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Remember our road trip? Remember our caption contest from the Pro Football Hall of Fame? Of course you do. What you probably don't remember is the announcement of who won the contest.
Without 3 more monthsfurther adu, here are our fabulous winners!
Option 2:
He who smelt it, dealt it!!
The good folks at Kaspersky Lab will be sending the goodies to you faster than what it took us to announce your awesomeness!
We're going to spend some time rewinding the trip. What better place to start than In The Beginning.
In the beginning there was Sarah, and she was good, there was also Devra and she was ridiculous. See for yourself....
Here is a little known fact: I was born in Ohio. I moved to Florida when I was 11 and I lived there until we moved to the DC area about four years ago. I never lived in Cleveland, but as a child I was always under the impression that Cleveland wasn't really a place anyone would ever want to go unless they wanted to catch a Browns game.
I had no idea.
Cleveland is really cool. We had an amazing hotel.
Cleveland has a huge culinary community and we had two amazing meals.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is something that every music fan should get a chance to see once in their life.
Don't listen to the stories about The Cuyahoga River catching on fire. I mean, yes, it happened but that was 40 years ago. Cleveland is a beautiful city right on Lake Erie that is full of culture and wonderful people.
We even made some new friends.
Devra, Michelle, Sarah, Alexa, Amelia
I hope we get to come back soon.
Goon Squad Sarah's other work can be found on Sarah and the Goon Squad, Draft Day Suit, DC Metro Moms Blog, MamaPop, BlogHer, and Loser Moms.
P>That's as far as I got before we got a flat tire. Nothing like leaving our dream hotel, where we treated like royalty(and a prince was staying there, so we know they must do that a lot) to cruising down the road, hooked up to theMiFi all set to write about our adventure in Cleveland, and then hearing, Sarah say, "Dude. I think something's wrong with the car. I think we have a flat tire." Sure enough, that's what we got. Exit off the highway and straight into the closest filling staion. Which by the way, my use of the term "filling station, just resulted in a 3 mile discussion as to the use filling station versus gas station. To sum it up in fewer than 3 miles, we decided it's regional. Sarah uses gas station, I use filling station. Which is ironic since wee only live about 10 miles from each other. But back to our adventure...
Given our rental car status, it came with "Avis 24 Hour Road Side Assistance" and the quotation marks around those words is no accident my friends. I phoned "Avis 24 Hour Road Side Assistance" and explained our situation. "Yes, we are in a safe place," I answered when he asked with the same level of empathy and concern if one is asked, 'Would you like fries with that?" At the same time, two men approached and offered to change the tire. We waved them off as we knew "Avis 24 Hour Roadside Assisance" would be helping us any moment. The reality? We would be helping ourselves any moment because "Avis 24 Hour Roadside Assistance" told us, "We will have someone out there in about 30 minutes and they will put the spare tire on the car, then you will drive the car to the nearest Avis location and pick up a different car." So I ask, "Can you please tell me where is the nearest location?" Turns out it's a a whopping 6 miles from our present location. I make the suggestion that a car be brought to us and we switch them out and be on our way as it is only 6 milies way. The gentleman, and I am being kind here, tells me to hold and he will see if that is "even possible." He returns after I age about 3 years a few minutes to inform me, "We can't do it. We contract with an outside company. They will have to change your tire and then you will have to drive it to the Cleveland Airport." I thank him. Why? I dunno, he's done nothing for me at all. Because I know I can change a tire in under 20 minutes and we will be on our way. So I change the tire as Sarah gets on the phone to call Customer Sevice and explain what is going on and why this isn't making us feel all warm and fuzzy. At this point, we're not angry, just annoyed. We are 6 milies away! It's not rocket science and how did we ask to be caiught in an eddy of bureaucracy?
