We're nearly in Delaware, so it must be Monday ~ The Americana Kitsch and Culture Tour

We're nearly in Delaware, so it must be Monday ~ The Americana Kitsch and Culture Tour ~ originally posted 23 May 2011

Aloha MM's Well, here I am writing to you from 'Ye olde Freeway RV Park'—once again! But it is our last day here and we are off again for parts unknown. Actually, we are going to Delaware and racking our brain as to what to do there! Delaware doesn't seem to have anything that 'defines' it. Ohio had Amish. Kentucky had the Bourbon Trail. The South had Antebellum houses. But Delaware... Not a sausage. We've come up with a military museum that sounds interesting but doesn't really DEFINE Delaware. And the only other interesting thing I've found about it is that it's the first State in the Union—which is interesting but probably not a very tourist friendly selling point. Oh well... We can at least say we have been to Delaware, got the fridge magnet. (I really do collect them—over a thousand now from all over the world. The rule is, I have to have been there. They started out when I first started traveling in the States and I didn't have a lot of money. I could buy fridge magnets though for often a couple of dollars and they were fun and representational of what I'd seen. And thus...the collection started and grew and EXPLODED. We now need about 3 fridges to house them all. But we love them)  So...off to Delaware, then onto Nu Joyzee. They really do speak like that. I used to have some neighbors from there. :-) Again, we are struggling to find something that 'defines' Joyzee. But have come up with Carlos bakery with Buddy from Cake Boss in Hoboken. And going to 'The Burg' in Chambersburg, Trenton where Janet Evanovich sets her hilarious books I'd most take to a desert island series—Stephanie Plum. Stephanie is from the Burg. Her parents live in the same row house Stephanie grew up in. Lots are small, cars are big and American and windows are clean. Wonderful series and I suppose does represent Joyzee in it's purest form. As does Buddy's place there in Hoboken. We are actually hugely looking forward to this. We are so sad... LOL.  Ok...so currently we are still at the RV park that sits between Baltimore, MD and Washington D.C. For convenience it has been excellent. But what possesses anyone to built a 'holiday park' right on the freeway??? You can sit out in your lawn chair, sipping your Bacardi and Coke as the trucks race by, just a stones throw away. Yessssssss...  Note to selves: When we ring the RV park—ASK about the noise factor!  Despite the charming ambient noise, I have actually slept like a log. I have been so exhausted, that not sleeping wasn't an option. I am looking forward to going to Delaware to simply STOP. We are going to find a place on the shore and just stop. Read, watch DVD's we keep buying, walk and eat. Lovely!   What is interesting about being so tired though is that my brain is barely functioning. And despite how it sounds, it's actually a good thing. I have a ticking brain. It never stops. It usually runs 2 or 3 tracks of thought at a time and there's no 'off' switch. The only time I run one track is when I am flying—I love this. So being super tired means I am running almost NO track. I was talking to my twin Donnie the other day and he said, "That will be good for you, not thinking." I realized he was right. Taking a holiday from my ticking brain has been rather nice. Although I would like to feel physically not so wrecked.   We've been on the go. I had one 'bed' rest day on Friday and spent most of it on the computer... Downloading photos. There are so many and we are seeing so many interesting things! And having EXPERIENCES...which are just terrific.   When I last wrote to you, I was off to see an Orioles game that night. But more on that in a minute.   The day before we arrived here, we went to see Williamsburg, which is a Colonial town that has been preserved and restored. I'm not sure why but it was incredibly boring. The architectural style was bland. The houses looked like they could be state houses in New Zealand that someone had added shutters and some dormer windows too. The streets were somewhat pretty apart from the hordes and I mean HORDES of people there tromping around. Lots of 'ye olde' shops but somehow it didn't really grab us. See what I mean, classic NZ state housing, just dollied up a wee bit. :-) The most interesting and fun things there were the very chubby squirrels. Chubby is a really too polite a word. They were FAT. They were the fattest squirrels I have ever seen! And so clever. Entertainment Tonight Squirrels. Paparazzi squirrels! They knew how to look cute and sit and pose for piccies! Very cute.  Look at the arse on this thing! They really were fat!   But terribly cute. We love squirrels.       They must get fed on untold rubbish from people every day. I also saw one polevault up the side of the barrel trash bins and hang on to the rim, looking inside to see what there was to eat for him. This was the Paparazzi squirrel. He was a trick and not waddling as much as the first squirrel we saw whose job it is to greet people as they get off the free bus into the settlement and beg for food. He was hilarious. He squashed himself flat on his tummy with his porky wee legs out the back. Very funny. This one was Comedic Squirrel... They had it all worked out. Very clever wee chaps.               We wasted two hours there and finally got to Jamestown which was much more interesting and not hordes of people. Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown are a triangle of the first permanent Colonial English settlements here in 1607. And the start of the 'New World' as America was known.     Native American Hogan house       Jamestown had old rigging ships, which we could clamber over. We also got to see a canon loaded, primed and shot. Wow, what a boom! Fantastic. They have an old fort village recreated there, which you can wander around with some good demonstrations. We got to see a 'ye olde' woman shoot a match-lock musket. She carries a length of cord, which was dipped in vinegar and something else which helped keep the burn. Then both ends of the 'wick' or match were lit and this was used to 'light' the powder in the musket. She carried tubes of powder around her neck. All in all, quite heavy. I had a hold of the musket and it was pretty hefty and very long.   Very tough the old pioneers. You forget what they went through. My dads Grandmother carried her husband on her back from Auckland to up in the bush when he was injured! They were as tough as old boots. Quite incredible really.        