November 22nd, 2006

We want to try and get a hotel room before the holiday and the weekend, because hotels won't take their coupons on those days. We considered out options and found a good deal near York, PA. We headed there from Wilmington and got a room. Kristin in working on the Delaware piece, now and I am doing press releases and some new ideas for filming.

November 21st, 2006

Today we wandered around Wilmington. We went by the Kalmar Nyckel and got some pictures of it. We also went by the Grand Opera House. After driving down to the Riverfront Market area, we headed south to New Castle. In New Castle we stopped at the Old New Castle Courthouse and spoke with Brian Cannon, who talked with us at length about how Delaware came to be a state and how they got there unusual northern border. He explained that surveyors went from the out to in a 12 mile circle from the town and that is how Delaware got its arched northern border. He also explained how Delaware even has the the Delaware River and Bay included in its border, so New Jersey cant even have boardwalks or piers! He even said that on the New Jersey side there was an area where they would dump mud from dredging, and it eventually formed a dry area off of New Jersey. This area became a bird sanctuary and when you drive into it, which you can only get to from NJ, there is a welcome to Delaware sign!

After visiting New Castle we headed south to Dover. Delaware has one of the most interesting Capitols. Instead of having one Capitol Building, all of its branches are spread out. It is more like a Capitol campus than anything. We got some pictures of it and the historic downtown. From there we headed south toward Lewes. We got to the Cape Henlopen State Park just before sunset. It is here that we were able to see the Fire Control Towers. We weren't able to go into any of them, but we were able to look inside. We also went by a lot of the remains of Fort Miles, and we drove out on to the beach a little bit. After dark, we drove all the way back to Wilmington and spent the night there.

November 20th, 2006

Last night Kristin finished the New Jersey piece and she is calling it, "A New Jersey Notion". Today we dropped the painting off at Hardcastle Gallery in Centreville, DE. Centreville is just north of Wilmington, DE. Hardcastle Gallery will be displaying, "A New Jersey Notion" till the end of the year. We met with Allison Weer, gallery director, and David Berndt, owner. While we were there we also met artist, Larry Anderson, who had stopped in. Both Allison and Larry gave us tons of ideas as to where to go in Delaware. One of the coolest things Larry suggested was the Fire Control Towers in Cape Henlopen State Park. After talking for a while and getting pictures we left the gallery and got some dinner. We stayed the night just outside of Wilmington and will do some exploring tomorrow.

November 19th, 2006

We made it into Delaware early this morning. After we crossed over from NJ we started looking for hotels, because Kristin was itching to get started on the NJ piece. We notice that all the hotels in the area were pretty pricey, but there were some cheaper one's just inside of Maryland. After weighing our options we decided to go into MD and get a hotel in Aberdeen.

November 18th, 2006

We roamed around the Capitol and got pictures of the Capitol Building. It sandwiched in the downtown area and it was hard to get pics of it because of all the buildings surrounding it. From there we headed down to Medford, NJ. The New Jersey gallery, Creative Genius is located there and is really enthusiastic about the project. We met with Julie Basello-Holt, owner of Creative Genius. We talked for a while and she had a lot of encouraging things to say about our project. The painting, "Clandestine Crossing" fit in very well on the Creative Genius wall. After talking a bit we said our goodbyes and got back on the road. We have been hearing some bits and pieces about the "New Jersey Devil Legend". It is a very interesting legend, that is similar to the Skunk Ape, Champ, or Moth Man, stories.

We drove southwest from Medford through the Pinelands, where the NJ Devil was born and is said to still live. We didn't see him, but the area did remind me of southwest FL with the sandy terrain and the abundance of pine trees. We drove into Atlantic City in the afternoon, which to me looked like a mix of a small Vegas in a New Orleans setting. It has all of the casino atmosphere, but with water surrounding it. We had been warned not to venture very far from "the strip", because of the crime. New Jersey does have some bad areas, and it gets a bad wrap, but it really has beautiful areas and the scenery is quite diverse. It is kind of like Michigan in that it has a lot of nice areas, but people tend to focus on the bad areas a lot. One of the most interesting places we went to before leaving Atlantic City, was to see "Lucy". Lucy is an elephant house. It is a giant elephant house that was built on the beach in 1882.

