Day 6 - Glacier National Park
Ryan and I left Yellowstone and travelled to Glacier National Park in search of adventure and wilderness. We found both in spades in Glacier National Park. Ferrel squirrels, rampaging bighorn sheep, and ferocious trout were just a few of the wild beasts that Ryan and I had to survive while travelling through Glacier. See for yourself...
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Wyoming
Day 5 - Yellowstone National Park
Prepare for an onslaught of wildlife not seen since you last turned on "Animal Planet." Don't believe me? See for yourself on this installment of "Jason and Ryan's Magnificent Road Trip Adventure Series Show!"
Prepare for an onslaught of wildlife not seen since you last turned on "Animal Planet." Don't believe me? See for yourself on this installment of "Jason and Ryan's Magnificent Road Trip Adventure Series Show!"
Friday, August 17, 2007
South Dakota...
Day 4 - Badlands National Park, etc.
We visited Badlands National Park, Wall Drug, and Mt. Rushmore while in South Dakota. Check it out!
We visited Badlands National Park, Wall Drug, and Mt. Rushmore while in South Dakota. Check it out!
From California to Arizona...
Our last day in Los Angeles was spent at Magic Mountain, which was made famous when Paulie Shore refrenced "the Mountain" in the comedy classic, "Encino Man." Anyway, Magic Mountain is a pretty decent amusement park located in Valencia, California. The park had a decent amount of roller coasters, but what really made the park stand out was the roller coaster, "X." This thing is totally insane. There's really no good way of explaining this particular coaster; you simply have to ride it for yourself to understand the sheer magnitude of its awsomeness. Each seat swivels independently and its a totally disorienting ride. Ryan and I give it an 11 on a scale of 1 to 10. Magic Mountain also had a roller coaster that has you riding on your stomach as if you were Superman. While this sounds awesome, its really not if you're like me and have a somewhat large belly. I felt like I was going to puke after the ride, but that's probably my own fault for being a fatty. Anyway, "the Mountain" turned out to be a decent place to spend a few hours, so we're glad we went.
After we left Magic Mountain, we drove to Palm Springs. This city is in the middle of the desert, not far from Arizona. Ryan and I didn't get a chance to see much of the city, but what we can tell you is that the buildings are built low and the city is insanely hot. We arrived in Palm Springs around midnight and the tempurture had to be at least 100 degrees. We cranked up the air conditioning in our little motel room and we still had to bring in our portable fans to help keep us cool. After waking up, we were happy to get in our car to drive to our next destination... Gilbert, Arizona!
We reached Gilbert, AZ around five in the afternoon, where we met up with our second cousin, Z! This guy is great. He hooked us up with a free place to stay and fed us and let us do laundry. We are forever in his debt. Tomorrow, we'll wake up and possibly see Phoenix, Sedona, Flagstaff, the Grand Canyon, and hopefully we'll make it to Las Vegas! See you then!
-The Guys
After we left Magic Mountain, we drove to Palm Springs. This city is in the middle of the desert, not far from Arizona. Ryan and I didn't get a chance to see much of the city, but what we can tell you is that the buildings are built low and the city is insanely hot. We arrived in Palm Springs around midnight and the tempurture had to be at least 100 degrees. We cranked up the air conditioning in our little motel room and we still had to bring in our portable fans to help keep us cool. After waking up, we were happy to get in our car to drive to our next destination... Gilbert, Arizona!
We reached Gilbert, AZ around five in the afternoon, where we met up with our second cousin, Z! This guy is great. He hooked us up with a free place to stay and fed us and let us do laundry. We are forever in his debt. Tomorrow, we'll wake up and possibly see Phoenix, Sedona, Flagstaff, the Grand Canyon, and hopefully we'll make it to Las Vegas! See you then!
-The Guys
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
California...
First off, California is HUGE. We've spent the most time in this state and ever minute of it has been packed with stuff to do.
After our quick tour of the Redwood National Forest, we drove to Sacramento to stay with our cousin, Charles. Charles was a great host. Our first night, he took us to "Adalberto's," which is probably my favorite fast food mexican restaurant ever. To call it fast food is actually an injustice because its just as delicious as the mexican food you can get from a sit-down restaurant. Their tacos are amazing!
The next day we drove to San Francisco to do a quick tour of the city. We headed down to Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf where we met up with most of our cousins. We saw the sea lions fighting off of the side of Pier 39, then decided it was time to go. We next drove to Lombard street which is famous because its winds all over the place. Its probably the most curvy street in America. We went there to get some video shots, but apparantly other people had the same idea because the street was packed with cars. After wasting some time at Lombard, we drove to Alamo Park which is where they filmed the opening to "Full House." We took some pictures and video there, so you'll be able to see how things have changed since the tv show stoped airing. After that we went to Haight & Ashbury, which is where the hippie movement started in the 1960's. Today is just a shell of its former self with mainly a bunch of hipster kids and bums hanging around the area. Ryan and I went to the McDonald's next to Amoema Records and saw some bum shooting up heroin in the bathroom stall next the urinal. Needless to say, we didn't linger long there at that McDonald's. After leaving McDonald's we went inside Amoeba Records, which supposedly is the largest independent record store in the country. I don't know if that's true or not, but it IS pretty big. We each bought a $1 cd just to see if we could pick out any hidden gems. Sadly, there were none. They were priced accordingly. After that, we left Haight & Ashbury and drove up to Twin Peaks, which is the highest hill in the city. From there you can usually get a great view of downtown San Francisco, but the night we drove up there, there was a huge cloud over the hill and we really couldn't see more than 10 feet in front of our faces.
The next day we drove to Yoesemite National Park with our cousins. At first we thought we'd do the Half Dome hike which is 17 miles long. After our brief flirtation with insanity, we decided to do a more reasonable 7 mile hike up to the Upper Falls. The first half of those 7 miles was straight up a mountain. By the time we finished our hike we could barely lift our legs. I wouldn't say I regreted making the hike though. At the top of the falls (which had dried up), there were pools of icy mountain water just sitting up there. Most of us decided it might be fun to hop in the water to cool off. Ryan and I both jumped in and while I can say it was refreshing, it wasn't warm enough to just sit in there and relax. After we left Yosemite, we drove home and slept sound and logs.
The following day, we drove back to San Francisco to see the remaining sights. We first drove to the Castro district, which is famous because that is the neighborhood where all of the gay men live in the city. I have to say, a lot of those guys were really friendly. I had an opportunity to interview a guy from Michigan named Trevor and he was very helpful and informative. He told me a lot about the neighborhood and even welcomed me to stay a while. I had to refuse Trevor's kind offer though because we had more of the city to see! After leaving Castro, we drove to the Palace of Fine Arts which is a nice roman-esque structure next to the Exploratorium. There really isn't much to see there, but it was a nice photo opportunity. After leaving there, we drove to the Legion of Honor, which is a museum that houses some fine classical art pieces. We had a great time outside watching the sun set. After that we drove to Union Square which is the nice part of the city. We stayed maybe 30 minutes because we couldn't find any good place to eat without a line. After that we left the city.
The next day we left the Bay area and drove south toward Los Angeles. We decided to take the Pacific Coast Highway because that is the most scenic drive to L.A. We were rewarded with fantastic shots of the ocean, but sadly our video camera died there. We went to Circuit City the following day and purchased a new camera, so fear not loyal readers of this blog... we'll be back with further video updates in the near future!
After driving the PCH, we finally made it to Los Angeles where we met up with my friend Adam Brown. He showed us around Hollywood and took us to a great restaurant, the Saddle Ranch which is famous for their huge portions of steak and their mechanical bull. We had the steak and then rode the bull. The steak was fantastic and the bull-riding was painful. While there we had our first and only celebrity sighting... we saw Flava-Flav! He's just as ugly in person and he is on t.v. Anyway, our trip to L.A. was pretty quick. While we spent two days there, we didn't get to see very much because the city is so spread out. We drove to Venice Beach, where we met Bill, the 60 year old body builder who used to hang out with Arnold in his younger days. Despite what you may have heard, Venice is not all that crazy. It just looks like a shabby beach town. From there we drove to the Santa Monica Pier which was okay. I'm glad we only spent $1 to park because the food was generic and the amusement park rides looked pretty crappy. After that we drove to see UCLA which was a beautiful campus. We went inside the library and I have to say, it looked like a very nice place to study and meet asian people. After that we drove to see our Cousin, Sunanta. Being a full-blooded filipina, she took us to the most asian part of the city to have Boba/Bubble Tea, which is this gross tea that has tapioca balls at the bottom. The drink sucked, but it was great to see our cousin. The next day we drove around and took a studio tour and Warner Bros. Studios. That was my favorite park of the trip because I love movies so much. It was cool to see where movies get made and the process which goes into creating them. We then drove to Westwood to see "Stardust" at the Fox Westwood Village movie theater which is a 1300 seat theater with the best sound and video i've ever experienced. The movie was decent, bu the theater was great. From there we drove to visit USC which was pretty "eh." I didn't like the campus very much compared to UCLA. After that we drove to visit Sunanta one last time at Irvine where she took us to see the "Dollhouse," which supposedly is a place where some lady murdered her two kids and cut them into pieces and placed them in the walls. FUN! See you next time!
