Centralia and Halloween Party I - A little late of a post

Last weekend was pretty awesome. I would have added a post sooner, but being without Internet at home and sheer laziness of going somewhere with wi-fi kind of got in the way.

Friday night, a few co-workers and I met up with my creative writing bud A. and headed to Gravestone Manor, a theatrical haunted house in Wilkes-Barre, where two of my other creative writing friends work. It was pretty cool. Then, we hit up Old Tyme Charley's in Plains for a little 40lb. Head and a lot of bomb shots- Jager bombs. Grape bombs. Raspberry bombs. I also ran into some old radio buds, so that's always fun!! With a case of heartburn, we then hit up Flaherty's in Edwardsville where we pretty much closed down the place. It was nice little tour of some of the finest bars in NEPA...

Saturday, I hibernated all day until it was time to get ready for A and C's annual Halloween bash. I'll post some pics later of that. Fun times ensued as usual. I reigned champion at Beer Pong, and then the Flip Cup team I was on also rocked. My friends may have had a pole, too. And you know what that means for a drunk Donna. There may or may not be videos.

Sunday, it was a hungover road trip to Centralia... you can read more about that on the post below. But I saw a part of Centralia I never saw before- the portion of Route 61 that is closed off. It goes on for a few miles- we walked a lot of it- really getting some exercise, too-- you just don't realized it's a big hill when you go down... haha. The big crack in the road was quite impressive- trees were growing out of it. But what was even more amusing was the graffiti painted on the road. Craziness.

So much changed in Centralia since I first started going- a lot more has been torn down, but there was still cool stuff to see. I just really enjoyed the weekend. I was completely exhausted by Monday! But what a great weekend- a haunted house, a few bars, a great party, a cool road trip and still some good sleep!

I still have yet to get my TV and washer and dryer, but I guess I'm not really home enough to watch TV. My two new neighbors commented on that fact last night, as I ran into the house to change and then leave again for dinner with co-workers at Rustic Kitchen at the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs casino. They were outside smoking and said, "When are you ever home?!"

Spooky Hallo-Weekend Ahead! Costume Party and Centralia!

I love this time of year. In fact, I started off a post on my department blog with that same thought. I love sweaters. I love orange. I love pumpkins. I love being scared! By the way- if you are in any way interested in e-commerce (that's sellin' stuff online) or sales in general, you should give the Solid Cactus Sales Blog a read!

HALLO-WEEKEND Part 1

I am not sure, but I have to kick-off the weekend somewhere, somehow! Could it be Hops & Barleys??

HALLO-WEEKEND Part 2

But on to this weekend. I am looking forward to the annual costume party at my friend A&C's house-- this is their first Halloween in their new house, so it's going to be bigger and better-- and louder I am sure since they are nestled in the middle of nowhere in Hunlock Creek! I am stoked for the chicken wing dip, Jell-O shots, Flip Cup, Beer Pong and seeing lots of folks I haven't seen in a while. They have mad decorations, too.

HALLO-WEEKEND Part 3

Centralia!! I am so super stoked for this trip. Two girls from work were talking about it, and I told them that I went there so many times as a kid, and then took Dave there a few years ago. In 2003 I went with my dad and step-mom and took some great black and white pics-- I scanned them in here at work, but it didn't work too well because it was a copier and I think it thought the pics were paper. At any rate, I'll still post them here. The one up top is of me in the middle of the smoke, and the one right here is with the house that was going to be razed. Anway... we have plans to drive down there Sunday afternoon and I'll be the tour guide.