Andrea from Avis Customer service gives it a try, she connects Sarah with the folks at the Airport Avis and listens in as Sarah is told "We will have to have a tow truck tow the car back to the airport." And Sarah again suggested, very nicely, if we could just have someone bring us a car to swap out since it was only 6 milies away, Sarah was told, "No. You have to wait." Sarah asked to speak to Andrea again and the resonse Sarah received made her just say "Wow." into the phone because it was just that rude. Andrea sadly had been disconnected from the call. We can only imagine the "Avis 24 Hour Roadside Assistance" folks wanted to keep their rude behavior a secret from Avis Customer service. Maybe they have a reputation to protect. Sarah missed Andrea very much. She was nice, this was hell. And while Winston Churchill said "When you're going through hell, keep going," but he probably never had to deal with "Avis 24 Hour Roadside Assistance."
I was happy I had decided to wear something casual for our drive, because I don''tchangie tires when I am dressed up. In under 20 minutes tire was changed, donut in place and we were on our way to the airport to change out the car. We are now cruising down the turnpike in another car without sattelite radio and it smells like someoen must have shaken up a carbonated canistor of Febreeze and let it go.
It''s definitley someting we're both going to have to get used to. The other car smelled like weed.
If you've never been to Pittsburgh, then don't go. Not because it's a bad place, just the opposite, we want to keep it all to ourselves. We're not going to share Pittsburgh with you. If you even think about going there, even if you need to change planes in the airport, you're going to find yourself in big trouble, mister (or ma'am). Realistically speaking, we cannot hoard an entire city. Particularly if it doesn't belong to us. But that doesn't stop us from wanting to own it. First of all, a big shout out to our host ClumberKim who not only arranged our meet-up, she found fablous sponsors (Hello iTwixie! andIsidore Foods!),an incredible space (Hello AlphaLab!) and she fed us. I am running out of adjectives to describe the dinner and desserts made by Clumberkim, KDiddy and Rebecca.
After last night, I can now say I know, not one, but two guys named "Spike." And neither one of them happen to be a football player, a biker or in a punk band. And considering the plethora of "Paul's" who attended my highschool, it was down right refreshing to meet a Paul living outside of Hamden, Connecticut and he wasn't even from Hamden, Connecticut. Together Paul and Spike gave Sarah and me the capability of Live Streaming! So look for some action from us later. Not that kind of action, we signed a strict "No Porn on Vivo" agreement, but we may sneak in some Shoe Porn. Sarah has some nice wedges. Wedges, not wedgies. Crack kills and we''re fairly certain we can't post that on Vivo anyway. Nick Pinkston showed us what can only be called the Rubiks cube of business cards. It folds in many different ways and we easily could have spent hours folding it, but it didn't belong to us and we had to give it back to him. KDiddy, I had hoped for a farting contest, but I didn't get enough roasted garlic to make myself a viable contender. Besides, I think the folks from Abby? Left To Right? Are you reading? I hope so because I don't have your URL and want to give you a shout out too!
Looks like we may have a trip back to Pittsburgh in our future for Pod Camp, so please have the salad fixings, broccoli slaw, and homemade Ho-Hos ready!
Thank you again to our wonderful host and sponsors for Phabulous meet up in Pittsburgh!
...and now a word from one of our sponsors. Sort of. Really this is more of an insight into Sarah's mind. You see Nikon let us borrow these Nikon D90s. Since I recently purchased my own Nikon D60 I was interested to see what made this camera 30 better than mine.
I found out.
Now I am all about sponsorship, but I am not a big fan of talking a lot about products that I am not a big fan of. That is not a problem in this case.
Meet Precious:
I named her within 45 minutes of meeting her. The first picture I took out of my car window (Devra was driving) came out crisp and clear even though we were on the beltway going about 70 miles per hour.
I mean 60. Devra would never knowingly disobey the posted speed limit.
Anyway, I love camera and I may have become a little bit obsessed.
The D90 is a beast, and I mean that in the best possible way. It is amazing. My pictures are insanely good, and I've taken most of them on the auto setting. I haven't even learned all of its tricks yet. It even takes video!
Luckily, I have the whole summer to figure it out.
Then I promised Nikon that In would return it.
Sure, they can have Precious back.
When they pry her from my cold dead hands.
Of course Sarah is going to give the camera back if they make her. She exaggerates on Sarah and the Goon Squad, Draft Day Suit, DC Metro Moms Blog, MamaPop, BlogHer, and Loser Moms too.