In her left hand, she's carrying the length of smoldering wick, used to light the gunpowder in the barrels         They were also making nets, which I had never seen done. Kind of like giant macramé. Then burning out a huge log to make a canoe. This was done in stages and hand scraped with clam shells to dig out the wood. All very hard work, at the end of the day. This is why I would give up food for a dishwasher. Americans got that life must be convenient and easy, quickly. Thank goodness!       We moved onto Yorktown but the whole day had got away on us and we didn't see it unfortunately. Aaron was not impressed. I don't blame him...we should have skipped Williamsburg.   We arrived in the Balt/Wash area around lunchtime the next day and parked up. Aaron went off and got our rental car. A wee hybrid Prius which are actually fun wee cars. She had about 1/4 of a tank of gas yesterday and Aaron put 20.00 in it and nearly filled it up! Plus...we drove miles. You can see the wee thing on the dash that shows you the transfer of energy between the generator and the energy for the wheels. And I marveled at what people are developing and coming up with. Very fun!   We set off for Baltimore for the game. I am going for the EXPERIENCE and to keep Aaron company and am not a big sports fan.   We park in the city and it's swarming with people, traffic, noise. Very intense. We wander around the huge harbor front they have there, that is packed with a submarine, an aquarium, old rigging ships, dragon paddle boats, an old coast guard ship, restaurants, shops, people... I'm on sensory overload. We have dinner at an Irish pub, which has rather nice crab 'balls' and crab dip. I have never eaten so much crab in my life and am just about crabbed out. Aaron has bangers and mash and they're REAL English or um...Irish Sausages. Yummmm. And even the gravy tastes like REAL gravy. I am most impressed.   Baltimore harbor front   You can paddle around the harbor on these things. Like Loch Ness Dragon thingees :-)   God, these sausages were so good and proper gravy too. Yummy! Aaron having a lovely Guinness, which he absolutely loved We leave there and get a cab down to Camden Yards. Wow. That's my first impression. It's impressive. The people are in their orange and black for the Orioles. And the white and blue for the Yankees. The whole city has Oriole flags everywhere and the stadium is right in the downtown city area. The people are really nice and we chat to Robert at the gate about cricket. Aaron shows him his cricket ball that sits in his baseball glove. The cricket ball becomes a celebrity at baseball games as people are fascinated to see it and hear about how cricket is played. You can see their faces trying to figure out the nuances of it. And how long it's played for causes lots of surprised looks.     Our man Robert with Aaron's cricket ball   We go to the Fans Office—yes, they really have one. And we get a certificate that says we are here for our first game at the Orioles Field. All nicely written out too...not some computer generated thing. It comes with a wee welcome package and we are thrilled. Already I am slurping up the energy here. It is fun! We then go and stand in line and get some autographs from past baseball stars. People are rabid fans. One lady has a plastic Tupperware box with all her baseball cards in it—it looks like she has about 2 or 300 hundred in there. She searches through for these stars cards—so they can sign their cards. We decide we must support the Orioles because we are on their home ground. People are very chatty and amazed this is our first Major League American baseball game.        Robbie Cano, one of my favorite players and sadly, so longer a Yankee. Now a Mariner   We walk all the way around the stadium to our seats. We have great seats, several rows up but under the shelter and just off third base. We are sitting between some Yankees fans on one side and some Orioles fans on the other. We are not outnumbered in our Orioles choice.     Aaron wants to get a hot dog. You have to have a hot dog at a ball game! But he doesn't want to move before the game starts. So, we wait. The game is then delayed because of rain. I IMPLORE the weather gods to stop the rain. We wait...and wait...I'm not impressed with the weather gods. The grounds men are performing a choreographed dance as they take off and put on the huge plastic sheet covering the baseball field to stop it getting wet. I figure out they are the equivalent of the cheer leaders, without the pompoms and short skirts. They are quite entertaining.     Finally a hot dog seller man comes around in the aisles and Aaron get two from him. We sit down and eat our dogs...and the rain stops. I said to Aaron, they were waiting for us to get our hot dogs. We should have got them sooner.   Look at these line-ups. There are some really great Yankees players in there. Not to mention, a few of the Orioles greats as well. The game starts and within a short time...I am a sports fan! Well, a baseball fan. It is riveting. It's hard to cheer for the Orioles because the Yankees are hammering them but we try anyway. Aaron goes off to get a bag of peanuts. We crunch our way through them. People come and go with food and drinks... People change seats. We sit riveted to the play. The Orioles change pitchers but it doesn't help. They have a new guy from the Norfolk feeder team trying out. Aaron shifts down to the lower seats to get better pics. I ring him and there are seats, so I shift there for the rest of the game too. The Orioles change pitchers again, but it's over—they are too far behind. The new pitcher Troy Patton is fast and good. He's also trying out from the feeder Norfolk division. He'll go far.   I got to see the great CC Sabathia pitch. :-) He really probably made me fall in love with the pitchers. In between play, you get things flashing on the big billboard. The Kiss Cam goes around and finds people sitting together... When they realize they're on the kiss cam...they kiss... EVERYONE does it! No shy people here. Everyone claps and cheers. It's very fun. I am completely caught up in the atmosphere of the game, it's very exciting!   And see the great Derek Jeter bat!!! One of our favorite men of baseball The Orioles lose 13-2 but it's still been an amazing experience! I am hooked! We leave there on a high and wow to go to more baseball games.   And A-Rod, love him, hate him, but we still got to see him play It's official... I am now a baseball fan. Wow.  That's the thing on this type of trip. Some things are predictable and you know you will enjoy them a lot. Some things you hate or are bored by. And others you fall in love with and are completely surprised how much you enjoy them. It's all an experience. And that's what we are doing here.. Having Experiences...LIVING... Being alive.   Which means you are not being Evil A (as they say in the old country)   A live backwards...