this one is really dark, but still one of my favorites.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
shapshots
I'm going to pick a few of my favorite pictures from the trip. just for those of you that are too lazy to go to flickr. these are just previews, and so pretty bad quality. you can click on them, or go to our flickr for better quality. enjoy.
this one is really dark, but still one of my favorites.
this one is really dark, but still one of my favorites.
Friday, November 9, 2007
the end
So here I am...finishing the story of our roadtrip.
As Andy mentioned in our last post, we were heading out of Portland, stopped and saw Multnomah Falls, which was gorgeous. Then...we got pulled over. the maximum speed limit in Portland is 65mph. when you're driving an 8hr. trip to your next stop, you do not want to be going freakin' 65mph. so we didn't. and we got punished for it. The cop said Andy was going 81. she checked out his record and for some reason decided to just give him a warning...which was quite relieving. :) we slowed down after that...for a bit. :P
We had arranged to stay with a guy in SLC, Utah, that night but it turned out that we got into Utah really late...too late for him. So that night Andy drove until he was too tired, then we stopped around 4am and slept in the car. It was the only night we had to sleep in the car, thank God. besides being uncomfortable, it was FREEZING. I think I remember wearing a sweater, Andy's jacket, and a blanket, and I was still cold.
We woke up the next morning to the sunrise and started driving again. That day we drove all the way to Denver, CO. We stayed with my Uncle that night *there was snow on the ground! so exciting since it was the first time I'd really seen snow* and then drove all the way to Dallas the next day to stay with Andy's aunt. We stayed with Janet a couple of nights. She made us a wonderful breakfast the next morning and then took us to go see an art museum...which was AMAZING. :) I'll go to any modern art museum anywhere anytime, but the main reason Janet and Andy wanted to go was to see the Ron Mueck exhibition. It was awesome.
We walked around downtown Fort Worth for a bit that day and went and saw a really cool fountain (pics on flickr). After that, we went and saw Granny Craft, who also lives in FW. she lives in the cutest little house...perfect for just one person. we told her all about our travels, she showed us around the house, and also showed us all the sewing she had been doing lately. she was really sweet...I loved meeting her.
The next morning, we slept in again, and then drove the four hours or so it was to Lufkin. that day, driving was pretty crazy. we got lost quite a bit trying to get out of town and the other drivers were pretty crazy, too. We were really eager to get home and as it seemed like it was taking forever, we passed the time by singing in really high or low voices to the ipod. it was awesome fun.
We arrived in Lufkin and stayed there for a few days. played soccer, slept, ate actual food...:P then I took a bus home to San Antonio. I really hated buses after that trip. my bus was like 5 hours late and it was like a freezer in there. oh well. finally home.
I don't know if I forgot anything or not, so I'll let Andy fill you in on anything important I might have forgotten. :) goodbye.
As Andy mentioned in our last post, we were heading out of Portland, stopped and saw Multnomah Falls, which was gorgeous. Then...we got pulled over. the maximum speed limit in Portland is 65mph. when you're driving an 8hr. trip to your next stop, you do not want to be going freakin' 65mph. so we didn't. and we got punished for it. The cop said Andy was going 81. she checked out his record and for some reason decided to just give him a warning...which was quite relieving. :) we slowed down after that...for a bit. :P
We had arranged to stay with a guy in SLC, Utah, that night but it turned out that we got into Utah really late...too late for him. So that night Andy drove until he was too tired, then we stopped around 4am and slept in the car. It was the only night we had to sleep in the car, thank God. besides being uncomfortable, it was FREEZING. I think I remember wearing a sweater, Andy's jacket, and a blanket, and I was still cold.
We woke up the next morning to the sunrise and started driving again. That day we drove all the way to Denver, CO. We stayed with my Uncle that night *there was snow on the ground! so exciting since it was the first time I'd really seen snow* and then drove all the way to Dallas the next day to stay with Andy's aunt. We stayed with Janet a couple of nights. She made us a wonderful breakfast the next morning and then took us to go see an art museum...which was AMAZING. :) I'll go to any modern art museum anywhere anytime, but the main reason Janet and Andy wanted to go was to see the Ron Mueck exhibition. It was awesome.
We walked around downtown Fort Worth for a bit that day and went and saw a really cool fountain (pics on flickr). After that, we went and saw Granny Craft, who also lives in FW. she lives in the cutest little house...perfect for just one person. we told her all about our travels, she showed us around the house, and also showed us all the sewing she had been doing lately. she was really sweet...I loved meeting her.
