Madison to Chicago

Trip Update: We spent a pleasant few days in the Madison area, and are now hanging out in Evanston, IL, a suburb of Chicago. We're heading into the city today.

12 days in review

So, we haven't posted in 12 days. So what? That means that this post will be extra juicy.

Two weeks in (photographic) review:

Scottsdale

I did not take any photographs in Scottsdale, because it was A) Hot, B) 117 degreec C) Aunt Paula documents these things way more thoroughly then I do. I'm confident that most readers of this blog received an email from her with photos from our visit. If not, drop me a line and I'll send it along. That said, we had and were shown a great time with Paula and Shel. One of our favorites was the new art museum which had some incredible exhibits. We also managed to meet up with two of my friends from school who P and Shel sort of adopted for the weekend, which was a huge treat to them.

The Grand Canyon. It's big. We took a hike in the late afternoon when we arrived. What's interesting about hiking there is that all hikes start out with a steep downhill, and end with a steep uphill, so it's easy to get fooled and think you haven't gone that far.






Zion National Park- Possibly the most beautiful place we've visited. The morning after we camped there, we were treated to rainbows across the canyon and waterfalls that only exist in the hour after it rains hard.

We also did a hike up to angels landing, which involves climbing over a thousand feet through some tight areas. Often, you are on a rock ridge looking down a sheer cliff on both sides.






Moab, UT - We camped at a strange hostel and then paid a quick morning visit to Arches NP.


Ridgeway, CO - We camped out at the famous Orvis Hot Springs, and had 48 hours of clothing-optional fun. No cameras allowed outside of the lobby. However, on our drive to Boulder, we saw some incredible rainbows. One of them was literally moving alongside of the car.


Boulder, CO- We couchsurfed for 3 nights through an amazing network of friends. Threw a party, drank Bosnian coffee, had numerous jam sessions, and contemplated tubing down Boulder creek. No photographs were taken by me, however some of our new friends should be sending some along.

Omaha, NE - Again, no pictures taken. Not too much to say about Omaha itself. It has a vibrant music scene, and Jesse and I saw a good concert at a very swanky local venue. We couchsurfed in a house called "Hotel Frank". This is a 100-year-old mansion with about 20-25 people living in it. I'll say this- the downstairs bathroom was possibly the dirtiest/foulest/most unsanitary place I've ever seen in the course of my life.

We drove from Omaha to Madison, WI this afternoon. Here we are, all caught up

Bruser Bonanza

Way overdue:

I'm just putting this out there -- we love the Bruser family. Though our visit to their home in San Diego was slightly shorter than planned, it really felt like we were stopping at home.

To all our dedicated readers who also happen to be Jewish mothers: We ate in SD. Yes, we ate and ate well, thanks to Cheryl and Tony:

1) home-smoked brisket, delicious beans with bacon and cilantro, home made cole slaw, sweet corn.
2) Payeyeya with a multitude of land and sea life, including clams, sausage, chicken, shrimp... etc...
3) Mexican style mac and cheese (tortilla chips and jalepenos baked in).

We did some cool stuff too with kyle and ally and their friends, as shown in the pictures below.


Adventures at the tidepools. Unfortunately, it was high tide when we showed up, but it was cool anyway.

Allie gets a sweet new (used) bike that I found for her on eBay.

Kyle left abruptly for a backpacking trip, so we journeyed on to Scottsdale...

Oh yeah, we did other stuff that hasn't been posted

P.S. On our way to LA from Santa Cruz, we went backpacking in Big Sur, Ca. 22 miles round trip to a campsite with natural hotsprings built into the rock cliffs above the river.

LA: Expensive, Expansive, Exhausting

Dear Readers,

Please accept my apologies for the lapse in posting once again. Jesse and I were in LA for nearly a week, staying with Jesse's friend EB at her parents place in Studio City. They were wonderful hosts. However, I have resolved that LA is a worthless excuse for a city and I never want to go back there ever again. For one, you have to drive everywhere, no matter where you are going. And you also must expect traffic- it doesn't matter when. There WILL be traffic. LA is expensive. Jesse and I have been able to find cheap and decent eats in other cities. In LA, everything on the menu is at least $10- Sandwiches, pancakes, burritos, all $10. Theres also that whole smog thing.

So anyhow, we still managed to have a great time while we were there. Here's a few selected photos.