I haven't been back to Cleveland since 1989. Take that back. I've only been to Cleveland once in my entire life. Now it's twice. Frankly, I wish my body from 1989 was still here, but that's really not the purpose of this post.
If you are a blogger in the Cleveland area, we're having a meet up at The Green House Tavern at 6:00 this evening, That would be July 20, 2009. AKA TONIGHT!
We look forward to seeing you there!
PS I snapped this picture of the Cleveland sign in the car, through a windshield at 80 exactly 55 MPH!
Dear Pittsburgh Bloggers,
You are our first stop. Devra and I will be leaving in the morning and arriving in your fair city tomorrow evening.
We would love to see you while we are there. So please join us along with ClumberKim and kdiddy as we will be rocking the party at alphalab on the South Side.
The meet up is at 6:00 pm, so be there or be square.
We cannot wait to stop in Pittsburgh, even if you guys do hog all of the good sports trophies.
Please rsvp to [email protected] or if you are on twitter @clumberkim if you can make it.
___
GoonSquadSarah is also bitter that her teams haven't won anything good lately on Sarah and the Goon Squad, Draft Day Suit, DC Metro Moms Blog, MamaPop, BlogHer, and Loser Moms
Now that Catherine and Katie are safely home with their families Devra Renner and I are getting ready to head back out on the road.
That is right. We are driving to BlogHer again.
(By the way - feel free to call me or leave a comment below if you want to give us a car to drive.)
Ahem.
So, yes. We are thrilled to be going back on the road. (What? Why are you looking at me like that. Last year was fun, and Chicago is a lot closer than San Francisco.)
This year will include blogger meet ups in Pittsburgh and Cleveland (details forthcoming) and trips to the Pro Football and Rock N Roll Halls of Fame.
Hall of fames? Halls of fame has to be right, like attorneys general, right?
Anyway, lock up your daughters or what have you, but we leave Sunday morning. If all goes well we will be having giveaways and contests and probably a good deal of silliness.
CHICAGO OR BUST!
Love,
Sarah
GoonSquadSarah also blogs and Sarah and the Goon Squad, Draft Day Suit, DC Metro Moms Blog, MamaPop, BlogHer, Loser Moms... look, she blogs everywhere, okay?
We are back.
Truth be told (and I'm pretty sure I speak for everyone), we didn't want to go home at the end of our trip. Save for the fact that we missed our husbands, dads, and some of the cats, we could have kept going all summer long. I think we all -- kids included -- have a touch of gypsy in our blood.
I'm so proud of we survived (seriously) and the fact that did so much in such a short period of time. And we would have loved to do more. But we did make our way from Atlantic to Pacific with three young children in tow, taking a total of six flights, two massive cars, a whole lot of extra luggage, one hitchhiker, while only killing one gopher in Alberta - it was not pretty, and putting the fear of death in one duck family in New Brunswick -- I can still hear the screams -- but rest assured no ducks were harmed in the making of this road trip.
Of course doing this wasn't without the help of many players, two of those key folks being GM Canada and the Fairmont. Because let's face it, the trip wouldn't have happened without wheels or shelter.
Continue reading "Only One Gopher Died in the Production of this Roadtrip" »
We've had some awesome meet-ups on our roadtrip and I have not had the time to give them the props they deserve:
Our first was in Ottawa last Thursday and it seems like eons ago that it happened (it seems we have been on the road forever). One of the most awesome recaps I read is over at Muddy Boots, please go over and see her beautiful photos from the day -- I hope she didn't mind that I lifted one of the group. Our kids had a playground and splashpad to work out their energy along with a great bunch of blogkids. Catherine and I had some wonderful bloggers to meet. There was Sassy Monkey, Capital Mom, PhD in Parenting, and Lalawawa who brought an entire wagon full of snacks for everyone to enjoy (whoot whoot and thank you!) Thank you for arranging this one ladies, it was a beautiful finish to a loooooooooooooooong long driving day.
