Day 18, 7/10/2017

Started in: Santa Fe, NM

Ended in: Sedona, AZ

Total Distance: Driving: 470 miles, Hiking: 1 mile

Yesh, what a day! We woke up in Sante Fe and attempted to grab a coffee at Ohari, but missed our turn and ended up in the parking lot for Modern General. This was possibly the best mistake. I had a latte and Acai Teffcakes and J had a latte and a biscuit sandwich. Not only was the food delicious the ambiance was on point. Very cute! After we wrapped up our impromptu breakfast and blogging we hit the road to our first National Park of the trip, Petrified Forest. On the drive we listened to Revisionist History by Malcolm Gladwell, we both enjoyed the stories and found the stories related to educational inequities to be particularly up our alley. We also enjoyed some pretty spectacular views as we drove, I put up some pictures that I took from the car window as we zipped down highway 40.

When we arrived at Petrified Forest National Park, it was hot! We got a map and a bandana for J’s sweaty head (sorry :)). The park is in the painted desert and features some pretty dramatic landscapes. Unfortunately there are not a ton of trails to hike so we settled on a short 1 mile loop on the Blue Mesa trail to check out some petrified wood. The hike reminded me of the hike I did in Goreme, Turkey two summers ago. Some signage described the ground as elephant skin and it was caused by large rainfalls followed by drought. The wood is a dead tree that falls, gets completely covered in sediment deprived of oxygen, growing crystal structures inside of it for hundreds of millions of years. It is truly spectacular. The park started a conservation effort by cataloging old photos from the last 100 years and taking photos from the same spots to identify changes in the landscape. Interestingly there seems to be less theft of the petrified wood than what was once assumed.

After we left the park we headed to see a meteor crater outside of Flagstaff, but we arrived after the site had been closed for the day. My dad told us Flagstaff is noisy at night because of the trains that run through. We stopped at The McMillen for dinner and drinks, then headed to Sedona to sleep. There was road construction on 89A which left us taking a lengthy detour around the Coconino National Forest. We are excited to check out the scenery in Sedona tomorrow!

Day 17, 7/9/2017

Started in: Albuquerque, NM

Ended in: Cuyamungue, NM (outside Santa Fe)

Total Distance: Driving: 94.3 miles, Tram Car: 5.4 miles

Full disclosure, we were booking a hotel and we accidentally booked a hotel at a casino 15 miles outside of Santa Fe. Not intentional, not really that great, but the hotel did have a great shower.

Earlier in the day, in ABQ, we went to a nice breakfast place called Farm & Table (I'd recommend a reservation. We had a short wait). The breakfast was great, but and it was here learned that red and green chile was a thing that everyone in New Mexico knows and loves... it's basically just red and green salsa(?), where the red is smoky and the green is spicy. I had a waffle and eggs, R had Enchiladas & Eggs. Both delicious. The space is also really great, sitting next to a farm (and some type of fowl ventured real close to our table. I thought it was delightful, but if you're bird-adverse, you'd probably dislike it). Afterward, we stopped by an estate sale (nothing great there... there was a box of underwear though). We then had to get some coffee/put up this blog. So we stopped at Java Joe's. Who would've thought that this random coffee place (which also sells beauty products and features live music) was also a set on Breaking Bad... Tuco's offices that Walter White blew up.

We visited the Sandia Peak Tramway on Bilkus's recommendation, went up and down and then left for Santa Fe (it should be noted, the tramway was beautiful, but much was closed at the peak, we weren't ready to hike up there, and the ride was $25 per person).

In Santa Fe, we drove around a bit. The town looks like an old Spanish mission, especially around the St. Francis basilica. Our dinner was at Maria's New Mexican Kitchen and the food was too delicious. R and I both felt very full. I had some Enchiladas with red and green chile (Christmas as they put it), and R had vegetable tamales. The chips and salsa, too was great and the sopapillas were delicious but too much. We then head back to the casino, did not go to the blackjack tables (gar...) and got ready to head to our first National Park in the morning.

