We realize, of course, that this blog remains thoroughly incomplete. For that we sincerely apologize, but be assuaged partially by the fact that the final days of our trip consisted primarily of driving and very little sightseeing. That does not excuse our tardiness, obviously, but hopefully it allows you and the rest of our adoring fans to calm your bated breath.
Now that we're back home in Chicago I've been able to assemble some statistics that you might enjoy.
In 22 days, we traveled approximately 6,950 miles, visited 17 states, saw 49 state license plates, crossed and re-crossed 2 time zones, visited 13 (I think) national parks and monuments, and ate over 6 metric tons of nutri-grain and/or nature valley bars. We burned 255.825 gallons of gasoline, a sum nearly 27 gallons, or 12%, higher than we had anticipated. Given that however, we spent about as much as we thought we would on gas, some $956.20. The average price we paid per gallon was in the neighborhood of $3.75, just 7 cents higher than the national average during that period. We averaged a little better than 27 miles per gallon (27.167mpg), which is about 2 miles per gallon higher than the national gas mileage average for all personal vehicles.
We spent a mere $211.04 on campsites over 10 days, an average of $21.10 per night, and in comparison, a staggering $331.00 on three hotels, an average of $110.33 per night. The total cost of lodging for 23 nights comes to $542.04 (almost exactly what we projected), an average per night of only $23.57.
So we did pretty well, as far as dollars go. The final blog posts will be posted in the coming days, so stay tuned!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Grand Canyon? Or Grandest Canyon? (Post for September 23rd)
Note - we're back in Chicago! We made it! We'll continue updating the blog about the last few days of the trip (hopefully, anyway) so keep checking until we catch up to September 27th...
We woke up bright and late on Tuesday morning ready to enjoy the Grand Canyon. But first, Justin and Caroline showered while Becca and getI went to buy some bacon and eggs from the General Store. Cooking these were extremely exciting, because there is evidently nothing that bees in the Arizona desert like better than scrambled eggs. Breakfast therefore consisted half of eating and half of jumping up and waving furiously to scare away the bees. THe campsite was still awesome though, not the least of which because there were no bears and we didn't have to hide all food and hygiene items away in the trunk of the car.
We drove up to the main canyon lookout and parked our car. The Grand Canyon, was of course, gorgeous, but looking at it from the one angle got old pretty quick, even though we walked about a 3 mile loop to look at the different things on the South Rim. THis isn't to say it wasn't a beautiful day, and we did have visibility of like 90 miles in every direction. Still, I think that we were a little disappointed we couldn't do the mule ride (waiting list was already long, cost 150 bucks, had to have a bunch of desert gear ready, and we had to be there at like 6 15 in the morning. We ruled it out)
After lunch and Caroline buying a cactus to go with her baby redwood, we wandered back to the car and drove over to Desert View, at the eastern end of the canyon, where we climbed the watchtower, and people-watched all of the European and Japanese tourists. It was PACKED.
Looking to kill time, we wandered out to a little outcropping just east of the watchtower. It was here that disaster struck. Those of you who knew me growing up may have heard about the time in 4th grade when I dropped my camera into the emu cage at the National Zoo in Washington, DC, and had to get a blind zookeeper to get it out for me. If you don't know the story, I just told you. Anyhow, I outdid myself today. Sitting down at the edge of the outcropping, my camera slipped out of my pocket and fell. into. the Grand Canyon. I dropped my camera into THE GRAND CANYON. UGH.
It could have been a lot worse I suppose. It only fell maybe 30 feet, and it was easy to scramble down and go get it, but the LCD was broken and it's out of commission for the rest of the trip. I saved the SD card though, so I still had all my pictures. Justin was really nice to offer me the use of his camera that he wasn't really using.
We drove back to the main area, and sat down on another edge, dangling our legs and watching the sunset. Justin and I were clearly undaunted by my earlier misadventure, and we walked down as far as we could go safely. Caroline took some pictures! We got spooked after I threw a rock over the edge and we didn't hear it hit the bottom. Eek.
Anyway, the sunset was really pretty despite the masses of tourists crowding us at the edge, and everyone clapped when the sun set. We came back to the campsite, cooked some couscous, ate some s'mores and went to sleep!
PS: The stars in National Parks are AMAZING.
We woke up bright and late on Tuesday morning ready to enjoy the Grand Canyon. But first, Justin and Caroline showered while Becca and getI went to buy some bacon and eggs from the General Store. Cooking these were extremely exciting, because there is evidently nothing that bees in the Arizona desert like better than scrambled eggs. Breakfast therefore consisted half of eating and half of jumping up and waving furiously to scare away the bees. THe campsite was still awesome though, not the least of which because there were no bears and we didn't have to hide all food and hygiene items away in the trunk of the car.
We drove up to the main canyon lookout and parked our car. The Grand Canyon, was of course, gorgeous, but looking at it from the one angle got old pretty quick, even though we walked about a 3 mile loop to look at the different things on the South Rim. THis isn't to say it wasn't a beautiful day, and we did have visibility of like 90 miles in every direction. Still, I think that we were a little disappointed we couldn't do the mule ride (waiting list was already long, cost 150 bucks, had to have a bunch of desert gear ready, and we had to be there at like 6 15 in the morning. We ruled it out)
After lunch and Caroline buying a cactus to go with her baby redwood, we wandered back to the car and drove over to Desert View, at the eastern end of the canyon, where we climbed the watchtower, and people-watched all of the European and Japanese tourists. It was PACKED.
Looking to kill time, we wandered out to a little outcropping just east of the watchtower. It was here that disaster struck. Those of you who knew me growing up may have heard about the time in 4th grade when I dropped my camera into the emu cage at the National Zoo in Washington, DC, and had to get a blind zookeeper to get it out for me. If you don't know the story, I just told you. Anyhow, I outdid myself today. Sitting down at the edge of the outcropping, my camera slipped out of my pocket and fell. into. the Grand Canyon. I dropped my camera into THE GRAND CANYON. UGH.
It could have been a lot worse I suppose. It only fell maybe 30 feet, and it was easy to scramble down and go get it, but the LCD was broken and it's out of commission for the rest of the trip. I saved the SD card though, so I still had all my pictures. Justin was really nice to offer me the use of his camera that he wasn't really using.
We drove back to the main area, and sat down on another edge, dangling our legs and watching the sunset. Justin and I were clearly undaunted by my earlier misadventure, and we walked down as far as we could go safely. Caroline took some pictures! We got spooked after I threw a rock over the edge and we didn't hear it hit the bottom. Eek.
Anyway, the sunset was really pretty despite the masses of tourists crowding us at the edge, and everyone clapped when the sun set. We came back to the campsite, cooked some couscous, ate some s'mores and went to sleep!
PS: The stars in National Parks are AMAZING.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Grand Canyon or Grandest Canyon? (post for Sept. 22)
The brakes were squeaking. While that fact alone was enough to keep me restless all through the night, I was also without my keys or any knowledge of exactly where the car was. We had utilized the complimentary valet parking, you see, and that would've been a joy to most people but my obsessions and compulsions quickly overrode any convenience. I've become almost symbiotic with the car - I'm certain that she speaks to me if only I listen closely enough. Not knowing where she was parked was like having an arm amputated - ok, maybe not an arm, but something - and I was antsy to get her back.
She was delivered to us in one piece but the brakes continued to squeak. While I pondered exactly what to do about this in such a foreign locale, we were off to our final interview. Luke worked for Unite Here!, the hotel workers' union in Chicago over the summer, and he had some contacts with the very active Culinary Workers Union in Las Vegas. Conveniently, there was a big meeting Monday morning of union members who are currently taking leaves of absence to campaign for Barack Obama in the swing state of Nevada. We were very excited to be flies on the wall. Before their big meeting, we were able to sit down and talk to a man named Clester Nelson, a baggage handler at Bally's who had been a union member for 50 years and now for the first time was taking time off from his job to work for Obama.
His interview was the perfect endpoint for the many interviews we have done. Mr. Nelson had grown up in rural Arkansas, had joined the Air Force and fought in Korea. After the war he was stationed at Nellis AFB in the Nevada desert and after his discharge in 1956, decided to embrace the warmth of the Southwest. He met his wife (they recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary), had 5 daughters, and went to work. He talked to us about the values he's tried to instill in his girls, all of whom are grown now. The value of a hard day's work, he said, was the most important thing, along with a strong spiritual life and the importance of simply being kind to strangers. He had made a good living because of the union, and was determined to give others that same chance. He told us of a conversation he had with his great grandfather when he was just 8. His 90 year-old elder, who had been a slave, told the young Mr. Nelson that one day, he would see a black President of the United States. Clester said that he has never forgotten those words spoken so long ago, and now was determined to make his great grandfathers dream a reality.
