October 5-6 Mechanicsburg, Pa—>Gettysburg, PA—>Washington, DC
Leaving Canastota was sad but we had adventures to get to! My friend Angel, who did my acorn and oak leaf tattoo, was working out of a shop in Mechanicsburg and I wanted a new tattoo! Paul and I got into Mechanicsburg early and walked around and found this silly sign that made me laugh.
In my mind there are rats and cats and dogs and iguanas and birds and llamas and sqwaking and running around the church. I also like that the pets and owners are welcome...no pets by themselves.
To keep in theme with my acorn tattoo I have been thinking of adding more tree parts and foliage to my arm. I was either thinking of maple leaves down the back or a fir branch on the inner arm with a fir cone and that’s what we did…and hours later I had this pretty on my arm.
fir branch tattoo
I guess I now I have 2/3rds of a half sleeve…you do the math. We also schemed all the different leaves for the rest: Holly, Maple, gingko, and more! Angel will be back in Portland in February or March so if you admire her craft you might be able to get yourself some work by her. We were gonna get ourselves a motel room but Angel insisted we stay at the shop with her. This was my first slumber party in a tattoo shop!
Angel is into mopeds and was working on a moped rally ride of Gettysburg so we followed her down there and had her lead us on the path she was going to take the rally. This was my first time going to a battlefield. I understand that when you live on the east coast your parents drag you to battlefields for vacations, that’s not a thing that happens in the west. So, it was kinda cool. I had no idea how big the battlefield was! I also didn’t know that there was a monument every 20 feet to some group of dead people.
Eternal flame of peace moument.
the leaves were changing and it looked nice from a tower on Culp's Hill.
I found this amusing "Dramatized in living stereo!"
After this we went to Pickett’s Charge. It was a defining point in the Civil War. It was a haunting spot where a lot of people marched to their death. It was weird, Angel said that last time they did a rally there people were asking her afterward what happened there because there was some bad energy. As we walked up to the monument there was a group of people on Segues and a girl looked at her mom and said “Are you crying?” and the mom said “No, my eyes just won’t stop tearing.” Clearly she was sensitive to the location and just didn’t know it.
Then Angel took us to a covered bridge that wasn’t an original covered bridge but a replacement covered bridge. I guess it is good luck to kiss under a covered bridge so Paul and I had a kiss. We figured it was probably sort of lucky thing because a covered bridge because it was probably one of the only places people could be alone.
Our last stop was Devil’s Den. It is a sort of ravine with huge boulders that you can climb up, over, under and on. After crawling around on it I had the revelation that I would not be surprised if this was the spot that inspired the battle of Serenity Valley scene from the beginning of Firefly.
Can't you just imagine Captain Tightpants Mal Reynolds scrambling over the rocks?
After that we had some excellent Mexican food and Paul and I headed to DC where we reserved a stupidly expensive hotel room 3 blocks from the venue we were going to that night. It was on though, we hadn’t spent any money on places to stay so one was ok. We dropped off our stuff and took a shower after 3 days then headed over to the Black Cat to see Screaming Females! I saw them with Shellshag and some other bands in Chicago when I was on tour last year and I really wanted paul to see them live. But, like most bands from the east, they don’t venture to our coast.
The show did not disappoint! It was awesome and Paul was blown away as I expected. Good times! Then we slept in a bed in our own room and in the morning we ate a crappy breakfast in the lobby.
To be continued…
Alex Wrekk 
Waiting for your next post!