Whistle While You Work

Whistle while you work. Try it. Doesn't matter where you work or what you do. Whistle while you work today.

Call of Duty : Modern Welfare

It seems as if at one point the majority of people give in to their "duties" as a member of a society that thrives off of the dollar bill.

I can remember as a small child wondering if I would ever have the desire to dedicate a large portion of my life to contributing to a world I knew not all that much about. To what did I owe anything? The concept of working for money was something I had learned, but could have never really have understood at that age.

I can even better remember that as a teenager I had a huge desire for money. I had it in my mind that I would have to be extremely wealthy to meet my life's goals. While that was my goal, I had no idea how I was going to achieve it. I felt as if it was unfair that most people become incredibly rich by circumstance or by participating in a lot of difficult and time consuming work. Rich by circumstance was something that could not be guaranteed, and time consuming work is anything but appealing to a teenager that spends most of his time playing computer games and trying to find the next big party to attend.

New thoughts began to stir in my mind after I had graduated high school. It suddenly became optional to participate in the world around me. It became optional to participate in activities that would put me in a direction that would ultimately lead to my contribution to society. This was a huge conflict for me since I wasn't entirely sure it felt right. I began to question the dollar and its ability to provide me with the things I really wanted in life. What was important to me? What granted me happiness? I wondered if those people that live out in communities that rely on nothing but themselves where crazy and somehow misled, or if they were perhaps on to something. Fortunately, I'm not much of an extremist and did not decide to leave everything behind without at first taking a break from things to figure out what it was I wanted to do.

So here is where my thoughts on the matter are now... and like most things I bring up in this blog, I am not really leaning so much one way or the other. Rather than finding a sort of middle ground that keeps me content. It became necessary for me to accept the fact that I will always question whether or not my contribution to society is something I wholly wish to do. While I do believe that contribution to my fellow man is a good thing, I will never be certain that the ways for me to do so that have been laid out before me, are the best ways to go about it. I've also realized that it can only ever hurt somebody to be spiteful of anything. So if I were to simply avoid finding my niche in the world only because I had felt that it would mean I was "giving in", I would be doing so meaninglessly. Or would I?!

It is somewhat of a dilemma to me that I can not quite figure out if happiness is achieved through the freedom of duties or from the attachment to a duty. I can see how happiness could come from both of these situations. Freedom of duties would allow you to feel as if you owe nothing. To completely let go of all of your duties and simply survive by your own means. It isn't necessary for me to spell out why that would create a feeling of happiness. On the other side, to have a duty, gives you a sense of being needed by others. There is less loneliness, more security, and so forth. It also isn't necessary for me to explain why this would create a feeling of happiness.

So here is my conclusion that never contains a solution to the seemingly problematic situation I unfold before you. It is necessary to find a duty in life that contributes to the world around you. This will provide you with security most importantly and the ability to feel purpose for those other than yourself. At the same time, you must not dedicate your whole being to your duty. If you do, you will lose your value to yourself. You must at all times acknowledge that you owe nothing except that of which you are willing to give. In doing so you can perhaps live a fulfilling and wonderful life! ::cough::

Day 24

The night at the bar in Boulder CO was fantastic. We had the privilege of watching a two piece band called Stereofidelics perform. The band consists of a guy on a guitar, and a girl on a fiddle. They are extremely talented for being only 20 something years old. I recommend checking them out at http://www.myspace.com/thestereofidelics

At about noon we began our long 8-9 hour journey to Omaha. The entire ride consisted of a lot of plain fields, and a lot of wind. Plain fields + wind + Nebraska = tumble weeds. Dan and I thought it would be funny to see a tumble weed before we started this trip. After this trip we both are relieved to have dodged all 873 of them. Not that they are dangerous... they break when you hit them, but when you are getting 40 mph wind gusts and a lone tumble weed hits the driver window, it can startle you a bit.

We didn't really get to experience Omaha all that much. The place we stayed at was fairly interesting though. 20 people live under the same roof of the place we stayed at. About 10 people in each wing. Just about everybody in the house was an artist or a musician. Put that all together and it calls for a pretty colorful and fun time. Unfortunately, we were both very tired and fell asleep early.

Early today we began our drive to Chicago. This drive wasn't as bad, about 100 miles less I believe. We still ended up arriving fairly late, and so ended up watching Burn After Reading (great movie) with our host, Rachel.

