Hello Everyone!
Hope things are going well with all. Hope you all enjoyed Courtney's blog post. I know I did! We had a great time with her and Lindsay and were definitely sad to see them go, but were pushing forward without them. Thanks for the great blog post and all the fun Courtney. See you in DC in a month or so! For all of you picture hounds who refuse to believe that were not just sitting home in NY making everything up (ahem, Shaunee), Courtney has also come through with a great photo album from the week she was with us. Enjoy it at http://picasaweb.google.com/cdouglas2. The rest of the photos will come at the end of the trip.
After the girls flew out from Phoenix, we beelined for the Grand Canyon. My dad told me that nothing really prepares you for just how vast and impressive it is, and I will second that statement. I mean, they tried their best to prepare you by calling it Grand, but I think a more fitting name would be "The Biggest and Most Impressive Thing You'll Ever See in Your Whole Life" Canyon. Much more fitting, and slips off the tongue just as well in my opinion. It really is just mind-boggingly impressive. We stayed for a couple of days, first checking out all the viewpoints on the South Rim. The second day we woke up at sunrise, which we saw come up over the Canyon's edge, another dream of mine fulfilled. After that, we made our way down into the canyon, going down 4000 feet in elevation and seven miles in distance to a bluff overlooking the Colorado River. As amazing as the views from the rims were, they pale in comparison to the feeling you get from standing down in the middle of the canyon. It was a truly breathtaking experience. If anyone ever makes it out to the Grand Canyon, it has to be seen from the inside. Its a grueling hike down into the Canyon floor, but its worth every step.
From the Grand Canyon, we went through Sedona, which is a small city comepletely encircled by incredibly beautiful red rock formation. This was basically Northern Arizona in a nutshell. The scenery is larger than anything Ive ever experienced, and its filled with these enormous Red Rocks everywhere you look. Truly spectucular, and oddly suspicious. How did these rocks form? They are just there, right in the middle of everything, without any explanation. If any geologists are reading this and could help us out with some explanation, Us two guys, and especially the Chevy, would be much obliged.
After a brief sojurn back into Phoenix for a great concert (Monsters of Folk, check them out theyre great), we headed up into the enormous Navajo reservation at the Northeast corner of Arizona. It was my first time on an Indian reservation, and I was a little nervous about it, but the people were all very friendly, and the scenery was again spectacular. We explored giant red cliffs with ancient Native American cliff society ruins that originatef over 1000 years ago, and drove through Monument Valley in Utah which was more incredible red rocks, and then ended in Canyon de Chelly, which can be described as a more accessible version of the Grand Canyon that is filled with Ancient cliff dwellings. After our trip through Big Red Rock Country, I can definitely understand why the Navajo believe that all life originated there. It is definitely the most unique, and maybe the most beautiful, thing that I have seen on the whole trip.
Anyway, were in New Mexico now, which Chris will fill you in on in a couple of days. Were heading east now, and theres only a month left, but we have some big plans for the last stretch, so stay tuned for more and more action.
Before I go, since I wont be making the next entry, Id like to wish a happy early 18th birthday to any little sisters of mine who may have their birthday in three days. Hope you have a great birthday Katy and hope you and Sarah are having a great time in Santa Cruz! Love you both!
Keep it real,
Nick
Monday, October 26, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Two Guys, Two Girls and A Chevy
Well the mystery blogger is here....Nick's cousin Courtney. I was lucky enough to join the boys and the chevy for a week of their trip with my friend Lindsay. This was our journey...
Although, I am supposed to pick up after Chris, I have to comment about our arrival in LA. We were greeted right as we left the terminal by two shaggy haired boys, I guess Chris was more shaggy than Nick but for how long Nick ever has his hair we might as well call it shaggy, and the cleanest Chevy I have even seen. I knew it was going to be a fabulous trip!
Ok, now on to my post...After our crazy time at Venice beach, we headed to Pasadena. One of my best friends just moved to Pasadena so I was very excited to visit her and everybody else was all too happy to have a free place to stay. That night we headed out to Old Pasadena to grab some dinner and drinks. It was great to catch up with my friend and catch up with the boys, although nothing special to comment on about LA.
After staying in our cramped quarters and many alarm clocks going off, the teachers were having a hard time parting with their routine, we loaded up the Chevy. The loading of the Chevy throughout the trip was a very funny experience. To give a visual, we had Nick taking everything out of the trunk to put everything back in, we had Chris saying, "I just don't think everything is going to fit" and Lindsay and I just trying to stay out of the way....everything always fit. For our drive down to San Diego I was behind the wheel, had to earn my keep on the trip. We headed out on Highway 1 where the views were great although the cloudiness was a bit of a bummer. On Highway 1 in Orange County we stopped at a great little restaurant for fish tacos, one of many fish tacos stops on the trip. The food was great and the sun came out, we were happy road trippers.
