American snapshot: Road trip

One of my favorite things about taking off with my mom during summer vacation for a road trip is her willingness to stop at all the random odd sights that I've dug up while researching our route. Often these little breaks end up being the highlight of our trip, which can only be the case when I am with someone who is willing to humor my sense of the absurd and doesn't sigh too much when we only make it a couple of hundred miles in a day (instead of a more normal 600 or so when we are actually trying to get somewhere). Together we're discovering that the journey is definitely part of the fun. A brief highlight of some of my favorites from this summer (thanks in good part to my go to guide: Roadside America "Your online guide to offbeat tourist attractions"):

There was the skeleton boy leading a skeleton dinosaur
somewhere off of I-90 in South Dakota

The graffiti art alley in Rapid City, South Dakota
"My people will sleep for 100 years and when they wake 
it will be the artists who give them back their spirit."

Where we also stopped at a Storybook Island,
the children's section of the city park which had fabulous photo opportunities
with over sized cartoon and movie characters.

A giant spider made out of a VW bug in a field of Lexington, Oklahoma

Oversized metal water lilies in Riverside Park in Wichita, Kansas

Which also had a troll hidden under a grate on one of the sidewalks by the river

The world's largest ball of Sisal Twine in Cawker City, Kansas

Where we also walked the twine trail (no matter how many times we tried to say this out loud it always came out as the twine twail...) which took us by store fronts containing replicas of art masterpieces with a addition of a ball of twine somewhere in the painting.

And my favorite roadside stop of the trip: Carhenge (Alliance, Nebraska)

With stops like these, who cares what the purpose of the trip was?

Thoughts from a walk

Shuffling down the path

in your repaired flip-flops

rifle slung over your shoulder,

I wonder what your story is.

What lead you to this path,

the coincidence of two individuals

crossing amidst fields and rocks?

What is our common bond,

our one irrefutable truth

that in some way ties us together

for a moment

until we continue on

in different directions

down the same path

Walking around the Qutb Minar

A few weeks ago I realized I was at my last free weekend before volleyball started. Despite limping around with a cast on my foot I was determined to take advantage of time that would soon be in short supply. So I decided to take a trip to one of the main sites in Delhi which, despite it being the beginning of my third year, I had never visited...the Qutb Minar. On a bustling street corner, after crossing the road three times (turns out the ticket office is on the opposite side of the road from the monument itself) we entered into a green space whose main focus had my neck cricked back so I could stare into the sky. This sandstone column rises 72.5 meters (238 feet) into the air and is the highest stone tower in India. It was constructed as a huge minaret in the courtyard of the Quwwatu'l-Islam mosque which dates from 1198 and was pieced together using fragments of demolished Hindu temples giving an unusual design of stone work in a mosque. The Qutb Minar itself was begun in 1202 and continued to be added on to and renovated until 1503. In addition to this massive tower and the remains of the mosque there are numerous tombs on the grounds, a madrasa, an unusual iron pillar with a Sanskrit inscription (which may attribute its pristine state in part to being regularly covered in ghee in its past), and the rubble of the beginnings of a second enormous minaret which never got very far off the ground.

Word portrait: Taxi driver

My Sikh taxi driver yesterday sat comfortably chatting with me in his car. A twinkle in is eye, made me feel as if he really enjoyed my business. His light gray turban contrasted nicely with a darker gray pants suit. As we got stuck in traffic I noticed him looking in the rear view mirror. A glance back at traffic, we weren't going anywhere, and then back to the mirror. Clearly this was a prime opportunity to work on his grooming, pulling and twisting on his mustache until he was satisfied that the upward curl was at just the right angle, the tips in line with base of his nose. With a satisfied nod his attention went back to the traffic and I was left feeling a little like a voyeur. 

Igreja de Sta Clara

As I was wondering around checking out churches in Porto (Portugal) I noticed one marked on my map slightly off the beaten path. With little left to do that day I decided I'd cross the main street and see if I could find it. A small brown sign pointed into a courtyard, towards what looked like the side of a church tucked away behind a solid stone arch. This little unassuming facade was what I was looking for? But when you turn the door handle (literally a hand!) the interior will blow you away. It is a testament to the wood carving ability of the Portuguese. As I sat down to soak it in I just kept noticing more and more details. It was all I could do to keep my jaw from dropping as I let my eyes roam. This, the church of St. Clair, was a truly impressive if unassuming little church.

Pena palace

I'm trying to get caught up on my whirlwind summer where I think the longest I spent staying in one spot was four days. You'll get little snippets of what made the biggest impressions over the summer.

Cheshire cats on chairs, a gargoyle over here and crocodiles on the corner of turrets. Here pink, there yellow, in the center blue tile covering. No piece of it fits together yet piece by piece it is an eclectic feast for the eyes. Perched high above the town of Sintra, the palace of Pena is quite a sight. Instantly recognizable it is difficult to describe. Tile work and turrets. Views and intricately carved details. It is definitely the most unique palace I have ever been to!

Feast of St Anthony

June 12th was the start of the feast of St. Anthony and a city wide festival of sardines! I'm still not sure what the connection between the two is, although perhaps there are stories of St. Anthony preaching to the fishes. Pat and Gerald had never gone into the city for this so we decided we should make our way into Lisbon. However, we would do so early so as to miss some of the crowds. Once we found an appealing temporary restaurant set up in a courtyard facing the streets we sat down to have our typical festival dinner: grilled sardines (5 each) bread, salad, boiled potatoes and some sort of chorizo starter. There was definitely a party atmosphere going on. I was quite amused to watch the three men manning the grills with sardines on their heads...little did I realize I'd acquire my own sardine hat soon enough and wear it the rest of the evening. We walked around after that; admiring the sardine decorations, colorful hangings, constant people out grilling sardines in the street (my favorite was a man who had a grill shaped like a boat) until we reached an area that was to have a parade...a very stretched out parade that had elaborate costumes, even crazier props to carry and where it was very difficult to find a spot where you could see them pass by much less perform. Quite the experience. We got back just after midnight when the party was probably just starting to hit full swing.