the other side

We realized that we should have gone to the restaurant on the other side of the hotel yesterday. It's so much better! I had an amazing cobb salad with grilled shrimp.

For dinner, we went to Benihana's and got a bit of a table show, which is to say, they cook your dinner in a fancy way right in front of you. The chefs seemed bored though. Maybe it does get mundane flipping knives and throwing food into people's mouths all evening.

There is an odd dichotomy in this town. Parts of it look shabby and dilapidated, while other parts look as though they've had a makeover with townhouses and cute shops and whatnot. the business district feels like a different place entirely.

pilot program

And so, we are in Harrisburg, PA. The first hotel room I was given smelled strongly of stale cigarette smoke. I always ask for a non-smoking room, so I had to be fussy for once and ask for a different room. And then there was no snack bar in any of the rooms. It's almost a ritual for me to unpack, grab a granola bar or M&Ms and some juice from the snack bar and see if, for once, I might have a decent view from my window. It almost upsets the balance not to have this ritual.

We had a horrible lunch at one of the hotel restaurants. Somehow, they even managed to ruin the stir-fried rice.

museum recommendation

I took Mom and Steve to the National Museum of the American Indian. I liked the look of the building - it's fairly new, but it looks like rough stone that's been shaped by the elements for thousands of years. It's hard to believe that the DC area was once wetlands.

It's a huge building - four stories, spacious and well lit inside, though most of the light is coming from outside.

We were clever and decided to start at the top floor and work our way down. Each of the exhibit rooms has smaller circular sections packed with artifacts - clothes, pottery, blankets, headdresses, jewelry, art. Some rooms have TVs playing mini-documentaries on a continuous loop. It's almost sensory overload.

I've read that the museum received an overwhelming number of donations from tribes all across the country and down into South America. Conversely, the museum acquired pieces that tribes had lost years, and even centuries, ago, and amazingly, gave the pieces back to the tribes.

My favorite room had walls that were painted to look like clouds. In the center of the room, there was a low altar made of walking staffs, and stones and hats and feathers, all lying on a large red cloth. There were several flat-screen TVs on the walls, each showing images with narration. The voice of the narrator was hypnotic - he spoke clearly, but softly. He talked about Christianity, children, the weather, spirits, war.

We came out of the building a bit dazed and just in time for a quick downpour. I'll definitely go back.

party on the farm

Mary Jo and Buck hosted the family reunion/triple birthday party. Not only am I 30 this month, but Valerie turned 40 in April, and Dad will be 50 in June. Reason enough to celebrate, and with five cakes, no less. Ty and Joe took turns singing karaoke - Ty had his cowboy hat on and kept checking himself out in the window reflection. Joe kept his non-mic hand in his pocket - visions of a country-singing cousins duo appear in my head. A little girl who I think belongs to one of my cousins-that-I-don't-know-well was toting around one of the barn cats. The cat was taking it mightly well, though when it managed to finally get away from her, it looked exhausted and not a little irritated.

Val made me wear a purple princess crown all afternoon. Buck manned the barbeque. Mary Jo gave me a riding lesson, and the horse was very tolerant. Lots of pictures were taken, and I hope I get to see them eventually. Jamie set off some fireworks, and the last of us congregated around an outdoor fire at the end of the night, talking about everything and nothing until about 2 am. A great birthday.

"...like my head against a board"

Today is officially my birthday, but we are saving festivities for tomorrow.

We wandered around wine country today, which is a nice, lazy way to spend a birthday. It might be a bit of a surprise to some that Ohio even has wine country. It happens to be mixed up with bits of Amish country too, but we were definitely in it for the wine. I had some ice wine at one very-dim-inside place. I can't figure out why it's so popular. It was like drinking really sugary syrup with alcohol in it. The bottle was pretty though - very thin and made of frosty glass. My favorite winery was the converted church. The pews were set up back to back, with tables in between sets of pews. I made friends with the owners' long-haired German shepard. She had rust-colored eyes and was quite at home with everyone. One of the wineries was actually in an office park, a temporary location until their more picturesque digs are ready.

At lunch, Karen surprised me with a birthday cake, which unfortunately I couldn't eat, owing to the gluten allergy, of which she was unaware. I felt bad about that. Everyone else seemed to enjoy the cake though.

driving mrs. cameron

It is my 30th birthday weekend, and I'm actually taking a vacation. Don't everyone fall out of their chairs at once.

Mom and Steve came all the way from Australia for my birthday. We drove up to Ohio today in a white mini-van. We were supposed to get a regular car, but due to the Preakness weekend, the rental place was out of the cars we had reserved. This reminds me of the Seinfeld episode in which Jerry is puzzled as to why the car he reserved isn't at the rental place - I now fully understand his sentiments.

We had a good time driving up. I did most of the driving, though I felt alarmingly like a soccer mom in the mini-van. We were toting two birthday cakes, one of which is gluten-free, so that I can eat it and not regret it later. Mom and Steve are fun to travel with, if nothing else than to listen to their banter. Mom tends to call Steve "Mr. Cameron" like in Jane Austen novels.

The trip up to Ohio doesn't seem as long as I remember from our summer trips when I was a kid (sometimes in an un-air conditioned green station wagon with plastic seats). It used to take eight hours, and now it takes about six, which I suppose can be attributed to road construction and increased speed limits and fewer bathroom breaks. I love driving through the mountains in Pennsylvania. Being a suburbs girl, I don't often get to see that kind of as-far-as-the-eye-can-see picturesque scenery of trees and towns tucked in valleys and open space.

So I will be 30 in two days - a prospect I find only slightly alarming, as opposed to downright terrifying. I think I have accomplished a fair amount, though I have a bit of a nagging feeling that "I should have done more by now." I just have no idea what "more" is yet.

the museum next door

So I meant to go to the Museum of Modern Art today, and I even made a point to leave my hotel early, but then I saw the crowds literally spilling out onto the street (which in NY doesn't strike me as a good idea). Then I noticed a folk art museum next door, and there was no line outside of it, so in I went, and in less than a minute, I had a ticket and was wandering in the first gallery without having to wait in line or elbow through crowds. There were five floors to see - sculptures, quilts, paintings, needlework, stuff you might see in someone's house really. I wish Diana had been there to see the quilts. She probably could have told me more about them than what I was able to get from the little plaques next to each one. There were a few more "modern" pieces - like the baby blanket made out of condom containers - but most everything was in the traditional folk art vein.

And I wish someone would give me a medal for walking around NY by myself. I still can't decide if that was stupid or brave.