For the next three days our destination was my Grandma's in San Marcos, a city about 20 miles north of downtown San Diego. What would these boys have done without me? Luckily enough for me my Dad was also at my grandmas for the night. He was ready for some young company so after arrival we jumped back in the car and headed to the beach. It was a perfect Sunday evening. We had a few things we really wanted to accomplish in San Diego but most of the time we just went with the flow of things. We went to the San Diego Zoo which was a great time. We got to see so many of the animals d as the zoo is the perfect size to get around and even got a to see a few animals in action. It was fun being a kid at the zoo, again. We got dinner downtown that night, the food was great and nice to spend some time outside of the retirement community, not that I ever would complain about our fabulous accommodations. Being in San Diego we had to make it to the beach and got IN the water even though the forecast was a high of 70. Three of us got in and Linds sat huddled under layers of towels. After we came to our senses, we headed out for another lunch of fish tacos at a fav San Diego restaurant, the Brigintine. Our last night was spent hanging out with my grandma, cooking out and preparing for our next part of the journey. Although Nunum is not a blog reader, nor Internet goer, I must give her a shout out for the cozy beds and wonderful aussie bites.
The next morning we loaded up the Chevy, and I was behind the wheel again as we headed for our next stop, Tucson. The drive was really great going through mountains which changed into the desert but it was certainly an adjustment from driving the Civic. Nick was a little on edge as Linds, and I were driving... It built character. For lunch we stopped in Yuma which looked a bit Wild West. The roadtrip book lead us to a great spot in Yuma. As we walked in someone was playing the piano and we knew then we were in the right spot. Lindsay took one for the team that meal and ordered the Lutes special, cheeseburger with hotdog on top. Her response was, "why haven't I thought of this before?" Back on the road and Lindsay behind the wheel.
Arriving in Tucson, we were all curious what we were in for but had heard great things. Our first meal was at restaurant that claimed to have started making mexican food as we know it. The meal was great and the beginning of the wonderful service that we had throughout our time in Tucson. After dinner we found a great spot near University of Arizona to hang out, people watch and play some Pac Man. Our next day was spent in Saguro National Park. We found a trail and headed off onto a massive area filled with Cacti that were taller than you could imagine. We found a few spots to sit and just enjoy the view of the mountains and the lack of people and buildings around us. From there we headed to Gates Pass which was touted as one of the best sunset spots around. Another mexican dinner and life was good.
On our last morning in Tucson we had a wonderful breakfast with the view of the mountains in the background. We all decided that Tucson was a really great city. The people were all very friendly, it has a very laid back feeling, lots of great food and the scenery is beautiful. What more could you ask for?
Back on the road and our next stop was Phoenix,with a quick a stop along the way...SKYDIVE ARIZONA!! I did not want to spoil earlier but we had decided the first day we HAD to go skydiving so there we were. Lindsay, Nick and I had no reservations but for those of you who don't know Chris he is very scared of heights. I have to say I am very impressed that he was all for it and even enjoyed it, I think. After a very short video that basically explained to us that we would be signing our life away, and then actually signing our life away we were ready to go. Our instructors called us up to get suited up. The girls were tough and stepped right in our harness, while the boys had to wear the skydiving suit. At this point we were in our instructors hands. The plane was full but we were the only tandem jumpers which was pretty cool, we were right in the plane with real skydivers, yes we were fakes. The ride up was amazing, and crazy to think that as high as we went up, we would be falling down. When we got to our altitude of 13,000 ft, the door opened and people starting jumping out. Lindsay was first for our group and I still have the image of Lindsay flying out of the plane, next was was me! Nick actually had a wait a bit as the plane was not at the correct altitude, probably too much time to think about what he was actually doing. After being lunged out of the plane, the free fall was an absolutely amazing feeling. I yelled a bit and the instructor would spin you around which was so cool. You are in free fall for about a minute and then they pull the parachute, except for Nick who pulled his own parachute, insane I know. Once the parachute was pulled, you were just hanging out in the sky. This was truly my favorite part which the others would disagree as they loved free fall, and Chris would completely disagree as this is where you realized how high you are. The instructor would spin you around and your feet were just dangling, and the views were amazing with mountains off in the distance. Once we landed I was shaking from the thrill. Each of us had the biggest smile and were just rambling about how awesome it was. A story and bond we will have forever.
Next stop was Phoenix. We didn't get to see much as I was told everything is really spread out but all we wanted to do at that point was lay by the pool. For our last night we had a nice dinner sitting outside and then just hanging out as we were getting a little sad to part ways, atleast I was, the boys could have been ready to get rid of us. The next morning we boarded the shuttle and headed back home to Washington D.C. I have to say thank you to Nick and Chris our fabulous road trip hosts. It was a perfect mix of beautiful scenery and wonderful company. Can't wait to see you on the D.C. part of the trip. I also hope I made you proud with my blog post!
xo
Courtney
Although, I am supposed to pick up after Chris, I have to comment about our arrival in LA. We were greeted right as we left the terminal by two shaggy haired boys, I guess Chris was more shaggy than Nick but for how long Nick ever has his hair we might as well call it shaggy, and the cleanest Chevy I have even seen. I knew it was going to be a fabulous trip!