Hopefully our posts will start to come more regularly again soon!
-The Guys
After our quick tour of the Redwood National Forest, we drove to Sacramento to stay with our cousin, Charles. Charles was a great host. Our first night, he took us to "Adalberto's," which is probably my favorite fast food mexican restaurant ever. To call it fast food is actually an injustice because its just as delicious as the mexican food you can get from a sit-down restaurant. Their tacos are amazing!
The next day we drove to San Francisco to do a quick tour of the city. We headed down to Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf where we met up with most of our cousins. We saw the sea lions fighting off of the side of Pier 39, then decided it was time to go. We next drove to Lombard street which is famous because its winds all over the place. Its probably the most curvy street in America. We went there to get some video shots, but apparantly other people had the same idea because the street was packed with cars. After wasting some time at Lombard, we drove to Alamo Park which is where they filmed the opening to "Full House." We took some pictures and video there, so you'll be able to see how things have changed since the tv show stoped airing. After that we went to Haight & Ashbury, which is where the hippie movement started in the 1960's. Today is just a shell of its former self with mainly a bunch of hipster kids and bums hanging around the area. Ryan and I went to the McDonald's next to Amoema Records and saw some bum shooting up heroin in the bathroom stall next the urinal. Needless to say, we didn't linger long there at that McDonald's. After leaving McDonald's we went inside Amoeba Records, which supposedly is the largest independent record store in the country. I don't know if that's true or not, but it IS pretty big. We each bought a $1 cd just to see if we could pick out any hidden gems. Sadly, there were none. They were priced accordingly. After that, we left Haight & Ashbury and drove up to Twin Peaks, which is the highest hill in the city. From there you can usually get a great view of downtown San Francisco, but the night we drove up there, there was a huge cloud over the hill and we really couldn't see more than 10 feet in front of our faces.
The next day we drove to Yoesemite National Park with our cousins. At first we thought we'd do the Half Dome hike which is 17 miles long. After our brief flirtation with insanity, we decided to do a more reasonable 7 mile hike up to the Upper Falls. The first half of those 7 miles was straight up a mountain. By the time we finished our hike we could barely lift our legs. I wouldn't say I regreted making the hike though. At the top of the falls (which had dried up), there were pools of icy mountain water just sitting up there. Most of us decided it might be fun to hop in the water to cool off. Ryan and I both jumped in and while I can say it was refreshing, it wasn't warm enough to just sit in there and relax. After we left Yosemite, we drove home and slept sound and logs.
The following day, we drove back to San Francisco to see the remaining sights. We first drove to the Castro district, which is famous because that is the neighborhood where all of the gay men live in the city. I have to say, a lot of those guys were really friendly. I had an opportunity to interview a guy from Michigan named Trevor and he was very helpful and informative. He told me a lot about the neighborhood and even welcomed me to stay a while. I had to refuse Trevor's kind offer though because we had more of the city to see! After leaving Castro, we drove to the Palace of Fine Arts which is a nice roman-esque structure next to the Exploratorium. There really isn't much to see there, but it was a nice photo opportunity. After leaving there, we drove to the Legion of Honor, which is a museum that houses some fine classical art pieces. We had a great time outside watching the sun set. After that we drove to Union Square which is the nice part of the city. We stayed maybe 30 minutes because we couldn't find any good place to eat without a line. After that we left the city.
The next day we left the Bay area and drove south toward Los Angeles. We decided to take the Pacific Coast Highway because that is the most scenic drive to L.A. We were rewarded with fantastic shots of the ocean, but sadly our video camera died there. We went to Circuit City the following day and purchased a new camera, so fear not loyal readers of this blog... we'll be back with further video updates in the near future!
After driving the PCH, we finally made it to Los Angeles where we met up with my friend Adam Brown. He showed us around Hollywood and took us to a great restaurant, the Saddle Ranch which is famous for their huge portions of steak and their mechanical bull. We had the steak and then rode the bull. The steak was fantastic and the bull-riding was painful. While there we had our first and only celebrity sighting... we saw Flava-Flav! He's just as ugly in person and he is on t.v. Anyway, our trip to L.A. was pretty quick. While we spent two days there, we didn't get to see very much because the city is so spread out. We drove to Venice Beach, where we met Bill, the 60 year old body builder who used to hang out with Arnold in his younger days. Despite what you may have heard, Venice is not all that crazy. It just looks like a shabby beach town. From there we drove to the Santa Monica Pier which was okay. I'm glad we only spent $1 to park because the food was generic and the amusement park rides looked pretty crappy. After that we drove to see UCLA which was a beautiful campus. We went inside the library and I have to say, it looked like a very nice place to study and meet asian people. After that we drove to see our Cousin, Sunanta. Being a full-blooded filipina, she took us to the most asian part of the city to have Boba/Bubble Tea, which is this gross tea that has tapioca balls at the bottom. The drink sucked, but it was great to see our cousin. The next day we drove around and took a studio tour and Warner Bros. Studios. That was my favorite park of the trip because I love movies so much. It was cool to see where movies get made and the process which goes into creating them. We then drove to Westwood to see "Stardust" at the Fox Westwood Village movie theater which is a 1300 seat theater with the best sound and video i've ever experienced. The movie was decent, bu the theater was great. From there we drove to visit USC which was pretty "eh." I didn't like the campus very much compared to UCLA. After that we drove to visit Sunanta one last time at Irvine where she took us to see the "Dollhouse," which supposedly is a place where some lady murdered her two kids and cut them into pieces and placed them in the walls. FUN! See you next time!
Hopefully our posts will start to come more regularly again soon!
-The Guys
From Washington to California...
Day 11 - Olympic National Park
We finished day 10 by taking the Edmonds-Kingston car ferry across Puget Sound to get to the Olympic Peninsula. It was a fun, pleasent, and short trip. Kingston was a small seaside town that looks like a lot of fun for the 60+ crowd. We ate and left for Port Angeles where we would spend the night at a KOA. Our early arrival time allowed us to make s'mores for the first time on our trip. The fire felt great with the cool North Pacific air.
Olympic National Park was interesting but we really only had a chance to scratch the surface. It's really 3 parks in one. The Olympic mountains rise up 7 thousand feet into the air just miles from the coast creating a ton of rain right along the coast. So in Olympic NP, you have a mountain environment, one of the world's only temperate rain forests, and the Pacific coast. Unfortunately we began the day kind of late (almost noon), and we had to cut out the mountains (as we've had no shortage of mountains so far on this trip). Our first stop was to the small Indian community of La Push. It was in this small sea side community that we got our first glimpse of the endless beauty of the Pacific Ocean. 70 foot "sea stacks" (large stone hills) shoot out of the Ocean all along the northern Washington coast and provided a fantastic scenery. The walk to the beach was through a small patch of rain forest. What makes a temperate rain forest a rain forest (besides the rain... duh) is the patches of moss, everywhere, on stones, on the branches of the sitka and spruce, on the path; and the ferns that blanket the undergrowth. The beach was kind of crappy, the sand was nice but there was a lot of dead trees lying everywhere and a lot of bugs. The sea stacks were nice but that was about it. From there we headed to the Hoh rain forest. The Hoh rain forest was essentially a bigger version of the rain forest we walked through earlier to get to the beach. The trees were bigger and there was a lot more moss. We got a very good look at a large bull elk wandering in the forest as well.
Day 12 - Oregon
After Olympic, we drove down the Washington coast to Willapa Bay, the site of our next KOA. An interesting phenomenon throughout our trip has been the mystery of waking up in new places. We always arrive at our campgrounds past sunset, so we never know what the scenery looks like around our camp. Thus, every morning is a surprise. It was quite a surprise when we woke up the next morning just a few hundred feet from the ocean. Apparently, clamming is a very popular activity in Willapa Bay. We hate clams and the beach was crappy so we left as soon as possible.