It was easy to tell that Mr. Nelson was a person who just loved talking to people. We could have talked to him for hours, but the union meeting was starting so we had to wrap it up. After having talking to people who were in charge of their respective organizations, it meant a lot to us to talk to Clester, who had not necessarily broken down any barriers but had worked hard every day of his life and raised 5 children, all while believing that simple kindness could make all the difference. It clearly had in his life. We wished him the best of luck and all of us determined to make sure that November 4 is a good day.
After a conversation with my daddy and with an incredibly friendly AAA representative (they always are!) I decided to take the car to a mechanic to get the oil changed and check the brakes. The closest one was just off the strip and close to where we were, and they agreed to check it out as soon as possible. We walked around the nearby Fashion Show mall, one of the largest malls I've ever seen, ate at a food court at 10 in the morning, played in the Apple store, and returned to the shop three hours later to find that the brakes were fine. The squeaking was probably just an imperfection in the brake material and was nothing to worry about. I explained to the incredibly friendly mechanic and he was very accommodating. He charged us only for the oil change and guided us on his way. This was clearly the day of the kindness of strangers...
We drove through the day to the Grand Canyon, arriving just as the sun was setting. We had the entire next day to spend at the canyon itself, so we didn't see it today. After our spectacularly sub-par accomodations at Yosemite, we were very happy to arrive at our campsite, which was large, close to bathrooms (which not only had lights, but dryers as well!) and with showers and a general store close by. We got some supplies at the store, made a lovely dinner, built a fire and retired comfortably to sleep. Tomorrow we will answer the question: Grand Canyon or Grandest Canyon?
She was delivered to us in one piece but the brakes continued to squeak. While I pondered exactly what to do about this in such a foreign locale, we were off to our final interview. Luke worked for Unite Here!, the hotel workers' union in Chicago over the summer, and he had some contacts with the very active Culinary Workers Union in Las Vegas. Conveniently, there was a big meeting Monday morning of union members who are currently taking leaves of absence to campaign for Barack Obama in the swing state of Nevada. We were very excited to be flies on the wall. Before their big meeting, we were able to sit down and talk to a man named Clester Nelson, a baggage handler at Bally's who had been a union member for 50 years and now for the first time was taking time off from his job to work for Obama.
His interview was the perfect endpoint for the many interviews we have done. Mr. Nelson had grown up in rural Arkansas, had joined the Air Force and fought in Korea. After the war he was stationed at Nellis AFB in the Nevada desert and after his discharge in 1956, decided to embrace the warmth of the Southwest. He met his wife (they recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary), had 5 daughters, and went to work. He talked to us about the values he's tried to instill in his girls, all of whom are grown now. The value of a hard day's work, he said, was the most important thing, along with a strong spiritual life and the importance of simply being kind to strangers. He had made a good living because of the union, and was determined to give others that same chance. He told us of a conversation he had with his great grandfather when he was just 8. His 90 year-old elder, who had been a slave, told the young Mr. Nelson that one day, he would see a black President of the United States. Clester said that he has never forgotten those words spoken so long ago, and now was determined to make his great grandfathers dream a reality.
It was easy to tell that Mr. Nelson was a person who just loved talking to people. We could have talked to him for hours, but the union meeting was starting so we had to wrap it up. After having talking to people who were in charge of their respective organizations, it meant a lot to us to talk to Clester, who had not necessarily broken down any barriers but had worked hard every day of his life and raised 5 children, all while believing that simple kindness could make all the difference. It clearly had in his life. We wished him the best of luck and all of us determined to make sure that November 4 is a good day.
After a conversation with my daddy and with an incredibly friendly AAA representative (they always are!) I decided to take the car to a mechanic to get the oil changed and check the brakes. The closest one was just off the strip and close to where we were, and they agreed to check it out as soon as possible. We walked around the nearby Fashion Show mall, one of the largest malls I've ever seen, ate at a food court at 10 in the morning, played in the Apple store, and returned to the shop three hours later to find that the brakes were fine. The squeaking was probably just an imperfection in the brake material and was nothing to worry about. I explained to the incredibly friendly mechanic and he was very accommodating. He charged us only for the oil change and guided us on his way. This was clearly the day of the kindness of strangers...
We drove through the day to the Grand Canyon, arriving just as the sun was setting. We had the entire next day to spend at the canyon itself, so we didn't see it today. After our spectacularly sub-par accomodations at Yosemite, we were very happy to arrive at our campsite, which was large, close to bathrooms (which not only had lights, but dryers as well!) and with showers and a general store close by. We got some supplies at the store, made a lovely dinner, built a fire and retired comfortably to sleep. Tomorrow we will answer the question: Grand Canyon or Grandest Canyon?
Thursday, September 25, 2008
I like to call it 'Lost Wages' (Post for Sept. 21)
Yosemite is really a very beautiful place. It's way rockier than Yellowstone and there are, unfortunately, way less animals. I'm comparing it to Yellowstone because I think those two might be the most well-known of the national parks. My point is, maybe our problems with the campsite was that we were expecting Yellowstone quality.
I mean, on one hand, it's sort of dumb to complain about a campsite. Why should they have to give you more than a place to put your tent? But we are all used to modern conveniences, which were invented for a reason. No one actually likes pooping in the woods, right? We all agree that sanitation is the way to go, I assume. I guess it's all part of the experience, but we were camping for two reasons; 1. To be closer to the parks we wanted to see and 2. Because it's cheap and we are not made of dollars.
Anyway, we were all pretty happy to get out of there pretty early in the morning because we had the promise of a hotel and showers in our near future. We left early and got breakfast at this killer cafe in Lee Vining, CA called Nicely's. There were a lot of pictures and stuff there about this cool ghost town nearby called Bodie, but we had a long drive through Death Valley and decided we didn't really have time.
Death Valley, by the way, is a pretty awesome place. We drove through at the heat of the day, partly without air conditioning because Justin wanted us to get the full experience of being stupid pioneers trying to get to Californ-y through a 'short cut' (We learned all kinds of things about the first people in Death Valley in the info book we got at the entrance). Did you know that every 1000 feet you go down, the temperature increases 5.5%? We're not sure if that applies everywhere, but it certainly does in Death Valley. At least we weren't driving through in July or August.
From there we started our journey to Las Vegas. The road we were on was a decent looking highway, but it was completely empty. We started to notice once we got into Nevada that there were a lot of strange holes in the signs on the side of the road. It took us a while to figure it out, but then we realized that they were bullet holes. It was pretty bizarre to have just come from a place like San Francisco where they are recycling bins on the street to western Nevada, where people apparently go out driving to shoot holes in road signs. We are certainly a
diverse country.
Vegas was a bit of culture shock after the rest of the trip. We've been to all these cities and sites that, at least originally, drew people to them because of their natural surroundings. Usually, a city forms around water. But Las Vegas's draw now is, regardless of what it was originally, completely based in civilization. There is nothing natural about it. The only water around is a pretty sweet fountain show in front of the Bellagio.
We had a fun time in Vegas, but it was a lot seedier and dingier than we thought it would be. Also, you cannot do anything if you are under 21. We had passes, courtesy of the Sahara where we stayed, for a $6.99 buffet, but only for those over 21. Lame. Because we are only 50% 21, we went instead to a crazy place called the Peppermill that had fake plants and more neon that I have ever needed to see in my life. Best. meal. ever.
We have a interview in the morning, so it'll be an early night in the city that never sleeps. Ciao!
-bekerz
I mean, on one hand, it's sort of dumb to complain about a campsite. Why should they have to give you more than a place to put your tent? But we are all used to modern conveniences, which were invented for a reason. No one actually likes pooping in the woods, right? We all agree that sanitation is the way to go, I assume. I guess it's all part of the experience, but we were camping for two reasons; 1. To be closer to the parks we wanted to see and 2. Because it's cheap and we are not made of dollars.
Anyway, we were all pretty happy to get out of there pretty early in the morning because we had the promise of a hotel and showers in our near future. We left early and got breakfast at this killer cafe in Lee Vining, CA called Nicely's. There were a lot of pictures and stuff there about this cool ghost town nearby called Bodie, but we had a long drive through Death Valley and decided we didn't really have time.
Death Valley, by the way, is a pretty awesome place. We drove through at the heat of the day, partly without air conditioning because Justin wanted us to get the full experience of being stupid pioneers trying to get to Californ-y through a 'short cut' (We learned all kinds of things about the first people in Death Valley in the info book we got at the entrance). Did you know that every 1000 feet you go down, the temperature increases 5.5%? We're not sure if that applies everywhere, but it certainly does in Death Valley. At least we weren't driving through in July or August.