Ok, now on to my post...After our crazy time at Venice beach, we headed to Pasadena. One of my best friends just moved to Pasadena so I was very excited to visit her and everybody else was all too happy to have a free place to stay. That night we headed out to Old Pasadena to grab some dinner and drinks. It was great to catch up with my friend and catch up with the boys, although nothing special to comment on about LA.
After staying in our cramped quarters and many alarm clocks going off, the teachers were having a hard time parting with their routine, we loaded up the Chevy. The loading of the Chevy throughout the trip was a very funny experience. To give a visual, we had Nick taking everything out of the trunk to put everything back in, we had Chris saying, "I just don't think everything is going to fit" and Lindsay and I just trying to stay out of the way....everything always fit. For our drive down to San Diego I was behind the wheel, had to earn my keep on the trip. We headed out on Highway 1 where the views were great although the cloudiness was a bit of a bummer. On Highway 1 in Orange County we stopped at a great little restaurant for fish tacos, one of many fish tacos stops on the trip. The food was great and the sun came out, we were happy road trippers.
For the next three days our destination was my Grandma's in San Marcos, a city about 20 miles north of downtown San Diego. What would these boys have done without me? Luckily enough for me my Dad was also at my grandmas for the night. He was ready for some young company so after arrival we jumped back in the car and headed to the beach. It was a perfect Sunday evening. We had a few things we really wanted to accomplish in San Diego but most of the time we just went with the flow of things. We went to the San Diego Zoo which was a great time. We got to see so many of the animals d as the zoo is the perfect size to get around and even got a to see a few animals in action. It was fun being a kid at the zoo, again. We got dinner downtown that night, the food was great and nice to spend some time outside of the retirement community, not that I ever would complain about our fabulous accommodations. Being in San Diego we had to make it to the beach and got IN the water even though the forecast was a high of 70. Three of us got in and Linds sat huddled under layers of towels. After we came to our senses, we headed out for another lunch of fish tacos at a fav San Diego restaurant, the Brigintine. Our last night was spent hanging out with my grandma, cooking out and preparing for our next part of the journey. Although Nunum is not a blog reader, nor Internet goer, I must give her a shout out for the cozy beds and wonderful aussie bites.
The next morning we loaded up the Chevy, and I was behind the wheel again as we headed for our next stop, Tucson. The drive was really great going through mountains which changed into the desert but it was certainly an adjustment from driving the Civic. Nick was a little on edge as Linds, and I were driving... It built character. For lunch we stopped in Yuma which looked a bit Wild West. The roadtrip book lead us to a great spot in Yuma. As we walked in someone was playing the piano and we knew then we were in the right spot. Lindsay took one for the team that meal and ordered the Lutes special, cheeseburger with hotdog on top. Her response was, "why haven't I thought of this before?" Back on the road and Lindsay behind the wheel.
Arriving in Tucson, we were all curious what we were in for but had heard great things. Our first meal was at restaurant that claimed to have started making mexican food as we know it. The meal was great and the beginning of the wonderful service that we had throughout our time in Tucson. After dinner we found a great spot near University of Arizona to hang out, people watch and play some Pac Man. Our next day was spent in Saguro National Park. We found a trail and headed off onto a massive area filled with Cacti that were taller than you could imagine. We found a few spots to sit and just enjoy the view of the mountains and the lack of people and buildings around us. From there we headed to Gates Pass which was touted as one of the best sunset spots around. Another mexican dinner and life was good.
On our last morning in Tucson we had a wonderful breakfast with the view of the mountains in the background. We all decided that Tucson was a really great city. The people were all very friendly, it has a very laid back feeling, lots of great food and the scenery is beautiful. What more could you ask for?
Back on the road and our next stop was Phoenix,with a quick a stop along the way...SKYDIVE ARIZONA!! I did not want to spoil earlier but we had decided the first day we HAD to go skydiving so there we were. Lindsay, Nick and I had no reservations but for those of you who don't know Chris he is very scared of heights. I have to say I am very impressed that he was all for it and even enjoyed it, I think. After a very short video that basically explained to us that we would be signing our life away, and then actually signing our life away we were ready to go. Our instructors called us up to get suited up. The girls were tough and stepped right in our harness, while the boys had to wear the skydiving suit. At this point we were in our instructors hands. The plane was full but we were the only tandem jumpers which was pretty cool, we were right in the plane with real skydivers, yes we were fakes. The ride up was amazing, and crazy to think that as high as we went up, we would be falling down. When we got to our altitude of 13,000 ft, the door opened and people starting jumping out. Lindsay was first for our group and I still have the image of Lindsay flying out of the plane, next was was me! Nick actually had a wait a bit as the plane was not at the correct altitude, probably too much time to think about what he was actually doing. After being lunged out of the plane, the free fall was an absolutely amazing feeling. I yelled a bit and the instructor would spin you around which was so cool. You are in free fall for about a minute and then they pull the parachute, except for Nick who pulled his own parachute, insane I know. Once the parachute was pulled, you were just hanging out in the sky. This was truly my favorite part which the others would disagree as they loved free fall, and Chris would completely disagree as this is where you realized how high you are. The instructor would spin you around and your feet were just dangling, and the views were amazing with mountains off in the distance. Once we landed I was shaking from the thrill. Each of us had the biggest smile and were just rambling about how awesome it was. A story and bond we will have forever.
