"48 States in 48 Days: One Man's Journey of Activism."

When I think back on my childhood role models of activism and environmentalism, the foremost couple in my mind are the wonderful Barbara Clark and Charlie Adler of Attleboro, Massachusetts, the parents of my lifelong best friend Carlen. From the time we were little, Barbara and Charlie graciously and selflessly opened their home to international exchange students, and offered them a quintessentially American learning and life experience, paving the way for my future goal and experience hosting my very own students in my house.

Photo: From Charlie's @48states48days Facebook page

Charlie has always been very active in local land conservation and city politics, often running for positions to help steward the green spaces and interests of Massachusetts. I remember the fabric wall hanging in their house of political buttons reaching back decades and the stories of Barbara and Charlie's involvements in supporting candidates in every election. I have always admired their work and efforts.

This past election cycle has created a cloud of apathy against the major party candidates, pitted patriotic Americans against each other as we argue about the way to move forward, and broadcasted an ugly and contentious political race both internationally and to our children at home, as a race unlike that of which I have ever seen in my three decades of life.  Yesterday, I learned that Charlie is undertaking a quest of personal activism to travel to the State Houses or Capitol Buildings of all 48 of the contiguous States of America to share the following important message:

Photo: From Charlie's @48states48days Facebook page

As a fellow environmentalist and traveller, I will be tracking Charlie's journey and countdown to election day. If you would like to learn more or follow his journey, please like and follow @48states48days on Facebook. Wishing you a safe and positive journey, Charlie. Godspeed!

A Dream of Iceland!

Footage from our January 2015 trip to Iceland!

Bucket List Update: August 2021.

Aimee's Bucket List:

-Hike all 48 four thousand footers in New Hampshire with Mom. (4 peaks left: Middle and North Tripyramid, Isolation, Carrigan.)

-Hike the Appalachian Trail. (281.6 trail miles done!)
-Hike the Pacific Crest Trail.
-Hike the Continental Divide Trail.

-See Antartica.
-See the Aurora Borealis.

-Boire un cafe, sans lait, en Paris près du Tour Eiffel.

-Visit Ireland, Scotland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, France/French territories, England and UK territories, Germany (Bavarian Christmas Shops), Russia, Czech Rep. (Prague), Italy, Greece, Switzerland, Svalbard's seed vault, India, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Macao, South Korea, Mexico, Grand Cayman, St. Maarten(Dutch side)/St. Martin(French side), St. Kitts, Grand Turk, Grenada, Puerto Rico, Canada, Fiji, New Zealand, Tahiti, Iceland, Morocco, Lake Tahoe, and more...
-Pray in a Buddhist temple and hike in the Himalayas.
-Walk on the Great Wall of China.
-See the Terracotta Warriors.

-SKI THE ALPS.
-Build a tiny house!

- Send my dad to space

-Buy Nate a '70 Chevy Nova.

-Buy Tom a race car

-Get Beth to hike Mt. Washington.
-Eat at a Michelin Starred restaurant: Roy's-Tampa, Mourad-San Francisco, L’Atelier de Joel  Robuchon Hong Kong, Din Tai Fung Hong Kong)

-See Christy get married in Ireland.
-Go on a cruise.

-See one of my students become a teacher.

-To be able to take care of my parents for the rest of their lives.

-Drive with Rachel from Seattle to Alaska 

after our 2011 drive from Tampa to Seattle and back.

-Go back to Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Montreal. 

-Drive Across America. (East-West)

-Ride the mules down to Phantom Ranch and see the Grand Canyon.

-White water raft part of the Colorado River.

-Publish a novel.

-Build a treehouse.
-Host foreign exchange students. (Ruiqi and Xuanxuan from 🇨🇳 China, Charles from France 🇫🇷, and Varya from Russia! 🇷🇺 )

-Build a log cabin in the middle of the NH/ME woods.

-Win a shopping spree at an outdoor outfitter.

-Skydive.

-Get a tattoo

-Own a '65-'66 Mustang

-Have a kid
-Adopt/foster a kid.

-See a Red Sox Spring Training Game: 3/20/2011!

-Be a bridesmaid.

-Sing on a television show.

-Go on a Survival Show.

-Plant an organic vegetable garden.

-Install solar panels on my house.

-Stay for a week at the Mt. Washington Hotel to ski :)

-Compete in a Sprint Triathlon.
-Run a 5k, 10k, 15k

-Get cats.

-Scuba dive in the Caribbean.

-Go to Harry Potter World.

-See a Red Sox game at Fenway.

-See the Sox win a World Series.

-See the Colts win a Superbowl.

-Get married.

Travel Internationally.

Raise over $4,600.00 for cancer research.

Walk all 60 miles of the Susan G Komen 3-Day for the Cure. 

Walk the 3-Day with my Mom and friends for a second time.

X-Country Biking Road Trip: Al and Al for Best Buddies!

One of my Facebook friends (Al) is riding across the country with his friend (also Al) to raise awareness for BEST BUDDIES INTERNATIONAL. They started in Portland, Maine, and are spending the summer road biking and camping across northern America all the way to Portland, Oregon!

You can track their cross-country progress on their Public Facebook Group Page:

Al and Al at the beginning of their cross-country voyage!

They chose the Best Buddies International Alternative Break Program to raise awareness and also to raise donations for the Nonprofit:

"Best Buddies® is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

The money raised will go toward the initiation and expansion of travel programs for people with disabilities, 

creating empowering opportunities for people with disabilities to do service work!" 

