The Wild West

Another three day trek...Kansas City, MO to Modesto, CA. That would be 1,791.2 miles, most of which was vastly unpopulated. I LOVE the mountains though.

Here's the map. Ignoring that little trip to Junction City in the bottom right corner, this is our journey west. Three days and a LOT of gasoline. Keeping up with the map has been a fun project and the complete route is going to be ridiculous.

Day 1: Kansas City, MO to Cheyenne, WY. Nebraska was mostly corn and tumbleweeds. When we arrived in Wyoming it was snowing and COLD-two of our boys did not have sufficient clothing.

Rocks and snow: Wyoming.

Day 2: Cheyenne, WY to Elko, NV. One blustery day!! It snowed at least half the day, and in the mountains the wind was so strong we had to slow down to 35mph.

HELLO!!??!

The salt flats on the border of NV/CA where the sound barrier was broken. It looks like a frozen lake.

Day 3: Elko, NV to Modesto, CA. LONG drive. The Cali traffic was evident pretty quickly after we reached Sacramento, but the Plumas National Forest- and descent from 8,000 feet to about 100 feet- was really exquisite. Unfortunately it also gave me a little dose of altitude sickness and I nearly passed out on our much anticipated trip to In-N-Out Burger...

Cali mountains. I was driving through the forest so I missed a LOT of pic opportunities, but this a little taste.

Success! I have been waiting since August for this!!

You have to get it "Animal" style. This was also our second trip...

I'll combine California and Arizona before we head back up North and East again. Happy Halloweekend everyone!

Florissant, MO

So this is our ONLY "sit down", where we are in one place for more than a few days, and it's been really lovely! Florissant is one of the little suburb towns of St. Louis, so there's been plenty to do. Going day by day worked well so I'll chronicle our adventures as such.

TUESDAY: Day of rest. After that crazy weekend it was nice to come back from the shows and crawl back into bed. We ventured out to find a St. Louis food: toasted ravioli. Super delicious, and someone has gotten it at every meal out since!

WEDNESDAY: Went to The Loop, a street of shopping and restaurants. Ate dinner at Blueberry Hill, one of Chuck Berry's favorite restaurants, and guess what?? He was playing there that night! Unfortunately we didn't sneak a peak, and the show was sold out, but the restaurant was very cool. Afterwards we went on the hunt for another St. Louis invention: Gooey butter cake. The bakery we were sent to (Gooey Louie's) was closed, but the grocery store saved us. Even the generic boxed one was amazing: like a cross between lemon bars and coffee cake. I may be addicted.

The sign outside Blueberry Hill. The marquee told us about Chuck Berry's show that night and the food was delish.

Gooey Butter cake. I won't even try to explain the goodness. I've eaten a LOT of it this week.

THURSDAY: Went to the zoo, which is free in St. Louis! We hiked around in the beautiful 74 degree weather, and it must have been feeding time because the animals were all out and playful.

Giraffes. They were all out and wandering around.

The chimps were all grooming. These two were super adorable.

Zebra! Every zebra has a unique stripe pattern, like a fingerprint.

FRIDAY: Three show day, so mostly rest again. I managed to get a little gym time and a nap between our morning and evening performances so that was good. I went back to the grocery store for more gooey butter deliciousness too. Guilty, I know. A little story from the stage: one of our rabbit puppets lost an eye!! They are big googly eyes, so it was easily replaced, but most of the show was done by a one eyed rabbit. Kelly tells a joke at one point, and it happened to be particularly ironic, "Why do you know carrots are good from you? Because you don't see many rabbits wearing glasses!!" Hah!

SATURDAY: Matinee, hung around, then went to see "The Social Network". Really great movie, must see it. Kinda blew my mind about all this airing of our laundry on the internet...like blogging...

SUNDAY: Did my real laundry-no socks, it was time- our final matinee, and off to Kansas City. The next three days are the journey to Northern California. It's Kansas City, MO to Cheyenne, WY; Cheyenne, WY to Elko, NV; Elko, NV to Modesto, CA. See you there!

Schedule Part Deux

Hooray!! We finally got the second part of the schedule, so I can clue you in to the rest of our journey...which includes California and Vegas. We have a BIG jump from the West Coast to the East Coast before driving back home for Thanksgiving....so it's going to be a long month. Stay tuned!