Next stop was Phoenix. We didn't get to see much as I was told everything is really spread out but all we wanted to do at that point was lay by the pool. For our last night we had a nice dinner sitting outside and then just hanging out as we were getting a little sad to part ways, atleast I was, the boys could have been ready to get rid of us. The next morning we boarded the shuttle and headed back home to Washington D.C. I have to say thank you to Nick and Chris our fabulous road trip hosts. It was a perfect mix of beautiful scenery and wonderful company. Can't wait to see you on the D.C. part of the trip. I also hope I made you proud with my blog post!
xo
Courtney
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Straight West Coastin Pt. 2
Note: We double posted again. Nick's is below.
Rewinding to about a week and a half ago, we left Santa Cruz with our new travelling companion, one Shannon Raison, and headed down the pacific coast highway through the area known as Big Sur. Now, all through California, everyone we talked to told us about how spectacular Big Sur was and how we had to see it. But noone really explained to us what it was. I mean Big Sur kind of sounds like an object not an area don't ya think? Turns out it's just the most magnificent coastline ever, anywhere. You know all those car commercials with the rolling hills and the winding road and the ocean and the gigantic rock outcrops? That's big sur. We found a great campsite on a cliff overlooking the ocean that was totally empty and Shannon gave us a bit of a crash course in camp cooking with her hand dandy backpack sized gas stove. The next day we continued on our drive to Los Angeles seeing slightly less magnificent coastline. We also had another fantastic wildlife encounter. As we were driving Shannon spotted this beach full of grey blobs and we stumbled onto about 100 elephant seals lieing around in the sun, belly flopping out of the water and onto shore and even getting into tussles with each other. Yes hormones were running high among the bulls as it was mating season. Probably the most otherworldly creatures I've ever seen. Just these big ole fat things being lazy and scratching themselves with their half fin half hands and yawning. Hilarious, and spectacularly ugly.
We dropped off Shannon in Santa Barbera so that she could catch a bus back up the coast and made our way through malibu and into Santa Monica where we were staying. The next day we woke up bright and early and headed over to universal studios in order to get tickets for the tonight show. Turned out the backstreet boys were performing and most of the other people in line were girls about our age behaving like hysterical teenagers. The two girls in front of us sporting matching BSB track jackets were quite proud to inform us of every Backstreet Boys event they'd ever attended. Anyways, the tonight show itself was amazing. Conan is twice as funny live. He does a great job of roping in his audience and making them laugh at even his least funny jokes. Christian Slater was his main guest and was a bit of a bore but NASCAR champion Jimmy Johnson seemed like a great dude and got some good banter going. He then raced Conan around the lot in golf carts. The backstreet Boys were actually kind of really good live. I've never seen a boy band perform in person before but I've got to say there's something really entertaining about the choreographed dancing, the male vocal harmonies and the impassioned solos. Is it too late for me to start my own??? We headed down to the Santa Monica Pier that night, which unfortunately was a little bit dead but it was cool to see the Ferris wheel and the coastal view of Los Angeles at night.
The next morning we had a culinary experience like nothing else. Chicken and Waffles. Roscoe's house thereof, to be exact. Fried chicken accompanied by waffles is mindblowing and belly filling. It's one of those ungodly seeming combinations that comes together for pure bliss in your mouth. You kind of sit there and go back and forth between the two, each being so good you can't choose which you prefer. You eat the chicken for a bit and totally forget about the waffles and then you're all like "O YA! there's waffles!" and you go back to shoving those fluffy cinnamon treats into your mouth until its strikes you that the chicken on your plate is being neglected. And don't even get me started on what happens when you "accidentally" get some syrup on the chicken. We went on the warner bros lot tour that afternoon saw a bunch of really cool sets, including the coffee shop from friends and the stock city street used in EVERY movie. Oddly enough the only celebrity we saw was Christian Slater who we saw the day before on Conan. I feel drawn to him.
The next morning we picked up Nick's cousin Courtney and her friend Lindsay at the airport and headed down to Venice beach, perhaps the people watching capitol of the world. Just the strangest people selling everything from t-shirts to freak shows to magic wands (no joke). A basketball court (made famous by White Men can't Jump) where they do more arguing than playing and a skate park so packed you can barely move. There was a dude in an american flag speedo two sizes to small and another who could ride his bike standing on his handle bars. There were hippie vans covered in pigeons, and lawn furniture and children's slides. There were drum circles and boardwalk food and tourists and locals all mingling in the coolest strangest human hodge podge I've ever been a part of. A big thank you to Nick's aunt Gina for her hospitality in Santa Monica. We are in Tuscon right now and were in San Diego before but I'll leave that to our "mystery" guest blogger next week.