Before passing the Oregon border we stopped in the tiny town of Naselle, WA. We stopped at Edgells Inn Restaurant & Lounge and tried the cheeseburger and macaroni soup. It was delicious and I highly recommend any travelers in the area stop there (if they can find it). We meet a lot of people on the road and it's usually a mixed bag. Some small towns suck, and some are great. Naselle was very friendly, so a thumbs up there.
From Naselle we headed to the Oregon border and into Portland (which is just miles from the border). Portland was surprisingly nice. Everything we had heard led us to believe that Portland would be a complete shit hole, and from the highway it looked like that would be case (see the video in a few days), but once we entered the city, we were very pleasenly surprised. A few notes on Portland: Portland is super liberal. Even in the rich areas of town, it wasn't uncommon to see people with multiple piercings and green peace t-shirts. Portland looks like a nice place to live but only OK to visit. There aren't very many things to do if you enjoy sight-seeing. However, if you're a shopper, Portland is a very nice place to visit. Unfortunately we only got to spend a little bit of time in Portland because we had to be in Sacramento by the evening of Day 13 (and we didn't really budget much time ahead of time to begin with because we thought it would be shitty).
From Portland we headed south to Eugene, OR, home of the Oregon Ducks. Eugene was a total bust. The University of Oregon campus was ugly and super tiny. The Stadium was a long walk from campus and the downtown looked like crap. The silver lining of Eugene: good Mexican food. We ate our first Mexican food of the trip and it was very good. From there we headed down to Wilderville to spend the night.
Day 13 - Redwood National Park to Sacramento
We left early from Wilderville and headed toward Redwood National Park. If you're someone who says, "A tree is a tree" or "Once you've seen one tree you've seen them all," I think you need to visit Redwood National Park. These trees are incredible. The tallest tree in the park (380 feet) is inaccessable by normal means but you can easily see 340 foot behemuths from the road. Many of the trees are easily wider than a car. We drove down an 8 mile unpaved (wild you might say) road through the forest with trees often only inches from the car. It was an incredible drive. When we got to our destination we took a short walk through one of the many trails and were transported back in time to the Jurassic era when dinosaurs ruled the Earth. Giant trees erupt from the ground 20 feet from each other and ferns and moss cover the undergrowth. After filming some exciting footage we had to travel back to the future (zing!). We were on a mission to get to Sacramento at a reasonable hour to meet up with our cousins. We asked a forest ranger what the fastest way to get there would be and he recommended a route down the coast and cutting up when the mountains were a bit thinner. Instead we got in the car and chose to follow our navigation system's instructions... What a terrible mistake. Never, ever drive US-299 unless you absolutely have to. It was 150 miles of somewhat busy mountain roads. We averaged about 35 mph. In other words, it was sheer hell. From there we headed down I-5 to Sacramento to meet up with our cousin Charles.
-The Guys
We finished day 10 by taking the Edmonds-Kingston car ferry across Puget Sound to get to the Olympic Peninsula. It was a fun, pleasent, and short trip. Kingston was a small seaside town that looks like a lot of fun for the 60+ crowd. We ate and left for Port Angeles where we would spend the night at a KOA. Our early arrival time allowed us to make s'mores for the first time on our trip. The fire felt great with the cool North Pacific air.
Olympic National Park was interesting but we really only had a chance to scratch the surface. It's really 3 parks in one. The Olympic mountains rise up 7 thousand feet into the air just miles from the coast creating a ton of rain right along the coast. So in Olympic NP, you have a mountain environment, one of the world's only temperate rain forests, and the Pacific coast. Unfortunately we began the day kind of late (almost noon), and we had to cut out the mountains (as we've had no shortage of mountains so far on this trip). Our first stop was to the small Indian community of La Push. It was in this small sea side community that we got our first glimpse of the endless beauty of the Pacific Ocean. 70 foot "sea stacks" (large stone hills) shoot out of the Ocean all along the northern Washington coast and provided a fantastic scenery. The walk to the beach was through a small patch of rain forest. What makes a temperate rain forest a rain forest (besides the rain... duh) is the patches of moss, everywhere, on stones, on the branches of the sitka and spruce, on the path; and the ferns that blanket the undergrowth. The beach was kind of crappy, the sand was nice but there was a lot of dead trees lying everywhere and a lot of bugs. The sea stacks were nice but that was about it. From there we headed to the Hoh rain forest. The Hoh rain forest was essentially a bigger version of the rain forest we walked through earlier to get to the beach. The trees were bigger and there was a lot more moss. We got a very good look at a large bull elk wandering in the forest as well.
Day 12 - Oregon
After Olympic, we drove down the Washington coast to Willapa Bay, the site of our next KOA. An interesting phenomenon throughout our trip has been the mystery of waking up in new places. We always arrive at our campgrounds past sunset, so we never know what the scenery looks like around our camp. Thus, every morning is a surprise. It was quite a surprise when we woke up the next morning just a few hundred feet from the ocean. Apparently, clamming is a very popular activity in Willapa Bay. We hate clams and the beach was crappy so we left as soon as possible.
Before passing the Oregon border we stopped in the tiny town of Naselle, WA. We stopped at Edgells Inn Restaurant & Lounge and tried the cheeseburger and macaroni soup. It was delicious and I highly recommend any travelers in the area stop there (if they can find it). We meet a lot of people on the road and it's usually a mixed bag. Some small towns suck, and some are great. Naselle was very friendly, so a thumbs up there.
From Naselle we headed to the Oregon border and into Portland (which is just miles from the border). Portland was surprisingly nice. Everything we had heard led us to believe that Portland would be a complete shit hole, and from the highway it looked like that would be case (see the video in a few days), but once we entered the city, we were very pleasenly surprised. A few notes on Portland: Portland is super liberal. Even in the rich areas of town, it wasn't uncommon to see people with multiple piercings and green peace t-shirts. Portland looks like a nice place to live but only OK to visit. There aren't very many things to do if you enjoy sight-seeing. However, if you're a shopper, Portland is a very nice place to visit. Unfortunately we only got to spend a little bit of time in Portland because we had to be in Sacramento by the evening of Day 13 (and we didn't really budget much time ahead of time to begin with because we thought it would be shitty).
From Portland we headed south to Eugene, OR, home of the Oregon Ducks. Eugene was a total bust. The University of Oregon campus was ugly and super tiny. The Stadium was a long walk from campus and the downtown looked like crap. The silver lining of Eugene: good Mexican food. We ate our first Mexican food of the trip and it was very good. From there we headed down to Wilderville to spend the night.
Day 13 - Redwood National Park to Sacramento
We left early from Wilderville and headed toward Redwood National Park. If you're someone who says, "A tree is a tree" or "Once you've seen one tree you've seen them all," I think you need to visit Redwood National Park. These trees are incredible. The tallest tree in the park (380 feet) is inaccessable by normal means but you can easily see 340 foot behemuths from the road. Many of the trees are easily wider than a car. We drove down an 8 mile unpaved (wild you might say) road through the forest with trees often only inches from the car. It was an incredible drive. When we got to our destination we took a short walk through one of the many trails and were transported back in time to the Jurassic era when dinosaurs ruled the Earth. Giant trees erupt from the ground 20 feet from each other and ferns and moss cover the undergrowth. After filming some exciting footage we had to travel back to the future (zing!). We were on a mission to get to Sacramento at a reasonable hour to meet up with our cousins. We asked a forest ranger what the fastest way to get there would be and he recommended a route down the coast and cutting up when the mountains were a bit thinner. Instead we got in the car and chose to follow our navigation system's instructions... What a terrible mistake. Never, ever drive US-299 unless you absolutely have to. It was 150 miles of somewhat busy mountain roads. We averaged about 35 mph. In other words, it was sheer hell. From there we headed down I-5 to Sacramento to meet up with our cousin Charles.
-The Guys
Monday, August 6, 2007
The return to civilization...
After a couple of hours drive from our hotel in Waterville, Washington, we made it to Leavenworth. The town is a small faux bavarian town located in the middle of the mountains in nortern Washington. The city looked nice, but wasn't very big. While the town has a german look to it, it wasn't above allowing merchants from other countries such as Australia set up shop. We didn't see much in Leavenworth, but we did get a chance to go into an authentic german clothing store, where we saw some sexy duds like liederhosen!
After we left Leavenworth, we drove an hour down the road to Rosyln. This was one of my favorite stops on our long journey. This small mining town of probably less than two thousand people was special for one reason... it was the setting for the tv show "Northern Exposure!" We had lunch at "The Brick," a local bar. The place was great because it was probably over a hundred years old. They had what looked like a stream flowing beneath the bar. When we asked what it was for, we were informed it was a spitoon! Where else are you going to find crazy spitoons like that but in Roslyn, WA?
