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4,784 Miles Later

Well, we dropped the car off at Logan and the final mileage total that we put on was 4,784. The odometer started off at a cool 911 and ended up at 5,695. The rental car guy got quite a kick out of it, and I overheard him and his buddies talking about it as we walked away to get on the shuttle. It was probably the biggest mileage total they've seen in a while. ;-)

Sorry I didn't write more while in New England. We camped out pretty much every night and the one night we didn't, we were at my mom's house with no Internet (well, dial-up...) so it was kind of hard. I will try to get photos all uploaded tonight for anyone that is interested though. I probably have about 400 or so that haven't even been transferred off the camera. Which means I will probably end up uploading only about 20 or so good ones out of that 400. Thank goodness for digital SLRs...

Fenway Park

NYC Again

Day 2 in NYC was good. We got some breakfast spaghetti pizza (I'll have to find that pic and upload it) and walked to the Empire State Building with every intention of going in and up to the top. About 20 minutes in we realized the line extended another 1.5 hours and we bailed at that point. Instead we walked up to Rockefeller where we went into 30 Rock and went up to the 86th floor or something like that to their observation deck. Same price but it only took about 10 minutes to go up. This turned out to be good as we got a good view of Central Park and a view of the Empire State Building also.

After some more walking around, we decided to try to take the Subway down towards Battery Park to catch the ferry to Ellis Island. We showed up around 4:15 and the last ferry was leaving in 15 minutes. The guy told us we could get on and we could go buy tickets across the way. So we walked over there and met with the biggest asshole of a park ranger in history. We said how do we get in to buy tickets. "CLOSED FOR THE DAY" was his response. I said, uh, that guy down there said there is still time to get on and we can buy tickets here. His response - "well I'M running this joint and I say CLOSED FOR THE DAY." I say sir, we are out here from California and we are only in town for one day... To this he just stares off into space and tries not to make eye contact. We walked around the building to the other side where the girl was letting people in but just in time to learn they were now sold out. We walked back and Jon asked to get a picture with the asshole himself, to which he said "SURE!" and smiled for the camera like nothing ever happened. You can see that picture in the NYC gallery link to the right. Instead we ended up taking a water taxi out that got close to the Statue of Liberty so we could snap some pics (although only about 2 out of 30 or so came out due to boat movement causing blurriness and over-exposure from the sun behind it). We got off on another stop by Brooklyn and took the subway back up from there.

We counted on about an hour to get out of the city with traffic, but it really took us about 10 minutes tops. We got into Boston ahead of schedule tonight and had time to stop by Jon's brother's place to talk for 20 mins or so before going to his other brother's place to spend the night. That brings us to right now. So now I think I'm going to go to bed for tonight, as it is 1:30am and I'm tired from the walking around all day and then the drive. Will post more tomorrow after the Red Sox game and the rest of Boston.

Times Square

Jon and I took the subway around last night while Harsh sat on his ass in the hotel room. He's gonna regret that later. Well, maybe not. We stopped at Times Square and walked around a bit. We got a couple pics on Jon's phone but at this point I didn't bring my Nikon and my cell phone was completely dead so we didn't get a lot of shots. I will try to upload those later. I finally got some Chicago pics up (there are a couple KC/St. Louis photos mixed in there) and I am uploading the Philadelphia pics right now.

Apparently we just noticed that the Empire State Building is like right outside our window here, so that's cool. I'll get a shot of that before we leave. It's about 11:30 now and we have to check out at noon so gotta get going. Sorry I couldn't write more, I was busy trying to hack the hotel wireless this morning so we'd have better Internet (didn't want to pay $10 for a couple hours), which as you can see was successful. ;-)

Patsy's Pizzeria

This is a pic of the pie at Patsy's Pizzeria. I had heard it had gone downhill since they started franchising. It was still good, but no where near the legend-wait for it-..."ary" status they once had. Would like to try one of the old school coal fired places like Grimaldi's or Lombardi's today if we get a chance but I don't think we're going to be passing by either of those.