I have been following their updates via their Tumblr account, which includes many heartwarming stories of generosity across the Northeast so far, interesting accounts of people that Al & Al have met, and their physical exertions as they have now completed most of the Adirondack Mountain Range. An impressive amount of mileage biked already! Wish them luck, check out their sites, or donate to them here!

Images Across America

Take a 9-minute road trip across America! Video from Florida to the great state of Washington. See iconic images of our 8,000 mile journey.

Road Trip 2011: From Florida to New Orleans, LA.

Day 1: Tampa, FL --> New Orleans, LA

"Aimee's Bayou Crash Course."

First of all (for all of my Northern/International readers) if I'm going to talk about New Orleans, I need to clarify something. Hailing from the balmy Attleboro, Massachusetts, I might call this "New Ore-leens" because I've spent some time on the Cape, and I know how they pronounce Orleans there. However, if there's one thing I teach you today, is the proper pronunciation of the city. Norlins. That's right: Norlins. You should also know that NOLA stands for New Orleans LouisiAna. Now that you've graduated my basic bayou course, let's move on.

Other Cajun words you should know:
1. Gumbo: "Creole gumbo generally contains shellfish, tomatoes, and a thickener. Cajun gumbo is generally based on a dark roux and is spicier, with either shellfish or fowl. Sausage or ham can be added to a gumbo made with either fowl or shellfish. After the base is prepared, vegetables are cooked down, and then meat is added. The dish boils for a minimum of three hours, with shellfish and some spices added near the end. After the pot is removed from heat, filé powder can be added. Gumbo is traditionally served over rice." (source)
2. Jumbalaya: "Jambalaya is traditionally made in three parts, with meats and vegetables, and is completed by adding stock and rice. It is also a close cousin to the saffron colored paella found in Spanish culture." (source)
3. Boudins & Cracklins: Crawfish and fried pig skins.

4. Bayou: A southern marshy wetland.

5. "Frogging": Catching Bayou green frogs (to cook and eat).

Rachel and I decided to make N'Orleans our first stop over on our way to Austin, Texas to visit my family. The Tampa to New Orleans car driving trip took less time than we had anticipated and we actually arrived at about 4 PM with plenty of daylight to explore. So we left the hotel for a walkng tour before dinner. Just walking along Royale St and Bourbon St provided a glimpse into the "nightlife" and culture of New Orleans: from VooDoo, Mardi Gras and Jazz filled gift shops, to the beads hanging from the cast iron ornate balcony railings over the street.

Rachel was determined to find "a real Voodoo shop" and after looking at some very scary pictures of one in Tampa before the trip during my research, I was very hesitant to oblige her. So when we ended up walking right by "Reverand Zombie's Shop of Voodoo" on a very crowded street, next to a huge "Haunted Tours" tour group and lots of tourists, my fears of the unknown were assauged and we went inside. Besides the candle lit altar, it was mostly filled with herbs and remedies for every ailment, as well as the traditional (and very creepy) voodoo dolls. I stood near the Elvis postcards acclimating myself to the onslaught of insence and had a splendid flashback to the 90's goth era of my middle school mall days. I also enjoyed looking at all of the artwork, carved ornate wood work and other random things hanging from the ceiling as well as the sign about how seriously they yell at people who takes photos inside the store...and very quickly, the novelty wore off, and even Rachel was content with leaving, sans souvenirs.

There are some very intersting characters on Bourbon street. I cannot describe them, because my blog is rated PG, but suffice it to say- it was hard to ignore the distractions and assault of images I've been traumatized with. (This is not the street to take your kids for a stroll down!)

Around the corner, on Iberville and Royale is the famous restaurant the Acme Oyster House, that was worth the twenty minutes in the outside street line. The half dozen raw half shell oysters I had were the size of Pacific oysters (double the New England oyster size) but washed right down with iced Peach tea, over a "Poopa" (breadbowl) of Gumbo. Rachel had the Jambalaya and hushpuppies, which I also tried, and were fabulous. For dessert, we met up with my Mother-in-Law, Robin, who was staying a street over for warm beignets. (Small French-Creole square, sugared donuts).

We ended the night with a dip in the rooftop pool (17th floor) of the Monteleone Hotel in the warm summer breeze and gorgeous starry night overlooking the city.

So in our six hours of our New Orleans experience we missed many of the great landmarks- which only gives us an excuse to come back again to the Big Easy. Next time I'll be sure to take the History tours: the daylight Graveyard tour, the "Haunted Tour" and the Civil War history tour.

In the meantime, whenever I feel the urge to be back in the city, I'll listen to Zydeco music on YouTube :)

Bonne nuit!

Road Trip 2011: Aimee & Rachel head out across America!

So Rachel and I have been planning a Cross-Country road trip since last November, and I've decided to share the route with the world, in case you have a traveling America story to share or know of a great place to stop, see and or eat! We begin the first week of June from Tampa and head out towards Seattle, WA on I-10 across the South: hitting New Orleans, Houston and Austin, TX, then up to Amarillo, TX and to Parker (Denver), CO, to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park, then a straight haul to Seattle and Forks, WA, a visit in southern WA, then we return to Tampa via Salt Lake City, UT straight across to Nashville, TN and then south to Tampa on I-75. We've planned 14-18 days for this trip. We plan to visit: Jake, Marina, Aunt Becca & Uncle Norman in Texas, Jess & Michael in Colorado, Uncle Doug in WA, and Alyssa & Tyler in Salt Lake City. Let me know what you think!


View Road Trip 2010 in a larger map