We are in Austin after a million and a half miles of boring, 2 hours of being sick (carlos),
I have thus far not been able to see my friend Matthew, because we just got in. So we're in a Day's Inn, and we might not leave.
on an aside note, carlos has given texas a new name. the "nothing to show me" state, as the interior is 8 hours of the same landscape punctuated by the occasional mesa or dilapidated town full of rude people.
even ruder than people from NJ.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
texas smoots:
trek from seattle to austin started out with
an absolute beautiful trek through southeastern
utah and northeastern arizona. canyon country
is a must see for any crisscrossing journeyman.
pictures will be posted once my camera battery
is charged. didn't get a chance to do any hiking
as we were pressed for time. but we'll try to get
back there someday to experience the full tour.
also, props to the chatty lady at the grand canyon
bookstore, who upon no request, gave me the
backstory into the life of a bookseller in a
national treasure. i had happened to mention
that i work ina bookstore in boston, which
she responded with an "oooh! my golly! boston!"
i bought a book on the history on the grand
canyon and some postcards which i'll frame.
i'm too cheap for postage but too cheap for
postcard frames apparently. overall, this is
as close to a religious experience as it gets
[for me at least]
drive through flagstaff and new mexico
went smooth until, well, i'll keep this simple:
kids, remember not to mix your caffeine tablets
with mcdonald's hotcake breakfasts. i found
this out the hardway, and am paying for it
on both ends. wink ugh wink.
we both were excited to experice texas.
well, we experienced it. i'm sure texas has
a lot to offer and as soon as it shows me
something to offer i'll be the first to say
what an awesome place texas is. or is it
"tey-hass!" the mesas were great. and the
various abandoned towns and oil rigs
scattered throughout. but its very large
and very remote. at least interstate ten is.
the best part is that the speed limit is
eighty. EIGHTY! montana is only 75mph.
i guess here if you saunter off the road
you'll either drive into dried up riverbed
or eventually find yourself on another
highway. overall, if your ever going to
copy our journey, spend the extra day
in the grand canyon and just drive thru
nebraska..............
now i'm lying in bed reading about the
red sox and watching mythbusters which
is what i'd be doing if i were home and
had the pricey cable package. either
mythbusters or meercat mansion.
holla!
an absolute beautiful trek through southeastern
utah and northeastern arizona. canyon country
is a must see for any crisscrossing journeyman.
pictures will be posted once my camera battery
is charged. didn't get a chance to do any hiking
as we were pressed for time. but we'll try to get
back there someday to experience the full tour.
also, props to the chatty lady at the grand canyon
bookstore, who upon no request, gave me the
backstory into the life of a bookseller in a
national treasure. i had happened to mention
that i work ina bookstore in boston, which
she responded with an "oooh! my golly! boston!"
i bought a book on the history on the grand
canyon and some postcards which i'll frame.
i'm too cheap for postage but too cheap for
postcard frames apparently. overall, this is
as close to a religious experience as it gets
[for me at least]
drive through flagstaff and new mexico
went smooth until, well, i'll keep this simple:
kids, remember not to mix your caffeine tablets
with mcdonald's hotcake breakfasts. i found
this out the hardway, and am paying for it
on both ends. wink ugh wink.
we both were excited to experice texas.
well, we experienced it. i'm sure texas has
a lot to offer and as soon as it shows me
something to offer i'll be the first to say
what an awesome place texas is. or is it
"tey-hass!" the mesas were great. and the
various abandoned towns and oil rigs
scattered throughout. but its very large
and very remote. at least interstate ten is.
the best part is that the speed limit is
eighty. EIGHTY! montana is only 75mph.
i guess here if you saunter off the road
you'll either drive into dried up riverbed
or eventually find yourself on another
highway. overall, if your ever going to
copy our journey, spend the extra day
in the grand canyon and just drive thru
nebraska..............
now i'm lying in bed reading about the
red sox and watching mythbusters which
is what i'd be doing if i were home and
had the pricey cable package. either
mythbusters or meercat mansion.
holla!
