Category: On the Road

Photo by Paul Ferney for Oh Happy Day

“It is never convenient and there is never enough money to travel but sometimes you just have to make yourself go or else you’ll never do it.” (Jordan Ferney, Oh Happy Day)

This sentence was included in Jordan’s update at Oh Happy Day this morning. It couldn’t be truer. There are people who have never left the country or even the state–I seriously can’t imagine how I’d live a life like this. I know I’m blessed and privileged to be able to travel freely as long as planning happens. Anything is possible if you think ahead, plan well in advance, and act strategically.

Saving diligently for our summer vacation has caused a little tightness at the end of the past few months (we get paid monthly), and trying to get my name changed on my passport has been a nightmare. Yesterday, I got an e-mail from the passport agency saying that my new passport is finally in the mail. It’s been a month-plus ordeal… But I’m not celebrating until I have it in my hot little hands. It has been pretty demoralizing not having a passport, even for just a month. Not just because it meant that we couldn’t move forward on our Eurotrip, but because many of my life goals involve leaving these ole United States. I want to visit orphans, I want to plant trees in Africa, I want to serve others in impoverished countries. I would love to (and feel called to) live overseas and work with an aid agency.

I have been adamant about not buying plane tickets because I don’t want to be stuck with an expensive non-refundable purchase if the passport fell through (it has been anything but smooth). Let me tell you, the DAY I get my new passport in hand we WILL buy our tickets to Paris, and begin planning our visits to the ends of the earth.

Larryville Weekend

Doug and I snuck away to Lawrence, KS this weekend to hang out with our friends Paul and Sarah. The home of KU, it is one of the more exciting  cities in Kansas. Mass Street is well known for its shops, music venues, and restaurants.

Basically my goal for the weekend was to eat as much delicious food as possible. I do not have a photo of the under-cooked chicken sandwich I received at The Burger Stand, but their food is good, with creative flavors and lots of options. The truffle fries were definitely the stand-out of the visit.  I do not hold my unfortunate sandwich experience against them. Next time I’ll order a regular burger and specify “well done,” though.

Brunch at 715: Smoked Trout Benedict (interesting play on eggs Benedict). The others in my group had sausage and beans, pastrami hash, and biscuits and gravy. It would appear this restauraunt is foodie heaven–unique twists on normal standards and locally-sourced ingredients.

Lunch at Free State Brewery: three cheeses grilled sandwich with creamy tomato soup. I have had a better fancy grilled cheese at Con Pane, but it was good, and this tomato soup was great! 

We did other stuff to celebrate Kansas Day (Jan 29) like purchase items from Kansas artists at Made and Wonder Fair, and go on a long and meandering drive, eventually ending up at the Kansas river to throw rocks in it.

It was nice to escape for two days. 

United & Streamlined

Great news! I have made the decision to move over all of my travel posts from La Route Libre to this blog, so that everything is in one place. This makes it easy for me to refer back to an old post or group of posts. For example, if you want to, you can check out all the posts I made while studying in Morocco for six weeks.  Using the wordpress tools made this incredibly easy. It even moved over all my photo files so I can easily go back and pull up highlights like this 2009 gem:

I still can’t believe I got to live an adventure like this. 

Please note that the navigation bar has more things on it! You can see Where I’ve Been or take some travel advice from me as Where to Stay is concerned.

It’s worth pointing out that the La Route Libre posts were made before I really got “into” blogging–that is, using the commonly-expected, more journalistic style that prevails on lifestyle blogs I admire. My travel posts are very much “what I did today” and personal journal in style. On My Friend Staci I have been making steps toward being more organized, topical, interesting and accessible to new readers.

What I am most excited about is being able to share my travel adventures right here instead of blogging at La Route Libre and linking it back up to this one–talk about split personality! Especially with our upcoming Eurotrip this will be the perfect place to talk about “crossover” topics like how Parisian fashion could influence home decor, planning or budgeting for a trip, and, of course posting lots of photos once we get there and back.

Can’t wait! (via)