Come on! Sing along in your head ... this simple, wonderful, glorious little ditty......

I think I'm going to make it my song of the WEEKEND as I head to a cabin in Wisconsin, the e>v e-guide in tow.... Freedom, here I COME!!!

-Elissa



If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out
by Cat Stevens

Well, if you want to sing out, sing out
And if you want to be free, be free
cause theres a million things to be
You know that there are

And if you want to live high, live high
And if you want to live low, live low
cause theres a million ways to go
You know that there are

Chorus:
You can do what you want
The opportunitys on
And if you can find a new way
You can do it today
You can make it all true
And you can make it undo
You see ah ah ah
Its easy ah ah ah
You only need to know

Well if you want to say yes, say yes
And if you want to say no, say no
cause theres a million ways to go
You know that there are

And if you want to be me, be me
And if you want to be you, be you
cause theres a million things to do
You know that there are

Chorus
Well, if you want to sing out, sing out
And if you want to be free, be free
cause theres a million things to be
You know that there are
You know that there are
You know that there are
You know that there are
You know that there are

Hi all ... Elissa here. And, as clichéd as it sounds, I'm having one of those "today is the first day of the rest of your life" sort of days.

You know, suddenly things feel all fresh and new ... and your cup of tea tastes crisper ... and the sun seems shinier ... and you look around at this glorious place called earth and you just want to EXPLORE.

You just want to bust out the door and explore and meet and greet and skip through the streets yelling to people you've never met, "Come out of your holes! We're alive! Let's have an adventure!"

And so you would ... You'd all come out and we'd meet in the street and we'd all go to the train station and choose a random destination by each asking a stranger where they're going, then all the destinations go in a hat and we'd draw one and -- BAM!  -- that's our destination. Then, we'd settle in our seats and drink champagne as we watch the world whiz by for three days and we'd share stories about our lives and loves and what we believe and what we're willing to unbelieve and then... we'd arrive. And we'd go straight to the best hotel and say: we need your entire top floor because we're on an adventure. And they'd say, "Well, absolutely." and they would give us their best rooms for free because suddenly we're like this flash mob art group that's traveling the world, being followed by all major networks and newsmagazines because we were living each day as if it really was the first day of the rest of our lives....

And then ... what happens next?

What's up everyone!? Charlie here! We went to the Civil War! Granted it was 24 hours later than expected. But it actually happened, which is obviously the most important thing! Here's my installment 2 of the interns' trip to the Civil War.

I love inside jokes. I know they can get annoying to people who are not “in” with the joke, but the jokes should still be appreciated. An inside joke is kind of like a secret language with a friend because nobody else understands it. Here is one of mine: kim cone. Do you think that’s funny? Most likely not. Do you have any inside jokes? Feel free to share them. It’s invigorating to have a “secret” that no one understands except your closest friends.

Not into inside jokes (which is completely understandable)? Here is something that I am convinced is a joke:

This is real. You can try it out yourself on Google Maps. A co-worker of mine was joking around and Google Mapped directions from Minnesota to Hawaii. Look at step 14. “Kayak across the Pacific Ocean” I can’t believe Google Maps suggested to kayak across the Pacific Ocean to get to Hawaii. That has to be a joke. It didn’t even suggest taking a boat, a canoe, or swim across the Pacific Ocean. A kayak. This has to be a joke.

Tina the Intern here and here is the second part of my Civil War Re-enactment blog!

4. Time Machine

I am so glad we went on Sunday instead of Saturday. It was not raining and it was a lot less humid. And my friend with the broken camera was not as mad today. Morale was much higher than yesterday. The re-enactment was amazing! Here’s a glimpse of what we experienced.




Charlie's E>V card asked "What did you want to be when you grew up?" He wanted to be a baker and here is a baker from 1864.

Cow!


A young boy showing Charlie how to walk on stilts properly.
 

Charlie going through some evolution.

So the re-enactment was not a battle re-enactment, but more of a “day in the life” re-enactment. Setting up the fort like how it might be in 1864. Many of these re-enacters were volunteers. How cool is that? They are brave people to dress up in heavy clothing circa 1864 on the hottest, most humid summer day.

5. Things I learned

I enjoyed myself thoroughly.

I know that this was still nowhere near what it was like in 1864, but it was still fun to pretend and play. It’s nice to pretend and play once in a while. I used to do it every day as a kid and now I don’t remember the last time I pretended and played.

Now I have officially learned to not have any expectations when going on an adventure. I had this expectation that we would see tons of mantras all over the place and meet a ton of cool people. Well we didn’t see any cool mantras because Fort Snelling does not have any advertisements or print and we didn’t meet anyone because the volunteers kind of had to stay in character and everyone there were families who liked to stay to themselves. That’s not a bad thing at all, but it was disappointing at the time. I wonder if I didn’t have any expectations, would we have found a ton of mantras and met a bunch of people…? I’m kidding. But I did “fulfill” my wants from this trip: do something different, enjoy something I’m interested in, and enjoy the company of a friend.

AND Charlie had a great time! I was SO excited that he did. He might have had more fun than I did (is that possible?). I was still nervous about half way into the trip that he was bored and not having a good time. But half way into the trip I could tell that he was actually having a good time. Yay!

So it was not a battle re-enactment, so I cannot entirely cross “attend a civil war re-enactment” off my list. And that is fine with me because it is another excuse to go to another one!

