Butter Lamb Hits SF, Tourist Style

View from Fisherman's Wharf.

Today was my last weekday before beginning my new job on Monday. Thinking, what would I do that I would not normally do on a weekend or do in a longtime while living in San Francisco, I headed to NYC's version of Times Square, Fisherman's Wharf.

Now, I understand why Rough Guide goes as far as to describe the Wharf and surrounding area as such:

"San Francisco rarely tries to pass off pure, unabashed commercialism as a worthy tourist attraction, but with Fisherman's Wharf and the nearby waterfront district, it makes an exception. It's the one place in town guaranteed to produce shudders of embarrassment from most locals. An inventive use of statistics allows the area to proclaim itself the most-visited tourist attraction in the entire country; in fact, this crowded and hideous ensemble of waterfront kitsch and fast-food stands makes a sad and rather misleading introduction to the city. It may be hard to believe, but this was once a genuine fishing port; the few fishing vessels that can still afford the exorbitant mooring charges are usually finished by early morning and get out before the tourists arrive. The shops and bars here are among the most overpriced in the city, and crowd-weary families do little to add to the ambiance." Indeed. But regardless, it's kitschy, I hadn't been in awhile and hey, Butter Lamb insisted. He wanted to see the world famous seals.

No, not those.

These.

Unfortunately, because the Wharf is a tourist hot spot (think tons of kids running around with goopy, sticky and sugary treats and their clueless guardians), it was not safe nor possible to get Butter Lamb into a photo with the seals. However, he did pose with the sign at a much safer distance.

Muggles and Wizards and Horcruxes, Oh My!

In less than 24 hours, the final Harry Potter book will be in my hands. I am seriously giddy in anticipation like a little kid. I CANNOT WAIT!!! I pre-ordered the book from the lovely and amazing Green Apple Books here in SF so that my money wouldn't go to some mega-corporation like Borders and to ensure I would not have to deal with UPS or the postal system, both of which have probably been dreading this day for months.

When I pre-ordered the book, the clerk at Green Apple handed me a green parchment paper with an order number, awater mark (!) a photo of Harry and the following words: "Bearer may redeem this pacrhment for one (1) copy of Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows at Green Apple Books. Valid commencing midnight, July 21, 2007. No questions will be asked." Brilliant.

To add to the excitement and insanity, KFOG has been playing magic-related music all morning, interjected with sound bites from the Harry Potter movies. I was lucky enough to have seen the fifth HP movie last Friday not only in IMAX but with parts of it in 3D. However, I am envious my NYC-based HP friends can take advantage of the madness that will be taking place at Scholastic headquarters in SoHo. And did you know that a British hotline called ChildLine is already preparing for a deluge of calls from children to help them cope with the promised deaths in the final book?

And not overshadow today's big event, happy birthday Dan! I promise to not read the book while at the Oakland A's game tomorrow but cannot make the same promise to and from on the BART.

Butter Lamb Returns!

Two weeks in the freezer and Butter Lamb has been going stir crazy. We decided to let him out for our trip down to Santa Cruz, then back up the coast on Highway One before we stopped in Half Moon Bay for dinner. Butter Lamb decided not to go down to the ocean due to windy conditions and the shark hazards. Good thing Butter Lamb didn't know about Devil's Slide before we drove this treacherous passage.

Just Down the Street...

Photos from our hike through part of Golden Gate State Park...

San Fran, Weeks One and Two

The best news first. Drum roll please... we're now both gainfully employed. If you would like more details, please send us an e-mail.

We've decided to keep the blog rolling, to chronicle our West Coast exploits and adventures since the majority of our readers are on not in this time zone. Butter Lamb will continue to make appearances, and continue to rest comfortably in our freezer next to the veggie burgers and ice cubes.

So, highlights of weeks one and two

- A welcome dinner at Joe and Jasmine's in North Beach. Our introduction to the city's MUNI system which is not necessarily convenient on Sunday evenings.

- A visit to Hockey Haven, the nearest watering hole to our apartment which is apparently owned by a Canadian and does in fact show hockey games throughout the season.