The next morning, we slept in again, and then drove the four hours or so it was to Lufkin. that day, driving was pretty crazy. we got lost quite a bit trying to get out of town and the other drivers were pretty crazy, too. We were really eager to get home and as it seemed like it was taking forever, we passed the time by singing in really high or low voices to the ipod. it was awesome fun.
We arrived in Lufkin and stayed there for a few days. played soccer, slept, ate actual food...:P then I took a bus home to San Antonio. I really hated buses after that trip. my bus was like 5 hours late and it was like a freezer in there. oh well. finally home.
I don't know if I forgot anything or not, so I'll let Andy fill you in on anything important I might have forgotten. :) goodbye.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Portland and Couchsurfers
so, Mary-Beth wrote about McMinnville. be sure y'all check out the flickr for picture from there. it was my favorite stop on the whole trip. or at least in the top 2. I really enjoyed it.
next stop, Portland.
in Portland we stayed with people I knew from online. Ben, Jenni, and Taylor. they had a 3 bedroom house in North-East Portland, and were very hospitable. we got there thursday evening, after leaving McMinnville. not too long of a drive, which was good, as we left McMinnville around 4. we got to the house, only Taylor was home, he gave us the grand tour, and then Jenni and Ben arrived later. Jenni and Taylor are an awesome couple, and alot of fun to be around. Ben, on the other hand, is crazy. well, maybe not quite. crazyawesomefun maybe. Ben was our main host, he invited us, and gave us some direction on where to go in Portland. before I forget, that night we also met a friend of their's, Brian. he'd be around the whole weekend.
that night we didn't do too much, just ate some dinner with them, and went to sleep. the next day, friday, well.... hmm....I don't quite know. I get my days mixed up.
I think friday we stayed inside most the day. everyone ended up going to work, and we explored some of the area close by, but didn't go downtown or anything.
that night, or another night, who knows, we went to The Kennedy School, which is run by the same company that runs Hotel Oregon. they run quite a few hotels/bars/restaurants/ and they all look awesome. we were going out for fun, but mostly to celebrate Ben's birthday. the celebration lasted all weekend, and huge amounts of fun.
that night at dinner, we met a bunch of Ben's friends, all from the website CouchSurfing. pretty cool website, and pretty cool people. I don't remember all the names, but there are pics of them on our flickr. all very friendly people.
then, we went back home, more partaying.
next day, we went downtown, and visited the famous Powell's City of Books. you could easily get lost in there. pretty dang awesome. books everywhere. yay for books.
then, more partying that night. Ben had a bunch of people come over to make costumes for a party they were going too. so we watched them do that, and watched tv, and talked with Bryan.
then....on monday morning, we headed out, back to texas. (I know, I skipped a day. maybe. I don't remember if there was another day or not. and what we did on it.)
on our way out, we stopped by the cafe Ben runs. nice little place, quiet neighbor hood. the food was a tad too nice for my taste, I would have been fine with eggs and bacon, but instead we were treated to the most delicious crepes I've ever heard. now, I'll be the first to confess, I've never had a crepe before. but this was AMAZING. and best of all, when I say we were treated to them, we were. Ben wouldn't let me pay. yet another thing in a long list of why Ben was a great host.
after we got through with that, we headed east out of Portland, only to stop 30 minutes later, to see Multnomah Falls. very very cool. awesome pictures on flickr.
then, back on the road. only to get pulled over. more on that later. stay tuned.
next stop, Portland.
in Portland we stayed with people I knew from online. Ben, Jenni, and Taylor. they had a 3 bedroom house in North-East Portland, and were very hospitable. we got there thursday evening, after leaving McMinnville. not too long of a drive, which was good, as we left McMinnville around 4. we got to the house, only Taylor was home, he gave us the grand tour, and then Jenni and Ben arrived later. Jenni and Taylor are an awesome couple, and alot of fun to be around. Ben, on the other hand, is crazy. well, maybe not quite. crazyawesomefun maybe. Ben was our main host, he invited us, and gave us some direction on where to go in Portland. before I forget, that night we also met a friend of their's, Brian. he'd be around the whole weekend.
that night we didn't do too much, just ate some dinner with them, and went to sleep. the next day, friday, well.... hmm....I don't quite know. I get my days mixed up.
