The Scenic In-Between

Tag: Family

  • Hamilton, ON

    Hamilton, ON

    My car made it to Canada! I did too, but I’ve been to Canada multiple times, so that’s less exciting than my car being here. The officer at the border seemed surprised that I had driven all the way from Texas. Luckily, he believed me when I told him I didn’t have any guns in the car and let me in. I was a bit offended that he would actually think that if I owned a gun, I’d be dumb enough to drive across the country and into Canada with one.

    I arrived on Wednesday evening and I’m staying with my sister, Nathalie, her roommate, Mari, and their 2 cats, Junie Bitch Jones and Fatso. The cats are actually named Juniper and Smoke, but those are my nicknames for them. Nathalie and Mari call Juniper June or Junie, so I started calling her Junie B Jones after the main character of some of my favorite books from when I was 7. June is kind of a bitch to me sometimes, which is how her middle name became that. Smoke is overweight and constantly rubs against my legs when I’m in the kitchen because he wants food, so he got the nickname Fatso. Yes, I’m fat-shaming a cat and I don’t feel bad about it.

    On Thursday, I had lunch with Chris and Dianne, more Runkeeper friends. Later that day, I helped Nathalie siphon wine she made into a couple of wine bottles and I also helped her taste test it. It was really good! That night, Nathalie made cookies and she, Mari, Shaye (Nathalie’s boyfriend), and I had a 3 hour conversation about morality, religion, and whether men and women can be friends while we had dinner. On some of the topics, it was them vs me and on others, I had one or two of them on my side. While we touched on some intense topics, I really enjoyed the conversation. I always enjoy having respectful conversations with people I disagree with, where we’re all just trying to understand how others think and where they’re coming from. The cookies and wine also helped.

    On Friday, I mostly stayed in bed. While Nathalie and Mari worked, I read Eat Pray Love. At lunch time, Nathalie made us lunch and said that I shouldn’t feel guilty about reading while she cooked for me after she had been working while I was reading. I felt a little guilty anyway. For the first 32 years of my life, I trained myself to believe that I always need to be productive and helpful. That I always need to give of myself. That if others are working, I should be helping them. That I always need to serve others and it’s not ok to let others serve me. This conditioning is even harder to break when it comes to my siblings. With other people, it’s easier to let them take care of me. But with my siblings, there’s additional training that happened over the last 32 years where I made myself believe that I always had to take care of them, be there for them, have my shit together, be a good example to them, and give them all the answers that I had to figure out on my own. Luckily, I have wonderful sisters who are forcing me to let them take care of me. These days, I think I learn more from them than they learn from me.

    On Saturday, we went to London for the day. No, not that London. The London in Ontario. I met up with more Runkeeper friends (yes, I have a lot of those). I had coffee with Besat and then lunch with Besat and Rodrigo. In the afternoon, Nathalie, Mari, and I spent time with Dusya, my godmother. We were going to ice skate, but it was an outdoor rink and it was cold and windy, so we opted to catch up at a coffee shop.

    Earlier this week, we declared that Sunday would be our “do nothing day”, so that’s what we’re doing. Technically, I did laundry and I’m writing this blog post, so I’m doing things, but mostly, I’m resting. Tomorrow I’m driving to Chicago and on Wednesday I’m flying to Indonesia for 10 days. I won’t take my laptop, so I likely won’t post again until I’m back in Chicago, but you can rest assured that I will be having a lot of fun.

    On this leg of the trip, I managed to exchange a potato for a hot chocolate maker and a magnet. I had a potato left over from when I went grocery shopping in Asheville, so we used it for dinner a few days ago. Mari has a hot chocolate maker. It’s a little stainless steel bowl that you put the chocolate and milk in and it heats it up and mixes everything together. I was so excited when I saw it because I make hot chocolate and other warm milk drinks all the time. Since Mari never uses it, she gave it to me. Nathalie and Mari also have a Hamilton magnet on their fridge. I buy a magnet everywhere I travel, but I wasn’t able to find one here, so they’re giving me theirs. All in all, I think I can safely say that I got the better end of the bargain.

    Today marks one month since I started my road trip. It was the shortest month of the year and I’m surprised by how much I managed to fit in and how much I’m already feeling myself change (in a good way). I can’t wait to see what the next 5 months of road tripping bring!

  • Boston, MA

    Boston, MA

    I made a lot of plans for my days in Boston so that I could see as many friends as possible, but Mother Nature had other plans. It started out well enough. On Saturday morning, I went to see my friend Scooter (her real name is Mary Beth) and her family. I had a lot of fun playing with her kids and catching up with Scooter by telling stories about our lives using grapes, carrots, and celery to keep the kids entertained while we chatted.

