Gram's Place (Tampa & Beaches)

After a quick stop in Atlanta and an educational Kendra episode with Kelley, Emily and I headed to Sarasota.  We did not have a place lined up to stay, that is until we were five miles from Tampa.  One last glance at hostels in Tampa turned up Gram's Place.  Upon looking at the website and enjoying a few "this is too good to be true" laughs, I called and booked it.  The hostel was named after Gram Parsons, an old country singer, and a favorite of Emily's.  Bruce, the gentleman who ran the hostel, took over the property once his brother passed away.  His brother was a HUGE fan of Gram Parsons, hence the name Gram's Place.  The hostel was originally just one building, but when Bruce took over he purchased the house next door and combined both to expand the hostel.  There was so much rich history and stories to be told in this place, it was impossible not to feel humbled just being there.

The first night we got there Emily and I unloaded our stuff in the music room, which used to be an old recording studio, and the place we'd be calling home for the next four nights.  We shared the room with Emmy, a woman in her 40's and one of the most interesting individuals I had ever met in my entire life.  We were not scheduled to build until two days after arriving, so we stayed up late talking to Bruce and learning all about Gram's Place.  The website is a good reflection of what you can expect at GP, but it really does not remotely touch on just how awesome of an experience it is to stay at this place.  There was so much energy behind his stories, especially the ones about his brother and Gram Parsons.  I usually like to chime in or give an opinion once in a while, but this was a time I was more than thrilled to sit back and let him and Emily exchange some pretty cool stories.  We ordered a pizza, stocked the community cooler with lite beer, met a few more of our hostel mates and the rest of the night was history...

Music Room.
Emmy got the big bed.  Emily and I were in twin beds on each end of the room

Loving life after 15 minutes of being there...

Parson's BYOB

The computer under the TV was loaded with great music,
all of which you were able to play at any time

Of the four nights we stayed, the first night and last night at Gram's Place were definitely the most memorable.  Because of the builds, we were in bed at a decent hour most nights.  Our final day in town Bruce was hosting his first Gram Parsons tribute show.  Some of the musicians performing stayed at the hostel our last night there, so it was a lot of fun sitting around talking to them.  Again, a few more moments I got to sit back in awe of Emily and some of the stories she could share with these guys.

If I could ever recommend this place to anyone traveling through Florida, I would do so in a heartbeat.  Gram's Place, Bruce, Emmy and the rest of the people we were blessed to meet will certainly hold a very special place in my heart when looking back on this journey.

Little Amsterdam Room

This is the front porch of the second house that was connected to the original hostel.
It's been host to many musicians, intimate live shows and jam sessions

On our off days from building we ventured out to the beaches.  We're talking suntan weather here.  It was too beautiful to pass up.  What I love about Tampa is there are so many great towns closely surrounding it.  We went to St. Petersburg our first full day in town (still somewhat paying for the late night before).  We ate a very average lunch at Cha Cha Coconuts, a touristy spot on the pier looking over the water.  Food on our Florida trip was very hit or miss.  Some beach spots were completely disappointing and others were fantastic.  Understandably, this is a tourist hot spot, and that was evident on some menus.  We continued our drive down the coast to a few other beaches, all were so beautiful.  A few smaller beaches I would consider going to if I were ever back in the area to avoid the masses for sure.

After our first day building, we headed to Siesta Key Beach, which apparently was voted the #1 beach in the country.  It was certainly beautiful, but also the location of one of the worst meals I have ever had.  Some of them women from the build suggested a few spots, one being Gilligan's Island Bar and Grill.  In their defense, they recommended for great music...we should have known better.  To sit in a restaurant steps from the ocean, and have what was clearly frozen calamari and salmon was quite disappointing. Two days, two meals and we were 0 for 2.  

We had Friday off between build days so we headed to Clearwater Beach.  The 45 minutes we spent on the beach may have helped me over the lovely shade of paste I'd been boding most of 2011.  After a brief stint on the beach, and likely blinding a few strangely tan locals, Emily and I went to Frenchy's Rockaway Grill.  Quite a few people had recommended this spot.  An original of Clearwater.  Wow, were we glad they did.  This was the meal we had be looking for.  SheCrab soup, fresh Grouper and Ahi Tuna later I was so happy to be uncomfortably full.  Hands down, best service, best view, best food of our Florida trip.

After our final building we went to another highly recommended place in Sarasota, Marina Jack, for lunch.  Once again, a success.  A spinach salad for me and Ahi Tuna for Emily, it was the perfect meal to send us on the road for a long drive back to Nashville.

Clearwater Beach. Middle of November. Not to shabby.

I was quite fond of this paraplegic seagull

Home of the crazy pigeon man.

I tend to get photobombed when trying to catch pictures of birds.... so I found it necessary to include this one

Marina Jack in Sarasota for lunch.

I wish there was a cool story to this...

Entering St. Petersburg

Home of the Pelican

St. Petersburg Pier. Great view, boring lunch.