Day 16, 7/8/2017

Started: Amarillo, TX

Ended: Albuquerque, NM

Total Distance: Driving: 350 miles, Hiking: 5.44 miles

Yesterday we met J’s friend, Bilkus, in Amarillo. We had planned to stay in Palo Duro Canyon State Park, but there were no campsites available. We ended up staying near Cadillac Ranch. Last night we drove up to Lake Meredith, to check out the Sanford Dam. Darion made the recommendation and it was great! (We are basically touring Darion’s life…) The lake is huge and it was something we never would have gone to see without the recommendation. Thank you! We ended the day with some Torchy’s Tacos, which were surprisingly delicious. ( I had the Democrat and the Green Chile tacos. J had the crispy avocado and street corn.)

Today we went to check out Cadillac Ranch. I didn’t realize you were able to spray paint the cars and add to the artwork but when we arrived we were met with the smell of spray paint. It is definitely worth checking out, but we didn’t stay long. After we headed out to Palo Duro Canyon State Park to do some hiking. The canyon is the second largest in America (who knew this would be a trip of canyons?). We did a 5 mile trail to see the lighthouse rock formation. It was 105 degrees and we were all exhausted when we got back. Thankfully there was a small stand selling snow cones, clutch.

Bill decided to start his trip back to San Antonio, TX tonight so we ended up driving to Albuquerque, NM. We hadn’t planned to spend the night in Albuquerque but we are excited to explore the city. Unlike our feelings about Oklahoma City, we have no desire to come back to Amarillo, sorry Amarillo! We also discovered a CD J’s dad, Marcel, had left in the car, it is pretty amazing.I never knew he had such an eclectic taste in music, the CD includes songs ranging from Carly Rae Jepson’s "Call Me Maybe" to classic Yardbirds "Mister You’re a Better Man Than I" to Evanescence "Bring Me to Life" to Psy "Gangnam Style" to Faith Hill "This Kiss" to Bananarama "Venus". He even included J’s recording of "All Along the Watchtower" by Bob Dylan (as well as, you know, Jimi Hendrix's version. Who's to say which one's better?). It’s pretty amazing. We are still enjoying it’s surprises now!

Day 15, 7/7/2017

Started: Oklahoma City, OK

Ended: Amarillo, TX

Total distance: Driving: 388 miles

I needed to grab a book before we left. I should have grabbed this off my bookshelf, but I didn’t, so I’m buying a second copy: The Grapes of Wrath. It seems a little on the nose to buy this in Oklahoma, but we saw a bookstore while Nate was driving us around yesterday (seriously, a free car service is kind of an amazing perk. Good job Ambassador Hotel). We stopped at Commonplace Books and what an interesting space. First of all, the sections are all non-tradition. I found Grapes in the intellectual section, but the other sections included “Collector”, “Activist”, and more. The owner (?) was very nice, gave us a free tote with our books[1], talked to us about places to go, and generally left us with the impression of an OKC that was pretty hip and worth returning to for a day or two.

Before we left, we got some food at Café Kakao (based off a recommendation from R’s friend Darion, but seconded by our new friend at Commonplace Books). This place was awesome. It was a Guatemalan restaurant that does breakfast hard. The décor was not at all what you’d expect from an overall unassuming roadside restaurant. The pancakes looked delicious, but more than we could handle for the morning. We both ended up getting crispy motuleno (mine without carne asada) and lattes (mine was horchata). Great food.

The drive to Amarillo was uneventful. The first page of Grapes of Wrath describes the red country of Oklahoma, and indeed, the soil was red with iron through western OK and the panhandle of Texas[2]. We met Bilkus and I pooched the reservation of camp sites, so we ended up at an overly expensive Hilton Garden Inn. And we didn’t feel like the drive to the Canyon that night, so drove up to Lake Meredith, an artificial lake whose dam was formerly inspected by Darion—of Café Kakao recommendation, that Darion—and it was a beautiful sight. Seriously, I never imagined this terrain to be so hilly, red, and alive.

