Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Crossing off more states

Earlier this year I made a bucket list. This is a group of things I want to accomplish in my lifetime. A few of these things have happened and a lot of these items are a work in progress. One specific work in progress is the 50 state challenge. My goal is to visit each of the 50 states. My goal is not to just be in the state, my goal is to spend a good amount of time in the state and experience it. It is difficult to define what "experiencing a state" means. I define it as getting an idea of the culture in the area and doing at least 1 thing that locals do. That could be eating a famous meal, spending time at a landmark, or going to a festival or event.

This year I was able to cross off Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma from my list. I actually had the opportunity to visit Texas twice this year, which is good because it is such a huge state and it is not fair to cross off the list by only visiting 1 city. I was able to go to San Antonio in April and Fort-Worth a few weeks ago in early December.

San Antonio was a lot of fun with a lot to do. I was at a conference so I was not sure how much time I would have to myself to explore the area. I was lucky that the conference I went to did not structure your entire day for you, so I got to spend a significant amount of time outside of the convention center. We were staying in a hotel right off of the River Walk area which is a downtown type area but has a lot of touristy type places. I had a chance to walk along the river and eat at a few of the very many restaurants that are located along the sides. If you are a fan of Tex-Mex food, San Antonio is the place to go. The hotel we were staying at is also right near the Alamo, which I was told would be a huge disappointment. If you enjoy history, the Alamo is a must stop.

A few weeks ago I had the chance to explore the city of Fort Worth. Fort Worth is a great surprise of a city. Dallas gets all of the glory which makes Fort Worth a hidden gem, so hidden that there was never a time where anything felt busy. No waits at restaurants, art galleries, or traffic. This was for a conference so I tried to take every scheduling break to take advantage of what the area offered. I went to AT&T Stadium (Home of the Dallas Cowboys), stayed across the street from the Water Gardens (A small but very unique and visually appealing park of fountains and waterfalls), and spent a day downtown for shopping which turned into spending 2 hours at an art gallery. The cool thing about the gallery is that it features the art that was in the home of Sid Richardson (Oil Tycoon) who had 2 favorite artists (C.M. Russell & Frederic Remington) who focused on the wild west, which was still the wild west when they were painting in the late 1800's and very early 1900's. The best part of this trip was that once the conference ended, I stayed down there for a few more days and traveled north for a bit.

My dad flew down to meet me in Fort Worth in order to cross off another state from his list. We drove north on interstate 35 to go to Wichita Kansas. When we were in Wichita it was surprising to see how many bars there were. We stopped at the Museum of World Treasures which is located in an old town area. If you ever go to Wichita, I recommend staying here because you can spend all day just walking around and admiring the buildings and roads. It is all brick and reminds me of an old New England factory town except that the buildings are not run down. These buildings are still in great shape and are not struggling to find tenants. Later on in the night, my dad and I went to a sports bar to watch the college football games that would be deciding the playoffs. We had great seats at the bar which had 2 huge projection screens showing the games. around 8 pm both screens changed to a Wichita State basketball game which was a blow out. As frustrating as it was to miss the play off games (with the exception of the last 2 minutes of the Mich. St. vs Iowa game) it was great to see how much spirit the locals have for their college. The next day we drove down to the Arkansas River looking for something to do on a Sunday and stumbled across a Native American history park that was very cool. It is a small area at the gates of the actual Native American History Museum that has facts, music, and a statue at the center of it. It also happens to be at the intersection of the Arkansas and Little Arkansas rivers which makes it only accessible by 2 walking bridges. We then went back to the old town area to have lunch at a brewery that we tried to get into the previous night. It was a great brewery in a building that was built in 1908. If you have a chance, look up River City Brewing Company. After lunch we headed south to Oklahoma.

Our first stop was the campus of Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. OSU is home to the largest student union in U.S. It is over 500,000 square feet. It was Sunday so no offices or stores/restaurants were open but it was still busy with students studying and getting homework done. We walked around campus a bit and saw a few greek houses and academic buildings. These buildings were gorgeous and surprisingly large. From there, we headed to Oklahoma City. Not the types of people to waste precious time, we went to Top Golf to hit the driving range. My dad is not a golfer but was able to hold his own after we got a bucket of beers and were able to have our own section where we immediately put on the football games. Then we headed to our hotel where we had about 12 minutes to enjoy happy hour before the shut down their free drinks and food. We met a fellow traveler who is from Virginia and spent about an hour talking to him. The next morning we had breakfast and headed to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial and Museum.

The Memorial and Museum was a very moving experience. It was a truly horrific act of terrorism in an attempt to disrupt the U.S. Government. It was a message that the government needed to pay for the things that it did. This happened because of extreme beliefs. It is scary to think that people are starting to share extreme beliefs against other human beings now. People are having extreme beliefs against Muslims and Syrian refugees. Looking at the damage that was done at the Federal Building in OKC, this is something that these refugees see everyday in their home. It amazes me how quickly we forget that. It amazes me how quickly we can say that we are a diverse and welcoming country but then turn away people. I am also amazed that people say there is no racism but we are specifically turning away a specific type of person or people. The museum is a reminder that when tragedy happens, true Americans will help.

