The Phallic Road Trip

Got a little bit of a slow start yesterday morning, booking a hotel for San Francisco and stopping at Wal-Mart to pick up another air mattress for Chris’s arrival.

We got to our seats at AT&T Park in the bottom of the 1st, having missed the first two of five runs Barry Zito gave up in his two-inning start. The Giants scored a run in the bottom of the 2nd, but never made it interesting, losing to the Tigers 7-2.

Justin is suffering from some sunburn today on his face from a perfectly clear, sunny day at the park. We had good seats in the 300 section on the third baseline, but also took some time to walk around the concourses, since the game wasn’t very exciting.

We made our way to the concourse behind center field in the 4th to try the Crazy Crabz sandwiches that the New York Times raved about, but just missed out. The two women who were behind us in line and asked us what to try found a shorter line to the side and got the last two sandwiches — bitches.

We settled for the kielbasa, which was good, but nothing spectacular.

Chris had made his way to the park from the airport while we were at the game and bounced around a couple of nearby bars until we got out and met him. Afterwards, we headed towards Union Square to check into our hotel.

Justin’s friend, Kyle, moved to the city a couple of weeks ago, so we made our way to an Irish pub near his area. We underestimated how rough the mile uphill walk would be, winding through Chinatown, but we got there. We hung out and had rounds of Anchor Steam while watching the end of the Cubs game. Chris was a little more adventurous and tried the Bloody Mary, which was a “fuckin’ 10.”

Chris’s dad had recommended an old speakeasy called Tosca, which was nearby, so we made our way there next for another round. Chris ran across the street for some dumplings — since we were still right next to Chinatown — where we met him for a late dinner.

Kyle left us since he had work early the next morning, but we walked towards the Financial District, where my old roommate Brad was at a bar with his fellow Wells Fargo recruits, whom he is training with in the city for the next two weeks. That bar closed early, so we went around the corner and found another one in the Embarcadero Center.

We got back a little after midnight to find Chris sprawled out with a pillow on the floor — he had made his way back earlier after the Chinese food because he was exhausted and jet-lagged. The best part was that he remembered to pick up batteries for the second air mattress, but was just too lazy to put them in. When we got back, we could only find two of the batteries, but found the other two this morning in a bag on the other side of the room.

About to go out and grab lunch. No real plans; Kyle gets off work at 3 and Brad gets off around 6. Probably going to save places like Fisherman’s Wharf and Coit Tower for tomorrow.

Don’t want to walk anymore hills today, we’re finding a trolley.

Though we technically got into California on Monday night, it didn’t feel like we got here until yesterday.

We left Crescent City yesterday morning and headed to Stout Grove in the northernmost part of the Redwood State & National Parks, where we did a short hiking loop around some massive redwoods. We made another stop further south to see the “Big Tree” — a gigantic redwood that is 22 feet in diameter.

Because we had crossed over to the coast to see the park, our fastest route was down the 101 — as opposed to I-5 — through the remaining state parks and national park, past several small towns and a few beaches. We finished winding through the vineyards in Sonoma County, stopping off here in Santa Rosa, about 50 miles outside of San Francisco.

We laughed when we saw the signs for the California Information/Welcome Center in Santa Rosa, about 300 miles south of the border. We drove through some beautiful country coming down through the forests; I’m glad we did that instead of just drive down I-5. But it’s definitely more “country” up there.

And we didn’t see In-N-Out (which we had for dinner last night) until nearing our hotel — therefore, we are only now in California.

After checking out, we’ll make our final hour trek into the city, in time to see a baseball game at 12:45. We went yesterday, from wearing jeans and jackets, to today, with t-shirts and shorts — a perfect, sunny California day, with a high of 72.

Five ballparks to see in California in the next two weeks. Today is the first.

(Pictures update: June 17th – Seattle & Redwood Nat’l Park)

Yesterday was another quiet “in-between” day, not too much to report.

