Let me tell you a story.
I recently moved from the east coast to the west coast for job opportunities, needed something different,
middle-of-pandemic ideas that pop into your head - uh - and this is the story of that.
This is the story of my journey.
The first thing that I did, which I guess is one of the last things you saw me do in my old apartment,
is pack up all my stuff. This is what my apartment looked like completely empty -
it was devoid of all of my belongings because I had stuffed them into the back of my van
- and I did this all in one day, all by myself.
There I am, so proud of myself, and then the next morning, I just got in my van and drove away.
And it's a crazy feeling, and you're full of anxiety and nerves, but also excitement, and also
questioning why you did it in the first place, but now it's too late to back out now,
and it's time to just get over it and get excited about it. I've actually done this
multiple times before - I spent four years living in the city of Chicago, Illinois, and then I
spent three and a half years living in Seattle, Washington, and then I spent three and a half
years in Providence, Rhode Island. It seems like three years is kind of my limit at this point,
and then I start to get really antsy about moving somewhere else. But I'm also getting
older and probably going to end up back where my family is all gathered at some point soon.
So I wasn't too - uh - unaware that I was going to have these feelings - it's something that I've
experienced before, and it is something that I would recommend everyone try - just packing up
all of your stuff into the back of your vehicle and driving away. It's a crazy feeling. Plus,
I was excited to get to my first destination, which was Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The row
houses are something that I feel like - there's not really anything like this anywhere else in the
country of the United States. - uh - They're so tall and narrow and close to the street;
it's a completely different vibe than you'd get in New York City or any other big city. They just
have this look that's "so Philadelphia." And this is one of just SO MANY bridges that I saw - you'll
see, you'll see... For whatever reason, I really wanted to see the Liberty Bell - which is kind of
what sparked me wanting to go to Philadelphia in the first place, so of course, that's the
first place that I went when I got to the city. I did not take what is known as a "belfie," though
(which would be a selfie with the bell), but I did see Benjamin Franklin in the Visitor Center
and I took this wonderful, beautiful picture with him instead. And then of course, you're in one of
the most historic places in the United States, so you've got to do some historic sightseeing,
such as seeing Independence Hall, which is where they signed The Declaration of Independence
and The Constitution, and you know - Chinatown is very American as well. So, had to check that
out. This was my favorite building that I saw - I love when buildings reflect the sky - and this is
one of those many bridges that I was talking about. But the more fascinating detail here
is this guy - just biking along casually - but anyways, back to the bridge: I found them to be
very impressive, and like I said, EVERYWHERE. I crossed bridges when I was leaving Philadelphia,
and I left there right as the sun was setting, so of course, you've got the great "golden hour"
light while going through the countryside of Pennsylvania, and I had no idea that
Pennsylvania is so mountainous. There was a lot of driving through the mountains themselves,
through these tunnels, and I always loved driving through mountain areas because of
that. And because on the other side - it opens up and you get this GORGEOUS view - I mean,
come on! Look at that! That's so pretty. Good job, Pennsylvania! Oh my gosh, these mountains,
though - they're like out of a painting! Sunset just keeps getting better, keeps getting better.
And I got to a hotel for the night, and that was my first night out on the road as a
nomad, I guess. I guess I was nomadic at this time, for a good six weeks. Day one: down.
Day two: I started off to Pittsburgh. To get to Pittsburgh, of course you have to drive over
bridges and drive under bridges, lots of different kinds of bridges - all of the
different kinds you could imagine. The whole state was very picturesque. I was happy that I spent
time to explore around a little bit. I don't know that I ever would have gone through Pennsylvania
like I did, had I not been driving from the east coast westward. Another thing I was surprised
about with Pennsylvania is how much water there is around, and especially the cities were surrounded,
or - uh - I guess laced with different waterways, and especially Pittsburgh. They
have these gorgeous parks that are right up against the water, and then surprise!
There's bridges all over the place to connect the different parts of the city over the water.