We left to go see the local stockyards. This is where cattle sales are held. When we got to Oklahoma I was not sure what to expect. OKC is a city and not much different than going to Manchester, NH or New Haven, CT. Going to Stockyard City (Neighborhood of OKC) I realized that this was my expectation of Oklahoma. It was not a trip back in time but a different way of living. Every store in the area had leather goods, cowboy hats, and boots. Every restaurant served steak (We stopped at a place voted the best steak in Oklahoma, Cattlemens), and apparently it is a dumb question to ask what fried pie is (Asked our waitress. It is a fruit pie that they fried). After that we went to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. This was a very cool museum which highlighted artwork, sculptures, and movie paraphernalia that had to do with the west. They had statues and a replica town to show you what life was like in the west during the 17, 18, and early 1900's. That is a long time but not much changed building or fashion wise. The things that did change were the tools that were used. In some sense, a lot of the lifestyle in Oklahoma has not changed, just the technology.

After that we departed back to Fort-Worth with a quick stop at the University of Oklahoma. The campus was beautiful and had older buildings that reminded me of an Ivy League school. It was interesting to see the difference between OSU and OU even though they were both built in 1890. We stopped at an OU hotel and bar which had a ton of OU sports memorabilia. We stopped on the way to get a fried pie and then made our way back to Dallas- Fort Worth to head to the airport the next morning.

It was a great trip and I learned a lot. I ate great food and really got a sense of the culture. Now I need to start planning my next trip.

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Florida Trip: Learning a Little Bit about Privilige

This past week, my wife Megan and I took a trip to Florida to visit her family. The first day we got there, we went to her aunt's house and hung out by the pool. Her house is nice, located in a community in central Florida. The houses are well maintained and it looks like a great neighborhood. The next day we went to New Smyrna Beach. I normally hate the beach but this one was nice because there were not a lot of people and the downtown are was not a mad house. The sand was also much nice, especially without all of the shells and sticks like the northeast. Then we went to Megan's grandparent's house in the largest retirement community in the world. This place is huge! over 100,000 residents live there and it has everything you could think of. Live music, 3 movie theaters, more golf courses than you could ever need, great restaurants, and shopping galore. All of the yards are professionally maintained and the roads are immaculate. It just looks like a picturesque town.

Now, when I travel I usually stay at a resort or near the ocean. This has made for some great and amazing vacations. This is the first time that I am seeing central Florida and not being at Disney World. Once we left the Villages and any gated community, it was like nothing I ever saw. If you were to tell me that I was in the poorest area of the country, I would not argue with you. There were so many vacant buildings, boarded up windows, and shacks on the side of the road. It made me think about my impression of what America is like. I saw houses that are falling apart, in the middle of nowhere, for sale. My first though was, how are they going to sell that place? My second thought was, if I bought that place I would just tear it down and start over. It took me a while to realize that someone is going to call that place home. Someone is going to buy that place and just be happy that when it rains, they might not get wet, or that they can get mail because they have an address.

I complain a lot about money. Everyone is always saying how they could use more money and deserve to get paid more but realistically, I am doing well for myself. It is crazy to say but I think that at age 26, I am living a more comfortable life than most people. We complain about people abusing welfare, and getting free handouts but looking around in this area, these people have nowhere to work, and the ones who are working are definitely not making enough to really have a decent life.

I look at houses all the time, mostly online. I would love to live in the town I work in. It is a small town but has everything I would need, within walking distance. I would also love to live in the town I live in now, but it is 30 minutes from my work and I don't really want to commute that much. Let me remind you that I am 26. I should be happy to be able to afford a home. I struggle everyday with the thought of being happy with what I have and wanting more. I feel bad when I look at how much more I have than other people, and I think that I will get lazy (or lazier) if I think that what I have is enough. This is also where I start to judge people on where their life is. Looking at these people in Florida, I judged them harshly. I thought to myself, "Why would you have kids if you are struggling to take care of yourself?" I think about that for a little while and remember how much I spend on things that I do not need, or spending a little extra money to eat out instead of making food for myself. These people take care of their kids the way their parents did, with hard work.

This trip was an eye opener for me into the privilege I have. I knew it was there but I did not see what it actually was.
  

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

New Year

It has been a while since I last posted in my blog. Work has been busy and that has not been a bad thing.

I was reading my cousin Danny's blog and I got a little bit of inspiration (Which is what I believe Danny intends for his blog to do) and decided to write down the things that I hope to achieve in my lifetime. Some of these things have happened but they are still things that I knew I wanted to do in my life and am proud that I did them.

1) Go on a road trip:
This one has happened multiple times. These have always been some of the best days of my life. I enjoy spending time with people in confined spaces because you really bond with them. I do not remember any of the conversations I had with people during road trips but I always know that I feel more connected to that person or persons at the end of the trip. I have taken road trips to many places but the longest ones were Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Virginia. Atlanta was a trip to move my cousin Andrew into his new apartment. We traveled from NH to GA, moved him in, quickly explored the city, and drove back to NH in less than 72 hours. I traveled to Cincinnati with my cousin Danny and his friend to do the Flying Pig marathon. The ride out was not too bad until we hit the farms. The ride back was brutal. Running a marathon is tough enough but getting into a car for 14 hours immediately after was not ideal. Virginia was a trip with my family and Wife (Girlfriend at the time). Me, Bobby, Jimmy, and Megan drove in one car and my parents in the other. All of these trips have been great but the best part was the ride. This is the reason that I wanted to go to Canada for my bachelor party (That and one of the best men was not 21 yet).