October            24^th             Pocahontas                        Florissant, MO

                        24^th              To Kansas City, MO

                        25^th              To Cheyenne, WY

                        26^th              To Elko, NV

                        27^th              To Modesto, CA

                        28^th              Alice                                  Modesto, CA

                        29^th              To San Bernardino, CA

                        30^th             Alice                                   San Bernardino, CA

                        31^st              To Queen Creek, AZ

November        1^st               Pocahontas                        Queen Creek, AZ

                        1^st               To Brawley, CA           

                        2^nd              Pocahontas/Alice               Brawley, CA

                        2^nd              To Las Vegas, NV!

                        3^rd              To Mountain Home, ID

                        4^th              To Wenatchee, WA

                        5^th              Pocahontas/Alice               Wenatchee, WA

                        6^th              To Missoula, MT

                        7^th              To Billings, MT

                        8^th              Alice                                    Billings, MT

                        8^th              To Rapid City, SD

                        9^th              To Cedar Rapids, IA

                        10^th            To Cleveland, OH

                        11^th            To Sugar Loaf, NY

                        12^th            Pocahontas                         Sugar Loaf, NY

                        13^th            Alice                                    Sugar Loaf, NY

                        14^th            To Union, NJ

                        14^th-15^th    Alice                                    Union, NJ

                        16^th            To Massena, NY           

                        17^th            Pocahontas                         Massena, NY

                        17^th            To Ogdensburg, NY

                        18^th            Pocahontas                         Ogdensburg, NY

                        19^th            Alice                                    Ogdensburg, NY

                        19^th- 22      TRAVEL HOME!            Stops TBA  

                        

KS, MO, WI

So this weekend was a huge mish-mosh, tons of driving AND a different city (or two) every day. I'm feeling a little disorganized but we'll push through it.

THURSDAY: Drove to Kansas City. Our group went to another "Triple D" restaurant, Grinders. Then we all headed to the Power and Light district, a cluster of bars and restaurants that are all connected by a courtyard. VERY cool area. The group went to Howl at the Moon, but a certain Kelli Bartlett was in town at the same time!!! It's been too long since I've seen my dear friend so we took advantage of the night. I got to meet two of her good friends as we watched an MMA match (a first all around), then had dinner. What a night.

Cool street art on the building next to Grinders. 

The MMA match. We had great seats thanks to Ashley's boyfriend...but most of the action was the guys looking like two frogs in a very long embrace...

FRIDAY: After staying just outside of Kansas City-on the Missouri side- we had a Pocahontas rehearsal...it's been two weeks since we've done the show but it went remarkably well. Then in the afternoon we drove three hours to the venue in Junction City. I LOVE night shows, I am much more awake and relaxed. Plus, in my opinion, leaving the theatre with a face full of makeup is less conspicuous than mid-day. After the show we drove BACK to KC and stayed in the same hotel. Very long day.

SATURDAY: We drove from KC to Rolla, MO (4 hours) for a 4pm show. This theatre was on a college campus that doesn't have a theatre major, but their theatre is really lovely and well kept. Their staff were all young and excited. They even fed us dinner afterwards, complete with pumpkin cookies. Heaven. Thankfully we stayed in Rolla that night because we were all exhausted. It was a beautiful night though...this midwest fall business is really nice.

This deserves it's own story, but I'll keep it short. There was a young boy talking with his mother about how he found the show very confusing after the show. He couldn't understand WHY the Indian daughters weren't black, but the Dad was. He went on and on with her- just ten feet from us- gesticulating and furrowed brow, about why we should NOT have been white. We all found this hysterical, and I had Kelly and Apollo pose with me later: I mean, of COURSE he's our dad.... :)

SUNDAY: Nine hour drive to Hartford, Wisconsin. No show...not possible. Wisconsin was the first place I began to wonder if I've got an adequate jacket...pretty chilly up there. Ate dinner at a place called Sal's Pizza and Damian, our resident Pizza Monster, was in heaven. New York Style, huge slices and garlic knots...we were all stuffed to the gills.

MONDAY: Two shows in WI, then a long drive back into Missouri for a week in Florrisant. Wisconsin and central Illinois are just long stretches of farm land. I was driving most of the daylight hours so I couldn't capture a picture, but really there is simply road, earth, and sky. It was a lovely picture, but hard to find places to get gas. Kelly and I pondered the farm life, simple, remote. It's a far cry from Manhattan.

The Wisconsin theatre. Very cool sort of Elizabethan feel to the interior, wooden columns throughout the auditiorium and lobby, and a wrap around mezzanine and balcony.

Next up: a whole week in Florrissant, Missouri!

