jennyintheworld

Painting the town ... orange It's been a varied couple of weeks. Only one constant: the endless stream of bright orange pumpkins found on every street, in every front yard, in every store front. Rather than mourning the end of summer, America appears to be basking in the rich hues of autumn with pumpkins, chrysanthemums and wreaths adorning doorsteps like ornaments on the Christmas tree. Throw in some (okay, a few hundred thousand) trees with their turning leaves, and it's a pretty magical place to be. :-) So, about two weeks ago I found myself sat in a Jersey motel in amongst all the pumpkins. Where to next? I have three days to get to Hartford, Connecticut for the ol' marathon. Where can I wile away a few days? After the hustle and bustle of Jersey ... read more

September 25th 2009 Homesick I was in two minds about leaving North Carolina. Part of me loved the beach, the fresh air, the solitude. The rest of me was eager to be moving on and rejoining society. It didn't take long to make the transition. Just a couple hours after leaving the Outer Banks I had already arrived at my next destination, namely Virginia's Historic Triangle (Yorktown, Jamestown and Williamsburg). When did everything get so close together? I'm used to driving for at least six hours between overnight stops... Montana this ain't! On the advice of a North Carolinian friend who is a complete history buff, I stopped in Yorktown, Va, to check out the old-for-America Grace Episcopal church. The town's historic centre is somewhat peculiar, with the buildings restored to their 17th century glory. Meaning ... read more

September 15th 2009 Hang on a second! Taking you back a couple of weeks, I woke up one Wednesday morning at the glorious Mountain Light Sanctuary. It was my intention to drive back across the Great Smokey Mountains, which I last explored rapidly in the dark on my way to the Sanctuary. Betty Boy packed, I was ready for an adventurous trip down to Atlanta. I worked my way down to Asheville, making a serious of very rapid U-turns trying to follow the confusing road signs. At one point I was driving on the I-40, and highways 19, 23 and 74 all at the same time. Two of the roads where posted as going west, one was going east and the last north. How exactly you can be going west and east at the same time, ... read more

August 27th 2009 Dorothy (of The Wizard of Oz fame) once said - well, actually she said it many times - 'there's no place like home'. It was a sentiment at the front of my mind whilst sitting in my lovely hotel room in Amarillo, TX about two weeks ago now. Whilst this trip has been amazing, fascinating, eye-opening, sometimes I would just like to go home. You ever had that feeling? Turns out someone was reading my mind. And so sent me to Oklahoma and Arkansas. My aunt (the one who described Barstow, CA, as the armpit of the world) mentioned Oklahoma and Arkansas being 'dustbowls'. Not exactly an endearing term and one that made me less than excited about the trek. As it turns out, she was completely wrong. Okay, maybe some parts of ... read more

August 11th 2009 A city different I cruelly laughed at Alex when she asked whether people live in New Mexico. Apparently it was not such a silly question: Americans and foreigners alike often enquire about the existence of New Mexico and are surprised to hear it is actually one of the 'lower 48' (states of America). They even have a column in a state-wide newspaper where New Mexicans can share their stories of encountering ignorance about their state. I am slightly baffled by this. As a child I had fun (obviously I was a hard-done-by youth) in listing all 50 states (and Canada! and Puerto Rico!). I normally managed to get 42 off the top of my head. New Mexico was one I always remembered. Comes between New Jersey and New York. It's the ones in ... read more