2) Visit all 50 states:
This one is self explanatory. I enjoy traveling and experiencing new things. I also enjoy food and nothing beats trying a "best in the country" type place. You have had chili but you have never had Skyline Chili (Cincinnati). You have had a burger but have you had the Guido Burger from Hodad's (San Diego)? I have spent time in CT, NH, MA, ME, VT, RI, NY, PA, NJ, OH, MD, GA, FL, VA, AZ, NV, CO, CA, HI, and KY. I have a lot more to go. I also want to clarify that I want to spend time in these places, not just travel through. I could cross off Illinois, South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas, and West Virginia if that was the case but I don't think sitting in O'Hare Airport qualifies as a visit to Illinois (Even if I did eat a Chicago Hot Dog). This year I will be adding Texas to this list of places I have been. Only 30 more states to go!

3) Go to Europe:
Once again, I like to travel. The other piece is that I have spent my entire life in a place that I know or at least can figure out. Going to another country would provide me with the experience of being in a place where I do not know the language thus making it a bit more challenging. That being said, I do not intend to get lost and die just because I wanted a challenge. Europe with give me a nice medium. The countries I plan to visit are France, Ireland, Spain, Italy, and England. This trip or trips have another important part to them due to the fact that my cousin Kevin's ashes were scattered in Ireland and France. He was one day younger than me and I thought that was the coolest thing ever. He could make anyone laugh and was always there when you needed him. It was devastating to my family when he passed away. I would love to get the chance to visit him again. 

4) Get a college degree:
I have done this. Twice. After receiving my Master's degree I realized that I want to keep learning and getting better at what I do. I have two goals under this category. First, I would like to get my doctorate. This will require a lot of hard work but it would be really cool to have people call me Dr. Castelot. I also want to be the best at what I do which is educating students. I think I owe it to the students paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for an education.  Secondly, I would like to get a college degree from an Ivy league school. This one is for pure bragging rights. 

5) Teach a college course
This spring I am going to be co-teaching a college course in a Higher Education Master's Program. This will be my first time teaching a course and I am hoping that I will enjoy it enough to continue to teach. I would love to teach a course by myself. 

6) Become someone's mentor:
 I do not have much control over this one. I just need to keep moving forward and trying to be the best that I can be. Hopefully in 10-15 years, someone will see me as an expert in my field and look to me as a mentor. 

7) Get married
This one has happened. It was the best day of my life and I would relive it everyday if I could. Scratch that. I would relive the few days before, the days of, and the week after. Everything about the wedding was amazing. I love spending time with friends and family and to have it be a celebration with great food and dancing was all I could ask for. It was a great party with the people that Megan and I find to be the most important in our lives. 

8) Become a father
This has not happened and is not happening (yet). Megan and I want to spend time enjoying our marriage for now but I know that I want to have a family. The time will come when it happens but for now, Megan and I are enjoying the days where we can change dinner plans at the drop of a hat, go out for drinks as late as we want, and sleep in on the weekends without having to worry about a little one. I enjoy being an uncle to two great kids who are giving me a lesson on how to say "no" and "don't put that fork in that electrical socket!" That last one hasn't really happened. 

9) Buy a house
This goes with the previous item. I want to have a house when Megan and I have kids. I want to have a back yard and driveway where we can play sports and have a bbq. I want to be able to provide my family with everything my family provided me. I also want to have a place that Megan and I can make our own. I want a place that reflects who we are. I also want to create a safe place for my future children. I know that when I go home to CT, I don't focus on paying bills or going to work. I am care free when I go to my parent's house. It will always be home to me and a safe place.

10) Do something I normally wouldn't do:
This is something that I have avoided doing most of my life. I usually follow the rules and do not do anything dangerous. I would always look for approval from my parents to make sure what I was doing was alright. Would I get hurt? Will I get in trouble? Will I disappoint them? I still ask myself if I would disappoint them before doing something but recently, I have been saying yes to a lot of things that I would usually say no to. In a past blog, Danny mentions that I am usually up to do anything. This only started happening a few years ago. Running a marathon with almost no training, driving to Atlanta with a weeks notice, hiking Mount Moosilauke in the biggest snow storm of 2013, and floating down the Merrimack river on air mattresses (Great story by the way. Who knew they don't sell adult sized pool floats at WalMart?). I still make sure what I am doing is legal and won't disappoint my family, but I am also making sure I don't disappoint myself by missing out on adventure. 

Even though I have achieved some of these and some are constant goals that will never really be "achieved", this year is when I begin my new journey. This will be the first year that I am not in school, am at a job that I hope to have for a while, and have a partner in crime for the whole journey. 2015 should be an interesting year for me.