From there we started our journey to Las Vegas. The road we were on was a decent looking highway, but it was completely empty. We started to notice once we got into Nevada that there were a lot of strange holes in the signs on the side of the road. It took us a while to figure it out, but then we realized that they were bullet holes. It was pretty bizarre to have just come from a place like San Francisco where they are recycling bins on the street to western Nevada, where people apparently go out driving to shoot holes in road signs. We are certainly a
diverse country.
Vegas was a bit of culture shock after the rest of the trip. We've been to all these cities and sites that, at least originally, drew people to them because of their natural surroundings. Usually, a city forms around water. But Las Vegas's draw now is, regardless of what it was originally, completely based in civilization. There is nothing natural about it. The only water around is a pretty sweet fountain show in front of the Bellagio.
We had a fun time in Vegas, but it was a lot seedier and dingier than we thought it would be. Also, you cannot do anything if you are under 21. We had passes, courtesy of the Sahara where we stayed, for a $6.99 buffet, but only for those over 21. Lame. Because we are only 50% 21, we went instead to a crazy place called the Peppermill that had fake plants and more neon that I have ever needed to see in my life. Best. meal. ever.
We have a interview in the morning, so it'll be an early night in the city that never sleeps. Ciao!
-bekerz
Our last morning in san Francisco, we went to the farmer's market for breakfast. Justin and Becca bought some apples; Luke, Uncle Kurt, and I ate some fresh pastries; and we all sampled interesting cheese. After breakfast we regretfully said goodbye to San Francisco and to Luke's fittingly cool Uncle. We crossed the RAD double decker bay bridge on our way to Yosemite. We arrived at the park in time to walk one of its Sequoia groves and see its many amazing mountains in the late afternoon sun. My favorite peak was Half-dome whatever. I had wanted to purchase a baby Sequoia tree to keep my baby Redwood company, but couldn't find one. The beauty of the park comforted me. Our campsite left something to be desired (at least for me), mainly in the bathroom which lacked soap, paper towels, and lighting. The campsite was much more crowded than any we've yet stayed at, probably due to its proximity to major metropolitan areas and its being a sunday. There was noticably more trash around the campsite and alot of noise. We couldn't buy firewood as the convenience store that sold it closed before we got there, so we brushed our teeth in the dark and went to bed early. Around one in the morning we awoke to the commanding voice of a park ranger questioning the teenage campers in the campsite adjoining ours. From his questions we devined that their friend (there were three of them total), had been picked up for drunk driving on a dirt road where he was not supposed to be. The ranger had come to for one of the other teenagers to come pick up the drunk boy's car (they coudln't bail out their friend before he sobered up). He breathalized them both when the smell of alcohol emmenating from their person's failed to correlate to the their reports of only having one or two beers. One of them did pass the breathalizer, and the ranger took her to pick up her friend's car. We heard her come back again a while later. In all, none of us slept well, but the park's beauty really did make up for it.
Enjoying San Francisco's values. (Post for September 19th)
Our San Francisco day began leisurely enough, which didn't really foreshadow the rest of the day at all. The 4 of us woke up at about 9, and all showered and put on clean clothes (unlike, say, what we had been wearing for camping from the last 2 days). We think that the street noise in front of Kurt's apartment really made us feel as though we were back home sleeping in our own beds.
In case it hasn't yet been mentioned, my Uncle Kurt has an AWESOME apartment that overlooks the bay and Alcatraz, with tons of light, a cool roommate Fred, and a sweet, accessible rooftop.
Uncle Kurt and I cooked a breakfast of bacon, toast and eggs for everyone, thereby giving us all on the trip our required weekly bacon serving. One must recall Benjamin Franklin's slightly less famous saying: "A strip of bacon a week adds rosy hues to the cheek."
After breakfast and reading the newspaper, we did the first of the two interviews we had scheduled with Kurt. We learned all about the ways in which it was actually not incredibly traumatic to move in work from design into entertainment. I thought his best piece of advice was to remember that we are always going to get bad advice from people who don't really know what they're talking about when trying to tell you what to do with your future. Unless of course him telling us this was bad advice, in which case I am confused.
Directly from our interview at the apartment we drove over to conduct our scheduled interview with Ethan Watters, one of the founders of the Writer's Grotto, which is a space for writers to work during the day and be more productive. Upon arriving, we found out we could also interview Po Bronson, another founder of the Grotto. Ethan has written about repressed and recovered memory, and about urban friendship groups, and Po has written about working in Silicon Valley and about what people should do with their lives. Both are published repeatedly and very well regarded. Po said that Roadtrip Nation had talked to him before about interviewing him, so we thought it was cool that we were able to get to do so!
Ethan and Po were both really interesting in telling us about how the Grotto has changed over time, about what it's like to be a writer as your full-time job, and about things they've learned along the way. Po's best piece of advice was about not selling GOOD opportunities short just because they weren't the one GREAT opportunity you're looking for. Ethan talked about being able to drift into what fit for you, and about how you should use the friendship group that you have coming out of college not just to be friends, but to center your life and job around. They mentioned that the Grotto was one of the things that had come out of their group of friends in their 20s, and how much that had impacted their lives.
We had intruded into Po and Ethan's lunch break, so we thanked them and let them go eat after the interview. We went over to Haight St., poked around Giant Robot store (best items: books written by Bigfoot titled "Me Write Book" and "Me Not Dead"), had lunch in a tasty Mexican dive, and put our heads into the local Amoeba Music store. At this point, we realized that the boat we had gotten tickets on in order to go to Alcatraz. Kurt jetted us over to Pier 33, dropped us off, and we just barely made it onto the boat.
As for Alcatraz - it's one of the coolest National Parks we've visited on this trip. It was a dreary and kind of ominous gray day, but I think that really captured the spirit of the dilapidated buildings and the ominous cell-blocks. I can't imagine what it must have been like living there as a prisoner living in a 5 x 7 x 8 cell all day. The audio tour was actually quite good, though unneccessarily and gratuitously violent in its sound effects. We joked that we should have interviewed someone working for the National Parks there, and we would have been able to see all of the restricted areas. Ah well, next time.
One of the really funny things about Alcatraz, and something we've all been meaning to mention for like 10 blog posts, was the crowd there in comparison to other places we've been. At Alcatraz, we heard at least 5 different languages, and people were of all races and ages. In comparison, the vast majority of tourist-y places we've been, we've been the youngest people by like 50 years! Probably because most normal colleges (and high schools, etc) are in school right now. I often wonder what the retired tourists think of us young whippersnappers wandering around national parks when we should be getting an education.
After getting off the boat, we met Kurt for another chance to wander around the city, eat chinese food at Sam Wo's in Chinatown (our waitress was NO nonsense and even less English-speaking; it was an experience), and get dessert at a cafe. We ruminated about our interviews and what we had and had not gotten out of the trip so far. Uncle Kurt's been an interviewer by trade in a live talk show he'd been running in San Francisco, and he asked us really good questions and shared some tricks of the trade.
By the time we got back to the apartment it was just before midnight, and we were BEAT. Just enough time to check politics, news, and baseball (Sox are back up to a 2.5 game lead over the Twins!) and now we are going to bed right now the end.
In case it hasn't yet been mentioned, my Uncle Kurt has an AWESOME apartment that overlooks the bay and Alcatraz, with tons of light, a cool roommate Fred, and a sweet, accessible rooftop.
Uncle Kurt and I cooked a breakfast of bacon, toast and eggs for everyone, thereby giving us all on the trip our required weekly bacon serving. One must recall Benjamin Franklin's slightly less famous saying: "A strip of bacon a week adds rosy hues to the cheek."
After breakfast and reading the newspaper, we did the first of the two interviews we had scheduled with Kurt. We learned all about the ways in which it was actually not incredibly traumatic to move in work from design into entertainment. I thought his best piece of advice was to remember that we are always going to get bad advice from people who don't really know what they're talking about when trying to tell you what to do with your future. Unless of course him telling us this was bad advice, in which case I am confused.
Directly from our interview at the apartment we drove over to conduct our scheduled interview with Ethan Watters, one of the founders of the Writer's Grotto, which is a space for writers to work during the day and be more productive. Upon arriving, we found out we could also interview Po Bronson, another founder of the Grotto. Ethan has written about repressed and recovered memory, and about urban friendship groups, and Po has written about working in Silicon Valley and about what people should do with their lives. Both are published repeatedly and very well regarded. Po said that Roadtrip Nation had talked to him before about interviewing him, so we thought it was cool that we were able to get to do so!