Seeing that there was almost a foot of October snow in PA before I left,
you can understand why I was excited about the simplicity of sunshine and a beach.

All in all, Florida was a great trip.  I had never been to the area, so I'm glad I went, but I'm not sure this would be somewhere I would need to get back to.  Too touristy, unoriginal and not much culture going on in the area.  But don't let me stop you from coming down here, especially for Phillies spring training.  Who doesn't love beach weather year round?

Love from the road,

Erin

Sarasota Build

After a short break in Nashville, Emily and I traveled to Sarasota in week two by way of Atlanta.  We made a pit stop at Kelley's, had some delicious veggie chili and watched an educational episode of Kendra before heading off to Sarasota in the morning(which later turned in to Tampa).

We had about an hour drive on our hands from the hostel we were staying at in Tampa to arrive at the build in Sarasota by 7:30.  We got slightly turned around trying to find the site, so we were 5 minutes late.  Even with the experience of a build under out belts, it was still a little intimidating walking on to a new build site.  Baton Rouge was an amazing first experience, but we could tell upon pulling up to the site that this was going to be a totally different build.  This group was literally building a community of homes, many of which were already built.


We parked on this street right off of the highway entering the community.
These are the homes that were previously built.
http://www.sarasotahabitat.com/

As we walked up on site, you could see there were A LOT of people involved in the building of these homes.  There were four houses connected and under construction, two of them on the far left were being worked on by the group of women on site.  I immediately asked for Dena, who had been my point of contact over email.  Emerging from this house was a spitfire, energetic and very enthusiastic woman with an adorable southern accent.  (She thought Emily was poking fun at first with her own southern accent).  She made us feel so incredibly welcomed right off the bat, introduced us to everyone and getting us set up with shirts. 


Four houses currently being built, 2 single story and 2 double story.



Erin, Emily, Dena

One woman I wish we would have gotten a photo with was Judy.  Holy crap, this woman could run a site.  No surprise she was from New York and she sure as hell knew who, what, where, how and why she needed/wanted everyone and everything.  A woman in charge, demanding and certainly deserving respect, that was for sure.

At this point, we were asked if we knew anything about wiring and electrical work.  Upon answering no, Dena and Judy turned us over to Bo, the volunteer electrician.  Bo is a very jovial, older man in his 70's who had a passion for teaching us, and we were very honored by this.  In the first hour of being there, we were up on a ladder learning how to install fans.  Bo had us start from the very beginning, making sure we listened and learned each part of this process.  It was a very humbling experience.  And just when we thought our first fan was hung to perfection ......... it wasn't.

There seemed to be an issue with our fan being flush to the ceiling.  The issue was, well, it wasn't.  There was a small gap between the fan and the ceiling, so we took the fan apart to remove it from the ceiling and try to fix the problem. 

(This is where I want to interject and mention, I loved the fact that Bo had complete confidence in us figuring out the issue on our own, but always there for us if we had any questions.  There was never any hesitation, or "let me take care of it", it was simply you girls have the knowledge to do this.)

After removing the fan and adjusting some screws in the ceiling, we finally had the fan ready to go.  It was so hot in the house that we decided to keep the fan on after testing it.  We moved on to our next fan, when a short moment of silence hit and all we could here was a clicking noise in the fan we had just rehung.  It was taunting us.

Before long, it was unbearable to listen to.  Emily and I were back on the ladder, yet again taking down this fan.  No loose screws, no loose washers, just simply one of the wires brushing against a screw every time to fan would rotate.  Needless to say, after a few harsh words with the fan, the third time was a charm.  Better yet, Bo & Dena & Judy were right there to congratulate us.  Something so minor, yet something so heartfelt.

Wiring and Hanging fans, our first success

One thing that was truly awesome was the break time prayer and pledge of allegiance.  There was a delicious variety of breakfast foods, some homemade, and drinks provided on site for the break.  Prior to indulging, one of the team members blessed us with a prayer, which immediately led in to the pledge of allegiance aimed at a small flag they stood during the break. 

Daily prayer and pledge of allegiance



Our mentor Bo, behind the flag.
Beside him, Hal, a young 91 years of age.



What a great group...

After our break on the final day, Emily and I got to spend a lot of time with Bob, the resident contractor.  He had been observing in the morning, giving us pointers, but it wasn't until after break we really got to discuss the Sarasota Habitat community with him.  He was nice enough to also teach us a lot of about the wiring of the switches on the walls, and how exactly they run from the circuit box back to wall and up to the lights/fan.  Afterwards, he took us through the other homes being built next to the two we had been working on.  His level of passion and excitement really reflected the great pride he, the rest of the staff and the volunteers took in their responsibilities to building this community.



Emily, Dena and I with Bob before we left Sarasota.
Can't thank you both enough -- please tell Bo and Judy the same!

