Additional thoughts/start of school
School started today. I had one class today. That class was boring. Its good to be back here and getting right back into the swing of things. Ultimate practice starts tonight, which im looking forward to more than I thought I would be. This could be my last season and I want it to be a great one. Our team is ready to put in the work needed to be great this year and personally, im ready too.
When we got back to school, it was pretty much just right back to the usual stuff. Not much has changed. We spent the weekend partying and hanging out with some of the best and most fun people I know. I've seen pretty much everyone now that ive been back for a couple of days.
One thing that Hans and I have talked about since being back is just that everyone should take the time to do what we did. Take a road trip. See this country. Sometime you are going to have to choose a place to live for a long time and when you are choosing wouldn’t it be nice to have been to a lot of different places so you can choose the right one. There is so much in this country to see that you are really depriving yourself if you don't go out and see it.
Even beyond roadtripping and seeing the country, simply do the things you want to do. If you want to take classes, do it. If you want to sky dive, do it. If you want to build a house, ride a horse, skinny dip, get a job, quit your job, move across the country, do it. It’s so easy to start making excuses for why you cant do something you really want to. I don't have the time. I don't have the money. Forget that stuff. Taking this trip is something I have wanted to do since I was in high school really. I never imagined we would actually make it happen; I figured it would be one of those things we always talked about wanting to do but never did. Well we actually did make it happen and ill never regret a single minute of it. So if you know of something you really want to do, but you keep telling yourself reasons you cant, forget that. As cliché as it sounds, follow your dreams. Don't let people get you down telling you about how you cant do something because it isn’t reasonable or anything like that. Being on the road for 30 days isn’t reasonable. Driving 9000 miles in a month isn’t reasonable. Driving through Florida and Washington state in one trip is not reasonable. But we did it and im damn glad we did.
I've learned a lot and at some point ill be able to put it down on paper. Ill try to keep blogging some and letting the world know what im up to.
An account of my roadtrip 2010 and life afterwards.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
August 20th-thoughts
August 20th-thoughts
We woke up this morning and packed up for the drive home. We’re on the road now. Its been a long 33 days but somehow not long enough. I love being on the road, traveling. I love my home and Muncie too, don't get me wrong, but theres just something to be said about the complete freedom we’ve had in the last month. We had the freedom to choose where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do on any given day. We changed our plans more times than I can count. We saw more things than can be remembered at the time which is why weve been blogging about it, so we can remember.
It was the first time ive been far enough from home that I couldn’t just call up my dad and ask him to come fix something if it broke. We were completely on our own. We didn't get ourselves into any kind of trouble. Yeah sometimes we got lost or got into situations that weren’t the greatest, but we always found our way and got out of the situations we got ourselves into. We did that on our own.
The other night my uncle kept apologizing for calling us boys, which I didn't really mind when he did. I've always thought of myself as a kid and really wanted to be one anyways. Being a kid is great. I feel like now after this trip and this experience maybe im no longer a boy. Im not saying im different than I was before the trip, or that im all grown up, but I feel like more of a peer with adults than I ever have. When people want to talk about life experiences and the things they’ve seen in their lives, I can join in now. I've had some experiences.
All it took for us to do this was a little bit of money, a little bit of time, and a lot of ambition. I hope I never lose that ambition or the freedom to do things like this. It seems like people get so tied down into their lives that they don't have the opportunity to do something like this. They cant make time, they don't have money, or they have too many responsibilities to employers or spouses. I know that eventually I will have to do likewise and lay down roots somewhere. When that time comes ill embrace it and enjoy it, but for now ill keep being young.
We woke up this morning and packed up for the drive home. We’re on the road now. Its been a long 33 days but somehow not long enough. I love being on the road, traveling. I love my home and Muncie too, don't get me wrong, but theres just something to be said about the complete freedom we’ve had in the last month. We had the freedom to choose where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do on any given day. We changed our plans more times than I can count. We saw more things than can be remembered at the time which is why weve been blogging about it, so we can remember.
It was the first time ive been far enough from home that I couldn’t just call up my dad and ask him to come fix something if it broke. We were completely on our own. We didn't get ourselves into any kind of trouble. Yeah sometimes we got lost or got into situations that weren’t the greatest, but we always found our way and got out of the situations we got ourselves into. We did that on our own.
The other night my uncle kept apologizing for calling us boys, which I didn't really mind when he did. I've always thought of myself as a kid and really wanted to be one anyways. Being a kid is great. I feel like now after this trip and this experience maybe im no longer a boy. Im not saying im different than I was before the trip, or that im all grown up, but I feel like more of a peer with adults than I ever have. When people want to talk about life experiences and the things they’ve seen in their lives, I can join in now. I've had some experiences.
All it took for us to do this was a little bit of money, a little bit of time, and a lot of ambition. I hope I never lose that ambition or the freedom to do things like this. It seems like people get so tied down into their lives that they don't have the opportunity to do something like this. They cant make time, they don't have money, or they have too many responsibilities to employers or spouses. I know that eventually I will have to do likewise and lay down roots somewhere. When that time comes ill embrace it and enjoy it, but for now ill keep being young.
August 19th-Nashville
August 19th-Nashville
Welp we really out did ourselves this time. We arrived in Nashville around 5 and checked in to our hotel. We had been planning on getting jack’s barbeque since we had heard about it from our hosts in San Francisco. We hung out in the room til we were good and hungry then figured out where Jack’s was. Turned out it was right across the street from our hotel. The place was declared the best bbq in Nashville by the new york times. It lived up to its billing. The food was tasty, the servers were friendly, and there wasn’t a line. After filling up on food we walked back across the street to our hotel.
In our hotel we watched some television and pregamed for a night on the town. After the shows were over we looked up where any nearby bars were. There were supposed to be a few near by so we started out on our way to them. We didn't see any as we biked so we kept going. Next thing I know were close enough that we both agree to bike downtown. I had looked it up earlier and found out that downtown was five and half miles from our hotel. So anyways after probably about half an hour of biking we make our way to the bar strip downtown. There are quite a few neon lights and good-looking bars. We make our way into a few and walk around the area. While walking around two girls came up and gave us a free drink coupon. After hitting on them shamelessly and verifying that the free drink came without a catch, we headed to the bar to receive said free drink. The girls said they would be at the bar as soon as they finished passing out the free drink coupons. Well I guess they never got rid of em all cause we didn't see those girls again. But we did get a free beer so it was worth it.
After getting our free drink we decided to head back to the hotel. I wasn’t looking forward to the 5.5 mile bike back but it was worth it to hang out downtown. So we started biking back and looking for the streets that we knew we came in on. We biked past where the titans play. Good, we passed this on the way in. That was the last good thing that happened for about 90 minutes. We biked in the direction we thought the hotel should be. We crossed what shouldve been the interstate that was right outside our hotel. Nope. We biked a different direction. We found some power plant or factory where we probably shouldn’t have been. We hit dead end roads. We biked on the wrong side of the road since there were no cars. Oh wait theres a car. Oh great it’s a cop. “HEY WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING” Uh oh. We cut through a parking lot and hop on a sidewalk to a back road. Whew. The perfect get away. Were back at another power plant type thing. We ask for directions. Bike. Ask for directions. Ride farther. Pedal pedal pedal. Im dripping sweat since its still probably 80º out here. All in all we had to bike on 2 or 3 interstates, 2 more highways, and through 2 or 3 power plants. We probably biked about 12 miles on the way back. Maybe more.
When we got back we hung up our bikes and I tried to take my shirt off since it was soaked. It stuck to my body. Eventually I got it off and tried to get into the pool. We couldn’t because it was closed. On that note we went back to the room and hung out for a while. Pretty good last night of the trip.
Welp we really out did ourselves this time. We arrived in Nashville around 5 and checked in to our hotel. We had been planning on getting jack’s barbeque since we had heard about it from our hosts in San Francisco. We hung out in the room til we were good and hungry then figured out where Jack’s was. Turned out it was right across the street from our hotel. The place was declared the best bbq in Nashville by the new york times. It lived up to its billing. The food was tasty, the servers were friendly, and there wasn’t a line. After filling up on food we walked back across the street to our hotel.
