Day 24

I left Milwaukee yesterday after trying to explore some of the different neighborhoods. I went to the third world market and walked around to a couple different boutiques. I headed to Chicago but made sure to stop by the Mars Cheese Castle and pick up a cow-shaped batch of cheddar and ate some summer sausage. then i went to a restaurant that brought me my grilled cheese by train!! (pics coming soon). i went into chicago and met up with terry. we had martinis at the specialty lounge. well it wasn't called that but something close. it was on the 96th floor of one of the tallest buildings downtown. i drove through lincoln park and then met up with brian in wrigleyville. we got some cheap scalped tickets for the cubs game and went there to drink old style all night. we made sure to stop by the cubby bear bar on our way back for a full chicaaaago experience. after being a bit hungover this morning, i walked around his neighborhood and actually realized this is exactly where amy and i were the last time so i just shopped around. i'm headed over to terry's to grill and tonight the penns are not playing (totally dissapoitned, but i will be detroit for the game tomorrow), but hopefully we're all going to weiner's circle tonight!!

Day 23: I Think i like this place!

It was a short drive from Minnesota to Madison. I got to stop by one of the best parts of my trip-the Leinenkugel beer tour! I got 2 free samples, so i tried the berryweiss and it tasted like sparkling wine and i tried the summershandy which was like a lemonade beer. ick...ill stick to my sunset wheat. anyway, they've been around since the 1800s and make everything right there on sight. miller now owns them, which i guess works out well because i can get it anywhere. I stopped by a cheese shop and got some pepperjack cheese curds. im not sure if they're the right thing-they just look like little chunks of cheese. i got to my hostel in madison totally not in the mood to have 5 roommates for the night, but that's alright for 23 bucks. the guy running it told me of some good bars so i headed downt to the hippyish/co op area. i can definitely tell the town used to be full of hippies! at least there were people out and live music on a tuesday night. i headed to some divebars and found myself in a gay bar. clearly nobody was in the mood to talk to me there so i walked into a punk bar. since i was sick of not talking to anyone the whole night, i spoke to some madison folk. turns out they've all grown up and lived there their whole life. hey, maybe it's a much cooler place than i experienced. after waking up way too early the next morn, i tried to find a bagel in the town, but i think the midwest hates bagels!!! there's a gumby pizza in the town but they weren't open. i also stopped by ella's deli-it has a carousel and all these ridiculous animated toys in the windows. well that wasnt open either.
I headed to Milwaukee and stopped by the mustard museum! It's really just full of hilarious mustard advertisements. It had mustards catoragized by fruit, vege, beer, pepper, etc. flavors. I picked some up and then i headed to the Pabst Mansion!! I learned a lot about dear ol' Capn Pabst. He used to own a fleet ship and then married someone in the beer business and made the pabst name what it is today! the mansion was pretty damn amazing. then i headed to miller valley! man was it miller time there. it takes up 82 acres or something ridiculously large like that. i didn't realize miller made old english, sparks, mickeys, fosters, and peroni. i now understand a little more of the beer process. i sat down with a bunch of young guys to try our 3 samples. yes, i got to sample miller light, mgd, and then peroni. it was miller time!!
i got back to my hotel and waited around for a bus to take me to the brewers game. after an hour of sitting in the 50 degree weather, i just drove. turns out i didn't have to pay for parking, but i walked in during the 6th inning. miller park was pretty awesome but the retracting roof was covered. it was a pretty good game and the brewers won at the last minute. the beer was way cheaper than the dodgers but the hot dogs were way worse. i got back to my neck of the woods and there are a good amount of german bars. i walked into the hofbrau house and had a hefeweissen. some guy ran up and gave me a beer and said he bought it for me. i said, half of it is gone! so he just left it on the table and ran away. haha. anyway, i'm really excited about exploring the different parts of town today. i love the german atmosphere and that everyone loves beer here! it's definitely a cool city.