- D and D welcoming us to the joys of Gestalt and its European beers and "I can't believe it's vegan sausage and buns" fare; and welcoming us into their great group of friends. We all continued the European exploits with a Bridget Bardot/Bastille Day celebration yesterday evening here.

- A hike through part of Golden Gate State Park.

- Discovering the backyard of the Park Chalet after a day of walking around the Haight, the Castro and the Mission.

- Visits to two of the best bookstores EVER, City Lights and Green Apple Books. I think Dan bought every available Anthony Bourdain book at Green Apple, including a used one already autographed, "To Jennifer."

- Discovering cheap, cheap dim sum just down the street from us and relishing in not knowing what the hell half the stuff was listed in Chinese on the walls of the restaurant. And also the Chinese restaurant down the street that serves vegetarian "chicken."

- While the rest of the country blisters under insane heat, we're wishing we hadn't packed our WINTER coats. In storage. For two months. In Oakland. In a storage we can't touch. We're not lying. Outer Richmond at night is so cold, our landlady puts on the heat sometimes.

- Learning how to park on a San Francisco hill without busting the car in front or in back of you.

- SEEING TRANSFORMERS!!! And Harry Potter not just in IMAX but in 3-D! Okay, okay. We also saw Sicko last night, which is classic Michael Moore. You, too, will be purchasing a one-way ticket to France, Canada, Great Britain or dare we say, Cuba.

- Shopping at the Ferry Building Marketplace on Saturdays. Holy... this is a foodie and wino's dream come true.

Vehicular and Political Fun

A more general post about Butter Lamb and beginnings of life on this Left Coast is overdue, so once Dan gets through his California drivers license written test today, we'll be back on track with our more adventurous musings.

On that note, both of us have to obtain California drivers licenses. Neither of us have taken a written drivers test in years. Try 12 years. We obviously know how to drive or else we couldn't have made it across the country in one piece. We know basics. A stop sign means stop. Green light means go. We've even learned that in SF, when parking on a hill, tires need to either be turned in or out.

However, after picking up the California drivers booklet, we have figured out that we know much less than we thought. An embarrassing amount less. For example:

- Going less than the speed limit may be illegal, even when a tsunami has hit.

- Low beam headlights might be the same as regular headlights which may or may not be the same as your fog lights, depending on make and model of car.

Then again, at least we knew the obvious:

- Do not shoot at road signs while driving.

- If you refuse to wear a seat belt for the driving part of the exam, you will not be allowed to take the test.

- Individuals are not allowed to ride on or in parts of your car not intended for passengers. Ie, the trunk, the roof, the exhaust pipe.

It's also disturbing to see the Gubernator on the "welcome" page of the driver's manual. The man who starred in Kindegarten Cop runs this state, the seventh or eighth largest economy IN THE WORLD. Didn't people learn that actors don't make good politicians? Three words - Bedtime for Bonzo.

Not as if things are better on the national level. Turning on the news today, I saw that the current Czar of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, has a "gut feeling" that there's another terror attack coming. Are you serious? I mean, I could go to a psychic for that sort of expert analysis. Or, think about it myself, since we've been spared by terrorists for awhile now. You know, maybe I should have this job. I have a gut feeling that my landlady is slightly nutty, but you know what? I'll leave that to the Secretary, the expert analyst and CABINET MEMBER to figure out that one. Maybe I can color code my gut feelings, too.

In the News...

While skimming newspaper headlines, I found an unsettling story about a wildfire that swept through our favorite town in Neveda, Winnemucca. Sad...

Butter Lamb Lives!

Still alive, hanging in the freezer, now sporting a flat top hair-do due to some desert thawing. We've decided more photos will come forth from our West Coast adventures. Stay tuned.

Scenes From Nevada and First Steps Into California

The BBQ restaurant outside our hotel in Winnemucca, NV. Open for breakfast and offering video poker.

Our first San Fran road sign on the twisting, turning road through the Sierra Nevadas.

Our official introduction to San Francisco - driving into the city via the Golden Gate Bridge. Wild and beautiful.

California Here We... Are, Part II

That's the Pacific. Within walking distance of our apartment. Whoa.

The view down our street.