She gave us a list of plenty of things to do tomorrow while in Chicago. We will be leaving Chicago for Cleveland at around 1 or 2 tomorrow afternoon.

The Actual Day 22

Yesterday was day 21, I wrote the post after midnight so I mixed it up I guess.

Today we woke up around 11, which was much needed due to two days in a row with drives over 7 hours long. I had a king sized bed and room all to myself. Our host has a fairly large house with a few roommates. From what I know, they all attend the University here.

We started the day off with Pearl Street. It is an outdoor mall strip with plenty of street performers and interesting shops. We ate at Illegal Petes, a Mexican place with some pretty huge burritos for a cheap price. After that Dan got a haircut at some barbershop that gives you a neck massage after your haircut. Pretty nifty.

It began too cool off a bit so we decided to hit up one of the hiking trails in Boulder. It provided some pretty good views of the city, and basically just kept climbing up a mountain just outside of the city border. We ended up turning around at one point after discovering that the trail continues up to the mountain peak. If I'm ever in Boulder again I definitely want to reach the top.

Tonight we are going to head out to a bar where a string band will be performing. They also brew several beers that have won gold medals at the largest beer festival in the world. I'll let you know how the Belgian Chocolate Stout is.

Tomorrow we'll be heading for Omaha Nebraska. According to the weather report, it is going to be stormy and windy, so we are going to have to wake up fairly early. If we stay in Boulder another night we'll end up being hit by a snowstorm.

Day 22

Yesterday we arrived in Salt Lake City after a long 7 hour or so drive from Reno, Nevada. Frisbee Golf was actually a lot of fun. If there are places to play it in South Jersey, I will definitely be practicing my frisbee throw.

We showed up in Salt Lake City probably around 8pm or so judging by the darkness. Our first stop was the Mormon Temple since it was too dark to check out the Great Salt Lake. We went on a free tour and were able to see just how much money is donated to the organization. It was slightly upsetting to see that our two tour guides (girls about our age) were convinced that there was a living prophet on the earth here to give them guidance. All you have to do is donate to the church, and more guidance will be provided! I'm still glad I was able to see the facility, the architecture is amazing. I even got a book of Mormon as a souvenir.

Today we checked out the Great Salt Lake. The area surrounding the lake is covered with a thin layer of white salt with gray mud underneath. We are pretty sure it was low tide since we had to walk out about half a mile to get to the water's edge. Sure is salty. Only after one minute of putting my hands into the water, I had a thin layer of dried white salt covering them. If you are in the area, the Salt Lake is worth seeing. I would have liked to float in it, but the water was very cold.

We then began our drive to Boulder, Colorado. Utah has some cool landscapes to drive through. Wyoming was a bit more plain. A lot of plateaus out in the distance, some mountains here and there. Colorado was really nice to drive through, though it was getting dark by the time we were there. The silhouette of the Rockies was amazing to see out to our West. Upon arriving in Boulder, it ended up being a lot larger, and more commercial than I had imagined. Though, so far just about everywhere I have been is a lot bigger than I had once thought. Tomorrow we will be spending the entire day in Boulder and staying another night.

Soooo thats all for now.

Night! : 19

Yeah, that's right, I called it night 19.

Reno was a lot cleaner than I had expected. Apparently, Reno 911 is filmed in Los Angeles. It is only the cut scenes that take place in the actual Reno, Nevada. It was slightly disappointing, but at the same time I was happy to find out that Reno is actually a really nice place to live. Out of most of the places we have been to, Reno is among the top as far as best places to live. It is a city, but at the same time is small enough to seem as if it is just a populated town. They aren't kidding when they call it the "Biggest Little City in the World". A very easy place to navigate.

Yes, I took pictures of cop cars. I think I also managed to get a picture of a police officer, not sure if it came out right yet. All for the novelty of course. Reno 911 is among my favorite mock reality TV shows, right behind The Office. So this was a necessity. I also bought an awesome I "Heart" Reno shirt for 6 bucks, what a bargain.

Basically, Reno is an awesome city in Nevada. Better than Las Vegas. If you want a good family vacation that includes gambling, go to Reno. It is the cleaner Vegas with less traffic and friendlier people. I've also heard that Lake Tahoe was among the most picturesque places to go in the country. It is only a 30 minute or so drive from Reno. So yep, Reno = good times.

