Reflections on the Road, Providence RI

G'Day Mates!
Today I write from a friends house in Providence, Rhode Island. Rhode Island = pretty groovy. It's teeny weeny, fun-size and cute enough to try and sneak home in your front pocket if you want my travel critic opinion :)

Yesterday I toured and putzed around Newport, Rhode Island; home to beautiful mansions on Ocean Drive, lovely beaches and historic Fort Adams to name a few of its beauties. :) If you took the nice shops of Mequon and Cedarburg, added it to Port Washington's lakeside downtown, added 20,000 people and mixed the classic, rich and traditional east coast culture, you have Newport. Go vacation there. Bring a sand castle kit, all your nautical clothes and a big appetite for fresh seafood and local microbrewed beer and you will have a great time.

It's funny how being a Packers fan can come in handy no matter where you are in the World. In Ireland I sat down in front of someone wearing a Packer hat and also a Wisconsin native. This week I was sitting in an awesome Irish bar (next to the Tennis Hall of Fame, I forget the name) watching the Packers beat up on the Vikings with a friend and had a great time chatting with locals who also liked the Packers and Wisconsin. Right now is a great time to be a cheesehead!

Before chillin' like a villian streets away from the ocean and Brown University, I worked an expo horse geeks call the Equine Affair. It's an annual yeehaw horsey shopping spree held in Springfield, Mass. The East has alot of money, alot of english riders and enough strip clubs and seedy men to go around the world twice (ok compared to the midwest it does, I might be a little facetious when I say seedy men and strip clubs but there were alot by us!). What a cool place to travel to though, the area is so old and historic! It was crazy seeing all the tree damage along our scenic drive to our hotel every day, the houses were so old and rustic I wanted to take the view and put it in a snowglobe.

Before the East Coast I spent a month in Columbus, Ohio, home to the American Quarter Horse Congress. If you ever get the chance to go, do it! My favorite week is probably the first one with the reiners. With plenty of cowboy butts in wranglers and French speaking Canadians, you will be highly amused both during the day and at night. Quarter horse people like to work hard and play hard, making the Corral, a round bar located on the showgrounds a common stomping ground. Its amazing how much horse people vary, horse lovers come in all shapes and income sizes...

Tomorrow I'm off to Mt. Vernon, Ohio and then to Chicago where another small expo will be held right before I head toThanksgiving in Wisconsin. This year without my Granny K is going to make for a strange holiday. Its wierd how you move on after death but you think and miss someone daily,  more so then what I miss my little redheaded dog right now. My friend here has a silly slightly neurotic cat that I'm trying to love in replace of him but its not working...Maybe I'll teach it to fetch....

Hope all is well and groovy in your neck of the woods,
Kate

September 11th, 2011... sitting in an airport

The last plane ride my tall, teal Ospry backpack traveled with me to was a graduation celebration to Cancun with my best friend, her mom and her mom's friends. Today it accompanies me back to Oostburg to say good-bye to the person that three months ago gave me the opportunity to see Cancun in the first place. I'm usually excited to travel and should probably be commenting on how wierd yet not wierd it is to travel on the ten year anniversary of 9/11 but this post is a much needed brain release and reflection on how crazy this world turns.

Last night as I was packing and getting ready to go out and have a drink with friends in Greenville, I picked out my favorite tan h&m blazer to wear that I bought years ago, I believe while with my best friend Jill in Gurnee Mills. Unbeknown to me as I slipped it on and put my hand in the right pocket was a plane ticket stub dated May 18th, 2011 headed from Milwaukee to Houston. In the left pocket laid a handful of Spanish flashcards I had made to prep for conversations in Cancun. This may not have taken me by surprise any other time but it startled and shook me up when I realized their significance; the last time I wore the jacket I was with Marcy, Jills mom who passed away unexpectedly. I may not believe in God, I may not follow horoscopes or superstitions but this may have made me a believer in angels (or atleast softened up my tough exterior).

To anyone that has had the pleasure of knowing Marcy Fitz Maurice, you know how awesome, spontaneous and funny she was. Between her and her family, the feelings of love and friendship are mutual and she will forever grace myself and others with nothing but great memories. From watching VH1 at her house with my bestest friend to catching a tan (or a buzz) in Cancun, I will never forget her.

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Bugs in Maine have no Mercy!

So I've been busy. A little chicken shit towards writing.Slow to sit in internetland  for any period of time. And very much tied up in making new friends, working and counting sheep in between. But I'm alive, happy and well.

I moved out to the great north woods in Maine aboot a month and a half ago and I must say, this place is fantastic. Between the mindblowing in-your-face nature to the down-to-earth hospitality I've received here there is no question I have found a secret little place in the US to work, play and have a great time for a little while. To help visualize, I live in a town of 98 people in what Maine considers "Unorganized Territory". Basically hardly anyone lives here year round and there is no government. Yeeeehaw! There is however, one gas station/country store, 2.5 restaurants (one is only open Thursday- Sunday nights hence the .5), a marina, a bunch of rental homes and lodging places, two real estate businesses, two churches and a post office. There are easily more moose around then people. To get to Greenville, nearest town, its an 18 mile drive and I think only about 2,000 people live there.

I work at a cute (but masculine) hunting/fishing lodge that sits on Moose River in Rockwood. It rents cabins and hosts breakfast and dinner in a 92 year old dining hall. I could, and probably will go on and on about how wonderful this place is and the people who work here. Every time I work I leave with a full belly or a take-out box stuffed with one of the specials of the night. Free food? Free Ribs every Saturday!?! Heck yes! I also work as a sales associate and barista at a really unique store called Northwoods Outfitters. Any camping, biking, kayaking thing you need, they've got it. It's also home to guided services, moose safaris, rentals and hotel accommodations so its a daily battle learning how to answer tourists questions as a tourist myself.