We left Portland yesterday morning and drove about 325 miles to Crescent City, California, a small town near the northern border of the state, next to the redwood forests.

This morning, we’re going to do one of the short hour-long trails in the nearby state park, before beginning the trek down to San Francisco. We have about 350 miles to go, of which we’ll probably do about 300 today. That would leave us with a short drive on Wednesday morning to get into the city, in time for the 12:45 game between the Giants and the Tigers at AT&T Park — one of the parks we’re all really looking forward to seeing for the first time.

Took care of some laundry last night, so when we get somewhere tonight, we can relax and watch the basketball game. If we get through the forest by around noon, we should be able to make it to a hotel somewhere near Santa Rosa by about 6.

We were kind of amazed yesterday driving in to see the first California exit numbered 791 as we entered the state. Over the next two weeks, we’ll cover all approximately 800 miles of the state — from the top here today, all the way to San Diego.

But the three of us are really looking forward to a slower pace, given the almost 4,500 miles we’ve covered in the last two and a half weeks so far.

Taking our time this morning, watching some of the US Open playoff before checking out and making our way down through Oregon.

Was a little skeptical yesterday when Andrea insisted on using Priceline to book our hotel here in downtown Portland, because we’d never used it before; but she found us a room at a really nice four-star hotel for $75, far less than we’ve paid anywhere else on this trip.

We couldn’t figure out how we got such a great deal until we got up into our room at around 6 last night. We were amazed with how big it was — a big entrance, really large bathroom and a lot of space in between the beds — until it clicked that we had been given a handicap room.

Nothing too surprising, the hotel probably had saved it in case it needed it and allowed it to be sold on Priceline the day of; but what really made it funny — and kind of uncomfortable — was when we discovered the leopard-print robes, tops and shorts hanging in the closet for sale to those guests who want to “release their wild side.”

Tempting, but we didn’t let the spirit of Pride Week here in Portland loosen our inhibitions. Headed over to a local sports bar to catch the basketball game, missing the start, but catching the end of the first quarter and the rest of the Lakers win.

We have a little more driving today than we did yesterday: about 300 miles to the border of California where we’ll look for a hotel near the Redwood National Park.

Might stick to jeans today, but going with the flip-flops. Should be in shorts soon.

With another eventful day behind us, we’re packing up and heading south this afternoon to Portland. Shouldn’t be too bad of a drive — about 175 miles. First though, we’re going to take Andrea out to brunch to thank her for a great stay here in Seattle.

After our bar-hopping adventure Friday night, we slept in yesterday, waking up to go to lunch at the famous Pike Place Market, along the water in downtown Seattle. Grabbed amazing blackened salmon sandwiches at a place called the Market Grill, before walking around the area. Didn’t see any fish fly, but did get some great shots near the water.

We drove around downtown a little bit, stopping off at a large sculpture garden by the Seattle Art Museum, on our way to the Space Needle, for a bus/boat tour called “Ride the Ducks.” Andrea and her friends had never done it before, so it was a first for everyone.

The “ducks” are these amphibious vehicles from WWII that can run on the roads and drive through the water. The 90-minute ride first wound through downtown, which we had already seen a lot of, but ended up over the Aurora Bridge, in through Fremont and into Lake Union — with great views of the surrounding area and of the skyline.

For all the bad weather we’ve had so far, it has been around 60 and sunny since we arrived — the perfect day for such a tour and a baseball game.

We got to Safeco Field about twenty minutes before the 7 o’clock start. Our seats were on the first baseline, high enough to give us a perfect view of the downtown skyline, sandwiched between the Space Needle and Qwest Field.

The Nationals scored one each in the 1st and 4th, before solo shots by Vidro and Beltre in the bottom of the 4th tied the game. But a two-run Flores home run in the 7th, and a Belliard RBI double in the the 9th, iced it for the Nationals, who won 5-2. Rauch, whom John spoke to the night before at Cowgirls, struck out the side in the bottom of the 9th for the save.