I think friday we stayed inside most the day. everyone ended up going to work, and we explored some of the area close by, but didn't go downtown or anything.
that night, or another night, who knows, we went to The Kennedy School, which is run by the same company that runs Hotel Oregon. they run quite a few hotels/bars/restaurants/ and they all look awesome. we were going out for fun, but mostly to celebrate Ben's birthday. the celebration lasted all weekend, and huge amounts of fun.
that night at dinner, we met a bunch of Ben's friends, all from the website CouchSurfing. pretty cool website, and pretty cool people. I don't remember all the names, but there are pics of them on our flickr. all very friendly people.
then, we went back home, more partaying.
next day, we went downtown, and visited the famous Powell's City of Books. you could easily get lost in there. pretty dang awesome. books everywhere. yay for books.
then, more partying that night. Ben had a bunch of people come over to make costumes for a party they were going too. so we watched them do that, and watched tv, and talked with Bryan.
then....on monday morning, we headed out, back to texas. (I know, I skipped a day. maybe. I don't remember if there was another day or not. and what we did on it.)
on our way out, we stopped by the cafe Ben runs. nice little place, quiet neighbor hood. the food was a tad too nice for my taste, I would have been fine with eggs and bacon, but instead we were treated to the most delicious crepes I've ever heard. now, I'll be the first to confess, I've never had a crepe before. but this was AMAZING. and best of all, when I say we were treated to them, we were. Ben wouldn't let me pay. yet another thing in a long list of why Ben was a great host.
after we got through with that, we headed east out of Portland, only to stop 30 minutes later, to see Multnomah Falls. very very cool. awesome pictures on flickr.
then, back on the road. only to get pulled over. more on that later. stay tuned.
Friday, October 26, 2007
McMinnville
McMinnville.
we arrived in McMinnville Wednesday night. pretty small town about an hour outside of Portland. when Andy called to make our reservation at the hotel earlier that day, the lady said that there should be someone to check us in at the desk, but if there wasn't, then we could check in at the pub next door. thought that was pretty weird...until we got there. the hotel was called Hotel Oregon and was very unique. it's not only a hotel, but a restaurant and pub as well. so that explains the weird check-in places. most of the inside, the doors and some of the walls, where all made of heavy wood and some were decorated with writing on the wall. all the writing told stories about wine or famous people in the town, etc, etc.
so we checked in and our room was awesome. we got the room pretty cheap because...it wasn't actually a hotel room. it was more like a hostel in that the bathroom was not inside our room. we had to walk down the hall to use the bathroom. although we did have a sink in our room...which was handy. all of the rooms were named after people and on the walls inside the room was the stories of the people. our room was named Chef Wayne if I remember correctly and inside on the wall it told the story of how he progressed from a singer/entertainer in the hotel to the chef.
that night Andy wanted to see a movie...had been wanting to see Transformers for a while. so we asked if it was playing in any of the theaters in town...and it was. a theater right across the street from the hotel. so we grabbed our jackets and ran over there. the theater was actually *inside a pizzeria. there were tables in front of the chairs in the theater and there were several huge couches, too. so Andy and I got delicious pizza and then sat on the comfy couch in the back and ate. it was so awesome...I'd never seen a theater like that before and I loved it. I wish all theaters were like it.
the next morning, Andy had to get up early and take the car to the shop. thankfully it wasn't too far away because he had to walk back. on the way back, he picked up breakfast at a cafe and brought me breakfast in bed. :) then we explored the town. there were several things going on that day. there was a farmer's market in the middle of town...and homecoming later that day. we walked around the market and got samples of almost everything...it was pretty good. hey, we couldn't be picky. we were broke. :P we also spent a good bit of time in a bookstore and an antique store. oh and we went to an amazing toy store. Andy bought a toy. its basically a propeller on a stick, and when you spin it in between your hands it flies up into the air. I'd never played with one before but it was so much fun. we went into an empty parking lot and had a blast trying to catch it after we spun it up. here's what it looks like:
and again we come back to how awesome the hotel was. even though we had checked out at 11am, we could still go in and do pretty much what we wanted. so we went to the second floor to the balcony there. that's where we watched the homecoming parade. another cool thing was that there were electric outlets there...so we could plug in our computers and get online.
the parade was cool...very small town so not very big but it was fun to watch. and I got this one kid riding by to throw candy up to me. I think he was the only one who saw me. he made one piece of candy up to where I was. the rest fell on the ground. not to worry though, Andy got them later. :P
the trees in McMinnville *and really in Oregon everywhere* were amazing. the most brilliant fall colors I have ever seen. almost every other tree in the town was a bright red, or orange, or a really bright green, or a mixture of them all. it was gorgeous.
later at around 4pm the shop called us and told us the car was ready. so we walked there and picked it up. fairly long walk which only seemed longer because we had alot of our stuff with us, but it was okie. we hopped in the car and headed towards our next stop, Portland.
