We made it to New York!

And so begins the second portion of this weekend's musical experience...

Eager to begin the weekend's festivities, Erin awaited my arrival with a G&T in her hand. The problem was that traffic in Gettysburg was INSANE! And on top of it, I kept bumping into people I really, really like.

First, I stopped at my favorite coffee shop (Eighty-Two) and got to talking to Chad. He was like, "You're going to Sound on Sound this weekend, right?"

I told him I was.

We got into a discussion/argument about The National. He and his girlfriend Alex are seeing The National tomorrow in Harrisburg, but The National is also playing in Connecticut at Sound on Sound on Sunday. I am not a huge fan of The National, however, and so we are only going to the Saturday portion of the festivities: Trampled by Turtles, Caamp (we will staand), and The Lumineers. Chad accepted this, but didn't understand it, and that's fine. Don't worry: no fight was officially fought.

Then I went to the post office because I made a sale on Etsy and had to put something in the mail. While there, I learned that the postwoman likes to read and so I gave her a business card. She's going to check out my online novella.

From there, I went to Giant and pumped some gas. I also cleaned my windshield, which was dirty. While cleaning it, my former student Jake appeared and was all like, "Hey, Ms. Meeson!"

And I was all like, "Hey, Jake! I'm cleaning my windshield and then going to New York to see my friend Jody who lives in the woods and is letting my friend Erin and I stay with her overnight before all three of us head to a music festival tomorrow. It's going to be so fun!"

Jake told me he's been reading my blog and enjoying it. I enjoy Jake! He's a wonderful student who graduated last year and was a joy to have in class. As a freshman, he was squirrelly; as a sophomore, he was a gem. He continues to be a gem and now I know where to find him to have future conversations!

It seemed to take forever, but I eventually made it to Erin's house... and she and I made it to New York in really good time. I told her to document the car trip since I was busy driving (the Jeep and its new AC compressor are doing great, fyi) and although she missed the sign that welcomed us to New York, she did capture this:

From there, we continued on our way to Jody's house, which is located on a dirt road that has a sign warning trespassers not to trespass. I wasn't sure if we were trespassing and so we risked it... and it worked out well.

Jody has a beautiful log cabin with many rooms and bathrooms. Erin and I are staying in this log cabin overnight (Jody is staying in her other house, which is located just through the woods) and we each have our own room and bathroom! Plus, Jody has stocked the fridge and cabinets for tomorrow's breakfast. Also, before we head to the music festival tomorrow, the plan is to create pretzel necklaces that we will wear into the show under our hoodies. The high is 70 and the low is low for tomorrow's temperature. We'll munch pretzels when we get hungry and snuggle in our hoodies when we get cold. Genius, yes?

Once we got to Jody's extra house (the log cabin), we had a bunch of appetizers for dinner and I texted my mom to let her know I was safe and I texted Scotty (my housesitter) to find out if Augusta ate him when he arrived. She didn't. Everyone is good and that gives me great comfort to know that Augusta, my terrible terrier whom I love very much, has found a new friend whom she trusts.

Now I am writing this blog and then I am going upstairs to share it with Erin before bed. And after that, we will probably both crash in our separate rooms with individual bathrooms and sleep soundly in preparation of Sound on Sound... because we are going to see Trampled by Turtles and staand for Caamp and then rock out to The Lumineers tomorrow night! Wahoo!