[Danielle Balocca]: Hey Medford Bites listeners, today we have two great interviews. One all about the arts in Medford, and the other is an update from some young guests from earlier in this season. Hope you enjoy. Alright, hi, thank you so much for joining me today. If you don't mind just introducing yourself with your name, pronouns, and just a bit about yourself.
[Laurel Siegel]: Thanks for inviting me. My name is Laurel Siegel. My pronouns are she, her, and I am involved in a number of different arts organizations and initiatives around Medford.
[Danielle Balocca]: Awesome. Thank you. So then the first question for all my guests is, what is your favorite place to eat in Medford? And what do you like to eat there?
[Laurel Siegel]: Well, it's it's been used many times already on your podcast, but I have to say Goldilocks they're right up the street from me and they're just right breakfast sandwich is pretty wonderful and also their owners Lindsay and Ed are just such great people and great contributors to our community.
[Danielle Balocca]: So do you have a favorite bagel?
[Laurel Siegel]: everything bagel.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, that's a solid choice. Awesome. Okay, so I know we have a lot of you're involved in a couple different art groups throughout Medford. And it sounds and we talked about sort of a list of those and maybe we could start with talking about the ArtsLive Medford Foundation.
[Laurel Siegel]: Absolutely. So ArtsLive Medford Foundation is a private foundation started by May Mark Brecht who has been involved in numerous arts organizations over the years. And really what she saw was a need for some additional funding for our programs here in Medford. We have our wonderful Medford Arts Council and some other resources, but we also knew that they weren't able to fully fund all of the programs. And also because they're part of the state's Mass Cultural Council program, they have some limitations on what they can fund. And so she decided to create this foundation to enable us to fund some of these additional programs.
[Danielle Balocca]: Awesome. Can you give some examples of what they've funded?
[Laurel Siegel]: Absolutely. So we have been in existence for six years now. And over that time, we have funded programs including MARV, the Medford Art Bus through Arts Medford. We funded some programs for the Lakota Youth Stay Program. And also there is the third grade songwriting project in some of our public schools and various musical and theatrical performances, including the Medford Jazz Festival programs. So a real variety of programs around the city.
[Danielle Balocca]: Awesome. And so the idea is like, if you have an art related project that you need help funding, you can apply to Arts Alive.
[Laurel Siegel]: Absolutely. And it's a pretty simple application and we fund grants anywhere from $100 to $2,000.
[Danielle Balocca]: Arts Alive has also helped out this podcast. Absolutely. And we were happy to do that. Awesome. Awesome. Great. And we're going to have some links in the show notes about sort of how people can connect to Arts Alive or find out some more information as well. But do you have any recommendations about like best ways for folks to learn more about Arts Alive?
[Laurel Siegel]: If you're interested in finding out more about us, you can just send us an email at artsalivemedford, that's all one word, at gmail.com. Awesome. Great.
[Danielle Balocca]: And you also are involved with CACHE. Do you want to talk a little bit about that?
[Laurel Siegel]: So yes, I'm the president of CACHE. CACHE stands for the Coalition of Arts, Culture and a Healthy Economy. And what we are is a coalition of 24 arts, culture, history and educational organizations in the city of Medford. And our role is really to promote and amplify the visibility of the arts and our amazing cultural resources that we have in the city. There's also that healthy economy element. Not only are the arts an economic engine, but also we work on the relationship between the business and the arts community because there's a lot that we can do to help each other and work collaboratively together.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, what's an example of that, like a relationship between arts and business?
[Laurel Siegel]: Well, one of the great examples is our circle the square program which we are so excited, we're bringing back live this summer on Saturday, June 18. After not having it for a couple of years. So that was really born out of, you know, a couple of people looking around Medford square and saying, we need to do something to bring people into the square get them excited about coming down to Medford square. And so while we program arts and culture activities all the way from City Hall down to Colleen's, we also engage all of the businesses or as many as many of the businesses as we can in the square and also outside the square come and have tables at the event. So getting people to walk into a storefront and find out more about these businesses. Yeah.
[Danielle Balocca]: So great. And how did you how did you become involved? Like what's where does your sort of passion for art come from?