In our hotel we watched some television and pregamed for a night on the town. After the shows were over we looked up where any nearby bars were. There were supposed to be a few near by so we started out on our way to them. We didn't see any as we biked so we kept going. Next thing I know were close enough that we both agree to bike downtown. I had looked it up earlier and found out that downtown was five and half miles from our hotel. So anyways after probably about half an hour of biking we make our way to the bar strip downtown. There are quite a few neon lights and good-looking bars. We make our way into a few and walk around the area. While walking around two girls came up and gave us a free drink coupon. After hitting on them shamelessly and verifying that the free drink came without a catch, we headed to the bar to receive said free drink. The girls said they would be at the bar as soon as they finished passing out the free drink coupons. Well I guess they never got rid of em all cause we didn't see those girls again. But we did get a free beer so it was worth it.
After getting our free drink we decided to head back to the hotel. I wasn’t looking forward to the 5.5 mile bike back but it was worth it to hang out downtown. So we started biking back and looking for the streets that we knew we came in on. We biked past where the titans play. Good, we passed this on the way in. That was the last good thing that happened for about 90 minutes. We biked in the direction we thought the hotel should be. We crossed what shouldve been the interstate that was right outside our hotel. Nope. We biked a different direction. We found some power plant or factory where we probably shouldn’t have been. We hit dead end roads. We biked on the wrong side of the road since there were no cars. Oh wait theres a car. Oh great it’s a cop. “HEY WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING” Uh oh. We cut through a parking lot and hop on a sidewalk to a back road. Whew. The perfect get away. Were back at another power plant type thing. We ask for directions. Bike. Ask for directions. Ride farther. Pedal pedal pedal. Im dripping sweat since its still probably 80º out here. All in all we had to bike on 2 or 3 interstates, 2 more highways, and through 2 or 3 power plants. We probably biked about 12 miles on the way back. Maybe more.
When we got back we hung up our bikes and I tried to take my shirt off since it was soaked. It stuck to my body. Eventually I got it off and tried to get into the pool. We couldn’t because it was closed. On that note we went back to the room and hung out for a while. Pretty good last night of the trip.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
August 15th-august 18th Dallas/NO/Mobile
August 15th-august 18th
We spent the night in dallas doing not a whole lot. We hung out in the hotel and eventually made our way out. We biked around to a bar in the area and got a drink there. There weren’t too many people out probably because it was a Sunday night, not the best bar night. We biked back to our hotel and hung out in the room for a while before going to bed for the night.
We woke up early enough the next morning to get breakfast at the hotel. After that we took off heading for baton rouge and new Orleans. Upon arriving in baton rouge we parked and got out of the car to eat some lunch. There were a ton of girls outside hanging around the building we parked at. After a few minutes we realized there were only girls. We must have parked by an all girls dorm. There was also apparently a dress code so that every girl had to be in a dress. Perfect. We biked around the campus some and found a spot to throw a disc. After about 15 minutes of throwing we were sweaty enough that it looked like we had been swimming. Good ole Louisiana heat I guess. We decided to leave and check out the downtown area. We filled up on gas in what looked like a not nice part of town before realizing that all parts of town looked not nice. On that note we got the butts out of there.
Our next destination was New Orleans. The drive was short, only about an hour. We checked in to our hotel and figured out what we would do for the night. Our plan was to head down to bourbon st which is basically New Orleans version of the strip. The street is bar after bar after strip joint after bar. There were some real characters down there. We spent a good bit of time just walking around and going into some different bars. We found one bar with a band playing Alanis Morsette covers. We stopped to join in the singing. After we had had enough of the bars and the characters we left to make our way back to the hotel. We were more successful finding our way back than we had been a couple other times on the trip.
We woke up late the next morning and rushed to check out on time. We headed down town and found a good parking spot then we biked into the city. We ended up back on bourbon st and explored the area in the day time. It was still pretty busy even then. After snapping some pictures and getting some souvenirs, we tried to find the car again. We knew the name of the road we were parked on, but not really where the car was in relation to anything. We stopped and asked a cop for some help after a while of searching. He told us the street we parked on was only three blocks long. How could we not find it if it was only three blocks? We kept searching and eventually realized we just turned the wrong way onto our street. Alas we found the car and we got back on the road for Alabama.
On the drive to Alabama we talked about how it would be a good relaxing night to kind of wind down the trip and recuperate. No one was home when we got to my aunt and uncles house but we got in and hung out. Uncle tony got home sometime around 5 or so and told us there were drinks in the fridge and to help ourselves. We assured him we were okay for the moment and continued to relax. Sometime before dinner we were convinced to drink a margarita as made by Uncle Tony. This isn’t quite the same as a normal margarita since he uses 943 gallons of tequila in it. Well after one of those he told us we had to finish the pitcher that he made which was about one more for each of us. So okay two margaritas, time to relax watch some tv and go to bed. Nope. “Ohh you guys have to try this caramel vodka we have,” says Aunt Mary. Well okay I guess just one shot. Just one shot from a double shot glass. “This bottles almost gone we should just finish it.” Well okay. Another double shot. What is this lady trying to do to us? Welp at this point im feeling pretty good. “Hey you guys have to try one of my other margaritas,” says uncle tony, practically twisting our arms. So we have another one of those. Then we finish the caramel vodka. Im officially drunk with two people that probably changed my diapers when I was a baby. This is awesome. That was almost the end of the night other than Aunt Mary getting sick. I thought it was funny enough to call my mom and tell her. I think everyone appreciated it. All in all it was somewhat ridiculous but great night. Something unexpected for sure.
The next day was actually our day to relax. We headed to the beach when we woke up and hung out. The beach was really nice and clean with a good amount of babes and things to do. It was a good time and definitely the relaxing time we were looking for. We went back to the house after we were satisfied with our beach time. We popped in the movie “Raising Arizona” and watched that with Uncle Tony. After that we watched a little tv then watched Wild Hogs and went to bed.
Now we are on the road to Nashville for our last stop before finally heading back to Muncie. Its been a long month and im excited to get back. There are definitely some people that I want to see and hang out with. Being out on the road has given me some perspective on a lot of different things. I know more of what I want to do when I get back and what I want to do with my life. Hearing people talk to us about the trip and about life has really reassured me that we did the right thing in taking this trip while we can. We’re starting to put together some preliminary ideas of an east coast version of the trip for next summer. Im already excited. One more day of this trip though and were gonna make it a good one.
We spent the night in dallas doing not a whole lot. We hung out in the hotel and eventually made our way out. We biked around to a bar in the area and got a drink there. There weren’t too many people out probably because it was a Sunday night, not the best bar night. We biked back to our hotel and hung out in the room for a while before going to bed for the night.
We woke up early enough the next morning to get breakfast at the hotel. After that we took off heading for baton rouge and new Orleans. Upon arriving in baton rouge we parked and got out of the car to eat some lunch. There were a ton of girls outside hanging around the building we parked at. After a few minutes we realized there were only girls. We must have parked by an all girls dorm. There was also apparently a dress code so that every girl had to be in a dress. Perfect. We biked around the campus some and found a spot to throw a disc. After about 15 minutes of throwing we were sweaty enough that it looked like we had been swimming. Good ole Louisiana heat I guess. We decided to leave and check out the downtown area. We filled up on gas in what looked like a not nice part of town before realizing that all parts of town looked not nice. On that note we got the butts out of there.
Our next destination was New Orleans. The drive was short, only about an hour. We checked in to our hotel and figured out what we would do for the night. Our plan was to head down to bourbon st which is basically New Orleans version of the strip. The street is bar after bar after strip joint after bar. There were some real characters down there. We spent a good bit of time just walking around and going into some different bars. We found one bar with a band playing Alanis Morsette covers. We stopped to join in the singing. After we had had enough of the bars and the characters we left to make our way back to the hotel. We were more successful finding our way back than we had been a couple other times on the trip.
We woke up late the next morning and rushed to check out on time. We headed down town and found a good parking spot then we biked into the city. We ended up back on bourbon st and explored the area in the day time. It was still pretty busy even then. After snapping some pictures and getting some souvenirs, we tried to find the car again. We knew the name of the road we were parked on, but not really where the car was in relation to anything. We stopped and asked a cop for some help after a while of searching. He told us the street we parked on was only three blocks long. How could we not find it if it was only three blocks? We kept searching and eventually realized we just turned the wrong way onto our street. Alas we found the car and we got back on the road for Alabama.