Since landing yesterday in California, we've accomplished the following:

- Moved into our sublet in the Outer Richmond, a mostly residential neighborhood just blocks from the Pacific Ocean that has beautiful views of the Ocean, more beautiful views of Golden Gate State Park, lots of delicious looking dim sum and Asian restaurants, cold temperatures (no, seriously. You cannot walk around past sunset without a good coat.) and fog. As we were walking back to our apartment from getting groceries this evening, we stopped and watched the fog start to roll in.

- I had two interviews today, both completely different, both pretty good. Fingers crossed, everyone.

- We figured out neighborhood essentials like groceries, laundry, the nearest post box, etc.

- Made good attempts to understand a new city's bus system.

- Got connected to the internet in our apartment. Seems like a ridiculously trivial thing but hey, Butter Lamb Must keep going.

In other news, Dan has an interview in Oakland tomorrow, and gets to drive across the big, bad Oakland Bay Bridge by himself. Keep the good thoughts coming.

California Here We... Are

All I can say is wow. Wow. We are in San Francisco, having come into the city, rightfully so, across the Golden Gate Bridge. This is a short post, as our friends Joe and Jasmine have made an incredible dinner for us at their equally incredible apartment, and we are hungry for homemade food and good friends.

We will post photos from the last part of our trip soon, but we must get ourselves together for our interviews in the next few days. I think we're going to to keep on blogging away from this coast, so stay tuned.

We miss everyone on the East Coast, so stay in touch. And to our West Coast comrades, we're so happy to be here.

Butter Lamb Gets Religion

Salt Lake City is of course, the center of the Church of Latter Day Saints (The Mormons). We toured the Temple Square, which is essentially the Mormon Vatican. As you enter, some very perky young women meet you and ask where you're from, why you're there, etc. This general theme continues throughout the grounds, and the later tour. Young perky women asked us where we were from, and why we were there. Perhaps it's important to remember that the tour guides aren't just tour guides, they are also missionaries. Their friendliness makes more sense then.

Here are a couple photos of the Temple Square and the very famous Tabernacle. We decided it would not be very respectful to bring Butter Lamb out. Plus, it was really hot.





On our way out, we took a stop at the Great Salt Lake. Yes, it is salty. It's quite pretty, and a bit surreal. Butter Lamb was getting a bit stir crazy in the cooler, and begged to come out. However, he could only stay in his box. It's a desert! Deserts are not good places for young lambs of butter!

Entering Utah...

If you ever have the inkling to visit Echo, Utah, here's what you can expect.

Unbelievable scenery.

See Frank in the cafe for gas.

Yup, that one.

When In Nevada...

Internet here in Winnemucca is very slow, so the promised thoughts and photos from Salt Lake City will be up sometime later.

If you're living in Utah and want a break from the morally upright lifestyle, luckily, there is a den of sin close by: Nevada. Las Vegas is its capital in terms of temptations, but other towns come close. As we neared the Utah/Nevada border yesterday, signs promised thousand of dollars in slot machine fortunes, ladies ready to love you (but for a price), free casino drinks and all the prime rib you could eat at a $3.99 buffet. The border towns are packed with small-time casinos and folks meandering away from their cars at gas stations to take advantage of the fun. We quickly got gas and were more intrigued by the Basque food and western outpost kitch of Winnemucca.

Winnemucca is a good stop-over point between Reno and Salt Lake City. Tons of out-of-state license plates, more small-time casinos, more promises of sinful delights. We restricted ours to eating at the historic Martin Hotel, whose family-style restaurant boasts (and rightfully so) the best Basque food around. The Basques came to Winnemucca in the 1800s and because of their sheep-hearding heritage, prospered in the hills of Nevada. The town now boasts more Basque people than anywhere else in the U.S.

The Martin Hotel was a traveler's dream: for approximately $22.00 per person, you are fed an epic feast of an entree, then you share with the rest of your long table all you can drink water and wine, bread and butter, salad, french fries, navy beans, cow tongue (we passed), spciy green beans wth bacon bits, meaty and spicy rice, sausage and vegetable soup and finally, bread pudding. For entrees, we had a massive seafood stew and a lemon and dill salmon. Our fellow table mates, including some widowers from California, a couple from Washington state and a guy from the Sacremento aea, all dug into the food like it was Thanksgiving, and you felt as if you were at an adult hostel in Europe.

