Life Unchained

Last weekend I watched a pretty awesome documentary: It was about David Gorman (?) and his trip across the United States. He decided to try to drive from coast-to-coast without using any chain products, and not giving any money to the man. He wanted to get a chance to see the real America- and the little guys- not just the big chains.

This meant: no chain gas, no chain food, no chain hotels. The most difficult part of this in the documentary was the no chain gas. I think no chain gas is a little extreme seeing as the original oil comes from big companies, but on the whole I really like the idea.

As a result I'm generally avoiding chain food and trying to keep my eyes more open to see interesting and quirky little things. It seems more interesting and more creative for the world. I think a good LOA project is making sure to try to do the oddities I wouldn't normally get to do.

Thus far I've done this by not making googlemaps. I go to googlemaps, and write down directions, and try to figure it out myself. I don't always get it right, but I tend to end up interesting places, and my sense of direction is getting far better, so I'm learning something. Improving directional ability is something I've wanted to do for a long time.

I also decided local chains (think Anna's, or Original Pancake House) are okay. So some of the more interesting places I've seen lately:

1) Trombetta Farms in Marlborough: Minigolf + Ice cream + wooden toys! = awesome
2) Random Diner in Marlborough: I swear, we screwed up their morning. Everyone else knew everyone.
3) Black Ink: I still love this place. It might be a chain. Doesn't feel like one though.
4) 1369: really cute espresso place in Central. I need to check out more of the interesting coffee in the area.
5) Harvard River Festival: It was a one time thing, but lots of fun. Lots of independent art, free food samples, and lemonade!
6) Blissful Monkey Yoga: Really. It's just that cool. I wrote a separate blog on it- go read that.
7) Olive Tree: Cute place with hummus and taboule and grapeleaves in Central.
8) Downtown Brighton! I really wanted to go look more at this.
9) Sunset Grill and Tap: It's in Allston, and open until 1am. With really good root beer and ice cream. What more could one want?

That's just a sampling- I'm going to strive to try for more interesting places like this this year!