Don't keep it too real,
Chris
Rewinding to about a week and a half ago, we left Santa Cruz with our new travelling companion, one Shannon Raison, and headed down the pacific coast highway through the area known as Big Sur. Now, all through California, everyone we talked to told us about how spectacular Big Sur was and how we had to see it. But noone really explained to us what it was. I mean Big Sur kind of sounds like an object not an area don't ya think? Turns out it's just the most magnificent coastline ever, anywhere. You know all those car commercials with the rolling hills and the winding road and the ocean and the gigantic rock outcrops? That's big sur. We found a great campsite on a cliff overlooking the ocean that was totally empty and Shannon gave us a bit of a crash course in camp cooking with her hand dandy backpack sized gas stove. The next day we continued on our drive to Los Angeles seeing slightly less magnificent coastline. We also had another fantastic wildlife encounter. As we were driving Shannon spotted this beach full of grey blobs and we stumbled onto about 100 elephant seals lieing around in the sun, belly flopping out of the water and onto shore and even getting into tussles with each other. Yes hormones were running high among the bulls as it was mating season. Probably the most otherworldly creatures I've ever seen. Just these big ole fat things being lazy and scratching themselves with their half fin half hands and yawning. Hilarious, and spectacularly ugly.
We dropped off Shannon in Santa Barbera so that she could catch a bus back up the coast and made our way through malibu and into Santa Monica where we were staying. The next day we woke up bright and early and headed over to universal studios in order to get tickets for the tonight show. Turned out the backstreet boys were performing and most of the other people in line were girls about our age behaving like hysterical teenagers. The two girls in front of us sporting matching BSB track jackets were quite proud to inform us of every Backstreet Boys event they'd ever attended. Anyways, the tonight show itself was amazing. Conan is twice as funny live. He does a great job of roping in his audience and making them laugh at even his least funny jokes. Christian Slater was his main guest and was a bit of a bore but NASCAR champion Jimmy Johnson seemed like a great dude and got some good banter going. He then raced Conan around the lot in golf carts. The backstreet Boys were actually kind of really good live. I've never seen a boy band perform in person before but I've got to say there's something really entertaining about the choreographed dancing, the male vocal harmonies and the impassioned solos. Is it too late for me to start my own??? We headed down to the Santa Monica Pier that night, which unfortunately was a little bit dead but it was cool to see the Ferris wheel and the coastal view of Los Angeles at night.
The next morning we had a culinary experience like nothing else. Chicken and Waffles. Roscoe's house thereof, to be exact. Fried chicken accompanied by waffles is mindblowing and belly filling. It's one of those ungodly seeming combinations that comes together for pure bliss in your mouth. You kind of sit there and go back and forth between the two, each being so good you can't choose which you prefer. You eat the chicken for a bit and totally forget about the waffles and then you're all like "O YA! there's waffles!" and you go back to shoving those fluffy cinnamon treats into your mouth until its strikes you that the chicken on your plate is being neglected. And don't even get me started on what happens when you "accidentally" get some syrup on the chicken. We went on the warner bros lot tour that afternoon saw a bunch of really cool sets, including the coffee shop from friends and the stock city street used in EVERY movie. Oddly enough the only celebrity we saw was Christian Slater who we saw the day before on Conan. I feel drawn to him.
The next morning we picked up Nick's cousin Courtney and her friend Lindsay at the airport and headed down to Venice beach, perhaps the people watching capitol of the world. Just the strangest people selling everything from t-shirts to freak shows to magic wands (no joke). A basketball court (made famous by White Men can't Jump) where they do more arguing than playing and a skate park so packed you can barely move. There was a dude in an american flag speedo two sizes to small and another who could ride his bike standing on his handle bars. There were hippie vans covered in pigeons, and lawn furniture and children's slides. There were drum circles and boardwalk food and tourists and locals all mingling in the coolest strangest human hodge podge I've ever been a part of. A big thank you to Nick's aunt Gina for her hospitality in Santa Monica. We are in Tuscon right now and were in San Diego before but I'll leave that to our "mystery" guest blogger next week.
Don't keep it too real,
Chris
Straight West Coastin
Hello Everybody!!
Sorry for the massive delay in blogging, weve been very busy enjoying the California weather and only just got around to getting to a library. Its very hard to think about blogging when youre so relaxed. Because of the long time between posts, were gonna do another splitsies. Im going to tell you all about our Bay Area and Santa Cruz times, and Chris will fill you in on our Big Sur and Los Angeles escapades (Just for a small preview, Christian Slater was involved multiple times, but thats all ill say now).