The second was in Edmonton and I want to shout out another huge thank you to Tanis for setting it up (we found this impossible to do from the road so props to all the wonderful bloggers who volunteered to set things up - a thousand "thank you so very very much"). There we hit another great playground and met with Natasha, Lynn, and Habanerogal and their kids. Habanerogal even brought her monkey and YES she did let me pet her monkey (props to all those that get that SNL reference). We spent a couple of hours letting the kids run around and even found some time to meet and talk when not chasing down the troops. Why do kids all run in seperate directions when trying to wrangle them? It's like herding cats, but most of you know that already.
Our last meet up was in Vancouver and this was a decidedly more adult one... HEY! get your minds out out of the gutter... I mean this one was SANS ENFANTS (you don't know how ready we were for a night away from the kids -- it was sorely needed at this point on the trip.) Our beloved Shannon of Mr. Lady fame put this one together and a lovely group of blogging ladies joined us for dinner and drinks at the scrumptious Morton's. We were in fine company that evening: Mandy Gratton, MoWo, Earnest Girl, Left Coast Mama, and Sandi (5and1). Drinks and food were plentiful and Morton's spoiled us in a way that was much needed.
Now I wish I had a better pick to show you but here is some photographic evidence of the evening. That white spot in the centre is me trying to molest my dear Tanis. That happens when cooped up too long with good friends and no husbands. Or at least that's how most naughty stories start out. It's amazing what happens when away from the homestead too long *wink wink*
We will be flying back to Toronto in about twenty-four hours and then will be arranging a last hurrah of the Great Canadian Roadtrip of 09. I'd promise to gather more photographic evidence on that bash but more than likely, I'll probably be too excited and forget to take out the camera *le sigh*
Seacreast out and the adventure continues...
We left Edmonton yesterday with one extra passenger, none other than the Redneck Mommy herself, Ms. Tanis. She was so generous in organizing an awesome get together of bloggers in town (shout out to Natasha, Lynn, and Habanerogal -- thank you so much for coming out to meet us!) we just had to take her with us.Thank goodness that GM Yukon we picked up in Edmonton was big enough for all our luggage plus her sweet butt.
After a day of driving down Highway 16 -- which for the record severely lacks in good coffee en route -- we entered Jasper National Park and my brain was officially blown. Anyone who says they aren't impressed by the majesty of the Rockies lacks soul. This was my first time seeing the mountains and I could not help but feel a huge wash of emotions come over me as I was humbled by the offerings of our natural world. It's easy for me to understand why so many artists come here for inspiration.
We spend last night at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge and despite some annoying hiccups (lost reservations, screwed up billing, and rooms so far apart we could have used our own golf cart to see each other), the landscape and friendly staff balanced out the negatives. Look who greeted us this morning!
I'm still debating if those are white tailed deer or elk but it doesn't really matter because OH MY WORD they were beautiful. Oh and this was the view at breakfast (le sigh).
Tonight we have arrived in Lake Louise and I'm still feeling like this is some kind of surreal fantasy. It's like we've fallen into a painting or an episode of old school Wild Kingdom. So far today we have seen our elk/deer friends above, three eagles, a baby moose, mountain goats, and big horn sheep (and those horns are b-i-g). No bears yet but I'm keeping my eyes sharp.
Tomorrow I have no idea where we are heading, I'll leave that up to our West Coast expert, Catherine, but our adventure continues towards the Pacific. British Columbia here we come!
First Up from our beloved Redneck Mommy who is putting up with our equivalent of a touring heavy metal band:
We would love for you to be able to join us at a small blogging meet up where you can discover for yourself that we are just a bunch of frazzled geeks with access to the internet. With nipple hair and the odd chin whisker. We are throwing caution to the wind and unveiling our quirky personalities for all to see.
If you happen to be in the Edmonton-ish area (if I have to make the drive into the city you should too,) please consider joining us for the revelry. I promise to keep the blue thunder well contained.
We’ll be meeting Saturday, at Rundle Park at the playground, at 10 am. Bring your children. We are. (You know you want to meet the newest little Redneck, Jumby.)
We will set the children loose on the playground and get down to the serious business of getting to know one another.
Contact me if you need directions or want my cell phone number so you can breathe heavy in my ear. I like that.