Tomorrow we will be playing frisbee golf with our hosts, basically golf but with a frisbee and a basket instead of a hole at the end. Best of all, it is absolutely free to play. Looking forward to trying it out. After our game we will be heading out to Salt Lake City, Utah. I plan on floating in the Salt Lake. Hopefully, the water conditions are suitable enough.

Day 19

This is the beginning of Day 19 of the road trip. I haven't posted in a bit so I will start with two days ago when we left Los Angeles to camp in the Big Sur.

Route 1 in California is known for being one of the most scenic highways in the country. I'm willing to bet that it is. You drive along winding roads for hours, touching the ends of cliffs, and winding back into the redwoods and green rolling hills. Love driving cars? Ride the Route 1 from L.A. to San Francisco. Down towards L.A. it isn't as scenic, and I haven't driven it up past San Francisco, but it still sits as my favorite road in the U.S..

We ended up arriving in the Big Sur too late to stay at any campgrounds. So like what seemed to be hundreds of other motorists, we pulled over at a vista point and slept in the car. Fairly uncomfortable, but better than paying $120 for a small overpriced motel. The gas in the Big Sur area is $4 at some points. We've yet to understand how that is even legal. The lowest I've seen in California so far was $2.03 at the AM/PM Arco stations. In some parts of California cities I've seen 30 cent differences in gas prices between gas stations that were just down the block.

Anyway, after sleeping in the car in Big Sur, we continued our scenic drive up towards San Francisco. Upon arrival I got my haircut from a very enthusiastic asian lady of about 50. She "make me look cool!", "she so good at taper!". She gave me a pretty damn good haircut too. Very nice lady, I recommend Harry's Hair Studio in San Francisco to anybody. After the haircut we checked out Golden Gate Park, a huge park that contains museums, South American botanical gardens, drum circle hippies, tons of trails to walk on, hidden hippies, bicycle paths, and more hippies.

Today we will be renting bicycles and touring the city a bit more. Riding over the Golden Gate Bridge will be the highlight of the tour. After the tour we're heading to Reno, Nevada. Mostly for the novelty of it due to the show that is based in the city.

Day 16 : Hollywood

Before heading to the Hollywood part of Los Angeles we checked out the museum with the natural tar pit out in front. The place is responsible for hundreds upon hundreds of fossils being discovered. After the museum we checked out the walk of fame. I took pictures of the stars I thought were funny or significant in some way.

One of the main things I noticed about Hollywood, is that there is at least one crazy person per 100 square feet. Not like, "oh they are crazy", more like, "oh look at that black guy that painted his face white and put a radio cassette player down on the ground 2 feet from him and likes to stare at me and do the robot with super wide eyes crazy face on"; it's like that. Like "oh look at 65 year old Batman sending text messages on his cell phone to Robin trying to get people to take pictures with him for money" kind of crazy. I can go on and on and on. Needless to say, Hollywood was entertaining, and I suppose that is what it should be.

The night in Hollywood tonight was incredible. We went to a club called The Key Club due to a suggestion from an awesome lad named Fernando we met at a bar the previous night. The Key Club had an 80s metal parody band called Steel Panther, check them out at http://www.myspace.com/steelpantherkicksass
These guys were hilarious. There were two girls from one of those terrible reality shows at the club, the band made fun of them to no end. There really isn't any way to describe just how hilarious the show was. Everybody was at the club for that band, it was pretty crowded, loud and exciting. Definately something I want to do again the next time I'm in L.A..

Tomorrow we will be traveling up Route 1 in California, "Bohemian Highway", and camping in the Big Sur.

Day 15 : Los Angeles

The night before today was an interesting one. We got to see first hand what the "scene" was like in Newport Beach. You know how everybody thinks that MTV show "The Hills", is scripted? It isn't. People actually act like that out here! I'll give benefit of the doubt and assume not everybody out here is like that. Our friend Ashley isn't among that kind of person at all. Other than that, the place is filled with beaches, rolling hills, cliffs and sand dunes. Southern California is fairly ideal if you like the beach.