[Laurel Siegel]: Quite honestly, I don't have a background in the arts. I was on the board of Medford Farmers Market. And my friend Susan Fairchild was on the board with me. She was involved with Caché and said, come get involved. And she was actually the spark behind the initial idea for Circle Square. And so she brought me into Caché. And then over the years, my role developed with the organization.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, I think we've been hearing like a little bit too about the connection of art in Medford and like some another sort of theme on the podcast is like inclusivity and sort of thinking about equity and I've heard about some different art popping up around the city that is sort of related to those themes. Is that something that Cachet is involved in?
[Laurel Siegel]: Not those specific projects that you may be referring to, but certainly we've made specific efforts towards inclusivity. We certainly always try to ensure that our programming and our performers represent a variety of styles and different groups of people in our community. And also, we did have an initiative a few years ago where we went out to different segments of the population to try to engage with them because we realized, you know, this expectation of you're going to come to us and engage with the way we want to engage. And we went to them saying, what do you want? And how can we be a part of your community as opposed to just inviting you to be part of ours?
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, that's like I think a theme that I've been hearing from folks in that in these like attempts to sort of be more representative of the of the people in the city or being able to like hear what folks are wanting. Sounds great. Awesome. Is there anything else about cashier that you think it's important for folks to know about?
[Laurel Siegel]: Absolutely. So, first of all, in addition to Circle the Square, we have our Mystic River Celebration, which is actually our original festival. It's at the Condon Shell every fall. We were able to bring that back last September, and it was such a wonderful event. It turned out to be a perfect, beautiful day, and I think people were really eager for an opportunity to come out and be part of the community. The other thing that we do have, we have our Arts Across Medford online calendar which features events just within Medford. And last year we had over 1,200 events. It includes online events as well as now increasingly going back to in-person events all around the city. So I really encourage anybody to go check that out on our website. It's just cacheandmedford.org. Or also if anybody wants to, they can go to a link on the website and sign up and get weekly email updates about all of the events coming up.
[Unidentified]: Awesome.
[Laurel Siegel]: Is Cache involved in like the Makerspace at all in the library? We are not involved in the Makerspace. Makerspace is part of Arts Medford, a different arts organization in the city, although we certainly have involvement together and the Makerspace has been a member of Cache.
[Unidentified]: Oh, cool.
[Danielle Balocca]: Great. Okay, so I think our final thing that we were wanting to talk about is the the Arts Collaborative and the Medford, yeah.
[Laurel Siegel]: Yes, Arts Collaborative Medford is very exciting. We are working on the creation of a community arts center in Medford. There have been a number of attempts over many years to create an arts center. and our particular group has been active since 2017. We have representatives of CACHE, the Medford Arts Council, Arts Medford, city personnel and officials that have been working on this. And originally we were looking at a city-owned property over off of Fulton Street that has been vacant for a few years. But then a year ago, we were approached with an amazing opportunity. One of the applicants for a cannabis dispensary offered us a space. So we are partnering with Theory Wellness, which is looking to open a dispensary at what was the VW dealership on Mystic Ave, right next to Atlas Liquors. They have offered us 10,000 square feet at the front of the building, what was the showroom. So it would be front and center, very visible to the public, that would be our community arts center.
[Danielle Balocca]: Awesome. And what's your vision for the arts center?
[Laurel Siegel]: It's going to be a very multi-use space. It actually has a beautiful layout already of large and small and medium-sized spaces. So it's going to be a mix of studios for individual artists. We'll have classrooms to have classes and workshops and various presentations. And then there is a large space that could serve for a variety of performances and events. It will also be a gallery space. could be a meeting space for community events. So it's gonna have a lot of opportunity for a variety of uses.
[Danielle Balocca]: And it sounds like this is a plan that's like in the sort of like approval process. Is there anything that is important for the community to know about that or how to be involved?
[Laurel Siegel]: We are still waiting for the final approval. Theory Wellness was a very strong candidate among the candidates for a dispensary license. And they're in the process of, we believe, finalizing their host agreement with the city. So we're just waiting for that host agreement to be signed. And then it's just steaming ahead, you know, the hope is that we can open this art center by the end of this calendar year.