After a beautiful drive down the California coast and some amazing Pacific views, we entered the Bay Area by way of the Golden Gate Bridge. We could have gotten to my Aunt Debbies place in Oakland much quicker by avoiding it, but it was definitely worth the detour, and the six dollar toll. After spending a day in Oakland walking around and enjoying the beautiful weather that is significantly hotter than San Francisco even though its only right across the bay, we ventured into San Fran for a day of some good old fashioned touristing, Two Guys and a Chevy Style (actually the Chevy stayed in Oakland in a primo parking spot that it didnt want to give up. Lazy Chevy!)
We walked from downtown all the way to the waterfront, passing through Chinatown and Little Italy. From there we went on the Alcatraz tour, which was one of the only things I didnt do the last time I was in San Fran. It had come highly recommended from multiple sources and definitely lived up to its billing. I even almost got to rid myself of Chris by locking him in solitary containment and quietly slipping back on the boat (To my great surprise though he escaped and braved the icy waters with some help from Nicolas Cage and Sean Connery and somehow found his way back to San Fran by the time my boat got back to shore.) We then took the most exhilariting Trolley Car ride up and down the hills of the city hanging off the side of one of the cars. It was actually an amazingly fun time, and went much faster and smoother than we expected.
We spent the next couple days in the Haight area with all the former hippies and Dead-heads, exploring the city a little bit. Then on Saturday we somehow stumbled upon a giant free Bluegrass festival in Golden Gate park where we got to see some great shows and tons of Steve Earle, who I had never seen live before. He had a headlining set with a small bluegrass band. They were all crowded around one microphone and the wind was swirling around everywhere, and they just brought the house down. Very Epic.
The next day the Two Guys, the Chevy, and our friend Shannon, who we met up with in San Francisco, drove down to Santa Cruz to meet up with everyones favorite new Californian, Katy Tosh! Shes a freshman at UC Santa Cruz, which is this incredible school built right in the middle of the redwood forest on a bluff overlooking the ocean. That sounds like its too good to be true, but its not. Its very real and very idylic. Katy really did a hell of a job choosing her college. And to think I spent the last four years trudging through the coldest place in the world when I could have been beaching it and redwooding it in sunny California. (Im just kidding Montreal, you know I love you!)
We had a great time in Santa Cruz reliving our freshman year experiences for a few days, down to staying in a dorm room and eating caf food. I have to say, it made me a little nostalgic for the good old days. (Not that my life is too shabby right now). For those who are concerned, Katy is doing great in Santa Cruz, she has a great new group of friends, and has seamlessly adapted to her new forest life, not that anyone expected any different.
Before I finish, id like to give special thanks to Debbie, Natalie and AJ, and the best little sister anyone could ask for, Katy, for their great hospitality in the Bay area and Santa Cruz. Hopefully we were as good guests as you guys were host. Much love to all of you!
Anyway, I gotta go now, be sure to check Chris' post too, which is on top of this one, and check back in a couple days for a special guest post (and its not the Chevy!)
Keep it real everyone!
Nick
Sorry for the massive delay in blogging, weve been very busy enjoying the California weather and only just got around to getting to a library. Its very hard to think about blogging when youre so relaxed. Because of the long time between posts, were gonna do another splitsies. Im going to tell you all about our Bay Area and Santa Cruz times, and Chris will fill you in on our Big Sur and Los Angeles escapades (Just for a small preview, Christian Slater was involved multiple times, but thats all ill say now).
After a beautiful drive down the California coast and some amazing Pacific views, we entered the Bay Area by way of the Golden Gate Bridge. We could have gotten to my Aunt Debbies place in Oakland much quicker by avoiding it, but it was definitely worth the detour, and the six dollar toll. After spending a day in Oakland walking around and enjoying the beautiful weather that is significantly hotter than San Francisco even though its only right across the bay, we ventured into San Fran for a day of some good old fashioned touristing, Two Guys and a Chevy Style (actually the Chevy stayed in Oakland in a primo parking spot that it didnt want to give up. Lazy Chevy!)
We walked from downtown all the way to the waterfront, passing through Chinatown and Little Italy. From there we went on the Alcatraz tour, which was one of the only things I didnt do the last time I was in San Fran. It had come highly recommended from multiple sources and definitely lived up to its billing. I even almost got to rid myself of Chris by locking him in solitary containment and quietly slipping back on the boat (To my great surprise though he escaped and braved the icy waters with some help from Nicolas Cage and Sean Connery and somehow found his way back to San Fran by the time my boat got back to shore.) We then took the most exhilariting Trolley Car ride up and down the hills of the city hanging off the side of one of the cars. It was actually an amazingly fun time, and went much faster and smoother than we expected.
We spent the next couple days in the Haight area with all the former hippies and Dead-heads, exploring the city a little bit. Then on Saturday we somehow stumbled upon a giant free Bluegrass festival in Golden Gate park where we got to see some great shows and tons of Steve Earle, who I had never seen live before. He had a headlining set with a small bluegrass band. They were all crowded around one microphone and the wind was swirling around everywhere, and they just brought the house down. Very Epic.