To work off dinner, we decided to hit one casino. Unfortunately, because photos are not welcome in casinos, Butter Lamb stayed in the hotel refrigerator. We stuck to the one across the street from our hotel, and played the slots for awhile until we lost a collective sum of udner $2.00. Yep, big night in Winnemucca. Instead, we played Big Buck Hunter for awhile, then watched Law and Order re-runs at our hotel, followed by an edited version of Showgirls on TNT. Yes, they cut out the best parts. Still, much better than watching old ladies pump away their pensions into slot machines.

This is our final day of traveling which seems crazy. We talked yesterday as to how weird it is that nope, this isn't a vacation. This is permanent. Yeah, we've known that for awhile, but it's starting to sink in. (When you start seeing chili and lime-flavored junk food in convenient stores, you know you're in Western Massachusetts anymore.) We're excited, we would have regretted never living in San Francisco, so off to more new adventures. We'll post once we officially hit the coast.

Random Thoughts From the Road, Part II

Dan and I have arrived in Winnemucca for the evening and may actually fall off the vegetarian wagon for the amazing Basque food that is so popular here.

Pictures and stories from Salt Lake City and our tour of Temple Square will up sometime tonight but for now...

- It's amazing how tan you can get just driving in a car all day. Dan and I have strikingly dark tans, and my hair hasn't been this blonde since birth.

- Can someone remind me how hay can become so flamable? I was wondering this as we passed hay trucks on our journey, and I thought back to my Girl Scout camp days of lugging hay to and from barns.

- Are the South Park guys really conservative or are they just making fun of how ridiculus American society really has become?

- Are Mormons really as happy as they seem because they live a life abstaining from addictive stimulants like caffeine and nicotine?

- Life on the road can make you feel fairly stupid in a way. It becomes difficult to remember exactly what day it is, to think beyond "Does this exit have peanut M&Ms?" and find: gas, coffee, food, bathroom, bed for the night. Repeat again. Dan and I need t oget our verbal and written acts together before we have job interviews on Monday and Tuesday. Something tells me our potential employers would not find it so professional if we answered a question with, "Huh? Coffee? What? Shower now?"

And Butter Lamb Makes Three

Before we post about yesterday's travels across Wyoming and into Salt Lake City, we want to wish Scott our best wishes moving into his new apartment today and wish Destiny a belated happy birthday.

After a make-it-yourself Belgium waffle breakfast at our hotel in Casper, we drove down Interstate 25 and then onto Interstate 80 in Wyoming. Who says there's nothing to see in the middle of Wyoming?

Mmm... chili...

Maybe Butter Lamb wants to move to Buford instead.

Entering Utah, which is unbelivably gorgeous with its clay-colored hills and massive rocks, we needed gas. Spying a sign for gas, food, phone and services in a town named Echo, we pulled off the highway. The gas, food, phone and services were all provided by an elderly man named Frank (we think. It was the name on the gas station.) After pulling up to the gas station, we followed a sign "For gas, go to cafe" and found Frank at the cafe counter, a beer in hand. He then came down to the gas station, unlocked the pumped, pumped our gas, warned us of the Salt Lake City police and waved us on our way. Jen had to ask: "So how many people live in Echo?" Frank replied, "75 of us."

We're going to explore a bit of Salt Lake City today, especially the Morom Tabernacle and the actual lake itself. It's ironic to be driving through Utah with Massachusetts license plates given the former governor, Flip Flop Mitt, is running for president. Anyone else find it strange that a Mormon got elected in one of the bluest states of them all?

Our destination this evening, because we're too tired to drive all the way to Reno, is Winnemucca, Nevada. Thanks to Natalie, who we had no clue was a Winnemucca expert (because she's actually driven through and stayed there), we now know that Winnemucca is the home to more Basque restaurants than anywhere else in America and that somewhere along the way, well see signs for a town that is nicknamed the armpit of America. Nice.

Random Thoughts From the Road

When you stare at the road for upwards of 12 hours a day, you start contemplating some crazy things:

- What is tar made out/composed of?