Oh wait?! What is Centralia you ask? It's an old mining town in Central PA that had an underground mine catch on fire back in the late 60s. The fire is still out of control. The town is now pretty much a ghost town, but some residents still live there- the diehards that refuse to leave. Most houses are torn down- it's eerie to drive around there- smoke still billows out of the ground. There are driveways that lead to nothing. I am pretty into this wierd stuff, so every time I go, I spend hours exploring. When I went back in 03 I had my picture taken in front of a house that was x'ed off to be torn down. My dad and I went inside the house and there was so much stuff still left there. Mail, even. So now we know who lived there incase we ever want to do an article or something. The story of this town is totally horror movie material. I have plenty of ideas for movies to be set here- I am surprised none haven't been yet. There was one a few years ago about a woman whose daughter is lost in an old mine town, but it wasn't exactly like Centralia.

Here are some Centralia links:

http://www.centraliapa.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania

Before I made this post, I actually just read the Wikipedia entry, and another house I have a picture of was torn down in 2007. It was a house that had brick support on either side- so it looked like it had ten chimneys. I guess we won't be seeing that this weekend. But just to be in this ghost town around Halloween will be so cool!

Priceline.com Nightmare with Continental Airlines: Cleveland Didn't Rock for Me

I received a complaint about my blog. Apparently, I made a promise on Tuesday, August 19th that my very next blog post would be about my layover experience.

"Instead, you wrote about furniture," said this person who we will call John Dawe. "I wanted to read about the day you called me crying."

Here is a snippet of that blog to show my promise there, in black and white-- pay attention to the big, blog line:

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Days
3-4 in Oklahoma
After I checked out of the hotel on Saturday morning, I didn't have Wi-Fi until very late Sunday night when I checked back into the hotel near the airport- then, I wanted to write my final OK vacation blog from the Tulsa airport- but they charged $5.95 an hour for W-Fi. Ugh. My Cleveland layover you'll learn about in my next blog. And Monday I traveled all day and crashed and went right to work this morning and went on a shopping extravaganza after work- so ah, the final vacation post isn't happening until just.... about.... now.

So, thanks to John Dawe, I will write about my fiasco in Cleveland. I don't travel much by air. Hell, I don't travel much period. So, I was pretty happy with how my trip planned out on the way there. Both planes were on time. My rental car was there. The hotel had my reservation. Priceline.com did a great job of getting me there safely, cheaply and without any hassles.

The way back was going fine too. My flight from Tulsa was on time. I arrived to Cleveland on time. As I walked to the gate in the terminal to board my flight home, to Wilkes-Barre I noticed something on my boarding pass. Well, it turned out it really wasn't a boarding pass.

"Please check in at gate," it read. What does this mean, I thought to myself.

The uniformed lady at the gate told me that the flight was overbooked and two of us did not have seats. They were actively looking for volunteers to give up their seats in exchange for a travel voucher of $300. At this point, my flight was set to leave in about 45-minutes, which meant I was basically two hours away from being home. Four days isn't long, but I did miss my cat. And, I needed to be at work Tuesday.

"When is the next flight," I asked, feeling the tears well up.

"That's overbooked too," said the lady.

I told her about my job and my cat and asked how I could buy a ticket for a seat that didn't exist. I felt myself starting to get upset, which I don't like to do, when they lady said to me very nicely, "Please just have some hope."

When she that, it reminded me of "It is what it is" and that I really couldn't change anything. So, I decided not to get angry at her and try to think positive. I took myself over to an empty area and plopped down with my notebook, my laptop and cell phone. I texted my coworker John Dawe (who recently became a fan of Continental Airlines on Facebook, which is important to the story) and said verbatim: "I will not join you as a fan of Continental Airlines. I am stranded in Cleveland until further notice. Flight was overbooked." That was my form of venting to a friend.

I was going to call Priceline.com and speak to customer service. The only number I had jotted down was the hotel service line. I tried to hit "0" to talk to someone and maybe get the fligh department. No luck. The recorded voice simply said, "Goodbye" when I tried to trick the system. I then tried to log online- I was having wi-fi issues- said I was connected but yet not pages were open. So, I opened Google on my phone and found the regular number. That number only allowed you to buy something, not get service. In the meantime, Dawe had called me back and got me on the phone with one of the owners of our company who is a travel guru.

