saturday, march 12th:
my alarm didn't go off and i slept in until 8:00. I woke up and walked over to my computer to see marie desperately trying to get in touch with me. puppy still was not packed. threw a bunch of things in the suitcase, packed the puppy, and made a cd especially for the trip. journey, heart, and head automatica all included. indeed. I got in the car and drove to get lady marie. We sped to kroger, picked up a cooler, a few trashy magazines, a big bag of salt and fresh pepper kettle chips (ho-fucking ray), some chex mix and potato stix. spring break is always an excuse to eat salt. always. we got ice and a big bottle of water and went to check out. (insert here: we had already made a trip to sams club to get an entire case of redbull, another one of arizona green tea, and the biggest bag of pistachios in all of the land). picked up julie at collins to drive her to the airport. music: check. directions: check. flashlight: check. dust masks: check. on the road.
drove to indy to the airport and dropped juile off. she had to sit with her suitcase in her lap. she asked if we were going away for a few days or for a month. marie and i take the fact that i have a huge car just as a reason to fill it. every time we go away. it's fine. we drive. we manage to get out of indiana pretty quickly, and as we drive further north in michigan the sky begins to look amazing. jada is a saint. he doesn't cry and doesn't move. just sleeps. we pull over once and he potties. he is amazing. as we get past grand rapids the sky is just fucking blue. the bluest sky i've ever seen. huge fluffy clouds that are making shapes. the kind of shapes that you find clouds making only when they are near water. we get excited. yay sky. started seeing signs for traverse city, started freaking out. when we got into town we checked in to our hotel, which housed a lot of children. there were kids everywhere. we found our hotel and drove to the old asylum, planning on going to eat at the restaurant that was put in the remodeled basement and just to drive around a bit and see the situation.
fucking amazing. the team that put this all together (dr. kirkbride with the layout and gordon lloyd with the architecture) were brilliant together. the entire main building (building 50) is still there, but some had been renovated and some was under current construction. we talk about how much we love the fact that it is still there and not being torn down. we drive around, jaws on the floor.we attempt to pick them up and go into the restaurant. we get kicked out. no dogs. wankers. we go home and drop off the dog. we return. wankers.
our waiters name is christopher. he is very clearly gay. he takes hours to bring us our bread and terribly awfully bad food, and will not serve marie. he pours my taster wine into my regular glass. we talk about how this can't be appropriate. marie's food is saffron pasta (two things that we agreed do not mix) and mine is a maccaroni and cheese type of extravaganza. no good. all around bad bad food. we get dirty looks from other diners. some men stand for an unusually long time while greeting visitors to their table. we laugh. we pay for our overpriced bad meal and go home to bed. We pass the fuck out.
Sunday, March 13th
Marie and I are dorks and we get up early for continental breakfast. Hot chocolate and corn muffins. GOOD corn muffins. some news and some opinionated guys take on the brian nichols story. we go back to the asylum to see if we can find someone to talk to and to take some pictures from outside. we walk through the administration building trying to find room 113 but no one is there...we see heidi johnson's office (the resident photographer that made the huge book on traverse city) and contemplate talking to her...but it looks like no one is there. take lots of pictures:check. we decide to come back at night, and that we need some really warm gear. KMART. we get the biggest green rubber boots with bright yellow laces. they are knee high and perfect. we get elbow deep gloves, hats, and long underwear. batteries for the taser. (yes we brought a taser) and we also get some wine. everywhere in traverse city is closed on sundays. tried to go to my dad's old congragation, closed. downtown: closed. we drive on the peninsula. all the way down. gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous. the sky was immaculate, the clouds were from a painting. i took many pictures of the view, the barns, and the cherry trees. traverse city makes cherry wine. more cherry wine than anyone else in fact! we drove out to the lighthouse to the tip of the peninsula and discovered that we were on the 45th parallel (for those of you that lack geographical knowledge, that is half way between the north pole and the equator). we come back and are starving. we decide to drive around to try and find a restaurant. EVERYWHERE is closed. finally we found THE DINER. this diner is amazing. christmas lights outside, and a sign that says "pancakes 24 hours." the inside is painted all of these bright colors and there are lattice walls and black shiny cushion seats and SMOKING SECTIONS (you know how i feel about smoking sections) and great coffee and great waitresses and a huge menu and a hot pink bathroom. we get excited. we order ALL THE FRIED FOOD WE POSSIBLY CAN. fried fish and fried veggies and fried cheese and i get some tea because my throat hurts. we smoke a lot of cigarettes. we talk about the asylum. it is heaven. we have no cares, except trying to eat as fast as possible. we get some boxes for the fried food and take some clams home for jada. when we get back to the hotel we watch silence of the lambs and decide to take a nap before we have to wake up at 3am to go back to the asylum for pictures. jada inhales the clams. literally. we all pass out.