- Do aliens really exist?

- Why do hotels rarely provide you with towels that are barely large enough to fit the Olsen twins put together?

Anyway, we are on to Salt Lake City today. Did you know that the Salt Lake has more salt in it than the Dead Sea? And the Jeopardy king Ken Jennings hails from there?

Causing a Scene, Butter Lamb Style

Butterlamb is an attraction unto itself. Even at the base of one of our most famous national landmarks, Mount Rushmore. Butter Lamb was able to stop the hordes of tourists in their tracks. People gathered all around to witness Butter Lamb, and the two crackpots who have decided to carry a piece of butter around the country with them.

This is no lie. We got to the Mount Rushmore visitor center, cooler in hand. Given that it's pretty damn hot in South Dakota, we knew we had to act quickly. Butter Lamb emerged from the cooler, a bit soft, but so far unscathed. As we took pictures, a group of people approached us, asking the common questions one would ask if they came across two people holding a glob of butter and taking pictures of it. We explained the story. One lady asked "What's its name?" To which we replied, "Butter Lamb!"

Here's the proof.


And so now we bunk for the night in Casper Wyoming. We just ate at "Old Chicago" pizza. We did not offend our palates by eating Chicago style pizza. Wyoming is absolutely beautiful, and empty as hell. Sometimes back in Western Mass, we'd comment on how we lived in the sticks. HA! These are the real sticks, but they are just lovely. Here's a photo from the side of the road.

Butter Lamb Hits Wall Drug

It's been a big and fun morning for us and Butter Lamb. After being teased for hundreds of miles with their catchy billboards along side Interstate 90, we visited Wall Drug. Wall Drug is the home of free ice water, 5 cent coffee and more cheesy photo opportunities than Disney World. Here are the best shots:

Ride 'em cowboy.

No comment.

Jen on a jackalope.



Butter Lamb hearts Wall Drug

We'll hopefully be back with another post this evening from Casper, Wyoming with photos from Mount Rushmore. Let's just say Butter Lamb caused quite the stir...

Butter Lamb (Still) Lives!

I am happy to report that as we settle into our Motel 6 room in Wall, South Dakota for the evening after an epic drive from Galena, Illinois, Butter Lamb is still alive! A bit soft, a bit goopy, but still with us on our cross country journey. Since we left Erie, PA on Tuesday morning, here’s where we have traveled:

- A short jaunt through Pennsylvania along Lake Erie on Interstate 90.

- Interstate 90 through Ohio. Drove through Cleveland, moved luggage from the top of the car to inside because of windy and, shall we say, "unstable" conditions.

- Continued on Interstate 90 through Indiana. More wind, South Bend, roadside devices that warned of animals crossing the highway, lots of nothingness, played the “What’s that smell?” game.

- Just our luck, after driving trough Gay, IN and entering East Chicago, IL, we hit the aftermath of massive thunderstorms and the beginning of Chicago rush hour traffic. Interstate 90 loops literally through the middle of Chicago along with several other highways that merge in the most inconvenient places (and probably tore up a number of neighborhoods). We watched CTA trains zip by and taunt us, stared at the Sears Tower in front of us and after two hours, we made it through the cluster.

- What seemed like the best meal/dinner we had eaten in years was at a Denny’s outside of Rockford, IL. Denny’s is a road traveler’s paradise because it serves any of their burgers made with Boca burgers. We must have been the happiest customers the waitresses had seen all day.

- From Rockford, we looped onto Route 20, a more local route through northwest Illinois. As the sun was setting and dusk settled in, and the fireflies dotted the rolling farmland and hills, it all looked insanely gorgeous. The reason we headed onto this less traveled trail was to visit two baseball monuments of sorts: Galena, IL (mentioned above) and Dyersville, Iowa. Galena was the stand-in town for Chisholm, MN (the home of Doc "Moonlight" Graham) in Field of Dreams and Dyersville is the home of the actual baseball field and farm house. We had planned to spend the night in Duboque, IA, right across the Mississippi River and home of a river boat and caisnos, but instead found an oasis – The Irish Cottage Hotel. If you are ever on Route 20 in northwest Illinois and need a place to crash for the evening that includes an Irish pub, a pool (where we were joined by a very nice lady who told us "if you pray to God two times, it will come true") and hot tub, all the cable channels weary travelers want to flip through and a complimentary breakfast basket of sugary breakfast pastries and fruits… for $80… this is the place.

