The Little Red Haired Girl and I are in the Manchester, NH airport. It is lovely here. The TSA people are nice, it’s not over crowded, no one is in a huge hurry, it’s clean, and above all, free wifi. You gotta love that. We’re never flying into craptastic Logan again.
The weekend was a whirlwind of catching up with old friends, eating good food, and spending quality time with Lady E. Fanclub Girl’s wedding was beautiful and a ton of fun. It was on a gazebo in Gloucester overlooking the water, and the weather was perfect for it. After a nice service during which The Little Red Haired Girl cried, we headed down the street for a lobster reception. We had all our seafood cravings satisfied there. Fried calamari, clam chowder, steamers, and lobster. Freakin’ delicious. After which we danced the night away.
Saturday was a busy day. I was recovering from many beers and glasses of champagne at the wedding, but we had 5 or 6 restaurant/bars to hit. The Little Red Haired Girl and I had made a list of all our favorite foods and places in Boston, and we were planning to get to as many as possible. On Friday afternoon before the wedding we managed to get to the Corner Mall for Jamaican Beef Patties and McDonald’s apple pies. 
They are fried there. Yes. We had fried apple pies. Anyway, Saturday started with dim sum. It was just me and The Little Red Haired Girl, which is a tough situation for dim sum. You want to have as many people as possible there so that you can order a ton of different things. We restrained ourselves though, and only ordered our very favorite items.
The rest of Saturday afternoon was spent in Allston, where I lived for the first two years after college. A lot has changed over there, but my favorite bars and restaurants still survive, thank goodness. We started with potato skins and sweet potato fries at Sunset Grill & Tap. At Big City we were too full so we just had beer and played pool. After that we were running out of time, so we skipped Great Scott but had a bottle of wine, some fried calamari, caesar salad, and bruschetta at Carlo’s Cucina. We finished off the night with a drink at Club Cafe. Not in Allston, but close to Lady E’s home.
By Sunday we were exhausted. Lady E. made us pancakes and bacon, which was nice. Then we shopped around for a while, and sampled some oysters and fried clams at Legal. Met up for drinks with Party Girl Doctor, then off to The Burren for dinner with Fanclub Girl. and her new bride. We finished the night at Top of the Hub, Lady E. and The Little Red Haired Girl and I, discussing what The Little Red Haired Girl’s and my wedding will be like. After which we headed home and played Karaoke Revolution until we couldn’t stay awake any longer.
The next morning we got up early to walk around just a little more. I got my spinach and cheese filled croissant at ABP, and The Little Red Haired Girl and I walked from Harvard Square to Central, just remembering. We took my picture in front of City Hall where, one rainy summer afternoon in 2005, The Little Red Haired Girl and I signed for our Qualified Domestic Partnership. Very Romantic.
So, there were a couple of things that we did not get to do while in Boston, but we accomplished a heck of a lot, so I ain’t complainin’. Plus, now that there is a possibility that our wedding will be up there (that story is for another day), we may be back real soon!
The Little Red Haired Girl and I arrived in Boston right on time Thursday afternoon. The whole trip went essentially without a hitch, which is a nice change from my usual bad flying karma. There was a moment after we got off the plane when our checked bag was missing, but we found it stashed around a corner. Phew. We took the T out of the airport after getting a Charlie Card from a staff guy. The Charlie Card is shadily 30 cents cheaper than the Charlie Ticket, for no apparent reason. Lady E tipped us off on that.
We spent the afternoon looking for a jacket for my wedding outfit at Downtown Crossing. The sad news is that the original Filene’s Basement is closing. Lucky for us we got to shop there one last time, and managed to find two nice jackets for me to wear at some point in my life. The highlight of the day was our trip out to Watertown to hit our favorite sushi place, New Ginza. The place has not changed much, although there are new decorations in the main room. At least two of the servers that we remember from 2 years ago still work there, and the sushi is delicious as always. We had the agedashi tofu, sashimi entree, an extra order of cherrystone clams, and a roll with eel, tuna, cucumber, and avo. Freaking delicious. Fully satisfied, we headed out to Jamaica Plain to see the old bar, Midway Cafe. It was packed when we got ther at 9:15. Clearly Ange is doing a helluva job over there. Being too old to party, The Little Red Haired Girl and I went home around 11:30 to find Lady E home from school and already in bed. After some quick chatting and planning for the next day, we ended the day happy and glad that our visit had only just begun.