On the drive to Alabama we talked about how it would be a good relaxing night to kind of wind down the trip and recuperate. No one was home when we got to my aunt and uncles house but we got in and hung out. Uncle tony got home sometime around 5 or so and told us there were drinks in the fridge and to help ourselves. We assured him we were okay for the moment and continued to relax. Sometime before dinner we were convinced to drink a margarita as made by Uncle Tony. This isn’t quite the same as a normal margarita since he uses 943 gallons of tequila in it. Well after one of those he told us we had to finish the pitcher that he made which was about one more for each of us. So okay two margaritas, time to relax watch some tv and go to bed. Nope. “Ohh you guys have to try this caramel vodka we have,” says Aunt Mary. Well okay I guess just one shot. Just one shot from a double shot glass. “This bottles almost gone we should just finish it.” Well okay. Another double shot. What is this lady trying to do to us? Welp at this point im feeling pretty good. “Hey you guys have to try one of my other margaritas,” says uncle tony, practically twisting our arms. So we have another one of those. Then we finish the caramel vodka. Im officially drunk with two people that probably changed my diapers when I was a baby. This is awesome. That was almost the end of the night other than Aunt Mary getting sick. I thought it was funny enough to call my mom and tell her. I think everyone appreciated it. All in all it was somewhat ridiculous but great night. Something unexpected for sure.
The next day was actually our day to relax. We headed to the beach when we woke up and hung out. The beach was really nice and clean with a good amount of babes and things to do. It was a good time and definitely the relaxing time we were looking for. We went back to the house after we were satisfied with our beach time. We popped in the movie “Raising Arizona” and watched that with Uncle Tony. After that we watched a little tv then watched Wild Hogs and went to bed.
Now we are on the road to Nashville for our last stop before finally heading back to Muncie. Its been a long month and im excited to get back. There are definitely some people that I want to see and hang out with. Being out on the road has given me some perspective on a lot of different things. I know more of what I want to do when I get back and what I want to do with my life. Hearing people talk to us about the trip and about life has really reassured me that we did the right thing in taking this trip while we can. We’re starting to put together some preliminary ideas of an east coast version of the trip for next summer. Im already excited. One more day of this trip though and were gonna make it a good one.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
August 13th-august 15th midday
August 13th-august 15th midday
The next morning we woke up and headed out to the pool/hot tub. After hanging out there for a little bit we headed to down town phoenix to check out the city. There wasn’t a lot to see in the city as far as buildings or attractions goes but the architecture and landscaping in the downtown area was pretty cool. We explored a few different areas of the city spending most of our time at the Arizona center shops or something like that. The temperature in the city was around 110 degrees but felt more like 90 which was not too bad. We biked around and eventually made our way back to the car. Upon arriving back at the apartment we almost immediately went back out to the pool. The pool was not exactly hopping but we spent some time there before dinner.For dinner we headed over to Aaron’s apartment and had our first home cooked meal of the trip. Aaron’s girlfriend made us real authentic tacos with all the trimmings. They were delicious. Scrumptulescent if you will. We ate more food than anyone should eat and hung out for a while.
Our only plans for the night were to hang out by the pool and possibly go out if we felt like it. We took some brewskis out to the pool and hung out for probably about two hours waiting for girls or really anything to happen. Nothing did. We went back into the apartment. After debating for a little while if we should go out or not, we decided not to. We went to bed.
On the morning of the 14th we woke up and said our goodbyes and thank yous for the hospitality. We decided to change our plans and instead of heading for santa fe we would be driving to san Antonio. We made a stop shortly into the drive to get some taco bell and get the oil changed in the car (8399 miles overdue). This took about half an hour and we were back on the road. The drive to San Antonio was supposed to be about 16 hours in total. We drove through the night only stopping for gas. At about 4 in the morning we decided we would stop and rest for a few hours and finish up the last hour or so of the drive in the morning. We “slept” in the car for about two hours and woke up so “refreshed.” We headed into the city.
Our first stop upon entering the city was the river walk which was eerily similar to the canal in Indianapolis. We walked along the river for a little while then turned around and biked towards the Alamo. I found it interesting how the Alamo was in the middle of the city. We checked out the buildings and read about the history of the site. It seems the Alamo is more engrained in Mexican history than it is American history but it now belongs to America cause were awesome. We biked around to a few other sites in the city namely The Towers of the Americas and some big mall. We took a few pictures and biked around most of the city before deciding it was too hot to be alive. We left the city.
The drive to Dallas was boring and I could not stay awake through most of it but we made it and we are now at our hotel. We’re thinking about napping and going out for the night to find some sexy Mexicana chicas who will hopefully let us fold their laundry and read novels to them. What more could a guy want. Welp. See ya later.
The next morning we woke up and headed out to the pool/hot tub. After hanging out there for a little bit we headed to down town phoenix to check out the city. There wasn’t a lot to see in the city as far as buildings or attractions goes but the architecture and landscaping in the downtown area was pretty cool. We explored a few different areas of the city spending most of our time at the Arizona center shops or something like that. The temperature in the city was around 110 degrees but felt more like 90 which was not too bad. We biked around and eventually made our way back to the car. Upon arriving back at the apartment we almost immediately went back out to the pool. The pool was not exactly hopping but we spent some time there before dinner.For dinner we headed over to Aaron’s apartment and had our first home cooked meal of the trip. Aaron’s girlfriend made us real authentic tacos with all the trimmings. They were delicious. Scrumptulescent if you will. We ate more food than anyone should eat and hung out for a while.
Our only plans for the night were to hang out by the pool and possibly go out if we felt like it. We took some brewskis out to the pool and hung out for probably about two hours waiting for girls or really anything to happen. Nothing did. We went back into the apartment. After debating for a little while if we should go out or not, we decided not to. We went to bed.
On the morning of the 14th we woke up and said our goodbyes and thank yous for the hospitality. We decided to change our plans and instead of heading for santa fe we would be driving to san Antonio. We made a stop shortly into the drive to get some taco bell and get the oil changed in the car (8399 miles overdue). This took about half an hour and we were back on the road. The drive to San Antonio was supposed to be about 16 hours in total. We drove through the night only stopping for gas. At about 4 in the morning we decided we would stop and rest for a few hours and finish up the last hour or so of the drive in the morning. We “slept” in the car for about two hours and woke up so “refreshed.” We headed into the city.
Our first stop upon entering the city was the river walk which was eerily similar to the canal in Indianapolis. We walked along the river for a little while then turned around and biked towards the Alamo. I found it interesting how the Alamo was in the middle of the city. We checked out the buildings and read about the history of the site. It seems the Alamo is more engrained in Mexican history than it is American history but it now belongs to America cause were awesome. We biked around to a few other sites in the city namely The Towers of the Americas and some big mall. We took a few pictures and biked around most of the city before deciding it was too hot to be alive. We left the city.
The drive to Dallas was boring and I could not stay awake through most of it but we made it and we are now at our hotel. We’re thinking about napping and going out for the night to find some sexy Mexicana chicas who will hopefully let us fold their laundry and read novels to them. What more could a guy want. Welp. See ya later.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
August 10-12
August 10-12
The morning of august 10th we woke up and headed out to red rocks canyon with Marcus. We had planned on doing some hiking and climbing while we were there. On the drive in it was pretty obvious where the red rocks were as they completely stood out against the rest of the mountains. We got in to the park and checked out the visitors center then started our drive around scenic road which loops through the park. We made a stop pretty early into our drive and started free climbing up the rocks. The climbing was dangerous and probably not too smart of us to do but we did it anyways. At one point I was climbing straight up a 10 foot wall which was pretty fun. We eventually made it up to the top of the formation and could see approximately 8933 miles. We got a perfect view of the entire city of vegas and of the desert in the other direction. The view was incredible. After hanging out up top for a few minutes we started our descent. The way down was probably even more fun than the way up. We found our way into some canyons and tiny crevices. Eventually we found our way down after some side and back tracking. The rest of our time at red rocks was spent hiking a couple of trails. One of the trails went out to a small water fall that was mostly just a drip of water, but it felt good after the hike.
We spent that night hanging out and heading back to the strip. We sat down at some slot machines and played for a few minutes. Mostly we just walked around though and found cool places to hang out.