Day 20

I get pretty fucking tired at this point to be blogging about my trip. I had a 14 hour drive two days ago, 12 hours the next day, and the most boring 11 hours yesterday to the Mall of America.
I left Deadwood and I stopped by "1880 town" which was this ridiculously awesome town preserved (i think?) from 1880. everything was sooo western, it was so awesome. i didn't make it to the pioneer auto museum because i was running short on time. i did stop by the corn palace in mitchell, south dakota. it was a big arena and the front had murals made out of corn. pretty cool, but these old ladies inside had a problem with my red hair. i suppose my cowboy boots fit in well in the west, but not my hair. i skipped sioux falls so i could make it to the mall before it closed.
I got to the Mall of America with an hour to spare. This place might have been cool when it first opened and nobody else had the same stores! but it wasn't even as cool as the Fashion Show Mall (which i really hated going to), and just seemed like another Towson Town. There was an amusement park in the middle (much like the adventure dome) which is cool, but i was by myself and not in the mood. I got some shoes at nordstrom and moved on. I stayed in the boring town of Bloomington, MN and went to bed early.
Today i woke up and didn't know exactly what to explore in Minneapolis. I went to the sculpture garden, which was definitely cool. The spoon/cherry sculpture is actually a fountain and much cooler to see in person. I went to the St. Paul Cathedral and headed to uptown Minn. There was some shopping and restuarants, but then i headed back downtown to my hotel. People were walking around in tshirts and shorts and it's only about 50 degrees. Damn i would not be able to stand it! Tom, Hilary's friend, picked me up after a nap and we went to eat at the Nicollet Mall area. Then we headed to the Triple Rock Social Club to see the Queers play! I know why they were so much more enjoyable when i was 16 years old... We had some beers then we left.
I take it this city loves bowling! And that there is much more to the music and cultural scene then i could experience in a day. There's not much to tour in a city by yourself. Once you've done the few museums/restaurant/bar things, that's it. you don't really get any scenery, and any idea for the place is best experienced through locals and actually hanging out for awhile. Unfortunately, the rest of my trip is all cities. Oh well, i'm really excited to get to pittsburgh and home at this point. I just want to be around people i know and am comfortable with. And i really have to get a pedicure

Day 18

It's 10 and i have to go to bed :(. Apparently the mall of america closes at 7 on sundays so i'm going to try to make it on the road at 5 am! WOOOO. Yesterday was about 15 hours of driving. After leaving Idaho, i stopped in Jackson Hole, WY. It was so cute!! It was such a little ski town with great shops and people. Then i headed through the Grand Teton Forest. The Tetons were amazing, but the hour drive of the same thing was getting on my nerves a bit. Then i entered Yellowstone. I stuck to the east side so my driving could be a limited amount. I saw the Grand Canyon of the park, a waterfall, hot springs, and yup i think that's about it. there wasn't much wildlife. there wasn't really much at all. it was still cool though. then i drove through cody which was this ridiculously western town in wyoming. apparenlty the fake gun fights don't start until june but i still stopped to eat dinner at a western saloon where some man was singing country music. i can't believe saloons actually exist and these towns really look like the old west. i woke up this morning and headed to South Dakota. It was a real overcast and rainy, but that's alright. I stopped by Crazy Horse Memorial. It's nuts how long it's going to take to finish the whole carving. Then i went to Mt. Rushmore which was really awesome. You cant get anywhere even close to it, but the 1/16th sized model in their visitors center was big enough. The eyes are my favorite part. I didn't have time to go to Custer State Park, but i did go to Bear USA! Sure it was like a zoo and all the animals were a bit sedated, but i loved that bears were walking around! They were right beside the cars and i loved it. I was running too late for the gold mine tour and the president sculpture park which was a dissapointment, but i like my hotel! It's this little western styled room in Deadwood. I love the town, there's casinos in total western style all up the main street. Unfortunately i'm by myself and want to go to bed, so it isn't nearly as fun as it could be.