we arrived in McMinnville Wednesday night. pretty small town about an hour outside of Portland. when Andy called to make our reservation at the hotel earlier that day, the lady said that there should be someone to check us in at the desk, but if there wasn't, then we could check in at the pub next door. thought that was pretty weird...until we got there. the hotel was called Hotel Oregon and was very unique. it's not only a hotel, but a restaurant and pub as well. so that explains the weird check-in places. most of the inside, the doors and some of the walls, where all made of heavy wood and some were decorated with writing on the wall. all the writing told stories about wine or famous people in the town, etc, etc.
so we checked in and our room was awesome. we got the room pretty cheap because...it wasn't actually a hotel room. it was more like a hostel in that the bathroom was not inside our room. we had to walk down the hall to use the bathroom. although we did have a sink in our room...which was handy. all of the rooms were named after people and on the walls inside the room was the stories of the people. our room was named Chef Wayne if I remember correctly and inside on the wall it told the story of how he progressed from a singer/entertainer in the hotel to the chef.
that night Andy wanted to see a movie...had been wanting to see Transformers for a while. so we asked if it was playing in any of the theaters in town...and it was. a theater right across the street from the hotel. so we grabbed our jackets and ran over there. the theater was actually *inside a pizzeria. there were tables in front of the chairs in the theater and there were several huge couches, too. so Andy and I got delicious pizza and then sat on the comfy couch in the back and ate. it was so awesome...I'd never seen a theater like that before and I loved it. I wish all theaters were like it.
the next morning, Andy had to get up early and take the car to the shop. thankfully it wasn't too far away because he had to walk back. on the way back, he picked up breakfast at a cafe and brought me breakfast in bed. :) then we explored the town. there were several things going on that day. there was a farmer's market in the middle of town...and homecoming later that day. we walked around the market and got samples of almost everything...it was pretty good. hey, we couldn't be picky. we were broke. :P we also spent a good bit of time in a bookstore and an antique store. oh and we went to an amazing toy store. Andy bought a toy. its basically a propeller on a stick, and when you spin it in between your hands it flies up into the air. I'd never played with one before but it was so much fun. we went into an empty parking lot and had a blast trying to catch it after we spun it up. here's what it looks like:
and again we come back to how awesome the hotel was. even though we had checked out at 11am, we could still go in and do pretty much what we wanted. so we went to the second floor to the balcony there. that's where we watched the homecoming parade. another cool thing was that there were electric outlets there...so we could plug in our computers and get online.
the parade was cool...very small town so not very big but it was fun to watch. and I got this one kid riding by to throw candy up to me. I think he was the only one who saw me. he made one piece of candy up to where I was. the rest fell on the ground. not to worry though, Andy got them later. :P
the trees in McMinnville *and really in Oregon everywhere* were amazing. the most brilliant fall colors I have ever seen. almost every other tree in the town was a bright red, or orange, or a really bright green, or a mixture of them all. it was gorgeous.
later at around 4pm the shop called us and told us the car was ready. so we walked there and picked it up. fairly long walk which only seemed longer because we had alot of our stuff with us, but it was okie. we hopped in the car and headed towards our next stop, Portland.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Brookings - McMinnville
Alright. so we're in Brookings, OR. without a tire. pulled it off in the freezing rain. cause that's how we roll.
so we go to the Les Schwab, which is a pretty cool company from what I can tell. only in 5 states, all on the west coast/north western area. free coffee and popcorn, which is always handy. a lot of free services if you've bought a tire from them. they'll check a ton of stuff on your car for free. and the same prices whether you're in a small town or the middle of a big city. not bad.
anyway, we replace the tire. or rather, buy a new one. more money out of the budget. oh well. the plan for the day is the drive to Lincoln City, a good 6 hours drive or so. we've wasted a good bit of the day with the tire stuff, but I still want to make it. so we drive, pretty boring really, up the coast. there's various creaks and pops that have been coming from the car for some time, so I plan to get it checked out in Portland. assuming it makes it that far.