[Danielle Balocca]: Wow. Is it something that like public support could help you move along or is it just sort of a like process?
[Laurel Siegel]: You know, it never hurts, but I think, you know, certainly we've had discussions directly with the mayor and other city officials. They know how badly we want this project to move ahead. So they're certainly familiar with our intentions here. It never hurts to remind people, you know, particularly if people are enthusiastic about this project to hear that, you know, we'd love to see this happen in our city. Yeah, is it so is it open to like kids and adults like all ages or what's the sort of exactly, you know, we're still working out the details on, you know, any specific program, but certainly it will be accessible to everybody in the community. And we in particular, so we'll have a variety of our own programming that will initiate and then also, you know, we'll have people rent space to have their own programming but our focus on our own programming will be to keep things no cost or low cost as much as possible to make things as accessible as possible to everybody in the community.
[Danielle Balocca]: And it's, I think we, you and I talked a little bit offline about this, but the it sounds like it's part of it, like a part of the agreement with having the dispensary in this city is that they sort of donate that space.
[Laurel Siegel]: Exactly. So, you know, part of the, negotiation of these host agreements is how they're providing a public benefit. So this was a very concrete way that theory could provide a public benefit to the community by donating the space. And they're not only donating the space. I mean, they're committing the funds to the build out of the space. It needs to be significantly upgraded to suit our needs. And they're committing the funds for that.
[Danielle Balocca]: Okay, so once the host agreement is signed, then they'll start kind of working on making the space usable for the Arts Center.
[Laurel Siegel]: Exactly. So there'll be significant renovations to the entire building. And also, we do want to just clarify for everybody. So Theory is going to be at the rear of the building, we will be at the front of the building, and there's actually a space in between. So there will be no physical connection, just so you know, where you mentioned, you know, children being on the premises, there's no physical connection between this dispensary and the Arts Center space, we are wholly separate.
[Danielle Balocca]: helpful to know. And that that area is on a bus line as well, right? Is it?
[Laurel Siegel]: It is. So it'll be a very accessible space where it was a dealership. There's plenty of parking. It's on a major road. So you know, very easy for people to get to.
[Danielle Balocca]: Great.
[Laurel Siegel]: And not too far from you know, where the Green Line hopefully will be opening up soon.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, awesome. What are you most excited about for this Arts Center?
[Laurel Siegel]: It's hard to say because I've been working on this for so long. I just want to see it come to be. Just the idea of it actually coming to fruition after, you know, thinking about this for so long. But I just can't wait for that day when we open the doors and we see the public there and people enjoying the space and having the opportunity to really engage with the arts in a way that they're not able to because we don't have a physical space for the arts. All these amazing organizations, we operate out of people's homes and basements and, you know, community spaces and we don't really have a place for us to come together for the arts.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, that sounds really exciting to have that space. Was there anything else that you want to make sure to mention today?
[Laurel Siegel]: I think that mostly covers it, but certainly we have our Facebook and Twitter page for the Arts Center. As soon as we know that this is moving ahead, we will be announcing it publicly, and we'll be keeping everybody up to date. We've done a couple of surveys of the community, both lay community people and artists, to really get an understanding. of what they want to see in our art center. And that's important to us because we don't want to just do what we think people want. Again, we want to know what people want from us. But I'm sure we'll be doing more with that. So keep your eyes open for it. And please engage with us and let us know what you want to see.
[Danielle Balocca]: Awesome. And you shared some really helpful links about everything that we've talked about today. And I'll put those in the show notes for people to be able to stay updated about what's happening. Thank you. Well, thank you so much, Laurel.
[Laurel Siegel]: Thank you for having me and letting me talk about all of these great projects.
