Trudeau

Last weekend I went off on a bit of an impromptu adventure. My sister had indicated to me previously that Gary Trudeau (of Doonesbury fame) would be giving the commencement address at her old alma mater, Muhlenberg College, in Allentown PA. For those who weren't aware, I've been a fan of Trudeau since I could read, and that's not an exaggeration - my mother started me on her Doonesbury compilations when I was still in single digits. (I come by my political cynicism honestly, by God.) Since Allentown is only five hours away, and Trudeau appears in public roughly once a never, I decided I'd be a fool to pass up this opportunity.

I had no recording equipment to take with me, unfortunately, and I can't seem to find the text (or video) of the speech online, so I can't report it for you here. However I found it eloquent and inspirational, as a good commencement speech should be, and dryly humorous, as one would demand from a cartoonist of Trudeau's stature. One thing that stuck with me, as I listened to my hero's voice for the first time, is that he sounded kind of ... goofy. He just had one of those voices that doesn't quite stay in tune all the time, and the result is odd. Not anything important, certainly, but an interesting tidbit for the file.

The trip itself was also a blast. Erin and I spent the night outside of Jim Thorpe PA at a small place called the Country Place Motel, which was pleasant, but very strange. The office was in a separate building, across a gravel driveway, from the two buildings that housed the actual rooms, and at night with a storm blowing in there was a definite slasher movie vibe. The rooms were quite pleasant and incredibly spacious, although the decorations reminded me of something you would find at a colorblind grandmother's house. The comforter on the bed in particular was amazingly hideous; I wanted to take it home with me very badly.

Something we noted about the various restaurants we stopped in is the influx of what I can only describe as fusion cuisine in to the strangest places. The burger joint in which we had dinner, which billed itself as an Irish pub (complete with shamrocks on the logo), featured a heavy amount of seafood, including various dishes with a clear (if perverted) Japanese influence, all of which looked very disturbing. Even closer to civilization (if New York can indeed be classified thus) we found oddities on the menus of simple diners, all making me wonder if the various objects in the melting pot aren't finally starting liquefy and run together, instead of just sitting next to each other in lumps.

Last but not least I wish to inform you all that the fireworks stores at the edge of the PA/NY border fill me with glee. I've always meant to stop in to one, pretty much every time I've come back in to the state, but I've always put it off for next time. This visit, however, we decided the time was now, and spent close to an hour wandering around a refrigerated warehouse giggling with glee at the various things stacked higher than our heads. Our purchases showed mighty restraint, in my opinion, but nevertheless our July 4th party should prove quite memorable.

We have come to two conclusions: We need to take more road trips, and we need to crash more commencement addresses.