Venice Beach is a very unique place to people-watch. There were a number of (talentless) street musicians, except for this guy. As you can see, he has one of those one-man-band rigs that he made himself. He did an incredible rendition of My Generation for us.

Jesse and Jeromy (EB's BF) ate some tasty crapes at the LA farmers market.

Jesse and Ethan 'Wollman' - Art Enthusiasts / Internet Celebrities

Remember that political art display I told you about (maybe)? Well, Jesse and I happened to be interviewed by the SF Chronicle and we have turned up on their culture blog. Watch the (2-min) video to the end to see our interviews.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=3&entry_id=18300

SanFrancisco

Jesse and I have spent the last week and a half in the wonderful Bay Area. We headed straight to Sonoma where Jesse's friends are staying for the summer. Jumping into a reservoir ensued, along with home-cooked meals at Calla's dad's house and good times in general. Kyle and Calla had to work during the day, so we headed to Berkeley where we stayed with our friend Lindsey.

Berkeley is an amazing area. We ate great food (purchased from the greatest grocery store in the world, the Berkeley Bowl), explored a cool student co-op, and played lots of music. We saw several museums in the area, botanical gardens, and other places of interest in the Bay Area. In the evenings, the group embarked on various culinary odysseys, utilizing fresh plums and apricots that grew in the front garden.

After a few fun-filled days in Berkely, Jesse and I spent the weekend in Sonoma with Kyle and Calla, when they were finally off from work. We accompanied them to Petco (our second visit on this journey) where Calla bought a tree-frog. Grubbs Maylou Lacidar now lives in a mason jar on their bed-side table. We also took a drive out to the coast, where we spent a few hours hanging out at Russian Gulch- which is where the Russian River meets the Pacific.

Finally, we headed to San Fransisco to stay with Helen, another friend from the Israel trip. Helen lives in the Hayes Valley neighborhood in an old San Francisco Victorian (Edwardian). Our first day in SF happened to be a free museum day...so we went to more museums! Helen cooked a feast of shrimp, couscous, and raspberry creme-brulee.

Today (July 4) was also packed with activity. Helen, Jesse and I took a walking tour of the Alamo Park area, focusing on Victorian styles of homes. We are now experts in identifying the architectural nuances which differentiate Victorian homes from the 1860's through the 1920's. Helen is taking an organic chemistry class that is ruining her summer, so she was unable to accompany us on our next adventures as she needed to study uncatalyzed ionic reactions where only the anti-Markovnikov product is observed. Jesse and I visited a local art exhibit called "Propaganda III World Tour". It was a display of political artwork (posters) expressing many different viewpoints on an array of national and international issues. It was really amazing stuff.

Jesse and I took the public transportation (MUNI) over to Haight and Ashbury, where the hippie movement started in 1967. It was gentrified and touristy, but there was lots of good food around that we didnt eat, as well as gaunt, aging hipsters to look at.

We headed back to the pad for another Helen-prepared feast, which included home-made yerba mate (green tea) ice-cream, and raspberry buttercream merengue. And beet salad. And sangria with lots of fresh fruit. And burgers. I'm so full.

Finally, we headed up to Bernal Hill to watch not one, but multiple fireworks displays across the city. We could see all the backyard fireworks as well. I've never been in a city for fireworks, and it was really cool to see them exploding over San Francisco from a distance. Now I'm here. Here is now, and there is nothing more to report, except that I must carry a futon mattress through the labyrinthian apartment to my final resting place in the living room.

I think we might start posting at the end of each day so that we can post more of what we did and not get behind like this.



The reservoir and Kyle flying into it.

Cool mural (this particular alley in the Mission has over 30 murals)

Cool garbage-art at a closed landfill in the SF bay.

Portland

Before I forget all about it:

Our hosts: the wonderful Brett and Kaisa, who we met on couchsurfing. They live with several roommates in a great house in the Mississippi neighborhood of Portland. The first thing we noticed were the plethora of musical instruments throughout the house - guitars, violins, banjos, piano, even an old-fashioned squeeze-box. The next thing of note - two gloriously sweet dogs. Finally, the house was chock-full of bikes and bike parts - they have a makeshift bike workshop and lots of knowledge to share, which particularly excited Ethan. This all in addition to their being fun and interesting themselves.

