it's the freakin weekend, baby

the following ramble is somewhat delayed. but a couple of weeks ago, we went to the bookstore and purchased a couple of books to help us prepare for the trip.

okay, we didn't purchase all of them. only a couple. but we thumbed thru all of these. i think our favorite one was the one that listed good places to eat in major cities around the country *eyebrow waggle*. we didn't buy that one tho. we decided to stay a bit more practical, and got an atlas instead.

yeah, those are the ones we purchased. this photo is TOTALLY CANDID, NOT POSED AT ALL ahaha.

yesterday julie and i went shopping, i got a few nice new clothes for the trip, and a really cute mini backpack to carry around with me while walking random places.

something that i think might come in handy for later is a timezone map, so, yeah... here:

arizona will be the same timezone as nevada, because it's a rebel and doesn't participate in dst. so we will be driving thru 3 timezones, and will have flown in from/back to the fourth.

something else i wanted to post about is the hanson day weekend schedule of events. we will not be participating in the bowling, or any of the members dinners.

friday: will be driving in from amarillo. the driving distance is 366 miles, which, according to google, will take us about 5 1/2 hours. we will want to leave early this day, because we wanted to stop at pops along the way if there's time (their website says they start serving lunch at 10:30 am). so if we leave around 7 am, we will get to pops around 11 am. then take an hour for lunch, and get to tulsa around 1:30. check-in for hanson day in tulsa goes from 10 am - 5 pm. but we'll probably check in to the hotel first. the photos are the first event, going from 1 pm - 4 pm, at cain's ballroom. after that is the lectures, also at cain's, from 5 pm - 8:15 pm. next is the movie screening, at the circle cinema, at 10:30 pm.

saturday: not much happening this day. can spend the morning exploring tulsa a little. state of the band is from 4 pm - 6 pm at cain's. after that is the concert, at cain's, from 8 pm - 10 pm (doors open at 7). then after the show it's the *after party* (and after the party it's the *hotel lobby*), which goes from 11 pm - 1 am (doors at 10:30) at cain's.



sunday: hop jam!!! located in the brady arts district, the doors open at 3 pm, and the concerts start at 5 pm. bring an id!! other than that, nothing going on, so we can spend the morning exploring tulsa again.

as a side note, here is the post from last year's hanson day, which recommends some good stores and restaurants in tulsa. i haven't yet seen a similar list for this year, so last year's will certainly do. there is also this site, which also has some great info on tulsa.

that's all i've got for now!! --ashley

the itinerary

okay, so i briefly outlined the itinerary in my last post. but i wanted to make a post with the official dates/places/plans etc. so, here's the plan:

sunday may 11th, 2014 - drive from maine to boston. this flight goes to nevada, but has a layover in texas. we'll get to nevada around 9 pm (local time). sunday night we may stay in las vegas, no official plans yet for that, we'll see what happens. total driving miles to airport in boston is 233 miles.  total straight-line distance from boston-texas is 1525 miles, and from texas to nevada is 1000 miles.

monday may 12th, 2014 - pick up our rental car in the morning (a mustang convertable btw *eyebrow wiggle*). this day we drive from nevada to our next hotel, in flagstaff, arizona. along the way we will be visiting the ghost town of oatman and the grand canyon. total driving miles for the day (including the canyon): 363 miles. staying monday night in flagstaff.

tuesday may 13th, 2014 - leaving flagstaff and heading towards albuquerque, new mexico. will be stopping along the way at the jackrabbit trading post, the petrified forest, red rock park in gallup, and the pueblo of laguna. staying the night in albuquerque. total driving miles: 324 miles.

wednesday may 14th, 2014 - leaving albuquerque and driving to roswell, new mexico. stopping in santa fe and santa rosa. total milage 291 miles. staying the night in roswell.

thursday may 15th, 2014 - leaving roswell and starting towards amarillo, texas. stopping along the way in the ghost town glenrio, the midpoint cafe, and the cadillac ranch. total drive of 294 miles. staying the night in amarillo.

friday may 16th, 2014 - leaving amarillo and heading for tulsa, oklahoma. stopping in oklahoma city and pops in arcadia. driving 366 miles. staying the night in tulsa, beginning hanson day activities friday night

saturday may 17th, 2014 - continuing hanson day, staying in tulsa again this night.

sunday may 18th, 2014 - possibly continuing hanson day (no events yet announced for sunday). exploration of tulsa and maybe surrounding areas.

monday may 19th, 2014 - leaving tulsa, heading for wichita, kansas. 176 miles. returning rental car, our flight back to boston (via dallas) leaves at 2:45 pm. 700 miles straight-line from wichita to dallas, and another 1525 miles straight-line to boston. arriving back in boston shortly after midnight. driving back to central maine, another 233 miles.

tuesday may 20th, 2014 - home. sleep. total approximate miles travelled: 7030 miles.

for the most part, this itinerary will not be changing, but there may be a few last minute adjustments here or there. here's a driving route map, courtesy of google:

if anyone who might be reading this has any suggestions at all for places to stop/things to see/places to eat/etc etc, please let us know in the comments!

--ashley