Monday, May 31, 2010

Ocean City, Maryland - May 27

Or: Part One in a Series of Beach Towns

We spent our second night in the OC, as the locals call it (um, do they call it that?) and as we were fortunate to miss the Memorial Day crowds, we got to park right next to the beach for the night.

We went to breakfast at the Bayside Skillet, and got a crab omelette that was delish.



We also greatly enjoyed the hula skirt umbrellas.


We went to the local surf shop, where this had this awesome car

And then, after seeing the crabbers and the fisherman doing some work, it was time to blast outta there and move on to Virginia!

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Part Two



Roll your eyes all you want, but I've never had a cheesesteak in Philly and I wanted to. So I did. We parked the van directly between Geno's and Pat's. I chose Pat's because it lacked some of the... shine that Geno's had. I give this experience a definitive: meh (with shoulder shrug). "Wit / wit-out," "whiz," surly service, yeah I get it, but I still say whateverz to you, sir.



Hi it's Michelle! Hi!

Let me just say that I had been let down by Philly Cheesesteaks before and had already moved on to the delight that is DiNic's Roast Pork sandwiches at Reading Terminal, which was what I was planning on getting when we were in town. BUT THEN! I read Yelp, and they told me to go to Paesano's. I figured Cheesesteak Junction was not going to anywhere near Paesano's but I was wrong! Hooray! We walked through the Italian Market (you know, where Charlie from It's Always Sunny ate that entire pear...) and Freddie was scared of the live chickens and ducks.



I got the Arista - whole roast suckling pig, broccoli rabe, Italian long hot peppers, and sharp provolone. It's basically an insane version of a normal roast pork sandwich.



And they had a cherry soda in the fountain... delicious. We contemplated getting a sandwich to eat on the road later, but decided not to be completely obese for once in our lives. Also, we got some Yuengling on the way out of town and it was fantastic.

A Love Letter For You

About a year ago, I heard about this street art project going on in West Philadelphia headed up by Steve Powers, aka ESPO.

It was called A Love Letter For You, and it was to been seen from the new elevated blue line running through the neighborhood. It is 50 murals about a reformed guy trying to get back with his girl.

As much as I loved the murals and wanted to see them in person, I found scant reason to schlep down to West Philadelphia... Until Vanpire Weekend!!

Parts of the neighborhood are downright terrifying, but parts are lively. If you're ever down there, I definitely think you should check it out





The crack house across the alley from To Have and To Hold






And finally, a reminder that home is where the van and family are


PS: you better believe that as soon as we got into West Philadelphia, we did in fact sing the Fresh Prince theme song

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Beach Chillin


Hey y'alls writing to you from the south. I know we haven't been the best bloggers, but we'll make it up to you, we promise!

We got into the Outer Banks last night, after hanging out in Virginia Beach the night before and seeing Colonial Williamsburg during the day. (more details in later posts!)

We paid a cool old guy 20 bucks to stay in his campground, aka his backyard and had a great dinner at Uncle Paulys.

Currently, we are on the beach, at a surf spot called S sands, where our van is stuck in the S sands.


Sometimes we forget that the van is ginormous. A nice dude in an unfortunately too small Toyota Tacoma tried to pull us out, but this is a job for AAA

No worries is my new motto on this trip, so we have been playing oyster fetch with Freddie on the beach, frolicking in the surf, and waxing the board while waiting.









There are certainly worse places to be stranded.





Lots of love from OBX

Location:N Carolina 12,Kinnakeet,United States

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Danny's Drive In

A big part of the original idea for Vanpire Weekend was road food and the amazing and artery clogging variety of American food.

Reading sites like seriouseats.com and roadfood.com also didn't help. Surprisingly, there is an amazing concentration of delish eats in Connecticut. We originally wanted to visit Louis Lunch in New Haven (possibly the first place to serve hamburgers), but unfortunately, they closed before we could get there. Bummer.

Instead, I checked out seriouseats to get some recs, and found Danny's Drive In in Stratford.

As soon as we pulled up, we knew this would be a great place.



It's no secret of our affinity for encased meats. I'm not sure when it started, but I don't think our visit to Hot Doug's last year helped, nor our introduction to Flo's dogs in Maine.

We had stopped in NH for lunch, and I already had a classic normal New England hot dog in a top split buttered bun. (demolished before photo op) But I was not going to be deterred from a hot dog at Danny's.

I went with the Carolina dog - a long, deep fried dog with their super spicy chili and Cole slaw


Tim got the New York dog - a long, deep fried dog with special sweet yet spicy onion sauce.


We obviously had to get waffle fries too - which we were delicious.

After we demolished the hot dogs, we wondered if we should get another hot dog. Normally, our physically skinny but mentally fat selves would have gone with it, but we decided to restrain ourselves just a little bit and forgo the hot dog. No worries though, we still got a peanut butter chocolate shake for the road.

Danny's was great, and a great example of the kinds of places that we want to see all over the country.

Danny's Drive In, we love you!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Post-launch van photos

Howdy kids! I've been in a deep hole of van calamity for the past couple weeks. Sliced thumbs and back spasms notwithstanding, I've clawed my way back out on sheer will, sweat, blood and an extreme amount of patience from my saintly girlfriend. And as you know by now, we've hit the road, which means the van build was a success...right...? There are definitely improvements to be made, and I've already come up with a few new ideas for getting things to function more smoothly, but all in all, I'm proud of the outcome. At the Richard Stockton service plaza in Jersey I did my best to photograph the interior, but it's a much trickier thing to do than it seems. I think to do this beast justice would require some professional lenses and a guy with hose (pretty sure there's a hose guy on most car commercial sets 'cause wet asphalt looks way better than dry). Blah blah blah, here are the photos.