we get about 4 hours into it and it's already dark, I'm very tired, but I still want to make it. about 30 minutes before we get to Lincoln City, we hit Newport. I had to stop for gas, and Mary-Beth suggested we check some hotel priced around there, just to see if we shouldn't stay there instead of Lincoln City. normally I'd just keep driving, but I'd started seeing No Vacancy signs for the first time our entire trip. so we stopped at a few places, asked prices. I was gonna keep driving unless I happen to find a place for $35-$50, which is what I was going to pay in Lincoln City, assuming we got a room. so, we came across the Newport Inn, or something like that. the price was good, like $40 or something, tho the clerk was kinda creepy. so I decided to just go with it, I was tired. this was a mistake, tho it didn't turn out horrible. the room ended up being pretty ratty, the furniture was on wheels, the door had some iffy locks. only place we stayed the night the entire trip that I didn't feel good about. but I went with it anyway, tho I did block the door. ;)
anyway, ended up ok, got up in the morning and left, went to Lincoln City, got the guys at Les Schwab there to look at my tire, and make sure it was ok. (after all, the last one didn't really have a reason to explode, so I don't know if there's any rubbing going on.) they said it was fine, but they had to drive it into the garage to check it, and heard all my popping and grinding noises. they said it was my tire end on the front right tire, and the bearings on the front left. the tire end wasn't the end of the world, needed to be fixed, but I could drive on it if I had to. the other had to be fixed right away tho. bad trouble if it went out. so. they didn't have the parts, but I got them to look up the closest store that did, and on my way to Portland. the drive to Portland was only like 2 hours, but about halfway there was McMinnville, which had the parts I needed. so I had to go there to get it fixed. great.
while we were in Lincoln City, we visited several places I had read about and wanted to go. both involved glass. the first was a glass blowing shop, where they blew these globes of glass, and made them different colors and sized, etc etc. it was pretty cool, at least for me. we watched that for quite a while. then on the way out of town we went to Confusion, a glass fusion shop. that's different the glass blowing, glass fusion is just fusing glass. molding sheets of glass into shapes, and joining things together, etc. the lady there gave us a tour of the store, and showed us what she did. we got 2 free glass icicles for a Christmas tree, and got to learn how fuse glass. she didn't actually fuse any while we were there, but explained it all, and showed us everything there. it was pretty cool.
from there we went to McMinnville, where I had reserved a room in Hotel Oregon. it was a chance thing, looked pretty cool on the website, and had cheap rooms. so I chose that over a chain. turned out to be one of the best decisions of the trip. more on that next post.
so we go to the Les Schwab, which is a pretty cool company from what I can tell. only in 5 states, all on the west coast/north western area. free coffee and popcorn, which is always handy. a lot of free services if you've bought a tire from them. they'll check a ton of stuff on your car for free. and the same prices whether you're in a small town or the middle of a big city. not bad.
anyway, we replace the tire. or rather, buy a new one. more money out of the budget. oh well. the plan for the day is the drive to Lincoln City, a good 6 hours drive or so. we've wasted a good bit of the day with the tire stuff, but I still want to make it. so we drive, pretty boring really, up the coast. there's various creaks and pops that have been coming from the car for some time, so I plan to get it checked out in Portland. assuming it makes it that far.
we get about 4 hours into it and it's already dark, I'm very tired, but I still want to make it. about 30 minutes before we get to Lincoln City, we hit Newport. I had to stop for gas, and Mary-Beth suggested we check some hotel priced around there, just to see if we shouldn't stay there instead of Lincoln City. normally I'd just keep driving, but I'd started seeing No Vacancy signs for the first time our entire trip. so we stopped at a few places, asked prices. I was gonna keep driving unless I happen to find a place for $35-$50, which is what I was going to pay in Lincoln City, assuming we got a room. so, we came across the Newport Inn, or something like that. the price was good, like $40 or something, tho the clerk was kinda creepy. so I decided to just go with it, I was tired. this was a mistake, tho it didn't turn out horrible. the room ended up being pretty ratty, the furniture was on wheels, the door had some iffy locks. only place we stayed the night the entire trip that I didn't feel good about. but I went with it anyway, tho I did block the door. ;)
anyway, ended up ok, got up in the morning and left, went to Lincoln City, got the guys at Les Schwab there to look at my tire, and make sure it was ok. (after all, the last one didn't really have a reason to explode, so I don't know if there's any rubbing going on.) they said it was fine, but they had to drive it into the garage to check it, and heard all my popping and grinding noises. they said it was my tire end on the front right tire, and the bearings on the front left. the tire end wasn't the end of the world, needed to be fixed, but I could drive on it if I had to. the other had to be fixed right away tho. bad trouble if it went out. so. they didn't have the parts, but I got them to look up the closest store that did, and on my way to Portland. the drive to Portland was only like 2 hours, but about halfway there was McMinnville, which had the parts I needed. so I had to go there to get it fixed. great.
