Green Bank, West Virginia + Allauch, France
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We did the fourth show of our #10KDrivewayTour in Salt Lake City, Utah at The Pod Mill! You can watch the video episode here!
Alison is obsessed with The Scrubba, a portable washing machine that you can take with you traveling! It’s literally Alison’s dream come true for only $55! Lulu is obsessed with the power inverter they used on the #10KDrivewayTour to power their computers, phones, charge the equipment, all while driving!
Alison is wishing for the ability to work out while driving her car. The multi-tasking and the idea of not having to set aside extra workout time or waste driving time is ticking all the boxes! Lulu is wishing she didn’t love Instant Ramen so much.
Lulu is going off the beaten path for this day as she heads to Green Bank, West Virginia, home of the largest, fully-steerable radio telescope in the world. Housed at the Green Bank Observatory along with many other impressive astronomical instruments, it is not the only unique claim-to-fame this region boasts. It is also home to the National Radio Quiet Zone, an area of land whose electromagnetic and broadcast equipment is virtually non-existent, and where it is present is federally regulated. A tale of opposites, this census-designated place has some of the most advanced technology for other-worldly discovery, and seems like another world itself.
It is considered a safe haven for people with Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity, as well as for those who can't get far enough off the grid. Looking to disconnect, the area is home to "wifi refugees", whose sensitivities lead to shutting out this world and/or opening up to the ones beyond. Many scientists gather here hoping to observe signs and signals from the cosmos, without the "interference" a bunch of social media-crazed star-chasers would bring with them. That's right, no cell phones and no wifi within 10 miles! That frees up the scientific equipment to function at such power that in 2019, the Green Bank Observatory uncovered the most massive neutron star ever detected, one "almost too massive to exist"! . Green Bank is also where serious search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) research was born!
Lulu stays at the Corduroy Inn & Lodge in one of their brand new Sunset View 2-bedroom suites that features a fireplace in the living room and heated floors in the bathroom!
A simple, quick American breakfast at Last Run Restaurant and Lulu is ready to go! First things first, to get in the spirit of things, Lulu takes a scenic train ride from Cass Depot to Whitaker Station...and tosses her phone out the train window! That's a full on embrace of the lack of connectivity, she's really committing here. To keep from littering she decides to put an ad on Craigslist that whoever finds the phone can keep it and gets $1,000.
After her disconnected day is over she will need a new phone, so she orders the iPhone 12 to have waiting for her at home. There's another $1,000 out the window, though not quite as literal. She also wants the $795 Louis Vuitton "EyeTrunk" iPhone case, well when they come out with one that'll fit the 12, anyways.
She's embraced the disconnected culture, now it's time for some comfort food at Cheat Mountain Pizza. Fried pickles and a build-your-own pie make for the perfect mid-day meal...even without the vacant stares at a device between bites!
Now back to that telescope. The world’s largest fully-steerable radio telescope at the GBO. You can visit and take a tour, or as Lulu elected you can take a behind-the-scenes tour that comes with a bit of a screening process. Sensitive data may be on display where they take guests on this tour, so the government requires a two-day advance registration and screening for these tour slots. The software they screen all of your information through connects to government-generated lists of individuals and nationalities who are not permitted access to controlled technology. Finger's crossed Lulu isn't on that list!
Now in case she was to encounter some aliens, she would like to be a good earth hostess and have prepared gift bags. She would include:
a bottle of Laphroaig 32 year single malt limited edition - $2299.99
a Star Trek:The Next Generation Hoodie - $39.99
a Two Grey Hills Navajo rug...to keep them warm! - $2000
Recording of Barber’s Adagio for Strings, and actually make it a 100 song playlist - ($1.99/song) $199
the songs can go on a new iPhone...which they can also use to contact her, finger's crossed! - $949
Lulu goes on a bit of an expedition to get to her Backcountry Hut Dinner at the Snowshoe Resort, Lulu drives a heated ATV along the Cheat Mountain Ridge Trail through the forest for two miles before reaching a hut where a full meal including homemade desserts and wine are awaiting her.