Day 16

We arrived back in Portland yesterday, very tired and hungover. We had a totally awesome lsat night in canada-finally found a good bar to go to. it was called the cambie and was underneath the other good hostel. we met people from around canada there and then rolled to a punk rock pub up the street for some karaoke. aaron and i pretended to be brother and sister, but as a result he was stuck talking to a 40 year old and a 21year old who had puked on himself kept talking to me. nonetheless, it made canada seem wayyy better. but the beer prices still sucked.
portland was awesome last night. the show is the rainbow was playing, and as always, was the best time ever. we went to an arcade with a bar in it, a hot dog bar, and the space room-where i got some sweet space punch! i love how there's so many themed places in the town. we also had really good food at 'the farm'.
i had a super long drive today, about 10 1/2 hours to get to the lava hot springs in idaho. it's raining but it turns out that's ok because the hot springs are very hot and the rain coming down totally cools you off. i have no tv in my room so i'm glad there is internet! i have to share a bathroom, but i'm pretty sure there's only one other guest here.
the beginning of the drive was amazing outside of portland. i saw a waterfall and all the woods were beautiful. after that was extremely boring. i stopped by boise, and from what i saw, it sucked. well, there wasn't much to it i'll say. tomorrow is supposed to rain which sucks, but i'm still going to yellowstone! it's a hella long driving day as well but at least i get a nice scenic break in the middle.

i can't find any potatoes. i'm kinda pissed about that

Day 14

Netflix doesn't work in Canada. Blame Canada!

Well the day before i left portland i met up with aaron and we walked a lot and took the FREE!!! public transportation. we went and did some shopping and drinking in the downtown area. we stopped at voodoo donuts, which is hilarious. some will be covered in bacon, some in cereal, they have 'cock and balls shaped donuts."

i met back up with morgan for a drink and then danced to 80s all night. eventually we went to the roxy for some food after dancing. it's drag/quinton tarentino themed. the service and food were not good and i thought it sounded way more interesting then it actually was.
i took a lot of days in portland so i could check it out as a place to live. everyone talks it up so much i expected a lot from it. it wasn't a lot. there's hipsters riding bikes to cafes and sitting around drinking coffee and having beers everynight. there's a downtown, then there's places away from the downtown that are still fun. It just seems like it would be another las vegas to me: people into their 30s still doing coke and drinking a lot because being a bartender or waitress still pays better than any other job. it's pretty small as well. but from what i'm told, there's just so many outdoorsy things to do in the summer that it makes up for the cold and rainy winter. aaron lives there, and is a lot like me, and agrees that i wouldn't like it. but anyway, i'm heading back tomorrow to see the show is the rainbow!! i didn't really see much while i was there, so hopefully we can go to the beach and then some good themed bars/restaurants. i will say that my breakfast was pretty damn amazing.

aaron and i left for seattle and i was soo amazed at the city when we drove in. the skyline is right on the water and it was such a beautiful day. we spent the first part in and out of all the kitchy/touristy shops. one called the 'ye olde curiosty shop' had random things like shrunken heads and mummies, but then postcards/shot glasses/tshirts. we ate amazing mussels, clams, shrimp, and crap at 'the crab pot'.




then we headed to pike place but it was closing down. we found out where we were staying and eventually took a bus to pioneer square-which is where all the bars are. we went in central which is usually a great place for bands, but it happened to be country night! so we just walked in somewhere else for drinks. i think if we had known more where to go then it would have been a little more fun. the next day we woke up and went to pike place. there's a lot of fresh fish but i missed somebody catching one! there were tons of flowers and crafts, coffee shops. we walked around that area then headed to the space needle. since it's hella expensive to go up, we went over to the science fiction museum/jimmy hendrix music experience. somehow we started walking up the exit and had completely bypassed paying to get in to the music experience. it explained all about the early blues and jazz era and then pictures and pictures of the grunge area-seemed pretty awesome to be living there at that time. we could play on guitars/keyboards/electric drums. it was pretty neat.