So we hung out there longer than planned, staying with B&K for 3 nights. We toured around the city, went to the incredible Powell's books (and splurged), ate Voodoo doughnuts... Went to bars, had jam sessions, rode the public transport without paying, ate mexican food... etc, etc.

On our second day we decided to drive out to the coast, which takes a little over an hour. Brett and Kaisa knew some incredible spots, and we camped out most of the day at Hug Point, which in addition to a beautiful beach, had cliffs and caves and tidepools and a small waterfall and other such fun things to explore. On the way home we stopped at the Tillamook cheese co. and got some free samples and a milkshake.... That night we had an epic Jam session with no less than two accordions, a saw, drums, and guitar.

Then we left Portland and drove down the magic Oregon coast... which is magical. And then camped and drove down the magic California coast (on the 1), which is also magical. And then we hiked through the redwoods, which are magical also. But i think thats probably the subject of a subsequent post.

Here's some pictures.

Seattle

We're catching up here. This was last week:

Seattle-

After an uneventful border crossing, a tank of gas and some drive-thru espresso, Jesse and I found ourselves in the city of Seattle. We headed straight into the downtown to Jon and Jess’s apartment. It’s a really nice place with a picturesque view of the space needle and downtown. Upon arriving, we soon departed for an afternoon trip to Pikes market, where we ate Gyros for lunch and the most delicious peaches I have ever tasted. There was an employee handing out samples of the fruit. As Jesse popped a slice into his mouth, he exclaimed “Oh my god!” We looked at the bin of peaches, and to our amazement, read that they were actually called Oh My God Peaches.

Faces and hands sticky from peach nectar, we met Jess back at the pad, and walked down to the waterfront park where we sat on the grass and played music.

The next day we headed out of the city for a slice of suburbia. Our arrival at Matt and Christine’s caused a torrent of yipping. Matt answered the door with one dog in his arms and two at his feet. Bubba the Shitsu, we were quick to learn, is frightened of feet. That means that when you walk around the house, the dog follows your legs and barks at them. The solution is a collar that automatically senses when Bubba barks and sprays citronella into his face. While wearing it, Bubba makes a low gurgling noise reminiscent of a constipated infant.

While in Snoqualmie, we took a great hike with Matt and saw some cool rock climbing spots. After the hike, we became particularly inspired to eat some good food. Matt took us to Sushiman, his favorite local sushi joint. It was the best Sushi we’ve ever tasted. (Thanks Matt)

The next day, we took a drive up to Mount Rainier, which was, in a word, huge. For our last night in the city, we all went back to Jon’s neighborhood and ate dinner at a local pub.

Wamu = Obnoxious

Listless readers-- we were distressed this morning at 4am by a text message from our father that said:

"Your blog now sucks. I'm deleting it from my favorites if it doesn't change in the next 12 hours"

Well, now its changed. We will be posting soon for real. Don't you worry.

A Carnivore's Tutorial, or, Exploding Cornucopias of Warm Scallop Joy, or, Holy Shit, Jesse is posting on the blog!

Yes, it is true. All of your longing speculation can finally cease, the question you have been asking yourself day in and day out: "Where's Lesseps?" Yes, you have asked yourself without fail each day, while each of your nights you have spent, in bed wistfully dreaming, yearning until the early morning hours for his words, his input, his insight. Time and again, you have visited this website, and, disappointed by the lack of Lesseps, have clicked "refresh" over and over again, hoping that his name will appear. But, yes, what you have been hoping for has finally occurred. Yes, it is true, the wait is over. I am posting on the blog.

And with reason. You see, family, friends, countrymen, patriots... we, ethan and jesse, strangers no more in the fair city Vancouver, have been wined and dined. Beyond all reason. Beyond western civilization's conception of truth, space and time. We, as one might say in the present day vernacular, just got hooked up. Big time.

But let me take a step back here and explain. As most of you probably know, my best friend Kyle lives in San Diego. What you probably didn't know is that his family is from Vancouver. And what I'm nearly positive that you didn't know is that his father is a part owner of an upscale Japanese steakhouse (who would have thought) here in the city. And what you certainly didn't know is that Kyle and his father arranged for me and ethan to be "taken care of" at the said restaurant this evening of June the 17th, 2007.

