Upon leaving Vegas, half rested and broke, we drove up route 15 for 3 hours to Zion National Park. We flashed the National Parks pass at the entrance for the last time on this trip. We went to the campsite and found a place just before it filled up for the night. After asking at the visitor’s center for a place to swim, we took the shuttle up the canyon to the end, hiked up the path and then climbed into the river. We walked up river for a while taking pictures of the sun setting beyond the cliffs of the canyon and watching rock climbers rappel down at then end of their day of climbing. As it started to get dark, we realized we lost an hour somewhere along the drive, entering the Mountain Time Zone without even knowing it. They should have signs for that or something.
We drove out of the park and into the nearby town to get some fixings for dinner. While attempting to purchase mac & cheese, bagels and 4 Pabst tall boys, I got harassed by the 16 year old, emo, cashier at the market. He claimed my ID, containing my picture of when I was 16, looked fake and not like me. After arguing, the girl on the other register looked at my ID and sold us the beer. Is PBR really worth that hassle? Doubtful.
We cooked a monster of a meal, sat by the fire and looked up at the stars all night. It was quite the romantic evening. We crawled into the tent with the intention of waking up early for a hike before the day got to hot, but plans quickly changed. At about 1 am the wind began to pick up to near hurricane force gusts. The ground at the campsite was too hard and dry to put tent stakes in and the addition of suitcases to the interior was a feeble attempt at holding down the fort. The wind would gust every few minutes, catching the side of the tent like a sail and lifting up the edge. Even 2 suitcases on that side couldn’t prevent the tent from flapping and moving and causing restless nights for both of the journeymen. At 7 when the alarm went off and we had barely slept a wink, we decided to postpone the hike for a few extra hours of sleep, as the wind was just dying down.
When we did awake the southern Utah heat was in full force as it was nearly 100 degrees already. Not discouraged, we had breakfast, made sandwiches and headed out for Angel’s Landing. The hike is a very challenging 5 mile round trip, gaining serious elevation and ending with half a mile of rock faces with chains to help the climb. We got to the top, and took in the incredible view of the entire canyon. Red sandstone at the bottom of the cliffs and white at the tops. At parts of the hike the path was 4 feet wide with over 1000ft drops on both sides! It was an incredible hike with great views, rivaling that of Half Dome. After descending and hopping in the river to cool off, we ate lunch and passed out on the lawn of the Zion lodge. We awoke an hour later to a high school group dancing around us in preparation for a show.
That night we got dinner in town and found a internet café that would let us sit outside, charge my computer and use our own internet. Count it! Around 1 am again the wind picked up, leaving us with little sleep and lots of frustration. I guess it was a bonus that our tent didn’t blow away this time. That morning we hit the road for a long driving to Dtown. Destination: Casa de Pearson.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Vegas Baby, Vegas
The city of lights, the city of love, Sin city, the city that Elvis built…whatever you want to call it, Vegas never disappoints. Pete and I almost did not make it to Vegas because we were late leaving the Curhan’s (it’s hard to leave that Curhan hospitality) and we were warned of some bad traffic heading in the Vegas direction. We had the penthouse suite in the Luxor reserved for us that night at an eye-popping price of $75, so not wanting to pass that up, we decided to go for it and head to the city. Our Vegas good luck karma began early in the drive when the traffic broke up quickly and the roads opened up before us, just begging for us to do over 100 mph the whole way there. The drive was actually pretty cool because we went through endless miles of fruit/nut farms that are rather impressive when you think of what it would take to harvest all of the crops and how ridiculously hot is was…at 8 o’clock it was still 99 degrees!! The last two hours of the ride were awesome because we saw a sweet sunset and we were just anticipating the night. Seeing Vegas never gets old…we got super amped driving down the highway through Vegas to the Luxor…it just felt like it was going to be a sweet night. We got our room and showered the stank off and took a few pregame rounds in the room before we hit the strip. The gambling began at the Excalibur…they were the only casino with $5 blackjack tables. It looked like all the card counting and hand signals we went over in car paid off, because we both left that palace with some heavier pockets. From there we casino hopped around the strip…even on a Sunday night, the place was still bumping. Unfortunately the fountain show wasn’t happening at the Bellagio, but we checked out casino. The bellagio is sick…everything about it so luxurious and extravagant. Anyways, we sat down at a table and were dealt some good cards by our dealer Marc…turns out were fleecing them of a little too much money, so they brought in a closer and the table went cold. No matter….we finished our drinks (lost count of those by now) and moved on down the strip. On our way through Caesar’s Palace some people were advertising the club Pure and we got a couple free cover-charge passes to the club…The place was still bumping when we got there around 2…it was pretty sick because it was on a mid-level patio in Caesar’s overlooking the strip. A few more drinks there and a little more gambling in Caesar’s and we were walking back to our room with the hot vegas sun rising on us…at that point we had to check out of our hotel in 4 hours so we decided that we should be “safe” and stay another day to get some more sleep.
The next day (or same day however you look at it) we checked out the Hoover dam. Pretty damn cool dam, although they were charging money to check out the danm dam visitor center. It was all probably for the better because it was 1000 degrees outside and we were close to passing out. That night was much of the same….oh vegas. All in all, we got married and divorced 3 different times, almost saw George Michaels in concert, saw Charles Barkley in horrible disguise at the blackjack tables and ended up breaking even…or something like that.
We’re almost to Denver…I gotta say it looks mighty flat out here. I thought the rockies would be a lot rockier…that John Denver was full of shit. We’re gonna see Jake again and Riggins (Howard) for a couple nights of Denver fun…till next time
--Moose Dropping
The next day (or same day however you look at it) we checked out the Hoover dam. Pretty damn cool dam, although they were charging money to check out the danm dam visitor center. It was all probably for the better because it was 1000 degrees outside and we were close to passing out. That night was much of the same….oh vegas. All in all, we got married and divorced 3 different times, almost saw George Michaels in concert, saw Charles Barkley in horrible disguise at the blackjack tables and ended up breaking even…or something like that.
We’re almost to Denver…I gotta say it looks mighty flat out here. I thought the rockies would be a lot rockier…that John Denver was full of shit. We’re gonna see Jake again and Riggins (Howard) for a couple nights of Denver fun…till next time
--Moose Dropping
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
I know the sun's still shinin' when I close my eyes...
All right I guess I’ll write my final post now since I’ve put it off for a couple days.
Half Dome: Quite the trek. We proudly awoke at 5:30 AM Wednesday morning only to see that about half our campsite was already awake as well. We quickly prepared our things, kissed Jake and his sister goodbye (they were still asleep) and drove up to Glacier Point. We had planned out the hike so that we would go up one way and descend another and take a bus the next morning to get the car. These plans certainly shocked our site-mates who seemed surprised to see we did our research. CLEARLY they underestimated our hiking prowess. We filled up our single liter water bottles and left.
Nice morning. Pretty cool up at Glacier Point as we started our hike. The first part of our hike was mostly downhill so we covered a lot of ground quickly and stopped for a riverside breakfast of bagels and nuts. We cruised up our first elevation gain towards Nevada Falls passing by a father and his two kids, whose ages were probably 7 and 9. “Where you guys headed,” he asked. “Half Dome,” we replied. “Ah yes, us too. See you up there.” And we thought we were so tough.
We made it up to the final ascension at about 11:30 I think? It had been fairly grueling but a really good hike with some awesome views and a lot of shade. We made it to the top of the mini dome going up a bunch of steep stone steps and looked up at the cables getting excited to climb. We decided we couldn’t look at them any more and just had to do it so we went for it.