The next day the Two Guys, the Chevy, and our friend Shannon, who we met up with in San Francisco, drove down to Santa Cruz to meet up with everyones favorite new Californian, Katy Tosh! Shes a freshman at UC Santa Cruz, which is this incredible school built right in the middle of the redwood forest on a bluff overlooking the ocean. That sounds like its too good to be true, but its not. Its very real and very idylic. Katy really did a hell of a job choosing her college. And to think I spent the last four years trudging through the coldest place in the world when I could have been beaching it and redwooding it in sunny California. (Im just kidding Montreal, you know I love you!)
We had a great time in Santa Cruz reliving our freshman year experiences for a few days, down to staying in a dorm room and eating caf food. I have to say, it made me a little nostalgic for the good old days. (Not that my life is too shabby right now). For those who are concerned, Katy is doing great in Santa Cruz, she has a great new group of friends, and has seamlessly adapted to her new forest life, not that anyone expected any different.
Before I finish, id like to give special thanks to Debbie, Natalie and AJ, and the best little sister anyone could ask for, Katy, for their great hospitality in the Bay area and Santa Cruz. Hopefully we were as good guests as you guys were host. Much love to all of you!
Anyway, I gotta go now, be sure to check Chris' post too, which is on top of this one, and check back in a couple days for a special guest post (and its not the Chevy!)
Keep it real everyone!
Nick
Thursday, October 1, 2009
All things considered
Ok, first off, what Nick said about Canadians coming up for air is a little bit (a lot bit) true. America, while a beautiful country with the friendliest of people and most fattening of foods, in large doses, can be overwhelming for a Canadian. There's something about identical endless stretches of fast food chains and discount department stores in every single small town that just creeps me out a little bit. Why can't we just stick a Tim Hortons next to a zellers and be done with it? And how can so many people talk so much about sports and yet neglect to mention the only one that's worth its weight in ice? I mean sure it's cool to analyze every step (and misstep) that lead to University of Washington upsetting USC (you know you've been in America for a long time when you can make a single college football reference) but what about legions of non-Sid, Al, or Evs who toil on third and fourth lines across the country in complete anonymity? Poor Jordin Tootoo has to bum around Nashville all his life, only ever getting recognized once when some explorer full of recent McGill grads runs in to him at a random bar. It just ain't fair. To be honest, the bay area is actually a hot spot for hockey. They love their sharks here. They're all over the radio and I've even seen at least three people repping Marleau and Co. on their T-shirts.
My favourite thing about America so far is NPR(national public radio). I can't get enough of it. I had a bit of passing flirt with the station this summer when a friend recommended that I listen to "this American life" on the interweb. But after listening to hours of top notch news programming, and cultural analysis, the flirt has become a full on romance or at least a fall fling. It's refreshing for a Canadian, who has been brought up on a fairly heavy dose of inferiority complex-fueled condascension towards americans and their value system(this bringing up was not by my parents but by Canadian Culture in general), to hear a constant barage of such level-headed rational political and social analysis. And everyone's voice is so damn soothing. SUch a pleasure to listen to.
So ya, the trip. We got to Vancouver a week ago and spent three days there. Special thanks to Katherine who showed us around the city one day. Taking us to the sea wall, stanley park, Grandville Island market, and her home neighbourhood of Shaugnessy. Vancouver is such a pristine and beautiful place. It's kind of hard to fathom that it's a city and not some protected national monument made to be an idealized replica of a city. We stayed with our good buddy Matt Charleton who has a 26th floor downtown apartment with a spectacular view. Matt threw a housewarming party which was most definately NOT a sausage-fest (please excuse the vulgar imagery of this term, I swear it's common parlance among the youth of today.) Matt also took us up the grouse gind. A 2km hike straight up stairs. Nick and I were all like yo 2km that's nothing. We been hiking like 17km a day, yowhatever, we got endurance. An hour and twenty minutes and several rest stops later, we reached the top of grouse out of breath. I could barely muster enough energy to take a pic of the incredible view of the Couv. That same night we hunkered back over to North Van for dinner with the Winstanley family. Thanks to Dianne for a delicious pacific salmon meal.
The only part of vancouver that was a little unimpressive was the nightlife. I mean it was cool and ritzy and chichi (or chachi according to monsieur Charle-ton). But like what up with BC liquor prices yall? 7 bucks for domestic taps and 27 for a 12 at the beer store. And not a dive in sight? Maybe we were just in the wrong neighbourhood.
Oh ya I had my first brush with celebrity in Vancouver. I was walking down the street when this way-to-well-dressed to be a crack-head, but crack-head looking nonetheless, with his hood up and his scraggly beard and bushy eyebrows and messed up hair, is staring me down as he walks past me (probably daring me to recognize him). I didn't recognize the guy, but one of the dudes we were with, turned around two minutes later and exclaimed hat we had just seen Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. I don't rightly know who exactly these people are so I can't verify that this story is 100% true but the dude was 99% and I later picked out the crack-head from a lineup on the cover of some ragmag. Pattinson is not a good looking gentleman. Let me reitirate, he looks like a bum.
