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...
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