So there are two cables maybe three feet apart held down by poles that are stuck in the rock (not secured) and there are two-by-fours to step on every five feet-ish (except for the ones that are missing). The ascent is fairly vertical, probably 75 or 80 degrees. We were going up slowly because of the masses of people and suddenly the woman in front of me started panicking and crying that she couldn’t do it because her shoes were slipping. Well she turned around to go down and slipped towards me. Not exactly what I needed—and then somebody dropped a couple water bottles that clattered down over the side falling thousands of feet. We did our best to stay focused and continued up. It took an hour to get to the top. By far the worst part was waiting to move and just standing there on the side of the rock. If we had been moving the whole time it would’ve taken probably fifteen minutes. But no matter, we lived, and relaxed at the top, called people (we got phone service) and eating and drinking (whatever we had left) and taking pictures.
We took our time on the way down, stopping to swim at a river and taking lots of pictures. We still passed many a hiker (including two attractive French-Canadian girls we had been told about the day before by a fellow hiker), keeping up a record-setting pace. 18.2 miles later (the distance of a marathon I believe) we were done, having conquered the mighty Half Dome.
After a stay in Santa Cruz, I hopped on a flight home (which was delayed an hour, thanks for checking beforehand MARSHALL) but it was okay because I actually was on the same flight as a baseball teammate from high school randomly so we caught up. These flying machines are pretty nice…I had plenty of legroom and didn’t worry about my pilot falling asleep at the throttle and even had food and drinks served to me. And they go really fast! One of those babies could probably make it across the country in a couple of days at least.
Rumor has it that Streaks and Pete decided to stay an extra night in Vegas, giving them time to annul their respective marriages it seems. It was tough watching them go, especially in the wrong direction, as Marshall pointed out. How they will make it back east without my tent-setting-up skills or Marshall’s long-batteried iPod I’m still not sure. Take care of them, Howard.
It’s been a long and eventful journey for this journeyman. Did I ever doubt we were going to make it? Yes, often. But finally the country roads have taken me home. Throw a can of chili and a couple dogs on the fire for me.
-Honey Bear
Half Dome: Quite the trek. We proudly awoke at 5:30 AM Wednesday morning only to see that about half our campsite was already awake as well. We quickly prepared our things, kissed Jake and his sister goodbye (they were still asleep) and drove up to Glacier Point. We had planned out the hike so that we would go up one way and descend another and take a bus the next morning to get the car. These plans certainly shocked our site-mates who seemed surprised to see we did our research. CLEARLY they underestimated our hiking prowess. We filled up our single liter water bottles and left.
Nice morning. Pretty cool up at Glacier Point as we started our hike. The first part of our hike was mostly downhill so we covered a lot of ground quickly and stopped for a riverside breakfast of bagels and nuts. We cruised up our first elevation gain towards Nevada Falls passing by a father and his two kids, whose ages were probably 7 and 9. “Where you guys headed,” he asked. “Half Dome,” we replied. “Ah yes, us too. See you up there.” And we thought we were so tough.
We made it up to the final ascension at about 11:30 I think? It had been fairly grueling but a really good hike with some awesome views and a lot of shade. We made it to the top of the mini dome going up a bunch of steep stone steps and looked up at the cables getting excited to climb. We decided we couldn’t look at them any more and just had to do it so we went for it.
So there are two cables maybe three feet apart held down by poles that are stuck in the rock (not secured) and there are two-by-fours to step on every five feet-ish (except for the ones that are missing). The ascent is fairly vertical, probably 75 or 80 degrees. We were going up slowly because of the masses of people and suddenly the woman in front of me started panicking and crying that she couldn’t do it because her shoes were slipping. Well she turned around to go down and slipped towards me. Not exactly what I needed—and then somebody dropped a couple water bottles that clattered down over the side falling thousands of feet. We did our best to stay focused and continued up. It took an hour to get to the top. By far the worst part was waiting to move and just standing there on the side of the rock. If we had been moving the whole time it would’ve taken probably fifteen minutes. But no matter, we lived, and relaxed at the top, called people (we got phone service) and eating and drinking (whatever we had left) and taking pictures.
We took our time on the way down, stopping to swim at a river and taking lots of pictures. We still passed many a hiker (including two attractive French-Canadian girls we had been told about the day before by a fellow hiker), keeping up a record-setting pace. 18.2 miles later (the distance of a marathon I believe) we were done, having conquered the mighty Half Dome.
After a stay in Santa Cruz, I hopped on a flight home (which was delayed an hour, thanks for checking beforehand MARSHALL) but it was okay because I actually was on the same flight as a baseball teammate from high school randomly so we caught up. These flying machines are pretty nice…I had plenty of legroom and didn’t worry about my pilot falling asleep at the throttle and even had food and drinks served to me. And they go really fast! One of those babies could probably make it across the country in a couple of days at least.
Rumor has it that Streaks and Pete decided to stay an extra night in Vegas, giving them time to annul their respective marriages it seems. It was tough watching them go, especially in the wrong direction, as Marshall pointed out. How they will make it back east without my tent-setting-up skills or Marshall’s long-batteried iPod I’m still not sure. Take care of them, Howard.
It’s been a long and eventful journey for this journeyman. Did I ever doubt we were going to make it? Yes, often. But finally the country roads have taken me home. Throw a can of chili and a couple dogs on the fire for me.
-Honey Bear
Monday, June 23, 2008
squatting log and moose dropping are such a tease....
So for 19 hours yesterday i was once again apart of all that was mass exodus journeymen. Alas, even though it was short lived we we made the most of it. It began as S.L and M.D arrived at 8pm sweaty and tired (possible from the car ride, possibly from the previous nights festivities). Our first activity began as a "cool off" swim but turned into a war of "floaties". There was hitting there was smacking there was water blowing but in the end there were just three people who had escaped from the repressing heat of the southern california sun.
From there we migrated to dinner, which was 15 ft away on the porch. There we sat in candlelight with the stars above us as we ate calzones that my mom made. Accompanied with our calzones were tall frosty mugs filled with the magnificent pyramid hefe. We stayed on the porch for at least 3 hours watching stars, shooting stars, and satellites until the orange harvest moon came out.
After, we tried to go asleep in the smoldering heat from the Santa Anna winds. S.L and M.D. passed out from exhaustion but i lay awake sweating,wishing that my house had air conditioning. In the morning we arose to more heat and jumped in the pool again.
For breakfast I took S.L and M.D to Minows. A great breakfast burrito place in the harbor. From there we met Flying Squirrel Sr. and went sailing on the beautiful blue pacific. (the first time for S.L and M.D) The only problem was that there was minimal wind and the Curhanic needed assistance as S.L and I had to paddle the schooner out to sea (just like at Maloney's).
Then just as soon as it started, just 19 hours earlier, I departed from mass exodus journeymen AGAIN. It was the second time in a week and I have to tell you goodbye's don't get easier with time.
I wish the remaining journeymen good luck in vegas and safe journeys home
From there we migrated to dinner, which was 15 ft away on the porch. There we sat in candlelight with the stars above us as we ate calzones that my mom made. Accompanied with our calzones were tall frosty mugs filled with the magnificent pyramid hefe. We stayed on the porch for at least 3 hours watching stars, shooting stars, and satellites until the orange harvest moon came out.
After, we tried to go asleep in the smoldering heat from the Santa Anna winds. S.L and M.D. passed out from exhaustion but i lay awake sweating,wishing that my house had air conditioning. In the morning we arose to more heat and jumped in the pool again.
For breakfast I took S.L and M.D to Minows. A great breakfast burrito place in the harbor. From there we met Flying Squirrel Sr. and went sailing on the beautiful blue pacific. (the first time for S.L and M.D) The only problem was that there was minimal wind and the Curhanic needed assistance as S.L and I had to paddle the schooner out to sea (just like at Maloney's).
Then just as soon as it started, just 19 hours earlier, I departed from mass exodus journeymen AGAIN. It was the second time in a week and I have to tell you goodbye's don't get easier with time.