November 17th, 2006

This morning we went to the Grover Cleveland Birthplace in Caldwell, NJ, home of the only President to serve two non consecutive terms. It was very interesting and we spoke with a lady who works there for a while. She let us know a lot of interesting things about the 22nd and 24th President and the time period in which he lived. One of the most interesting things she talked with us about was that recently, some Hawaiian natives actually came to Cleveland's birthplace to pay respect to him. We were surprised at this until we learned more about how Cleveland was opposed to annexing Hawaii. He was in support of Hawaii staying a monarchy and keeping their queen. We had really never though much about how Hawaii had become a state. It is really very interesting. After leaving the birthplace, we got some more books printed for galleries.

In the evening we met up with some friends we had made a couple months ago when we were in Matawan, NJ. We stopped in and visited Megan, who had helped show us around when were in NJ earlier. We also went out to eat at Barnacle Bill's with the Loosen family, who we had stayed with last time we were in the area. Barnacle Bill's is one of their favorite restaurants, and we found out it was for a good reason. They have awesome burgers and Long Island ice teas. After an great dinner and visiting with our friends we drove to Trenton. Tomorrow we will check out the Capitol.

November 16th, 2006

Today while we were having lunch at a Panera, we struck up a conversation with a guy named Peter. We talked about the project and even got into an in depth conversation about education. He was raised being home schooled and had even done a documentary an home schooled children. We could have stayed and talked with him for a lot longer, but we were on our way to the Ward-Nasse Gallery in Soho. As we were driving into NYC we stopped at the toll booth for the Triboro Bridge, Kristin was filming because we are trying to do somewhat of a documentary for the exhibit. Anyway, as I handed the guy the money he motioned someone on the other side of the car over. It was a police officer. We rolled down the window and the police officer and the tollbooth worker started scolding us for filming. We didn't even think about it when we were doing it, but apparently because of security, you are not allowed to video on any bridges or in any tunnels in the city. We were a little worried, but the officer just made us rewind and tape over our footage with the lens cap on. Concerned that we might get in trouble again, I asked if there were other areas that we shouldn't film at. I think they went a little bit overboard here, because they said "unless you have a permit, we suggest you don't film anywhere inside the city". But we got the point, just use common sense. Anyway, we thanked them and went on. We were talking about it afterward, and it's too bad that you can't film in certain places in your own country, yet there are people who are able to sneak into the country undetected. I guess it's better that terrorists can't film areas to plan attacks than letting people film anywhere they want, though. I guess you could put a really good spin on it, and make the point that it will cut down on the amount of vacation slide show pictures people will have to endure from their friends.

Driving in NYC wasn't as bad as I had braced myself for. We did go in circles a few times, but were able to eventually get to the Gallery. the gallery is in Soho on Prince St. We met with Margot, and also some of the workers at the gallery. Ward-Nasse Gallery will be displaying the PA inspired, "Administering The Wealth" till the end of the year. We actually spent a while talking with one of the older worker/volunteers. He was originally from Berlin, but has lived all over the world. He is a jazz musician, and we talked about everything from music to traveling and even a movie he was wanting to go see, called "Who The @..%! Is Jackson Pollock. He explained that it was a true story about a woman who bought a Jackson Pollock for 5 dollars, and had no idea what she had bought. With our parking meter ticking we said our goodbyes and headed out of the city. We went through the Holland tunnel into New Jersey, making sure to turn our camera off before we went into the tunnel. While we were driving around in Newark we actually were sitting in traffic and got bumped, by a big truck behind us. Luckily there wasn't any damage, but it was really uncalled for cause we were just sitting stuck in traffic. We ended up staying the night near East Orange, NJ.

November 15th, 2006

Today we met with the staff of the Guilford Art Center, in Guilford, Connecticut. We had a great time meeting with all of the staff and discussing what we are doing. The Guilford Art Center will be displaying "Williams' Route", which is inspired by Rhode Island, till the end of the year. After we left we continued south and stopped in Stamford for the night.