Today we headed from Orange County up to Los Angeles. The drive was a little hectic, but I'm definitely getting the hang of the style of driving out here. The California freeways have an average speed of 80, if you don't go at least 75, you are going to be beeped at and more likely to be rear ended. So while the lifestyle may be a bit more laid back out here, the driving is freakin nuts.

We started off Los Angeles at the Union Square Station. Directly across the street there was some sort of Mexican festival with hundreds of people and shops lined up and down an alley leading to a small park. I had no idea there was such a large Latin culture out here. After thinking about it, I realize that common sense would say that there would be. It was interesting checking out all of the shops and authentic products.

At the moment we are in a Sushi Cafe in Manhattan Beach, about 20 minutes or so outside of Central L.A.. It seems to be an uppity place, and has a very nice beach area. Plenty of shops and cafes. Tonight we will be staying with a host that is attending a Couchsurfing Meeting. So we will get to attend and see what that is all about.

Tomorrow we'll be heading to Hollywood. Maybe we'll get famous or something.

Day 14 : Orange County

Started off today leaving San Diego for Orange County. Got the oil changed today as well as a brand new air filter. Maybe we will get better gas mileage, woo hoo.

We've been in Newport Beach all day practically, a nice spot where a lot of people seem to hang out for a day at the beach. It is March 14th and was only 65 degrees out today, but there are still people in bathing suits tanning out on the beach. Not something you see everywhere. I'm just now starting to notice that it is a bit more laid back out here than back east.

So Dan and I are sitting on a bench near the beach with our "Yucca" Hiking Stick pitched up in the sand, when a couple about our age stops and tells us nice stick. They also had a hiking stick with them. I told them we got it from inside of the Grand Canyon (which we did of course) and immediately a conversation was started. Dean and Ponti (who had moved here from Iran years ago) were two very sociable and friendly people. They invited us along with them on their walk and we all went back to Ponti and her roommates place for a delicious dinner. Persian hospitality is incredible!

At the moment we are in a parking lot, awaiting to be picked up by our high school friend, Ashley, and then heading out to a bar for food and drinks. That is all for now, we'll see what happens next. Tomorrow we will be heading not so far north up to L.A..

A Magazine You Should Check Out

Our current host tonight has his own magazine that he e-mails out to people. It is called the Metamorphonomicon. He has a ton of great ideas and is open to putting your own writings into his magazine. Send him an e-mail at heisbravesirrobin@yahoo.com .

Trip Update

It has been awhile since I've updated due to us both being fairly busy. The hike down into the Grand Canyon was incredible and somewhat terrifying. If you take the wrong step at quite a few parts, you are going to fall very far. The views, and the satisfaction of making it 3 miles and 2,000 something feet down into the canyon made it all worth while. We set up camp at a spot called the "Horseshoe Mesa". There will be pictures included in a future post. Sleep came fairly easy considering I was absolutely exhausted from the hike down into the canyon. 3 miles and 2,000 feet takes about 3 hours to do, and it isn't exactly easy on your legs. As a matter of fact, we both are still very sore from the hike.

The next day we woke up around 8 or 9, (my phone was dead so I'm assuming by the sun position), and began our hike out of the canyon. We were hiking for about a good 30 minutes when we heard voices behind us. About 8 middle aged women were hiking along while we were taking a break to catch our breath and drink some much needed water. After about 3 hours or so, I don't really know for sure because we both don't have a sense of time while hiking for 3 miles and up 2,000 feet, we made it to the top. The sense of accomplishment on top of not having to walk up rocks any longer was among the best feelings I've ever had.

After getting out of the canyon we began our drive to Las Vegas. The Hoover dam was pretty interesting to see. The dam seemed a bit too "proud", considering it is one of the main reasons the Colorado river doesn't run through the Grand Canyon the same way it did years and years ago. Arriving in Las Vegas was pretty interesting. The city is a lot bigger than I had thought. It is in the middle of a very large valley of mountains in the middle of the desert. I ended up losing $10 on the slots, not too bad compared to most people I suppose. We checked out the wetlands in Vegas as well; a natural reserve with rapids running through. Unfortunately, the city is beginning to build on the wetlands; slowly destroying them. It was cool to see the area while it is still there though.

