PERT: The Eagle Has Landed

... or, in other words, the boys have reached their destination: Cocoa Beach, Florida. The plan for this afternoon was to cool their toes in the Atlantic. Tomorrow they will spend the day at the Kennedy Space Center.

PERT: Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, then south

The boys took their first college tour of the trip this morning, the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana. Peter was wowed and says this is the place. He would like to double major in software engineering and computer science. There are about 1,800 students at the college, most all of them undergraduates. There are only fifteen majors. So it's a very Reed-like place, except for engineers. Rose-Hulman is ranked among the top undergraduate engineering schools in the country. On the way to the car, Peter got a glimpse of the size of the flies in Indiana and had second thoughts. Personally, I'm hoping that he is wowed by CalTech or Stanford ... a bit closer to home.

From Terra Haute, the boys traveled 588 miles south to Macon, Georgia. Passing through Atlanta after dark, Peter was very impressed and commented that "Las Vegas is nothing compared to Atlanta." Tomorrow will be an easy day, just 417 miles to the Kennedy Space Center.

PERT: The Midwest

The boys traveled 867 miles yesterday, from Dubois, Wyoming, to Rock Port, Missouri.

To me, western Wyoming didn't look that much different than ...

western Nebraska, except for the cows. I hear there's also lots of corn.

Another 540 miles today took them across the Mississippi river and through St. Louis ...

where they took a road-warrior photo of the commemorative Gateway Arch. They arrived in Terre Haute this evening, and are scheduled for a 9 am tour of the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology tomorrow.

PERT: Yellowstone

The boys visited Robb and Tish in Boise, then headed to Yellowstone National Park. Unwilling to pay $199 a night at a Super 8 in The Expensive Corner of Wyoming--Jackson--they headed to Dubois, which is east of Yellowstone, and stayed two nights. Sunday was spent exploring Yellowstone.


Peter decided that Old Faithful was not as impressive as the fountain at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. According to Craig, Yellowstone looks a lot like Central Oregon around Sisters and Century Drive, but with more bugs and smaller trees. He writes, "There are plenty of volcanic things to see in Yellowstone, but the scenery is mostly alpine meadows, rivers and lakes. The meadows at Crater Lake and Lassen Peak are more green, more lush and more likely to have Julie Andrews strolling along singing. By comparison, it's more dry here."

With one last glimpse of the Teton Range, they are on their way to Indiana via Nebraska and Missouri.

Audio Artifacts

With the boys gone on their ERT, Ben and I took in an evening performance of Audio Artifacts at the Mississippi Pizza Pub. Very cool. Thomas is extremely talented and Ben is extremely fortunate to have him as an instructor. The performance was titled 'Unearthing Global Harmonies' and they played folk music from all around the world. A perfect evening.

Peter's Epic Road Trip (PERT)

The boys (well, two of them) departed yesterday on their Epic Road Trip. Peter drove for two and a half hours before requiring a nap. They made it to Boise on the first day and plan to see Robb and Tish today. Then they are off to the Grand Tetons.

Having no one to suggest it was time to go to bed, I stayed up until 1:00 am, watching 30 Rock on Hulu and sewing yet another sundress. Last weekend, I picked up some Bali cotton at Fabric Depot's 40% off sale, which was in addition to the 60" wide cream and chocolate brown linen I needed for a bias cut sundress. I finished the Linen Swirl Sundress last week, but still need to choose a pattern for the accompanying jacket. I thought I would just cut out the Bali cotton, but ended up sewing 'just one more seam' until it was finished. Alas, the boys took the camera on the Epic Road Trip (PERT) so it will be awhile before I can post pictures of the dresses.

Room With A View

I love the view from my living room window. We finally furnished the room (with something other than Thomas the Tank Engine and Star War Legos) and it's now my favorite place to sit and contemplate life. Earlier this spring, I moved the tall phlox that was overpowering the front porch and planted it just outside the living room window. It's on the right. When it blooms, the view will be even more relaxing. The leaves of the hydrangeas still got a bit crunchy during the 90+ degree weather, and I admit to cheating ... there were a number of times during my vacation last week when I set the sprinklers on manual and gave them an extra 15 minutes of water. Luckily, Craig doesn't 1) read my blog or 2) pay the water bill.

Third time's the charm ...

I first saw this pattern advertised in Katy's knitting magazine and immediately knew I had to make it. The yarn is Sidar Breeze from All About Yarn. The sweater is knit from the bottom up and begins with 300+ stitches. Casting on is not my favorite part of knitting. The pattern is fairly simple and straightforward; however, the front edges are finished with an I-Cord edging. The last three stitches in each row are combinations of slip, purl, and knit (easy, right?), but different for each wrong side/right side row, as well as beginning/ending row. So, four different combinations. The first time I started this project, I had about three inches done before I noticed that one of the edges had a mistake. I frogged the entire project and started over. The second time, I made significant progress and had finished the four repeats of decreases (each with seven rows in between) when I discovered that I had missed a decrease a number of rows back. I frogged back to where the decreases started. At least I didn't have to cast on all of those stitches again. So now I am paying careful attention to the edges, as well as the number of stitches between markers after each decrease row. Knit and learn, right?

As for the yarn, I'm a bit disappointed. I love the color and the texture (very soft), but there have been several knots in each skein of yarn. I kind of expect that from cheap yarn, but I've never thought of Sidar yarn as being cheap.