I wish the remaining journeymen good luck in vegas and safe journeys home
might even grow me a fu man chu...
alas alas it is time for my last entry as a journeyman. the brave two that remain pulled away from my house yesterday around 3:15pm, then pulled back around 3:17 to ask for directions, and were finally gone southbound for good at 3:20.
in santa cruz i had a delightful time hosting the gentlemen and carry. we went crawdiddling up at the river, watched a 'gorges' crimson sunset, bbqed, drank a beer at the pond, and saw an epic concert by a little band i like to call the romantics. no. big. deal. after the show we perused the boardwalk, unfortunately missing last call for the giant dipper roller coaster. however our lemons turned into lemonade as we walked to our car, and who should we stumble upon in a white van, none other than the romantics themselves. we desperately tried to convince them to come to the bars with us, but had to settle with a picture.
the encounter was life changing for all of us, as eli couldnt stop singing the tune "thats what i like about you", pete actually got in the van and is currently following the band on tour as a roadie (he prefers band-aid). not to be outdone, ressie woke up with a tattoo on his nether-regions of "the romantics" in large cursive flanked by two long stem roses. at least it will never go out of style.
so the trip for me has come to an end and its time to shave this glorious man-stache (maybe another week wouldnt hurt anyone). it has been an unforgettable time, and i thank everybody. looking back, there are a few things that i will not be able to forget, no matter how hard i try. they are, in no particular order:
- waking up and finding eli in the car with the hot air blasting and still looking like he would trade me his prized collection of plourde's underwear for my sweatshirt.
- drewski almost passing out from playing the didgeridoo at colon's house while making those crazy eyes he does so well.
- pete earning his trail name with a well placed doobler in the merced river.
- streaks talking in his sleep, and then we discovered that the romantics have a hit song titled "talking in your sleep". coincidence? fate? whatever it is, i dont think there could be a more fitting tattoo to ever have graced a behind.
well, i will leave you all with these wise words: The knack of flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. i still havent learned the knack of driving cross country, but if i do, i'll let you know.
i hope the road treats you kindly boys. may the wind be in your face, and the sun on your arse.
over and out,
-squatting marmot
in santa cruz i had a delightful time hosting the gentlemen and carry. we went crawdiddling up at the river, watched a 'gorges' crimson sunset, bbqed, drank a beer at the pond, and saw an epic concert by a little band i like to call the romantics. no. big. deal. after the show we perused the boardwalk, unfortunately missing last call for the giant dipper roller coaster. however our lemons turned into lemonade as we walked to our car, and who should we stumble upon in a white van, none other than the romantics themselves. we desperately tried to convince them to come to the bars with us, but had to settle with a picture.
the encounter was life changing for all of us, as eli couldnt stop singing the tune "thats what i like about you", pete actually got in the van and is currently following the band on tour as a roadie (he prefers band-aid). not to be outdone, ressie woke up with a tattoo on his nether-regions of "the romantics" in large cursive flanked by two long stem roses. at least it will never go out of style.
so the trip for me has come to an end and its time to shave this glorious man-stache (maybe another week wouldnt hurt anyone). it has been an unforgettable time, and i thank everybody. looking back, there are a few things that i will not be able to forget, no matter how hard i try. they are, in no particular order:
- waking up and finding eli in the car with the hot air blasting and still looking like he would trade me his prized collection of plourde's underwear for my sweatshirt.
- drewski almost passing out from playing the didgeridoo at colon's house while making those crazy eyes he does so well.
- pete earning his trail name with a well placed doobler in the merced river.
- streaks talking in his sleep, and then we discovered that the romantics have a hit song titled "talking in your sleep". coincidence? fate? whatever it is, i dont think there could be a more fitting tattoo to ever have graced a behind.
well, i will leave you all with these wise words: The knack of flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. i still havent learned the knack of driving cross country, but if i do, i'll let you know.
i hope the road treats you kindly boys. may the wind be in your face, and the sun on your arse.
over and out,
-squatting marmot
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Welp...see ya later...
Ladies and Gentlemen…I’ve seen the great wall of China, I’ve been to the Egyptian pyramids, I’ve bowed in the presence of Marshall Somers, I’ve seen a grown man pleasure a moose, I’ve lived to see same sex marriages legalized in California, I’ve seen Eli Blackman wrestle a bear to the ground while scrolling through an ESPN article on Greg Oden, I’ve seen Drew Curhan single-handedly perform the greatest mini-hoop basketball dunk of all time but I have never seen anything as spectacular as Yosemite National Park. Yosemite took the cake in terms of national parks in part because we could actually see the park because we had beautiful blue skies and balmy 90 degree temperatures and partly because the place is gorgeous. We were lucky enough to snag a first come first serve campsite on our first day, and since we were exhausted from a long day of driving the day before and an early wake-up call that morning, we decided to take it easy. We ended up “exploring” the merced river as one of the rangers us told us to do, and we found a SWEET swimming spot with a small beach on the opposite side. There was one small problem though…the river was running kinda fast and we had sandwiches, beer, and other stuff to get across the river. In the end we decided to caulk the wagon and ford the river…amazingly enough, all of our stuff made it across and we posted up on the beach. The water was freezing (not surprising) but it was definitely nice because it was a scorcher outside. The place was cool because there were a couple rocks to jump off and to chill on. Someone must have put in a call to all the major magazines, because the paparazzi were all over us…I can understand them trying to get a shot of the infamous Marshall Somers with his chiseled body and all, but I was shocked they wanted anything to do with Pete Sneeringer on their film. In any case, we had at least 5 cars stop and take pictures of us chilling on the beach…I’m still waiting for them to show up in GQ. Of other importance, Pete earned his trail name while we were at the beach…it is Sinking Log. I’ll let you all try to figure that one out….but seriously think about it.
That night, we were lucky enough to be joined by two other people…Mr. Jacob Pearson and his sister Leah. Man, was Jake a sight for sore eyes…we needed some fresh man to mix it up. The next day, we decided to do a hike in Tuolumne meadows called the Cathedral Lakes. The hike was beautiful, and we were rewarded with a gorgeous/shimmering lake that was bordered by some snow covered mountains. It was general consensus that we needed to jump in the water, and as we were about to get into the freezing waters, somebody else sitting on the edge of the lake felt it was necessary to remind us of the possibility for shrinkage if we jumped in…thanks woman, but i’m pretty sure we all knew of the consequences of jumping into low-40 degree water. In the end, the lady gave us some props when we saw her on the trail. The water was as freezing as it looked and nobody spent more than a few seconds in there besides Eli who had emerged to show an insane ability to tolerate freezing water..he’s coming back as a sea otter in his next life. That night, we all went to a buffet in the most touristy part of Yosemite. We stuffed ourselves in part because we were starving and because we had a big hike the next day…Half Dome!! The other important note about this night is that the boys in Green clinched the NBA championship with a demolishing of the Lakers…the important side note to this is that I’m super happy that ray ray, pierce, and KG got their championship (especially my homeboy ray ray), but we also discovered the extent to which KG is crazy and that Big Baby still has not lost his baby fat.
Okay, this is long enough for our first post in a while…but we’ll be back soon with a recap or our excursion up Half Dome! Pete and I are close to Santa Barbara and we just hit the beautiful coast…we’re about to be reunited with Flying Squirrel. On another side note...two of the original massexodusjourneymen have sadly departed the trip today, and they will be sorely missed. THey gave us some explanation about having to find a job or something like that..i don't know, i wasn't really paying attention...