After we left Rosyln, we were on our way back to civilization. First stop, Tacoma! Most people who are reading this are probably asking why anybody would voluntarily go to Tacoma. The reason is simple... Heath Ledger! Specifically, Heath Ledger as some lame character in the movie "10 Things I Hate About You," which was filmed at Stadium High School in Tacoma. We wanted to visit another famous set, so we drove to the high school and it really was impressive. I would have enjoyed going to school there. Ater seeing the school, we drove downtown and found it was nothing special, but we were glad to have seen it nonetheless.
After leaving Tacoma, we were on a mission to get to Seattle. We got there pretty late in the evening and we needed to find a cheap place to stay, so Ryan used our navigation system to find us a spot. We ended up at the "Hillside Motel." We knew something was up when they made us sign a waiver that said we wouldn't engage in gambling, prostitution, or graffiti. The door to our room had a gun shot hole that had been boarded up, so we knew were were in for a treat. We went to bed not knowing whether or not we'd encounter any prostitutes, but awoke to the sound of the motel owner pacing back and forth in the parking lot speaking Korean. Sadly, that was as exciting as it got.
The next day we did all we could to see the city. We ate fresh donuts at the Pike Place Market, and then walked down to Pioneer Square to buy cookies from "Cow Chip Cookies." We then took the underground tour which left from Pioneer Square. The underground tour was basically an informative tour/history lesson which delved into the city's early history. Ryan and I both thoroughly enjoyed it. After taking the tour, we went to the Seattle Center to check out the Space Needle, Science Fiction Museum, and the Experience Music Project. The Space Needle was nothing special (just a high observation tower), but we felt that we needed to go since its a Seattle landmark. The Science Fiction Museum was great. We saw probably the least fearsome security guards ever (they were standing around talking "Star Trek" for an hour). The Experience Music Project was pretty decent though. The musuem had an exhibit which detailed the history of the guitar. Another cool thing about the EMP was the area upstairs which allowed people to learn to play instruments like the bass, guitar, keyboard, and drums. Overall, Seattle was a decent city.
The last thing I want to note about Seattle is "Dick's" Burgers, which is basically the Seattle version of California's "In-N-Out" Burger. Dick's is nothing more than an overpriced burger joint that doesn't allow substitutions or modifications of what's on the menu AND they have the nerve to not give free refills. This is America! Unless the pop comes from the can, every place should give free refills. But I guess I was just pissed about having to buy a seperate pop for Ryan (normally we just share).
-The Guys
After we left Leavenworth, we drove an hour down the road to Rosyln. This was one of my favorite stops on our long journey. This small mining town of probably less than two thousand people was special for one reason... it was the setting for the tv show "Northern Exposure!" We had lunch at "The Brick," a local bar. The place was great because it was probably over a hundred years old. They had what looked like a stream flowing beneath the bar. When we asked what it was for, we were informed it was a spitoon! Where else are you going to find crazy spitoons like that but in Roslyn, WA?
After we left Rosyln, we were on our way back to civilization. First stop, Tacoma! Most people who are reading this are probably asking why anybody would voluntarily go to Tacoma. The reason is simple... Heath Ledger! Specifically, Heath Ledger as some lame character in the movie "10 Things I Hate About You," which was filmed at Stadium High School in Tacoma. We wanted to visit another famous set, so we drove to the high school and it really was impressive. I would have enjoyed going to school there. Ater seeing the school, we drove downtown and found it was nothing special, but we were glad to have seen it nonetheless.
After leaving Tacoma, we were on a mission to get to Seattle. We got there pretty late in the evening and we needed to find a cheap place to stay, so Ryan used our navigation system to find us a spot. We ended up at the "Hillside Motel." We knew something was up when they made us sign a waiver that said we wouldn't engage in gambling, prostitution, or graffiti. The door to our room had a gun shot hole that had been boarded up, so we knew were were in for a treat. We went to bed not knowing whether or not we'd encounter any prostitutes, but awoke to the sound of the motel owner pacing back and forth in the parking lot speaking Korean. Sadly, that was as exciting as it got.
The next day we did all we could to see the city. We ate fresh donuts at the Pike Place Market, and then walked down to Pioneer Square to buy cookies from "Cow Chip Cookies." We then took the underground tour which left from Pioneer Square. The underground tour was basically an informative tour/history lesson which delved into the city's early history. Ryan and I both thoroughly enjoyed it. After taking the tour, we went to the Seattle Center to check out the Space Needle, Science Fiction Museum, and the Experience Music Project. The Space Needle was nothing special (just a high observation tower), but we felt that we needed to go since its a Seattle landmark. The Science Fiction Museum was great. We saw probably the least fearsome security guards ever (they were standing around talking "Star Trek" for an hour). The Experience Music Project was pretty decent though. The musuem had an exhibit which detailed the history of the guitar. Another cool thing about the EMP was the area upstairs which allowed people to learn to play instruments like the bass, guitar, keyboard, and drums. Overall, Seattle was a decent city.
The last thing I want to note about Seattle is "Dick's" Burgers, which is basically the Seattle version of California's "In-N-Out" Burger. Dick's is nothing more than an overpriced burger joint that doesn't allow substitutions or modifications of what's on the menu AND they have the nerve to not give free refills. This is America! Unless the pop comes from the can, every place should give free refills. But I guess I was just pissed about having to buy a seperate pop for Ryan (normally we just share).
-The Guys
Friday, August 3, 2007
Madison and the Wisconsin Dells
Day 2 - Madison, WI and the Wisconsin Dells
Be sure to turn up your volume when watching this clip. The audio is pretty terrible. Sorry about that. Won't happen again!
Be sure to turn up your volume when watching this clip. The audio is pretty terrible. Sorry about that. Won't happen again!
Leaving Montana to move on to Washington...
We woke up late on Day 7 from our campground in West Glacier. After a leisurely shower, we got back on the road and drove towards Washington state. It was to be a long day of driving.
Our first quick stop was in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho. The town is located on a large lake, just one hour east of Spokane, Washington. Coeur D'Alene ( pronounced "kour-de-lane") looked like a nice vacation spot... if you're from Idaho. It was pretty much the same thing as Traverse City, Michigan, so if you've been there, there really isn't much of a reason to go to Coeur D'Alene.
We then drove to Spokane, Washington so we could visit Gonzaga University. We had seen a clip of the university on YouTube before and it looked like an incredibly scenic place. We were unprepared for how crappy the place looked. Spokane looked like Pontiac, Michigan and Gonzaga University looked like Hope College in Hope, Michigan, but uglier. So much for Spokane and Gonzaga University.
After we left Spokane, we drove down a country road in an attempt to get to Leavenworth, Washington, which is supposed to be a touristy faux-bavarian town. We stopped to eat at a small diner in Wilbur, Washington. The town of Wilbur can't have more than 1000 people. However, that whole line about small towns having big hospitality is a load of crap. The people who worked there didn't seem to be very hospitable at all. The food was over-priced and it under-delivered on taste. Needless to say, we were happy to leave Wilbur, Washington.
By this point, it was pretty late, so we decided we needed to pick up the pace to get to our campsite as soon as possible. But while driving to our KOA site, we drove through the small town of Waterville, Washington, which had the scariest looking hotel I have ever seen. We decided to stop in and check out the rates. The place was very affordable, so we decided to stay there for the night. We were pretty scared that we might not make it through the night, but things turned out nicely. The hotel was built in 1901 and it shows. There was a common bathroom that the whole floor had to share and all around us were vintage electronics and stuffed dead animals. It was truly a bizarre experience staying at the Waterville Hotel.
-The Guys
Our first quick stop was in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho. The town is located on a large lake, just one hour east of Spokane, Washington. Coeur D'Alene ( pronounced "kour-de-lane") looked like a nice vacation spot... if you're from Idaho. It was pretty much the same thing as Traverse City, Michigan, so if you've been there, there really isn't much of a reason to go to Coeur D'Alene.
We then drove to Spokane, Washington so we could visit Gonzaga University. We had seen a clip of the university on YouTube before and it looked like an incredibly scenic place. We were unprepared for how crappy the place looked. Spokane looked like Pontiac, Michigan and Gonzaga University looked like Hope College in Hope, Michigan, but uglier. So much for Spokane and Gonzaga University.