There was a point where we were trying to find a spot to watch the sunset over the lake and we ended up right inside of what my GPS thought was the lake. It seems Lake Meredith is at all time low levels, though, as it’s gone from a depth of 101 feet to 26 feet. This is how my car ended up in the blue part of the map.

[1] R got Purple Hibiscus, the first full length book published by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

[2] Why does Texas call this area the panhandle? I mean, I understand that they are directly south of the panhandle of Oklahoma, but c’mon Texas, let Oklahoma have this one.

Day 14, 7/6/2017

Started: St. Louis, MO

Ended: Oklahoma City, OK

Total Distance: Driving: 498 miles

J still wasn’t feeling well this morning so we head over to a Walgreens. He is fine, just needs to rest a little more. We stopped at Yolklore for breakfast in Webster Groves. We loved the name so we had to check it out! We had a quality breakfast and then we hit the road. I drove from St. Louis to Oklahoma City. We made a short stop in Wayesville, MO to email our students reminders about summer homework.

We stayed at the Ambassador in Oklahoma City. We checked in and J went straight to the bathroom where he got stuck… The bathroom had a sliding barn style door and the roller was loose, someone from the front desk had to come rescue him. I found the whole thing to be hilarious.

We headed out to Empire Slice House for dinner, at the recommendation of Darion who lived in OKC after college (our hotel had a service where they would drive us anywhere for free within three miles. Nate was great. It was his fourth day, but he was really nice getting us to and from). J had slices of cheese pizza and I had the Brussel Westbrook on gluten free crust. J drank an Uroboros Stout (an OKC brewery) from Anthem and I had Ellie’s Elixir. We both enjoyed the pizza and drinks. Thanks for the recommendation Darion!

Day 13, 7/5/2017

Started: St. Louis, MO

Ended: St. Louis, MO

Total Distance: some miles about town

My slow road to recovery has meant that we didn’t do a walking tour of SLU, though much of the campus seemed as new to R as it did to me. I did attend the tour we took as a school with my advisory class back in 2013, though, so I feel as though I have the gist. I do need to make sure to pick up some Billikins gear when we’re back in town at the end of the month, though.

The real highlight of the night, we went to R’s sister’s typical trivia night. Of course our team won. I am just disappointed that we didn’t win by more. I am doubly disappointed that I forgot the author of the song “Don’t Dream It’s Over”—it’s Crowded House. I wrote Culture Club. What?!?!

Also, can we talk about how R’s friend’s house is a historical site. The birthplace of a former member of the U.S. Soccer team. And apparently, the Hill is littered with the birthplaces of sports icons like Yogi Berra, Joe Garagiola and Jack Buck. Also, it’s a great, vibrant Little Italy.

Day 12, 7/4/2017

Started: Apple Canyon, IL

Ended: St. Louis, MO

Total Distance: Driving: 352 miles 

This morning J woke up feeling better. It was a wonderful long weekend with my family. Unfortunately, J missed out on the boat rides, swimming, campfires and endless games of Catan. My favorite holiday is Easter, but 4th of July is a close second. Every year my whole family meets at the lake and we spend some quality time together. Some relatives travel from near by and other make the journey from much farther (for a while Jeanne and Tim were coming in from Singapore!). Some of my favorite memories are playing baseball with Dizie “Fukudome” and Dickie in the side yard. It’s bittersweet going to the lake without Dizie but I know she loved it there, especially when we were all together.

We decided to skip the trip to Indianapolis to let J rest some more, so today we headed straight to St. Louis. I drove since J was still recovering. We arrived in St. Louis and did a quick driving tour of SLU, then went straight to Emily & Mike’s house. They had a fancy spread of beers, ciders, and dips for us to snack on while Erica was in Alton with her adorable nieces. Betsy came over and we headed to Pat Connollys to watch the fireworks. I read in a magazine once, best friends can come back together and it’s like no time has passed at all. It always nice to spend time with Emily and Erica, we fall right back into a groove catching each other up on what is new in our lives.