monday, march 14th
do not pass go. do not wake up at 3am. do not take pictures at the asylum. we woke up the next morning around 9, completely well rested and a little upset that we didn't get up in time to take pictures. we hang out around the hotel for a little while and decide we need to go shopping. yay for a phonebook in the room! i also didn't mention that our room was a smoking room. SMOKING INDOORS! YES! downtown is open. we go to some vintagey shops and i buy a maroon sleveless fur shrug and those bands that you can put the side of your shirt through like in the 80s with litle rhinestones all over them. we go next door for some ceasar salad and soup. everyone loves the puppy! horray! lots more thrift shopping and vintage shopping and lots of sweaters and shirts and stuff to do crafts with. marie got an awesome polka dot skirt!! i got some kiddies books to put on end tables! hip hip horray. we went back to the asylum to walk around a bit more (now that we had some amazing boots) and see what the deal was. we finally went to room 113 and the man said we could walk around inside! he said wait on second thought lets see if heidi johnson is in her office and then you two can talk to her! WE MET HER! SHE IS AMAZING! she told us to come back at 8am and she would take us everywhere inside!! i told her about my project and adoration for the building and the style and kirkbride and she loved us and we got so excited. we got in the car and screamed. more pictures and camera batteries and cigarettes and excitement. we go back to the hotel and try on all of our new purchases. we decide to go for dinner and come back to relax because we have to wake up super early. after trying different restaurants in the phonebook we find 310, which has sushi and fish and tapas so we get dressed super duper warm because afterwards we will go for me to take night time pictures at the asylum. we get to the restaurant and it is lovely. right downtown with pretty paintings on the wall that are lit up. i order a nutty vanilla russian (stoli vanil, kahlua and frangelico.mmmm.) and we order whitefish pate, spinach and artichoke dip, a HUGE avodado salad and some swordfish sushi. the salad is divine. it has avocados, goat cheese, fresh fresh lettuce, corn (chucked straight from the cobb), and cucumbers. amazing avodado cream dressing. we eat everything so fast and get really really full. pay for dinner and drive to the asylum. marie tells me she doesn't want to go inside. poo on her. so we go around the buildings and i take lots and lots of pictures. we don't get cold at all...and we don't get snow in the shoes. no snow in the shoes. our boots are amazing. home for bed.
tuesday, march 15th
alarm says nevermind. i woke up at 8:01, freaked out, and woke marie. we got dressed probably faster than either one of us ever has, put the puppy in the crate, and run out the door. we call the coffee shop where we are meeting heidi quickly and she is not there yet. we look at the clock. the hotel clock was 15 minutes fast. we are still 10 minutes late. sleepy eyed and full of apologies, we see heidi. she asks where we want to go first, and explains a little bit about the building which we had some questions and confusion about. we go into the womens ward. this building is amazing. from the different color pastel peeling plaster walls to the archways to the bright sea green bathroom tiles to the brilliantly large windows casting shadows and beams all over to the long winding hallways to the woodwork in the attics. if you want to see my photos, let me know. i can't simply describe what we saw. she took us to the womens ward (all levels of it), our on the screened in porches, to the mens ward, the chapel, one of the cottages, and into one of the tunnels. there are tunnels that run all over the grounds underneath so that the patients did not have to go outside to go from one place to the other. she told us this was because children would come by on bikes and taunt them, i also think it probably made escape less likely. heidi knew a lot about the history of asylums and we talked a lot about films, deinstitutionalization, and what happens next. her mind is brilliant. it was incredibly insightful. lots of pictures! lots of pictures! we went to the mens ward which is currently under construction for asbestos removal. heidi told us to try and refrain from eating paint chips. we told her we would try. we met some construction workers (dan is just about as fascinated with this stuff as i am i do believe)and one of them said "you need to get those boots dirty." marie and i agree that this is a sexual euphamism, and that construction workers, no matter what they look like, are usually hot. i realize i want one. i want to take one home with me. but we keep walking. Dan comes back and said he found some things...a card and a pillow case-turned pouch with a coat hanger attached, apparently used for lowering messages from one room to the other through the trash chutes. we see where they just removed a basketball hoop, and all of the bricks have writing and dates and signatures and carvings in them. the rest of the bricks had been painted, but they didn't paint there b/c of the hoop. we see a snow white and the seven dwarves mural. once again, our jaws are on the floor. we see a chapel with old chairs and tables and desks in them. where the nurses graduated. she then takes us to her office and shows us boxes and boxes of old letters, cigarette butts, rolling papers, candy bar wrappers, newspapers, newsletters, daily schedules, everything. i am simply blown away. she signs my book. she calls me a kindred spirit. i die. hugs all around, exchanging information, and we get in the car to go on our way.