Friday is Fanclub Girl’s wedding! Which means The Little Red Haired Girl and I are heading home to Boston. We gave ourselves plenty of time to enjoy our friends, the food, the public transportation, and the gay-friendliness. We’ve already got about 9 restaurants where we want to have at least a bite during our 4.5 days there. We also have plans with people that we haven’t seen in a long time, which is good. Others are out of town, but it’s a mixed blessing, since 4.5 days is not very many. Lucky we can kill many birds with just the wedding. Anyway, I am freaking excited. Lots to do today before we’re off, but it’s all worth it.
Two other activities of note last weekend were Atlanta Pride and the High Museum. The Pride Festival in Atlanta goes on for 3 days in the park. We walked through on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon, and it was packed both times. The cool thing about Pride in Atlanta for me was how ethnically diverse it was. Well, maybe diverse is being generous, but it was not a park full of white queers. Also it seemed like a lot of the businesses surrounding the park were on board with the festival, sporting rainbow flags or signs saying “Happy Pride!” The bar where we ended up on Saturday night displayed no overt acknowledgment of Pride, but was using rainbow coasters.
The whole point of the trip originally was to go to the High Museum and see the Louvre and the Annie Leibovitz exhibits. While the Louvre stuff was spectacular, the Annie Leibovitz was what got to all of us the most. It intertwines her professional photographs with personal ones, and the result is this really powerful look into her life and who she is. It seemed particularly fitting that we were there during Pride weekend, because one of the most amazing parts of the exhibit was her documentation of the illness and death of Susan Sontag. It was hard to view, but at the same time I felt grateful that these two brilliant and passionate women could find each other, share lives together, and now in 2007 the public allows and is allowed this intimate look into their relationship. It’s that kind of thing that Pride is about, I think.
This weekend we took a short trip to Atlanta with The Superheroes. We left Saturday afternoon, and arrived in time to check into the hotel, walk through the pride festival, and have dinner. We had a fabulous time people watching, chatting, and drinking it up. We ended up in a tavern on the way home drinking local brews and drunk dialing The Bachelor (Who Isn’t). The next morning we got up late, checked out, put our bags in storage, and walked to the aquarium.
The Georgia Aquarium is pretty new, and has some neat stuff. We saw penguins, otters, sea horses, jellyfish, and all that good stuff. The weird thing is that they have a ton of sponsors. Maybe that is the norm, and I get that aquariums are extremely expensive to build and maintain. But seriously. This is one thing that happened while we were there.
The Aquarium is split into several sections, such as “Cold Water Quest” and “River Scout.” Each is “presented by” some sponsor. The best section by far is “Ocean Voyager, built by Home Depot.” It’s basically one huge tank with something like 50,000 fish in it. You walk through these hallways with different views into the gigantic tank with a laminated card that shows pictures of each fish and its name. The star of this exhibit is the whale shark, a huge fish that can grow to 60 feet. There are also a few displays along the way, including one which describes how the whale sharks were delivered from Taiwan. That display consists of a long wall filled with information and a giant UPS logo. There is also a looping video showing footage of the delivery process. We joked about the negotiation process with UPS while looking at the display, but didn’t realize how deep this UPS thing really runs.
Later in the exhibit there is a big room that is set up amphitheater style, with a gigantic 23′ by 61′ view into the tank. You walk into the room, and some staffers invite you to sit down. It’s really mesmerizing, just seeing all those fish swim by. We sat and stared for a while, until some guy with a headset microphone started to talk. He told us some things about the tank and the different fish in it. He was clearly directing his talk toward kids, asking a lot of questions that, if we’d been paying attention to the displays, we’d be able to shout the answers to. When he started talking about the whale sharks, this is the series of questions he asked:
Aquarium Guy: Where did we get the whale sharks from?
Us, yelling in sync: Taiwan!