 It was interesting learning about the Sarasota Habitat, especially after coming from our first experience in Baton Rouge.  First and foremost, Sarasota had access to much more funding than Baton Rouge, specifically with the retired community, which seemed to provide them with many more volunteers on site as well.  The quality of materials were different than Baton Rouge, which again, the sponsors they were able to reach out to in Sarasota were more willing to donate if they built with better materials, specifically energy efficient ones.

Lastly, we were able to interact with a few of the future homeowners, who were on site.  They all knew each other, and beyond that, the families who owned the homes previously built in the small community knew each other as well.  These were families truly acting as a unified community, and that was pretty special to see. 

Two completely different experiences with very different people, learning different tasks, but still working towards one common goal...to help those in need.  The contrast in just these two builds alone really had me interested moving forward.  What will I expect next?  Wait and see.

Onwards to Wilkesboro NC, Beaufort SC and Gainesville GA...

Love from the road,
Erin

(Please see below for the only downer of this whole trip)

shit. mom don't look at this.

Giving Thanks to the people I love ... and Brandon Walsh

As I spent Thanksgiving day driving from Nashville to Boone, North Carolina, my mind was consumed with how thankful I am for the life I live.  More so though, how this life I live would be impossible without the people surrounding me.  I've been wanting to do a post on my time leading up to my departure, specifically on my family and friends, so allow me to go on an this after Thanksgiving tangent...

For my family, both in Pennsylvania and Arizona, who allow me to love so hard it hurts.  I'm a firm believer in people are a direct product and reflection of their environment, and I wouldn't be who I am without my parents and my brother.  It's a beautiful thing when you finally grow up and realize that your parents are quite possibly the greatest thing on this planet.  I cherish my parents.  They bring such different qualities to the table that blend in to this foundation that I envy, I envy it in a way that makes me thankful they found one another.

For my brother, who I've admired my entire life, even through the constant abuse.  He still makes me laugh more than anyone else I know.  For my sister-in-law, the one person who could tame him and give me the two most insanely adorable little monsters.

For my Grandmother, who was and still is the rock of our entire family.  I'm thankful for her giving me such an incredible family and showing me the way to live a beautiful life.  She truly is the biggest inspiration driving me on a daily basis.  I'll never eat another pierogi, chocolate chip cookie or meal as good again...

the infamous Charlene and Bill

Jeremy and Elly



Monster 1 and Monster 2



Gunner and Bella



thankful I can hold this ridiculous picture over his head for the rest of his life


For a group of friends from home that are unforgettable and passionately patriotic.  The beauty in watching a final product of such different personalities and traits shine.  For my best friend Julie, who has taught me what it is to be a true friend through love, respect, patience, compassion and constant support.  I'm truly blessed to be direct reflection of this group of people, many of whom I've known for 20 years.  There's something to be said about those who accept you and welcome you for who you are.  Simply irreplaceable.

Now let me sort through pictures for the next hour to find ones that won't incriminate us all, specifically future PTA president and politician Todd A. Lubas...

Todd this is the only picture I could find...

For the group of people I was truly blessed to meet in college and spend every day with, for playing an integral role in being a part of me through the years I developed as a human being most.

Another long shot on non-incriminating photos...


For Britni and LCook, the first two faces I saw when I stepped foot on campus at 18 and the
reasons behind meeting an amazing group of people in Atlanta, a place I will forever consider a home.

For Kelley, who opened up my eyes to a life with dogs and who's mother continues to inspire me through her selfless work of rescuing and fostering dogs

For these three animals, allowing me to be an honorary Hokie during my days at Tennessee. 

For my favorite sisters and very dear friends Lisa and Jess, you bring out the best in me.
Thank you for keeping me grounded over the years and making Nashville my second home.

For Jess Milewicz, the life behind my favorite college story ever.
 Beyond being hilarious, she's incredibly spiritual and it's always eye opening to be in her presence.  Thanks for this lovely dinner on my through town :)

 
 

For Raquel, Jenna and Ashley...

And finally, for Emily, this kindred spirit I met over five years ago, who's outlook on life changed me.  She's an original, true to herself and to the things she loves, answers to no one but loves everybody.  The person who has most opened my mind and my spirit to a different world, a world without boundaries and a world with some pretty awesome music I would never have known.  However the stars aligned on this one, I'm grateful. 



A laughable flashback to the last time we crossed the country together in 2007

For the overly generous individuals who chose to contribute in support of this journey and to those of you who graciously follow, I am beyond thankful.

For everyone out there who stands up for the rights of others, who only see equal, who help one another and who want to make this world a better place for the generations to come... may we all continue to love and inspire one another.

Love from a Charleston Starbucks,

Erin

Less insightful comments below:

I'm very thankful to couchsurfing.com for introducing me to Meira and her friends in Boone. There's a lot to be said about someone who not only hosts a stranger in his/her home, but also prepares a delicious vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner upon arrival. Thanks Meira!

Ridiculous things I'm currently thankful for include: soy lattes, my iPad, old 90210 episodes, this Sara Bareilles music video and Ellen finding Sophia Grace