[Danielle Balocca]: It's always exciting to hear about. Thank you so much to Laurel Siegel. Shortly after recording this interview, Laurel updated me that the mayor has signed the host agreement with Thierry Wellness, the cannabis dispensary, allowing plans for the Arts Centre to continue. You can find lots of information in today's show notes to follow some of the organizations Laurel mentioned today, as well as to follow the progress of Arts Collaborative Medford. And now, let's hear from our kid correspondents. Hi guys, thank you so much for meeting with me today. If we could start by you just introducing yourself, so saying your name, pronouns, how old you are, and what school you go to.
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: My name is Joe, my pronouns are he or him, and I go to fifth grade at the Roberts Elementary School. My name is Conrad Hogan. My pronouns are he or him and I go to third grade at Oralberts Elementary School. I am nine years old.
[Danielle Balocca]: Thanks, guys. So last time we met in the fall. So we were kind of thinking about the year to come. And I asked you the question about favorite food. You said that hasn't changed. So Colleen's, some ice cream and donuts with a difference. Solid choices, I think. So we had talked before we started recording just about a couple of different things that you guys might want to chat about. But yeah, I'm wondering what the highlights have been of your year since the last time we spoke.
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: Me, definitely one of the big highlights was the new library opening on January 3rd. We went the day after for a first time. It is definitely much better than the old one.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, what do you like about it?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: So already I like the maker space, even though I haven't been in it. I'm a future engineer, so I'm going to be probably spending some time in there once it opens, testing out prototypes, building prototypes. I think the video game section, there's a teen room and you can rent out video games or play video games. But yeah.
[Danielle Balocca]: You have to be how old?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: you need to graduate elementary school. Yeah, anywhere from graduating elementary school to graduating high school. Wow.
[Danielle Balocca]: So something to look forward to for you next year.
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: Yep.
[Danielle Balocca]: Awesome. What are some of the things in the maker space that you're excited to use?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: Well, I've heard there might be a 3D printer and maybe a laser. Cool. And that's basically all I'm really excited about. Awesome. I've been really wanting to try 3D printing. So I'm excited about that.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, that sounds really cool. What about the books at the library? Any book recommendations that you guys have?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: I'm not really a big book guy. I stick more to like sports. Um, I would definitely recommend books by Stuart Gibbs. He is my favorite author right now. And he, he writes some really good like preteen books. They've got books about spies, the moon, um, a zoo, some, some, uh, some like night people and they're like mysteries. Yeah. And they're mysteries.
[Danielle Balocca]: Cool. That sounds awesome. And I know that the space at the library, just the big kids room is like a lot different. Have you guys checked? How much have you guys checked out?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. It's a lot of space.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah. Awesome. Cool. Um, what, so the new library is definitely a highlight of the year so far. Uh, what else has been going on for you guys?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: Um, what else is skiing? Yes. Yep. That's a lot.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yep. I heard you guys do cross country skiing and downhill skiing. Yeah. And what are your favorite spots for that?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: Um, so we cross country skate the Leo J. Martin golf course and ski track in West Massachusetts. And we take classes there. on Saturdays from about 8.30 to 10 a.m. and on Wednesday nights from around 6.30 to 7.30. And we have an epic pass for downhill. We can go anywhere in the New England radius. No, there are certain mountains. Yeah, certain mountains that we don't need to pay for. Wow. instead, but we've been going there a while.
[Danielle Balocca]: What's your, what's your favorite place for downhill skiing?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: Mount Snow. That's in Vermont. We've been to a lot of mountains, so I can't have a favorite. They were all good.
[Danielle Balocca]: Awesome. That's great. And we did get some snow recently. So what do you guys like to do around, around home, around Medford when it's, when you have a big snowstorm?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: We usually play tackle football outside in our yard. Wow. If the snow's deep enough. Yeah. If the snow's deep enough.
[Danielle Balocca]: Sounds kind of hard to run in deep snow and tackle each other.
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: We push it down with our feet. Yeah, we push it down with our feet. And we also like playing at like whatever weather with our neighbors, Cam and Brennan, like we mentioned last episode. Shout out to them again.
[Danielle Balocca]: Nice favorites of the neighborhood.
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
[Danielle Balocca]: Awesome. What about sledding? Do you guys do sledding?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, we did some of it. Um, yeah, I went sledding at seven bumps.
