slight intermission from the roadtrip; albany & brooklyn

june 29, 2009 through july 2, 2009
after pulling into where my parents live and sneaking around the corner, trying to make all of their neighbors be quiet to try to surprise them...my mom had looked out the window and seen the whole thing happen. now im not sure if she ran down the stairs or jumped out the window because she was down there within a matter of 2 seconds. super woman? perhaps. then followed my dad. they were EXTREMELY surprised! plan worked. we were excited. but little did i know I would be in for a surprise. out walks my two cousins; amanda & lyndsey and my aunt! best surprise eeeeeeever! at this point i think the whole 'neighborhood' was out gathering around meeting and greeting and whatnot. after being on the road for over a month it was a little overwhelming so we headed upstairs. the next few days were very relaxing and also very fun, filled with amazing food, good stories, and awesome margaritas! the entertainment of my dad trying to turn off the smoke detectors was also one of the funniest things ive seen in a while. coming to albany was a good choice. it was just what we needed. by the fourth day we felt re-cooped enough to get back on the road and head BACK to brooklyn. we do everything out of order with no sense of direction and no plan of action. its the way to live though i swear. nothing can go wrong when you have no plans.

july 2, 2009
12:30pm leaving albany and going back to brooklyn. the car is so empty. its so weird. we bought a tent yesterday for our adventure in maine. so excited for everything and the fourth is on saturday...yay!
3:40pm stopping in a town called ho-ho-kus to eat. the name of this town is slightly terrifying but i'll go with it.... we're in new jersey? how and when did we get to jersey? more importantly WHY are we here again?oh god...
4:37pm we're almost to brooklyn, make this rain stop nowwwwww.
6:08pm easypass. not paid. account low. yep we're back to this again. earlier we went through one that wasn't even an easy pass, didn't stop and looked back to see the lady's head sticking outside the window. almost to brooklyn...didnt i say this 2 hours ago?....damn traffic.....ahhh
6:23pm in chinatown. last time i checked this was not in the agenda. where ARE we.
6:52pm lost in a park. lost in the damn park right next to my sisters house. we literally can't get out.
6:56pm still lost in the park because the gps can't even save us. its telling us to take turns into trees. what is going onnn.
7:17pmwe found parking right away. right next to my sisters apartment. sweet. as soon as we pulled in the spot, it starts pouring. of course it does. why wouldn't it? so now we are relaxing in the car til it stops...or at least calms down. this is FUN. cmon!!!!
7:27pm still pouring. why? please make this stop. can the subway station come to us? rain rain go away
sometime after 8 and before midnight: finally stopped pouring and we were able to book it to the subway. with little direction we found jeffs house where my sister and everyone were. i did however get out of the subway and try to hail a cab to the address when the cab driver said we were only 1 block away. oops. played some games and got a little competitive like i usually do with games (especially trivia- i have to know everything before everyone!). finally called it a night....thank god, we had a yankee game to attend to the following day. yankee game was fun, and hot. we won. of course we did.
fourth of july my parents had came down to brooklyn to celebrate the fourth of july. me and erin found ourselves in the kitchen cutting apples and limes. probably not a weird sentence to most people. but me and erin's fourth of julys usually consist of waking up @ 5:30am, in the kitchen making jello shots and being a little intoxicated by noon...if not earlier. so this was VERY strange. but it was nice. nice to remember the fourth of july for once. the past few years our calendars have been july 1st, july 2nd, july 3rd, july 5th. i feel a few days younger since i got that day back that i normally miss! we had a great bbq and walked through the park where i was complaining the whole time like a little baby because i just couldn't do it. i had no energy to walk through a park. im glad there was some entertainment along the way that kept the walk interesting. after the bbq we ventured on the rooftop of my sisters apartment where we got to see every surrounding states fireworks go off. it was awesome. my mom had about 20 panic attacks though every time we got "too close" to the edge. "too close" to her is roughly 25 feet from the edge, give or take. chill OUT. (sorry ma). after fireworks we came inside to just watch the rest on tv and play catch phrase. i once again had to know every answer and try to be the best! all in all brooklyn was a great time...it always is. good company and good drinks can never not be a good time, eh? but once again we've had enough relaxation and we are ready to hit the road again.

july 6, 2009
10:53am leaving brooklyn and back on the road again. before heading to boston we have to get the oil changed for the third time this trip. we're at 7,334.8 miles. its 75 degrees out and sunny-yay!
3:14pm we're in providence, ri. of course we aren't in boston. change of plans as always. waiting for jake to get home. in the mean time finding some food. we're starving. super nice out. providence is cute.
sometime after 5:30pm after guzzling every drink that was on the menu plus a pitcher of john dalys its time to go to jakes. surprisingly we are barely buzzed. not really sure the explanation for that one.
later that night we went out for a little while with jake, his roommate, and a few of their friends...it was fun times. night ended early because me and erin "wanted to go to bed" remember that trick we do? somehow convinced jake to leave the bar and go get food with us. huge pitas. thankfully im not a huge fan of pitas so when we got home to eat it i only had about a bite or two before i realized i was just drunk and eating what would taste like cardboard any other given time of the day. good night. we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.....camping trip up in maine.