then we left for poulsbo, wa to see leslie, my high school friend. i had to drive on a ferry which i was totally nervous about, but was really easy. it took about 4 hours to get to that area and we made a last minute decision to all go camping! i...have never been camping before. meanwhile, men were walking in this bar with fresh oysters and were offering me some. that was after they made fun of me for my red hair and nose rings. oh smalltowns...
we ended up camping out on leslie's boyfriends farm because stateparks were closed by the time we figured everything out. we toasted some marshmallows and hot dogs and after a couple sips of wine i was passed out. aaron and i slept outside to make it 'real authentic'-basically we were on sleeping bags in the middle of a field on a sloping hill. we would wake up almost falling into the fire pit a few times. at 5:30 the sun was up and it was had to sleep much after that, so we just headed for canada.


we did the good old currency exchange-got less canadian dollars back then i had for american. these 1 and 2 (loonies and tunies) coins are kind of annoying. it makes my pockets heavy! well our hostel is right downtown, it's pretty cozy but everyone isn't as nice here as i thought. we walked around last night and found the shopping districts, harbor area, and the place all the locals go to party. apparenlty it was queen elizabeth's birthday and everyone in the city partied so hard sat and sun that no one wanted to come out on monday! that sounded pretty ridiculous to us, but all the bartenders insisted that's what the deal was. then we found some bar called the railway that usually has good bands. i went to order beer and asked for the trashiest cheap beer. she was like oh my god,ew well...i have canadian. we were like oh perfect!! well a bottle was $5.20. and this is a divebar?? the cost of alcohol is definitely not cheap. so we went back home a bit drunk, and totally dissapoitned that there wasn't much around.
we woke up today and went to some shops on Robson. We walked all the way to Stanley Park, which is sort of like Central Park. We found the aquarium and then took a bus to Commercial Drive. On the way is Hastings, which is the most amount of homeless people/drug addicts i've ever seen gathered in one area. They were trading clothes for food with each other. Saw someone shooting up heroin-yup it was great. They didn't bother us-but i was glad i wasn't alone. Commercial Drive ended up being shops and restaurants-and since a dress that would $50 US costs $150 Canadian, i didn't want to shop. We asked a local where some good bars were-but no one knows anything. They're all telling us about this pub down the street. We'll try to hit that up tonight but maybe pregame. Even though the liquor store prices are $24 for the smallet vodka bottle and MGD is about 24 a case here haha.
Soo....there's not a whole lot to do on a weekday in Vancouver. It's pretty damn expensive. But gas is $1.34 a gallon!!!

and here's posts of good pictures along my way so far
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26633085@N07/sets/72157605092614859/

Day 10

I decided not to go out last night. I'm a bit burned out and want to just chill. I miss having a room to go hang out with myself in and i miss knowing everybody. Oh well-today Aaron's going to take me to do some shopping and then he wants to go dance to 80's music. I'm having fun sharing clothes with Morgan and enjoying the extremely nice weather. I'm not sure what will be going on with the next few days of Seattle and Vancouver-plans have sort of fallen apart, but as long as I'm up this way it would really be stupid not to just go visit. Since dad has been begging me to put some pictures up on Flicker, i've spent about an hour today editing some (rich was right, it's really annoying)

Day 9

I'm leaving to go out again.
We've explored Portland and seen lots of bars, restaurants, shops, there's something for everything on every corner. and not that many bikers/hipsters. i'm surprised.

Day 8

I'm sitting on Morgan's bed, beside her, in a mess of all her clothes. So it's pretty much my old house. And she has a bunch of vitamins and healthy things she's trying to feed me.