In Pittsburgh specifically, they had painted a lot of these bridges yellow, which was very cute and
added some brightness to the beautiful sunny day that I got, and of course, I had to go over
one of these bridges - had to do it - also because the city was on the other side and I
really wanted to check out that gorgeous skyline. I don't really have much to say about this except
that it was a beautiful day, and the city is really nice and clean, and there were people
walking around everywhere. It felt really safe. I could definitely see living here for a few years -
I think that it would have been great to go to college here. If somebody's considering it for a
few years in school, that would be a really fun experience , I bet. This was my favorite building
that I saw, until I saw THIS building, which was very reflective of the sky and had this "mirrored"
effect, so even when you were driving around, you could see Lump (my van) in the reflection itself.
And it wasn't just one building - it was a whole kind of campus of buildings that was surrounding
this plaza. I felt like I was in Oz - it seems like Oz. It's like The Emerald City, that's it!
I also found out afterwards that there's actually, in the wintertime, an ice rink in the center of
these buildings, and they light it up really nicely for Christmastime, and in the sunsets,
it also looks excellent, because it reflects the sky so well. This is the kind of building
that I was expecting to be in Pennsylvania - just big, brick, old-looking-establishment
buildings, so there was a lot of that as well. This kind of building does not impress me;
it's just not my style, I guess, but there is a lot of that there, too - if you're
into that. Another thing that they have (besides bridges) is the stadium where the Steelers play,
and there were a lot of people walking around in jerseys, so I don't know what was going on,
but SPORTS. I don't even have any comments for this. I don't know what to say about it. I
was here for like 10 minutes, waiting for these geese to leave. They're very
confident - I'm sure people feed them. Look at this guy! He's got no cares in the world.
Real reason I went to Pittsburgh, though, was to go to the Andy Warhol Museum! I'm a huge fan of
Andy Warhol and have been for some time, so this was one of the main reasons that I wanted to get
to Pittsburgh. I didn't actually take any video in the museum itself, but I have some photos of a few
of my favorite pieces. This was actually a film - I thought it was super cool, and I stood there for
the entire eleven-and-a-half minutes of it. It was of these two women playing a double-sided guitar,
and sometimes they would both be playing it, sometimes one of them would be playing it,
sometimes one of them would be playing guitar and the other one would be messing around with
the pedals - it was a whole performance piece and film. And it was just very well done.
It was cool to see Andy Warhol's commercial work, because I wasn't as familiar with
that as I was with his later work (that he's probably much more well known for),
but he did a lot of advertisements for different stores. He did different
storefront window displays, he did book covers, and it's nice to have a reminder of where people
who you idolize or you look towards as experts - they all came from somewhere, so it's fun to see
what his beginnings were and then check out his later work. And the way that the museum is set up
is in a way that you go all the way to the top floor, and then you make your way down,
and it starts with his first decades of work and goes into the future as you go down in
the building - so it's a really cool museum. It was set up really well. I highly recommend it
if you're in Pittsburgh. And of course, you get to see big iconic pieces that take up the entire wall
and are extremely showy and dramatic and full of pop culture references - that's what he's known
for, you know. They even had some of his pieces that he did with Basquiat. A lot of people are big
fans of Jean-Michel Basquiat now. They even had a piece by (Keith) Haring, which was cool to see.
I don't love all of his (Andy's) work - sometimes he can be a bit too cheeky, and I would not
hang this in my house, but to each their own. After going to the museum, I wanted to walk around
Pittsburgh and check out the rest of the area that i was in, so I did just that. And of course,
I found some coffee. The entire city seems to be very artistic and creatively-inclined
and there were actually a surprising number of public art pieces - I guess? - Or people who
decided to make their houses into art pieces. This is just a little sampling of those.
And that was it for Pittsburgh! I was then on to my next destination. Where was the next stop, you
might ask? Well, it definitely was not in Ohio. I drove for so long through the state of Ohio,
and no offense Ohio, but driving through on the highway is one of the most boring things I've ever
done. It was mostly soybeans. And it was pretty - at least it was a beautiful day - I wasn't driving
through the snow or the rain, but it was so boring - except that I saw this old car, and then
I saw THIS cool old car, and then - you'll never believe it -
I saw THIS GUY! Was it the same guy?!
Was it the same guy from before?! We'll never know... I hope so. I hope it was that same guy.
But you know, when you're driving along on a road trip, there's going to be some boring stretches,
and you've just got to entertain yourself and get through it,
because sooner rather than later, you'll be making it to your next destination.