Ethan and Po were both really interesting in telling us about how the Grotto has changed over time, about what it's like to be a writer as your full-time job, and about things they've learned along the way. Po's best piece of advice was about not selling GOOD opportunities short just because they weren't the one GREAT opportunity you're looking for. Ethan talked about being able to drift into what fit for you, and about how you should use the friendship group that you have coming out of college not just to be friends, but to center your life and job around. They mentioned that the Grotto was one of the things that had come out of their group of friends in their 20s, and how much that had impacted their lives.
We had intruded into Po and Ethan's lunch break, so we thanked them and let them go eat after the interview. We went over to Haight St., poked around Giant Robot store (best items: books written by Bigfoot titled "Me Write Book" and "Me Not Dead"), had lunch in a tasty Mexican dive, and put our heads into the local Amoeba Music store. At this point, we realized that the boat we had gotten tickets on in order to go to Alcatraz. Kurt jetted us over to Pier 33, dropped us off, and we just barely made it onto the boat.
As for Alcatraz - it's one of the coolest National Parks we've visited on this trip. It was a dreary and kind of ominous gray day, but I think that really captured the spirit of the dilapidated buildings and the ominous cell-blocks. I can't imagine what it must have been like living there as a prisoner living in a 5 x 7 x 8 cell all day. The audio tour was actually quite good, though unneccessarily and gratuitously violent in its sound effects. We joked that we should have interviewed someone working for the National Parks there, and we would have been able to see all of the restricted areas. Ah well, next time.
One of the really funny things about Alcatraz, and something we've all been meaning to mention for like 10 blog posts, was the crowd there in comparison to other places we've been. At Alcatraz, we heard at least 5 different languages, and people were of all races and ages. In comparison, the vast majority of tourist-y places we've been, we've been the youngest people by like 50 years! Probably because most normal colleges (and high schools, etc) are in school right now. I often wonder what the retired tourists think of us young whippersnappers wandering around national parks when we should be getting an education.
After getting off the boat, we met Kurt for another chance to wander around the city, eat chinese food at Sam Wo's in Chinatown (our waitress was NO nonsense and even less English-speaking; it was an experience), and get dessert at a cafe. We ruminated about our interviews and what we had and had not gotten out of the trip so far. Uncle Kurt's been an interviewer by trade in a live talk show he'd been running in San Francisco, and he asked us really good questions and shared some tricks of the trade.
By the time we got back to the apartment it was just before midnight, and we were BEAT. Just enough time to check politics, news, and baseball (Sox are back up to a 2.5 game lead over the Twins!) and now we are going to bed right now the end.
Monday, September 22, 2008
DELAY
Hey all,
Writing this from an Apple store in Las Vegas, the only place in the entire city where internet is free. We have blogs from the last few days written but it'll be a few more days until we get the chance to post them because we'll be camping for a few more days. Sorry! We want to put them up and we can't, and we're all still alive and well.
Only a week until school starts...
Friday, September 19, 2008
The San Francisco Treat... DING! DING!
Yesterday, we drove through a tree. It requires no more description than that, frankly. Caroline also purchased her very own Redwood tree, now only a few inches tall. In just 2,000 years, it may grow up to be the tallest tree in Chicago, IL by FAR.
We departed Redwood sadly, knowing we had a long and quite probably harrowing drive ahead of us. We were not disappointed.
U.S. 101 is known as the Redwood Highway, as it stretches down through thick forests from the Oregon coast all the way to San Francisco. Not only is it aptly named because of the giant trees lining its scenic pavement, but also because it is, in fact, a highway. That is much more than can be said for the road we were on for much of yesterday - nearly 7 hours by my watch. California State Road 1, the road that runs along the coast, is a road that has quite a bit more character than any I've been on before. It winds its way SLOWLY for a couple hundred miles, following the bluffs and hills along the gorgeous central California coast.
There were perhaps two instances when the road was straight enough to calmly sit in the driver's seat and just drive. Apart from them, it curved, switched back and forth, climbed incessantly and dropped just as relentlessly. Speed limits varied from 55 to 10, and most curves were simply marked by a yellow diamond that we learned meant something like, "You really should probably grab onto something with both hands if you take this turn at more than 3 miles per hour."
Though challenging and unforgiving, CA-1 was incredibly beautiful. We were right alongside the massive expanse of the Pacific Ocean nearly the entire time. The day was clear so when atop crests of hills and on cliffs we could see for countless miles in every direction. The only thing that could have made the drive more enjoyable was a convertible - now don't get me wrong, I'm desperately in love with my baby, the car, but I wished just for a moment that we could peel off her roof and experience the California sun like it was meant to be experienced.
Having timed our journey with great skill and technical acumen, we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge right at sunset. The cities surrounding the bay were starting to turn their lights on and all was fantastic. We arrived at Luke's uncle Kurt's apartment in the heart of downtown, just off Lombard Street, the "curviest street in America" or something. I honestly don't know how people drive on these streets year-round. They are so impossibly steep that when I was parallel parking, I had to use both feet - one on the brake and one on the gas, using the brake as a sort of clutch. It was quite the strange experience but what can I say - I'm good. This is the view from the back of Uncle Kurt's apartment. Alcatraz Island is in the left of the frame and far off to the right, Berkeley shines in all of its liberal glory.
Uncle Kurt showed us around downtown for a bit before kindly treating us to dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant. We went to check out the sea lions at the pier, which not disappointingly were noisy and boisterous, barking at each other constantly. Tomorrow we're interviewing Kurt and an author who works at a San Francisco writers' cooperative. Then it's off to Alcatraz and dinner in the world famous Chinatown. It will be a busy day, but as always, that's how we like it.
We departed Redwood sadly, knowing we had a long and quite probably harrowing drive ahead of us. We were not disappointed.
U.S. 101 is known as the Redwood Highway, as it stretches down through thick forests from the Oregon coast all the way to San Francisco. Not only is it aptly named because of the giant trees lining its scenic pavement, but also because it is, in fact, a highway. That is much more than can be said for the road we were on for much of yesterday - nearly 7 hours by my watch. California State Road 1, the road that runs along the coast, is a road that has quite a bit more character than any I've been on before. It winds its way SLOWLY for a couple hundred miles, following the bluffs and hills along the gorgeous central California coast.
There were perhaps two instances when the road was straight enough to calmly sit in the driver's seat and just drive. Apart from them, it curved, switched back and forth, climbed incessantly and dropped just as relentlessly. Speed limits varied from 55 to 10, and most curves were simply marked by a yellow diamond that we learned meant something like, "You really should probably grab onto something with both hands if you take this turn at more than 3 miles per hour."Though challenging and unforgiving, CA-1 was incredibly beautiful. We were right alongside the massive expanse of the Pacific Ocean nearly the entire time. The day was clear so when atop crests of hills and on cliffs we could see for countless miles in every direction. The only thing that could have made the drive more enjoyable was a convertible - now don't get me wrong, I'm desperately in love with my baby, the car, but I wished just for a moment that we could peel off her roof and experience the California sun like it was meant to be experienced.
Having timed our journey with great skill and technical acumen, we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge right at sunset. The cities surrounding the bay were starting to turn their lights on and all was fantastic. We arrived at Luke's uncle Kurt's apartment in the heart of downtown, just off Lombard Street, the "curviest street in America" or something. I honestly don't know how people drive on these streets year-round. They are so impossibly steep that when I was parallel parking, I had to use both feet - one on the brake and one on the gas, using the brake as a sort of clutch. It was quite the strange experience but what can I say - I'm good. This is the view from the back of Uncle Kurt's apartment. Alcatraz Island is in the left of the frame and far off to the right, Berkeley shines in all of its liberal glory.
Uncle Kurt showed us around downtown for a bit before kindly treating us to dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant. We went to check out the sea lions at the pier, which not disappointingly were noisy and boisterous, barking at each other constantly. Tomorrow we're interviewing Kurt and an author who works at a San Francisco writers' cooperative. Then it's off to Alcatraz and dinner in the world famous Chinatown. It will be a busy day, but as always, that's how we like it.
I am on nobody's side because no one is on my side (Post for Sept. 17).
This morning we woke up cold, as usual with camping at high altitudes, but not as cool as Yellowstone. We got up earlier because we wanted to see Crater Lake before we left as we got in too late last night to see it. We took a windy drive all around the lake. It's a pretty surreal place. The water is a deep, pure blue and there's no apparent place where you'd put in a boat (though apparently there are boat tours). Justin and I were curious about how it's possible that there are fish in the water as the lake was literally created by rain and snow filling up a hole left by an old volcano for 7000 years and were excited by the idea that they evolved somehow on their own. However, as we found out, the truth is pretty lame; the man who started the park just dumped like 100 types of fish in the water to see which ones would live. Only two did, rainbow trout and another I can't remember. Boring.