--Moose Dropping
That night, we were lucky enough to be joined by two other people…Mr. Jacob Pearson and his sister Leah. Man, was Jake a sight for sore eyes…we needed some fresh man to mix it up. The next day, we decided to do a hike in Tuolumne meadows called the Cathedral Lakes. The hike was beautiful, and we were rewarded with a gorgeous/shimmering lake that was bordered by some snow covered mountains. It was general consensus that we needed to jump in the water, and as we were about to get into the freezing waters, somebody else sitting on the edge of the lake felt it was necessary to remind us of the possibility for shrinkage if we jumped in…thanks woman, but i’m pretty sure we all knew of the consequences of jumping into low-40 degree water. In the end, the lady gave us some props when we saw her on the trail. The water was as freezing as it looked and nobody spent more than a few seconds in there besides Eli who had emerged to show an insane ability to tolerate freezing water..he’s coming back as a sea otter in his next life. That night, we all went to a buffet in the most touristy part of Yosemite. We stuffed ourselves in part because we were starving and because we had a big hike the next day…Half Dome!! The other important note about this night is that the boys in Green clinched the NBA championship with a demolishing of the Lakers…the important side note to this is that I’m super happy that ray ray, pierce, and KG got their championship (especially my homeboy ray ray), but we also discovered the extent to which KG is crazy and that Big Baby still has not lost his baby fat.
Okay, this is long enough for our first post in a while…but we’ll be back soon with a recap or our excursion up Half Dome! Pete and I are close to Santa Barbara and we just hit the beautiful coast…we’re about to be reunited with Flying Squirrel. On another side note...two of the original massexodusjourneymen have sadly departed the trip today, and they will be sorely missed. THey gave us some explanation about having to find a job or something like that..i don't know, i wasn't really paying attention...
--Moose Dropping
Sunday, June 15, 2008
By the Numbers
I am using Sports Illustrated’s weekly column as inspiration for my first blog:
3 – Hours of sleep I got Wednesday night before waking to get on a 5:45 plane.
10:38 AM PST – Time my airplane landed in Portland International Airport or PDX as I grew to know it as.
60% - Amount of Drew’s body outside the car as the gang pulled up to the curb. Drew was holding a “Welcome Home* Pete *not” sign and sitting out the window of the passenger seat.
53ºF – Approximate temperature of the Pacific Ocean at Cannon Beach. After leaving PDX, the journeymen culminated their cross country trip by driving to the clear blue waters of the Pacific. After eating at one of the top 50 pizzerias in the country (supposed), we went down to the beach, changed in front of the crowd and sprinted to the water’s edge.
1 – Waves bodysurfed by each of us, as that was all the time we could stand in the water.
3 – Pounds of taffy and jellybeans we bought at a candy shop the town of Cannon Beach. After purchasing this, we listened to a very hippie woman tell us how she let’s her sons use blow guns with microwaved m&m’s instead of paintballs. She also tried to get us to buy decorative swords and all sorts of Indonesian instruments.
$6000 – Price of massage chairs Drew and I sat in while Rezzie returned his wireless card at Verizon and Eli and Marshall went to Radio Shack.
3 – Number of personalized name license plates that were given during the gift exchange Thursday night. Other noteworthy gifts included: A stuffed marmot, A honey bear pint glass, a wooden voodoo dude playing golf, eatable moose droppings and a boomerang.
10:10 AM – Time Drew flew the coup. Leaving the journey again with 4.
4-1 – Score of the Netherlands vs. France soccer game, in favor of the Dutch, which we watched from the Thirsty Lion, a very cool pub in downtown Portland.
2 – Number of my cousins we saw while in Portland, 4 if you include a cousin’s husband and son. We went to see George’s warehouse where he sells sailboats on Friday afternoon, and Kate’s house just outside Portland Saturday morning. Her son Oliver just turned 1 and is adorable.
6 – Number of Oyster shooters we had at Corbett St. Fishhouse, a delicious Packers fans only restaurant where the Blackmans took us. Chile-fried catfish = delicious.
7 – Number of Friday Night Lights episodes Dan watched while in Oregon.
592ft. – Height of Multnomah Falls in Crowne Point state park. We drove to the hills Saturday morning to see the sight and hike through Oneonta Gorge.
47ºF – Approximate temperature of the water flowing through Oneonta Gorge. We had to hike over rocks and fallen trees through the gorge, but most of the time we were in water above our ankles.
4.5 ft – Depth at the deepest part of the river in the gorge. We walked/swam through this part on our way the to waterfall at the end of the trek. It was a great hike though we couldn’t feel our feet for most of the way. We couldn’t go under the waterfall however, because of the incredible volume of water coming over the falls.
10:15 AM – Time we left the luscious living arrangement at the Blackman homestead and hit the road for Cali. We had a great dinner at the house with Eli’s bro and fam Saturday night, and delicious Dutch babies for breakfast this morning (similar to German pancakes).
796 – First exit we saw after entering California on Route 5.
73 – MPH written on the speeding ticket (1st of the trip) given. The actual speed was a bit higher.
14,167ft – Height of Mount Shasta, which I was admiring the beauty of when I realized the flashing lights in my rear view mirror.
8 hours 55 minutes – Travel time today so far.
3 – hours left of driving before camping for the night
Alas, I’m out of relevant numbers so I’ll leave you with this:
A man knocked over a basket of eggs at food stand. He offered to pay for them but the woman didn’t know how many were in the basket. All she know was that when she put the eggs in 2 bags, 1 was leftover. When she put the eggs in 3 bags, 1 was left over. When she put the eggs in 4 bags, 1 was leftover. When she put the eggs in 5 bags, 1 was leftover. But when she put the eggs 7 bags, none were leftover. How many eggs were there?
-The Rook
3 – Hours of sleep I got Wednesday night before waking to get on a 5:45 plane.
10:38 AM PST – Time my airplane landed in Portland International Airport or PDX as I grew to know it as.
60% - Amount of Drew’s body outside the car as the gang pulled up to the curb. Drew was holding a “Welcome Home* Pete *not” sign and sitting out the window of the passenger seat.
53ºF – Approximate temperature of the Pacific Ocean at Cannon Beach. After leaving PDX, the journeymen culminated their cross country trip by driving to the clear blue waters of the Pacific. After eating at one of the top 50 pizzerias in the country (supposed), we went down to the beach, changed in front of the crowd and sprinted to the water’s edge.
1 – Waves bodysurfed by each of us, as that was all the time we could stand in the water.
3 – Pounds of taffy and jellybeans we bought at a candy shop the town of Cannon Beach. After purchasing this, we listened to a very hippie woman tell us how she let’s her sons use blow guns with microwaved m&m’s instead of paintballs. She also tried to get us to buy decorative swords and all sorts of Indonesian instruments.
$6000 – Price of massage chairs Drew and I sat in while Rezzie returned his wireless card at Verizon and Eli and Marshall went to Radio Shack.
3 – Number of personalized name license plates that were given during the gift exchange Thursday night. Other noteworthy gifts included: A stuffed marmot, A honey bear pint glass, a wooden voodoo dude playing golf, eatable moose droppings and a boomerang.
10:10 AM – Time Drew flew the coup. Leaving the journey again with 4.
4-1 – Score of the Netherlands vs. France soccer game, in favor of the Dutch, which we watched from the Thirsty Lion, a very cool pub in downtown Portland.
2 – Number of my cousins we saw while in Portland, 4 if you include a cousin’s husband and son. We went to see George’s warehouse where he sells sailboats on Friday afternoon, and Kate’s house just outside Portland Saturday morning. Her son Oliver just turned 1 and is adorable.
6 – Number of Oyster shooters we had at Corbett St. Fishhouse, a delicious Packers fans only restaurant where the Blackmans took us. Chile-fried catfish = delicious.
7 – Number of Friday Night Lights episodes Dan watched while in Oregon.
592ft. – Height of Multnomah Falls in Crowne Point state park. We drove to the hills Saturday morning to see the sight and hike through Oneonta Gorge.
47ºF – Approximate temperature of the water flowing through Oneonta Gorge. We had to hike over rocks and fallen trees through the gorge, but most of the time we were in water above our ankles.
4.5 ft – Depth at the deepest part of the river in the gorge. We walked/swam through this part on our way the to waterfall at the end of the trek. It was a great hike though we couldn’t feel our feet for most of the way. We couldn’t go under the waterfall however, because of the incredible volume of water coming over the falls.