He had me walk to the Continental Airlines desk and ask if I could get on a flight to Philly on US Air-- they have a hub there. The lady was going to look that up, but then we had the idea to instead stay on Continental and fly into Newark. Then, I would rent a car and drive to Wilkes-Barre. I was so glad to have he and Dawe on the phone- they kept me sane. So, they switched flights, switched my luggage, gave me a deviation slip and all.

"No matter what airport I end up at, I am heading right to the bar, " I joked to the guys on the phone.

They were still on the phone with me to make sure everything worked out. I overheard someone on the speaker say, "We're still looking for one more volunteer to give up their seat for Flight # (I forget) to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton..." I asked the lady if that meant I had a seat... she said no, because I was second in line. The first lady got on the flight. Now it was just me. A few more minutes passed and a woman came to the desk- she would give up here seat. It was 3:45 and my original flight was set to leave at 4:10- the boarding just about ready to start. I asked if that meant I had a seat- Yes.

So, the woman had to change me back to the Wilkes-Barre flight, make sure my luggage was switched back, I thanked my co-workers for coming up with an alternate route for me and got off the phone and headed back to Wilkes-Barre. That woman was my hero- with not a minute to spare, she decided to wait for a new flight in exchange for $300.

I don't know who to blame. Continental Airlines? Priceline.com? Myself for not consulting my travel gurus first before booking a flight through a site like Priceline? Why do they overbook flights? I theorize because so many people can buy flights from so many different sources that the inventory doesn't sync right away. Either way, I am thankful I didn't have to go to Newark and drive back to PA- which would have taken two additional hours, or that I didn't have to stay the night in a crappy hotel and miss a day of work to take a flight the next day.

If I did get stranded for the night, you can bet I would have taxited to the real Warsaw, where Drew, Louis, Oswald and Kate used to drink at on the Drew Carey show.

I walked away without a scratch. How the F*** did that happen?

Wednesday night was probably the scariest night of my life. And all I could think about were two things:

1) I wonder how many eggs are cracked open
2) I really have to dig into writing my memoir because I almost didn't get to write my collection of essays about my life because I almost died.

I left work around 7:30ish and hit up Mr. Z's on the way home. I loaded my groceries into the truck and headed home. It was a chilly night and kind of odd-- there was a lot of water around, but yet some ice. It was as if the h20 was confused... do I freeze or do I melt. Most of the treacherous, rural road I take home everyday that I hate with passion, Route 118, was clear.

The last thing I remember was listening to David Bowie on 102.3 The Mountain. I was just chugging along-- not going to fast because I drive like a grandma anyway. Next thing you know, I totally lost control of the truck and was skidding across the highway backwards, also spinning out several times. I don't know how the hell it happened the way it did, but I hit the embankment just the right way that I just slid down-- rather than roll the truck over as it fell down into the ditch. (The picture below doesn't look like it's that big of an embankment, but it was about six feet.)

It was miraculous that there were no oncoming cars. I had the highway to myself as I spun and skid out of control.

When the shock wore off, I took a mental inventory. I was buried in the snow in an embankment on the opposite side of the road, the east bound lane, facing east-- the total opposite direction I was going. I was snug in my seatbelt. I turned off the engine and called Dave-- losing him several times before I was able to convey what happened. For some reason, I was calm-- no tears or anything. I was just shaken up.


Dave said he'd be on his way. I looked up. A woman in a white car had turned around to check on me, and so did a man. The woman turned out to be the cook at the bar I live across from. I told them both I had someone coming for me. The man made sure I was okay and then left. The woman, Liz, stayed with me.... motherly (or nosy).

NOW a PennDOT truck drives by and drops some cinder down on the black icy road. I can't blame PennDOT for my accident-- as the water probably had been washing away the cinder all night and they had to keep laying it down-- it was an odd night, teetering between freezing and melting.