The next morning we woke up and drove to the grand canyon. The drive there kind of sucks because you have to cross the dam to get there. Traffic over the dam is stupid since no one can drive without stopping to look at everything. When we got to the canyon we checked out the trail maps outside the visitors center and decided which trail we would do in the morning. Of course we picked the hardest one. After looking at the trails we just biked around the south rim and found a good point to watch the sunset from. The sunset was pretty cool with the way the light played on the canyon walls. After watching most of the sunset we headed back to the car and noticed that the clouds looked incredible. There were more colorful clouds than ive ever seen. The coulds were purple, blue, yellow, orange, and pink in different parts of the sky. We left the canyon and headed out to camp.
We found a pretty good spot to camp and set up our tent. After laying and watching the sky for a while we got out of the tent to get something out of the car. We realized that the sky was ridiculous looking. There were more stars in the sky than I had ever seen in my life. We could also see the milky way which was intense and something I had never seen before. It basically just looks like a band of light through the stars. Its hard to explain but its awesome.
We woke up for our second day at the canyon and prepared for our grueling hike down and back up. We packed about 5 pounds of food, filled our water bottles, and lathered ourselves up with sunscreen then drove over to the trail. We parked, got out, and found the trail. We started hiking. At the beginning of the trail we passed several people, all walking much slower than us. There were checkpoints for water each mile and a half so we stopped to fill up at each and made sure we were drinking enough water. We kept passing people til the second check point then the trail got a little less populated. We made it down to the bottom of the trail, 6 miles down, in about 2.5 hours. The view of the canyon and the river from that spot was worth the hike down. After hanging out, eating lunch, and taking pictures we started hiking back up. We passed several people on the way back that were going up when we were going down. People walk really slow. The hike up was hard work but we made it in the same time it took us to get down. 5 hours and 4 minutes for the whole trail. The suggested time to allow was 8-12 hours.
After hiking we decided we’d like to have a bed for the night and drove to phoenix. My cousin Aaron helped us out and got us an apartment for the night. The apartment is ridiculously nice and the pool looks like something that belongs at the playboy mansion. We hung out, showered, watched tv, and went to the pool before going out for the night. We decided to check out the bar scene but it was dead on the Thursday night. We headed for the apartment and went to bed.
The morning of august 10th we woke up and headed out to red rocks canyon with Marcus. We had planned on doing some hiking and climbing while we were there. On the drive in it was pretty obvious where the red rocks were as they completely stood out against the rest of the mountains. We got in to the park and checked out the visitors center then started our drive around scenic road which loops through the park. We made a stop pretty early into our drive and started free climbing up the rocks. The climbing was dangerous and probably not too smart of us to do but we did it anyways. At one point I was climbing straight up a 10 foot wall which was pretty fun. We eventually made it up to the top of the formation and could see approximately 8933 miles. We got a perfect view of the entire city of vegas and of the desert in the other direction. The view was incredible. After hanging out up top for a few minutes we started our descent. The way down was probably even more fun than the way up. We found our way into some canyons and tiny crevices. Eventually we found our way down after some side and back tracking. The rest of our time at red rocks was spent hiking a couple of trails. One of the trails went out to a small water fall that was mostly just a drip of water, but it felt good after the hike.
We spent that night hanging out and heading back to the strip. We sat down at some slot machines and played for a few minutes. Mostly we just walked around though and found cool places to hang out.
The next morning we woke up and drove to the grand canyon. The drive there kind of sucks because you have to cross the dam to get there. Traffic over the dam is stupid since no one can drive without stopping to look at everything. When we got to the canyon we checked out the trail maps outside the visitors center and decided which trail we would do in the morning. Of course we picked the hardest one. After looking at the trails we just biked around the south rim and found a good point to watch the sunset from. The sunset was pretty cool with the way the light played on the canyon walls. After watching most of the sunset we headed back to the car and noticed that the clouds looked incredible. There were more colorful clouds than ive ever seen. The coulds were purple, blue, yellow, orange, and pink in different parts of the sky. We left the canyon and headed out to camp.
We found a pretty good spot to camp and set up our tent. After laying and watching the sky for a while we got out of the tent to get something out of the car. We realized that the sky was ridiculous looking. There were more stars in the sky than I had ever seen in my life. We could also see the milky way which was intense and something I had never seen before. It basically just looks like a band of light through the stars. Its hard to explain but its awesome.
We woke up for our second day at the canyon and prepared for our grueling hike down and back up. We packed about 5 pounds of food, filled our water bottles, and lathered ourselves up with sunscreen then drove over to the trail. We parked, got out, and found the trail. We started hiking. At the beginning of the trail we passed several people, all walking much slower than us. There were checkpoints for water each mile and a half so we stopped to fill up at each and made sure we were drinking enough water. We kept passing people til the second check point then the trail got a little less populated. We made it down to the bottom of the trail, 6 miles down, in about 2.5 hours. The view of the canyon and the river from that spot was worth the hike down. After hanging out, eating lunch, and taking pictures we started hiking back up. We passed several people on the way back that were going up when we were going down. People walk really slow. The hike up was hard work but we made it in the same time it took us to get down. 5 hours and 4 minutes for the whole trail. The suggested time to allow was 8-12 hours.
After hiking we decided we’d like to have a bed for the night and drove to phoenix. My cousin Aaron helped us out and got us an apartment for the night. The apartment is ridiculously nice and the pool looks like something that belongs at the playboy mansion. We hung out, showered, watched tv, and went to the pool before going out for the night. We decided to check out the bar scene but it was dead on the Thursday night. We headed for the apartment and went to bed.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
August 8th and 9th-vegas
August 8th and 9th
After my last blog we finished our drive out to vegas arriving at a relatively early time. We brought our stuff into marcus’ house, showered, ate dinner and headed down to the old strip. We had no plans other than to check out the casinos and shops down there and hang out for a little while. The shops turned out to be very cheap so we bought some souvenirs and then went over to the casinos. While we were walking towards the casinos the overhead canopy started having a lightshow, which was pretty awesome.
When we got into the casino we sat down and started playing slot machines. Hans won big right away on one of the first machines we sat at. We didn't really understand how to win or anything but we just kept spinning and hoping for good things to happen. While we were sitting down a waitress came by and asked if we wanted drinks, so of course we couldn’t refuse.
We moved around within the casino and to different casinos because we wanted to continue getting served without tipping waitresses. Were poor. When we left one of the casinos hans realized he forgot his wallet so we hustled back to find the wallet perfectly intact laying at one of the slots we were at. Disaster averted.
We kept playing slot machines and I kept losing my money. I didn't understand. Why was I so unlucky. We stopped at ate dinner at mcdonalds. Yummy. Then we kept playing and kept getting free drinks. I wasn’t so upset that I was losing my money because I was having fun and getting drinks so really it didn't matter. I was considering this to be a very good night. The night was drawing to a close and I was nearly out of money. I kept playing and eventually I was down to 50 cents left. I figured I might as well just play ten lines for five credits each (costs 50 cents). So I did that and the machine started going and when it stopped it started making the win noise. So I was like oh cool maybe ill get a few dollars back. Well it didn't stop counting up until I had 2500 credits. Perfect. 25 bucks on one spin. I immediately cashed out and collected my moneys.
We walked around the strip for a while to let some alcohol wear off. During our walk we were propositioned by hookers and drug dealers alike. “Hey where you boys goin? Need some company?” “No thank you ma’am.” We had to get out of there before we ended up with a disease or seeing a drug deal go bad or something. It’s a pretty shady place to be at 3 in the morning. So we went back to our car and headed out. We both ended the night winning money and getting 5 or 6 free drinks. Not too bad of a night.
The next day was a rather tame day for being in vegas. We didn't wake up until 1 in the afternoon which already set us back in our plans. We followed through on what we were supposed to be doing anyways. We drove out to see hoover dam and lake mead. The dam is a really impressive display of architecture and technology. They were also building a new highway to go around the dam. The new highway has a bridge to cross the gap between two decently sized mountains. The bridge, to me, was as impressive as the dam itself. We headed out after a little bit of hanging out at the dam and found a walmart to do some grocery shopping at. We scored some good deals on soup and other essentials.
