Road trip

I'm currently wrapping up a two-week-plus road trip around the east coast; I'm in Cambridge right now, and will be heading back to Waterloo, via Ithaca, starting tomorrow. Total distance, according to Microsoft MapPoint, is 1770 miles (2850 km). Highlights of the trip included:

• Picking up my old high school friend Psycho Security Guard at Toronto airport, and driving to Montreal to hang out for a day. The trip included lunch at Ben's Deli, wandering around Mount Royal Park (with spectacular overview of the city), exploring Plateau Mont Royal (hipsterland type of neighborhood), taking the metro down to the old town section, exploring the old locks on the St. Lawrence seaway, having dinner, going out drinking, and having poutine (fries, cheese curd, and hot gravy--perfect drunk food) at 3 AM.
  
• Going to the wedding of the other high school friend in our circle, Air Force Guy (who is now an IP lawyer in New York City). A big Chinese-American wedding--huge families on both sides. I noticed that Psycho Security Guard was the only round-eye at our table.
  
• Going to a Tep wedding (Crusher and Cat) the next day--as an amazing coincidence, both weddings were the same weekend, but different days, in the same town. Convenient, eh? The wedding was lovely; it was great to see a bunch of Teps there. I played a bit of piano for the ceremony. The bride and groom actually asked for "Bohemian Rhapsody" on the playlist (post-recessional), but I didn't get a chance to play it.
  
• Went over to Tep while I was in Boston, and gave a “house clue tour” to the undergraduates. Basically, a brain dump of the accumulated knowledge of the physical plant of the house: “Here’s the sprinkler shutoff. You can’t turn it off without setting off the alarm. This is the place in the range hood where the condensed grease collectsarrrgh ewwww yuk spilled it.”
  
• Driving down to see my folks, while I was within 300 miles of them. It was good to see them, but it was depressing to realize that by hanging out with them, they can even make a place as interesting and vibrant as New York City dull. But there we were, in my sister’s apartment, watching The Matrix on TBS. Sarah Vowell had a great line about family get-togethers as being introverts as a group—that describes my folks pretty well, too. I think dad spent most of the weekend watching Yankee games. I also realized that my lack of conversational skill comes from my family; dinner conversations are a painfully stilted series of: Question. Answer. Long pause. Question. Answer. Etc.
  
• I visited four Frederick Law Olmstead parks/landscape designs on this trip. Walked around Mount Royal park in Montreal, followed by Boston’s Emerald Necklace, and Crusher and Cat’s wedding at Stonehurst (Waltham, MA; Robert Paine Estate: architecture by H.H. Richardson and landscaping by Olmstead). And of course, in New York, Central Park, for a total of four. Incidentally, Central Park was Olmstead’s first landscape work—he was a journalist (with no formal landscape training) before that. Talk about a rookie home run. This is what I get for watching Ric Burns documentaries.
  

So, I’ll be back home in a few days. Just in time to leave again, for Alaska (conference in Seward, followed by hiking and a halibut fishing trip). I know I’m not invoking much sympathy here, but I really need to start getting work done this summer.