DINER TIME! we have 10 minutes to check out of the hotel, so we speed back. DINER TIME! french toast and eggs and hashbrowns and coffee and jam and toast and marmalade. pictures. smoking. hot pink bathrooms. we realize we are desperately going to miss this place, and we must start looking for a summer cottage soon. i contemplate an internship with heidi. we pay for our food and bid the lovely diner goodbye. we get in the car and go back downtown to a couple other shops, with no luck. we then go to the womens center thrift store and i decide to empty out my car of the clothing that has been sitting there for months that i wanted to get rid of..my little way of giving back to traverse city, because of all it gave to me. the ladies will be happy with their steve madden stilettos and adrienne vitadini blue suede slides. we go next door and buy lots and lots and lots of cherry wine. we are having a cherry party. more info on that to follow. we then go to jiffy lube, get an oil change and the windows washed. everyone is friendly. we get on the road.
8 hours of cigarettes, the cure, stevie wonder, the offspring, more cigarettes, puppy songs, a big long detour, more and more pretty skies, cigarettes, a pretty sunset, potato sticks, and a gum party towards the end of the drive. get back to bloomington, contemplate how so many good things happened in so few days. wonder if life can get any better. realize that that L word that i missed on sunday is on on demand, and discover that it can. drive marie home, come back to my apartment and watch the L word with a cup of soup. pass out.
i miss the diner.
my alarm didn't go off and i slept in until 8:00. I woke up and walked over to my computer to see marie desperately trying to get in touch with me. puppy still was not packed. threw a bunch of things in the suitcase, packed the puppy, and made a cd especially for the trip. journey, heart, and head automatica all included. indeed. I got in the car and drove to get lady marie. We sped to kroger, picked up a cooler, a few trashy magazines, a big bag of salt and fresh pepper kettle chips (ho-fucking ray), some chex mix and potato stix. spring break is always an excuse to eat salt. always. we got ice and a big bottle of water and went to check out. (insert here: we had already made a trip to sams club to get an entire case of redbull, another one of arizona green tea, and the biggest bag of pistachios in all of the land). picked up julie at collins to drive her to the airport. music: check. directions: check. flashlight: check. dust masks: check. on the road.
drove to indy to the airport and dropped juile off. she had to sit with her suitcase in her lap. she asked if we were going away for a few days or for a month. marie and i take the fact that i have a huge car just as a reason to fill it. every time we go away. it's fine. we drive. we manage to get out of indiana pretty quickly, and as we drive further north in michigan the sky begins to look amazing. jada is a saint. he doesn't cry and doesn't move. just sleeps. we pull over once and he potties. he is amazing. as we get past grand rapids the sky is just fucking blue. the bluest sky i've ever seen. huge fluffy clouds that are making shapes. the kind of shapes that you find clouds making only when they are near water. we get excited. yay sky. started seeing signs for traverse city, started freaking out. when we got into town we checked in to our hotel, which housed a lot of children. there were kids everywhere. we found our hotel and drove to the old asylum, planning on going to eat at the restaurant that was put in the remodeled basement and just to drive around a bit and see the situation.
fucking amazing. the team that put this all together (dr. kirkbride with the layout and gordon lloyd with the architecture) were brilliant together. the entire main building (building 50) is still there, but some had been renovated and some was under current construction. we talk about how much we love the fact that it is still there and not being torn down. we drive around, jaws on the floor.we attempt to pick them up and go into the restaurant. we get kicked out. no dogs. wankers. we go home and drop off the dog. we return. wankers.
our waiters name is christopher. he is very clearly gay. he takes hours to bring us our bread and terribly awfully bad food, and will not serve marie. he pours my taster wine into my regular glass. we talk about how this can't be appropriate. marie's food is saffron pasta (two things that we agreed do not mix) and mine is a maccaroni and cheese type of extravaganza. no good. all around bad bad food. we get dirty looks from other diners. some men stand for an unusually long time while greeting visitors to their table. we laugh. we pay for our overpriced bad meal and go home to bed. We pass the fuck out.