Moving forward, we arrive at Kobe Japanese Steakhouse in downtown Vancouver and take a seat in the bar/lounge where the host brings us drinks - bombay sapphire for ethan and grey goose for me (Wamu, you taught us well). Next, we go upstairs to the restaurant. It is a hibachi style place where the chefs cook in front of you at your table. We notice that everyone except for us has menus. The host reappears and assures us that he is taking care of everything. Yes, even our order. The meal starts with soup and rice. Then, the chef comes and begins to cook. First, he whips up some veggies - onions, zucchini, mushrooms. Next, shrimp - succulent and bursting with droplets of salty joy. After the shrimp, comes some scallops - suddenly, i find a rainbow of flavor blazing across the great plains of my pallet, depositing its pot of gold in my stomach, soft, juicy, golden brown crispy on the outside delicious love. What better to follow than some steak? Suddenly, the multitude of cows we have seen grazing on roadsides throughout our journey flood my mind. Only now they are filleted, sliced, diced, and served up medium rare in tender chunks of kobe delight. And for dessert, how about some teriyaki chicken. Oh wait, i forgot. After those scallops i mentioned earlier, we got a lobster tail. Yeah. And did I say that the chicken was dessert? I lied - it was green tea ice cream and "mudpie" cake.

That said, several drinks later (gratis) it was time to leave. And a glorious meal it was.

So concludes my first post on the blog. I hope you have enjoyed it, and that it whetted your pallet. After subsisting almost exclusively on pasta, beans and rice since departing, I must say i feel nourished to the point of gluttony.

Glory.

Glacier to Vancouver

Jesse and I have found ourselves hanging out in Vancouver, B.C. We are staying with Lisa, a friend of Rachel's who we met at the wedding. She lives in a beautiful apartment in an up-and-coming neighborhood (think Williamsburg). We walked around a little bit downtown today and are attending a big street festival tomorrow.

Before arriving in Vancouver, Jesse and I spent two nights camping in Glacier National Park, which was epic and beautiful. On day one we arrived in the mid-afternoon and relaxed at our campsite. On day two in Glacier, we took a long hike (12 mi. round trip) into the park's interior. The views were amazing, and we were constantly frightened by large animal footprints in the snow. We did not run into any bears, moose or the like, nor did we smell them (Paula). And I wore my rain pants, not my moose pelt (Dan).

The next morning we woke up early and got on the road to Vancouver. We've been pretty good at checking our routes before leaving, but for some reason we thought Vancouver was closer. However, it ended up being a 700 mile drive that took about 14 hours. We drove on Rt. 3 from through B.C. all the way, which was one of the most scenic drives I've ever taken.

We're enjoying the comments, so keep them coming.

And by popular demand, some pictures from Glacier.

Glacier Campsite

Big Hike

Lunch Break

Glacier Lilies (I couldn't get this to rotate..damn you Blogger)

Cobalt Lake (the fruit of our 12 mile hike)

Jackson Action

Since I've last posted, Jesse and I have traveled out of (boring/flat) South Dakota and across the beautiful state of Wyoming. After badlands, we camped in the Bighorn national forest, located in the north-eastern part of the state. We didn't spend much time there, because we woke up early the next morning to drive to Jackson, which is all the way on the west side of the state. The drive was hands-down the most beautiful we had encountered- curvy canyon roads and epic mountain passes seemed to come one after another.

We arrived in Jackson in the late afternoon when we met Sharon at her condo. We didnt stay their long as we embarked on a 5-mile hike around some lakes in Grand Teton National Park. We saw a moose on this hike, very close to the trail.




The next day, we embarked on a lenghty and strenuous hike to lake surprise. It was about 5 miles each way, climbing 4000 feet. Sharon is the fastest hiker we've ever seen.. One stop for water and she was gone..far ahead. The lake was gorgeous and still partially frozen.


We had to hike through a hefty amount of snow to get there. On the way down the mountain, we were hit by a 10-minute rain and hail storm which looked really cool from up high and graced us with a rainbow.

From Jackson, we took the day to drive through yellowstone, which was full of Bison and Elk. Then on to Bozeman, MT where we couchsurfed last night. Today, we are heading up to Glacier National park, where we will camp for two nights and do a few hikes that we scoped out on their website.