After Vegas we drove to San Diego and arrived around midnight or so. We got some sleep, and today have been touring San Diego. We checked out La Jolla Cove (pronounced La Hoya Cove), which has a cave that can be entered from the ocean. We went through the "secret entrance" which is a stairwell in a shop nearby that takes you down into the cave. There are also plenty of seals in San Diego that hang out on the rocks near certain beaches. There were about 20 of them on one rock at La Jolla Cove. San Diego is an awesome city, the only thing I can complain about is the way people drive out here. It may just be a coincidence, but I've been beeped at three times today for not accelerating fast enough in a Trans Am. I'll bring the Lambo next time San Diego.

Backpacking in the Grand Canyon

Tonight we will be backpacking about 9 miles into the Grand Canyon. So because of that, I will be updating the blog tomorrow. The update will include our arrival in Flagstaff, Arizona as well as our entire day spent there.

Picture Post Texas/Palo Duro Canyon

These are the pictures from our backpacking journey into the Palo Duro canyon just south of Amarillo, Texas. The canyon is the second largest in the U.S..


First rest stop in Texas.


Texas Rest Stop.


They are bigger in Texas. This one also acts as a tornado shelter.


Approaching the Palo Duro Canyon.


The rest are photos from our hike into the canyon.








Camp set up a little before dark.


We survived! Morning in the canyon.








Real Petroglyphs we stumbled upon along our hike out.


All kinds of terrain.


Rock climbing experts.

Picture Post Tulsa

Not many pictures to take in Tulsa. There are quite a few on my camera phone that might be uploaded later from the bike ride around the city park.

Tulsa Gallery :

Cleaned off the racing stripes in Missouri on the way to Tulsa.


View of Tulsa and the "Cloud".


Dan standing in the Center of the Universe. Your echo sounds strange if you stand in the right spot.


We rode these bikes around the park for a few miles. Stylish.


Top down through Oklahoma.


Ditto.

Picture Post

I figured pictures are a lot more entertaining than words. At the moment I am relaxing after a day of hiking in Flagstaff, AZ. We will be staying the night at Leigh's and Heidi's place for one more night and leaving for the Grand Canyon in the morning. Here are some pictures from past days.

Gallery 1 : St. Louis


Entering St. Louis


Cardinals Stadium


Some crazy octopus truck sprayed water all over the car while riding down the highway. There was already salt all over it, creating some fancy white race stripes.


The arch is a lot bigger than I had imagined.


A lot bigger.


Thomas Jefferson


Is our friend.


Sailing a ship into the West or something.


Top of the arch.


View from the top.


St. Louis and Ellios are very similar.


Budweiser factory.


Middle of the tour.


End of the tour.


Couch I slept on in St. Louis.

Day 8 : Albuquerque to Flagstaff

This post was written last night, I couldn't post it til this morning due to internet access. So Day 8 is for Sunday, March 8th.

Day 8 started off with a New Mexican style breakfast at Mannie's in Albuquerque. Fun fact : We saw Mario from Mario Bros. enjoying himself a meal of some sort. The guy looked just like him. That wasn't really the highlight though. I tried green chili for the first time and found out that there is a "state question" in New Mexico. Red or Green? They are referring to what type of chili you prefer. After a survey, most people in the state prefer green chili. I'm not sure what my opinion is on it. It is hotter than red chili, but then again, it depends on how it is made I suppose.

We left Albuquerque for Flagstaff after checking out a museum about Pueblo culture. We took the top down off the car and cruised on Route 66 for a bit through New Mexico. Eventually, it just became too cold; but was well worth the experience. We hopped back on Route 40 (Speed Limit 75 mph) and continued the drive towards the Petrified Forest in Arizona.

Petrified Forest was unbelievable. I could hardly believe I was actually viewing the vistas around me. You can see the painted desert in pictures, but until you have actually stood near a ledge and looked out into the distance at it; you can't really comprehend how it would feel. The vastness of the place is like nothing I've ever seen or experienced. It's hard to imagine that people have grown up knowning nothing but the gigantic space that surrounds them out here. It was also very interesting to see the petrified wood that seems to inhabit the place in that area. It practically turns into marble with age. The thought that dinosaurs and rainforest once dominated an area that is now an arid desert was fascinating.

After the 28 or so mile drive through the forest (which isn't actually a forest anymore) we hopped right back onto 40. Of course we had to stop in Winslow, Arizona and stand on the corner. Heck, a girl in a flatbed Ford even slowed down to take a look at us while we were there.