So far I've indulged in the landscape with Carhartt on my days off. I've climbed Kineo, Eagle Rock and Little Moose Mountains, or Mounts, or really big hills. I'm not sure what to call them. Here they call them mountains but in Colorado I think they would call them hills... Either way I feel like this area is as beautiful as you can get. Plus the best part about Moosehead Lake? Its not over developed like lakes in Wisconsin or anywhere else. The 38 mile long lake can be seen without boats and water toys more often then not and there are dozens of ponds and rivers that are great for fishing and kayaking too.

Off to hit the hay! Gnight and thanks for reading! Pretty soon I think I'll have a fancy camera and will attempt to capture some of this place on film. Below are links of where I'm at :)

maynardsinmaine.com

maineoutfitter.com

mooseheadlake.org

themainehighlands.com

Cancun Pics :)

Tikin-Xic, a common fish dish off the coast of Isla Mujeres is reallllyyy good whichever way its prepared (I had it lightly baked at the resort and it was the bomb too). This delicious flour, fish, tomato and ???  was wrapped in banana leaves and grilled. I snatched one up from a small foodstand during a Marlin fishing tournement party we happened to stumble upon during our time on Isla Mujeres, I wish I took a picture of this chocolate, nutmeg wafflecone wrap I had for dessert! I think I could easily eat my way around the world if Anthony B on TV ever needed a sidekick :)

Penthouse view (minus the construction of the rest of the hotel, and its noise)

 Translucent Cracker y Toasted Cracker

Blog Post Crunch Time!

Time flies when you're having fun... or working... or when you have limited internet access... I intended to have posts during my travels to Minnesota, Cancun and on the way to my current location in Maine but like I said, time flies and I've been living, commuting and confiding in my own lil flying time machine for the past few months.

In Brief,

Gulfport, Mississippi, February- March
I was lucky enough to spend much of my winter avoiding the cold, Arctic Wisconsin weather in mainly 70-80 degree weather in the deep ole' south. For a month I was working at a horse show near Buloxi, MS. Its crazy how visible the damage of Hurricane Katrina still is. I wish I could have seen the area before, with businesses thriving and more attractions to utilize besides the casinos; they seemed to keep the money and visitors coming into the area besides the little outlet mall. I however indulged in the the local sushi and seafood restaurants with newly made friends when I wasn't on long walks on the beach with Carhartt. On a day off I made it to New Orleans during Mardi Gras and unlike the majority, I soberly made my way around the French Quarter, with my first stop at Cafe du Monde, where my favorite Chikkory coffee comes from! I was super excited to try their French Beignets only to find they are mini, glorified funnel cakes. Regardless, New Orleans rocks and I am still facinated with how strange and cool the state of Louisiana is and I hope to get back there again soon.

If you ever get to Gulfport, try the oyster platters at the Half Shell Oyster House and head next door to The Quarter for a drink and good tunes! You can always have a good time if eaither Isis or Motha Roux is playing :) Shaddy's Global Grille in Ocean Springs is also a great place for a date or dinner with friends! :)

Afterwards, I caught fish in Florida, visited friends in Tennessee, flew to Portland, Maine for a week to see a long lost college friend (which led to my presence in Maine right now) and then worked as a sales associate for Horsey Habit at horse expos in Indiana, Wisconsin and Minnesota. I love being an independent contractor/free entreprenurial spirit! I highly reccomend it to anyone that is eager to travel and has good people skills.

Cancun, Mexico, Late May
My first time at an "All Inclusive" resort was also a hit.  The service was excellent and the opportunity to kick back and relax on a quiet, beautiful beach was very medicinal for everyone on the trip. I did leave with a lack-of appreciation for timeshare gigs. The poor potential suckers looked both miserable and confused as numbers, features and bonus crap was shoved down their throats. The salesmen looked like sketchy failed sales rejects from the States or just plain wierd. Yuck! Oh well, gotta love observing it all with our timeshare-free mimosas and rum induced breakfast smoothies :)

I could have done without Coco Bongo, Market 38 and the hotel construction but I loved the local food and Isla Mujeres. The tiny "Women Island" had this Marlin Fishing tournement going on and I got to taste some of the best street vendor food ever as my friend got 'er hair did ;)

Oh yea and Spanish dictionaries and lesson apps on my Ipod Touch = translation lifesavers! Feel smart and bilingual quickly, on the go and for free!!!

I will post more pictures when I have the patience and computer skills, right now neither of them are present  and I need to sleep!

Check out  some of the places I visited and enjoyed:
http://www.halfshelloysterhouse.com/
http://www.thequarterbar.com/
http://www.shadysglobalgrille.com/
http://www.cafedumonde.com/
http://www.horseyhabit.com/
http://www.villapalmarcancun.com/
http://www.visitportland.com/

It's Time to Start a Blog!

If writing came as easily as traveling to me, I would have started a blog four years ago when I left for college. I guess its never too late to start a blog and I may as well before my amusing travel stories run out. Many people follow my routes via Facebook but I pledge to do more with this blog. I hope to help my audience smile, relate, laugh, contemplate and reflect on my journeys as well as stay in touch with me!!

Technology has never been a big part of my life (yes even though I am part of the computer savvy generation) and I've kind of held anything computer related at an arms distance with two fingers pinching my nose. Starting this blog should not have been as stressful as a semester of Website Development! Call this a New Year's resolution or one small step into reality but I am excited this blog will challenge me to write and engage in the new virtual world.