Hey Everyone! Charlie the Intern here! Like Tina mentioned, wewere able to take an E>V road trip to the Civil War!! I really can’tdescribe how excited I am at the idea of road trips. There’s just somethingabout them that I love… but that’s for another post. Like Tina, I split up my posts to avoid writing a novel, so this is only part one!

When Tina told me about the Civil War re-enactment and asked ifI wanted to go with her I have to admit, I was skeptical, and yes, maybe even abit pessimistic about the idea.

I remember having gone to a few similar things when I was ingrade school, and I think that the overheated cramped bus rides, crowded exhibitareas, and boxed lunches left a sour taste in my mouth—particularly the boxedlunches. But I tentatively agreed. Why not, right? It would be a greatopportunity for me to explore more of Minnesota and do something that Iwouldn’t have normally done.

Mind you, I’m typically a planner. I like to know what I’mwalking into, what could happen, the nitty-gritty details before I jump intosomething. So after looking it up on the web I realized.

“Was this an actual re-enactment?Were we going to pick a side, get a fake musket, and yell “BANG BANG!” atsomeone before we ourselves were imaginarily shot and then forced to lie “dead”in some field for a few hours while the remainder of our battalion fought on?!”
 
I didn’t know. And I couldn’t find out.

This bothered me; this bothered me a lot. But Tina really wantedto go, and I thought that if nothing else it would be a great intern bondingexperience… Right?

The night before we were going to go, we went to a partytogether, and as Tina revealed in the post-prior disaster struck: An expensivecamera was broken, and a T.A.T.U. song went un-danced to. So we ended uppostponing the trip.

I was relieved.

Why though? It’s not like going was a huge commitment, it’s notlike I’m getting on a plane and going somewhere completely foreign. It’s a 30-minutedrive and I’ll be with a friend. As soon as we came to the decision to postpone,however, my entire body sighed relief. On my way home from Tina’s, I had afight--with myself--about whether or not to just call the whole thing off. Ilisted off all of the things that I didn’t want to do about it, which ended upall being things that I just didn’t know about it. And then realized that theentire situation was about me not being in control of my environment. And so Idecided to suck it up. I called Tina and it was decided. We were actually goingto go…

Tomorrow.

Meet cow. Elissa and Gretchen have smurf. Tina and Charlie have cow. Tina found cow when a recruiter at a professional networking event gave Tina cow as a free give away. “It was nice to be around something that was not in a suit,” says Tina. And it has been love at first site. Charlie also may or may not have had a middle school screen name involving kamikazes and cows… So cow travels with us. Say hello to cow.

Intern Tina on the Road: Part 5 of 9

Late at night in southern California, we watched Travel Channel Anthony Bourdain in Vietnam and then Andrew Zimmern in Minnesota (aw, roots and home). I realized that I would love to have a food/adventure show. Travel and eat. It doesn’t get better than that. Well, I don’t need to host a tv food/adventure because I just lived one:

Sunday: Vietnamese Food (Bún bò Huế, Bánh bèo, Café sua da), Vegan restaurant (Vegan Southwest Chikin Sandwich with vegan chipotle mayo and sweet potato fries)

Monday: Vietnamese Food (Pho, Cơm tấm, rice porridge), Rosco’s Chicken ‘N Waffles (Fried chicken with waffles)

Tuesday: Vietnamese Food (Banh Mi), In-N-Out Burger (I would lead a movement for a franchise to come to Minnesota)

Wednesday: Fish Tacos (for the first time), family barbeque

Thursday: San Francisco Clam Chowder and Sourdough bread bowl, Fresh Sushi

Friday: Fresh figs, apricots, and plums off trees at John Muir’s house, Indian food (for the first time)

Saturday: French/Creole Soul food (Banana bread pudding French toast with bourbon syrup), Oyster Bar, and end the vacation with a family barbeque

This food adventure brought me back to my roots, let me experience some new cultures, and was a great thing to experience with the people I love.

I found a new portal to connect to people: food. Everybody has to eat, make it a joyous occasion and enjoy new and favorite foods while connecting with new and favorite people.

Hey all! 

Gretchen here, writing to you live from the hotel bathroom floor where I'm holed up while my travel partners sleep.

So this weekend has found Elissa and I in Chicago where we met up with another great friend and have lived some evolution through vacation of our own (the original version, if you will, on a trip to take in Great Big Sea).

It's been perfect--magical and mystifying, expansive and contracted, bold and withdrawn. A gathering of contrasts. Contrasts explored with two of the best friends a girl could ask for.

The Great Big Sea shows themselves = fantastic. Truly, if you have not seen this band, go! Talented musicians all, they are commanding on stage. Fun and engaging, these are not shows to be seen so much as experienced. These two shows at the House of Blues brought out the die-hards from around the country and Canada and made for a very crowded floor where there turned out to be just enough room for vertical movement (which was brilliant for my sprained ankle, earned after a tumble down my icy Minneapolis front steps). 

There were times, though, when space opened up and the crowd faded away and I got my groove on. What I love so much about dancing is that it gets me out of my head (where I spend an inordinate amount of time) and into the rest of my body to experience the music. I used to play instruments, all of which I have left behind. What I remember so distinctly about playing is a zone I would enter when I stepped inside a song. It's a space of flow where doing (causing the instruments to make noise) emanated from being (the connection to the song). Dancing brings me to this space, too. And as someone who lives a lot in their head, it's a welcome shift.

It's been a grand adventure so far. And, as I hear stirring in the other room, I'm reminded we have another day yet to explore before our planes take off this evening. So, off the bathroom floor and out into the city...