This is the view from the side doors. Freddie has mostly passed on the bed Michelle made for him and instead claimed the fold-out as his own.


An action shot showing how the doors on the cabinets open. Michelle is looking for Velcro, I believe. You can also see out little one burner stove, our herb garden, and one of our solar lamps.


Panning up a bit to show the surfboards strapped in.


This is the view from the driver seat. A view I see more often than I should while I'm driving because I'm curious to see what Fred's doing. This is usually what he's doing. You can see the wood paneling on the side door.


Sitting on the fold-out looking out the side door. The secretly talented Michelle Kiang made all the pillows and curtains. And a quilt!


The opposite view from the fold-out. I'm still super excited about this water jug. The sink is a stainless steel bowl from Target. I drilled a hole, installed a drain, and ran a hose to an empty gas can for the gray water. It was pretty exciting to brush our teeth here last night and this morning. Twice a day, ya jerks!


Aaaaaand back over my left shoulder showing the rack holding up the surfboard.


Back to the front seat to show the bed folded out. There's still lots of room between the end of the bed and the back doors.


This is the view from outside of the van looking through the back doors. That's the backside of the fold-out which becomes the foot of the bed. A closet to the left, Michelle's quilt to the right.


Open closet!


Wood door panel with rope pull!

Soooo, I hope that gives an idea of how things are looking. Ask questions if you wanna know what something is made out of or how it's attached or what possessed me to do such a horrible thing to myself by starting this project.

Day One

So we may have missed our original start date by about a week, but as countless people say, and as Bill told us today, shit happens.

But here we are! We plan on being in Florida for Tim's cousin's high school graduation on June 4, so unfortunately, we have to blast down the eastern seaboard with some speed.

As I type this, we are in a service plaza in Hamilton, New Jersey. Sleeping in the van was excellent. It was nice and cool during the night, and the hum of a dozen semi trucks lulls you to sleep.

Sleeping in the van is comfy, even though Freddie likes peeking under the curtains and growling at people in the parking lot.

We were in five states yesterday - NH, MA, CT, NY, and NJ.

Today is going to be a great day!

Sorry no pictures yet, I'm trying to find a camera connector for the iPad. Sold out everywhere, OF COURSE.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Trip cancelled :(

Staying in New Hampshire forever.

You knew this was coming. Things just weren't working out and we couldn't get it together in time.

:'(









PSYCH!!!!

Tim and I are leaving the Jiffy Lube, where we passed our van inspection and we are OFF!!

Pictures of the beautiful van to come :)

I'm glad you stuck with us, even if you didn't think we were going to make it.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Monday, May 24, 2010

WELL !

I'm not gonna say nothin about nothin in order not to jinx us but I will let you know that tonight, Tim and I are going out to dinner and enjoying it, instead of getting Chipotle for the third time this week and eating it in 20 minutes while sitting on the couch. Not that there's anything wrong with that, especially since without Chipotle, we would probably be dead. Or you know, a few pounds skinnier.


Sunday, May 23, 2010

Tick tick tick tick tick

Ok ok it's Sunday and we originally thought we could leave today BUT we thought it would be best to take it easy today, have some time to clean and pack and eat a delicious dinner. And watch LOST!!!

That's right. The end is within sight. By the end, um, I of course mean the beginning of our road trip...

We've had an insane amount of bad luck, a ton of weird things happening all at once, but it's all clearing up now, thanks to that ointment we picked up, and we are feeling good today!

Tim's been MIA on the blog because he's been working 18 hours a day on Ms Vanpira, and I promise he'll be back soon. Timmy, we love you! You're the number one champion of van building!!!

UPDATE: no more than three hours after I posted this, Tim almost cut this thumb tip off. Sigh. Universe, why do you hate our trip???

Location:Portsmouth,United States

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

ICFF Weekend



Interesting Confusing Fun Filled Weekend?

Insipid Cranky Fat Free Weekend?

Inspiring Craft Fair Fantastic Weekend?

International Contemporary Furniture Fair Weekend!!!

Tim and I (sans chich) spent the weekend in New York for the opening of CITE Goes America and the debut of Tim's New New England collection

We saw old friends, met new friends, and saw tons of wonderful things.

Then we went to MUJI, where I wished I could buy the entire store. Sigh.

We stopped by the Javits Center on Monday to see the exhibitions at ICFF, and got to see Emily Pilloton's Design Revolution Road Show Airstream packed with amazing new useful inventions

And now we're back in New Hampshire, Tim's working on the van and I'm starting to study for the Patent Bar.

We tentatively and hopefully want to leave here by next Sunday, and I would like to close by quoting the great Optimus Prime and my close friend Tony: "All we need is a little bit of energon, and a lot of luck."

Thursday, May 13, 2010

A Dream Deferred

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Well Langston Hughes, I don't know. But I will tell you that OUR dream deferred will just take another week. For realsies.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Good Luck

Well, the last 48 hours are upon us.

Hopefully, we will be on our way to New York this time Thursday.

Tim has been awake for almost 30 hours at this point... can he pull another all nighter??

I don't know, but we'll definitely need a lot of luck - and here's what's going to give it to us



This is a lucky eye we picked up in Athens, Greece - to help us ward off the evil eye.



Here's a wishbone from our friend Scott's last show at Corduroy in Portland, Maine.




And this is a Buddhist amulet I received from my parents when I left for college - it was hand carved out of Sandalwood and blessed at a Buddhist temple - and meant to bring luck and protection.

We can do it with the help of these lucky charms, right? Right!

See you on the road!

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Photo heavy

Actually writing words on the internet is still novel to me. In this post, I'm going back to my blogging roots (I don't have blogging roots): lots of photos, few words. We have about 5 full days left to get things together. Here's what we had as of yesterday.