Monday, October 1, 2007
salt lake smoots
first off, let me apologize for any sweeping generalizations
i may make in this post. with that said, salt lake city is scary
as hell. sure, salt lakians are super chatty and freindly. that's
not scary. no, this place is scary in that "church-of-latter-day
saints-drapes-hanging-over-the-cement-refinery-smokestacks"
sort of way. like anything dirty gets the drape. homeless men,
truckers with sass-mouth at flying-j reststops...they all get
the drape! seriously, drive down highway 15 south and every
factory and efinery has a JCLDS banner! scary!
also, boise is pretty damn scary as well.
day started off on a good note. got up at a decent hour
and were out the door and on the road by nine a.m.
a quick stop at the grocery store (next to a sawmill!)
to get some food and break some larger bills...then
it was off to boise, which by the way, isn't pronouced
like "noise". on the way, lots of beautiful mountains and
old towns with abandoned trains and houses. blue
skies with huge clouds in the distance. then aimee's
glasses proved to be too scratched (from a night of
seattle bar hopping with our good freidn heather) so
we go to some shitastic wal-mart to get new glasses.
turns out they can't fill the prescription (or whatever)
but there's a lenscrafters in boise which can. so we
hike it to lenscrafters where with their impecable
glasses making technology, they can make a set
of glasses in about five hours (literally). a couple
burritos later and an hour or four sitting in a parking
lot later, all is well. i'm not saying boise is a bad
place, but lets just say it ranks just below gresham
oregon as places i'd prefer to never visit again.
sorry boisians. (i made that term up.) keep in mind
i rooted for boise state university last year in the BCS
football bowl game, so don't hate the player, hate
the idiots who work in your town's lenscrafters. or
in simply, don't shoot me with your hunting rifles
which i'm pretty sure a lot of boisians carry judging
by the folks i stared at in the parking lot.
i pretty sure tomorrow we can make it close to
le grande canyon. it should be majestic, or
maybe just close enough to garner religious
experience levels.
on a more positive note, seattle was a classy
little city. it rained all three days which i was psyched
about as i love rain. lots of great shops and the
people there seemed like swell chaps and dames.
i highly recommend the underground tour as
previously mentioned. thanks to heather for
acting as tour guide and letting us make a mess
of her lovely apartment. a great time was had by
all. OH, i almost forgot, aimee bought me a beard
trimmer in boise, so i going to retract my
boise statement, or at least ammend it to
say, boise sucks, but you can buy a decent cheap
beard trimmer there no problem. g'night!
i miss my cats.
-carl
i may make in this post. with that said, salt lake city is scary
as hell. sure, salt lakians are super chatty and freindly. that's
not scary. no, this place is scary in that "church-of-latter-day
saints-drapes-hanging-over-the-cement-refinery-smokestacks"
sort of way. like anything dirty gets the drape. homeless men,
truckers with sass-mouth at flying-j reststops...they all get
the drape! seriously, drive down highway 15 south and every
factory and efinery has a JCLDS banner! scary!
also, boise is pretty damn scary as well.
day started off on a good note. got up at a decent hour
and were out the door and on the road by nine a.m.
a quick stop at the grocery store (next to a sawmill!)
to get some food and break some larger bills...then
it was off to boise, which by the way, isn't pronouced
like "noise". on the way, lots of beautiful mountains and
old towns with abandoned trains and houses. blue
skies with huge clouds in the distance. then aimee's
glasses proved to be too scratched (from a night of
seattle bar hopping with our good freidn heather) so
we go to some shitastic wal-mart to get new glasses.
turns out they can't fill the prescription (or whatever)
but there's a lenscrafters in boise which can. so we
hike it to lenscrafters where with their impecable
glasses making technology, they can make a set
of glasses in about five hours (literally). a couple
burritos later and an hour or four sitting in a parking
lot later, all is well. i'm not saying boise is a bad
place, but lets just say it ranks just below gresham
oregon as places i'd prefer to never visit again.
sorry boisians. (i made that term up.) keep in mind
i rooted for boise state university last year in the BCS
football bowl game, so don't hate the player, hate
the idiots who work in your town's lenscrafters. or
in simply, don't shoot me with your hunting rifles
which i'm pretty sure a lot of boisians carry judging
by the folks i stared at in the parking lot.
i pretty sure tomorrow we can make it close to
le grande canyon. it should be majestic, or
maybe just close enough to garner religious
experience levels.
on a more positive note, seattle was a classy
little city. it rained all three days which i was psyched
about as i love rain. lots of great shops and the
people there seemed like swell chaps and dames.
i highly recommend the underground tour as
previously mentioned. thanks to heather for
acting as tour guide and letting us make a mess
of her lovely apartment. a great time was had by
all. OH, i almost forgot, aimee bought me a beard
trimmer in boise, so i going to retract my
boise statement, or at least ammend it to
say, boise sucks, but you can buy a decent cheap
beard trimmer there no problem. g'night!
i miss my cats.