Day 11, 7/3/2017

Started: Apple Canyon, IL

Ended: Apple Canyon, IL

Total Distance: Driving 47 miles

Yeah, so this is strep throat. We went to a clinic in Galena and I got a prescription for antibiotics, so hopefully this fever will go away. My initial goal was that it would merely ruin my time at the lake house, but it has officially disrupted our itinerary. Today should have ended in Indianapolis, but that leg of the trip will have to be scuttled. Now I’m hoping the antibiotics and rest will allow us to continue to St. Louis unfettered, but I’m also worried that my sickness will make parts of our trip less fun. Ugh.

Fun pro tip for travelers. Apparently travel with your insurance card. I was able to look up my information because I had my phone with me and had my online account set up, but they were unwilling to just look me up, which was my naïve belief going into this.

Anyway, we got the antibiotics. At the pharmacy in Galena, we also bought some cinnamon bread made by nuns in Iowa, so that was delicious. I am now going to focus 100% of my energy on getting better.

Day 9, 7/1/2017

Started: Apple Canyon

Ended: Apple Canyon

Total Distance: Running 1 mile

So after spending the day with R’s family in just a beautiful part of Illinois (it is so hilly! What? In Illinois?!?!) I was wondering what I could write about. After all I just spent much of the day lying around, sitting on porches, sitting on boats. Then it happened. I got really really sick.

Not much to write about but my out of control fever. We are still at the start of the trip and Chicago is not far away, but this is a horrible start. I’m hoping that this passes soon because I feel terrible.

Day 7, 6/29/2017

Started: Plymouth

Ended: Chicago

Total Distance: Driving 267 miles, Running 1 mile

Official start to the road trip? End of leg one of the road trip? Day before the start of the road trip? Hard to say, but what is for certain is that we’ve acquired a car: the two tons[1] of Detroit Muscle we like to call my Uncle Rocco’s 2012 white Ford Fusion. Rolled the odometer to zero and hit the road around 10:30. After one stop at the Panera Bread in Niles (I don’t know why, but many years ago when I had a car and would make the drive back semi-regularly, I would just often stop at Panera, especially this one in Niles).

Originally, this was a short stop for the purpose of packing and that’s it, leaving for Apple Canyon early tomorrow morning. But plans change.

A former student died last week. He was 20 and graduated with the class of 2015s, my advisory class and the class for whom I was the 11th grade lead. I had the honor to teach this young man math for a semester/quarter. Emily, then the newly minted math/science Dean of Instruction, pulled out seven juniors with IEPs who had been in geometry and created a special pull out class taught by me (during my extra prep) and Emily or Alexa in some rotation. Leon was one of these scholars as he had missed a great deal of school up to this point. He had suffered burns as a young man and spent a lot of time since then in and out of the hospital and so he was pretty behind in math. He didn’t like and in his charming, jokey way would consistently try to talk his way out of learning math for the period. I’m not going to lie, he would make me laugh hard enough sometimes that we would indeed stop for a bit. As a senior, on the bus ride back from the ski trip, he was just yelling out roasts at everyone, especially Christian Rivera. To this day every time I heard, “I’m picking up what you’re putting down,” I immediately remember a Leon-ism, “I’m drinking what you’re squeezing.” His funeral is tomorrow[2] and will mean a later start to our trip than we planned.

You’re a great guy Leon. I’m grateful to have known you and to have taught you. I’ll miss you, kid.

[1] Give or take

[2] Full disclosure, I’m writing this as if it weren’t Thursday, but it’s really Friday now after attending the funeral. I think it was a great service and it was truly great to see all the people whose lives Leon touched. A young lady at the camp he attended said that as a burn victim, meeting Leon is what helped turn her life around. I also love and was so happy to see many of the 2015s come out (and Ryan and Kristopher!) Kyra said it, “Why did we wait for a funeral to have a reunion?” This was just a reminder of what a profound impact this class of students and group of adults had on my life. And how lucky to share in and be a part of something so special.