The PennDOT driver stopped to make sure I was okay as well, and put down some flares. He stayed until Dave got there. I slushed through the snow and realized that there was not a dent or a scratch on the Yukon. I also realized something else.

"Holy Shit!" I screamed as I noticed the perfect landing. I had landed between an creek and a telephone pole and tension wire... the way this accident happened was if a Hollywood stunt man plotted it out to excite, and then relieve thedience.

I was okay, there was no damage- there was no need to call the state police- however since it was dark, rural and the noted problems and history on 118, the tow truck driver wouldn't come without the police knowing he was there. Liz called the police and they said they didn't need to come and they'd send the tow truck to get me out. The driver arrived with a flat bed-- but this road is dangerous and there is no way he could do his job with traffic, so he called the Sweet Valley Volunteer firefighters and three of them came out for traffic duty.

They put out more flares (the ones from PennDot had burned out) and blocked the road from either direction. Dave hopped in the Yukon to steer the truck while the driver pulled the truck out with a winch. It was freakin' amazing..... they almost nailed the tension wire since I was so close, but with the driver's directions and Dave's careful steering, they managed to get the truck out. The road was closed less then ten minutes.... I was so appreciative of everyone's help. The volunteers got there in a heartbeat-- just can't believe how lucky we are to have people like them who will come at the drop of the hat to help.

I am by no means a religious person so to hear everyone who was at the scene gasp at how I landed and say "someone was riding with me" made me feel very lucky to be alive. I have nightmares a lot about getting into a car accident and in those dreams, I feel so helpless and out of control. That is exactly what it felt like to be skidding across the road- only I couldn't just wake up. It was real this time.

By the way-- only ONE egg broke during my groceries' wild ride.

HISTORY OF 118

I really hate my road. I dread my drive home every night. I don't so much mind it during the day, but I despise driving it at night, and this accident just confirms my fears. Last summer, I wrote a letter to the editor about Route 118 and then a few months after that, there was another deadly accident.... here are some links.

http://randomthoughtsfromdonna.blogspot.com/2007/11/deadly-crash-on-route-118-again.html
http://www.timesleader.com/opinion/letters/20070429_talarico_letter_ART.html

The View- I celebrated Whoppi's Birthday!

I had quite the adventure getting there and getting home-- more on that later ( A LOT more on that later!!)- but Steph and I were at the View on Tuesday.

Bill O'Reilly and Marc Cohn were the guests that day. I love "Walking in Memphis," which he performed a snippet of for Whoopi Goldberg when her cake was wheeled out. Prior to that, he played a song of his new album and talked about his hiatus from releasing new music, and how he got back on track after being shot in the head in Denver. Cool guy and super talented. Marc Cohn's band and back-up singers were really good too. I'd go see him in concert for sure if he came around here.

Bill O'Reilly? Eh. I am way too liberal for him, but I must say that I could agree with him on the topic of his new book, "Kids are Americans, Too" which basically states that parents are absent these days, while the kids are the boss. Despite me disagreeing with him most of the time, I suppose it was cool. I would have loved if it was Michael Moore, though!

The women were a hoot. Didn't interact with the audience as much as other shows I have gone to, but there is just so much that has to be done behind the scenes in those few minutes during the commercial breaks. I was just so excited to see Whoopi Goldberg in person- I mean, I grew up loving her. It was awesome to be that close to the icon, Barbara Walters on the set of the View, too. Joy and Sherri are a hoot as well!! But Whoopi-- she's been making me laugh since I was a kid.

We made out well with the gifts, too. I did not even know they gave out gifts on the View until a few weeks ago when some friends of mine went. Here is what we received:

1.) Bill O'Reilly's book, "Kids are Americans, Too"
2.) Marc Cohn's new CD
3.) A Tickle Me Elmo
4.) $100 gift card to Daffy's
5.) Candy bar from the Retro Candy Bar
6.) Piece of strawberry shortcake served in a commemorative Whoopi's Birthday Bash pint glass.