We took it easy for the rest of the drive, unfortunately we came upon Flagstaff at night; so we didn't really get to witness the elevation transition during the day. The desert suddenly becomes a pine tree haven next to an enormous mountain peak. The city of Flagstaff looked impressive at night. I look forward to waking up tomorrow morning and checking out the hiking trails. Our hosts tonight are very interesting as well. They are both students at the local University and have very colorful personalities. We plan on staying the night in Flagstaff tomorrow as well in order to get the full experience of this incredibly scenic place.

Day 7 : Roswell and Albuquerque

Day 7 consisted of driving out to Roswell from the Canyon in Texas. I have to say... Roswell is a bit disappointing. You can definitely tell that the place is simply trying to profit off of the "crash" that took place near by. I did enjoy it for the novelty purpose. I put my "conquer flag" down in Roswell basically. We ate at the Out Of This World Cafe and had the "Roswell Roast Beef". Normal Roast Beef Sandwich on Wheat Bread is what it should have been called. Other than all of the cliche alien culture, the UFO museum is very interesting. It consists mostly of reading, but altogether is very interesting.

After Roswell we headed out to Albuquerque. We arrived at our hosts friend's house first. All of the houses in the area we are staying at are the Sandstone style homes we try to replicate with Stucco in the East. We ended up going out to a few bars in Albuquerque's college district. For the first time on the whole trip I've seen a big similarity in the people here to the people in New Jersey. Tomorrow we will be going out to breakfast with several people we met out here. I'll let you know how the Green Chile is!

Day 6 : Palo Duro Canyon

Day 6 is yesterday of course. I couldn't update the blog due to being out camping in the middle of Palo Duro Canyon. Yesterday started off with leaving Tulsa. Tulsa... is a lot of fun apparently. It may not have all that much to do; but if you are couchsurfing and end up staying with somebody that lives on campus... it can end up being a lot of fun. Everybody was very laid back and friendly. Even the people that didn't seem like they would be were very open minded and friendly. That could just be my experience, but there is definately a presence of a friendlier personality out in the mid-west.

Palu Duro Canyon; after driving for hours we ended up getting close the the canyon. We knew we were close, but there were no real signs of being in a canyon. Very suddenly the canyon just appears and overwhelms. The place is huge. It is actually the second largest canyon in the U.S. behind the Grand Canyon. So why not camp in it?

The place is absolutely amazing. The freedom you feel when hiking in a place out in the middle of such an enormous environment is liberating. We actually woke up in the night due to hearing coyotes howling and barking in the distance. The whole experience was unreal. The morning consisted of hiking and climbing up a few rock formations. There are plenty of awesome pictures that I will be uploading another time. We also found authentic Native American paintings on our hike back to the car in the morning.

Day 5 : Tulsa

Today started off with leaving St. Louis. We decided we would go on a hiking trail in Missouri before arriving in Tulsa. I ended up dropping my camera into a small stream while enjoying the scenery. Somehow my camera survived. I've decided that I will not be uploading pictures until the end of the trip. I usually seem to be too busy during the nighttime at each destination to the point where I can't dedicate the time to resizing and posting pictures up. Way too tired by the time I write these!

Tulsa seemed fairly boring at first; The Center of the Universe exists here apparently. You can stand at a certain area near a very tall building and hear your echo in a very "unnatural way". Can't really explain it. I'm sure somebody was leaving the huge office building and discovered that their voice sounded strange while walking past the area. So now.... center of the universe.

After visiting the center of existance, we went to River Park and found out we could use bicycles for free. If you are ever in Tulsa, be careful about what bike you choose. It is absolutely ridiculous how many bikes don't come off of their chains after you choose it. 

There are about 25 miles of trails all around the Arkansas River. I'm guessing that we rode about 7 miles around the river area. My opinion of Oklahoma has changed dramatically during the bike ride; not to mention the car ride put it into perspective as well. You know that American song about Amber Waves of Grain? I'm assuming it was referring to Oklahoma. I could be wrong, but it might as well be. The fields are actually amber.

Tonight we are staying at Trey's house, an MMA fighter going to school at The University of Tulsa. It is pretty cool to see what the college life is like out here. So while Tulsa seemed to offer not all that much, it has so far ended up being a pretty good time.