10:15 AM – Time we left the luscious living arrangement at the Blackman homestead and hit the road for Cali. We had a great dinner at the house with Eli’s bro and fam Saturday night, and delicious Dutch babies for breakfast this morning (similar to German pancakes).
796 – First exit we saw after entering California on Route 5.
73 – MPH written on the speeding ticket (1st of the trip) given. The actual speed was a bit higher.
14,167ft – Height of Mount Shasta, which I was admiring the beauty of when I realized the flashing lights in my rear view mirror.
8 hours 55 minutes – Travel time today so far.
3 – hours left of driving before camping for the night
Alas, I’m out of relevant numbers so I’ll leave you with this:
A man knocked over a basket of eggs at food stand. He offered to pay for them but the woman didn’t know how many were in the basket. All she know was that when she put the eggs in 2 bags, 1 was leftover. When she put the eggs in 3 bags, 1 was left over. When she put the eggs in 4 bags, 1 was leftover. When she put the eggs in 5 bags, 1 was leftover. But when she put the eggs 7 bags, none were leftover. How many eggs were there?
-The Rook
you know its been a long trip when:
you know its been a long trip when:
-you reach in your pocket and pull out 3 lactaid rappers
-you fall in love with the girl you talk to for 5 minutes at the lodge
-eli is growing facial hair
-drew farts and nobody notices
-you cant find your deoderant
-youve heard every song on your ipods, twice
-not having seen a hawaii, west virginia, or rhode island license plate is really starting to piss you off. come on people, you live in tiny little states, get out and see the world.
-you reach in your pocket and pull out 3 lactaid rappers
-you fall in love with the girl you talk to for 5 minutes at the lodge
-eli is growing facial hair
-drew farts and nobody notices
-you cant find your deoderant
-youve heard every song on your ipods, twice
-not having seen a hawaii, west virginia, or rhode island license plate is really starting to piss you off. come on people, you live in tiny little states, get out and see the world.
Friday, June 13, 2008
OH YA (FOR PETER)
Pete, I forgot to tell you but I am officially handing down my red spork to you. Treat her well. We had a lot of good times together. She likes it when you read bedtime stories, and don't forget to give her a good scrub at night. (she likes it when you go counter clockwise).
So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night
So you might not know but there was a disturbance in the force today. On Friday the 13th I, Drew Curhan was visited by JASON (yes he still is alive, that psycho). He told me, not with words of course but with sign language using his very long knife/sword/machete (whatever you want to call it), that I had to leave the journeymen or he would you know.... do what JASON does.
So today I took a long and lonely trip home to Santa Barbara. The bright side was that I was able to eat IN n Out burger, eat tri-tip, see my brother on his birthday, and bask in the warm Santa Barbara sun. As I sat basking in the sun I realized that I needed to do a final reflection on the trip so here it is: ...............................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................................................................................
Wow that was twenty minute reflection. I hope it was good for you too. I had a great time and Ill miss ya guys.
On a more serious note I will leave you with this tid-bit of information. Remember the other day when I made the joke about mandarine and lime, and the Hansen's soda. well here is the proof that Hansen's makes mandarine lime soda. So suck on that for a while......
and My last serious note:
[Children:]
There's a sad sort of clanging from the clock in the hall
And the bells in the steeple too
And up in the nursery an absurd little bird
Is popping out to say "cuckoo"
[Marta, Gretl, Brigitta:]
Cuckoo, cuckoo
[Children: Marta, Gretl, Brigitta: ]
Regretfully they tell us Cuckoo, cuckoo
But firmly they compel us Cuckoo, cuckoo
To say goodbye . . .
[Marta, Gretl, Brigitta:]
Cuckoo!
[Children:]
. . . to you
[Children:]
So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night
[Marta:]
I hate to go and leave this pretty sight
[Children:]
So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu
[Friedrich:]
Adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu
[Children:]
So long, farewell, au revoir, auf wiedersehen
[Liesl:]
I'd like to stay and taste my first champagne
[Children:]
So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye
[Kurt:]
I leave and heave a sigh and say goodbye -- Goodbye!
[Brigitta:]
I'm glad to go, I cannot tell a lie
[Louisa:]
I flit, I float, I fleetly flee, I fly
[Gretl:]
The sun has gone to bed and so must I
[Children:]
So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
[Guests:]
Goodbye!
So today I took a long and lonely trip home to Santa Barbara. The bright side was that I was able to eat IN n Out burger, eat tri-tip, see my brother on his birthday, and bask in the warm Santa Barbara sun. As I sat basking in the sun I realized that I needed to do a final reflection on the trip so here it is: ...............................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................................................................................
Wow that was twenty minute reflection. I hope it was good for you too. I had a great time and Ill miss ya guys.
On a more serious note I will leave you with this tid-bit of information. Remember the other day when I made the joke about mandarine and lime, and the Hansen's soda. well here is the proof that Hansen's makes mandarine lime soda. So suck on that for a while......
and My last serious note:
[Children:]
There's a sad sort of clanging from the clock in the hall
And the bells in the steeple too
And up in the nursery an absurd little bird
Is popping out to say "cuckoo"
[Marta, Gretl, Brigitta:]
Cuckoo, cuckoo
[Children: Marta, Gretl, Brigitta: ]
Regretfully they tell us Cuckoo, cuckoo
But firmly they compel us Cuckoo, cuckoo
To say goodbye . . .
[Marta, Gretl, Brigitta:]
Cuckoo!
[Children:]
. . . to you
[Children:]
So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night
[Marta:]
I hate to go and leave this pretty sight
[Children:]
So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu
[Friedrich:]
Adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu
[Children:]
So long, farewell, au revoir, auf wiedersehen
[Liesl:]
I'd like to stay and taste my first champagne
[Children:]
So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye
[Kurt:]
I leave and heave a sigh and say goodbye -- Goodbye!
[Brigitta:]
I'm glad to go, I cannot tell a lie
[Louisa:]
I flit, I float, I fleetly flee, I fly
[Gretl:]
The sun has gone to bed and so must I
[Children:]
So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
[Guests:]
Goodbye!
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
It's beginning to look a lot like...SUMMER?!
Note: This was written on Monday, June 9. So read it like it is Monday, June 9. Could've updated it but somebody else can write about Glacier.
Proceed:
June 9, 2008.
We saw the sun yesterday! No joke, it actually stopped raining/snowing from 7 pm until we went to bed last night as the sun came out and graced us with a nice sunset in Yellowstone.
I haven't posted in awhile so I'm going to do a quick recap of things I wanted to talk about:
1. Thermopolis was awesome--great call by Rezzie. Home of the world's largest mineral hotspring, we took a much needed (albeit stanky) bath. I was expecting the place to be either a) trashy or b) very touristy. It was neither--very beautiful and low key.
2. The Tetons are grand.
--Timeout. We are driving in pouring rain right now and the sun is out. Gotta be a rainbow somewhere. Looking, looking, nothing.--
Anyway, great hikes, big mountains, lots of wildlife. Saw a moose and her 4 day old calf. Lots of antelope, elk, marmots.
3. Too much snow and cold weather. It is JUNE, dammit. We arrived in Yellowstone Saturday to a blizzard, froze our booties off waiting for freaking Old Faithful to launch. Could barely see it because of fog and snow. O-VER-RA-TED (clap-clap clap-clap-clap). Ha just kidding...but seriously it wasn't great. Should've known-- Marshall had seen it before and when we asked him what it was like and he goes "I don't want to influence you're opinion, you'll see for yourself." Translation: "It's a letdown." We set up camp in Madison and went to see Lower/Upper Falls near Canyon and saw Lower just fine (gorgeous view) but the snow picked back up and we couldn't see the necessary 15 yards to see Upper. Great.
