The "Mini" Mission

Dear Uncle George, Golly, I am falling behind.  I see why you ended your journal on August 20, 1907.  It is hard to keep up. I don't to rush this and to quote "The Princess Bride"--"This is for posterity, so be honest." If we are keeping it real, and being honest, I disliked New Hampshire.  A lot.  But I am getting ahead of myself. We pick up our story in Buffalo, New York on Friday, Aug 16, where Carol and I have seen, spent, and gotten wet to the point the grown women should not be laughing so much, so our move back to Rochester has come. She likes plants.  I like plants.  So we went to the Buffalo Botanical Garden before we left. Yes, in case you are wondering, if you are ever in Buffalo, you should go, too. I thought it would be faster to just put the album link here: https://www.facebook.com/valerie.popperanderson/media_set?set=a.10151784429615042.1073741852.532120041&type=3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I went to high schoo

Dear Uncle George, To date, I have taken over 6,000 photographs in 18 days. Mind you, I am not complaining.  I know you shot negative glass plates and I read in Richard's black book that it all ended up weighing about 3,000 tons or some craziness like that.  I don't even think the Mini Cooper weighs that much. And I can drive the Mini. I am in Sharon, Vermont this morning...which by the way, is perfectly foggy. Oh no.  My stay in Sharon may have just gotten a day longer. This is my last and final day of shooting your mission.  Which is pretty unbelievable.  I have been thinking about this mission for almost two years and I have felt so many emotions regarding it. I have felt disbelief I felt like I should do it.  I felt disbelief I would do it.  I felt excited to see all the sites.  I felt guilty for leaving my family for so long, especially for The Boy.  I felt guilty that people are making a big deal about because it makes me feel like I am somehow coming acros

Dear Uncle George: My mission is SOOOOOOO hard that I have given myself several P days in a row to get recovered.  :) My buddy, Carol, flew in to see the Palmyra area with me and we have been over in Buffalo to see some fun sites.  Which mainly included spraying water.   https://www.facebook.com/valerie.popperanderson/media_set?set=a.10151778484740042.1073741849.532120041&type=1 I have actually had some wonderful, delicious experiences this week. I have posted some of them on the Facebook, and well, since I am so spent from my recreating I mean my working, I will repost them here. https://www.facebook.com/valerie.popperanderson/media_set?set=a.10151780585825042.1073741850.532120041&type=1 Well, I wouldn't say this post was wonderful...but entertaining anyway. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There is this fella from yesterday: This man was in line behind me at the snack shop. I asked him about his beard...how long d

Dear Uncle George, You ever see the SNL skit about living in a van, down by the river?  If you are asking yourself what SNL is, I would guess that you haven't. I only know about it because The Girl's middle school teacher would play this clip for the kids as "motivation."  :) Whenever I see a crazy van, I always think of this skit.  And my buddy, Dave.  Dave is a "car guy," so I always try to sneak pics for him to enjoy. You know, paint job ideas like this one here: Golly, jea.lous. We pick up our story in Kirtland Ohio and move onto to the amazingly green state of Pennsylvania.  Well, actually Ohio, then 8 minutes in Pennsylvania, then 33 minutes in New York, only to be welcomed back again to Pennsylvania.  I am from ALASKA.  I will never be able to wrap my mind around the fact that I could be in 3 states within about 23 seconds.   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I know rivers. And I would be the first to admit they seem to have their o

Dear Uncle George, It is called the internet.  And I have not had it.  "Issues" at the last hotel.  And I am not talking about just the bathroom floor. At the risk of sounding like a demographic snob, the area I was in the suburbs of Cleveland is not somewhere I will be relocating to any time in this life. The great news of my time there is that the car was still intact and still there when I woke up each day.  That always makes the day seem to go a little better....when your car has not been sold for parts.  I didn't really tell Mr. Fun because I didn't want him to worry.  But the hotel clerk, Pem, said that he was "pretty sure" nothing would happen to me or the car, and well, since he too has been to India, I believed him. whew, here's the proof I gave myself a day off from my missionarying because you know, I had been at it a whole three days.  I took myself to the Cedar Point amusement park.  Yes, alone.  I know. I am pretty sure I w

Dear Uncle: I wanted to share with you some of my trip moments, some of which made me laugh out loud.  Which looks crazy if you are racing past me as I speed down the I-70 corridor....well, as much speeding as one does when almost every inch is under construction. First things first, pit stop in Jefferson City, Missouri to touch hearts and young minds.  This is Rich, who I have had 8 years of great works together. He is the kind of fella that when he asks you to serve with him, you go. Even if you are a gold and don't have two weeks of hotels booked before you do it. :) I have to let you know that I have a saying I have decided to use for this mission.  "I had to turn the car around for this one."   What that means is that I was driving along, I saw something that might be photo-worthy, but kept on driving until the Holy Ghost was basically yelling at me "turn around."  Hence, the fancy slogan.  I know, I should go into marketing.  I have a

Dear Uncle George, I don't have time to mess around.  I gotta pack. I am leaving today for the Mini Mission back East.  I am off for a few weeks tour to follow your photographs of Kirtland Ohio, Palmyra New York, Sharon Vermont, Colesville New York, and whatever else I have marked in Richard's coffee table book. I have spent three days pouring over the giant Rand McNally map I got for $6.78 at the Wal-Mart to guide my way.  A map that last year some KMart employee told me was no longer in existence and it was (and I quote) "too old-school for anyone to need." Another in a long list of reasons I am sure that KMart is going under.  Not enough Rand McNally maps. Sure I have a GPS.  In the car.  On my IPOD.  On my new smart phone that I am not smart enough to use. But there is something about paper.  And my yellow highlighter showing me the way. The map shows me where the ghost town in Ohio is and the cascading falls just outside of Terre Haute, Indiana.  It