Good times!! Thanks Steph for coming with me. And... stay tuned to read about my adventure. This is the first time I have been at my home computer since Monday-- and it's 8:00am on Thursday... yep. That should clue you in to the adventure I had.

Berks County Roadtrip: Crystal Cave and Roadside America

Today was all about reliving old memories, while making new ones. I had a very cool childhood. I was fortunate enough to spend almost every weekend on the road to music gigs- and during our travels we always made it a point to stop at roadside tourist attractions. I think that's why I always bonded with the Griswalds. At any rate, Dave hasn't been to any of these cool places I've been to. When we first met, he told me that he loved trains. And for four years, I've been trying to go on a day trip to check out Roadside America, the world's largest miniature village. Since Crystal Cave was in near by Kutztown, I plotted a spontaneous Sunday afternoon.

Roadside America, Shartlesville

Roadside America is just amazing. Of course last time I was there I was a kid, so things looked a lot bigger- but this roadside Pennsylvania attraction is definitely one to take in. The 1,500 square-foot attraction was started by brothers Larry and Paul Geiringer. The story is that when the two were boys, they lived on a mountain and saw all these 'miniature' houses and buildings. They were fascinated by them- even upon learning they were regular size buildings.... They began to build models and train sets and their passion eventually led to Roadside America. Paul became and priest and moved to Ohio, while Larry kept going. He passed away in 1963; his wife took over until her death in 1973 and to this day, the same family runs Roadside America.

What is so cool about Roadside America is that all the miniatures are hand-made from simple tools-- the hard way-- but also as I like to say, "the heart way." The stained-glass windows on the little churches are all hand-painted. So, so cool.

Some things that you'll see at Roadside America in addition to streams, waterfalls, trains and trolleys are: Indian tee-pee villages; snowcapped mountains with winter activities and working cable cars; tribute to the coal, lumber, steel and energy industries; the Old West; rural farms with a hoe-down in the barn; a modern zoo; early colonial towns with great architecture; a circus; an airport and so much more. There is music playing throughout, as well as buttons you can push to make certain things work- very, very cool.

Every half-hour Roadside America tells everyone to take a seat and they play patriotic music as they turn down the lights so only the lights within the village are on- it is kind of like a sunset, night and sunrise show. Very cool. The only thing that I didn't like was in the slides was a picture of Jesus- that was unnecessary to me, but this IS after all a family business and they seem to have religious roots.

No matter how old you are at Roadside America, you feel like a total kid again. I should also mention there is a gift shop which of course sells Roadside America souvenirs, but also lots of train items and a selection of PA Dutch and Amish items, too.

Crystal Cave, Route 222, Kutztown, Pa.

I wrote so much about Roadside America that I don't want this post to be too, too long. I was at Crystal Cave many times as a kid, so it was cool to bring Dave here as well. The site closes Nov. 30, so the season was winding down- this was good because we had a small group. We had a spunky teenage tour guide, Steph I think her name was. Very funny and good with the lingo. It always helps when you have a knowledgeable tour guide!

This cavern is very cool- a great geological lesson for sure! We got to see stalactites, stalagmites, flowing rock and other geological marvels made only from sediment and water over the course of hundreds of years. It's amazing that this structure exists underneath Pennsylvania farm country. What was kind of cool to learn was that early visitors were allowed to saw off stalagmites/tites as souvenirs, so some of the cave's treasures are now family heirlooms! 54-degrees year-round, Crystal Cave is definitely literally cool as well.

Kudos to Ashley Ambirge and her ebook!

One of my coolest classmates ever, Miss Ashley Ambirge just released an ebook, Become a Costa Rican in 30-Minutes Flat.

And, I must add she did a fantastic job on the website for the book- she's got all the e-book and online marketing elements there!

Oh-- and the music. Okay. Where's my passport.

Congrats, Ash!!! You are super talented and your fun personality shines through with your title, logo and look and feel of the book and site. Go girl! Good luck.