November 14th, 2006

Kristin is still painting. She has finished two paintings and is working on the CT inspired piece today. She is on fire, and is a creating machine right now. I am working on press releases that will hype up the fact that from Dec. 21st to 31st there will be one painting in each of the 50 states. It will be the culmination of everything we have been working on this year. I honestly don't know if any artist has ever even attempted something like this before. It is as if, for those ten days the entire U.S. is the venue for this exhibit, with each state displaying one piece. After that, we continue work for the traveling exhibit, in which all 50 pieces will be reunited and travel together in the path we traveled as an exhibit. We have big plans for the exhibit as well, which is slated to start traveling at the end of 2007. We will be busy working on a path that will lead to each piece, that includes journal entries, correspondences, brochures, pictures, and receipts. This way as you walk around the exhibit you can look down at this path and get an understanding of where we were, and what we were experiencing at the time that painting and song was created. As well as video footage. Anyway, we are trying to draw as much media attention as we can for Dec. 21st to 31st. I have also been updating web pages and trying to upload the new songs, which isn't going very smoothly.

Tonight Kristin finished the Connecticut inspired piece, but as of now it is still unnamed. I finally got the new songs and pages to upload. As I wrote a couple days ago, the song "Get Up, Get Out" is about getting the motivation to actually follow your dreams, and coming to the realization that fear of failure only prevents you from living them. "The Voyage", is a song about mortality. It has a lot of references to the ocean, love, life and death. All of the history, as well as the sea towns in New England influenced the imagery of the song. I like "The Voyage" the most out of the two, but wish the recording quality of both was better. Tomorrow, we will leave Groton, CT and head to the Guilford Art Center to place the Rhode Island painting. From there we will go to NYC and then New Jersey.

November 13th, 2006

This morning we went to the hotel restaurant. This hotel gives us a free breakfast in its restaurant, and it is actually really good. This place is a steal, we finally feel like we are getting our money's worth at a hotel for once. Kristin finished the PA piece that we will be leaving in New York City, and she is calling it "The Distribution of Wealth". She also started the Rhode Island painting. I recorded two songs today. "Get Up, Get Out" is a song about getting the motivation to actually follow your dreams, and coming to the realization that fear of failure only prevents you from living them. I'm thinking I will name the other song I recorded, "The Voyage". It has a lot of references to the ocean, love, life and death. I like it the most out of the two. The recordings are really rough, and I would say they are sketches of what the songs will eventually be. I want to add a lot of different textures to them, but for now they are bare bones, due to the recording difficulties I have recently encountered. We have been really busy today, as the creative juices have been flowing like a raging deluge, pouring forth from our fingertips to stimulate the eyes and ears.

November 12th, 2006

We went out to breakfast this morning with Kristin's Uncle and his family, and then got back on the road. We ended up near New London, CT and decided to go back to the Groton Inn and Suites, cause Kristin needs to paint and we really like that place. We have made a giant circle through MA, RI, and CT. I did press releases and Kristin started painting. We will probably be here a couple days.

November 11th, 2006

We got into Boston this morning and the first place we went was Boston Common, which is the oldest city park in the U.S.. We walked over to the State House and got some pictures. From there we continued along the Freedom Trail and went by King's Chapel and Old City Hall. Next we were off to the Boston Massacre Site and Faneuil Hall. After that we went to the North End, to the Old North Church, where the Minute Men were to be warned by lanterns which way the British we coming, "one if by land, two if by sea." Just a little ways away we went to the oldest house in Boston, which is Paul Revere's House.

We also got in touch with Kristin's uncle and got directions to his house. We are going to visit with them before we leave. Since we were close, we went over the Charlestown Bridge and stopped at the Charlestown Naval Yard, where the U.S.S. Constitution is docked. It was nicknamed "Old Ironsides", from Oliver Wendell Holmes' poem of the same name. From there we started to head out of Boston, but stopped back near Boston Common and went to the Old Granary Burying Ground, where Samuel Adams, John Hancock and Paul Revere are buried. We also went back to King's Chapel Burying Ground as well.

From there we headed to Kristin's uncle's house. We had an awesome time visiting, and stayed up talking. They have a really cool house that used to be an old school house back in the 1800's. Tomorrow we will head back to Connecticut to continue on to the last eight states.

