Thu 6/28/12 First days in Portland

I made it to Portland.  The bus ride was quite tolerable compared to the first.  It was only 13 hours, compared to 36 hours.   Plus, I learned a trick: make friends someone before you get on the bus, so you have conversation started before you get on. This way, you will not get stuck sitting next to someone you do not was to get stuck with.  There are some smelly, gross people you don't want to get stuck next to.  People can smell all they want. If fact, I usually smell, but not as bad as some people.

I arrived in Portland and about 10:30 in the morning.  Janie and Brad were both working.  I had to walk about a mile through downtown Portland to meet Janie to get their house keys.  Once I got them, I sat in a park and played guitar.  It is a cool feeling; playing music and seeing people turn there head or start tapping their feet.  I didn't open my guitar, because I didn't want charity, I just wanted to sing.  I caught my bus, I was home about 1:00.

That night, Brad and I hung out, drank some beers and passed out.  The next morning, I literally slept until 5:00 in the afternoon.  I have so much trouble sleeping on buses.

After I got up and took a shower, we hit the road for Multnomah Falls.  They are located approximately 25 miles out of Portland.  Although the falls were located near the main highway, it was still very beautiful. Multnomah Falls are tallest falls in the US.  It was about a mile and a half walk up a  windy path.  The path was washed out near the top, so Brad and I walk the river to the look, being careful not to be seen.  It is a pretty harsh fine, if you go of the trail.  It few was beautiful.  The trees across the Columbia river marks the Washington state line.  The trip took us about 2 and have hours.  


When we got home, Janie went to bed.  Brad and I cooked some steaks on the grill and went to bed around 1am.  Now, I am just kickin it at their pad.  Gonna do some cleaning and Rosetta Stone.  Should be a good time.  

Tonight, we are going to chill around here and rehearse music.  We are going to go to downtown Portland and play on the street for beer money.  Niiiiiice.






Joe

Sun 6/24/12 - Last night in Forestville

Tonight is my last night in Forestville, CA.  I haven't checked in recently because until today, we haven't done much.

Pete and I have been playing tennis every day.  I haven't play consistently in like 3 years.  It is great fun.  I improved each day I played (I usually beat Pete).  HOWEVER, we were playing yesterday, when I saw this dude walk in and start warming up.  I could tell he had skills, but I wasn't intimidated.

Pete and I continued to play, until I tired him out.  He was done.  He tightened his gluteus or maximus, I don't know which.  I was feeling quite accomplished.

By this time, the warm up dude was practicing serves a few courts over.  He was serving pretty well, but again, I had a completely unearned confidence brewing up in me.  I walked over and ask him if I could return his serves for some extra practice.  He was cool with it.  His name was Noah. He was crazy good.  He shot is so incredibly hard.  Sometimes, I had to try with all of my might just not to get hit with hit.  I almost got it in the groin like 5 times.

After some time, he says, "Now I am going to work on second serves." I couldn't touch those either. They had so much crazy spin on them.  It was ridiculous how good he was.  I found out later that Noah is playing in the US 18's tennis tournament, and that he is going to play division 1 tennis.  I can't remember the name of the school.  Anyways, it was a humbling experience.


Today, we all piled in to their Ford F150, and headed out to the Coast.  It was beautiful.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.  I will say though, the ocean was crazy cold; on par with Lake Superior.
brrrrrrrrrrrrrr........

 Also, here is a recording I did of the song I wrote, "My Night." It isn't totally done yet, but I still thought you might like to hear the progress.  Click the play button to play.

Off to Portland tomorrow at 3:00 pm.



An update that I just realized: it is really hard to write this without using some appropriately place cuss words.  Fuh.

Joe

Mon 6/18/12 - Santa Rosa, CA - Disc Golfing

Today, Jesse and I went disc golfing on the rolling hills near Santa Rosa.  The course is in vineyard country, so all the rows you see behind are all vineyards.  The vineyards were the only green around, besides the leaves on the trees.  Everything else natural is dead grass.  There were all kinds of lizards and snakes in the long grass.  I tried, unsuccessfully, to catch a lizard.  Although I consider myself to have reflexes comparable to those of a puma or mountain lion or rabbit or dingo, the 4 inch lizard out hustled me.

As far as my game went, I played like nuclear microwaved dog doo at the beginning; but I managed to pull out some pars in birdies towards the end of the game.  It was not my best outing; it wasn't my worst.  Jesse improved drastically.  It is always a good time when someone figures out disc golf enough to actually want to play again.  I am keeping my fingers crossed.

When I got home from discing, I ate some super mac and cheese, followed by a nice cesar salad.
I did a lesson on Rosetta stone and that brings me here.  I am not sure what we are going to do tonight...


