On The Road

After much hemming and hawing I finally sat down one night and bought a bunch of tickets until my credit card cut me off. On the itinerary: Baltimore, NYC, Burlington, Vermont and finally Iceland. Why Iceland I've been asked? Almost two years when I was sequestered in a leach infested, silent retreat in the hills of Sri Lanka lounging on my concrete bed, I read a book called "Geography of Bliss" by Eric Weiner. The author visits the world's happiest places as purported by a happiness index developed by a Swiss? Dutch? (I can't exactly remember) scientist. Thailand made the cut for it's "Mai pen rai" or "Don't worry about it" attitude. The US did not. Iceland did. More about Iceland later. I haven't been there yet. I started my trip in Baltimore. A seemingly unhappy place. Baltimore lost half it's population between 1950 and 2000 and another 10% since then. It's evident when you drive through many neighborhoods and entire blocks of brick row houses have broken glass, boarded up windows and the streets are deserted. I was there less to see Baltimore and more to visit a very pregnant Sarah and her husband Seri. Two weeks from her due date and temperatures over 100 with an even higher heat index, we didn't much leave the comfort of her air conditioned apartment, cold beer in the frig. A wind and lightning storm that knocked down a bunch of trees and killed the lights for a few days in some neighborhoods made me wonder if I was in a developing country. We did manage to get to Amish country. Just as you would expect: horse drawn buggies, bowl hair cuts, pickled veggies and handmade quilts, and cell phones. OK, I only saw one kid with a cell phone and he may have been Menonite but I learned that some Amish churches do allow the use of cell phones. I also learned it really goes against their beliefs to be photographed. (The accomapanying photo was taken before I knew this.) Amish country is pretty tourist focused and they earn their some of their income by selling homemade products (see reference to pickled vegetables and quilts) and charging for buggy rides. We did happen across a legitimate Amish auction. I accidentally bought a buggy by nodding my head at the wrong moment. It's being shipped home now. Just need to pick up a Clydesdale to go with it. I wonder what kind of license I'll need in CA. Lots of really great antiques on the auction block; furniture, tools, a professional photographers studio camera from the 1800's. I tried to seruptitiously take photos but mostly got the top of the tent or my feet. It was a challenge to follow along with the high speed talking and subtle cues from the audience. Kind of like betting at Lumpini on a muay thai boxing match. Six days and it was time to let the pregnant lady rest and move up the coast to NY, where it was only in the high 90s. Sorry, I can't attach photos from my iPad. Stupid thing.