After we left Spokane, we drove down a country road in an attempt to get to Leavenworth, Washington, which is supposed to be a touristy faux-bavarian town. We stopped to eat at a small diner in Wilbur, Washington. The town of Wilbur can't have more than 1000 people. However, that whole line about small towns having big hospitality is a load of crap. The people who worked there didn't seem to be very hospitable at all. The food was over-priced and it under-delivered on taste. Needless to say, we were happy to leave Wilbur, Washington.
By this point, it was pretty late, so we decided we needed to pick up the pace to get to our campsite as soon as possible. But while driving to our KOA site, we drove through the small town of Waterville, Washington, which had the scariest looking hotel I have ever seen. We decided to stop in and check out the rates. The place was very affordable, so we decided to stay there for the night. We were pretty scared that we might not make it through the night, but things turned out nicely. The hotel was built in 1901 and it shows. There was a common bathroom that the whole floor had to share and all around us were vintage electronics and stuffed dead animals. It was truly a bizarre experience staying at the Waterville Hotel.
-The Guys
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks...
Road Trip - Day 5
Ryan and I left the KOA in Buffalo, Wyoming, still sleepy, yet excited to see the wonders that Yellowstone National Park might present. Our trip to Yellowstone might have been even more impressive than the park itself. We drove through Bighorn Mountain, up its serpentine road, past free grazing cattle. At one point, I decided to run into the field and chase after the cattle. It was a little unnerving as every cow in the whole field got up and looked right at me. It was as if I was staring death in the face. After moo-ing at the cows for several minutes, I got bored and Ryan and I got back on the road. We passed some "purple" mountains (mountains covered with dead trees) and then came upon Yellowstone's east entrance.
The road was under construction, so Ryan and I were forced to wait on the side of the road for twenty minutes. We used that time as an opportunity to familiarize ourselves with the Yellowstone map. There are plenty of things to see and do in Yellowstone. Sadly, Ryan and I didn't get to do too much. We drove on a mountain road into the park, past Yellowstone Lake (which is HUGE) and into the gas station. While at the gas station, we were fortunate enough to meet a fellow Michigander who happened to work at the park. She told us that we could guarantee that we'd see grizzly bears if we were to hike 4 miles on the Pelican Bay trail. Ryan almost convinced me to go on the trail, but my better judgment prevailed.
Instead we did the safe thing and visited Old Faithful. On the plus side, we got to the geyser just as it was about to erupt, so at least we didn't have to sit there like idiots waiting for it to go off. After the Old Faithful went off (whee!), we walked along the boardwalk to see several other nearby geysers. Ryan threw a stick into one geyser and some crazy chemical reaction occured and the thing almost blew up. After nearly destroying some ancient geyser, we decided to get the hell out of there and move on down the road.
Our next stop was the "Paint Pots," which basically consisted of some boiling mud. After sitting in awe of some bubbling dirt, we decided to move on yet again. We wanted to go to Grand Prysmatic pool, which was supposed to be a beautiful deep blue pool that is ringed in orange. While this description proved true, the path was about 20 feet away from the pool and the path ran at the same level as the pool, so we had a terrible view. Thanks Yellowstone!
Fearing that we were about to waste the rest of our day seeing fairly boring natural wonders, we decided to speed through the park to an area where the Buffalo roam and the Elk wander around too. We got there just as the sun was setting and were able to see some Buffalo up close; several were literally grazing about two feet away from our car as we crept along in our car. I think Buffalo are pretty much the coolest thing one can see in Yellowstone, and luckly, they're pretty easy to spot. The Elk were ok too, but basically, they're just giant deer. Sadly we were unable to spot any Moose, but hopefully we'll be able to find some in Glacier National Park.
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Road Trip - Day 6
We left Yellowstone this morning and drove through the park up towards Glacier National Park. We saw Mammoth Springs, which look like giant marshmallows, but smell more like crap (it's the sulfer). On the way out of the park there was a big traffic jam and Ryan got out of the car to take a look at what the hold up was. He got to see a grizzly bear from 50 feet away while I slept in the car.
The drive from Yellowstone to Glacier is long, about 8 hours. For the most part, Montanta is a beautiful place with mountains everywhere. Unfortunately, about 3 hours outside Glacier we began to smell smoke. Within 30 minutes everything was hazy and it seemed like we were driving through pea soup. It turns out there is a massive 1000 acre forest fire just below Glacier. All was not lost however, because the last 30 minutes on the drive up to the east side of Glacier was probably some of the best driving i've ever done. As we passed through the Indian reservation, the smoke thinned and the mountains jutted up through the sky like jagged teeth on an angry dog. While that sounds terrible, what I mean to communicate, is that this site was breath-taking and totally badass. It was unlike anything Ryan and I had ever seen before. Seriously... go to Google images and see for yourself. It was unreal.
Lastly, I want to give props to the bulgarian dude who made us our dinner at the St. Mary's KOA outside of the east gate of Glacier National Park. He cooked us up a BBQ cheeseburger and that was probably the highlight of my trip thus far. Seriously, I'm calling the guy up to get the recipe.
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Road Trip - Day 7
Ryan and I entered Glacier National Park, not knowing exactly what to expect. The park was about 10 million times more epic than Yellowstone. While Glacier Park connotes that the park is filled with glaciers, I believe it was named so due to the fact that it was created by slow moving slabs of ice that formed one of the most scenic mountainscapes in the world. THe mountains do not have the soft edges that most mountains have. Instead, each summit was sharp and jagged. This created a very unique landscape. Ryan and I had never been to Glacier before, so we weren't exactly sure what to do while we were there. While driving on the "Going to the Sun" road, we saw some snow about 100 feet below the road. We pulled our car off on the shoulder, and climbed down a steep grassy grade and crossed over loose rocks to get to the snow. We took a few pictures, and then proceeded to pee our names in the snow. After we finished, Ryan decided that we should climb up a sheer cliff face, rather than waste time walking around and going back the way we came. Ryan convinced me that his idea was a good one because it would shave off precious minutes, which could be used later to do other cool stuff in the park. As usual, Ryan's idea was terrible. We managed to climb up the cliff face, using nothing but our feeble muscles, and while we nearly fell off five or six times because the rocks gave way beneath our feet, we managed to climb to the top without dying. Glacier, zero. Dudes, one.
Our next stop at the park was "Logan's Pass." For some reason, this place smelled putrid. We never figured out why, but the fact remains that it is a very smelly place. While waiting around to use the bathroom, we encountered the friendliest squirrel in the park. He was fearless, running up to people, pulling on their pant leg, begging for food. Clearly, he had lost his wild ways. After wasting 10 minutes starring at a squirrel, we decided to go hiking. The ranger recommended that we try the "Hidden Lake" trail. We started walking, and within minutes I was winded. Man, am I ever out of shape. Anyway, we kept on moving and after a few more minutes we came across some beautiful scenery. The hike entailed walking up a boardwalk, up into the mountains, past bighorn sheep and mountain goats. We passed within five feet of a mother mountain goat and her calf(?). We got to the lookout point above hidden lake after roughly an hour and a half of hiking. Ryan decided it would be a good idea to walk another mile and half down to the lake. Once again, this proved to be a terrible idea. While I must admit that the lake was probably one of the most beautiful spots I've ever spent fifteen minutes at, the walk back up was sheer hell. But I can't complain. I probably burned a ton of calories, so now I'll look at least a little bit more buff for the ladies. Glacier, zero. Dudes, two.
After leaving the Hidden Lake trail, we slowly crawled back into our car, dusty and withered, and we drove down the rest of the "Going to the Sun" road. This is probably one of the most scenic drives in America, so if you ever get an opportunity to make the trip, I highly suggest you do. Unfortunately, the forest fire somewhat hindered our efforts to get a clear view of the landscape, but I can't complain. A hazy view of Glacier National Park is better than no view!
Prepare for some truly amazing footage in the coming days!
-The Guys
Ryan and I left the KOA in Buffalo, Wyoming, still sleepy, yet excited to see the wonders that Yellowstone National Park might present. Our trip to Yellowstone might have been even more impressive than the park itself. We drove through Bighorn Mountain, up its serpentine road, past free grazing cattle. At one point, I decided to run into the field and chase after the cattle. It was a little unnerving as every cow in the whole field got up and looked right at me. It was as if I was staring death in the face. After moo-ing at the cows for several minutes, I got bored and Ryan and I got back on the road. We passed some "purple" mountains (mountains covered with dead trees) and then came upon Yellowstone's east entrance.