    That evening, my sister Vanessa had her engagement party. She made beautiful charcuterie boards and Logan, her fiancรฉ, cooked up a feast. We had porchetta, mashed potatoes, pasta salad, and brussels sprouts. Vanessa made a tres leches for dessert. That night, I finally understood how parents feel when they see their kids happy and loved. It was very heartwarming to see Vanessa with her fiancรฉ and her friends and to see how much they love her and all her quirks. It made me so happy.

    On Sunday morning, I went to Mass with my friend Hijung and her family. Then we went to her house for lunch and games. I hadn’t seen her in 6 years and had never met 2 of her kids. Spending time with them was so fun! The two older kids were very excited to teach me how to play Sequence (the kids version) and Ruckus. They got very competitive!

    After that, Mother Nature started messing with my plans. I was going to have dinner that night with my friend Morella. We decided to meet a little earlier than originally planned since a blizzard was going to start that night. We went to Petit Robert Bistro and had their unlimited steak frites. It was delicious!

    Up until that point, I still had hope that the blizzard would end up being only a little bit of snow, but the next morning it was clear that I was wrong. It snowed all through Sunday night and all day on Monday. That meant that all my Monday plans were canceled. It wasn’t so bad though. I never got to enjoy snow days while I lived here because I could always work remotely. Now I’ve finally experienced a snow day where I had no other responsibilities! I read, had a lot of warm drinks, and Vanessa, Logan, and I (but mostly Logan) spent a few hours shoveling out our cars and playing in the snow.

    Originally, I was going to head to Hamilton yesterday, but I decided to stay one more day in Boston so I could see my Runkeeper friends, who I was supposed to see on Monday. We went to a brewery and caught up. We talked about how special the people who worked at Runkeeper are. You don’t often work at a place where you make good friends, who you enjoy hanging out with even after you’ve left the company, and who support you in anything you need. I was very lucky to work there for 6 years.

    Today, I drove to Hamilton and experienced winter driving complications. Either my windshield wiper fluid or the fluid lines froze, so the fluid wasn’t coming out. It was snowing when I left Boston and the combination of snow and salt from the road made my windshield very dirty. At times, it was hard to see and I couldn’t clean the windshield because the fluid wasn’t coming out. I kept waiting for enough snow to melt on my windshield so I’d have enough water on it for the wipers to clean the windshield. Every time I stopped for gas, I poured water on my windshield to clean it. Luckily, it stopped snowing pretty soon and the rest of the drive was fine. Now I’m safely in Hamilton for a few days and I’ll see my sister, more Runkeeper friends, and my godmother.

  • New York, NY

    New York, NY

    On Wednesday, I arrived in New York City, where I stayed with my cousin Cรฉsar Luis. We had a full day yesterday exploring the city. I had been to New York 3 or 4 times already, but we still mostly did things I had never done before.

    We started out at the Empire State Building, where we got some great views of the city. Cรฉsar loves taking photos, but doesn’t like being in them, so I was basically his model for the day.

    After that, we walked part of the High Line. It’s much nicer in the summer, but I had never been and wanted to see it.

    Then we walked through Greenwich Village, Cรฉsar’s favorite neighborhood in NY, and dreamed about all the apartments he could live in if rent weren’t so ridiculously expensive in that part of the city. We also saw the Hudson River.

    We had pizza for lunch and then went ice skating at Rockefeller Center. I almost couldn’t skate. My feet already hurt from all the walking we had done and the ice was so choppy from so many people skating on it, that I felt as if I were cutting with a dull knife and was more likely to fall. Luckily, the Zamboni came to the rescue and cleaned the ice. It was a lot smoother after that and I was able to skate.

    Finally, we had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and ended the night watching Hadestown on Broadway. It was really good! I had a great time in New York, but it was a very quick trip.

    I drove to Boston today. Arriving in Boston always feels like arriving home. It’s the first time I’ve been back in the winter since I left in 2020 and Boston is either really happy or really upset that I’m back. It rained and snowed the whole drive here. It wasn’t terrible, but it also wasn’t fun. It was comforting to be surrounded by Massachusetts license plates though. If I were driving in Texas in this weather, I would have stopped at a hotel for the night to avoid all the drivers! I wonder if everyone around me saw my Texas license plate and steered clear of me. That’s what I would have done. I made it safe and sound though, and I’m going see as many friends as possible in the days ahead. It should be a good time!

  • Greensboro, NC

    Greensboro, NC

    I spent the day with my cousin Luis Alberto’s family. He’s the one I saw in Biloxi. He works there, but travels back and forth. I was with his wife, Tamara, and daughter, Isabella. They also have twin boys, but they’re away for college. When I arrived, Tamara said that there isn’t really anything to do in Greensboro. This was perfect because I really needed a day to rest my legs after my hike yesterday.

    While Tamara was at work and Isa was in school, I spent the day doing laundry, organizing documents for my taxes, and resting. Then we all went out to dinner. If you’re wondering why the cover photo for this post is a restaurant, it’s because that’s the only place I saw in Greensboro, other than the pizza place we had dinner at last night.