while we were in Lincoln City, we visited several places I had read about and wanted to go. both involved glass. the first was a glass blowing shop, where they blew these globes of glass, and made them different colors and sized, etc etc. it was pretty cool, at least for me. we watched that for quite a while. then on the way out of town we went to Confusion, a glass fusion shop. that's different the glass blowing, glass fusion is just fusing glass. molding sheets of glass into shapes, and joining things together, etc. the lady there gave us a tour of the store, and showed us what she did. we got 2 free glass icicles for a Christmas tree, and got to learn how fuse glass. she didn't actually fuse any while we were there, but explained it all, and showed us everything there. it was pretty cool.
from there we went to McMinnville, where I had reserved a room in Hotel Oregon. it was a chance thing, looked pretty cool on the website, and had cheap rooms. so I chose that over a chain. turned out to be one of the best decisions of the trip. more on that next post.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
leaving CA.
so, Mary-Beth explained most of what we did Saturday. minus the part I wanted the write about. that's the Cornfield Maze. it was about 30 minutes away I think. we decided to do it at night, with flashlights. greeeeeeeeeaaaaaaat idea....
this isn't any cornfield maze. this is the 2007 Guinness World Record Cornfield Maze. or so they say. it's 40 acres. so large there are markers in it to make it into a grid, and each group is given a map.
our group is made up of Sam, myself, Mary-Beth, Angie, Jordan, their friend Spencer, and 2 of their other friends, whose names escape me. between us there were 2 maps, sam had one, and one of their friends had the other.
we figured the maps are for pansies, and told sam and the other guy to put them away, and don't use them. now, as soon as we get into the maze, sam waits until we're not looking, then goes the other way. does it by himself. pretty soon we lose their 2 friends too. so now the people with the maps are gone, and it's myself, Mary-Beth, Spencer, Jordan, and Angie. piece of cake eh? no. we spend a couple hours going in circles, find out that their friends, and sam are all finished and waiting for us. we're not even half way. we finally get someone to give us a map, and have to use that and only that to get out. if there had not been a map, it could have been another 4-5 hours at least. it was ridiculously big, and too hard to do entirely without a map. assuming you want to do it in less then 12 hours.
I even asked the staff at the front if they ever have to go in after people and they said no. there's always someone outside the maze, 24/7, but they never got in after someone. people always eventually make it out. that's scary to me, what if I have a heart attack? (of course, if I had a heart condition that puts me in risk of a heart attack, I shouldn't go in a 40 acres maze in the first place.)
anyway, the maze was alot of fun. very interesting, we had a good time. tiring tho. after that we went home and slept. next morning, as Mary-Beth wrote, we went to San Francisco. only think Mary-Beth forgot the mention that I found fun was that there was an air show in San Francisco that day, and so while we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, and around SF, there were Blue Angels flying low over the city, and a couple other types of airplanes too. pretty cool.
then, on Monday, Mary-Beth and I said goodbye, and headed to our next stop. Klamath, CA, in the middle of most of the Redwood Forests. Northern California. very pretty.
I don't have too much to say on that right now. partly because it's 4:30 am. we got to drive through a tree. that's always fun. and it was so amazingly pretty up there. so much green, and other colors that have come with fall. but mostly green there, the rest of the color was mostly in Oregon. anyway, we stopped several times to walk through the redwoods and explore. we spent one night there, in Klamath. then headed out again to go into Oregon. we found a beach right outside Klamath, which was really pretty. cloudy and overcast, but we stopped for a while anyway. that was really cool. good break from driving.
once we got back on the road it was only another hour or so before we crossed the Oregon border. instantly it started raining. not hard, but still, it was rain. that was when our tire blew. our brand new tire, we had purchased less then less then 72 hours before. brand new, and it just exploded. parts went everywhere. I actually had a really tough time getting it off, because the rubber kept getting in my way as I worked. but I eventually put on the spare, and drove back into the last town we had passed, which happened to be Brookings, OR. and that's where I'll leave the story, for tonight. I'll pick it back up in Brookings, without a tire.
as always, there are more pictures up on our Flickr.