Hope all is well where ever you are,

Joe

Sun 6/17/12- Forestville, CA

Yo all,

The last two days have been busy.  Yesterday, we spent all day painting a room at the fella's house.  We painted it white.  After we painted, we went to the local Safeway and bought us some fixin's for shredded chicken tacos.  I made pico de gallo, salse verde and guacamole as well.  It was quite delicious.

We also took a dip in the Russian River, both yesterday and today.  Yesterday we took a quick dip; nothin too fancy.  But today, today we brought down some beers and my guitar.  I jammed music with dude from Brazil.  It was fun. Some girl paid us twenty dollars to play her girlfriend a song.  It was her girlfriends birthday, and she had a bad day.  It was great fun.  People were getting into it.  I am going to play at an open mic night on Tuesday in a town nearby. Weeoo.


Tomorrow, we are going to either play tennis, go to the coast, or buy inner-tubes and float down the Russian River.

Night,
Joe

Fri 6/15/12 - First Day in Cali

A photo of the Colorado Rockies taken from the bus.

Barley and Hops- A german themed pub in Occidental, CA.
I had a French Dip- it was ok, it was a bit dry.

I finally made it to Cali yesterday around 5:00p. It was was a grueling two day trip, but weehoo.

Last night, I made a tasty meal for the fellas.  We relaxed and watched, Tim and Eriks Awesome Show Great Job.  It is a random show about two guys who have a show.  I think it is on Adult Swim.  (If you like Robot Chicken, you will enjoy the show, otherwise you will find it quite annoying)

I had a nice, relaxing morning today.  I woke up, rocked out some Rosetta Stone, wrote a new song (sorta), ate some brunch and figured out my finances for the trip. It was well needed.

Then Matt, Pete, and I traveled to Armstrong Woods Nationals Reserve today.  It is a small, redwood forest reserve.  Never in my day, have I seen such large trees.  They are massive, and this park isn't filled with the BIG redwoods.  It is hard to describe in words how big they really are, and pictures really don't do them justice.

Anyhoo, after the redwoods, we went to a pub called Barley and Hops.  The food was fine, but the atmosphere was lively and full of energy.  The restaurant is inside a renovated house. People were spread out on the porch and front stoop drinking beer and wine.  The restaurant was packed.  There were lots of beautiful women about, which is always a good thing.  I had good company and a great time.  Oh, the bruschetta was tasty- it had zucchinis in it, which was a nice twist for the pallet.

The Armstrong Woods National Reserve, CA.

Now, I am chillin back at the house; soaking in the night air.  It gets pretty chilly here at night, I think it is in the low 60's or so.  I am diggin it. Reminds my of Minnesota, only not as humid. I am going to bed in about an hour. I think we are
going to play a game a yuker before bed.

Night!
Joe

Tue 6/12/12 - Omaha, NE

Yo,

I am currently sitting in downtown Omaha, NE, at a restaurant called Jazz.  It is a little cajan joint located 4 blocks from the bus station.  It is about 9:00 pm; I don't start loading on the bus until 10:15 pm.  Budweiser beer is delicious at the moment!!

I met an interesting gut on the bus today.  He was a 40 year old heavy metal head.  He doesn't like the new stuff.  He is more into the godfathers; Pantera, Slayer, Metallica... He told me about his drug ridden life.  I don't want to go into too much detail, but it really gave me a new perspective about people who are trying to get clean.  It's a good one.

Oof, my food just came.  I ordered Chicken A La Mer; a parmesan cream sauce with shrimp and krab meat.  It looks delicious.  I am gonna bounce and eat up!

ps: it is delicious as delicious can be

Later,
Joe

Sun June 10, 2012 - My Journey Begins

Hey whoever reads this.  I have never done a blog before.  I am blogging it up, because many people have asked for updates from me on my trip.

Right now, I am getting amped up to go.  I just bought a whole bunch of hiking/camping gear.  I have been trying on my new granite gear pack and looking in the mirror too much already.  I am feeling like a kid who is getting ready for summer camp; I am crazy excited to go, yet nervous to be so far away from home.

I am traveling to Northern California, Oregon, and Costa Rica.
I will be gone from Tuesday, June 12 - Wednesday, August 15.

I am leaving on Tuesday.  I am taking a bus to Santa Rosa, California.  I will be spending a week and a half with my good friends from high school.  We are planning on going camping in the red woods, spending a couple of days in San Francisco, and doing plenty of nothing.

I have 3 MAIN goals for the summer: 1. to experience things I have never experienced before, 2. to practice and become as proficient as possible in Spanish, 3. to write lots of music.

I will check in later.
Joe