NYC

We are in NYC now. We drove down near eBay's shopping.com building, parked and walked around for a while. We went to the WTC site and saw the NYSE and AMEX buildings on Wall Street. We are now sitting in the hotel room trying to relax for a couple minutes before heading out to dinner. The hotel room is great. We got a hotel on Broadway in an OK area... but the room is awesome. It has 2 beds and a pull out sofa-bed and a little sitting area. Best to date and one of the cheaper ones comparatively.

I can't write a whole lot as we forgot the battery charger for the computer in the car (which is in a 24 hour valet lot with no in/out privileges), and I need some juice later to upload the photos. I haven't had a real good chance to upload any since before Kansas City / St. Louis. Sorry about that.

Yankee Fan Mass Exodus

This is the mass exodus of Yankee fans in the 7th inning. A's were giving them a whoopin'.

Yankee Stadium

Yankee stadium sucks... Well, it's ok. The people there suck. I had to walk back 10 blocks to the car and then back again because they wouldn't let in my backpack. Then I got in an argument with the "security" lady outside the entrance because I tried to go inside while she was ignoring me and chatting with her friend. When I called her out on it, she claimed she was checking them through security. But then she checked me and the person was still there. Hmmm...

Washington Square

Philadelphia, PA. Just to the left of this was a really high homeless guy doing kung fu moves on people who may or may not have existed in this dimension.

Headache

After yesterday's pizza disappointment, I'm excited for Il Pizzaiolo in Pittsburgh today. We whould be passing through around dinner time, so hopefully we will be able to get a table on a Friday night without much wait.

Well it's 8:30am local time and I'm really tired and have a headache so I'm going to try to get ready to head out and maybe that will wake me up.

Buddy Guy's Legends

We went to a place called Buddy Guy's Legends last night. A pretty fun blues bar with live music. We thought we got a deal on the hotel for the 2nd night on priceline, as it put us right near millenium park and the loop for the same price as a hotel outside the city. But every time we asked someone where something was (like a bar or whatever), the answers was always the same -- "geez...in THIS area? your only option is blah." So apparently there is nothing around here. We had to walk about 6 or 7 blocks to get to Legends, but that was ok. Afterwards we went back to another restaurant/pub that was down the block from the hotel, stayed there for a little while and then called it a night.

Pizano's

Pizano's was a big waste of time. I am pretty pissed because this was the most highly recommended deep dish place in Chicago. The waiter was an ass and forgot stuff, the crust was burned and dry, the tomatoes sucked and the whole thing was salty. I made better deep dish the very first time I ever tried making it. Waaaay better. Not even close. 1 out of 10. :-(

Sears Tower

The view from the top of Sears tower. I'll upload more pics in the gallery later tonight or tomorrow.

Kansas City Homebrew

So we finally rolled into Kansas City around 11pm tonight after over 8 hours of driving (with 2 pit stops and one pull-over). We are staying with Harsh's girlfriend's (Jenn) parents tonight and I must admit I was a little nervous to just stay with someone's parents like that. However, they have been very welcoming and seem like great people. John was quick to take us down in the basement to show us his latest batch of home-brewed beer that we wanted to check out and we talked for a while about the process and recipes and all that. I will tell you, he whips up some daaamn fine dark beer. Probably some of the best I have had, no joke. He gave us some glasses of 2 different kinds he makes, one called the 1554 and the other a chocolate porter. I think his recipe must include a shot of grain alcohol in each bottle though, as those went to my head pretty quick, haha. Joline also saved us a couple brats from dinner, which was nice to get after pretty much just eating peanuts and beef jerky all day.

Tomorrow we are planning on heading out to get some KC BBQ with them during lunch. I already told them I am a giant wuss when it comes to spice so hopefully I can get something on the mild/sweet side. After that it is back on the road to St. Louis, where we only have time to visit for a couple hours before heading on to Chicago (to get in around midnight). Jon is meeting up with us there to ride out the remainder of the trip to New England. Should be good. I am looking forward to trying some authentic deep dish pizza in Chi-town.