After walmart we came back to marcus’ apartment. It was now about 5 oclock. We ate lunch/dinner and hung out for a bit. The rest of our plan was to hang out by the pool and then head down to the strip for the night. We took some beers out to the pool and were pleasantly surprised to see a hot tub off in the corner. We used the hot tub a lot more than the pool through out the evening. After a couple of beers we talked to some of the people in the pool area. We stayed out by the pool for quite a bit of the evening and I think finally came in around 9 or 10. At this point we debated whether or not to go to the strip as we had no way to get there and were pretty tired. After deciding we would just hang out around the apartment for the night, I crashed on the futon mattress, falling asleep before midnight.
Today we are planning to check out Red Rocks national park and hit the new strip for the night because we are leaving vegas tomorrow morning for the grand canyon. Ill let you all know how it goes.
After my last blog we finished our drive out to vegas arriving at a relatively early time. We brought our stuff into marcus’ house, showered, ate dinner and headed down to the old strip. We had no plans other than to check out the casinos and shops down there and hang out for a little while. The shops turned out to be very cheap so we bought some souvenirs and then went over to the casinos. While we were walking towards the casinos the overhead canopy started having a lightshow, which was pretty awesome.
When we got into the casino we sat down and started playing slot machines. Hans won big right away on one of the first machines we sat at. We didn't really understand how to win or anything but we just kept spinning and hoping for good things to happen. While we were sitting down a waitress came by and asked if we wanted drinks, so of course we couldn’t refuse.
We moved around within the casino and to different casinos because we wanted to continue getting served without tipping waitresses. Were poor. When we left one of the casinos hans realized he forgot his wallet so we hustled back to find the wallet perfectly intact laying at one of the slots we were at. Disaster averted.
We kept playing slot machines and I kept losing my money. I didn't understand. Why was I so unlucky. We stopped at ate dinner at mcdonalds. Yummy. Then we kept playing and kept getting free drinks. I wasn’t so upset that I was losing my money because I was having fun and getting drinks so really it didn't matter. I was considering this to be a very good night. The night was drawing to a close and I was nearly out of money. I kept playing and eventually I was down to 50 cents left. I figured I might as well just play ten lines for five credits each (costs 50 cents). So I did that and the machine started going and when it stopped it started making the win noise. So I was like oh cool maybe ill get a few dollars back. Well it didn't stop counting up until I had 2500 credits. Perfect. 25 bucks on one spin. I immediately cashed out and collected my moneys.
We walked around the strip for a while to let some alcohol wear off. During our walk we were propositioned by hookers and drug dealers alike. “Hey where you boys goin? Need some company?” “No thank you ma’am.” We had to get out of there before we ended up with a disease or seeing a drug deal go bad or something. It’s a pretty shady place to be at 3 in the morning. So we went back to our car and headed out. We both ended the night winning money and getting 5 or 6 free drinks. Not too bad of a night.
The next day was a rather tame day for being in vegas. We didn't wake up until 1 in the afternoon which already set us back in our plans. We followed through on what we were supposed to be doing anyways. We drove out to see hoover dam and lake mead. The dam is a really impressive display of architecture and technology. They were also building a new highway to go around the dam. The new highway has a bridge to cross the gap between two decently sized mountains. The bridge, to me, was as impressive as the dam itself. We headed out after a little bit of hanging out at the dam and found a walmart to do some grocery shopping at. We scored some good deals on soup and other essentials.
After walmart we came back to marcus’ apartment. It was now about 5 oclock. We ate lunch/dinner and hung out for a bit. The rest of our plan was to hang out by the pool and then head down to the strip for the night. We took some beers out to the pool and were pleasantly surprised to see a hot tub off in the corner. We used the hot tub a lot more than the pool through out the evening. After a couple of beers we talked to some of the people in the pool area. We stayed out by the pool for quite a bit of the evening and I think finally came in around 9 or 10. At this point we debated whether or not to go to the strip as we had no way to get there and were pretty tired. After deciding we would just hang out around the apartment for the night, I crashed on the futon mattress, falling asleep before midnight.
Today we are planning to check out Red Rocks national park and hit the new strip for the night because we are leaving vegas tomorrow morning for the grand canyon. Ill let you all know how it goes.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
August 2nd-august 8th LA
August 2nd-august 8th
On the night of august 2nd we got into LA around 7. The traffic was terrible getting into the city. That night we went over to gregs friends and played basketball. Our team went 0-3 but we competed in every game, which wasn’t bad for not having played in years. After the basketball game we headed up to the highest point in the area and overlooked santa monica for a little while. Then we headed back to gregs apartment and had a few drinks. Late in the night we went out to a hookah bar and hung out for a few hours before heading back home. It was a late and chill night.
The next morning we went to santa monica beach and pier while greg worked. We got out of the car and walked down the beach for a little while all the way to the pier. The pier just has a few little shops on it and was really nothing special. There were tons of people on the beach though and it was cool to get in the water and do a little body surfing. After the beach we headed back to the house and met up with greg. We drank at the house and stayed in for the night as we were all tired and figured we could go out whenever.
Wednesday morning we woke up and headed to a beach in the palasades. It was a public beach with a good amount of people. We tossed a disc around the beach, looked at pretty girls, and drank some beers before getting in the water. We hung out here pretty much all day before heading back to the apartment. On the drive back we had to blast out to some Aerosmith which included the song “Don't wanna miss a thing.” We pulled up to a stop light while rocking out to this song and singing at the top of our lungs. The guy next to us was a pretty big bro and enjoyed our serenade. Once we got back we kept partying a little and hung out. Greg had to work in the morning but hans and I decided we would go out for the night. We ended up just going down to the beach which was about a 5 mile bike ride. The pier at night was pretty awesome and provided a nice place to just chill and watch the waves roll in. It was a fun night and we had a nice little sing along all the way back.
On Thursday we woke up and went down to Venice beach. We figured it would be a hopping beach to go to during the day while greg worked again. Venice beach had a ton of really good looking girls laying out including one topless sun bather and two 20some year old ladies in thong bikinis. What a beautiful day. We hung out here all day really doing nothing. We intermittently got in the water and threw a disc around trying to entice ladies into talking to us. We failed. During the evening we came back and hung out in gregs apartment. I passed out before dan could get here and hans and greg went to pick him up together.
Friday morning we woke up a little earlier and got ready for another day on the beach. This time we were headed to another Malibu beach with a restaurant in the sand. We met up with Greg’s girlfriend, Melissa, and her friend, Alyssa. The beach was chill with not too much going on. We went up to the restaurant to eat and you can guess how the prices were. We split an appetizer and got the butts out of there. Then we got everything else out of there too.
We headed home and cleaned up to go to vegas for the night. Traffic was awful but we weren’t going to let anything bring us down when we were headed for vegas. We arrived in vegas pretty late but with the full intention of partying into the wee hours of the morning. We left marcus’s apartment after a few minutes of drinking. We filled our flasks and headed for the strip and since drinking in public is allowed in vegas we didn't even have to hide the flasks. We parked at the Venetian and walked around there first. Then we walked to other casinos and hung out. During the night we saw all the big spots on the strip. We hit up the Bellagio, the Mirage, the Venetian, Caesar’s Palace, and any other big place you can think of on the strip.
Saturday morning we headed back to LA. We got back in the afternoon and didn't really do much with our day. In the evening we headed out to a real Hollywood party with a guest list and all. Tons of good-looking (fake) girls, rich movie producers, and expensive drinks. The night went well. Sunday morning we woke up and went out to Venice beach and the board walk for a little while. The shops down the boardwalk have a lot of cool stuff that is actually pretty cheap. I was surprised.
All in all LA was a good break from the road part of the road trip. We haven’t traveled far distances in a week. LA was every bit as good as I expected it to be and as good as the rest of the trip has been but in a different way. There is so much money out here its unbelievable. The beaches are incredible and the people are as beautiful as you think they would be, maybe even more beautiful. Im glad that I got to see LA and to hang out with greg and dan. Im also glad that were getting back on the road now and resuming this trip. Were headed back east now with a good bit of stuff left to see. I feel like the trip is split into three legs: 1st leg was driving out to lA, 2nd leg being in LA, and 3rd leg is heading back east. Hopefully all the stuff on the way back will be as good as all the stuff so far has been.
Sorry there’s not much to this blog I just am not in a writing mood, haven’t had much time to do it, and really haven’t been doing quite as much stuff. This part of the trip was just a chill week on the beach. Not as much to write about. Ill keep updating more often again now that were out of LA.