Butterlamb Concurs!

Today we made the pilgrimage to the Field of Dreams site, crossing the Mississippi River from Illinois into Iowa. It was very odd to suddenly hear the radio stations change from W to K as their first letters...


Here are the photos from the actual field, and Butter Lamb was feeling good enough to make an appearance.

And yeah, Dan and I were there, too.




We then headed to Mason City, IA where we discovered delicious vegetarian sandwiches and a Barack Obama 2008 office, then drove up Interstate 35 onto Interstate 90 into Minnesota where Dan paid tribute to Bob Dylan by playing Highway 61. Minnesota was a lot of flat, windy farm land. With huge turbine wind mills!


We finally made it into South Dakota, and Butter Lamb wanted to take a look around a rest stop that featured a faux teepee.


South Dakota, as barren as Interstate 90 makes it look, is extremely beautiful, especially the hills surrounding the land around the Missouri River. Wall is certainly touristy (thank you, Wall Drug, which we are extremely excited to explore tomorrow morning before we head out to the Badlands and Mount Rushmore.)

Our Life, In Eight By Seven and a Half Square Feet

We thought that this blog entry was going to be delayed because, surprise surprise, wireless access is not plentiful outside Erie, Pennsylvania… across the street from the 24 our fireworks, guns, knives and swords with a free sample of Jelly Belly jelly beans store and down the street from Splash Lagoon, the area’s finest indoor water park. I wish I was kidding. Dan and I have been contemplating two things: one, what special type of individuals would be visiting the aforementioned store at, let’s say, 3 a.m.; and two, would the employees at the aforementioned store be receptive if we asked to take a photo of the Butter Lamb in front of a cherry bomb display?

However, as we stopped for our second round of morning coffee at Krispy Kreme, Dan spotted a sign - free wireless access! Yes, we are blogging from inside a Krispy Creme.

We’ve only made it to Erie due to a late start (try 12:20 p.m.) from Northampton. Last night was spent doing some more collective pouring out of emotions, unexpected smooth tequila drinking on the porch with out upstairs neighbor, Neil, and more cleaning and packing. The morning was spent doing last minute cleaning, packing and ensuring our belongings would not collapse by securing them with four massive wood contraptions. It’s an extremely humbling experience to find that all you own and did not want to trash at the last minute fits into an eight by seven and a half square feet space and into a Subaru Forester. Anyway, the drive from Northampton to Erie was not very exciting. Lots of farm land and bad 80s music. And despite Dan’s pleas, we did not stop at Howe’s Cavern outside Cobleskill. Now we are happily sitting in our hotel room, watching Anthony Bourdain on the Travel Channel. And now, onward to Dyersville, Iowa, better known as the real-life Field of Dreams.

God Bless Our Northampton Posse

As New Englanders would put it, what a wicked awesome weekend. Our Northampton friends - Scooter, Natalie, Evan, Erin, Mike, Francis, Gabe, Sarah, Bill, Emily, Neil, Jill - have seen us off in style.

A Friday of packing, cleaning and running around was capped off with a hysterical show put on by the stylings of DON'T. Saturday was a mish mosh - held a tag sale with all the loons of Northampton stopping by; headed here for several hours; then swam in a beautiful swimming hole behind the Deerfield Academy.




We then ate delicious Southern BBQ; saw the lyrical stylings of OUCH; and saw the sun start to rise after what was deemed the after party to end all after parties. On Sunday, we finally ate lobster roles for the first time, courtesy of Webster's Fish Hook, then began the teadiness process of moving things no one wants to move, let alone arrange in to a neat and secured 8x8 square space in a trailer we won't see for two months. Luckily, all the furniture, including the infamous 200 pound sleeper sofa, got into the truck (thanks Scooter, Natalie and Evan.) The visionary team work of Erin and Mike got everything Tetris-style into the space with room to spare, then Francis brought us much needed pizza for dinner (yeah, even though we have been eating massive high calorie meals lately, the pounds are coming off from moving box upon box and trash bag after trash bag to the dumpsters.)