EDIT:
AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! I forgot one of most important things about San Francisco. while we were at Pier 39 with Jordan and Angie, they took us to see the World Famous Bushman. haven't heard of the Bushman? neither had I...I'm not sure many have. but, anyway, we saw him. on the sidewalk of Pier 39 is the Bushman, and old black homeless man, (I assume homeless,) that sits, with his bucket for change, and some bushes. some leaves and a couple branches. and he holds them in front of him so people can't see him. now there aren't near enough to hide him, and anyway, brush on a sidewalk is out of place. but that doesn't stop him from shocking people. we stood and watched for a few minutes. he waits, with a big smile on his face, hiding behind his few branches until he sees someone walking towards him that is zoned out. meaning not really paying attention. and then when they get close, he shakes the branches or moves or something. he knows how to pick too, cause it always scares them so bad. they jump or scream. pretty funny to watch, cause everyone's standing right there watching him, but one person will walk by that's not paying attention and be scared so bad. I think creative homeless people are a big step ahead of the rest of the homeless population. good stuff.
this isn't any cornfield maze. this is the 2007 Guinness World Record Cornfield Maze. or so they say. it's 40 acres. so large there are markers in it to make it into a grid, and each group is given a map.
our group is made up of Sam, myself, Mary-Beth, Angie, Jordan, their friend Spencer, and 2 of their other friends, whose names escape me. between us there were 2 maps, sam had one, and one of their friends had the other.
we figured the maps are for pansies, and told sam and the other guy to put them away, and don't use them. now, as soon as we get into the maze, sam waits until we're not looking, then goes the other way. does it by himself. pretty soon we lose their 2 friends too. so now the people with the maps are gone, and it's myself, Mary-Beth, Spencer, Jordan, and Angie. piece of cake eh? no. we spend a couple hours going in circles, find out that their friends, and sam are all finished and waiting for us. we're not even half way. we finally get someone to give us a map, and have to use that and only that to get out. if there had not been a map, it could have been another 4-5 hours at least. it was ridiculously big, and too hard to do entirely without a map. assuming you want to do it in less then 12 hours.
I even asked the staff at the front if they ever have to go in after people and they said no. there's always someone outside the maze, 24/7, but they never got in after someone. people always eventually make it out. that's scary to me, what if I have a heart attack? (of course, if I had a heart condition that puts me in risk of a heart attack, I shouldn't go in a 40 acres maze in the first place.)
anyway, the maze was alot of fun. very interesting, we had a good time. tiring tho. after that we went home and slept. next morning, as Mary-Beth wrote, we went to San Francisco. only think Mary-Beth forgot the mention that I found fun was that there was an air show in San Francisco that day, and so while we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, and around SF, there were Blue Angels flying low over the city, and a couple other types of airplanes too. pretty cool.
then, on Monday, Mary-Beth and I said goodbye, and headed to our next stop. Klamath, CA, in the middle of most of the Redwood Forests. Northern California. very pretty.
I don't have too much to say on that right now. partly because it's 4:30 am. we got to drive through a tree. that's always fun. and it was so amazingly pretty up there. so much green, and other colors that have come with fall. but mostly green there, the rest of the color was mostly in Oregon. anyway, we stopped several times to walk through the redwoods and explore. we spent one night there, in Klamath. then headed out again to go into Oregon. we found a beach right outside Klamath, which was really pretty. cloudy and overcast, but we stopped for a while anyway. that was really cool. good break from driving.
once we got back on the road it was only another hour or so before we crossed the Oregon border. instantly it started raining. not hard, but still, it was rain. that was when our tire blew. our brand new tire, we had purchased less then less then 72 hours before. brand new, and it just exploded. parts went everywhere. I actually had a really tough time getting it off, because the rubber kept getting in my way as I worked. but I eventually put on the spare, and drove back into the last town we had passed, which happened to be Brookings, OR. and that's where I'll leave the story, for tonight. I'll pick it back up in Brookings, without a tire.
as always, there are more pictures up on our Flickr.
EDIT:
AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! I forgot one of most important things about San Francisco. while we were at Pier 39 with Jordan and Angie, they took us to see the World Famous Bushman. haven't heard of the Bushman? neither had I...I'm not sure many have. but, anyway, we saw him. on the sidewalk of Pier 39 is the Bushman, and old black homeless man, (I assume homeless,) that sits, with his bucket for change, and some bushes. some leaves and a couple branches. and he holds them in front of him so people can't see him. now there aren't near enough to hide him, and anyway, brush on a sidewalk is out of place. but that doesn't stop him from shocking people. we stood and watched for a few minutes. he waits, with a big smile on his face, hiding behind his few branches until he sees someone walking towards him that is zoned out. meaning not really paying attention. and then when they get close, he shakes the branches or moves or something. he knows how to pick too, cause it always scares them so bad. they jump or scream. pretty funny to watch, cause everyone's standing right there watching him, but one person will walk by that's not paying attention and be scared so bad. I think creative homeless people are a big step ahead of the rest of the homeless population. good stuff.