On the night of august 2nd we got into LA around 7. The traffic was terrible getting into the city. That night we went over to gregs friends and played basketball. Our team went 0-3 but we competed in every game, which wasn’t bad for not having played in years. After the basketball game we headed up to the highest point in the area and overlooked santa monica for a little while. Then we headed back to gregs apartment and had a few drinks. Late in the night we went out to a hookah bar and hung out for a few hours before heading back home. It was a late and chill night.
The next morning we went to santa monica beach and pier while greg worked. We got out of the car and walked down the beach for a little while all the way to the pier. The pier just has a few little shops on it and was really nothing special. There were tons of people on the beach though and it was cool to get in the water and do a little body surfing. After the beach we headed back to the house and met up with greg. We drank at the house and stayed in for the night as we were all tired and figured we could go out whenever.
Wednesday morning we woke up and headed to a beach in the palasades. It was a public beach with a good amount of people. We tossed a disc around the beach, looked at pretty girls, and drank some beers before getting in the water. We hung out here pretty much all day before heading back to the apartment. On the drive back we had to blast out to some Aerosmith which included the song “Don't wanna miss a thing.” We pulled up to a stop light while rocking out to this song and singing at the top of our lungs. The guy next to us was a pretty big bro and enjoyed our serenade. Once we got back we kept partying a little and hung out. Greg had to work in the morning but hans and I decided we would go out for the night. We ended up just going down to the beach which was about a 5 mile bike ride. The pier at night was pretty awesome and provided a nice place to just chill and watch the waves roll in. It was a fun night and we had a nice little sing along all the way back.
On Thursday we woke up and went down to Venice beach. We figured it would be a hopping beach to go to during the day while greg worked again. Venice beach had a ton of really good looking girls laying out including one topless sun bather and two 20some year old ladies in thong bikinis. What a beautiful day. We hung out here all day really doing nothing. We intermittently got in the water and threw a disc around trying to entice ladies into talking to us. We failed. During the evening we came back and hung out in gregs apartment. I passed out before dan could get here and hans and greg went to pick him up together.
Friday morning we woke up a little earlier and got ready for another day on the beach. This time we were headed to another Malibu beach with a restaurant in the sand. We met up with Greg’s girlfriend, Melissa, and her friend, Alyssa. The beach was chill with not too much going on. We went up to the restaurant to eat and you can guess how the prices were. We split an appetizer and got the butts out of there. Then we got everything else out of there too.
We headed home and cleaned up to go to vegas for the night. Traffic was awful but we weren’t going to let anything bring us down when we were headed for vegas. We arrived in vegas pretty late but with the full intention of partying into the wee hours of the morning. We left marcus’s apartment after a few minutes of drinking. We filled our flasks and headed for the strip and since drinking in public is allowed in vegas we didn't even have to hide the flasks. We parked at the Venetian and walked around there first. Then we walked to other casinos and hung out. During the night we saw all the big spots on the strip. We hit up the Bellagio, the Mirage, the Venetian, Caesar’s Palace, and any other big place you can think of on the strip.
Saturday morning we headed back to LA. We got back in the afternoon and didn't really do much with our day. In the evening we headed out to a real Hollywood party with a guest list and all. Tons of good-looking (fake) girls, rich movie producers, and expensive drinks. The night went well. Sunday morning we woke up and went out to Venice beach and the board walk for a little while. The shops down the boardwalk have a lot of cool stuff that is actually pretty cheap. I was surprised.
All in all LA was a good break from the road part of the road trip. We haven’t traveled far distances in a week. LA was every bit as good as I expected it to be and as good as the rest of the trip has been but in a different way. There is so much money out here its unbelievable. The beaches are incredible and the people are as beautiful as you think they would be, maybe even more beautiful. Im glad that I got to see LA and to hang out with greg and dan. Im also glad that were getting back on the road now and resuming this trip. Were headed back east now with a good bit of stuff left to see. I feel like the trip is split into three legs: 1st leg was driving out to lA, 2nd leg being in LA, and 3rd leg is heading back east. Hopefully all the stuff on the way back will be as good as all the stuff so far has been.
Sorry there’s not much to this blog I just am not in a writing mood, haven’t had much time to do it, and really haven’t been doing quite as much stuff. This part of the trip was just a chill week on the beach. Not as much to write about. Ill keep updating more often again now that were out of LA.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Yosemite and san fran
July 30th rest of day-august 2nd
Once we got to Yosemite we got the map of the park and looked for the things we wanted to do. Yosemite didn't seem to have nearly as much to see as Yellowstone but had more hiking trails than anything else. We spent the rest of the evening seeing some of the major attractions. We saw half dome from Omsted point and saw some other stuff. We checked about getting a back country camping pass but we were denied by Nonattractivegirl Mcmustbethattimeofthemonth. After being denied we decided we would just camp in the national forest outside the park. We drove around and did some free climbing/hiking/sight seeing. We ate dinner in the park then headed out to the forest to find a camping spot. We ended up camping on the side of a mountain. Literally. My feet were a good 18 inches below my head because of the slope we were on. I woke up 4 or 5 times to pull myself back up to the top of the hill after sliding down in the night.
The next morning we woke up and packed up camp. We went into the park hoping to hike the 14 mile half dome trail, but apparently you have to have a permit on the weekends. Whatever. We took a different hike that was about 8 miles round trip and was pretty strenuous. The hike was fun and made us look like we hadn’t showered in seven days again. We decided that we had enough of Yosemite after this and left the park to go see an old friend of mine. On the way out we figured we would just follow the GPS directions to San Fran. The GPS was not looking out for us this time. It directed us down a road you cannot even imagine…
Picture this: Youre a pioneer exploring the new California territory. You’re on top of the steepest mountain around and you need to get down. You hack the weeds down in order to get down the mountain into the near by valley. While youre cutting the weeds down you obviously make tons of switchbacks because you cant just walk straight down the steepest mountain in the country. You notice the ground youre walking over is filled with ridges and drop offs. To your right is the sheer face of the mountain jutting out quite often. To your left is a cliff that drops off over 1000 feet. Maybe 8 feet from rock face to cliff. Now flash forwards 200 years. The road you cut out back then as a pioneer has not been maintained or worked on at all since that day you cut it out. Now you have to drive your car down the trail. This is the situation we were in. It took us 70 minutes to drive less than 5.5 miles. But we made it. Thankfully.
My friend Erin who lives just south of San Fran was willing to put up with us for a night so we drove down. We met her boyfriend Andy who turned out to be one of the coolest people we’ve met on this trip. He also had a pretty vast knowledge of beer. When we got there they had beer ready for us and we were drinking within minutes of walking in the door. Once we were sufficiently buzzing on this good beer, they took us out to the bars in the area. The first bar we went to was not as hoppin as we had hoped so we had a beer then walked back to the apartment. Andy was on a mission to score us some babes. He provided us with the name of an obscure rich guy that lived in the area. For the rest of the night we were Hans VanBechtelshein and Mateus VanBechtelshein. These names worked out pretty well for us. I found myself playing the role of wealthy douche bag with perfection. Girls were digging it. Until I told some girl her fake coach purse looked cool. She made a point of letting me know it was real and she spent a lot of money on it. Thankfully I made it out of the situation without a slap. The night went pretty well with me mostly just making a fool of myself, but hey that's what im good at. I kept talking to more and more random people and having a good time. We caught a cab home once the night took a turn for the worse with Andy puking on everything.
The next morning I awoke on the couch with Erin in the chair next to me. Gotta love passing out in random places in your house. After recapping the night (as per usual) we headed downtown San Fran with Erin and Andy as our guides. They took us to get a burrito from the worlds best burrito place, as voted by maxim. The burritos were delicious. Our next stop was the Golden Gate. The bridge provides a sick view of the entire city, Alcatraz, and the bay. It was really cool to stand out on the bridge and look at the skyline. Following the bridge we went down to Fisherman’s Wharf, which is basically just a strip of piers with little shops and cool views. We got to see the sea lions that are apparently always there. They seem to be the laziest animals in existence. After that we walked down to the part of the pier next to the water because I wanted to see if we could touch the water. It was too far down to reach down and touch it, but within thirty seconds of Hans and I standing there a wave crashed into the pier only where we were standing. The water was brisk and we stepped back. In the next few minutes of standing there no other waves hit in any other spots. I guess we just got lucky.