Anyway, Crater Lake was pretty sweet. I particularly liked this rock they called the Phantom Ship, not only because there's a phantom ship in like every video game I've ever played, but also because it really does look like a ship in the middle of the lake. It's the top of an even older volcano that the original volcano overtook. Volcanoes leave behind the coolest formations. Devil's Tower is like that, too.
ALSO (last thing about Crater Lake, I swear): Apparently, there's an entire tree that fell into the lake probably 100 years ago that they call "the old man in the lake" and he floats around all day. We didn't see it, though.
Our drive to Redwood was short; only about 4 hours. We stopped halfway to have Taco Bell, the first real fast food we'd had the entire trip. Needless to say, it was wonderful. Caroline hadn't really eaten there much in her life, but I think we might have made a convert of her.
Highlights of Taco Bell:
-So good.
-There was a sign on the wall that said, "Mexican-Inspired". Ahahahhaaha.
-I had a chalupa for the first time. I approved.
-Justin had the new "Volcano Taco", which has a red shell and spicy nacho cheese. He says it was pretty good and pretty spicy.
We didn't actually stay in Redwood National Park. We were in a smaller state park (I guess that's how it's done in these parts). It was a nice campsite and we were close to the bathrooms (because last night we were really far from them). However, the showers cost money (50 cents for 5 minutes!) which sucked. I managed to take a 5 min shower, though, which was impressive for me.
Anyway, we took a walk through the forest to look at some big trees. They were pretty big trees, let me tell you. I can't really explain with words. Pictures are better, but even they can't do them justice. They were big. And tall. And straight.
We agreed that it seemed a lot like what we'd imagined Fangorn Forest looked like. It was dense, but not as not dark and sinister as Mirkwood would be. And it just felt so ancient.
And then we headed back to the campsite for dinner and a campfire. Tomorrow we have a long drive down Highway 1 to Luke's uncle's place in San Francisco! Also, we have to cross the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset. Yay, Chinatown!
-bekerz
p.s. Go check out my Seattle post! I put in pictures.
September 16
Today we awoke to the warmth of the fancy gas fireplace in our swanky motel on the Oregon coast. Before departing, we walked the 50 feet from our hotel room to the coastline to gaze once more upon the waves before heading inland towards Crater Lake. Justin and Becca ventured further out onto the rocks than either Luke or I dared (WE heeded the sign below).
To Becca's question as to the wisdom of this venture, Justin could just be heard to answer before he was silenced by a wave: "We'll be OK, we're on high gr . . . ." They were drenched. After the motel re-opened our room--we'd already checked out--Justin and Becca changed and dried off and we finally took off. Fog engulfed us as we left the coastal area, but as we drove inland a beautiful warm--high 70s!-- sunny day greeted us. However, as the saying goes, there's no such thing as a free lunch, and apparently with pleasent weather come wildfires. About 150 miles from Crater Lake, around 3:45, we saw a digital highway sign telling us the highway was closed due to forestfire between mile markers 59 and 69, about half way to our destination. Expecting to find a detour, we drove on towards mile marker 59. Forty-five minutes later, a park ranger stopped us at said mile marker. When Luke, the driver, rolled down his window to speak to the ranger, the smell of burning woods permeated the car. The ranger told us to turn around and advised us against using backroads as "too dangerous." Since we could literally smell the danger, we heeded the ranger's instructions, turning around and driving all the way back to where we had first seen the warning sign. We then took another route to Crater Lake, arriving around 8:30, well after sunset. Our day didn't go as we had planned, but I think the extra driving was worth the right to tell people we had adventures with forest fires.
To Becca's question as to the wisdom of this venture, Justin could just be heard to answer before he was silenced by a wave: "We'll be OK, we're on high gr . . . ." They were drenched. After the motel re-opened our room--we'd already checked out--Justin and Becca changed and dried off and we finally took off. Fog engulfed us as we left the coastal area, but as we drove inland a beautiful warm--high 70s!-- sunny day greeted us. However, as the saying goes, there's no such thing as a free lunch, and apparently with pleasent weather come wildfires. About 150 miles from Crater Lake, around 3:45, we saw a digital highway sign telling us the highway was closed due to forestfire between mile markers 59 and 69, about half way to our destination. Expecting to find a detour, we drove on towards mile marker 59. Forty-five minutes later, a park ranger stopped us at said mile marker. When Luke, the driver, rolled down his window to speak to the ranger, the smell of burning woods permeated the car. The ranger told us to turn around and advised us against using backroads as "too dangerous." Since we could literally smell the danger, we heeded the ranger's instructions, turning around and driving all the way back to where we had first seen the warning sign. We then took another route to Crater Lake, arriving around 8:30, well after sunset. Our day didn't go as we had planned, but I think the extra driving was worth the right to tell people we had adventures with forest fires.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Which coast are we on?
Even the short days on this trip are PACKED with stuff that we're doing.
We got up pretty late this morning and bid adieu to Becca's sister in Seattle. We had a really fun couple of days in Seattle, and were taken care of extremely well. Even so, it felt nice to get back on the road. I think we get antsy after more than about 2 days without driving. Who knows what we'll do once we get back into Chicago and cease moving.
After a delicious and mostly organic lunch with Becca's sister Joanna and Joanna's boyfriend Jacob, we switched cardinal directions for the first time - from west to south. I dozed through most of Washington, but woke up as we passed into Portland, OR and got into traffic and construction. We were trying to get to McMinnville, OR in time to get into the museum that houses the Spruce Goose, the Evergreen Air and Space Museum. Traffic in suburban Portland held us way up, and we didn't arrive at the museum until 10 minutes before it closed. That was okay though, because it was overpriced.
So we wandered around the gift shop for 10 minutes, took covert pictures, looked through the windows of the checked out the planes on the outside of the museum, and played on the playground. The Spruce Goose was a Howard Hughes seaplane that is ridiculously big and only flown once in World War II, that I would explain more about, but you can check it out on Wikipedia.
Then it was back onto the road for a couple more hours. We cut over to the coast, and got onto US 101, which we'll be following most of the way down the coast to San Francisco. We saw a gorgeous sunset, which was quickly wreathed in fog. We drove through a bunch of Oregonian coastal towns, which really do resemble New England towns on the east coast. We stopped in Newport, and had dinner at the original Mo's restaurant. Phenomenal clam chowder, and fish and chips. The story behind the diner is pretty cool too - it's been around for 60+ years, and is now an Oregonian coastal chain.
So I guess that we're on the west coast, but you coulda fooled me! We're spending our most expensive night tonight at a coastal hotel that has tsunami contingency plans because we're so close to the ocean. We can hear the waves crashing against the rocks outside, and have a gas fireplace beneath the tv. Classsssssy. We're gonna get up tomorrow and go exploring, but here's the view from our balcony.
Tomorrow night it's back to camping at Crater Lake. Guess it all evens out in the end. May not have internet for a couple of days while we camp, but we'll be back and posting in San Francisco!
We got up pretty late this morning and bid adieu to Becca's sister in Seattle. We had a really fun couple of days in Seattle, and were taken care of extremely well. Even so, it felt nice to get back on the road. I think we get antsy after more than about 2 days without driving. Who knows what we'll do once we get back into Chicago and cease moving.
After a delicious and mostly organic lunch with Becca's sister Joanna and Joanna's boyfriend Jacob, we switched cardinal directions for the first time - from west to south. I dozed through most of Washington, but woke up as we passed into Portland, OR and got into traffic and construction. We were trying to get to McMinnville, OR in time to get into the museum that houses the Spruce Goose, the Evergreen Air and Space Museum. Traffic in suburban Portland held us way up, and we didn't arrive at the museum until 10 minutes before it closed. That was okay though, because it was overpriced.
So we wandered around the gift shop for 10 minutes, took covert pictures, looked through the windows of the checked out the planes on the outside of the museum, and played on the playground. The Spruce Goose was a Howard Hughes seaplane that is ridiculously big and only flown once in World War II, that I would explain more about, but you can check it out on Wikipedia.
Then it was back onto the road for a couple more hours. We cut over to the coast, and got onto US 101, which we'll be following most of the way down the coast to San Francisco. We saw a gorgeous sunset, which was quickly wreathed in fog. We drove through a bunch of Oregonian coastal towns, which really do resemble New England towns on the east coast. We stopped in Newport, and had dinner at the original Mo's restaurant. Phenomenal clam chowder, and fish and chips. The story behind the diner is pretty cool too - it's been around for 60+ years, and is now an Oregonian coastal chain.