We left the Couv, Sunday morning, heading down the coast . We camped in Oregon and then met the pacific coast Highway the next morning. Hwhat a view! Magnificent! and it only gets better as you head south. We camped near a beach in the redwoods, and then headed out to the central attraction of the redwoods, the avenue of the giants, a 37 mile stretch of the biggest trees in the forest (some say the world!) The best way to describe the redwoods is that it looks exactly like the forest moon of endor. Mostly because the redwoods were the location for the forest scenes from return of the Jedi. Nick wanted to re-enact the movie but I refused to put on the ewok costume that Nick keeps in his glove compartment for just such an occasion (don't ask). Seriously, though, these trees are ridiculus. Some of the biggest are about 350 feet and you can't even come close to seeing the top. The trunks are like 15 feet thick. And there are bunch that have fallen (having produced zero noise as there was noone there to hear them hardiharhar). You can see the underside of there roots. Like looking into another world. We drove down through northern california (surprisingly less commercialized than the oregon coast) taking the windy hilly coastal highway. The views and the ocean air, and the azure shallows. Yikes! most beautiful scenery I've ever seen? Quite possibly.
-end transmission-
My favourite thing about America so far is NPR(national public radio). I can't get enough of it. I had a bit of passing flirt with the station this summer when a friend recommended that I listen to "this American life" on the interweb. But after listening to hours of top notch news programming, and cultural analysis, the flirt has become a full on romance or at least a fall fling. It's refreshing for a Canadian, who has been brought up on a fairly heavy dose of inferiority complex-fueled condascension towards americans and their value system(this bringing up was not by my parents but by Canadian Culture in general), to hear a constant barage of such level-headed rational political and social analysis. And everyone's voice is so damn soothing. SUch a pleasure to listen to.
So ya, the trip. We got to Vancouver a week ago and spent three days there. Special thanks to Katherine who showed us around the city one day. Taking us to the sea wall, stanley park, Grandville Island market, and her home neighbourhood of Shaugnessy. Vancouver is such a pristine and beautiful place. It's kind of hard to fathom that it's a city and not some protected national monument made to be an idealized replica of a city. We stayed with our good buddy Matt Charleton who has a 26th floor downtown apartment with a spectacular view. Matt threw a housewarming party which was most definately NOT a sausage-fest (please excuse the vulgar imagery of this term, I swear it's common parlance among the youth of today.) Matt also took us up the grouse gind. A 2km hike straight up stairs. Nick and I were all like yo 2km that's nothing. We been hiking like 17km a day, yowhatever, we got endurance. An hour and twenty minutes and several rest stops later, we reached the top of grouse out of breath. I could barely muster enough energy to take a pic of the incredible view of the Couv. That same night we hunkered back over to North Van for dinner with the Winstanley family. Thanks to Dianne for a delicious pacific salmon meal.
The only part of vancouver that was a little unimpressive was the nightlife. I mean it was cool and ritzy and chichi (or chachi according to monsieur Charle-ton). But like what up with BC liquor prices yall? 7 bucks for domestic taps and 27 for a 12 at the beer store. And not a dive in sight? Maybe we were just in the wrong neighbourhood.
Oh ya I had my first brush with celebrity in Vancouver. I was walking down the street when this way-to-well-dressed to be a crack-head, but crack-head looking nonetheless, with his hood up and his scraggly beard and bushy eyebrows and messed up hair, is staring me down as he walks past me (probably daring me to recognize him). I didn't recognize the guy, but one of the dudes we were with, turned around two minutes later and exclaimed hat we had just seen Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. I don't rightly know who exactly these people are so I can't verify that this story is 100% true but the dude was 99% and I later picked out the crack-head from a lineup on the cover of some ragmag. Pattinson is not a good looking gentleman. Let me reitirate, he looks like a bum.
We left the Couv, Sunday morning, heading down the coast . We camped in Oregon and then met the pacific coast Highway the next morning. Hwhat a view! Magnificent! and it only gets better as you head south. We camped near a beach in the redwoods, and then headed out to the central attraction of the redwoods, the avenue of the giants, a 37 mile stretch of the biggest trees in the forest (some say the world!) The best way to describe the redwoods is that it looks exactly like the forest moon of endor. Mostly because the redwoods were the location for the forest scenes from return of the Jedi. Nick wanted to re-enact the movie but I refused to put on the ewok costume that Nick keeps in his glove compartment for just such an occasion (don't ask). Seriously, though, these trees are ridiculus. Some of the biggest are about 350 feet and you can't even come close to seeing the top. The trunks are like 15 feet thick. And there are bunch that have fallen (having produced zero noise as there was noone there to hear them hardiharhar). You can see the underside of there roots. Like looking into another world. We drove down through northern california (surprisingly less commercialized than the oregon coast) taking the windy hilly coastal highway. The views and the ocean air, and the azure shallows. Yikes! most beautiful scenery I've ever seen? Quite possibly.
-end transmission-
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)