AQ: Who helped us bring them to Atlanta?
Us: UPS!
AQ: And how much did it cost to have them shipped?
Us: It was free!
AQ: And was that nice of UPS?
Us: YES!
All of a sudden I realized I’d been brain washed.
The other weird thing about visiting the aquarium is that people behave so strangely. It’s as if all normal etiquette no longer applies. People bump, elbow, and kick you without a word of acknowledgment. Adults shove their children toward the front of an exhibit, all the while saying things like, “wait your turn, honey.” And the picture taking. I get that you’d like to remember your trip and pictures are a nice way to look back. But really, shoving your way to the front then spending 10 minutes taking pictures or video of the fish and then walking away is ridiculous. You’re not capturing any memories, because you never saw it in the first place. You were too busy looking at everything through the viewfinder on your camera. Plus your pictures are going to be crap because you used your flash, which tons of signs clearly tell you not to do. On top of which you’re in the way of people who actually want to see the damn fish.
Anyway, that was our aquarium experience. I don’t mean to complain about it incessantly, because we actually really enjoyed it. There were just some really bizarre things about it.
ps. I forgot to mention: If you plan on going to the aquarium on a weekend day when it’s bound to be crowded, try deodorant. Just a tip.
We have just returned from a 5 day trip to Chicago. I had a conference there, and The Little Red Haired Girl came along to see the city. It was a fabulous time, and we love it there. Enough that I might convince The Little Red Haired Girl to live there someday, despite to crappy weather.
Anyway, today it’s back to the grindstone. Lots of work to do before our post-passover seder on Sunday, not to mention class on Tuesday. I don’t know why, but I’ve had a hard time getting focused ever since spring break. It could be the constant travel that has made me feel temporary, or the knowledge that the semester is almost over. It could be the erratic weather or just plain feeling overwhelmed by the end-of-semester crush. Whatever it is, I’ve been feeling like a bit of a fuckup in terms of school lately. I guess I’d better get it together if I’m planning on any kind of successful end to the term.
So, this is a story from the last time The Little Red Haired Girl and I were at the airport in Hartford, CT. We were pretty early, and sitting at the gate chowing on some sushi that we’d picked up on our way out of town. We look over, and this couple had gotten up and was walking out of the gate area, leaving their two black duffel bags behind on the floor in front of their seats. That’s clearly not an ok thing to do, and we debated for a while whether or not we sould say something. After all, we’ve always been told, “if you see something, say something.”
I think I’m ashamed to admit that neither of us did say something. I won’t speak for The Little Red Haired Girl, but there was a certain aspect of not wanting to be a paranoid busy-body as well as a feeling of not wanting to “tell on” them for doing something stupid. At the same time, that’s the kind of mentality that makes it easier for actual wack stuff to happen.
The whole time I just held my breath, hoping the couple would come back soon. And they did, carrying sodas and holding hands. I keep thinking about it though, wondering what I would have done if they hadn’t? I hadn’t been brave enough to say something when it was really important to. What does that say about me? What will I do the next time something like that happens?
So I’m sitting here in the little airport at Roanoke, VA. Free wi-fi! I can’t be happier. I’m glad we got here all kinds of early. These little airports sure do know how to treat you right. With any luck there will be some kind of internet access in the hotel in San Diego, but I’m not feeling too hopeful.
Yesterday was the Little Red Haired Girl’s birthday.
On Sunday we had a joint cook-out party for her and The Thespian, who shares the same birthday. It was a great time, and the weather was perfect. The yesterday we decided to spend the afternoon in a canoe, and again we had perfect weather. It was nice to have quiet quality time together, since it’s been pretty crazy for The Little Red Haired Girl at work, and life has been hectic ever since getting home from New England the weekend before.
This morning we drove up to her parents’ home 8 hours away. This evening has been nice, with delicious crabcakes for dinner and a walk with the poodles afterwards. The Little Red Haired Girl will be here for a week, but on Thursday I fly to San Diego for a school related thing. I’ll be back basically in time to drive home to Nashville. I think it will be nice for The Little Red Haired Girl to have family time without me, even though I know she likes for me to be here too.