So I guess that we're on the west coast, but you coulda fooled me! We're spending our most expensive night tonight at a coastal hotel that has tsunami contingency plans because we're so close to the ocean. We can hear the waves crashing against the rocks outside, and have a gas fireplace beneath the tv. Classsssssy. We're gonna get up tomorrow and go exploring, but here's the view from our balcony.
Tomorrow night it's back to camping at Crater Lake. Guess it all evens out in the end. May not have internet for a couple of days while we camp, but we'll be back and posting in San Francisco!
Monday, September 15, 2008
SEEattle? More like TASTEattle! (post for Sept. 14)
Most of our lovely second day in Seattle was spent eating. At least 6 of the 15 waking hours today was spent in various stages of food consumption. Bekerz' fantastic sister Joanna made chocolate chip pancakes for us this morning, and we then proceded to the farmers market in nearby Ballard. While Becca and I were there, Luke and Caroline met a mystery lady - one of Caroline's mom's friends from long ago. Caroline had never met her but both were pleasantly surprised by an interesting lunch and a tour of the city, including Seattle Center and the Space
Needle.
Joanna, Becca, and I were getting food to prepare for a BBQ that took place at Joanna's today, and accordingly picked up a bunch of delicious, home-grown food at the farmers market, including heirloom tomatoes, eggplant, and a beautiful bag of fresh mussels - one of my favorites. Joanna and several of her friends prepared the food we had bought and also barbequed burgers, brats, and whole ears of corn, among other things. We ate the way people should eat - slowly and methodically, the way those Europeans do. That's the best way to pack in as much as possible.
We've been having a big discussion of our opinions of Seattle, and strangely, we're not quite sure what to think. We've spent only two days here and have seen very little of the city so our observations might not mean very much, but we're discussing them anyway. All of us - even Luke, really - are from the middle of the country. We grew up in and consider our homes in the flyover states, and so we are reasonably disconcerted when we're on one of those crazy coasts. Everything is just so pretty here. The only complaint I can really come up with is that Seattle is simply too perfect. They do everything right here. They value civic life, they recycle, they're concerned about the environment, they're liberal, they support Barack Obama, they value the arts, the police have reasonable policies toward drug use and vagrancy, their night life is exciting, their streets are clean and interesting. Even the homeless people have iPod earbuds sticking out of their ears. To us, it seems like paradise.
It could very well be paradise, and we are of the general opinion that this is what every American city should strive to be, but it also left us a bit on edge. Admittedly, we are unaware of the problems that Seattle must have, being a large city and I'm sure there's a seedy underbelly that we just never saw. On the surface, though, it seems to be less seedy and more under the belly than in most American cities. That's the part that left us a bit nervous, I think, the fact that we weren't confronted by all those problems when we walked out our front door, like in Hyde Park. We're hoping that maybe, those problems may actually have been solved in Seattle.
Sooner or later, maybe we'll be able to turn all our cities into paradise. We'll need some luck.
Needle.
Joanna, Becca, and I were getting food to prepare for a BBQ that took place at Joanna's today, and accordingly picked up a bunch of delicious, home-grown food at the farmers market, including heirloom tomatoes, eggplant, and a beautiful bag of fresh mussels - one of my favorites. Joanna and several of her friends prepared the food we had bought and also barbequed burgers, brats, and whole ears of corn, among other things. We ate the way people should eat - slowly and methodically, the way those Europeans do. That's the best way to pack in as much as possible.
We've been having a big discussion of our opinions of Seattle, and strangely, we're not quite sure what to think. We've spent only two days here and have seen very little of the city so our observations might not mean very much, but we're discussing them anyway. All of us - even Luke, really - are from the middle of the country. We grew up in and consider our homes in the flyover states, and so we are reasonably disconcerted when we're on one of those crazy coasts. Everything is just so pretty here. The only complaint I can really come up with is that Seattle is simply too perfect. They do everything right here. They value civic life, they recycle, they're concerned about the environment, they're liberal, they support Barack Obama, they value the arts, the police have reasonable policies toward drug use and vagrancy, their night life is exciting, their streets are clean and interesting. Even the homeless people have iPod earbuds sticking out of their ears. To us, it seems like paradise.
It could very well be paradise, and we are of the general opinion that this is what every American city should strive to be, but it also left us a bit on edge. Admittedly, we are unaware of the problems that Seattle must have, being a large city and I'm sure there's a seedy underbelly that we just never saw. On the surface, though, it seems to be less seedy and more under the belly than in most American cities. That's the part that left us a bit nervous, I think, the fact that we weren't confronted by all those problems when we walked out our front door, like in Hyde Park. We're hoping that maybe, those problems may actually have been solved in Seattle.
Sooner or later, maybe we'll be able to turn all our cities into paradise. We'll need some luck.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Sleeping in Seattle? (I apologize) (Post for Sept.13)
(Yay, pictures!)
So this morning we woke up at a lazy 8:30-9 because we had a terribly long 5 hour drive to Seattle, which shows just how spoiled a hotel room can make us after two days of freezing in Yellowstone. After leaving our hearts in Coeur D'Alene, we made for the open road.
Western Washington is pretty much just farms, but with an exotic edition; dust devils! We saw maybe 5 or 6 of these tiny twisters tearing up the dry fields. It's a pretty surreal sight.
Once we got within 200 or so miles of Seattle, we were suddenly in hills and forests again. It was an impressively beautiful drive. Every once in a while, amid the tree-covered slopes and blue sky, Mt. Rainier poked out its snow-topped head. I promised everyone we'd see it even better in the city.
In Seattle, we met Joanna, my sister, right before she had to leave for work, long enough to get the keys to her place and learn how to get downtown. After a short break, we took the bus to Pike Place Market to see some fish throwers (of course). Jojo's restaurant, Machiavelli's, would be packed until 8 or so, so we watched the sunset from the Olympic Sculpture Park.
Dinner was great and we cleaned our plates like good college students, and after several bottles of wine, we headed back to Jojo's for bed. Tomorrow we're going to Ballard Farmer's Market and having a BBQ. Yay!
-bekerz
p.s. There was poetry on the bus we took (and padded seats, what?) and here is the best one:
So this morning we woke up at a lazy 8:30-9 because we had a terribly long 5 hour drive to Seattle, which shows just how spoiled a hotel room can make us after two days of freezing in Yellowstone. After leaving our hearts in Coeur D'Alene, we made for the open road.
Western Washington is pretty much just farms, but with an exotic edition; dust devils! We saw maybe 5 or 6 of these tiny twisters tearing up the dry fields. It's a pretty surreal sight.
Once we got within 200 or so miles of Seattle, we were suddenly in hills and forests again. It was an impressively beautiful drive. Every once in a while, amid the tree-covered slopes and blue sky, Mt. Rainier poked out its snow-topped head. I promised everyone we'd see it even better in the city.
In Seattle, we met Joanna, my sister, right before she had to leave for work, long enough to get the keys to her place and learn how to get downtown. After a short break, we took the bus to Pike Place Market to see some fish throwers (of course). Jojo's restaurant, Machiavelli's, would be packed until 8 or so, so we watched the sunset from the Olympic Sculpture Park.
Dinner was great and we cleaned our plates like good college students, and after several bottles of wine, we headed back to Jojo's for bed. Tomorrow we're going to Ballard Farmer's Market and having a BBQ. Yay!
-bekerz
p.s. There was poetry on the bus we took (and padded seats, what?) and here is the best one:
Friday, September 12, 2008
Ida-Holy Smokes Batman!
Today we left Yellowstone and our beloved Bison behind, driving many winding roads to Helena, Montana, and finally to our motel in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho. We had scheduled for this morning an interview with Montana Governor, Brian Schweitzer, but he unfortunately had to cancel. We were all dissapointed that the colorful governor was going to be elsewhere than Montana today, but decided to stop in the state's capital, Helena, to check out the state house. There we admired the lovely stained glass and oil paintings. Here's the bronze statue of Thomas Meagher, leader of the Irish Brigade in the Civil war, outside the state house and a large painting of the golden spike in Utah.
From Helena we drove on to Idaho and to our motel. After we all showered, we ate some very salty chinese food at the near by Dragon House. Then we came home, made some smores using the microwave, and are now going to sleep in our warm beds! Inside! Also no worries about bears eating our food! Tomorrow we go to Seattle where we will be staying with Becca's sister and interviewing more cool people. Also, we will be sleeping inside again!
Yellowstone is Buffalovely (post for Sept. 11th, 2008)
So after getting into Yellowstone around dusk last night, we went to sleep after hiding all of our stuff from the bears. We woke up this morning, and had not yet been eaten by them! Hoooray! We were, however, absolutely FREEZING. The inside of the rain fly of our tent had a thin coat of ice on it, and I had to scrape ice off of the car windows so we could see. Brrrrrrrrrr.