For those of you who can’t make it, no worries. I’m bringing a video camera as well as my fancy schmancy camera to capture the joy.
You never know when a beaver is going to be on the loose after all.
Now on to our travels:
Yesterday was a page ripped right out of The Amazing Race which for the record, is a show neither myself or Catherine can watch because it induces such extreme anxiety that we need a mainline of Xanax just to make it through an episode.
It was the first morning we just had to be somewhere on time. We had booked a noon connecting flight out of Ottawa (FTR: The Fairmont Chateau Laurier was a wonderful palace where milk and cookies rained down on our princesses and the service was extrodinary) and we had to return our powerful chariot GM Traverse to it's home (we were sad to see it go). It seemed easy enough, we had made plenty of time, and we even had hours of wiggle room to make sure we didn't stress ourselves out.
Funny how that time disappears in the blink of an eye.
Our first flight was delayed - first by thirty-minutes, which turned into another twenty, which then morphed into ALL OUR WIGGLE ROOM. We literally ran with strollers, baby, carry-ons, and preschoolers in tow, screaming through our connecting airport and somehow we made our connecting flight to Alberta. I think we both almost passed out once we were actually on board that flight and it took all of my strength not to order a drink straight up once the bar car was broken out.
After we calmed down and landed in Edmonton, we picked up our new ride, the GM Yukon Hybrid and hit the road to our Redneck hostess with the mostest.
And the adventure continues...
This afternoon we arrived in the beautiful city of Quebec and as we entered the walls of the Old City it was like being transported back in time and we were riding in on a 288 horsepowered carriage (the Traverse packs amazing power and I love being behind the wheel.) We pulled into the most beautiful of palaces and I knew our two little ladies were going to be impressed with the Fairmont Chateau Frontenac -- who wouldn't fall in love with the fortress over the St. Lawrence?
The Chateau Frontenac is as beautiful inside as out and everything so far has been wonderful down to the smallest detail. We took a dip in the beautiful art-deco pool, I had time to rest my wary road-trip legs in the hot tub, and then we took a quick trip around the beautiful surroundings, before retiring to some room service in our room overlooking the city.
Are our princesses pleased with their accommodations? You bet. And the moms are also very impressed. It also goes without saying that the lone prince on this trip also is impressed with everything he can see - as far as he is concerned, it's his kingdom and he is here to conquer Quebec.
Disclosure: GM and Fairmont Hotels are the SVMG Canada Moms Blog road trip car and hotel sponsors.
Hartland New Brunswick, home of the longest covered bridge in the world and a town very close to Katie's heart. It is making Katie's eyes tear up to be here for the first time with her daughter and much loved friends. Happy Canada everyone and hello Quebec, here we come (or should I say bonjour!)
So we got off to a rocky start - up at 4am, at airport at 5am, struggling through baggage drop and security with three sleepy tots and not nearly enough caffeine and then only barely making it onto the plane on time - and then coping with epic shits and epic barfs during a stopover in Montreal - and then getting drenched getting off the plane in Moncton - but end of the day, once we loaded up the Traverse and got on the road?
It was pretty easy. And pretty freaking awesome.
Tonight was dinner with Katie's family (who, my gosh, are so fine and so kind and so clearly the progenitors of the lady that I call my partner and my friend), and then hanging out with this amazing lady (who is as beautiful and lovely and easy to hang out with as you would imagine her to be), and soon - we hope - a good night's sleep before hitting the road and heading up through New Brunswick.
If the baby will ever deign to sleep, that is. That hour or two of children napping in the car this afternoon is looking pretty sweet from the vantage point of a midnight crib battle.
The Drivers: Catherine Conners and Katie York of Canada Moms Blog
The Dates: June 29th through July 12th
The Vehicle: GM Traverse
The Sponsors: General Motors (and more to be announced!)