I drove 15 hours yesterday, and miraculously wasn't tired. I stopped by Fort Bragg which was horrible!! there is no reason to go there, especially not for the North Coast brewery. But i did stop by there for some lunch. Then I had to continue up the PCH, which was really slow and bit annoying at this point of the trip, but there was some great flowers and beach areas. Then i got to Legget which has some great tourist tree areas, i drove through a redwood, i walked around "Confusion Hill", i really tried to find Hobbiton but no luck! The rest of the drive to Eureka took forever!! But i did drive through Redwood Forest so i can't complain too much.
I ate dinner at the Lost Coast Brewery. It was really good food, and i had a tangerine wheat beer which was amazing! There were so many gutterpunks eating at this place. A lady started talking to me explaining that the town was very much like a poor man's San Francisco/Berkely, and hippies are very frequent. It was way too cold and overcast for my liking, but an interesting area nonetheless. I started back the forever drive through the redwoods not filling up my gastank. In case you didn't know before now, there are no gas stations on the PCH or in the forest (for about 100 miles)! So my empty light goes on, it's getting really dark, and i was freaking out thinking what i would possibly do! Then a gas station appeared and i was saved. The drive on 5 was really boring after that, but luckily it was night and i had an energy drink so i didn't care. I passed a lot of great spots i missed, like an air tram you can ride around the forest. I met up with mikey mike in corvallis, the town of OSU. it didn't have a huge amount of stuff, but we went out for a drink and he does live in an ex-frat house so it was pretty

I woke up this morning and met Morgan in Salem, OR where we went to Enchanted Forest!! For hilary (and anyone else from pa), it's kinda like Dutch Wonderland. In otherwords, not a place i would ever go as a local-but I was completely entertained! Many pictures to come.
We drove into Portland and i'm just chilling now to go out tonight. We might go white water rafting while i'm here which is totally exciting!

Day 7

Today is gonna be long! I'm up early in my bed and breakfast (which wasn't nearly worth the money i paid for it. or maybe it's that i'm sleeping alone in a romantic place). Breakfast is served soon-but i have to eat alone! the regular table is already full, isn't that sad??
I'm gonna roll down to the farmers market in a bit and pick up some strawberries and zucchini for mikey mike and i. Then i head up the coast again and visit Lost Coast and North Coast breweries and all the cheesy tourist traps in the redwoods area. I finally started editing some pictures, but it takes forever!

What day is it (i'm drunk)

Well today I'm in Napa. Last night was fun-we stayed near the city and Chade and I went to see Kevin's band at a bar in Berkeley. We went to 'the mission' area in the city-some awesome views at Dolores park-and lots of thrift store and BIKER! OMG there's so many bikers everywhere!!!
anyway, i left real early in the morning to make it here on time. And as soon as i got here, the napa wine shuttle picked me up and we went to 7 different wineries. that's 4-5 glasses of tasting at each place. i was pretty toasted by number 3. we went to black stallion, some kosher winery, monticello, walt disney's daughter, andretti's place, goose garden (?), and some other thing i clearly ccan't remember at this piont. i went with 7 other people and we all bonded by at leat the 3rd or 4th time because well..we ddrank a lot of wine.
i'm at my bed and breakfast. it's a bit expensive for what it is, but i guess that's alright. i'm spoiling myself on this trip. i want to go with hilary and take hot air balloon rides and everything!
well now i'm taking a nap and then taking myself out for a steak dinner. it better be good...and i better stop drinking.

tomorrow-breweries, redwoods, and mikey mike!

Day 5

After a Dodgers game and a night in Hollywood, yesterday was the most amazing drive ever. I really enjoyed Sedona, AZ, and this was just as good! I got out of LA and got my car washed at "Hand Car Wash" (Picture coming soon). Anyway, they scammed me out of $35 but whatevs.
Then i drove out to Pismo Beach and got me some fish and chips in a little beach town. I went to San Luis Obispo and totally loved it! It definitely would have been rad to stay in the town-there were lots of bars and shops and looked like a lot of fun. Then I got on the 1 at Morro Bay. It was so amazing-i stopped every 5 miles it seemed like to take pictures. Once I reached Big Sur, the flowers got even more colorful. It was a beat creepy/annoying to be going 20 mph up all the windy hills and knowing there was no gas stations for about 100 miles. It was about dusk when I reached Monterey Peninsula which kind of sucked because I wanted to explore a lot (mainly for Sami. She literally called the Monterey visitors center week after week in 7th grade to get brochures from them). I did go on the 17 mile drive and saw Pebble Beach which was really pretty. There was white sand, huge rocks, and it was pretty amazing at sunset.
I rolled up to San Jose and Chad, Kevin, and I went to a bar in the city that reminded me of the Double Down so i liked it. So now we are headed to explore more of the city and hopefully meet up with another Hanover friend.