Seeing as she's disconnected, her pre-bedtime ritual of reading Instagram captions will be replaced by an old fashioned past time, reading books! She purchases the following books off of the current (at time of publishing) New York Times' bestseller list through Bookshop.org, as they support independent bookstores!
A Time for Mercy by John Grisham
The Return by Nicholas Sparks
The Searcher by Tana French
The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett
The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by VE Schwab
There you have it, the perfect off-the-grid day!
Alison's choice of accommodation claims to be a "creator of magical emotions". We think that may be an understatement after researching the wonder of hotel Attrap’Rêves and their "bubbles" located in Allauch, France, approximately 30 minutes out from Marseille.
The climate-controlled bubbles offer a 360-degree unobstructed view of the surrounding landscape. With many different styles choose from, Alison lands on the Zen Bubble, whose furniture and decor eschew relaxation and allow for star gazing from bed and both indoor and outdoor seating arrangements. A French breakfast is included with most bookings, as is a telescope and star chart! Alison selects the "Comfort" package, which adds a 30 minute jacuzzi session to her stay, as well as a "Luxury Box" upon arrival option. This luxury box dinner comes with a salmon cupcake with tomatoes and ciboulette cream, chicken fricassee with mushroom sauce and mashed potatoes, a cheese with green salad, and chocolate cake!
For breakfast Alison hits up Le Cigalon de la Treille, which roughly translates to "cicada of the vine". Plenty of French fare to be had here, and Alison plans on loading up on croissants and cafe au lait before heading to her next bubble-centric stop.
She is heading two hours east to the coast to visit Pierre Cardin's Bubble House, just outside Cannes. This nearly €350 million 13,000 square foot (1200 square meters) "house" features a reception hall, panoramic lounge, 500-seat open-air amphitheater, 10 bedroom suites, multiple swimming pools and nary a straight line in sight! The house used to host events and festivals, and in 2015 you could visit the place for a day for $1,125 USD per person. Alison used this inflation calculator to figure that today that would be $1,235.42. She splurges for a tour of the bubble cluster building and a dip in the pool while wearing this Gucci swimsuit!
It seems Alison unwittingly abandoned the Allauch area, the Marseille area... the southern half of France even as from here on her day will be spent in Paris and the Île-de-France region.
Lunch is at a restaurant named H.A.N.D., which stands for “Have A Nice Day”, how cute is that? It’s “cuisine californienne” is on tilt, with the avocado toast being a mainstay at this stylish lunch/brunch spot. The reason she wanted to check out this place is that she saw them testing out individual protection suspension bubbles called PlexEat from the Chistophe Gernigon Studio. It's about as safe as dining out can be in the time of coronavirus, and looks really cool and futuristic! Oh and apparently the avocado toast is to die for at this stylish lunch/brunch spot.
Now for some real fun Alison goes for a ride on a Sea Bubble. Imagine a water-based version of a "James Bond car, available for everybody, but with zero wave, zero noise, zero CO2 emission". Move about on the water, out of traffic, at the speed of a car, for the cost of cab fare. Started in Paris, in five years they plan to be in 50 cities integrated into the already-existing public transportation systems. Stay tuned!
While researching “French things” Alison stumbled upon the many offerings at Academie des Arts de Vivre. If you have ever felt "uncomfortable in a professional dinner", then this is the VIP experience for you. Lessons on behavior befitting an aristocratic lifestyle and a candlelit dinner are on for the evening in a historic family château. You also get a tour of the 18th century ancestral home and the grounds. Too afraid to inquire on pricing, Alison is making a total guess that this experience will cost $3500 USD. Anyone want to fact check on that?
CHECK OUT THE CHARITIES WE FOUND IN THE CITIES WE VISITED:
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