St. Louis, MO

Two days off! I'm feeling a lot better after two days of no driving or shows, much later call times, and a little tourism.

Our first day we went to Sweetie Pie's, a soul food restaurant featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. Then we went to the Gateway Arch, the old courthouse, wandered downtown, and a lovely little place called Cafe Cioccolato. By then we were exhausted from several hours of walking, and came back to a double feature movie night...Moonstruck and Kick Ass. Odd pairing, but I'd never seen either and it was a fun night. Day two was very lazy...laundry, BBQ lunch, a nap, the gym. Lots of much needed down time.

Photo time! The incredible Sweetie Pie's soul food. I need this green bean recipe...

Ascending the stairs to the Gateway arch. Photo courtesy of Andy Elliott.

The arch. Too big to capture in one frame. Also, I love Hipstamatic. Makes me an instant photographer.

The little pod elevator you take to get to the top. I was having second thoughts.

Welcome to the top! At 630" feet with not a terribly high ceiling, I had a hard time standing up straight. But so cool! Apollo has been skydiving a few times and even he was apprehensive. What a rush.

The old courthouse's dome interior. I love the colors, not typical of a capital or courthouse I've ever seen. They were under renovation but some areas still have the original tile flooring. 

The group. This is a pretty good representation of "us". Again, photo by Andy Elliott.

And the grande finale: Schlafly Pumpkin Ale!! This beer takes like pumpkin pie, its spicy and rich and the best I've had with one exception: Josh Goss's homemade pumpkin ale, our Thanksgiving beer last year. This is a St. Louis local brewery, but if you can get your hands on it elsewhere I would.

Now we've got a few odd days... staying in Kansas City, commuting to perform in Junction City. Then a day in Rolla, Missouri, a day in Hartford, Wisconsin and back to Florrisant, Missouri for a week. I might do a little happy meal combo thing, to avoid over-posting. Happy Friday everyone!

Toledo, OH

Up slope has been accomplished! I'm feeling much better these last two days and have managed to take plenty of pictures for today's post.

I was all psyched about Toledo because in Drowsy Chaperone-my last show- there's all this business about a "Toledo Surprise" and I can't even tell you how many times I said it in the run of the show. So now I'm here, and honestly there is not much to see. Lovely fall colors, simple landscape. Maybe we aren't in the center of town? No offense Ohio, you are very quaint...but there doesn't seem to be much to do. Anyhow, our Sunday matinee went very well (I love a one show day!) and we went to a pumpkin patch afterwards. Photo time...first: fall foliage.

This is a drive-by photo...the colors are just starting to peak out in some places.

But up close it's so lovely.

I fell in love with this tree. The colors are so vibrant.

Close up. Look at that! Yellow, orange, red, all in one leaf. I love fall!

Okay now the pumpkin patch. The boys didn't really understand the concept of a photo shoot in a pumpkin patch, but Kelly and I had a field day! 

We were doing our best to be cute.

But the boys had other ideas.... 

And inside there were painted pumpkins. First we found Alice...

THEN Pocahontas...I was a little overwhelmed, surrounded by myself.

All in all it was a lovely day. We've got a pretty breezy week ahead, so hopefully I'll have more adventures to report. Next stop: St. Louis, MO for two days off! If you haven't seen enough orange in this post's photos, I suggest you go pick up a pumpkin for you and yours. :)

Dayton, OH

Well, it can't all be sunshine and roses I suppose. I didn't want to skip Dayton all together, but it hasn't been my best few days so far. Just a fair warning....

We arrived two days ago after a fairly painless drive through West Virginia and Ohio. We had two very early morning shows yesterday- 9:30 and 11:30am...which means we had to be at the theatre at 7:30. Anyone who knows me, knows I am the furthest thing from a morning person, and these days where our call is 7am are a little grating on my ability to be positive. Not to mention, Alice is a ROCK opera...I don't know anyone who rocks out at 9:30. But alas, children's theatre is on a completely different time schedule. I made it though! And it was another old building, the Victoria Theatre, original construction in the 1860's. Gotta love these.

The stage right boxes. It's hard to capture these theatre interiors...