After the pier we went to Height St, which is basically just a big hippy part of town with a bunch of head shops and other little shops. The stores were pretty cool and had stuff you definitely cant get anywhere else. We saw some old school nba jerseys and considered getting them but they turned out to be too small. After that we left down town and went back to our hotel. That night we did nothing. We were in bed pretty early as we were both dead tired. Maybe were too old for this? Baha just kidding.
Anyways now were driving to LA. We just saw elephant seals on the beach next to the highway and about four seconds later saw zebras grazing in the field on the other side. No joke. Its interesting being out here on the west coast. I cant really explain it but its something to see. In the cliché way its like a whole other world out here. The landscapes are so vastly different and the people are too. Everything we have seen up to this point has been everything I hoped it would be. Nothing has been a let down and some things have even been better than I thought they’d be. We’ve been gone for two weeks now and somehow it seems longer and shorter both. Going out in Milwaukee seems like it could be months ago. But it also seems like we just started this trip recently. Again its hard to explain.
I don't know that any thing is being answered out here or that I am changing at all other than getting stupid by the minute. I do know that im having the time of my life and im glad that im out here. Life has a long time to happen and work out, but right now im just living, really living and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Im sure that everything ive done and seen out here will in some way redirect or reshape what I want to do with my life but ill just let that all play out in the future. This is about now and if I blink I might miss something.
Once we got to Yosemite we got the map of the park and looked for the things we wanted to do. Yosemite didn't seem to have nearly as much to see as Yellowstone but had more hiking trails than anything else. We spent the rest of the evening seeing some of the major attractions. We saw half dome from Omsted point and saw some other stuff. We checked about getting a back country camping pass but we were denied by Nonattractivegirl Mcmustbethattimeofthemonth. After being denied we decided we would just camp in the national forest outside the park. We drove around and did some free climbing/hiking/sight seeing. We ate dinner in the park then headed out to the forest to find a camping spot. We ended up camping on the side of a mountain. Literally. My feet were a good 18 inches below my head because of the slope we were on. I woke up 4 or 5 times to pull myself back up to the top of the hill after sliding down in the night.
The next morning we woke up and packed up camp. We went into the park hoping to hike the 14 mile half dome trail, but apparently you have to have a permit on the weekends. Whatever. We took a different hike that was about 8 miles round trip and was pretty strenuous. The hike was fun and made us look like we hadn’t showered in seven days again. We decided that we had enough of Yosemite after this and left the park to go see an old friend of mine. On the way out we figured we would just follow the GPS directions to San Fran. The GPS was not looking out for us this time. It directed us down a road you cannot even imagine…
Picture this: Youre a pioneer exploring the new California territory. You’re on top of the steepest mountain around and you need to get down. You hack the weeds down in order to get down the mountain into the near by valley. While youre cutting the weeds down you obviously make tons of switchbacks because you cant just walk straight down the steepest mountain in the country. You notice the ground youre walking over is filled with ridges and drop offs. To your right is the sheer face of the mountain jutting out quite often. To your left is a cliff that drops off over 1000 feet. Maybe 8 feet from rock face to cliff. Now flash forwards 200 years. The road you cut out back then as a pioneer has not been maintained or worked on at all since that day you cut it out. Now you have to drive your car down the trail. This is the situation we were in. It took us 70 minutes to drive less than 5.5 miles. But we made it. Thankfully.
My friend Erin who lives just south of San Fran was willing to put up with us for a night so we drove down. We met her boyfriend Andy who turned out to be one of the coolest people we’ve met on this trip. He also had a pretty vast knowledge of beer. When we got there they had beer ready for us and we were drinking within minutes of walking in the door. Once we were sufficiently buzzing on this good beer, they took us out to the bars in the area. The first bar we went to was not as hoppin as we had hoped so we had a beer then walked back to the apartment. Andy was on a mission to score us some babes. He provided us with the name of an obscure rich guy that lived in the area. For the rest of the night we were Hans VanBechtelshein and Mateus VanBechtelshein. These names worked out pretty well for us. I found myself playing the role of wealthy douche bag with perfection. Girls were digging it. Until I told some girl her fake coach purse looked cool. She made a point of letting me know it was real and she spent a lot of money on it. Thankfully I made it out of the situation without a slap. The night went pretty well with me mostly just making a fool of myself, but hey that's what im good at. I kept talking to more and more random people and having a good time. We caught a cab home once the night took a turn for the worse with Andy puking on everything.
The next morning I awoke on the couch with Erin in the chair next to me. Gotta love passing out in random places in your house. After recapping the night (as per usual) we headed downtown San Fran with Erin and Andy as our guides. They took us to get a burrito from the worlds best burrito place, as voted by maxim. The burritos were delicious. Our next stop was the Golden Gate. The bridge provides a sick view of the entire city, Alcatraz, and the bay. It was really cool to stand out on the bridge and look at the skyline. Following the bridge we went down to Fisherman’s Wharf, which is basically just a strip of piers with little shops and cool views. We got to see the sea lions that are apparently always there. They seem to be the laziest animals in existence. After that we walked down to the part of the pier next to the water because I wanted to see if we could touch the water. It was too far down to reach down and touch it, but within thirty seconds of Hans and I standing there a wave crashed into the pier only where we were standing. The water was brisk and we stepped back. In the next few minutes of standing there no other waves hit in any other spots. I guess we just got lucky.
After the pier we went to Height St, which is basically just a big hippy part of town with a bunch of head shops and other little shops. The stores were pretty cool and had stuff you definitely cant get anywhere else. We saw some old school nba jerseys and considered getting them but they turned out to be too small. After that we left down town and went back to our hotel. That night we did nothing. We were in bed pretty early as we were both dead tired. Maybe were too old for this? Baha just kidding.
Anyways now were driving to LA. We just saw elephant seals on the beach next to the highway and about four seconds later saw zebras grazing in the field on the other side. No joke. Its interesting being out here on the west coast. I cant really explain it but its something to see. In the cliché way its like a whole other world out here. The landscapes are so vastly different and the people are too. Everything we have seen up to this point has been everything I hoped it would be. Nothing has been a let down and some things have even been better than I thought they’d be. We’ve been gone for two weeks now and somehow it seems longer and shorter both. Going out in Milwaukee seems like it could be months ago. But it also seems like we just started this trip recently. Again its hard to explain.
I don't know that any thing is being answered out here or that I am changing at all other than getting stupid by the minute. I do know that im having the time of my life and im glad that im out here. Life has a long time to happen and work out, but right now im just living, really living and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Im sure that everything ive done and seen out here will in some way redirect or reshape what I want to do with my life but ill just let that all play out in the future. This is about now and if I blink I might miss something.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Sacramento awesomeness
July 28th late night-july 30th midday
We ended up driving most of the way to Sacramento that night. We pulled off into a national forest campground and pitched our tent at about 2 am. We slept for 4 hours or so and left to head towards Sac town. It took a couple hours to get there and when we did we couldn’t check into our hotel. We walked over to the hotel next to ours and stole some internet to post blogs and pictures. We searched for disc golf courses in the area and found one. We headed over to the course and played 18 holes. The first nine was pretty terrible for both of us but we sharpened up on the second round and shot respectable scores.
Following disc golf we headed back to the hotel to catch up on sleep. After some dumb conversation we finally decided to actually take a nap. We slept for a couple hours then showered up and watched some Jersey Shore for the first time ever while drinking. Interesting show. Once we were sufficiently drunk we decided to head over to what we thought would be some good college bars. I cannot remember the name of the first bar but it was in playboys top 100 college bars. The name sounded something like sparky’s but that is definitely not correct. The bar sorta sucked and was pretty dead. We headed back outside and asked the bouncer if he knew where a good bar would be for us to pick up chickeronis. He pointed us in the direction of bar called Bisla’s.