The Plan: We cover Eastern Canada first. We will fly to Moncton and grab the GM Traverse
and head to Halifax. From Halifax, we head up through Nova Scotia and
New Brunswick and into Quebec. We'll take a breather in Quebec City,
maybe stop for a smoked meat sandwich in Montreal, and then head to
Ottawa. From Ottawa, we fly to Edmonton (we know, we're skipping a huge
chunk of Central Canada. But we've only got so much time, and in any
case, we'll be back in central Canada before long!) We hang in Alberta
for a bit, and then head into British Columbia through Jasper National
Park (a must-stop for a group with a baby named Jasper). We then drive
south, stopping in Kamloops and Penticton before landing in Vancouver,
where we'll celebrate our survival (we hope.) Then back to Toronto,
where we may need to celebrate again. Again, that is, assuming that we
do survive.
Estimated Time of Departure on Canada Moms Blog ROAD TRIP '09: 40 hours
Estimated Time until my head explodes while figuring out how to pack for myself & a three-year old on a cross country road trip: 40 seconds
This morning I made the foolish mistake of asking my daughter for input on this packing issue because in all seriousness, how does one pack for a two-week trip with a three-year old? Who knows when we will see a washing machine? Who knows what forgotten toy/book/rock-found-on-a-walk-six-weeks-ago will set off a tantrum the likes of which the Trans Canada Highway has never experienced in it's forty-seven year history? I should have never asked because now our suitcase contains all her dolls, fifty Robert Munsch books, a pile of random pebbles, and her strawberry plant.
Now I have to figure out how to remove all these items without setting her off.
Anyhow, this morning Gemma and I decided to put together a little video discussing what we need to pack (apparently we need a teddy bear and lots of food because the rest of the country is sorely lacking in both) and please don't judge us on our appearance. We both just got out of bed and the fact that what was once little more than a dreamy idea to visit bloggers across the country is now a total IN OUR FACE reality is still sinking in to my brain.
But seriously: how many t-shirts would you pack for your child? I'm thinking three changes a day and have at least five days supply on-hand means I need about fifteen shirts... FIFTEEN? Holy crow, this is going to be like packing for Mariah Carey (minus the butterflies, double the diva).
Each time we, Catherine and Katie talked about this cross-Canada road trip, we started imagining something like that Ewan McGregor’s Motorcycle Diaries, only with bloggers driving a car across Canada instead of Ewan and his crew zipping around the world on motorbike. Also, with kids. And it's when we started to think about the “with kids” part that flashes of National Lampoon’s Vacation start to intrude. We've tried to prevent those Griswold moments from interrupting dreams of this awesome trip but that's proved difficult since we're being outsmarted and outrun by three year olds on an hourly basis.
Anyhow, that thing called “reality” keeps messing with any idea of an adventure-filled road trip cross country for two friends -- plus their kids.
But then we tell ourselves that driving across the second largest nation in the world with two three year olds and a super-strong one year old basically guarantees that we will experience enough insanity to fill many, many blog posts, and possibly a therapist's notepad. Because when everything is going insane around a blogger, the silver lining is always “this will make a great blog post.” And insanity and adventure are interchangeable words if you don’t think to hard about it.
So here's the plan: We cover Eastern Canada first. We will fly to Moncton and grab the GM Traverse and head to Halifax. From Halifax, we head up through Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and into Quebec. We'll take a breather in Quebec City, maybe stop for a smoked meat sandwich in Montreal, and then head to Ottawa. From Ottawa, we fly to Edmonton (we know, we're skipping a huge chunk of Central Canada. But we've only got so much time, and in any case, we'll be back in central Canada before long!) We hang in Alberta for a bit, and then head into British Columbia through Jasper National Park (a must-stop for a group with a baby named Jasper). We then drive south, stopping in Kamloops and Penticton before landing in Vancouver, where we'll celebrate our survival (we hope.) Then back to Toronto, where we may need to celebrate again. Again, that is, assuming that we do survive.
So how do we plan on taking this adventure-filled cross-Canada road trip? You will just need to check back from June 29, 2009 through July 12, 2009.... as we, Catherine and Katie journey across Canada.
Please GRAB A BUTTON and follow in the fun of the Silicon Valley Moms Group Mom Summer Road Trip '09:
URL: www.momroadtrip.com
SUMMER ROAD TRIP '09:
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Option 1: {sarah thinks} He's cute and all, but he's so quite. Maybe he's just not that into me. *sigh*