I left my pillow in indianapolis.

(pictures: mom fiercely driving a stick shift...for 5 miles; mom in front of the amish cheese shop; the carnage at a monument remembering the men and women who gave their lives for the transportation system of ohio. seriously.)

now, pillowless, i'm at the home of christi smith, fellow smithie and current phd student at u of indy in bloomington.

the journey: made the looong drive with mom yesterday across NY, PN, OH to IN and indianapolis. NINE HOURS. all but five minutes i drove myself (mom's stickshift-phobic. no, not phobic - panic. we spent a couple of harrowing minutes at an indiana truck stop trying to pull on to the main drag.).

interesting signs along the way: "buffalo: an all american city."
and
"fireworks and karate supplies"
right before
"fireworks and pepper spray"
(apparently, buying fireworks in ohio is so dangerous that you need some form of self defense to make it out of the parking lot alive).

pictures soon, as soon as i figure out the digital camera thing.


oh! and indianapolis is the WEIRDEST city. as far as we could tell, it's one big mall. and a lot of restaurants that MUST house at least 300 people - and the servings were huge. my mom and i are small people. we can't eat 1/4 of a key lime pie. but we had a fabulous dinner at the Oceanaire - decorated like a 1930s art deco ocean liner. it was gorgeous.