-carl
Oregon!
Watching Saved by the Bell in South Western Oregon.
I'd forgotten how kraptacular this show is!
Today: Boise, Salt Lake City, and the beginnings of the desert!
I'd forgotten how kraptacular this show is!
Today: Boise, Salt Lake City, and the beginnings of the desert!
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Still in Seattle - aka the home of the exploding Crapper.
Hello!
Still in Seattle, enjoying the hilarious tourist opportunities.
One of the best things we've done was to take the famous Seattle Underground tour.. Did you know that at one time, all the original buildings and store fronts in Seattle and the street levels in the Downtown Pioneer Square building were at least one story down (3 or more stories as you get further away from the shore)?
We learned that this city was built on mudflats, and when the tide would roll in it would create all sorts of problems. Roads would become impassible downtown, and a poorly thought out plumbing system would cause pressure to build up and explode toilets on the cliffs above. The solution to being stuck in the mud was to build the roads 8 feet higher than the storefronts... so you had to climb down ladders to do your shopping. And then they filled it all in, creating this dilapidated underground area (some of which is increasingly becoming gift shops).
We also did a bit of shopping at Sonic Boom and the Pretty Parlor.
The highlight of the day, for me at least, was trekking up to Snoqualmie Falls and North Bend to do some Twin Peaks style nerding out. Enjoying cherry pie and damn fine um..ice tea because i don't drink coffee...at Tweede's Cafe (aka the Double R Diner).
The night was capped by some bar hopping in the various Seattle bars that if anything have great themes and a stop at a friend's house to talk about such sundry topics as Denver the Last Dinosaur and hiding people in secret closets.
We head for the Southwest this afternoon!
Still in Seattle, enjoying the hilarious tourist opportunities.
One of the best things we've done was to take the famous Seattle Underground tour.. Did you know that at one time, all the original buildings and store fronts in Seattle and the street levels in the Downtown Pioneer Square building were at least one story down (3 or more stories as you get further away from the shore)?
We learned that this city was built on mudflats, and when the tide would roll in it would create all sorts of problems. Roads would become impassible downtown, and a poorly thought out plumbing system would cause pressure to build up and explode toilets on the cliffs above. The solution to being stuck in the mud was to build the roads 8 feet higher than the storefronts... so you had to climb down ladders to do your shopping. And then they filled it all in, creating this dilapidated underground area (some of which is increasingly becoming gift shops).
We also did a bit of shopping at Sonic Boom and the Pretty Parlor.
The highlight of the day, for me at least, was trekking up to Snoqualmie Falls and North Bend to do some Twin Peaks style nerding out. Enjoying cherry pie and damn fine um..ice tea because i don't drink coffee...at Tweede's Cafe (aka the Double R Diner).
The night was capped by some bar hopping in the various Seattle bars that if anything have great themes and a stop at a friend's house to talk about such sundry topics as Denver the Last Dinosaur and hiding people in secret closets.
We head for the Southwest this afternoon!
Friday, September 28, 2007
2 848 362.99 smoots - seattle
We're on the west coast!
Things heard from the street from Heather's apartment
"bring my name to you i'll bring your name to me"
"hey george clooney"
"no poop"
" i won't play games, i'm right here"
Tomorrow = Seattle Underground tour and assorted not being in the car for a day!
Things heard from the street from Heather's apartment
"bring my name to you i'll bring your name to me"
"hey george clooney"
"no poop"
" i won't play games, i'm right here"
Tomorrow = Seattle Underground tour and assorted not being in the car for a day!
smoots to seattle
grand tour of cities beginning with
the letter "s" continues! we're in seattle!
more later
the letter "s" continues! we're in seattle!
more later
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