We also had to be up super early in order to drive back an hour towards the north entrance of the park for our interview of the day, superintendent of the park, Suzanne Lewis. We left some extra time in order to stop on the side of the road in order to take pictures of buffalo and elk. Arriving right on time to the Administration building in Mammoth Springs, we were greeted by Ms. Lewis herself, and started the interview.
And my goodness, what a great interview it was! I was filming this one so I didn't get to sit in on it, unfortunately, but Ms. Lewis was an amazing woman. She'd been working for the Parks Service for 30 years, and she had been doing it since she got out of college, working seasonally while going to Grad school. Although she is the first female superintendent for Yellowstone, she said that it had not phased her at all because she had pretty much been the first woman superintendent everywhere she had gone. She was a wealth of information and advice. I thought her best piece of advice in the whole interview was when she talked about how our generation would probably end up working a ton of different jobs, and that hers was the last generation of career, 30+ years in the same path. She said that we had to be unafraid of dealing with change, and that the energy expended in trying to stop change and keep things the same was often far too much energy for change that probably would have to happen.
At the end of the interview, we got to see Superintendent Lewis' ranger expertise. She gave us lots of advice on the route we should drive through the park, and she even gave Becca a sweet hat to keep her head warm.
It was only like 10 AM and we were already having a great day! We headed out in the car, and switched off driving every 45 minutes or so. We saw a millions-of-years old petrified tree, walked the trail and 300+ stairs to see Lower Yellowstone Falls up close. We drove past the gorgeous Yellowstone Lake, and after watching Old Faithful erupt, walked a trail of geysers and hot springs. We unfortunately didn't see any bears.
Still, by far the highlight of the day (after the interview) were our run-ins with buffalo herds.
It started in the car as we were driving in the middle of the day, Justin at the wheel. We were taking pictures of buffalo right at the side of the road, when we realized that the cars stopped up ahead in the road were stopped because there were buffalo standing in front of them. Justin inched the car forward when we thought the buffalo were past, when Becca shouted him to stop because a buffalo calf had started to cross right in front of our car!
I took this video of the calf stopping right in front of us, when my camera ran out of memory. What happened next was even more ridiculous. The ranger on the other side of the road pushed his car forward, using the loudspeaker to make some sound to push the buffalo out of the road. Except, instead of running off to the side, the ENTIRE HERD took off down the road toward our car. For a couple seconds, I think all four of us thought the car was going to be run over, but instead the buffalo just ran off to both sides. It was unbelievable. Justin got the whole thing on the video camera. We drove away, unscathed.
This wasn't our last run in with buffalo for the day, either. A herd crossed the geyser walkway while we were exploring the geysers, and we had to back off of the walkway onto a bridge to get out of the way. It was kind of funny to watch the buffalo cross this plastic walkway, because it's obvious they're so top heavy that falling down off of them back onto the ground is not something they're naturally designed to do. Then, a THIRD time, the buffalo blocked the exit out of the geyser area of the park.
It was a really full day, and we have finally arrived back to the campsite around 7. Just enough time to make a dinner of instant mashed potatoes and green beans, eat some s'mores around the fire, and crawl into sleeping bags before we get too cold! Tomorrow, Coeur D'Alene...if the grizzlies don't get us.
G.A. Custer fell here, June 25, 1876. (post for September 10, 2008)
We awoke this morning at what was probably the nicest campsite that ever there has been. It was basically out in the middle of a field near the Little Bighorn Battlefield, but that field was remarkably well kept, the bathrooms and showers were lovely, and there were internetz! Flabbergasting, I know.
Our alarms went off around 8:30 - early for us - and we made a nice breakfast of oatmeal and canned oranges and made our way across the Little Bighorn River to the battlefield. It reminded me a lot of the Civil War battlefields I've been to - the same combination of Park Service khaki and green, assorted historical artifacts, and informational placards. Needless to say, I was thrilled beyond belief.
We explored the little museum for a bit, learning more about the lives of Custer and Sitting Bull, as well as the various other players in the battle. A shocking 42 percent of 7th Cavalry soldiers were foreign-born, and were seeking a Western adventure much like ourselves. They followed Custer and his cavalry to explore Yellowstone National Park, the Black Hills of South Dakota, and finally chased the Lakota Sioux and their allies to their encampment at the Little Bighorn. The rest, as they say, is history.
After educatin' ourselves in the museum, we climbed to the top of "Last Stand Hill," where Custer and 42 of his men became cornered and fell at the hands of Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors who were defending their sacred tribal lands against U.S. government forces bent on taking them.
The site was haunting, at least for me, because the grassland has not changed all that much in the last 150 years and Last Stand Hill, where Native Americans attempted to preserve their way of life by driving off some cavalrymen who themselves were just following orders, looks much the same today as it did when those people died there.
As evidence that you learn new things all the time, we discovered the origin of the phrase "Bury the hatchet." Just a few short years after the battle at Little Bighorn, survivors of the battle from both sides gathered in a symbolic show of peace and unity and buried a hatchet at the site, representing to the world the end of hostilities between the U.S. government and those Native American tribes. If there's anything that excites me, it's etymologies. I'm sure you can relate.
We continued on from the Little Bighorn west through southern Montana before turning south again towards Yellowstone. We stopped for lunch in the tiny town of Columbus, MT, and were hoping to find some local fare to eat but, finding none, stopped at a Subway instead. I went to the bathroom and while in there I had a profound thought (I often have profound thoughts in the bathroom). Every place in America is basically the same. There are cultural, geographical, and demographic differences to be sure, but at the very heart of it, all places are filled with people just trying to live their lives, raise families, and attain some level of satisfaction and happiness. And sometimes they're just in the mood for Subway.
Having driven through rain for most of the day, we arrived in Yellowstone and the rain has ceased, leaving in its wake some serious COLD. We'll be diving deep into our sleeping bags tonight, that's for sure. The northern entrance of the park and our campsite were separated by some 35 miles, so it took about an hour to get there, but we were not disappointed on the way. Yellowstone does such a good job of maintaining the wilderness that the animals roam freely nearly everywhere. Bison, elk, coyotes, etc. will be grazing right alongside the road and whenever you're driving and you see a bunch of cars stopped on the side, it's a good clue that there's an animal close. Just today we saw several elk, bison, and a coyote so close to the car that we could practically touch them.
It was really amazing because they ignored us entirely - we just had so litle impact on their lives that they couldn't have cared less about us, which of course is the way it should be. We've already seen several volcanic steam vents and mountains and forests. Yellowstone truly has everything. I can't wait to really explore it tomorrow. Early tomorrow morning we are interviewing Suzanne Lewis, the first female superintendent here at Yellowstone. We're very excited to talk to her. Now its off to bed and hopefully warmth!
Our alarms went off around 8:30 - early for us - and we made a nice breakfast of oatmeal and canned oranges and made our way across the Little Bighorn River to the battlefield. It reminded me a lot of the Civil War battlefields I've been to - the same combination of Park Service khaki and green, assorted historical artifacts, and informational placards. Needless to say, I was thrilled beyond belief.
We explored the little museum for a bit, learning more about the lives of Custer and Sitting Bull, as well as the various other players in the battle. A shocking 42 percent of 7th Cavalry soldiers were foreign-born, and were seeking a Western adventure much like ourselves. They followed Custer and his cavalry to explore Yellowstone National Park, the Black Hills of South Dakota, and finally chased the Lakota Sioux and their allies to their encampment at the Little Bighorn. The rest, as they say, is history.
After educatin' ourselves in the museum, we climbed to the top of "Last Stand Hill," where Custer and 42 of his men became cornered and fell at the hands of Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors who were defending their sacred tribal lands against U.S. government forces bent on taking them.
The site was haunting, at least for me, because the grassland has not changed all that much in the last 150 years and Last Stand Hill, where Native Americans attempted to preserve their way of life by driving off some cavalrymen who themselves were just following orders, looks much the same today as it did when those people died there.
As evidence that you learn new things all the time, we discovered the origin of the phrase "Bury the hatchet." Just a few short years after the battle at Little Bighorn, survivors of the battle from both sides gathered in a symbolic show of peace and unity and buried a hatchet at the site, representing to the world the end of hostilities between the U.S. government and those Native American tribes. If there's anything that excites me, it's etymologies. I'm sure you can relate.
We continued on from the Little Bighorn west through southern Montana before turning south again towards Yellowstone. We stopped for lunch in the tiny town of Columbus, MT, and were hoping to find some local fare to eat but, finding none, stopped at a Subway instead. I went to the bathroom and while in there I had a profound thought (I often have profound thoughts in the bathroom). Every place in America is basically the same. There are cultural, geographical, and demographic differences to be sure, but at the very heart of it, all places are filled with people just trying to live their lives, raise families, and attain some level of satisfaction and happiness. And sometimes they're just in the mood for Subway.