The road was under construction, so Ryan and I were forced to wait on the side of the road for twenty minutes. We used that time as an opportunity to familiarize ourselves with the Yellowstone map. There are plenty of things to see and do in Yellowstone. Sadly, Ryan and I didn't get to do too much. We drove on a mountain road into the park, past Yellowstone Lake (which is HUGE) and into the gas station. While at the gas station, we were fortunate enough to meet a fellow Michigander who happened to work at the park. She told us that we could guarantee that we'd see grizzly bears if we were to hike 4 miles on the Pelican Bay trail. Ryan almost convinced me to go on the trail, but my better judgment prevailed.
Instead we did the safe thing and visited Old Faithful. On the plus side, we got to the geyser just as it was about to erupt, so at least we didn't have to sit there like idiots waiting for it to go off. After the Old Faithful went off (whee!), we walked along the boardwalk to see several other nearby geysers. Ryan threw a stick into one geyser and some crazy chemical reaction occured and the thing almost blew up. After nearly destroying some ancient geyser, we decided to get the hell out of there and move on down the road.
Our next stop was the "Paint Pots," which basically consisted of some boiling mud. After sitting in awe of some bubbling dirt, we decided to move on yet again. We wanted to go to Grand Prysmatic pool, which was supposed to be a beautiful deep blue pool that is ringed in orange. While this description proved true, the path was about 20 feet away from the pool and the path ran at the same level as the pool, so we had a terrible view. Thanks Yellowstone!
Fearing that we were about to waste the rest of our day seeing fairly boring natural wonders, we decided to speed through the park to an area where the Buffalo roam and the Elk wander around too. We got there just as the sun was setting and were able to see some Buffalo up close; several were literally grazing about two feet away from our car as we crept along in our car. I think Buffalo are pretty much the coolest thing one can see in Yellowstone, and luckly, they're pretty easy to spot. The Elk were ok too, but basically, they're just giant deer. Sadly we were unable to spot any Moose, but hopefully we'll be able to find some in Glacier National Park.
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Road Trip - Day 6
We left Yellowstone this morning and drove through the park up towards Glacier National Park. We saw Mammoth Springs, which look like giant marshmallows, but smell more like crap (it's the sulfer). On the way out of the park there was a big traffic jam and Ryan got out of the car to take a look at what the hold up was. He got to see a grizzly bear from 50 feet away while I slept in the car.
The drive from Yellowstone to Glacier is long, about 8 hours. For the most part, Montanta is a beautiful place with mountains everywhere. Unfortunately, about 3 hours outside Glacier we began to smell smoke. Within 30 minutes everything was hazy and it seemed like we were driving through pea soup. It turns out there is a massive 1000 acre forest fire just below Glacier. All was not lost however, because the last 30 minutes on the drive up to the east side of Glacier was probably some of the best driving i've ever done. As we passed through the Indian reservation, the smoke thinned and the mountains jutted up through the sky like jagged teeth on an angry dog. While that sounds terrible, what I mean to communicate, is that this site was breath-taking and totally badass. It was unlike anything Ryan and I had ever seen before. Seriously... go to Google images and see for yourself. It was unreal.
Lastly, I want to give props to the bulgarian dude who made us our dinner at the St. Mary's KOA outside of the east gate of Glacier National Park. He cooked us up a BBQ cheeseburger and that was probably the highlight of my trip thus far. Seriously, I'm calling the guy up to get the recipe.
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Road Trip - Day 7
Ryan and I entered Glacier National Park, not knowing exactly what to expect. The park was about 10 million times more epic than Yellowstone. While Glacier Park connotes that the park is filled with glaciers, I believe it was named so due to the fact that it was created by slow moving slabs of ice that formed one of the most scenic mountainscapes in the world. THe mountains do not have the soft edges that most mountains have. Instead, each summit was sharp and jagged. This created a very unique landscape. Ryan and I had never been to Glacier before, so we weren't exactly sure what to do while we were there. While driving on the "Going to the Sun" road, we saw some snow about 100 feet below the road. We pulled our car off on the shoulder, and climbed down a steep grassy grade and crossed over loose rocks to get to the snow. We took a few pictures, and then proceeded to pee our names in the snow. After we finished, Ryan decided that we should climb up a sheer cliff face, rather than waste time walking around and going back the way we came. Ryan convinced me that his idea was a good one because it would shave off precious minutes, which could be used later to do other cool stuff in the park. As usual, Ryan's idea was terrible. We managed to climb up the cliff face, using nothing but our feeble muscles, and while we nearly fell off five or six times because the rocks gave way beneath our feet, we managed to climb to the top without dying. Glacier, zero. Dudes, one.
Our next stop at the park was "Logan's Pass." For some reason, this place smelled putrid. We never figured out why, but the fact remains that it is a very smelly place. While waiting around to use the bathroom, we encountered the friendliest squirrel in the park. He was fearless, running up to people, pulling on their pant leg, begging for food. Clearly, he had lost his wild ways. After wasting 10 minutes starring at a squirrel, we decided to go hiking. The ranger recommended that we try the "Hidden Lake" trail. We started walking, and within minutes I was winded. Man, am I ever out of shape. Anyway, we kept on moving and after a few more minutes we came across some beautiful scenery. The hike entailed walking up a boardwalk, up into the mountains, past bighorn sheep and mountain goats. We passed within five feet of a mother mountain goat and her calf(?). We got to the lookout point above hidden lake after roughly an hour and a half of hiking. Ryan decided it would be a good idea to walk another mile and half down to the lake. Once again, this proved to be a terrible idea. While I must admit that the lake was probably one of the most beautiful spots I've ever spent fifteen minutes at, the walk back up was sheer hell. But I can't complain. I probably burned a ton of calories, so now I'll look at least a little bit more buff for the ladies. Glacier, zero. Dudes, two.
After leaving the Hidden Lake trail, we slowly crawled back into our car, dusty and withered, and we drove down the rest of the "Going to the Sun" road. This is probably one of the most scenic drives in America, so if you ever get an opportunity to make the trip, I highly suggest you do. Unfortunately, the forest fire somewhat hindered our efforts to get a clear view of the landscape, but I can't complain. A hazy view of Glacier National Park is better than no view!
Prepare for some truly amazing footage in the coming days!
-The Guys
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Sorry for the super late update...
We began day 2 in Madison, the capitol of Wisconsin and home of the University of Wisconsin Badgers. On our way into town we ate at breakfast at Ella's Deli, a quirky circus themed restaurant. While there, We enjoyed their overpriced bagels. After leaving Ella's we visited the University of Wisconsin - Madison, where we walked to the top of Baskam Hill and marveled at how Wisconsin had the balls to put a statute of Abraham Lincoln in front of Baskam Hall, considering how he's from Illinois. The union at the University was truly amazing. The union is situated on Lake Mendota and has a weird German theme. The union is also adorned with ridiculously liberal-themed murals of people who suffered injustices at the hands of the U.S. government. After we left the university, we walked down State Street and had lunch at State Street Brats. SSB is famous for their red brats and wisconsin fried cheese curds. Ryan and I slit a meal and throroughly enjoyed every bite. After lunch, we quickly walked to the state Capital building and did a quick tour, which mainly consisted of visiting the men's room. After we left the capital, we walked to the Orpheum theater to watch the Simpson's Movie, which was pretty decent, although it did seem like nothing more than an extra-long tv episode. After the credits rolled, we left the theater and Madison as well.
After leaving Madison, we drove to the Wisconsin Dells where I proceeded to thoroughly kick Ryan's ass in a game of putt-putt golf. The Dells is a pretty crazy place. It reminds me of International Drive in Orlando, FL. That wouldn't be all that weird, except for the fact that Orlando has a bunch of amusement parks which draws super touristy businesses. The Dells is basically just a river with semi-tall cliff walls that run alongside it. How that become the site of some huge tourist trap is still unknown.
Ryan and I stopped off of the highway at a place called "Culver's" for dinner, which is a midwestern fast food place. THe food was inexpensive and fairly tasty, but something about it felt off to me. I finally realized that what bothered me so much was the "white castle"/"IHOP" color scheme. The place was overly family friendly for a fast food place, which also seemed kind of weird. THe nicest thing about the place was that they served cheese curds, which Ryan and I found ourselves addicted to.