Long ago in tour planning, our director asked if we would be willing to do a visit to a children's hospital here, since we would be done early in the day. We were all very happy to do so back then, in hypothetical land, but after two shows we were all a little apprehensive. We got to the hospital and our first visit completely changed our minds: a five year old named Nevin on the oncology floor. His walls (and floor, and ceiling) were plastered in super heroes, including pictures of himself dressed up as Spiderman, Batman, and Jack Sparrow. he was full of jokes and little songs, and entertained us more than we did him. Getting us on the right foot, we went on to see 6 more kids, talking about cartoons, baseball, Alice...we even sang for one girl who is going into drama in high school. It was a hard day but we were glad we went in the end. A photographer was there, and when I get a picture I will be sure to post.

Today was one of our few days off- no driving, no shows- and we planned to go to the air force museum, as Dayton is the home of aviation. But half way through the night I woke up feeling terrible. Turns out I had some sort of stomach bug or food poisoning and have spent the last 15 hours in bed. I had something similar in February, and I'll spare you all the hairy details...its awful. I'm really grateful we didn't have to perform or travel, but what a way to spend our day off!!

On top of that, today was Dad's birthday. The past few days leading up to it I've been thinking about him, how strange this day would be. My family is all going to dinner at one of his favorite's, Pappadeaux's, and as usual I am elsewhere. I hate being away from home on these occasions. I've missed Catherine and Dad's birthdays, and I'll miss Carrie's by just a few days all on tour. Holidays and birthdays have always meant a lot to me, and being away from my family-especially since I'm always the only one- is no fun.

So, two rough days in a row. I know they are unavoidable, but I'm hoping we are on the upslope now. Headed to Toledo tomorrow, and then a few days off in St. Louis next week before we do Pocahontas again...oh yeah, we still have two shows!!

Princeton, WV

Ok I'll admit it right away. West Virginia has never been on my travel list. But I was very pleasantly surprised as we drove down from the East coast into WV. Princeton is in the southeast corner, so we got to see a LOT of the state both on the way there and back. Beautiful fall colors and very little else; its really cool to see miles and miles of unpopulated land, trees, hills, farms. I've failed to capture it on film but I'll keep trying.

The theatre itself was a brand new facility, built in 2007. The town is only about 7,000 people, and we had around 1,300 in attendance between the two shows!! Very cool. The owner of the theatre was very kind and he asked me all kinds of questions about the theatre community in New York, casting and all. It's fun when the local crews are chatty.

That's all I've got for now. We've got a day off in Dayton, Ohio, so hopefully I'll have adventures to report. There was also a request for proof of my driving the Penske... here you go Robert!

Brentwood, NY and Allentown, PA

So, this is a city combo because it all happened so fast its hard to separate the two.

We arrived in Allentown two days ago. Saturday morning we woke very early (in the car at 7 am) to drive to Brentwood, NY, on Long Island. We crossed the George Washington Bridge through Manhattan (weird...see below) and into Long Island. We did two shows here, then had dinner at an AMAZING restaurant named Emilio's. Our pizza fanatic, Damian, bought the pies and we were stuffed to the gills on the drive back. Then today, we had a matinee at the theatre in Allentown. LOVE the one show matinee Sunday. So a bit back and forth, but both days we've had swarms of very happy kids, and that is what it's all about.

"Allentown? I'm offering you the chance to star in biggest musical Broadway's seen in 20 years and you say 'Allentown'?" Just kept thinking that today...but look at this theatre!!

Going through New York was not what I expected. I suppose I knew all along we'd have to pass through, but I didn't know it would evoke such an emotional response from me. I got very choked up and bothered that we couldn't stop at all. It felt unnatural to just drive through Manhattan...particularly being very near my old apartment and my friends' new place in the heights. I had a list in my head of things I needed to do: people I wanted to see, to walk through Union Square, take a dance class, see a show, to eat here or there... the list never stopped. I thought I did not miss Manhattan, but it turns out I miss it terribly.

The change in weather also makes me think about school. With Fall comes sweaters and notebooks and homework and Halloween and the first show of the season. I've had senioritis for so long, but I do miss school after all. I find myself remembering classes and groaning about early mornings....how I wish I'd known it only gets earlier. Anyhow, I think Fall may be my favorite season, and getting the full affect up North has been lovely. I only wish I'd packed another sweater.

Next stop: Princeton, WV!

The Long and Winding Road

So, this is what I've been doing the past three days. A bit hard to see the state delineations in a photograph of a map, but physically looking at the journey amazes me. 

Day One was Ruidoso, NM to Tulsa, OK. Day Two was Tulsa, OK to Indianapolis, IN. Day Three (today) was Indianapolis, IN to Allentown, PA. All 10-11 hour driving days. 

That's all really. And I finished my book. Happy October!