4. WE. SAW. A. BEAR. So I'm content for our cross country trip. Mind you, I've been wanting to see a bear since we hit South Dakota and we have been told repeatedly that they were everywhere. Hell, there was one in our damn campsite like seven campers down in the Tetons. We went to find him and he was gone, although everyone else had seen him. Then we went on a hike in Yellowstone yesterday and the dude at the Visitor Center told us we were probably going to see one. And we didn't. So yesterday evening we were driving to West Yellowstone and boom, there it was. Grizzly. Cha-ching cha-ching. We saw another one this morning NO BIG DEAL.
We watched game 2 of the finals in a bar at West Yellowstone. It was a blowout for the most part which was fairly boring. Drew took the opportunity to play some video poker and he made BANK ($4.50). Marshall wasn't so lucky, losing 50 big ones (cents).
The game ended up being a close as the Lakers eliminated something like a 30 point deficit to make it a two point game. Down four with 20 seconds, who takes the big shot for LA? Sasha "Kobe" Vujacic. Yeah he missed. 2-0 Celts.
Yellowstone is beautiful, though. You need to spend like a week there because there's so much to do. I'll go back when the weather's better. And I'll bring fly fishing gear.
Well we are almost to Glacier. I heard it's going to be 80 and sunny, so pretty stoked about that. What was it really like? Stay tuned.
-Hon E. Bear
p.s. we are doing "secret journeymen" gifts for each other so we have been stealthily buying things ($20 limit). the exchange will be the evening of june 12.
Proceed:
June 9, 2008.
We saw the sun yesterday! No joke, it actually stopped raining/snowing from 7 pm until we went to bed last night as the sun came out and graced us with a nice sunset in Yellowstone.
I haven't posted in awhile so I'm going to do a quick recap of things I wanted to talk about:
1. Thermopolis was awesome--great call by Rezzie. Home of the world's largest mineral hotspring, we took a much needed (albeit stanky) bath. I was expecting the place to be either a) trashy or b) very touristy. It was neither--very beautiful and low key.
2. The Tetons are grand.
--Timeout. We are driving in pouring rain right now and the sun is out. Gotta be a rainbow somewhere. Looking, looking, nothing.--
Anyway, great hikes, big mountains, lots of wildlife. Saw a moose and her 4 day old calf. Lots of antelope, elk, marmots.
3. Too much snow and cold weather. It is JUNE, dammit. We arrived in Yellowstone Saturday to a blizzard, froze our booties off waiting for freaking Old Faithful to launch. Could barely see it because of fog and snow. O-VER-RA-TED (clap-clap clap-clap-clap). Ha just kidding...but seriously it wasn't great. Should've known-- Marshall had seen it before and when we asked him what it was like and he goes "I don't want to influence you're opinion, you'll see for yourself." Translation: "It's a letdown." We set up camp in Madison and went to see Lower/Upper Falls near Canyon and saw Lower just fine (gorgeous view) but the snow picked back up and we couldn't see the necessary 15 yards to see Upper. Great.
4. WE. SAW. A. BEAR. So I'm content for our cross country trip. Mind you, I've been wanting to see a bear since we hit South Dakota and we have been told repeatedly that they were everywhere. Hell, there was one in our damn campsite like seven campers down in the Tetons. We went to find him and he was gone, although everyone else had seen him. Then we went on a hike in Yellowstone yesterday and the dude at the Visitor Center told us we were probably going to see one. And we didn't. So yesterday evening we were driving to West Yellowstone and boom, there it was. Grizzly. Cha-ching cha-ching. We saw another one this morning NO BIG DEAL.
We watched game 2 of the finals in a bar at West Yellowstone. It was a blowout for the most part which was fairly boring. Drew took the opportunity to play some video poker and he made BANK ($4.50). Marshall wasn't so lucky, losing 50 big ones (cents).
The game ended up being a close as the Lakers eliminated something like a 30 point deficit to make it a two point game. Down four with 20 seconds, who takes the big shot for LA? Sasha "Kobe" Vujacic. Yeah he missed. 2-0 Celts.
Yellowstone is beautiful, though. You need to spend like a week there because there's so much to do. I'll go back when the weather's better. And I'll bring fly fishing gear.
Well we are almost to Glacier. I heard it's going to be 80 and sunny, so pretty stoked about that. What was it really like? Stay tuned.
-Hon E. Bear
p.s. we are doing "secret journeymen" gifts for each other so we have been stealthily buying things ($20 limit). the exchange will be the evening of june 12.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
one honey bear, none other bear
we drove up yesterday day from the grand teeeetons and found our selves in yellowstone national park, at least we think. the whiteout snow and frigid temperatures leave us with much more pressing concerns than where we are, like if our toes-ies are still attached. upon our arrival the national park service, bless their hearts, had old faithful geyser all heated up and ready to blow. unfortunately, an extended breakfast of sausage egg and cheese at jenny lake made us late for this appointment, and we missed faithfuls show by a mere 5 minutes. after 90 some odd minutes of waiting on the lodge floor, we finally did see ye ol' faithful.
this morning after a breakfast of pancakes and snow, we ventured out on a lil hikey at stormy point. it was muddy and snowy, but pretty neat. our conversation quickly turned to bears, and long winded hypotheticals about whether a bear on an island would always feel cornered, or what country tunes would attract them best. our bear spottings remains at 0, and i dont think anybody is taking it as harsh as honey bear. his disappointed eyes tug at my heart strings, and nearly make me want to leave out some bacon near our tent tonight. nearly.
flying squirrelism from last night, while discussing our favorite underrated movies, liar liar innevitably came up. flying squirrelism #4ish: "yea, but the best part about that movie is the take-outs. have you ever seen the take-outs? they're really funny."
at the moment we're evading the cold and hiding out near the payphones in the canyon lodge of yellowstone. keeping warm and alive, til next time.
-s.marm.
this morning after a breakfast of pancakes and snow, we ventured out on a lil hikey at stormy point. it was muddy and snowy, but pretty neat. our conversation quickly turned to bears, and long winded hypotheticals about whether a bear on an island would always feel cornered, or what country tunes would attract them best. our bear spottings remains at 0, and i dont think anybody is taking it as harsh as honey bear. his disappointed eyes tug at my heart strings, and nearly make me want to leave out some bacon near our tent tonight. nearly.
flying squirrelism from last night, while discussing our favorite underrated movies, liar liar innevitably came up. flying squirrelism #4ish: "yea, but the best part about that movie is the take-outs. have you ever seen the take-outs? they're really funny."
at the moment we're evading the cold and hiding out near the payphones in the canyon lodge of yellowstone. keeping warm and alive, til next time.
-s.marm.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Mike check..one two, squatting marmot checking in
last night we fought through sleet and snow, crossed the continental divide and set up camp in the grandest of all tetons, the grand tetons. our accomodations are at south jenny lake. b-e-a-u-tiful. she's quite a lady, and lets just say that none of us got much sleep last night. to be honest it wasnt jenny's fault at all, but more due to the biting cold that seemed to seep into every bone in our bodies. we woke up refreshed, like ice had been dropped in our sleeping bags, and hit the long dusty trails for a full day of hiking and animal spotting.
in hiking news, today we hiked up to hidden falls, a pretty little water fall that was flowing heavy. then we proceeded to inspiration point where eli seemed to get inspired, looked deep into ressies eyes, seemed to have something to say, then lost his nerve and started talking about baseball and chicks. along the way, however, something productive did happen, as we all finally received our long awaited trail names. put the women and children to bed, here they are. for his acrobatics in the air and large nut holding cheeks drew curhan will from this point forward be known as flying squirrel. our big grinned northwestern journeyman eli shall be known as none other than honey bear. your fearless narrator due to a series of unspeakable events and one furry friend made on the path has earned the title of squatting marmot. bringing up the rear comes our behind stained pal streaks who shall now be called moose dropping. so it has been written, so it shall be.
as for the animal spotting. we just drove up to a giraffe (actually a log sticking straight up in the air). though we have seen many elk, a moose and baby, no bears, one marmot, and some chipmunks.
big fire in process, big league chew in our mouths, 'mellows on deck, dry for a spell, til manana, i'm out.