Sunday, March 13th
Marie and I are dorks and we get up early for continental breakfast. Hot chocolate and corn muffins. GOOD corn muffins. some news and some opinionated guys take on the brian nichols story. we go back to the asylum to see if we can find someone to talk to and to take some pictures from outside. we walk through the administration building trying to find room 113 but no one is there...we see heidi johnson's office (the resident photographer that made the huge book on traverse city) and contemplate talking to her...but it looks like no one is there. take lots of pictures:check. we decide to come back at night, and that we need some really warm gear. KMART. we get the biggest green rubber boots with bright yellow laces. they are knee high and perfect. we get elbow deep gloves, hats, and long underwear. batteries for the taser. (yes we brought a taser) and we also get some wine. everywhere in traverse city is closed on sundays. tried to go to my dad's old congragation, closed. downtown: closed. we drive on the peninsula. all the way down. gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous. the sky was immaculate, the clouds were from a painting. i took many pictures of the view, the barns, and the cherry trees. traverse city makes cherry wine. more cherry wine than anyone else in fact! we drove out to the lighthouse to the tip of the peninsula and discovered that we were on the 45th parallel (for those of you that lack geographical knowledge, that is half way between the north pole and the equator). we come back and are starving. we decide to drive around to try and find a restaurant. EVERYWHERE is closed. finally we found THE DINER. this diner is amazing. christmas lights outside, and a sign that says "pancakes 24 hours." the inside is painted all of these bright colors and there are lattice walls and black shiny cushion seats and SMOKING SECTIONS (you know how i feel about smoking sections) and great coffee and great waitresses and a huge menu and a hot pink bathroom. we get excited. we order ALL THE FRIED FOOD WE POSSIBLY CAN. fried fish and fried veggies and fried cheese and i get some tea because my throat hurts. we smoke a lot of cigarettes. we talk about the asylum. it is heaven. we have no cares, except trying to eat as fast as possible. we get some boxes for the fried food and take some clams home for jada. when we get back to the hotel we watch silence of the lambs and decide to take a nap before we have to wake up at 3am to go back to the asylum for pictures. jada inhales the clams. literally. we all pass out.
monday, march 14th
do not pass go. do not wake up at 3am. do not take pictures at the asylum. we woke up the next morning around 9, completely well rested and a little upset that we didn't get up in time to take pictures. we hang out around the hotel for a little while and decide we need to go shopping. yay for a phonebook in the room! i also didn't mention that our room was a smoking room. SMOKING INDOORS! YES! downtown is open. we go to some vintagey shops and i buy a maroon sleveless fur shrug and those bands that you can put the side of your shirt through like in the 80s with litle rhinestones all over them. we go next door for some ceasar salad and soup. everyone loves the puppy! horray! lots more thrift shopping and vintage shopping and lots of sweaters and shirts and stuff to do crafts with. marie got an awesome polka dot skirt!! i got some kiddies books to put on end tables! hip hip horray. we went back to the asylum to walk around a bit more (now that we had some amazing boots) and see what the deal was. we finally went to room 113 and the man said we could walk around inside! he said wait on second thought lets see if heidi johnson is in her office and then you two can talk to her! WE MET HER! SHE IS AMAZING! she told us to come back at 8am and she would take us everywhere inside!! i told her about my project and adoration for the building and the style and kirkbride and she loved us and we got so excited. we got in the car and screamed. more pictures and camera batteries and cigarettes and excitement. we go back to the hotel and try on all of our new purchases. we decide to go for dinner and come back to relax because we have to wake up super early. after trying different restaurants in the phonebook we find 310, which has sushi and fish and tapas so we get dressed super duper warm because afterwards we will go for me to take night time pictures at the asylum. we get to the restaurant and it is lovely. right downtown with pretty paintings on the wall that are lit up. i order a nutty vanilla russian (stoli vanil, kahlua and frangelico.mmmm.) and we order whitefish pate, spinach and artichoke dip, a HUGE avodado salad and some swordfish sushi. the salad is divine. it has avocados, goat cheese, fresh fresh lettuce, corn (chucked straight from the cobb), and cucumbers. amazing avodado cream dressing. we eat everything so fast and get really really full. pay for dinner and drive to the asylum. marie tells me she doesn't want to go inside. poo on her. so we go around the buildings and i take lots and lots of pictures. we don't get cold at all...and we don't get snow in the shoes. no snow in the shoes. our boots are amazing. home for bed.