We walked maybe a mile to Bisla’s and were pretty relieved to see some girls and some college aged people. The bar was having a beer pong tournament which we probably could’ve won but it was too expensive to enter. We hit on/bombed with some girls who were apparently looking for some good Mexican or BG wiener. BG meaning black guy. After flaming out with these girls we walked to another section of the bar which was an out door hookah lounge. At the hookah lounge I decided to initiate conversation with some babes by asking how much hookah was. Turned out it was really expensive. Also turned out the babes were engaged. How did we find out? Well their fiancés came back to the table. No problems though, the bros introduced themselves (brenden and damon) and we introduced ourselves and talked for a while. We asked them where to go in this city to pick up girls. They had some suggestions. They were also pretty stoked about our trip and suggested things for us to do in various other places we are going.
The bros left the table to go play their game in the beer pong tournament. We hung out with their ladies and smoked more hookah. The chicks had some suggestions for us also. They informed us of all the good beaches to hit in san fran and LA. They told us where to go to pick up chicks and which beaches to go to to see fake titties. Their words, not mine. These chicks were about as cool as girls can be. Pretty lucky guys, Damon and Brenden.
We left the bar upon Brenden’s suggestion that we hit up another bar some 30 blocks away. Im not sure if our plan was to head back to the hotel or to walk to this bar. We walked and walked and walked. Then we walked a little more. Then we stopped to ask for directions from a hotel clerk. She pointed us towards our hotel. Or so she thought. We walked some more and we didn't find any road that looked familiar but we did find a lot of roads in general. The night continued to go much the same way. We found random people probably about 8 in total to ask for directions from. They all gave us directions that seemed to be reasonable. Most included directions to go over a bridge which we knew was near our hotel. We kept walking and walking and asking for directions. I called 411. I called the hotel. I called 911. Okay not the last one. But after about 2 hours of walking we somehow ended up at the bar we started at. Great. The bouncer says “oh you guys are good” as we approach the door. He must have remembered us. I have an inclination he remembered us because of our hats. Anyways we asked him for directions and finally got the right directions.
We headed for our hotel knowing there was a taco bell near by. I now realize the taco bell was on the opposite side of our hotel from the bar. We must have walked past it to get to the Tbell. The lobby was closed. We decided to walk through the drive through. After standing there for a good few minutes and nearly giving up hope of anyone taking our order, a car pulls up behind us in line. “Hey you guys trying to get taco bell?” “Yeah man” “Well hop in, they wont serve you that way” Now I know my mom always said not to get in the car with a stranger, but taco bell was on the line. We pretty much had to. So we hop in Ken’s car and we go through and order our tbell. Ken covers about half of it for no reason. Bro. He takes us up to the curb, bids us ado and we part ways never to see each other again. Hans and I walk up to the Mcdonalds curb that's right next to the tbell and we sit down to eat. Eating somehow makes me more drunk. We walk around our hotel again somehow and enter from the opposite side. We’re pretty smart. The night ends with us in our bed talking about how ridiculous this was. Then we sleep. I estimate that we walked around 10 miles and passed our hotel probably 3 or 4 times total. We jumped a fence, played with sprinklers, soaked ourselves, pissed on everything, pulled leaves and flowers off the trees and ran places for no reason. It was a great night.
We wake up this morning remembering that Hans left his flask at the taco bell where we sat down to eat. We travel around the city trying to find that damn taco bell again but of course it takes us forever. Eventually we find it and the flask is there. We get some mcdonalds, fill up on gas, and head out for the day. Pretty late start but it doesn’t really matter for what we are doing today. Since then we’ve been on the road to Yosemite. The driving isn’t bad and the jokes of course keep rolling. If you can even call them jokes. We’ll be in Yosemite for a couple days then off to sanfran which is probably where ill be able to post this. Til then, so long gaiii boyss
We ended up driving most of the way to Sacramento that night. We pulled off into a national forest campground and pitched our tent at about 2 am. We slept for 4 hours or so and left to head towards Sac town. It took a couple hours to get there and when we did we couldn’t check into our hotel. We walked over to the hotel next to ours and stole some internet to post blogs and pictures. We searched for disc golf courses in the area and found one. We headed over to the course and played 18 holes. The first nine was pretty terrible for both of us but we sharpened up on the second round and shot respectable scores.
Following disc golf we headed back to the hotel to catch up on sleep. After some dumb conversation we finally decided to actually take a nap. We slept for a couple hours then showered up and watched some Jersey Shore for the first time ever while drinking. Interesting show. Once we were sufficiently drunk we decided to head over to what we thought would be some good college bars. I cannot remember the name of the first bar but it was in playboys top 100 college bars. The name sounded something like sparky’s but that is definitely not correct. The bar sorta sucked and was pretty dead. We headed back outside and asked the bouncer if he knew where a good bar would be for us to pick up chickeronis. He pointed us in the direction of bar called Bisla’s.
We walked maybe a mile to Bisla’s and were pretty relieved to see some girls and some college aged people. The bar was having a beer pong tournament which we probably could’ve won but it was too expensive to enter. We hit on/bombed with some girls who were apparently looking for some good Mexican or BG wiener. BG meaning black guy. After flaming out with these girls we walked to another section of the bar which was an out door hookah lounge. At the hookah lounge I decided to initiate conversation with some babes by asking how much hookah was. Turned out it was really expensive. Also turned out the babes were engaged. How did we find out? Well their fiancés came back to the table. No problems though, the bros introduced themselves (brenden and damon) and we introduced ourselves and talked for a while. We asked them where to go in this city to pick up girls. They had some suggestions. They were also pretty stoked about our trip and suggested things for us to do in various other places we are going.
The bros left the table to go play their game in the beer pong tournament. We hung out with their ladies and smoked more hookah. The chicks had some suggestions for us also. They informed us of all the good beaches to hit in san fran and LA. They told us where to go to pick up chicks and which beaches to go to to see fake titties. Their words, not mine. These chicks were about as cool as girls can be. Pretty lucky guys, Damon and Brenden.
We left the bar upon Brenden’s suggestion that we hit up another bar some 30 blocks away. Im not sure if our plan was to head back to the hotel or to walk to this bar. We walked and walked and walked. Then we walked a little more. Then we stopped to ask for directions from a hotel clerk. She pointed us towards our hotel. Or so she thought. We walked some more and we didn't find any road that looked familiar but we did find a lot of roads in general. The night continued to go much the same way. We found random people probably about 8 in total to ask for directions from. They all gave us directions that seemed to be reasonable. Most included directions to go over a bridge which we knew was near our hotel. We kept walking and walking and asking for directions. I called 411. I called the hotel. I called 911. Okay not the last one. But after about 2 hours of walking we somehow ended up at the bar we started at. Great. The bouncer says “oh you guys are good” as we approach the door. He must have remembered us. I have an inclination he remembered us because of our hats. Anyways we asked him for directions and finally got the right directions.
We headed for our hotel knowing there was a taco bell near by. I now realize the taco bell was on the opposite side of our hotel from the bar. We must have walked past it to get to the Tbell. The lobby was closed. We decided to walk through the drive through. After standing there for a good few minutes and nearly giving up hope of anyone taking our order, a car pulls up behind us in line. “Hey you guys trying to get taco bell?” “Yeah man” “Well hop in, they wont serve you that way” Now I know my mom always said not to get in the car with a stranger, but taco bell was on the line. We pretty much had to. So we hop in Ken’s car and we go through and order our tbell. Ken covers about half of it for no reason. Bro. He takes us up to the curb, bids us ado and we part ways never to see each other again. Hans and I walk up to the Mcdonalds curb that's right next to the tbell and we sit down to eat. Eating somehow makes me more drunk. We walk around our hotel again somehow and enter from the opposite side. We’re pretty smart. The night ends with us in our bed talking about how ridiculous this was. Then we sleep. I estimate that we walked around 10 miles and passed our hotel probably 3 or 4 times total. We jumped a fence, played with sprinklers, soaked ourselves, pissed on everything, pulled leaves and flowers off the trees and ran places for no reason. It was a great night.
We wake up this morning remembering that Hans left his flask at the taco bell where we sat down to eat. We travel around the city trying to find that damn taco bell again but of course it takes us forever. Eventually we find it and the flask is there. We get some mcdonalds, fill up on gas, and head out for the day. Pretty late start but it doesn’t really matter for what we are doing today. Since then we’ve been on the road to Yosemite. The driving isn’t bad and the jokes of course keep rolling. If you can even call them jokes. We’ll be in Yosemite for a couple days then off to sanfran which is probably where ill be able to post this. Til then, so long gaiii boyss
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