-squatting marmot
in hiking news, today we hiked up to hidden falls, a pretty little water fall that was flowing heavy. then we proceeded to inspiration point where eli seemed to get inspired, looked deep into ressies eyes, seemed to have something to say, then lost his nerve and started talking about baseball and chicks. along the way, however, something productive did happen, as we all finally received our long awaited trail names. put the women and children to bed, here they are. for his acrobatics in the air and large nut holding cheeks drew curhan will from this point forward be known as flying squirrel. our big grinned northwestern journeyman eli shall be known as none other than honey bear. your fearless narrator due to a series of unspeakable events and one furry friend made on the path has earned the title of squatting marmot. bringing up the rear comes our behind stained pal streaks who shall now be called moose dropping. so it has been written, so it shall be.
as for the animal spotting. we just drove up to a giraffe (actually a log sticking straight up in the air). though we have seen many elk, a moose and baby, no bears, one marmot, and some chipmunks.
big fire in process, big league chew in our mouths, 'mellows on deck, dry for a spell, til manana, i'm out.
-squatting marmot
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Back in Black....Take Two!
Boys and girls, i'm back to the blogging world. We're cruising through wyoming now, and the weather has finally decided to go easy on us, and so we're now back to some blue skies...You're my boy blue!! So now to the title of this post...the Black hills! We set up shop at Lake Sheridan in a gorgeous campsite, right next to the lake.
OHHH!!! Eli is back on the board in the leaving shit on top of the car game, by leaving his sweatshirt up there. In other leaving your shit on top of the car news, Marshall also left his sweatshirt on top of the car a few days ago. The count now stands: Streaks = 3, Marshall = 1, Eli = 2, Drew = 1. The reason we all just had a chance to leave stuff on top of the car is because we just made a pit stop at the world's largest Mineral Springs. The place smelled worse than one of Tarik's flatulent episodes and is probably on par to the smells we would be graced with if drew ate a block of cheese without there being a lactaid within 500 miles. Despite the smell, a 20 minute relaxation session in an outdoor mineral pool was exactly what the doctor ordered. On a side note, my skin feels great.
Ok, back to the happenings in the black hills. Like Drew mentioned Mount Rushmore was smaller than expected, but exciting anyways. Not wanting to pay the 10 dollar entrance fee, we said we would turn around in the parking lot. Instead, we stopped for a little picture session that ended up with us being chased out of the park by a guy driving a golf cart who looked like Colonel Sanders.
next we made it to the Wind Caves; the fouth longest cave in the world. At one point our guide put out all the lights and we got to see what it was like to be in pure darkness..drew got a little handsy. All in all, the caves were pretty gnarly.
back at the ranch, we were finally able to throw out some lines into the lake...we had hoped to catch enough to cook up for a dinner. We fell a tad bit shy of that goal with eli netting a small Perch on the first day that we grilled and each enjoyed a tasty morsel of. The fish kept biting the next morning, and we were able to take in a few more unsuspecting fishies.
last night, our last in the hills, we cooked up a feast of pasta with veggies and buffalo meat sauce. I guess we were in the gaming mood, and we suddenly found 40's strapped to our hands, and drew was able to show off his freakish ability to tape two 40's to his hands by himself. Drew came up with the idea to share our most embarrasing moments, which quickly turned into everybody sharing their pants pooping stories...we'll leave those up to your imagination.
On to the Tetons...still alive
--streaks
OHHH!!! Eli is back on the board in the leaving shit on top of the car game, by leaving his sweatshirt up there. In other leaving your shit on top of the car news, Marshall also left his sweatshirt on top of the car a few days ago. The count now stands: Streaks = 3, Marshall = 1, Eli = 2, Drew = 1. The reason we all just had a chance to leave stuff on top of the car is because we just made a pit stop at the world's largest Mineral Springs. The place smelled worse than one of Tarik's flatulent episodes and is probably on par to the smells we would be graced with if drew ate a block of cheese without there being a lactaid within 500 miles. Despite the smell, a 20 minute relaxation session in an outdoor mineral pool was exactly what the doctor ordered. On a side note, my skin feels great.
Ok, back to the happenings in the black hills. Like Drew mentioned Mount Rushmore was smaller than expected, but exciting anyways. Not wanting to pay the 10 dollar entrance fee, we said we would turn around in the parking lot. Instead, we stopped for a little picture session that ended up with us being chased out of the park by a guy driving a golf cart who looked like Colonel Sanders.
next we made it to the Wind Caves; the fouth longest cave in the world. At one point our guide put out all the lights and we got to see what it was like to be in pure darkness..drew got a little handsy. All in all, the caves were pretty gnarly.
back at the ranch, we were finally able to throw out some lines into the lake...we had hoped to catch enough to cook up for a dinner. We fell a tad bit shy of that goal with eli netting a small Perch on the first day that we grilled and each enjoyed a tasty morsel of. The fish kept biting the next morning, and we were able to take in a few more unsuspecting fishies.
last night, our last in the hills, we cooked up a feast of pasta with veggies and buffalo meat sauce. I guess we were in the gaming mood, and we suddenly found 40's strapped to our hands, and drew was able to show off his freakish ability to tape two 40's to his hands by himself. Drew came up with the idea to share our most embarrasing moments, which quickly turned into everybody sharing their pants pooping stories...we'll leave those up to your imagination.
On to the Tetons...still alive
--streaks
Taco John's
We are getting back into the car after stopping for lunch at Taco John's, Taco Bells retarded redneck cousin. The meal was decent, Marshall's and my hard taco's were a little stale, streaks said his fried chicken and potato popper burrito was lacking chicken, and eli enjoyed his meal.
It is still poring, all day now. And driving on the highway is getting a bit tricky, especially when passing trucks. The trucks kick up so much water, to much for the wipers, that when you pass.....lets just say its a little scary. Today our plan is to end up at Grand Teton but on the way stop in thermopolis, where we are going to take a much needed bath in their hotsprings. (I think it has been four days for all of us, the car smells great right now). We already stopped at devils tower and (ooooo just passed a dead deer on the road with pieces car on it, and now pulled up to a car with totally cracked windshield, and passenger window. we stopped but they said they already have someone coming) (and starting again) saw as much as we could through the rainclouds. It was cold.
rewinding a little bit I think the badlands and the black hills deserve some more blog time. The badlands were amazing, and i would recommend everyone stay the day there. notice i said day. once the sun goes down however thats another story. coming back from fishing to find your tent blowing down the prairie is pretty much the opposite of what you want to see. luckily we had nice neighbors and they helped us chase it down and gave us another 20 stakes to hold down the fort. if it wasn't for them I dont think we would have been camping anymore on our trip.
That night at the badlands i slept horrible but had the great pleasure to witness a new talent I didn't know that streaks had, he can talk in his sleep. It all happened when i came back from taking a mid-night piss accompanied by marshall. As we got back into our sleeping bags we hear giggling coming from streaks. Then he mutters ," Ohh your such a cutie". at this marshal and I crack up and in the process wake up eli, but not the slumbering and muttering streaks. this was not the only blurb of the night, I woke up two other times to hear streaks "talk" but they were not as memorable as the first. the fun does't stop there, for the past two nights at the black hills we have heard similar outcries. this brings us to a new highlight in our blog streak's sleepisms. last night was, "you are the best", followed by laughing.
The camping at the black hills blew the badlands out of the water. We camped right near a lake, had great views, and could even make a fire.