Having driven through rain for most of the day, we arrived in Yellowstone and the rain has ceased, leaving in its wake some serious COLD. We'll be diving deep into our sleeping bags tonight, that's for sure. The northern entrance of the park and our campsite were separated by some 35 miles, so it took about an hour to get there, but we were not disappointed on the way. Yellowstone does such a good job of maintaining the wilderness that the animals roam freely nearly everywhere. Bison, elk, coyotes, etc. will be grazing right alongside the road and whenever you're driving and you see a bunch of cars stopped on the side, it's a good clue that there's an animal close. Just today we saw several elk, bison, and a coyote so close to the car that we could practically touch them.
It was really amazing because they ignored us entirely - we just had so litle impact on their lives that they couldn't have cared less about us, which of course is the way it should be. We've already seen several volcanic steam vents and mountains and forests. Yellowstone truly has everything. I can't wait to really explore it tomorrow. Early tomorrow morning we are interviewing Suzanne Lewis, the first female superintendent here at Yellowstone. We're very excited to talk to her. Now its off to bed and hopefully warmth!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
My lands are where my dead lay buried (Post for Sept. 9)
Right now, I’m watching some dark clouds roll across the big Wyoming sky while Justin triumphantly calls out the word, “Virginia!”
We’re collecting license plates of all the states.
Then he said, “For all we know, they just went ‘Missouri, whooo!’”
Today was probably the coolest day of our trip so far. We woke up early, having finally slept for a reasonable amount of hours. We had to be at Crazy Horse for our interview at 9:30 and after that, we were going to Devil’s Tower and wanted to get into our campsite near the Little Bighorn battlefield at the Crow reservation (they are Native Americans) before dark.
Our contact at Crazy Horse was Ace Crawford, and we met her there then went to watch a short video about the memorial before going to the top. If anyone of you reading has heard of or been to Crazy Horse, you’ll understand while we all quietly asked each other, “did she really say we were going to the top?” as we watched the video.
Yeah, we got to stand on Crazy Horse’s arm and look at his face. It’s 87.5 feet tall. He could eat Mount Rushmore.
At this point, we were sold. Ace drove us up there and we had a great time talking to her. She used to work for Tom Daschle, former Democratic senator from South Dakota. We were really happy to meet a fellow Democrat out here in one of them red states and she cheered to hear we had an Obama magnet on our car. She was really awesome and we started wondering we ought to have interviewed her instead.
But the point of the trip was the monument and so our interview would be with Mrs. Ruth Ziolkowski, wife of the original sculptor, Korczak Ziolkowski and her daughter, Monique. Mrs. Z, as they call her, was in a meeting when we got back from the mountain, so we had a wonderful lunch of Native American tacos with Ace, courtesy of the memorial, before going back to a studio away from the public eye for the interview.
It went wonderfully and Luke commented afterwards that he wasn’t sure we could top that.
We were all pretty blown away by the story and the mission of Crazy Horse. I could fill up 8 blog posts with information about it, so I’ll send you to the website, www.crazyhorsememorial.com if you’d like to learn more. Once we’re back, we’ll be happy to tell you anything you’d like to know and would love to show the footage of the interview.
Once you hear enough about the project, you can’t help but want to help. We were supposed to ask for Ace before we paid to get into the site so she could let us in for free, but we forgot (this was my fault) and later were glad we had given them something. Caroline keeps saying if she had the money, she’d want to contribute immediately. That’s the problem with being in college; you don’t have the cash to do that sort of thing. I’m planning to tell everyone I know, particularly my parents, to try to help them. It’s really an awesome cause.
Anyway, after getting out rather late from Crazy Horse, we hightailed it out to Devil’s Tower. I love Devil’s Tower. It’s very cool. My father will be pleased to know that the others were in awe of it as well. Sadly, we couldn’t stay longer than 20 minutes or so because we wanted to try to get to our campground before too late. It’s 8:00 now, so we’re just past sunset, but maybe we can get out tent set up before the predicted rain starts to fall.
Tomorrow is a chill day. We’re going to the Little Bighorn battlefield tomorrow morning and then driving to Yellowstone. We found out today that Brian Schweitzer had to cancel our interview Friday, so the last interview before Seattle is Suzanne Lewis, superintendent of Yellowstone. I’m excited for geysers!
-bekerz
p.s. Puppy at the campsite!
Day Three
Hey Everybody! This is a little late, but we had a stretch through South Dakota without internet access. Today (really two days ago now) was the third day of our roadtrip. We departed from a rainy and dark Omaha early this morning on our way to Wall, South Dakota for our next interview: Ted Hustead, third generation owner of world-famous roadside attraction, Wall Drug Store. We saw a sign advertising the store almost as soon as we crossed the state line and saw another every ten miles after that. Some of our favorites included “Wall-ways in Season,” “As Seen on London Buses,” and “Home of the Jack-a-lope” (a jack-a-lope is a mythical South Dakotan rabbit with antlers). We later learned from Ted Hustead there is a total 185 signs in South Dakota and that there are signs all the way from Minnesota through Montana. Before we reached Wall we drove the scenic byway through the Badlands National Park to see the amazing rock formations there. 
We made it to Wall around one o'clock and resisted our urge to spend hours wandering around the old style western shops until after our interview. Ted wore cowboy boots, wranglers, a trendy pink button down with sublte stripes that matched his tie, and very sleek black plastic eyewear. The mix of western-wear and modern business reflected well his personality and business model. He emphasized to us the three essentials of a successful business such as his: educate your customers, entertain your customers, and do it with world class aestetics. Sage advice. After our interesting interview with Ted, we got to play around in Wall Drug. Our favorite part was the Jack-a-lope paraphernelia. Justin purchased a glass perched atop the antlers of one Jack-a-lope, and here's a picture of Becca riding another.
After Wall we drove towards Keystone near our campsite, Mount Rushmore, and the Crazy Horse Monument. We drove ten miles up and then down a mountain on what has to be the most circuitous road in the world to get to our campsite. We made camp, made dinner, and made it to Mount Rushmore before the lighting ceremony at 8:30. The monument was amazing, but the weather was cold, so we watched the lighting ceremony and scampered home to our warm sleeping bags.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
No place like Om....aha
Wow, today was a really full day! We were up bright and early for our first interview of the trip, with Omaha resident and artist extraordinaire Jun Kaneko, with a lot of help from his wife, Ree.
We started by meeting the two of them for breakfast at Dixie Quicks, an AWESOME diner with delicious breakfast. It was just recently featured on "Diners, Drive-Ins and Drives" on the Food Network. It totally deserved the praise. I had like the best scrambled eggs, ever. Justin agrees.
From there we headed over to check out Jun and Ree's awesome warehouses. Jun specializes in very large pieces of ceramic art, among a lot of other things, which I will get to momentarily. FIRST, to show how awesome, how to make a giant ceramic work of art:
1) Gather together around 7 different types of clay from all over the United States and mix to form your own special blend of clay.
2) Place concentric circles of clay to form a head, or stonehenge-esque monolith (called "dangos"), and shape to taste. Should be approximately 5-11 feet tall:
3) Fire clay for a session of 11 days in your custom built 2100 degrees Fahrenheit kiln.
4)Glaze head for color, fire the dango or head in the kiln again!
5) Send out installation to well-reputed art gallery around the world!
So anyhow, this was just one of many, many things that Jun Kaneko does in the art world. He does installation tiles in places all over the country, even helping with art in the Big Dig in Boston. He's working on his second opera, having just finished being art director in Madame Butterfly. He's an incredible engineer. He's a painter. A glass artist. Some of his projects take 5-10 years to complete. He and his wife founded an artist's colony in Omaha, paying out of pocket for the first few years. He moved here from Japan when he was in his 20s, having dropped out of school and speaking no English. 45 years later, he's an established, well connected artists who is a giant in his specialty. He's an amazing guy.
If you're still interested in more, you'll have to watch the interview!
Anyhow, then we came back and went to the zoo all afternoon. Hijinx ensued:
It was great fun. There were lots of gorillas. We faced up to our worst nightmare, who we're sure we'll be seeing in Yellowstone, the grizzly bear. We're now terrified.Then we came back, I cooked Indian food for Caroline's family, and we're tired now and going to bed because we have to be up at 5 AM to get to Wall Drug in South Dakota tomorrow afternoon for our second interview. Tomorrow's one of our longest driving days.
Blogging for the next few days will probably be kind of spotty since we're not going to really have access to Internet until Seattle. We shall see. So, leave comments, give us a call, we'll talk to you all soon!
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