[Danielle Balocca]: By the Fellsmere Pond there.
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. I think that was Saturday I did it. It was very icy and very fast.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, that place can be a little scarier.
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: It can be very scary. Like you can feel like you're about to go into a pond.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah.
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: So um what I kind of don't like is the people don't listen to you if you're at the top of the hill yelling watch out but if you're if you're rumbling down the hill toward them yelling watch out then they actually listen to you.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah yeah I think it's scary too because sometimes little kids will go on the other side and so there's like collisions and all yeah but it's fun too. Yeah yeah yeah. Awesome. What about school? Any highlights of the school year so far?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: Today was our 100th day. Yep, today was our 100th day of school.
[Danielle Balocca]: Wow. And what happens on the 100th day of school?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: Usually we'll do like fun papers, still like math, but with a little 100th day theme. Today Our teacher did absolutely nothing and didn't even tell us. And it wasn't until I got into the car after school that I found out that it happened to be the 100th day.
[Danielle Balocca]: Oh, man. So you didn't celebrate it at all in your class today?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: We did a scavenger hunt. Yeah, we did a little scavenger hunt.
[Danielle Balocca]: Like the whole school?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, but that was for a different reason. Our teacher had a baby in November. Oh. Ever since, but today was the subs last day with us because our teacher is going to come back on Monday.
[Danielle Balocca]: Oh, wow. Are you excited to see your teacher again?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: Yes, definitely.
[Danielle Balocca]: That's hard. That sounds like she left in the beginning of the year.
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: Um, yeah, around November. Cool.
[Danielle Balocca]: I bet you'll get to hear lots of stories about her new baby. Yeah. Awesome. And I know you guys, you mentioned last time, something that I had never heard of, which was the enrichment classes that they have at the Roberts. So those are happening now, right?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. We are doing an acting, um, and the play is next Thursday.
[Danielle Balocca]: What's the play?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: It takes place in a castle. My mom is right around the corner and she hasn't seen it.
[Danielle Balocca]: Oh, it's a secret, okay.
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: We'll have to wait to hear about it.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah. Awesome. And I know, Conrad, you have a new talent since the last time we talked, too. You picked up the guitar, right?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: He's going to grab it.
[Danielle Balocca]: So I wanted to give you a chance to play something for us, if you'd like.
[Unidentified]: do do
[Danielle Balocca]: Oh, awesome. Are you taking lessons for the guitar? Yeah, that's great. Wow. And what's that song called? That's right. Awesome. Great. Well, is there anything else? I know we're talking about maybe thinking about the summer, what you guys are looking forward to. Anything else you want to mention?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: So this, This upcoming summer, I'm going into meal school. So it's probably going to be a very big summer for me. But that's basically all I really have to look forward to. Do you know if you've got anything? Oh. And camps.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, what kind of camps do you guys do?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: I'm taking a piano camp. It's like a week of school, except for pianists. Mill School for pianists, it's one week. It's like from nine to two every day. I am So we have a recital coming up on Saturday. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. And after that, I will be going to a baseball, to a baseball tryouts. So a baseball league thing.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yep. Wow. Do you guys do any other camps for the summer?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: No, but we play flag football. Yeah. We're going to play flag football, soccer. all different sports.
[Danielle Balocca]: Awesome, that sounds really fun. Do you have anything else you guys look forward to for the summer?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: Not really, but we were talking about before podcast, you were asking if we could talk a bit about our road trip last summer.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, that sounded really cool. Do you want to say anything about it?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, so we rented an RV and we started driving on July 17th, and we drove all the way from here to Yellowstone. Yep, Yellowstone, Wyoming, in Wyoming, and back in the RV in three weeks, came back on August 5th.
[Danielle Balocca]: Wow, and that was because there's something for fourth graders, isn't there some kind of thing with national parks?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: For fourth graders, well, if you're in fourth grade, you get a free pass to any national park. Fourth grade counts as anywhere in between when you start fourth grade and when you start fifth grade.
[Unidentified]: Oh, wow.
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: You get a free pass to any national park.
[Unidentified]: Awesome.
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: What's that?