Day 5, 6/27/2017

Started: Plymouth, MI

Ended: Plymouth, MI

Total Distance: Driving: 91.6 miles, Running: 1 mile

Today saw two excursions, one to the Detroit Institute of Arts, one to Zingerman’s Roadhouse (for the record, Mac and Cheese with a Kale and Pinenut salad. Barista beer from Wolverine State Brewing Company) in Ann Arbor, both involved R and I traveling with my parents.

So the DIA is my favorite art museum (despite at this point having visited the Art Institute in Chicago more). I have had a miniature The Thinker[1] on my desk since my childhood. Though the DIA has a lot of great and a lot of famous pieces (one of which, Van Gogh’s self portrait, was the site of an embarrassing scene. I got to close to it and set off a proximity alarm that very calmly said, “Step away; you are too close to the painting.” I was then further scolded by the museum security about my thermos of coffee that I wasn’t supposed to have…), the most important piece in the museum is Detroit Industry by Diego Rivera. This is a series of murals that cover an entire courtyard recognizing, wouldn’t you know, Detroit Industry. The murals start off benign enough[2] with one side recognizing the construction of the V8 engine, the other the chassis, both at the Rouge plants. Then the front wall shows the duality of industry: the left side has the working man, the city of Detroit, a dove, and the airplane whereas the right side has a Henry Ford/Thomas Edison hybrid, rubber plantations in South America, a hawk attacking doves (subtle, Diego), and distraught pilot of a war plane. Rivera of course then goes way off the rails on the other wall… I don’t know what’s going on there.

Of course, the thing that stopped me, for some odd reason, was the drinking fountain. This was designed as part of the courtyard itself but at this point was cordoned off. Originally designed with a practical purpose, the drinking fountain now is preserved along with the rest of the art. And to a certain extent, this is perfectly understandable. Beautifully designed and part of the Rivera Courtyard, no one would want to see the fountain damaged by use. At the same time, isn’t it a little crazy? It’s a drinking fountain. At one point this whole courtyard was designed to be beautiful and enjoyed and now it is simply meant to be beautiful and observed. When we take away the intention of a thing from the thing, does it still hold its thingness?

The next bit of this blog is a short ode to Zingerman’s. R asked me why I love that restaurant so much and I couldn’t quite answer. My mom seemed to think that when I went to U of M, I signed a contract to unconditionally love all things Ann Arbory. I think I just admire the model of a restaurant (slash food empire) that embraces whole foods, slow meals, local cuisine, and fanciness. They don’t offer cheddar on their burgers, they have a mild or a sharp cheddar. Their ice creams come from their creamery. They also actively promote their food (I had a book on cooking from Zingerman’s that I got from the library that I cherished…) And I guess that I appreciate that they’ve been doing this forever. Also, I just really like the food.

[1] Through my research I’ve discovered that there are indeed 28 of these—my original guess was at 4—around the world. Detroit’s is apparently four days younger than the one in Louisville and dates back to 1903.

[2] All of this, by the way, is according to one of the museum guides.

Day 4, 6/26/2017

Started: Plymouth, MI

Ended: Plymouth, MI

Total Distance: Driving: 49 miles (to Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti), Running: 1 mile, Walking: >1 mile

Today was day 3 of running… I hate running but I’m trying something new and I know J likes to run. It was better than the first two days and I think I picked up some speed at the end.

After our run and breakfast with J’s parents we headed to Ann Arbor. J gave me a tour of his old stomping grounds at University of Michigan, the greatest school in the world (according to J). Then we wrote some letters of recommendation at the Pittsfield Branch of the Ann Arbor library, where J used to work. We will be in Plymouth until Thursday and tonight we are going to trivia with J’s brother Mark and his girlfriend, Chelsey. (Side note--Mark and Chelsey are extremely nice. Chelsey came to Christmas in a Kanye sweatshirt, how can anyone possibly top that?)