My sister Jessica also had a birthday today, so I will wish her another Happy Birthday here. Hopefully she had fun and didn't have to work too late today.

Alright, that's it for now. I'm pretty tired so I am going to get to bed and not going to upload any photos tonight. Tomorrow I will put some up and I'm going to start re-arranging them on ofoto into separate albums as its already getting crowded. If your name is Amy, I love and miss you. If your name is Max, Mordecai, or Mathilda, I still think you are little monsters but I miss you as well. For everyone else, I will just say good night.

The Colorado Avengers! (An interpretive comic strip)

Just look at that fine acting ability. Who else do you know capable of displaying such range of emotion on film? Disbelief, sarcasm, surprised happiness! -- All for your reading pleasure. Where else can you find this kind of entertainment? No where! Enjoy. Enjoy with all your might.

The Damage

Hard to see, but that is the speeding ticket. $68.80 for 87 in a 75 mph zone. Not bad. I've had tickets twice that expensive for changing lanes on a bridge.

Aw, shnap!

The picture pretty much says it all. Yes, those are blue lights flashing in the rear-view. Yes, I got a ticket. But no, the cop was not a dick at all. Pretty nice guy actually.

Denver, the Egg & I

We just checked out a model home here in Denver. I've heard the local real estate market is taking off and wanted to see what you could get out here for your money. Looks like it comes in about double to triple... as in, twice the house or more for the same amount of money as California (and in a good neighborhood).

After that we stopped close to downtown Arvada for breakfast at a place called the Egg & I. That is where I am writing from right now. They have free wireless internet. :-) Not sure how good the food is but that makes it good in my book already. After this we are going to check out the Denver U.S. Mint in downtown. I've heard it's a great tour. And after that, it's on to Kansas City, which is an 8+ hour drive. Not looking forward to it.

Last night was pretty cool. I like the downtown here. We stopped at a bar called the Appaloosa for a couple local beers (but not Coors) and on a Monday night it was actually quite full. They even had live music playing (a funk band called 8-trac). They were pretty good actually. Harsh bought their CD.

Alright, food is here. I'll update more later.

Oh Mile High City, Why are you so cop friendly?

I finally got a good night sleep last night. Got a shower and into bed around midnight in Rapid City. Woke up this morning at like 8:30 or so and got some continental breakfast. I think Harsh and I are each going to gain about 5+ pounds on this ordeal. Sitting in a car all day and stopping to eat [fast] food every 5 hours or so isn't really conducive to anything but. Anyway...

Mt. Rushmore was kind of cool. A lot smaller in person. Apparently they originally intended to do a full scale, down-to-the-waist monument for George and the boys, but due to some faults in the granite below they could only do the faces. After that we (reluctantly) had to go back into Wyoming to go south (and a little west) to Denver. I hate Wyoming by now. There is nothing there... We even got a picture of a "Now Entering" sign on the highway where the town had a population of 1. haha (I will upload this later)

Denver looks pretty interesting so far, unfortunately we won't be able to spend a whole lot of time here. We need to leave around 1pm tomorrow in order to get in at a reasonable time to Kansas City where Harsh's girlfriend's parents are being nice enough to put us up for the night. We don't want to stumble in around 1am after an 8 hour drive to sleep and run so we figured we should take off a little earlier to get there at a good time.

Back to Denver - it was pretty hot here (95) but it was a hot day everywhere today. The first thing we see when we get there is a cop pulling onto the highway...and then within 500 yards, pulling over someone. A mile down the road a motorcycle cop is just finishing writing up a ticket to someone. The final straw is a massive 5 lane (in each direction) highway where the speed limit is a whopping 55. I also saw a cop driving down a pedestrian only street to check on bar-goers on the 16th street mall. No biggie I guess but it seems really cop-friendly here, which means I would definitely be paying extra taxes via tickets if I lived here, haha.