After we left the Dells and finished our dinner, I had Ryan stop at Eau Claire, Wisconsin, because I wanted to see what the campus looked like. It was dark and all I saw was that we drove down some large, steep hill. The campus was small, but nice. But seeing as how it was pretty dark by the time we got there, I'm affraid I don't have much more to report about Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
Our next main stop was Minneapolois, Minnesota. The first place we visited in Minneapolis was the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. The campus was interesting. The main area of campus was called "Scholar's Way" or "the mall area." It seemed very well laid-out. However, certain things about campus were strange. To get to one library, students have to cross this massive bridge that takes them across some river. I noticed from looking at a campus map that most buildings are either connected to each other underground or by above-ground covered walkways. Ryan and I hypothosized that this is because the campus gets covered in a ridiculous amount of snow each winter. Our last stop on campus was the school union. After visiting the union at UW-Madison, we were terribly let down. The union didn't appear to have much history or tradition. After we left campus, we drove to "Dinkytown," the Golden Gophers' downtown located next to campus. First off, I will never be able to take a place seriously if its called something like "Dinkytown." Secondly, the town lives up to its name. It was tiny... probably only two cross-streets. We decided to eat lunch at a place called "Annie's." From the outside, "Annie's" looked like one of the coolest restaurants ever. It was all brick and it was elevated looking oversome train tracks. Once again, Ryan and I were let down. Once we walked into Annie's we found that it looked like it used to be an old bar that was full of character. Instead, they gutted the place and put up the most boring wallpaper ever. The place was probably the most boring restaurant I've ever been to. But Ryan and I came to the conclusion that maybe Minneapolis was just an ordinary place and they took pride in their plain-ness. We're not quite sure if that is the case, but that's our opinion and we're sticking to it.
After leaving the university, we drove downtown to see if we could find any intersting sights. We parked at the public library downtown, which was incredibly modern. Sadly, the library was probalby the nicest thing about downtown Minneapolis. We walked down Nicollet Mall, which was we thought would be something akin to Michigan Avenue in Chicago. We were sadly mistaken. Despite the fact that it was a Saturday, the street was nearly devoid of any life. Ryan and I thought that maybe were were in the wrong location, so we continued to walk the lonely streets. We happened across Block E, which is something like "Bayside" in Miami. Sadly, Block E didn't have the character that Bayside does. All Block E had was an Applebee's and a Border's Bookstore. The fact that they chose Applebee's as their big touristy restaurant said it all. That restaurant is terrible! Another interesting thing about Block E is that its situated about one block away from Augie's All Nude Review and the Gay 90's Dance club. For a family hang-out, you would think that the individuals who decided to build Block E could have found a better place to locate the venue.
Having seen nothing of worth, we left downtown Minneapolis with heavy hearts. We were feeling fairly disappointed with our visit to "Minne," but then I remembered hearing some good things about the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Ryan and I drove to the MIA and suddenly the clouds opened up and the sun shone down. Our luck had changed. The MIA was a great museum was great. We especially appreciated the fact that the entry cost was FREE, as well as the parking. The museum had both classic and modern art, so there was something for everybody. I used the men's room at the museum and saw a curious note on the back of the stall door. It requested that individuals who use needles should dispose of them properly so as not to potentially injure any members of the janiorial staff. I'm guessing that means that Minneapolis had a bit of a drug problem, but perhaps I'm just being a negative guy. Bottom line, don't go rummaging around any trash cans if you're ever in Minneapolis because you could walk away with AIDS or some other crazy disease that occurs when you come into contact with unsterile needles.
But enough about Minneapolis. We left and were on our way to South Dakota to see the Badlands National Park and Mt. Rushmore. Before finding some random Kampground of America (KOA) place to stop at, we stopped and had dinner in some small random town. We had originally planned on getting some $6 filet minon for each of us, but the deal only ran from Monday through Thursday. So rather than paying full price for some probably questionable meat, we decided to try our luck at the "Pizza Ranch." The place was amazing. The pizza was delicious and the staff was cheerful and attentive. Two Thumbs up to Pizza Ranch.
The next day we drove to the Badlands National Park. I'm still not quite sure how I feel about that place. On the one hand, the scenery is unique. On the other hand, its a whole lot of the same scenery and there isn't much wildlife around except for a massive prairie dog town. Prairie dogs are pretty cool for about 10 minutes before you realize that they're basically just squirrels who are unlucky enough to be born far away from any place where trees exist, so they're forced to live in holes in the ground. Its rough being a prairie dog. Anyway, after leaving the park, we headed to "Wall Drug," located in the town of Wall, South Dakota. We had high hopes for this particular store because they started advertising while we were still in Minneapolis, which was 355 miles away. Once we got there, we were in awe of the store's grandeure. Well... not really. The store advertised free ice water. They didn't disappoint. They also advertised fresh donuts. Let me just say that Dunkin Donuts has nothing to fear. We left Wall Drug with nothing more than an upset stomach due to their crappy donuts. We then headed to Mt. Rushmore.
Magestic Mt. Rushmore. Wow... WHAT A BUST! Folks, don't believe the hype. Every postcard you've ever seen of this place is completely misleading. The thing was tiny. We were expecting four giant heads that would take up the view of our entire windshield. The heads were just a speck along a massize hill face (The Black Hills to be precise). We drove by this famous monument before getting the hell out of there at warp speed.
We then headed to Deadwood, South Dakota. Despite being somewhat commercialized, Deadwood was pretty decent. It still had somewhat of an old-timey feel. The city is basically filled with nothing but terrible casinos and even worse restaurants. We stopped at the Diner, located in Caddilac Jack's casino, where we had their French Dip sandwich... their speciality! It was a small step above the sandwich you could get at Quizno's. After eating our sandwich, we stopped and played a game of Blackjack, where I quickly lost $!0. Thanks Deadwood for taking my money!
One last thing to mention about South Dakota. I have never been to a place with more bugs in my life. For whatever reason, as soon as it turned dark, all the bugs decided it would be a great idea to just float around above the highway. We must have ran into a hundred bugs before finding our campsite on the first night in South Dakota. The sheer volume of dead bug explosions on the windshielf of our car forced us to stop at a car wash and spend $9 on the most intense car wash I've ever experienced. Even after the car wash, the windshield still wasn't clean. The lesson from this story is, if you're ever driving through South Dakota, spend a few bucks and buy a wind/bug deflector for your car. You'll be glad you did!
We then left South Dakota and headed to Wymoming!
-The Guys
After leaving Madison, we drove to the Wisconsin Dells where I proceeded to thoroughly kick Ryan's ass in a game of putt-putt golf. The Dells is a pretty crazy place. It reminds me of International Drive in Orlando, FL. That wouldn't be all that weird, except for the fact that Orlando has a bunch of amusement parks which draws super touristy businesses. The Dells is basically just a river with semi-tall cliff walls that run alongside it. How that become the site of some huge tourist trap is still unknown.
Ryan and I stopped off of the highway at a place called "Culver's" for dinner, which is a midwestern fast food place. THe food was inexpensive and fairly tasty, but something about it felt off to me. I finally realized that what bothered me so much was the "white castle"/"IHOP" color scheme. The place was overly family friendly for a fast food place, which also seemed kind of weird. THe nicest thing about the place was that they served cheese curds, which Ryan and I found ourselves addicted to.
After we left the Dells and finished our dinner, I had Ryan stop at Eau Claire, Wisconsin, because I wanted to see what the campus looked like. It was dark and all I saw was that we drove down some large, steep hill. The campus was small, but nice. But seeing as how it was pretty dark by the time we got there, I'm affraid I don't have much more to report about Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
Our next main stop was Minneapolois, Minnesota. The first place we visited in Minneapolis was the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. The campus was interesting. The main area of campus was called "Scholar's Way" or "the mall area." It seemed very well laid-out. However, certain things about campus were strange. To get to one library, students have to cross this massive bridge that takes them across some river. I noticed from looking at a campus map that most buildings are either connected to each other underground or by above-ground covered walkways. Ryan and I hypothosized that this is because the campus gets covered in a ridiculous amount of snow each winter. Our last stop on campus was the school union. After visiting the union at UW-Madison, we were terribly let down. The union didn't appear to have much history or tradition. After we left campus, we drove to "Dinkytown," the Golden Gophers' downtown located next to campus. First off, I will never be able to take a place seriously if its called something like "Dinkytown." Secondly, the town lives up to its name. It was tiny... probably only two cross-streets. We decided to eat lunch at a place called "Annie's." From the outside, "Annie's" looked like one of the coolest restaurants ever. It was all brick and it was elevated looking oversome train tracks. Once again, Ryan and I were let down. Once we walked into Annie's we found that it looked like it used to be an old bar that was full of character. Instead, they gutted the place and put up the most boring wallpaper ever. The place was probably the most boring restaurant I've ever been to. But Ryan and I came to the conclusion that maybe Minneapolis was just an ordinary place and they took pride in their plain-ness. We're not quite sure if that is the case, but that's our opinion and we're sticking to it.