Now it's Monday morning, and it's really difficult to believe we're driving across the country starting today. Many tears were shed in the past days, and the waterworks will be on full blast today. We are hoping to make it to Indiana by tonight, so as Richard put it smooth sailing... with a steady wind at our backs. We'll be in touch tonight once we've landed.

What if butterlamb doesn't make it?

It's a logical question. What if butterlamb melts? What if butterlamb retreats into the corn of the field of dreams? What if butterlamb hijacks a bus and heads to Akron Ohio? What will we take pictures of?

We have a backup plan dear readers. Their names are Carlos and Mr. Met. As you can see, they're fired up for the trip too.


















But there is another logical question of course. What if Carlos, Mr. Met, and butterlamb don't get along? What if there are lingering issues of jealousy that fester between the three of them?

Have no fear. After a long sit down with all three, we can report their are no jealousy issues. Carlos and Mr. Met recognize that they are Endy Chavez in this situation: ie. supersubs. And just to prove it, see for yourself the love between all three.

This is the Butter Lamb

For those who have been eagerly awaiting the initial viewing of butterlamb, here he is...

As you can see, he is sitting on a suitcase. He's fired up and ready to go!

Pop Culture Distractions

I'm looking for everything and anything to distract myself from packing up the freight truck that is sitting outside our apartment building right now, so I wanted to wax poetic on a book/movie and defunt TV show.

First, I CANNOT WAIT FOR THE FINAL HARRY POTTER BOOK!!! (And the fifth movie!!!) I need to start plotting out which bookstore in SF will have midnight Harry Potter release parties and which movie theatre is best to see the fifth movie. I am that pathetic.

Second, I miss The O.C. Don't knock it 'til you've watched it. I swear. The whiny, emo music soundtrack... the misadventures of wealthy kids in their Hummers... drama-rama of teenage deaths, alcoholism, trips to Mexico... sigh. My life is a little emptier without Marissa, Ryan, Cohen, Summer, Sandy and Kirsten.

Thank You, Interstate 91

Since moving to Northampton in September, 2005, Interstate 91 has been the absolute bane of my existence. Living in Northampton and driving to work in Hartford means driving through TWO states and putting 90 miles on my car five days a week. So, as it is my final day at work, I would like to thank several groups of people and road situations that have made my drives continually FUBAR:

• The drivers who read the newspaper... while driving.
  
• The States of CT and MA for the severe lack of public transportation which creates daily traffic backups as far north as Ellington, CT. That's right, a town 17 MILES NORTH of Hartford.
• The sneaky CT and MA state troopers who hunt for blood.
• Those unable to understand the concept of merging.
  

And to those who made my drive more palatable:

• My trusty iPod mini which against all odds (hey, we all know iPods die after two years) has endured and endured my karaoke renditions of Bon Jovi, Modest Mouse, Pat Benatar and They Might Be Giants songs.
• The gorgeous mountain ranges along 91 in MA. The views in the morning when the fog is just lifting or when there's a light snow falling...
  

The Big Move... and the Butter Lamb

Welcome friends, family, colleagues and random visitors. This web site has been created by Jen and Dan to not only chronicle our cross-country travels as we move from Northampton, MA to San Francisco, CA (gulp) next week but to write about life on the other Left Coast.

The more ridiculous element of this move - surely not the fact that our boxes of books take up more space then our furniture, that our cost of living will go up exponentially, that we will no longer experience actual seasons - is that a butter lamb is coming along for the ride (see picture to the right), like a sort of mascot. No, it's not a lamb encased in butter. It's an actual slab of butter shaped into a lamb... which has been sitting in our freezer for over a year now. For more info on what the heck a butter lamb is, head over here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter_lamb

Just as in the movie Amelie a garden gnome is taken on a journey and photographed in odd places, we will do the same with said butter lamb. Butter lamb in front of Mount Rushmore? Absolutely. Butter lamb in Reno? Possibly. Stay tuned for photos and travel entries.