Minerva Wanders

 Chicago!  Let's see, great museums (think Monet, Van Gogh), the Blues (you know, Buddy Guy, etc.), weird pizza, and public spaces the likes of which are an urban planner's wet dream.  There's lots to do.  Definitely go find some music.  I went to a place with the clever name Blue Chicago, with a great band.  the keyboard player was the best i've ever heard, and i'm not into piano.  If you're into art, their art museum rivals anything i saw in New York.  Oh Oh Oh!  and this street had a basement!!!  i wish i could remember the name.  all i know is i was trying to call an uber and he couldn't find me because he was under me.  What kind of fucked up roadway system is that.  Wacker Drive!  i looked on Google Maps.  I still don't know how it's laid out.   The first time i was there, we stayed just outside town, because i was frugal.  that means we rode the "el" in and out of town and met some character...

 Ok, one of my best trips.  Me and the old man went to Idaho in 2012.  He was buying a car.  that's what he liked.  so we flew out and drove home.  There's a lot of cool shit out there but we only had a few days to drive back and we already lost a day because of flight issues.  Now this is where I shine!  We have x number of days to drive cross country.  What do you wanna see!?!  i was so excited!  Also it was something we were doing together!  Fuckin' A!  Let's see the country at about 100 miles per hour! First 'stop', Yellowstone Park.  Geisers!  cool.  really foreign looking landscapes covered with minerals and steam.  like, alien foreign!  We both had the same thoughts.  What did the first settlers think when they saw this?  Is this hell?  Oh a buffalo trotting along the side of the road!  what are you doing?  don't roll down my window!  is that snow?  what's ...

 You know how you journal when you're going thru shit?  Well here are some gems. The pictures don't need to make sense. Silence never bothered me.  I just wish my heartbeat wasn't so loud.  It makes it hard to hear my eyes blink.   Often the voices of the day echo in my head.  Today is quiet.  It creates a stark contrast with the occasional car.  And him..... footsteps, aluminum foil, maybe the tv.   Silence never bothered me, but sometimes noises do. I'll miss the trees here.  The everyday will fade, but the trees.  The trees are big.  They can only live here.  

  This picture is from Muir Woods.  The coastal red woods aren't the biggest organisms on this Earth, but they are tall.  i don't remember how tall, just super tall.  Muir Woods is incredibly beautiful.  somehow quiet and eerie and awe inducing, yet crawling with tourists.  its a neat trick.  do not be tempted to buy your own souvenir sapling unless you live somewhere with an appropriate climate.    So in elementary school i wrote a report on the giant redwoods.  ever since i've wanted to visit and in 2018 i finally did.  i took my mom.  i was supposed to go with the old man but he was being.... well that's another story.  anyway, took my mom because she didn't want to be alone (deep sigh) also another story!  move forward!  in addition to Muir Woods we also visited a few things in San Francsico and Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon.   Now in Sequoia that's where you see the real giants!  not ...

The Library of Congress is a really cool building, inside and out.  And i love libraries.  mostly i love the feeling of being surrounded by books, but in this case its the architecture.  Oh and they had a fun wonder woman display while i was there too.  This would have been 2017.  My favorite thing was Minerva.  she was prominently used in all the decor.  i assumed she was goddess of knowledge or some such thing.  Looking it up now i see she was originally goddess of war (just causes only), which somehow leads to wisdom and arts.  i found the war thing off putting, but i shouldn't.  Don't i admire warrior women?  mostly, Wonder Woman but there are a slew of fictional bad ass women i admire. Angela Bassett comes to mind, kicking ass in Strange Days.  Then there's the Power Puff girls.  for some reason Ruth Bader Ginsburg comes to mind.  Gloria Steinem too.  i never saw either of these ladies kick the shit outa any...

  Speaking of beautiful places, i love the Finger Lakes (make rude gesture).  First off, you must remember when the girls and i get together we turn into giggly teenagers.  i often fake apologize for having the sense of humor of a 14 year old boy.  Thus the rude gesture.  to this day when the finger lakes comes up in conversation we wiggle our fingers and thrust them into the air.  i know, i know, its not that funny.  But inside jokes are the best.  now, imagine nine of us, yelling across the table, local wines in hand, laughing like hyenas fingers in the air.  it's better if you imagine you're one of us and not a local in the tourist industry.   I've been here four times.  The trip that stands out the most tho, is the big one.  nine girls in a big house and we all got along.  more than got along, had a ball.  i only knew half the group and no one knew the friend i brought along.  strong friendships were for...

  Look at it!  just look at it.  it's better than a post card!  staring at it, it didn't seem real.  now, i'm a spoiled girl.  i've been a lot of places and seen a lot of things.  but i will never be world weary.  i will never yawn at the beauty of anywhere.  i love everything.  but this view struck me dumb.   This is Hawk's nest beach.  all the beaches were beautiful, but this was my fave.  it got me wondering, why is the water so beautiful?  can it just be lack of pollution?  let's google it!  better yet, here is the best reason i can think of to stop polluting!   so the big joke was, oh how boring, how horrible!  somebody has to do it.  oh look another sea turtle.  how mundane.  what is that?  a mongoose?  who cares?  iguanas, what a nuisance.  but make no mistake.  everything is an adventure.  every critter will make us lose our shit like w...