The loss broke our streak of home team wins, but was good to go to nonetheless. The park definitely ranks in my top 5 for now.

We got back to Andrea’s a little before 11, where she was with a few friends, drinking the Absolut Mango we had brought from the border. We were all going to go out around her neighborhood in Capitol Hill, but ended up just having some drinks and hanging out here all night, practicing our hula hooping and playing the surprisingly difficult Donkey Konga on GameCube.

We have about 800 miles to cover over the next three days, but it should be split up pretty evenly. Wednesday is our next game in San Francisco, where Chris will be flying in from New York to meet us and drive down the coast with us.

Hilarity will ensue.

Hanging out at Andrea’s right now, getting ready to go out and see some of Seattle.

We got in yesterday at around 5:30, just as Andrea was getting off of work. We picked up two of her friends – James and Sheena – and headed into Belltown, where there are a lot of bars and restaurants, for dinner and drinks.

We ran just about the same gamut of places as we did in Calgary, going out to a lot of awesome places and having a great time; Andrea and her friends have been great hosts. Another friend of mine, Andrew, met us for a couple of drinks before heading back to the suburbs.

Can’t remember the names of all the places we went, but do remember our last stop: Cowgirls. We didn’t make it to Cowboys in Calgary, so it was fitting that we went here. James, Andrea and I each rode the mechanical bull — a painful first for me. We all did rounds of PBR and even saw some of the Washington Nationals players — including Jon Rauch, their closer, whom John briefly spoke with.

Afterwards, we headed to a place called Beth’s Cafe, famous for its 12-egg omelette. Justin went for the kill, and managed to eat around three-quarters of it, throwing in the towel just short of completion. The rest of us had much more modest plates.

Got back here at around 4 in the morning and got some sleep for today. We’ll probably meet some of Andrea’s friends near the Pike Place Market and take it from there. Our game is at 7, and there is apparently a good restaurant to go to beforehand, so we’ll check that out.

Not sure what time we’ll head out tomorrow, but we have plenty of time to make it down to San Francisco. Originally, we were going to see a game here in Seattle tomorrow, but chose today to give us more time. The only places we’ve designated as stops so far are Portland and the National Redwood Forest in northern California.

Still a little full from late-night breakfast, but time to go grab lunch.

Packing up, getting ready to grab lunch somewhere here in Vancouver before leaving for Seattle.

We finished our drive through British Columbia yesterday afternoon, getting into our hotel near Robson Square in the north side of the city at around 4. After dropping our stuff off, we headed downstairs, into a pretty large Irish pub called Doolin’s to watch the Celtics 24-point comeback against the Lakers.

Today, we’re going to walk around a little, but we don’t want to leave here much later than 2, to beat the outbound traffic. Not sure how long it’ll take to get to Seattle, but hopefully the border isn’t too crowded.

It’s too bad we don’t have a little longer in Vancouver to really see the city, but the forecast does look nice for Seattle, so hopefully we’ll get to see a lot. Rain or shine, we’ll see baseball tomorrow night, since the ballpark in Seattle has a retractable roof — though we’d definitely like to see the game with an open roof.

Have a couple of friends in Seattle that have offered to show us around, including Andrea who has graciously offered us her couches to crash on.

Been a pretty good week in Canada, but it’s time to head back into the US to get back into the baseball swing. Have three games to look forward to in the next week, including two in the California Bay Area.

Hopefully the bad weather is behind us for good!

We’re sitting about four hours outside of Vancouver, in a town called Kamloops, where we stayed last night. Though the offer to stay in Calgary for a third night was very tempting, we hit the road yesterday afternoon to cover about two-thirds of the trek to Vancouver, leaving us with a little over 200 miles left for today.

The plan is to get into Vancouver before rush hour this afternoon, and settle into a hotel before the basketball game starts tonight, at six o’clock Pacific time. We’ll look for a sports bar to hang out at, taking it easy tonight so that we can walk around Vancouver a little on Friday before leaving for Seattle Friday afternoon.