WOOOOOOOOOO

Day 4

Well I'm really tired and I can't sleep anymore because i have this mental alarm clock that wakes me up at 7:30 am. which might be good because i have a really long drive ahead of me today. i'm headed up the PCH to san jose.

Day 3

I paid $3.99 just to write a blog. And to check my myspace duh...
Anyway, i'm sitting in Barnes and Nobles with Sarah and we're being geeks on our laptop. Yesterday was great-I went to the San Diego Zoo! I thought it'd be a million times bigger with way more different species, but that's alright. I could get through it comfortably in 3 hours. My favorte was the polar bear-he was swimming and walking. The pands were a huge deal but were cute. And koala bears! They were sleeping the whole time but one poked his head up and I saw the furry ears. There was a pretty leopard, lots of birds, not too many snakes, and some ugly camels.
I've been playing around a lot with my new camera hoping i could get some badass shots this trip, but nothing is turning out too well. I guess practice makes perfect!
Then i met up with Sarah in Vista/Oceanside. It was a cute little town and we got some good beer deals pretty early in the evening. California is definitely not Vegas when it comes to partying-I think people are getting a bit fed up with me trying to be obnoxious. I don't like that, but we'll see how Hollywood is tonight.
I'm heading up to LA in an hour, hopefully heading to Venice beach and going to see a Dodgers game.

Day 2

Well I drove to San Diego yesterday. My camera card is being really stupid and won't let me save pictures!! But here are some. First I stopped at 'Tio's Tacos' in Riverside. They had these amazing sculptures made out of everyday stuff. I didnt get any food though-because i hate mexican. Then I stopped in Escondido at "Queen Califa's Magical Circle" It was this rad mosaic sculpture area in the middle of a park. I got some pictures to save from there





I drove into San Diego and explored the Gaslamp District. It seems a bit yuppy, but it's really pretty. The arcitecture (sp?) is very modern and colorful! I saw the convention area, harbor, and finally parking to do some shopping. I ate at Pokez (Despite me hating mexican). It was kind of hipster so it was interesting. Then i met up with Crum and went to the Silver Fox in PB to drink.
I'm leaving now to explore the zoo!!

Day 1

It has come. My glorious road trip back to PA! I'm very excited-today I'm heading out to San Diego. I'll have a bit of a late start so I won't make it to the zoo until tomorrow. But along with leaving comes a lot of sadness for what i'll miss in vegas. Like i did with baltimore, and in no particular order, my favorite and most missed things of vegas:

The Double Down
$1.99-$3.99 steak and egg breakfasts
Thrift shopping with Sarah
Paul Paul: His little ears, his cracked tongue, his beard, his stupid dad humor-all of it. I miss him already
Buddy
The weather (from September-May)
Freemont St!!
Watching HOTS and Six Shooters play at the Clam/Bunkhouse/wherever
Open bar everyday of the week (Spy on Vegas and Treasures)
Amazing restaurants everywhere
I'm 4 hours from Hollywood
Being crazy with all the friends I made
My job and that they take me on stuff like houseboats and go carts
Themed/costume parties
Strip adventures
The shopping (Zappos, Caesars, H and M, Savers)
About 10,000 bars to go to that aren't too expensive
Knowing somebody every time I go out
Riding my lowrider bike around with bmxers
People actually coming to visit-Because it's Vegas
Seeing hookers, fake boobies, and elvi on a regular basis
Being able to buy beer anywhere
Being able to go anywhere at anytime-i will surely miss a 24 hour town