On a more serious note, I thought that mount rushmore was going to be a lot bigger.
ok im done enough from me,
-Dash
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Have you seen our tarp?/some bad lands
these are some bad...shut yo' mouth....but i'm talking about the badlands....oh, i can dig it. youve heard of tumble weeds, now picture tumble tarps. more specifically our tarp tumbling across the south dakota prairie. so our camping expedition got off to a, lets say, interesting start. after arriving at the badlands in gorgeous weather, we setup camp and proceeded to go off fishing whistling jolly go lucky tunes without a care in the world, laughing at how tame the badlands were and wondering how they could have gotten their name. upon returning, however, drew made an unnexpected sighting....our tent rolling across the prairie. we soon discovered why they we're called the badlands, as we wrestled down our tent, unsuccessfully chased our tarp out into the abist and mended the fractured tent pole with bent stakes and duct tape. we finally settled down under our severely collapsed tent, huddled up in our sleeping bags listening to the howling wind and drenching rain and observing the regular flickers of lightning pierce the night sky. these are some bad lands.
to sum up the wind power, while cooking dinner i turned to eli to shout (he was 2 feet away) that he should be careful with his almost empty beer, in the process losing grip of my bread and watching it float into the darkness in search of our tarp. this was all while streaks was getting beans blown in his face and drew was trying to get a game of cards going. in the end we had a broken pole, torn rain fly, lost tarp (we think it took flight and is somewhere near rapid city by now), lost piece of toast, and a few bruised egos.
since that fateful night, we've been busy busy, and having a much smoother time. we hiked around the badlands, explored wall drug, caught loads and loads of perch, saw mt. rushmore, crazy horse, the wind caves, and sylvan lake.
we're currently camping at sheridan lake in the black hills. very pretty, and we definately wont be taking the tree wind blocks for granted any more. its pasta tonight, big fire, and marshmellows. more updates tomorrow as we hit the road for wyoming.
see ya see ya,
M
Monday, June 2, 2008
little house on the
who are we...?? weee aaare blackout. we came to turn this prairie out! currently we're cruisin' through the south dakota prairie, as anticipation slowly builds for the TIME magazine featured, london bus billboard advertised, t-rex roaring cowboy orchestra greatness that is wall drug store. thats right, drug store. we've been told its out of this world, and are about 75 miles from experiencing its glory for ourselves.
drew squirrel dive curhan is at the wheel and streaks is reading the legend of devils tower...i can't hear you!! devils tower!! i can't hear you!! devils tower! E-prairie doggin-LI is rockin out to country tunes poppin starbursts like it was his job. whoa ok creepy staring.
we just stopped at a 1880's ghost town with a sweet 50s train car diner. seabass said to put it on his tab.
drewsm from last night, sung to the tune of buddy holly's "everyday": "e-veryday-it's a getting closer, going faster than a locom-oaster." oh baby baby breaking news! we have a mountain time zone change! let's see, what am i going to do with my extra hour? hmm the possibilities are endless...scratch that...limited because i am wedged into a 14 inch groove in the back seat with nothing to sustain me but puffcorn to my right and eli's dreamy eyes under that cowboy hat brim.
soon to camp sites, excited about fishing, not killed each other quite yet, life is good.
signing off,
M "well if that guy over there is seabass" somers
drew squirrel dive curhan is at the wheel and streaks is reading the legend of devils tower...i can't hear you!! devils tower!! i can't hear you!! devils tower! E-prairie doggin-LI is rockin out to country tunes poppin starbursts like it was his job. whoa ok creepy staring.
we just stopped at a 1880's ghost town with a sweet 50s train car diner. seabass said to put it on his tab.
drewsm from last night, sung to the tune of buddy holly's "everyday": "e-veryday-it's a getting closer, going faster than a locom-oaster." oh baby baby breaking news! we have a mountain time zone change! let's see, what am i going to do with my extra hour? hmm the possibilities are endless...scratch that...limited because i am wedged into a 14 inch groove in the back seat with nothing to sustain me but puffcorn to my right and eli's dreamy eyes under that cowboy hat brim.
soon to camp sites, excited about fishing, not killed each other quite yet, life is good.
signing off,
M "well if that guy over there is seabass" somers
Sunday, June 1, 2008
I LOVE YOU Wisconsin! Colon! Colonial Foot Solider!
"Sexy. Lingerie. Videos. DVDs. Organic Smoking Products. Pure Pleasure!"
Ah yes, here we are driving through Minnesota and we are graced with this flashing sign. That about sums up which part of the land of 1000 lakes we are in.
Madison was awesome. Colin's house is a kid's paradise with a front yard full of hammocks, swings, a basketball court, and a tree fort. We had beautiful weather both days as we saw Prince Fielder go deep and Ben Sheets weave a gem in the Brewers victory.
Today the Hararis cooked us a breakfast of omelets, pancakes, bacon and strawberries. We did a little more planning of the rest of our trip and headed to the Shorewood neighborhood pool. Met up with some of Colin's high school friends and played a hardcore game of water basketball--my wrist is still feeling it and I gave Colin a pretty good elbow to the face. Drew did a series of 1 3/4 flips and squirrel dives off the diving board. As much exercise as we've gotten yet.
We got some lunch at State Street Brats and grabbed some ice cream at the UW Union before we headed back to his house and packed up our things. His parents insisted that we bbq with them tonight and stay as long as we wanted--pretty doggone tempting, but we knew we had to get on the road, so we resisted the urge and said our goodbyes.
Madison is gorgeous right now and is a cool area with a bunch of young people.
Off to Sioux Falls. We just stopped to get gas and Rezzie very nearly overshot the driveway to the gas station. We swerved and skidded to avoid the ravine. Had we gone into it I'm pretty sure it would've looked remarkably similar to Drew's swan dive in first attempt during the slam dunk contest last night. Good god it was one of the funniest things of all time. Similar attempts were caught on camera.
We are staying (hopefully) at the Red Roof Inn in Sioux Falls. I called to make reservations and they said they were completely booked, but we found rooms online for cheap at the same one, soooo we booked it anyway.
The Cow game has escalated with such endless farmland here. Rezzie was mounting a furious comeback until he very unfortunately identified a group of three tractors as ten cows. Ouch--the negative points gave a serious blow to his total.
Badlands and camping tomorrow. Oh and Wall Drug. B-b-b-booyah!
-E
keep on rollin rollin rollin...
ladies and germs we made it to our final planned roof to sleep under before portland. the harari's have welcomed us with open arms here in madison in the glorious state of wisconsin. last night we saw a brew crew game as they handily defeated the 'stros 4-1. sheets threw 8 and 2/3 of nasty ball and russel brannian hit one of the longest homers i've seen. my pick, italian sausage dominated the 7th inning race, leaving bratwurts, hot dog, polish and chorizo in his dust. a solid victory for us both. miller park was sweet and madison seems like a cool little capital/college town that we'l explore more today.
lets see now, from the last couple of days much has happened. chicago was a blast as we bounced from jazz club to deep dish pizza joint to ball game to uber pub. jamie showed us the city in lavish fashion. wrigley was one of the highlights of i think everybodies trip, and the 10-9 comeback win for the cubbies made it that much sweeter.
the evenings were marked by dibauchery, leading us into our drewism for chi town. drewism #3: "i'm not a huge fan of whiskey, i'll take the crown royale." with this me and eli looked at eachother confused, and the liquor store man pondering our sanity. as eli and i thought, though we're not sure enough at the time to properly make fun of, crown royale is a canadian whiskey, though arguably of higher class than jim beam, whiskey none the less.
these wonderings on full bellies of deep dish pizza led us to a jazz club called b.l.u.e.s. where the legendary willie davis regaled us with his words of wisdom and useful lady slayer lines such as: "they call me coffee, not because i'm black, but because i grind so fine." brilliant.
once again eli is in his typical jibberish yelling mode at mariners highlights. (now the giants turned a triple play, leaving me umm, yayhappyglee) also for those who are wondering, i'm at horse 22 and ressie just got in the black with 4 after his dreadful bout of miscalled cows. thata boy.
bacon's cooking upstairs smells incredible gotta go,
M
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