[Unidentified]: Sorry.
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: That's a lot.
[Unidentified]: Yeah.
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: From what I've heard, it was $30 a person to get into Yellowstone. But because it was there, it didn't cost us anything. And one additional point that we went into, Joe was sleeping. And we need to tell the story that we had him sleeping. So I was sleeping in the cabin above the driver's seat, and the RV pulls in and the person says, do you have a fourth grader in your vehicle? And my dad says, yes, he's sleeping above us. Luckily, she took his word and let us in.
[Danielle Balocca]: Okay. So you went to what other parks did you go to besides Yellowstone?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: Um, we went to look at your shirt. Rocky Mountain National Park. Grand Teton, Pictured Rocks, Niagara Falls. Niagara Falls State Park. Oh, and Lambeau Field National Park in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
[Danielle Balocca]: Wow. Is that where the Packers play? Yes. Okay, nice. What was the best part of the trip?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: We went to Mount Washua.
[Danielle Balocca]: Oh, wow. You guys saw a lot in three weeks. Yeah. What was the best part of the trip?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: I have to say Green Bay. There was a KOA that we stayed out at and it had like a swimming pool and stuff that you can rent, like vehicles. I think it had a mini golf course. Yeah. Let me make this short, man. Everything you can possibly imagine.
[Danielle Balocca]: Wow. Where was that?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: A pancake house. Oh, you can eat pancakes.
[Danielle Balocca]: Whoa.
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: In Palmer Gulch, South Dakota.
[Danielle Balocca]: Wow. That sounds awesome. What was the weirdest thing about the trip? What was the weirdest thing that happened?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: Weirdest thing? Hmm. Oh yes, Mitchell, South Dakota, home of the world's only corn palace.
[Danielle Balocca]: Corn palace?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: Yes.
[Danielle Balocca]: What is that?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: It's exactly what it sounds like. This whole palace, it's not really made of corn, but it's like corn themed.
[Danielle Balocca]: Oh wow.
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, it's four stories tall. And it says on the, on the front, on the main entrance, the world's only corn palace.
[Danielle Balocca]: That's some kind of claim, I guess. Yeah. Wow.
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
[Danielle Balocca]: Was there anything that surprised you or anything like you'd give advice to somebody else who was taking a cross country trip like this?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: There's one thing I would suggest. Number one, I can get very stinky inside of the RV. And number two, if you go to Yellowstone, Don't be surprised if you smell something horrible, because some of the geysers and hot springs smell putrid. Horrible.
[Unidentified]: Yeah.
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: And there's like this platform that you walk along, it smells Horrible. Rotten eggs times 10. Rotten eggs. Sulfur. Sulfur.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah. This, my wife is from this town in Oregon and they have like hot springs there and it comes out of this like, like a bubbler, like, like a water bubbler. And she tricked me and she said, this is the best thing you'll ever taste. And she made me try it. And it tastes like rotten eggs. It was disgusting. But she, she tricked me. I imagine that's what you were smelling in Yellowstone.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah. Wow. Awesome. Well, it sounds like a great trip. Thanks. Awesome. Well, we covered a lot today. Is there anything else that we missed or anything else you guys want to talk about?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: No, not really.
[Danielle Balocca]: And February break's coming up. This episode will probably come out after February break, but you guys have any good plans for the break?
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: We're going to go skiing at Mount Snow for most, if not all, of the week.
[Danielle Balocca]: Nice. Awesome. Your favorite mountain. Good. Awesome, guys. Well, thank you so much for making the time for me. And I hope you guys have a great weekend. You're welcome.
[-Ad9b17iUII_SPEAKER_03]: Thanks for inviting us. Bye. Bye, guys. Bye.
[Danielle Balocca]: Thanks as always to Joe and Conrad. If you are a kid or if you know a kid who'd like to be interviewed on the podcast, please reach out to me at medfordpod at gmail.com. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. And as always, if you have feedback about this episode or ideas for future episodes, you can email medfordpod at gmail.com. You can also subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on Spotify and Apple podcasts. Thanks so much for listening. Guys, what's the name of the podcast never bites