We left Calgary at around noon yesterday afternoon, following Will and Andrea to Banff and then to Lake Louise. Unfortunately, it was again rainy and foggy when we got to Banff, though we still walked around the village and grabbed lunch. It did clear up a little bit by the time we got to Lake Louise; Will and Andrea hiked around the lake before heading back to the city, while the three of us started heading west.

Literally, as we crossed into British Columbia, the weather became beautiful. Justin joked that the people of the province we’re a little pretentious for putting “Beautiful British Columbia” on their license tags, but took it back after we continued driving through the one major road that cuts across Canada, across some really scenic countryside.

When we get into Seattle tomorrow night, we’ll have to ask Andrea how Wednesday night at Cowboys was; she’s heading back on a flight today. Had we had a flight, we could’ve stayed, but this drive between Calgary and Vancouver would’ve been painful had we saved it all for today.

Not the best night of sleep on an air mattress with no pillow, but I made due. Laying in Will’s basement right now; can’t tell if if it’s raining, but the forecast calls for a 90% chance of rain all day.

It’s about 9:45 and everyone else is still sleeping. The goal for today is to head over to Banff, outside of Calgary, to see the park and do a little hiking, rain or shine.

Haven’t been carrying my camera around, just been enjoying seeing Calgary through the eyes of a local. After picking up Andrea and her friend from the airport with Will yesterday morning, the six of us met at a Vietnamese restaurant for lunch.

Later in the afternoon, we went to a bar called Melrose’s, a popular sports bar near the Saddledome, where the Flames play hockey. We were planning on grabbing a few drinks there before heading over to another bigger sports hangout called Flames Central to see the basketball game, but it was reserved for a corporate function.

We headed back in the direction of Melrose’s, on 17th Avenue, where there are a lot of similar bars. We bounced around with Will and his friend Ragim, ending up back at Will’s place at around 2:30.

The consensus around here is that Wednesday nights are great nights to go out, but we’ll have to see how we’re feeling. Definitely would love to stay, but we do have another 700 miles to get to Seattle by the end of the week, with a stop in Vancouver along the way, time permitting.

For the first time since Minnesota, we’ve been able to sleep in without being concerned with a check-out time. We’re currently at my friend Will’s place in Calgary, crashing in his basement temporarily before heading towards Vancouver.

We arrived yesterday afternoon at around 5, earlier than we had planned. We were hoping to spend more of our day in Glacier yesterday, and got an early start to the day to do so. But as we were driving west to east through the one main road that cuts through the park, we found out that it was closed in the middle for road construction. We ended up going around the south end of the park, which was about 100 miles, on slow, winding roads.

We got to the entrance with the trail we were hoping to do, but by then, thunderstorms were nearing and we found out that half the trail was still covered in snow. Turns out we’re just a little too early in the season to catch some of these parks, especially Glacier. Still glad we saw it, but to really experience it, we’d have to visit sometime between July and September.

We left the park at around 12:30 and crossed the border into Alberta, stopping briefly for lunch before making our way to Calgary. Justin ambitiously petitioned that we solely listen to music by Canadian artists during our time in Canada — i.e. Avril Lavigne, Nickelback, Bryan Adams, Sum 41, Celine Dion. That lasted about 30-40 minutes before we all cried uncle.

Will was off work by the time we arrived at his place. We went out for a few drinks at a place called Earl’s, followed by some sheesha at the place he works, Narah. We finished the night at another bar, before coming back here to catch up on some sleep.

Heading out with Will in a few minutes to pick up our friend, Andrea, who is coming to Calgary from Seattle for a few nights with a friend who is here on business. The plan for now is to spend the day hanging out around here, go out tonight, then see Banff tomorrow.

Sounds like Wednesday night is a good night to go out here in Calgary, but from Banff, we will probably start making our way to Vancouver, since that’ll take about 12 hours.