-Ethan

Selected photos from Badlands NP

Pictured Pictures

Greetings from Rapid City, SD. Today we ventured up highway 16 to view the famed Mount Rushmore. Deciding that it wasn't worth the $8 to park, we saw it from the car...which was quite enough. The surrounding areas are full of tourist traps and stupid souvenir shoppes. We have fallen for them..twice. But never again.

Leanne has just split off our trip- she is taking a bus from Rapid City to Denver to visit some family members before returning home to NJ for an internship. It was fun to have her along.

This morning, we did a 7-mile hike through Badlands National Park, which was almost like a world all its own. We have some great pictures but have not had the opportunity to transfer them to the computer quite yet. After crossing most of Minnesota and South Dakota in one drive (600 miles), it was refreshing to see land that wasn't flat and covered with grass.

And finally, as promised- pictures from pictured rocks. I do love the alliteration UT.

s
This is Chapel Rock

This is the beach below where we camped

And the sunset over the water

Pictured Rocks

Greetings from Minneapolis. I'm doing this post in reverse order...you'll understand as I go. I had some pictures picked out for this post but the connection here is weak and I wont be able to upload them.

Today: We are driving all the way to Badlands National Park in South Dakota. Just under 600 miles from here.

Yesterday (when I wrote this): I am currently parked on a very comfortable futon in the apartment of Adam and Robin, our couchsurfing hosts last night. They live in the college-town area of the U of M in a really nice old house. We went out around the city with their friend who we met last night, and they showed us the sights, including some nice parks, museams, sculpture gardens, etc. We treated everyone to home-made shrimp tacos and guacamole.

The Day Before Yesterday: We spent many many hours driving from Michigan to Minnesota... got to our host's house, and went out for a drink and saw some music.

The day before that: We went backpacking in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, which was beautiful. We hit the trail a little late (around 5pm), and hiked 3 miles with our gear and food. We set up camp at Chapel Beach, which featured a beautiful rock pillar in the water that had eroded away from the rest of the cliff. The beach below our campsite was clean and empty. It almost felt like we were in the Bahamas. We hiked back out the following morning and hit the road for Minneapolis.

Sault Ste. Marie

Greetings from Sault Ste. Marie. We spent an extremely wet and rainy night camping in Algonquin Provincial park, and last night we stayed with our first couchsurf host. All went well...we were not murdered in our sleep- just treated to strawberry pancakes. Tonight we will camp in or near Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Michigan. Then we'll head out to Minneapolis. More to come, with pictures next time... I promise.

Evil Waterbottles

Well, I thought that all the money that could have possibly spent on gear has been spent. However, over the last few days Ellen has been indoctrinating us with information about plastic. In short, some types of plastics leach into your food and beverage, and have been proven to cause birth defects, low sperm count, cancer, etc.

So it turns out that our trusted and loved Nalgene bottles are made from polycarbonate plastic that leaches Bisphenol.

"BPA is found in polycarbonate plastic food containers often marked on the bottom with the recycling label #7. Not all #7 labeled products are polycarbonate but this is a reasonable guideline for a category of plastics to avoid. Rigid and transparent plastic containers for food and drink, such as widely used clear or colored drink bottles and toddler sip cups contain BPA."

More on BPA via. EWG

So in short, we are going to invest in stainless steel water bottles.

And while I'm on this rant- Ithaca college offers health insurance for its alumni...just not in the state of NY, NJ, or VT. Puzzling, right?

~E T H A N~

It's Official

The date is set- We will be departing Morrisville, VT bright and early on Sunday, June 3, headed for Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario. We'll be stopping for lunch in Montreal or Ottowa along the way and hope to make it to our campground in time for a late afternoon hike.

After spending the night at Algonquin, we drive all the way across Ontario to Sault Ste Marie, which borders with Michigan. We are staying with a random stranger who we met on www.couchsurfing.com, an international community of travelers.

Day 3 brings us to Minneapolis, MN where we will spend 1-2 nights.

More to come as this unfolds. Leave your comments and suggestions below- you don't even need to sign up!

Planning

Hello family and friends. This is the first post on our travel blog. For those of you who don't know, Jesse and I are planning a cross-country roadtrip (see tentative route map below). We are heading west on the northern route. Check back here for updates about where we are. If we keep this thing up to date, it will have cool pictures from the road that you can enjoy from the comfort of your living-rooms. So sit back and relax- we'll do the driving and you can live vicariously through our sparse blog postings.