After leaving the university, we drove downtown to see if we could find any intersting sights. We parked at the public library downtown, which was incredibly modern. Sadly, the library was probalby the nicest thing about downtown Minneapolis. We walked down Nicollet Mall, which was we thought would be something akin to Michigan Avenue in Chicago. We were sadly mistaken. Despite the fact that it was a Saturday, the street was nearly devoid of any life. Ryan and I thought that maybe were were in the wrong location, so we continued to walk the lonely streets. We happened across Block E, which is something like "Bayside" in Miami. Sadly, Block E didn't have the character that Bayside does. All Block E had was an Applebee's and a Border's Bookstore. The fact that they chose Applebee's as their big touristy restaurant said it all. That restaurant is terrible! Another interesting thing about Block E is that its situated about one block away from Augie's All Nude Review and the Gay 90's Dance club. For a family hang-out, you would think that the individuals who decided to build Block E could have found a better place to locate the venue.
Having seen nothing of worth, we left downtown Minneapolis with heavy hearts. We were feeling fairly disappointed with our visit to "Minne," but then I remembered hearing some good things about the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Ryan and I drove to the MIA and suddenly the clouds opened up and the sun shone down. Our luck had changed. The MIA was a great museum was great. We especially appreciated the fact that the entry cost was FREE, as well as the parking. The museum had both classic and modern art, so there was something for everybody. I used the men's room at the museum and saw a curious note on the back of the stall door. It requested that individuals who use needles should dispose of them properly so as not to potentially injure any members of the janiorial staff. I'm guessing that means that Minneapolis had a bit of a drug problem, but perhaps I'm just being a negative guy. Bottom line, don't go rummaging around any trash cans if you're ever in Minneapolis because you could walk away with AIDS or some other crazy disease that occurs when you come into contact with unsterile needles.
But enough about Minneapolis. We left and were on our way to South Dakota to see the Badlands National Park and Mt. Rushmore. Before finding some random Kampground of America (KOA) place to stop at, we stopped and had dinner in some small random town. We had originally planned on getting some $6 filet minon for each of us, but the deal only ran from Monday through Thursday. So rather than paying full price for some probably questionable meat, we decided to try our luck at the "Pizza Ranch." The place was amazing. The pizza was delicious and the staff was cheerful and attentive. Two Thumbs up to Pizza Ranch.
The next day we drove to the Badlands National Park. I'm still not quite sure how I feel about that place. On the one hand, the scenery is unique. On the other hand, its a whole lot of the same scenery and there isn't much wildlife around except for a massive prairie dog town. Prairie dogs are pretty cool for about 10 minutes before you realize that they're basically just squirrels who are unlucky enough to be born far away from any place where trees exist, so they're forced to live in holes in the ground. Its rough being a prairie dog. Anyway, after leaving the park, we headed to "Wall Drug," located in the town of Wall, South Dakota. We had high hopes for this particular store because they started advertising while we were still in Minneapolis, which was 355 miles away. Once we got there, we were in awe of the store's grandeure. Well... not really. The store advertised free ice water. They didn't disappoint. They also advertised fresh donuts. Let me just say that Dunkin Donuts has nothing to fear. We left Wall Drug with nothing more than an upset stomach due to their crappy donuts. We then headed to Mt. Rushmore.
Magestic Mt. Rushmore. Wow... WHAT A BUST! Folks, don't believe the hype. Every postcard you've ever seen of this place is completely misleading. The thing was tiny. We were expecting four giant heads that would take up the view of our entire windshield. The heads were just a speck along a massize hill face (The Black Hills to be precise). We drove by this famous monument before getting the hell out of there at warp speed.
We then headed to Deadwood, South Dakota. Despite being somewhat commercialized, Deadwood was pretty decent. It still had somewhat of an old-timey feel. The city is basically filled with nothing but terrible casinos and even worse restaurants. We stopped at the Diner, located in Caddilac Jack's casino, where we had their French Dip sandwich... their speciality! It was a small step above the sandwich you could get at Quizno's. After eating our sandwich, we stopped and played a game of Blackjack, where I quickly lost $!0. Thanks Deadwood for taking my money!
One last thing to mention about South Dakota. I have never been to a place with more bugs in my life. For whatever reason, as soon as it turned dark, all the bugs decided it would be a great idea to just float around above the highway. We must have ran into a hundred bugs before finding our campsite on the first night in South Dakota. The sheer volume of dead bug explosions on the windshielf of our car forced us to stop at a car wash and spend $9 on the most intense car wash I've ever experienced. Even after the car wash, the windshield still wasn't clean. The lesson from this story is, if you're ever driving through South Dakota, spend a few bucks and buy a wind/bug deflector for your car. You'll be glad you did!
We then left South Dakota and headed to Wymoming!
-The Guys
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Our journey begins!
Ryan and I hit the open road this morning around 10:30 a.m. and headed for Madison, Wisconsin. Along the way, we had the opportunity to stop and see some interesting sights.
First up was scenic Mattawan, Michigan. Located roughly an hour from the MI/IN border, Mattawan offers visitors a chance to visit their newly renovated McDonald's and visit their grocery store. Ryan and I spent about half an hour there before hitting the road.
Our next stop was Chicago, where we made an impromptu stop at Jenny McGrath's apartment, but sadly she was not there to open her doors to us.
We then planned on visiting the International Clown Hall of Fame, but nobody picked up the phone when we called to check on their hours of operation.
We then set out to visit Wisconsin's largest city, Milwaukee. What can I say about Milwaukee, except that it was "underwhelming." We saw Water street and Brady street, neither of which impressed us. There didn't appear to me much to do in Milwaukee except get insanely hammered. Ryan was in awe of the lack of divirsity. Never before had he seen a whiter city. I told him to just wait until we got to Madison (we'll be visiting there first thing tomorrow morning).
Tonight will be our first night camping. We set up our tent at the Madison KOA kampground and we'll see how it goes. So far, its raining cats and dogs and our tent has already sprung a leak, despite the fact that Ryan spent two days waterproofing the thing. Hopefully, we can do some more touch-up work on the tent when its a little more dry.
-The Guys
First up was scenic Mattawan, Michigan. Located roughly an hour from the MI/IN border, Mattawan offers visitors a chance to visit their newly renovated McDonald's and visit their grocery store. Ryan and I spent about half an hour there before hitting the road.
Our next stop was Chicago, where we made an impromptu stop at Jenny McGrath's apartment, but sadly she was not there to open her doors to us.
We then planned on visiting the International Clown Hall of Fame, but nobody picked up the phone when we called to check on their hours of operation.
We then set out to visit Wisconsin's largest city, Milwaukee. What can I say about Milwaukee, except that it was "underwhelming." We saw Water street and Brady street, neither of which impressed us. There didn't appear to me much to do in Milwaukee except get insanely hammered. Ryan was in awe of the lack of divirsity. Never before had he seen a whiter city. I told him to just wait until we got to Madison (we'll be visiting there first thing tomorrow morning).
Tonight will be our first night camping. We set up our tent at the Madison KOA kampground and we'll see how it goes. So far, its raining cats and dogs and our tent has already sprung a leak, despite the fact that Ryan spent two days waterproofing the thing. Hopefully, we can do some more touch-up work on the tent when its a little more dry.
-The Guys
Monday, July 16, 2007
What sights should we see on our trip across the country?
We're heading West from Michigan and we're planning to stay on the northern-most portion of the U.S. until we hit Washington state. We're heading south from Washington through Oregon, until we hit California. From California, we're planning on going to Arizona, Utah, and then Colorado. From there we're either heading south to Texas or we're just going back home to Michigan.
We'll be visiting all the states in red and possibly driving through the green states.
If you can recommend any cool little towns or specific places you think we should visit, we'd greatly appreciate it! Leave us a message, and we'll be sure to keep checking back to see if we can visit any of your suggested sights!
Let us know your thoughts by adding a comment!
-The Guys
We'll be visiting all the states in red and possibly driving through the green states.
If you can recommend any cool little towns or specific places you think we should visit, we'd greatly appreciate it! Leave us a message, and we'll be sure to keep checking back to see if we can visit any of your suggested sights!
Let us know your thoughts by adding a comment!
-The Guys
Remember when I said our first video would be July 26th?
I lied! Here is a test video of us just goofing around in the basement and getting used to using the camcorder and video editing software. Enjoy (or not).
- The Guys
- The Guys
Sunday, July 15, 2007
We'll be starting our road trip on July 26th!
Check back on July 27th to see our first video entry of our 29(ish) day road trip across the United States!
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