You are probably wondering about our trip. Where are we going? Where are we staying? If it were up to J, we would have no plan… But it’s not and I like to plan! We have spent time working out our route over the past month. A good friend of ours is getting married in Denver July 21st. We knew we wanted to go to the Grand Canyon and the rest of these places we have friends or family we will be meeting or we will be hiking! Here is a brief look at where we will be headed over the next five weeks.

Plymouth, MI

Chicago, IL

Galena, IL

Indianapolis, IN

St. Louis, MO

Oklahoma City, OK

Palo Duro Canyon, TX

Petrified Forest NP

Flagstaff, AZ

Grand Canyon NP

Horseshoe Bend

Antelope Canyon

Glen Canyon

Zion NP

Bryce Canyon NP

Canyonlands NP

Capitol Reef NP

Arches NP

Denver, CO

Boulder, CO

Rocky Mountains NP

Badlands NP

Minneapolis, MN

Isle Royale NP

Marquette, MI

Pictured Rocks NSL

Chicago, IL

Day 3, 6/25/2017

Started: Plymouth, MI

Ended: Plymouth, MI

Total Distance: Driving: 15 miles, Running: 1.5 miles

The day started (after a morning run (that came after an evening run…)) with taking Tedward to see his great-grandmother. The only thing I can say is that after years of worrying about my grandmother’s happiness, I definitely don’t now. She participates a lot in the community at her retirement home, she clearly spends time looking her best (she asked my dad to bring her jewelry because all the ladies wear their jewelry there). She looked good for a 93-year-old woman (especially considering she thought she was being “incarcerato” when my she and my dad were talking about this move).

The day was otherwise quiet. We had Buddy’s pizza[1] with my brother and sister-in-law as they picked up my nephew. Ran to REI to gear up a bit for the rest of the trip. We watched the first episode of Sherlock. We then got in a large debate with my dad and mom about education[2].

              I have long since suspected this, but this conversation confirmed it: the people in my small district send their children to charter schools for the same reasons people in Chicago send their kids to charters. They don’t like the neighborhood school and they feel they have no say in what happens there. Which is insanity for a small district like this (though my dad will maintain Plymouth-Canton isn’t a small district, we had to explain to him that compared to Chicago it was), that politics and power grabs prevent any reasonable change in the schools. I think the greater impact is very different than in Chicago, as Black and Latino families are criminally underserved by all facets of society, whereas if I got a mediocre education (for the record, I didn’t), my life would still be fairly comfortable.

The conversation also delved into my favorite topic, accountability and how does education compare with medicine. R and I have largely adopted the position that the metrics set to measure a teacher’s value add typically feel removed from the actual outcome we want: college success. And these metrics will likely never truly be good and no matter what measure you set for success, you will find people who can meet it, only to find that those aren’t the measure you want. If you want growth on the ACT to be your goal, you will find people who can get there. But ACT growth is a process and doesn’t always lead to those outcomes, and if that’s where teacher metrics stop, then you’re guaranteed to have lackluster college graduation numbers.

My dad worked work Blue Cross Blue Shield for a long time as a consultant and was talking about the incentives in place for doctors inside the United States’ byzantine healthcare system. He was arguing that if we can do that for doctors, we need to set that standard for teachers. Of course, as my hero, Dr. Aaron Carroll has pointed out, pay-for-performance among doctors hasn’t led to better outcomes for patients, and while insurance companies and hospitals can set the metrics by which doctors are measured, those also can be confusing and unrelated to outcomes.

This was a long conversation that ran from ten pm to midnight. When my dad asked, ultimately, what the solution was, I had no idea. R might have summarized the end goal the best though. First, what is important to people will be different. My mom can kvetch about extra-curricular activities taking time and money away from the classroom, but R and I can attest to the classroom taking away from the whole student experience. Second, though, if educators’ product is ultimately the student (whether that be college or happiness or social consciousness), that this is a collaborative effort and needs to be approached as such and that one person can’t make a difference, it takes a collective effort and a common goal to make a school that works. And that collaboration needs to happen among the staff, the parents and the students at schools. Hopefully by the end of this trip, we’ll have figured out how to fix education.