Sacramento
In Sacramento, we stayed with the lovely Angie, her boyfriend Jordan and Jordan's parents. we also met Lois, Jordan's mother, the night we got there. and technically they don't live IN Sacramento, but they live about an hour from the city in Rio Vista. they have a great big house and 4 dogs, the big one who stayed outside all the time was Jack. smaller ones who were really hyper and came into the house were Ellie, Yoda, and Widget.
they gave Andy and I their whole trailer/fifth wheel in their backyard for us to stay in. It was so awesome...they had even hooked up the electricty and water for us.
Friday morning, we slept in late before going to the house to hang out with Angie for a while. she was going to take us to Sacramento to see the capitol, but decided it wasn't that big a deal and went to a small town the same distance away called Lodi. it had little shops and such and so we walked around for a while, spent quite a bit of time in a little bookstore. then we decided to see a movie and picked the Brave One with Jodie Foster. fairly decent movie.
Saturday morning, Andy and I had planned to go to San Francisco again to see more of the city. however, when we had driven about a mile down the road, we realized we had a flat tire. so. no San Francisco that day. we went back to the house and made everyone breakfast. then we went with Angie to pick up a new tire, go to WalMart, and pick up Sam...who forgot to get his luggage off the bus. smart sammi. ;)so then we had to drive all the way down to Sacramento to pick UP his luggage. almost hit an idiot who cut RIGHT in front of us on the road downtown. freaked us out a bit.
then we went to....well I'll have to let Andy tell you about the rest of our night. :P
Sunday morning, Angie made us a delicious breakfast, then we all headed out to San Francisco. drove across the Golden Gate Bridge, drove down Lombard Street (supposedly the crookedest street in the world. Jordan drove us down it this time), almost got in a wreck a few times :P, and then drove down Castro Street. finally parked and walked down Pier 39 and walked a while in Ghirardelli Square. little shops, chocolate factory, old mustard factory, most awesome hat store. :) Andy was the only one to buy a hat I think...it looks really good on him...and I've taken to borrowing it as often as I can. :P
when we were walking back on Pier 39, we got to see all the sea lions on the docks. you could hear them from a pretty long ways away. there were alot of them and they were loud. very cool to see.
Monday morning...we said our goodbyes and headed out for Portland, Oregon. Lois gave us a "goingaway gift". a whole bag of matches so that we could "burn our tires for people to find us when we were stranded in the snow". she continually told us NOT TO LEAVE THE CAR. :P
and we were off again. with many more adventures to come.
they gave Andy and I their whole trailer/fifth wheel in their backyard for us to stay in. It was so awesome...they had even hooked up the electricty and water for us.
Friday morning, we slept in late before going to the house to hang out with Angie for a while. she was going to take us to Sacramento to see the capitol, but decided it wasn't that big a deal and went to a small town the same distance away called Lodi. it had little shops and such and so we walked around for a while, spent quite a bit of time in a little bookstore. then we decided to see a movie and picked the Brave One with Jodie Foster. fairly decent movie.
Saturday morning, Andy and I had planned to go to San Francisco again to see more of the city. however, when we had driven about a mile down the road, we realized we had a flat tire. so. no San Francisco that day. we went back to the house and made everyone breakfast. then we went with Angie to pick up a new tire, go to WalMart, and pick up Sam...who forgot to get his luggage off the bus. smart sammi. ;)so then we had to drive all the way down to Sacramento to pick UP his luggage. almost hit an idiot who cut RIGHT in front of us on the road downtown. freaked us out a bit.
then we went to....well I'll have to let Andy tell you about the rest of our night. :P
Sunday morning, Angie made us a delicious breakfast, then we all headed out to San Francisco. drove across the Golden Gate Bridge, drove down Lombard Street (supposedly the crookedest street in the world. Jordan drove us down it this time), almost got in a wreck a few times :P, and then drove down Castro Street. finally parked and walked down Pier 39 and walked a while in Ghirardelli Square. little shops, chocolate factory, old mustard factory, most awesome hat store. :) Andy was the only one to buy a hat I think...it looks really good on him...and I've taken to borrowing it as often as I can. :P
when we were walking back on Pier 39, we got to see all the sea lions on the docks. you could hear them from a pretty long ways away. there were alot of them and they were loud. very cool to see.
Monday morning...we said our goodbyes and headed out for Portland, Oregon. Lois gave us a "goingaway gift". a whole bag of matches so that we could "burn our tires for people to find us when we were stranded in the snow". she continually told us NOT TO LEAVE THE CAR. :P
and we were off again. with many more adventures to come.
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