    After dinner, Tamara showed me the masks they have in storage. They lived in Papua New Guinea for a few years and brought back a bunch of them. The one I’m holding in the photo below is a small one. They have some that are a lot bigger. And yes, the thing on the floor on my right is a big wooden crocodile. They used to have it right outside their front door at their old house in Greensboro. I wonder what their visitors thought when they walked up to their house!

    I’m glad that I got to rest today because tomorrow I’m driving to New York, where I have a packed itinerary.

  • Miami, FL

    Miami, FL

    Two days ago, I drove from Ponte Vedra Beach to Miami and made 2 stops along the way. First, I saw my cousin Ana Belรฉn, who I hadn’t seen in over 15 years. Then, I saw my friend Isabella. She’s a friend from high school who I hadn’t seen in 4 years. It was great catching up with both of them!

    In Miami, I stayed with my Aunt Lali and Uncle Hernรกn. Yesterday, we had lunch together and then my aunt showed me around Miami. In the evening, she made us mangoritas with mangos from a tree in their backyard and we watched the Super Bowl. I was rooting for the Patriots, since I lived in Boston for 8 years, and was disappointed by the game. But the mangoritas were delicious and made up for it!

    Now I’m back in Georgia for a few days. I drove to Savannah today. It was an 8 hour drive, my longest drive so far, and I’m really starting to feel it. I’ve started looking forward to stopping for gas so I can stretch my legs. I never would have thought that I could be excited about getting to a gas station.

    I’ve officially been on the road for a week and it has been better than I could have imagined. I have felt so loved and spoiled by all the people who have taken me in, made time in their busy days to see me, checked in on me, kept me company on phone calls while I drive, and by all of you reading and commenting on this blog. Thank you!

  • Atlanta, GA

    Atlanta, GA

    Two days ago, I drove from Biloxi to Atlanta. This time, instead of feeling a mix of excitement and nerves, I kept thinking about how cool it is that I’m driving around the whole country. I’ve only driven through the Southeast and it’ll be fun to see all the different landscapes the US has to offer.

    In Atlanta, I’m staying with my mom’s cousin, Marion, and her family. We kept trying to figure out what our relationship is and found a chart that told us that she’s my first cousin once removed. (Tez, I know you taught me all the relationship stuff a few years ago, but I had completely forgotten all of it. I did have a feeling that there was a once removed involved, so don’t be completely disappointed in me.) That makes Marion’s daughter my second cousin. And Marion is my niece’s first cousin twice removed. It’s all very confusing.

    Yesterday, Marion and Marcia, my great aunt (not removed), took me to Stone Mountain. We took the cable car to the top, saw a cool but controversial carving, and enjoyed the nice view. We also went to the Civil and Human Rights Museum. Every time I tried to pay for something, Marion would tell me that I couldn’t pay because I’m an unemployed vagabond living out of my car. She’s not wrong, so I really couldn’t argue with her.

    This morning, I went to the YMCA with Marcia to play pickleball. It was my first time playing and it was a great experience. The people who were there are mostly retired and are so kind! I didn’t win any games, but I had a lot of fun and I learned that I’m not as bad at pickeball as I thought I would be.

    In the afternoon, I went to the aquarium with Micol, a friend from high school. We hadn’t seen each other in 8 years! It was really nice to catch up and meet her two kids. I loved the aquarium! It was big and a lot of fun, especially with the kids looking in wonder at all the animals.

    The day ended with dinner and ice cream with the family. Atlanta has been wonderful! I’m really glad I got to spend time with this side of the family. I always see them as part of larger gatherings with extended family. In this visit, I was able to get to know them better. I will definitely be coming back to Atlanta!

  • Biloxi, MS

    Biloxi, MS

    Last week was a whirlwind of emotions. I was both excited and nervous about my upcoming road trip, stressed about packing up my house to leave everything in storage, and starting to wonder what the heck I was getting myself into. I’m still excited and nervous and still wondering what the heck I’m doing, but that’s ok. My mom took this picture of me this morning right before I left and my face says it all.

    As I was driving to Biloxi, MS, I caught myself starting to make a mental list of the things I want to think about on my long drives and the things I want to discover and decide about my life. Classic Priscilla. A few hours in and I was already trying to make my drives productive. I kept reminding myself that I don’t have to think about anything on this trip. I don’t have to learn anything. I don’t have to decide anything. I don’t have to become anything or anyone. I just need to be. All of the above will likely happen anyway, without me trying to force it by adding them to my to-do list, but if nothing happens, if I don’t change one bit, that’s ok too.

    After all of that, I make it to Biloxi! My cousin, Luis Alberto, showed me around and taught me how to eat crawfish. I didn’t know anything about Biloxi before today, but apparently it’s like a mini Vegas. They have a lot of casinos and people come from all over the country to gamble.

    Biloxi is a quick one night stop and tomorrow morning I’m heading to Atlanta.