[1] And yes, it is delicious. I don’t know how, but I ended up writing on the days of pizza. I’m sorry Union Squared, but if your goal was to replicate Buddy's, you failed. A beautifully crispy square of cheese, sauce, jalapenos and mushrooms… wonderful stuff.

[2] See? I called it! Everyone has an opinion on education.

Day 2, 6/24/2017

Started: Plymouth, MI

Ended: Plymouth, MI

Total Distance: Driving: 4 miles, Walk: laps around the field, Running: 2 home runs (carrying Noah ;)

For years I have hated road trips. I have this habit of falling asleep instantly whenever I stop moving. This is not exclusive to cars; trains, planes, boats, you name it and I’ve fallen asleep there. So as you can imagine, when J suggested we take an epic, summer road trip, my initial response did not take much thought, no.

So what changed my mind? Last summer, I took a vacation to Denver with my friend, Yara, to visit my friend from college, Darion. We spend two days at Lake Dillon and then traveled through the Rocky Mountains. It felt so good to be outside and hiking after 11 months of pacing my classroom. I could look around, not monitoring behavior or checking student work, but to experience the beauty around me. This trip was the first time I had gone hiking for an extended period of time.

Two months later, J and I took a trip to Seattle and made it out to Olympic National Park. Again, I experienced the same rush of excitement as we hiked new trails and experienced the temperate rainforest for the first time. I always loved to travel, but I realized I love being outside.

So, this summer is not about the road trip, it’s about the new experiences in new places and being OUTSIDE!

Our first stop is to Plymouth, Michigan to visit to J’s parents, we will be here for five days. Today is our first day and we spent the day at the Miracle League. J’s mom has spent the last, 5 years building something amazing and I was blessed to be a part of it for a day. The Miracle League is a baseball league for children and adults with physical or cognitive disabilities. I have to be honest, leading up to this day I was nervous to volunteer because I have never been athletically talented and I did not want to let any of the players down. Quickly I realized the Miracle League is not about any individual’s athletic abilities, it is about giving the players the opportunity to play baseball and have fun. I cannot imagine a better way to kick off our trip and I am excited for the adventures to come!

Day 1, 6/23/2017

Started: Loop, Chicago, IL

Ended: Plymouth, MI

Total Distance: Walking: 0.9 miles, Train: 248 miles, Driving: 21 miles

Though the idea for this blog started as a travelogue of this epic five-week trip that starts today, as we started to talk about what we’d write about, we realized that just the trip wasn’t enough. This is the summer before my tenth year of teaching and before R’s fourth year and we’re both finding ourselves at professional crossroads, and we’re both liable to run into a long discussion on our opinions about education (though, let’s be serious, who isn’t? Everyone has an opinion on education). This is a trip that will involve visits with friends (her friends, my friends, mutual friends), extended stays with both of our families and stops in both of our college towns. We will be seeing lots of nature. We will be making lots of food. And between all of that will be just a lot of time on the road. The trip started today: I had said goodbye to my cats, got on the Brown Line and we met at our school in Downtown Chicago. We then walked down to Revival Food Hall, got some food to go[1], then trekked to Union Station for the 6pm train to Ann Arbor. We watched Chuck for most of the time and were picked up by my parents and taken back to my childhood home in Plymouth.

I always have trouble with openings. My usual approach is to put black on white and go back and fix it, but that isn’t exactly an option here. I’ll try to leave with some sort of mission statement… this will be a blog with entries about lots of things.

[1] Mushroom pizza from Union Squared, a place that models “Detroit-style pizza.” While I firmly believe this isn’t a thing, they more or less are trying to recreate Buddy’s pizza. And they do an admirable job with the crust, but I was pretty disappointed to realize that the pizza came with a basil pesto sauce instead of marinara. It was pretty dry as a result and I really wish I got something else, though I’m pretty biased against non-tomato based sauces on pizza.