tuesday, march 15th
alarm says nevermind. i woke up at 8:01, freaked out, and woke marie. we got dressed probably faster than either one of us ever has, put the puppy in the crate, and run out the door. we call the coffee shop where we are meeting heidi quickly and she is not there yet. we look at the clock. the hotel clock was 15 minutes fast. we are still 10 minutes late. sleepy eyed and full of apologies, we see heidi. she asks where we want to go first, and explains a little bit about the building which we had some questions and confusion about. we go into the womens ward. this building is amazing. from the different color pastel peeling plaster walls to the archways to the bright sea green bathroom tiles to the brilliantly large windows casting shadows and beams all over to the long winding hallways to the woodwork in the attics. if you want to see my photos, let me know. i can't simply describe what we saw. she took us to the womens ward (all levels of it), our on the screened in porches, to the mens ward, the chapel, one of the cottages, and into one of the tunnels. there are tunnels that run all over the grounds underneath so that the patients did not have to go outside to go from one place to the other. she told us this was because children would come by on bikes and taunt them, i also think it probably made escape less likely. heidi knew a lot about the history of asylums and we talked a lot about films, deinstitutionalization, and what happens next. her mind is brilliant. it was incredibly insightful. lots of pictures! lots of pictures! we went to the mens ward which is currently under construction for asbestos removal. heidi told us to try and refrain from eating paint chips. we told her we would try. we met some construction workers (dan is just about as fascinated with this stuff as i am i do believe)and one of them said "you need to get those boots dirty." marie and i agree that this is a sexual euphamism, and that construction workers, no matter what they look like, are usually hot. i realize i want one. i want to take one home with me. but we keep walking. Dan comes back and said he found some things...a card and a pillow case-turned pouch with a coat hanger attached, apparently used for lowering messages from one room to the other through the trash chutes. we see where they just removed a basketball hoop, and all of the bricks have writing and dates and signatures and carvings in them. the rest of the bricks had been painted, but they didn't paint there b/c of the hoop. we see a snow white and the seven dwarves mural. once again, our jaws are on the floor. we see a chapel with old chairs and tables and desks in them. where the nurses graduated. she then takes us to her office and shows us boxes and boxes of old letters, cigarette butts, rolling papers, candy bar wrappers, newspapers, newsletters, daily schedules, everything. i am simply blown away. she signs my book. she calls me a kindred spirit. i die. hugs all around, exchanging information, and we get in the car to go on our way.
DINER TIME! we have 10 minutes to check out of the hotel, so we speed back. DINER TIME! french toast and eggs and hashbrowns and coffee and jam and toast and marmalade. pictures. smoking. hot pink bathrooms. we realize we are desperately going to miss this place, and we must start looking for a summer cottage soon. i contemplate an internship with heidi. we pay for our food and bid the lovely diner goodbye. we get in the car and go back downtown to a couple other shops, with no luck. we then go to the womens center thrift store and i decide to empty out my car of the clothing that has been sitting there for months that i wanted to get rid of..my little way of giving back to traverse city, because of all it gave to me. the ladies will be happy with their steve madden stilettos and adrienne vitadini blue suede slides. we go next door and buy lots and lots and lots of cherry wine. we are having a cherry party. more info on that to follow. we then go to jiffy lube, get an oil change and the windows washed. everyone is friendly. we get on the road.
8 hours of cigarettes, the cure, stevie wonder, the offspring, more cigarettes, puppy songs, a big long detour, more and more pretty skies, cigarettes, a pretty sunset, potato sticks, and a gum party towards the end of the drive. get back to bloomington, contemplate how so many good things happened in so few days. wonder if life can get any better. realize that that L word that i missed on sunday is on on demand, and discover that it can. drive marie home, come back to my apartment and watch the L word with a cup of soup. pass out.
i miss the diner.
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
I wish I got to be there too.