Katy Perry and scenic routes

I saw Katy Perry over the weekend in Atlantic City, but my brother has the photos so I can’t upload them right now. It was exciting though! It’s impossible for me to tire of her Lolita outfits.

Since I don’t live anywhere near Atlantic City, my brother, Jason, and I stayed at my cousin’s house in Hightstown, New Jersey. It’s a small, peaceful little town with gorgeous fields of wheat and corn surrounding it. My aunt’s backyard is massive — they live in a townhouse so of course it’s shared, but still, the place was huge! — and my cousin, Ed, Jason, and I had a fifteen-minute photo-op before the Katy show. Our ride to Atlantic City took about an hour-and-a-half on a road I’d never driven through in all my years of visiting the state. I like that highway. I wanted to pull over next to a yellow, barren field, just to take a couple shots, but we had to keep on our journey.

I love long drives. Going to New Jersey from Virginia, where I live, takes between five to six hours. I use that time to listen to full albums on my iPod, some of them containing songs I’d been reluctant to listen to before. I discovered that The White Stripes are greater than I’d imagined (listen to “A Martyr for My Love for You” from their latest, Icky Thump; I’ve had it on repeat for days).

This Thursday, my family and I are embarking on another long trip; “long” is an understatement, though; we’re driving to Chicago. I’ve been through the South (Texas, ’03 and Florida, ’02), through the southern half of the country (I was half-a-year old and moving from Long Beach, California to Norfolk, Virginia, so I don’t remember), and through the interstates and highways that I know so well (New York and New Jersey), but the Midwest is new to me. Hopefully, we’re taking the scenic route.