That is about all for Tulsa. Tomorrow will be the first day of an actual "adventure". We'll be camping in the second largest canyon in North America just south of Amarillo, Texas. Next stop Amarillo.

Day 4 : St. Louis

Today started off with leaving Indianapolis and heading straight for St. Louis, Missouri. (I will be adding the pictures tomorrow, unfortunately my camera battery is dead at the moment. It will be charged tomorrow though!) We had to drive through Illinois to get to St. Louis. I have to say, the middle of Illinois has a lot of... well nothing. If you live in South Jersey and think there are too many farms, drive through Illinois. Your mind will change about 5 seconds after you are baffled by how big the sky is.

As we were driving, a large truck with tubes coming off of it decided to spray us with water as we were passing it. The recent weather has caused my car to have a lot of dried up salt all over the car.... so add sprayed water, and the result is crazy white streaks all over the car. (We eventually washed it off at a gas station.)

Coming up on St. Louis was amazing for the fact that the Arch is enormous. I had no idea it was as large as it was. Apparently it is the biggest man-made monument in the world. And get this, you can travel up to the top of the arch in a tram thing. Dan went up to the top, I was about to, but the damn thing is a capsule about 5x5 feet that takes you up in 4 minutes. I was not about to get in that thing. I do have some pretty awesome pictures of the arch though "Gateway to the West".

We then went to Imo's and had some official St. Louis style pizza. They make it with a special kind of provolone mix and super thin crust. It was good in its own kind of way, I have to say I'm still a fan of Jersey pizza. Though we haven't visited Chicago yet where I hear it is pretty good.

After eating Imo's we took a trip to the Anheuser Busch factory. I have quite a few pictures of the free tour as well. Basically, the place is huge, and at the end you get to sample beer that is only 40 minutes old. You can tell the difference immediately due to its freshness.

Tonight we are staying at James' place, a teacher in St. Louis. We made an awesome meatloaf for dinner with onions, carrots, and garlic. Very cool guy, we had a jam session in his spacious St. Louis city style apartment. (I played keyboard, Dan on bass, James on guitar, his friend on drums.) I'll also try to provide pictures of the house.

Tomorrow we will be heading to Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Day 3 : Indianapolis

We woke up today fairly early and enjoyed a tasty breakfast made by Lindsay. We hung out at our hosts apartment for a bit and got situated then made way for the White River State Park.

On the way to the park we were almost run over by a rogue fire truck. We pretty much timed it just right to be exactly where the truck suddenly turned it's siren on and pulled out of the department.
We eventually arrived at the park, $4 parking, nice. Along with the first Tuesday of the month being the "special discount day" for every facility in the state park. We decided to check the Indiana State Museum first. As far as museums go, this one is worth checking out. The place starts off by showing you that rocks are crazy. They can grow insane crystal formations inside of them, which most people already know, but the way they displayed it was...... nuts.


There were plenty of other interesting exhibits at the museum as well. Directly below are a couple of pictures.


After the museum we watched an IMAX film of the Grand Canyon in 3D. I'm not really sure how to explain how freakin amazing that was. If you haven't seen an IMAX in 3D, do it today. Do it within an hour after reading this. Just in case all of the IMAX 3D theaters implode on themselves before you get to see it. Seriously... I'm not even going to go into detail, just go. Let's just say I was IN the Grand Canyon. IN a raft with people IN the Colorado River rapids.

After the ridiculous film, we checked out the zoo. I took mostly videos at the zoo so there aren't really any interesting pictures. Unless you don't remember what a lion looks like or something. Below is a memory referesher if that applies to you.

The zoo had plenty more to see, including three Rhinos fighting each other, running amok around their "zoo territory".

There was a tropical plant exhibit right next to the zoo that we checked out as well. It was about 90 degrees in that place. The air was pretty damn humid, pretty damn fresh. Wasn't so bad. Here is a picture of the lush vegetation.

And so after that, we went to CVS for some supplies and headed to The Egyptian after eating plenty of granola bars. We arranged a couch surf stay while there and are now staying at Schafe's house. A student in Indiana that lives with several other roommates. Next stop, St. Louis.

Here are a few extra pictures for your entertainment.




And then of course, Dan thinks this one is awesome. "Best picture probably ever taken."