We awoke very early this day, at 5:30am to go to Pearl Harbor. The USS Arizona memorial is free, popular and historical. We had been warned about long (2.5 hour) waits, so we decided to get up earlier than usual and not risk the long wait. It was usually a battle to stay in bed asleep past 7am anyway - since we still hadn't quite adjusted to the time zone. An hour bus ride later, we arrived to the memorial.

Because of strict regulations, we had to leave almost everything behind in a bag check. Armed with only our wallets and cameras (and silly us, we'd both worn skirts with no pockets), we headed back to the memorial. After a small wait and a quick snack (we'd skipped breakfast), we watched a very informative, slightly depressing film about Pearl Harbor and that day. After the movie/history refresher, we boarded a boat, crewed by actually Naval officers in crisp white uniforms boated us over to the memorial.



The memorial bridge, for lack of a better term, straddles the sunken wreckage of the USS Arizona, who went down and created an underwater tomb for its residents. It's an open air viewport which allows viewing on both sides, as well as a memorial wall that lists every name of the fallen USS Arizona. Nearby are markers for the USS Oklahoma and USS Vestal; and the USS Missouri is anchored nearby, still afloat.

Oil leaks slowly from below, creating rainbow patterns on the water. It's released at a rate of about 1-2 quarts per day (so that's 5,000-10.000 gallons since WWII). When it sank, it had about 1.4 million gallons, some of which burned after the attack. Apparently the ship and Pearl Harbor itself burned for several days post-attack.

As I've found in almost all adventures of visiting historical places, I find that there are always new details that I don't recall from when I originally learned about the event. In the on-site museum that we visited after our term, I learned about the Navy yard tug Hoga. It performed many duties at Pearl Harbor, including assisting the USS Arizona for 76 hours without break. She remained in service for 7 more years before being loaned to the City of Oakland, CA as a fireboat. It is now back in the possession of Pearl Harbor and out of 180 yard and service craft active at Pearl Harbor that particular day, the Hoga is one of three still in existence.

In addition, when the USS Arizona sank, it entombed 900 people, so it is a war grave. This prohibits any recreational diving around the ship, and research divers are not allowed to enter the ship. Any research about the effect of the leaking oil on the environment cannot violate this status either. Any sailor or Marine who was aboard the ship at the time of the attack has the right to be interred (cremated) in the ship. There have been more than twenty interments in so many years.



Speaking of that, amongst the other visitors on our particular ship, I could swear that a gentleman who served on the USS California was among us. He looked to be the right age, and other people seemed to treat him with a little extra kid glove treatment.

This trip was well worth the early rising and lack of breakfast. It was beautiful in its tragedy and made me think more about the past as well as the future. I was particularly captivated with the leaking oil from a photographic point of view. It may be harmful environmentally but its beautiful. I'm always a sucker for something rainbow-y and especially when its subject to the randomness and chaos of nature. See for yourself.











More pictures can be found at my flickr photostream.

After our morning of remembrance, we finally had our afternoon on a sunny beach in Waikiki, Hawaii. Hooray!!