November 10th, 2006

It's almost noon, just got on the internet to get directions to the gallery and post my latest blogs. We are on our way to Donovan Gallery in Tiverton, RI.

After getting on the internet and trying to upload the new painting, we ran into problems with the website. It wasn't uploading properly. We ended up spending a couple hours on the internet till we got it working again. We then went to The Donovan Gallery in Tiverton, RI. We met Kris Donovan, the owner, and talked a while. The Donovan Gallery is displaying "Cradle of Liberty", until the end of the year. Kris gave us some ideas of places to visit nearby. We went further south to South Compton and stopped at a cool cemetery, that even has some pilgrims buried in it. We also went down further south to the harbor near Sakonnet. We then came back north on 77 to 24 and stopped near Fall River, MA. We are heading to Boston again. In Fall River we got some new books printed up. We drove a little further north and stopped near Taunton for the night.

November 9th, 2006

We drove into Hartford this morning. We went to the Capitol and all of the visitor parking was taken, so we had to go to metered parking. It sucked cause we didn't have any change, but I was able to get a street vendor to give me change for a dollar. We went on the beginning of a tour of the Capitol. There was a large school group on the tour, so we broke off and went on our own after the intro. From there we went across the street to the State Library and Museum. One of the coolest things we have learned about CT is story of The Charter Oak. In 1662, King Charles II granted Connecticut a Charter, which gave them the ability to rule over themselves. When King James II inherited the throne he wanted to take more control over all of the colonies and in 1687 sent Sir Edmond Andros to collect all charters that were issued to the colonies. The legend goes that when they arrived to get the Connecticut Charter, it was placed on the table, but all at once the lights were blown out and when they were lit again, the charter was gone. It is said that the charter was taken and hidden in a large white oak tree. And that is the story of "The Charter Oak". The tree blew over in a storm, in 1856, but it's wood was used to make several items, which are scattered around the Capitol and museum, including the president of the state Senate's chair. From there we went over to Bushnell Park. We got pictures of the Soldiers and Saliors Arch, and the historic carousel. We also went by Samuel Clemens' house, and Harriet Beecher Stowe's home, who is most remembered as the author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin".

Before leaving Hartford, we picked up some lunch and headed east on 44 toward Providence. Tomorrow, we are going to meet with the Rhode Island gallery that is going to display the Mass. inspired piece. Driving on 44 we stopped at a neat, but creepy, abandoned park. It was very odd, because it was extremely overgrown, and it had a huge rock painted like a giant frog in the center of it.

We go into Providence, RI at about 3 o'clock. We went to their Capitol and got some pictures. Nearby is the Roger Williams National Memorial, so we went there to check it out. As we were browsing the exhibits, we started talking to park ranger, John Mcniff about our project, and our experiences. He gave us a fascinating overview of Rhode Island's history. He was extremely passionate about history, and it was extremely informative. I got some great footage of Kristin asking him questions and him talking about Roger Williams. Williams was quite and amazing man, and definitely wasn't a conformist. He founded Providence and helped found the Rhode Island colony. We spent close to an hour just talking, and it was better than any video we could have watched.

This evening we were driving around near East Providence and passed a $1.99 theater that was showing "Little Miss Sunshine". We have heard good things about it, and figured why not? We really liked it. One of my favorite parts was when Uncle Frank and Dwayne are at the pier talking about society. Watching that scene, I reached over and grabbed Kristin's hand and we just smiled at each other. We could relate to a lot in the movie.... except for a dead person in the back of our car, and creepy little kid beauty pageants, and we don't have to push the element to get it going, but we do know what it is like to go after our dreams. After we left the movie theater we got on the internet for a bit and then went to bed.

November 8th, 2006

We checked out of the hotel today, Kristin finished the Massachusetts piece. No name yet. We will have it up on the website soon. Today has been very stormy. They say it is going to rain all day and into the night. We drove west and went to New Haven. We didn't know what to really see there, but we did drove around and got pictures of the Yale Campus. From there we drove north toward the Capitol, Hartford. We stopped in Newington at about 7 p.m. and went to an Atlanta Bread Co. Got coffee and did some work on the internet. We left there at 9 p.m. and slept for the night there. Tomorrow we will go to the Capitol.