Well, I need to get to bed for now. I've uploaded some more pictures (from Yellowstone) on the ofoto gallery so check those out if you get a chance (link to the right). Below is one of them (this was taken right from the car - bear about 10 feet away)...


Update: This morning saw another guy pulled over and 2 more cop cars... :-) That means that of the 4 or so waking hours we've spent in Denver, we've seen 400% more cops here than the entire rest of the trip combined... :-)

Rapid City Blues

Yikes, we figured we could just roll into anywhere around Rapid City, SD and/or Rushmore tonight and grab a cheap hotel. I guess I should've figured that wouldn't work. Apparently there are some soccer and softball tournaments going on in the area and all the hotels are booked. We ended up somewhat lucking out and getting a room with 2 queens at the Comfort Inn (their last vacant room that just got canceled 15 minutes earlier - Thanks to Amy for finding that for us), for the low low price of $129.99 + tax (ha, oh well).

We camped out last night at Yellowstone, going to bed promptly at 1:30 (or so) after a heated game of 29. I then proceed to wake up 2 to 3 times in the middle of the night, followed by a final "f-it, I'm up" at 5am. I would like to point out that this in no way had anything to do with Harsh snoring away 3 feet from me. Just wanted to make sure that was clear. ;-) Normally that wouldn't bother me but I think the whole environment and the cold coupled with that was what did it. Finally got rolling after breakfast around 8:30. We were able to get in a lot more of the attractions than I thought we would. Saw Old Faithful, paint pots, random geysers, the falls, Yellowstone Lake, and plenty of wildlife. I will upload some pictures later, as I forgot to bring the camera in from the car. I think the highlight was probably the black bear that walked right by the car about 5 feet away from us. That was pretty cool.

Driving through Wyoming sucked... It was about 6 hours from Yellowstone to where we are now -- about 20 miles from Mt. Rushmore. I am excited about moving on to see Denver tomorrow though after seeing Rushmore. We are going to check out a house model or two there as well.

That's it for now... ready to crash.

Wyoming...

I-90 East in Wyoming

This state sucks... The only thing keeping sanity is listening to the satellite radio comedy station. They have even been playing Bob Marley clips. Shaw's. Wicked.

So sing us a song, you're the piano man...

Day 2 in SLC. Woke up about an hour ago at 8am local time. Damn crack of sunshine poking through the blinds right in my face. Anyway, it gave me time to process some of the photos from yesterday and upload to the album. The link is to the right, but if you're that lazy, I'll do it inline as well: Here.

We went out last night to check out a place called Tavernacle about 6 blocks from here. It was recommended by hotel staff and was one of our limited choices of bars in Salt Lake (also had good reviews on Yelp). It was pretty damn fun though. It was a piano bar and last night they had dueling pianos all night (well, until they closed at 1am... hah). It was a "members only" private club also... but they solved that by charging you $5 for a 3-week "temporary membership" instead of just charging a cover. Maybe there's some local law about bars and cover charges or something, who knows.

Local beer tastes funny... I think it's spiked with mormon juice.

Well, off to Temple Square today, and then I think we are going to leave earlier than planned to get in some extra time in Yellowstone. Laaater.

Salt Lake City - Settebello

Just got to Salt Lake City. Went to dinner at Settebello, a neapolitan style pizza place here (and also in The Vegas). Pretty good. Went to the Great Salt Lake after and got some good pictures. Also went down to the water's edge... that was a mistake. The place reeked and the ground literally moved with all the bugs. Every time you started walking they would swarm all over the place.

Pic of the pizza @ Settebello

It's about 10:30 now but going to go out and try to find this piano bar that the receptionist here recommended. Tomorrow we'll go see Temple Square and some more of the other touristy stuff before heading on to Yellowstone.

Turtle Soup

There are quite a few turtles at eBay North Park...

Anyway, that was just to test that Shozu was working on my new phone.
Everything is looking good to go for the trip... 11 days to go.