I hate when I get drunk and start speaking with an accent thats not mine

So after a highly intoxicating first night in Montreal we woke up some what early for what we did the night before. All the asians in our room left :( so were all alone at the moment. Funny side note the city shut off the water at our place, and I found that out a little too late, good thing the asians left. We gear up and venture over to St. Denis Rue where we spent a little bit last night. We walk around checking out all the shops, which all seem to have this hippie/eastern vibe going on. We eat at this indian restaurant for lunch, it was ok but Dale's is better. After realizing my sanuk's are completely soaked, like my socks are wet, we head back to the hostel. After re-grouping we head over to St. Rue. What do you know there are sex shops every where, this should be fun. After getting our fill of dildos, flesh lights, sabian machines, celebrity genitals, and more porn than a 13 boy watches in a day we move on. One amazing thing about Montreal is there are so many places to eat, each street has about 10 really amazing places to eat of varying styles and flavors. On our way back we stumbled into a head shop and met Sebastian. Sebastian is one cool dude and he kind of looks like jesus. He gives us the low down on the cannabis scene in Quebec and answers all our burning questions about burning. Pretty much in Montreal unless you blow smoke in a officers face they could care less what you smoke, we can attest to this seeing we've walked down the street and seen people just blazing as they go about their business. Sebastian tells us that the cold stresses out people out so they are lax about smoking. Turns out that Sebastian will be in Jamaica the same time we will be for spring break so hopefully we can get up with him. Upon our friendly exchange with Sebastian we get some beer and kick it at the hostel for a while. Following some beers we go out to get some mexican food (of course!). We had seen this place on St. Denis called "3 Amigos" that was always crowded so we figure we'd give it a shot. Canadians do mexican food pretty well, the food was good and fairly affordable. We land back at our hostel and start drinking with all the people we met last night, of what I can remember. We have a group of about 15 of us kicking it in the lobby, before we all decide lets start new years a little early and go to this bar and rage. We had to explain to them what "rage" or "to rage" meant, it was pretty funny to hear their reactions and by the end of the night they were using it too. We all head over to a bar called "Yer Mad" and continue to 'rage'. One of our new friends Tim is an Australian (there seems to be a lot of them around) who has not been home in 8 months. He loads us up on all his crazy travels which have literally been all over the world. He does some writing for lonely planet and tells us he should be in Austin, TX but he flipped a coin and it landed on him being here, pretty interesting philosophy if you ask me, i hope to be like him one day. After several, several, several pitchers of beer later most of them thanks to our philly friend Lawrence. I am on my way out when I make my way over to a table where one of our Australian friends is sitting talking to two montreal girls. Well I was going over to say good night but some how that led me to taking tequila shots with these girls. And for some reason they only had lemons to bit so thats what we did, salt+lemons=not the best combination. These girls live about 40 minutes and tell me they get drunk and then wait around till one of them sobers up to drive home. They also tell me that most the french spoken in montreal is a fucked up combination of french and english and most the time they don't understand it. Several rough tequila shots later they offer to walk me back to i don't get attacked by the out of control crack head population in montreal, such nice girls. We bid adieu and i crash hard. Tomorrow is the big show! Get ready montreal loose tingles is coming at you!

What does the inside of a polar bear's ass feel like?

After our way too long of a stay in York, PA, $800 and a new alternator later, we left around 5. Oh did I mention that when they put in a new battery that Audi's have this great security feature that locks it the radio rendering it useless, yeah. So we started driving, in silence, on our way to Kelly's place in Mechanicville, NY because there was no way we were going to make it to Vermont, so we'll hit that on the way back. 5 hours later of driving through blizzard like conditions we make it to Mechanicville. A small town but never the less it gets us off the road and with good people. We spend the rest of the night enjoying the fine taste of LTD and trading stories. We wake up remotely early, enjoy a fine breakfast, and head north naturally. 3 hours laster we find ourselves eating balloons full of heroin over the boarder. We finally arrive in montreal, and let me tell you this is the coldest place I have ever been in my life, and I know what your thinking "duh its december in Canada" and to you I say shut the fuck up i know. It's really not the temperature that's the problem it's the wind that will whip up and shatter your frozen testicles. So we enjoy some Thai food (naturally) and start wondering around the city. Lesson 1 we learned was always go out with a plan of attack it's too cold just to go out wondering. Our hostel is nice, good location, and clean. Despite us manifesting the hottest porno scene ever once we enter our room it's filled with a bunch of asians. Come night, we start wondering around, noticing that we were wondering around the gay district and that for obvious reasons our chances of meeting girls is very slim here we wonder in a different direction. We make our way in to a dimly lit mellow hookah bar and have a couple of drinks. We then venture over to a bar called St. Bock which has an enormous beer selection. We get a pitcher of a brew they make in house. It's a pilsner with a light color and a sweet finish. Afterwards we occupy some beer and head back to our hostel. We meet interesting people from Norway, Australia, the Czech Republic, and of course France. We all share stories of our travels and why were hear, cultural differences and what not. They are all fascinating people, after copious amounts of alcohol we head to bed to prepare for round dos.

Montreal? Don't mind if I do

Were back! In the next installment of the Loose Tingles saga we find two thirds of the group heading to our neighbor to the north, more specifically Montreal, but not before stopping in my homeland of Vermont, also we winging the ride back. For 4 nights we will be let loose in the only providence in Canada thats stubborn and wants to speak French, but first our adventure at the Redskins game. After a hair splitting dash to the DC Metro we enjoyed a 30 minute ride with the most interesting characters the city has to offer. Upon our arrival to FedEx, with no tickets, Nate tells me of his uncle's tailgate spot that is the Mecca of all tailgating spots, being one that has to see in order to believe I doubt. The only tailgating I have ever done is at ECU games which I think is more like a circus. After arriving at FedEx field I still have to agree that ECU still takes the cake when it comes to tailgating. After tracking down Nate's uncles spot like trained hurters stalking a cheetah, we hit it the mother load of all tail gating spots. There must have been 100 people at this spot. Once we arrive we notice the friendly man handing out beer in the back of his truck. Not any beer mind you but such favorites as Sam Adams Winter Lager, Peroni, Becks, Dos Equis, Dog Fish Head, and many more lovely selections. After we grab two beers, one for each hand of course, we make our way over to the monstrous grills surrounding a buffet, and of course not any buffet mind you. We gorge ourselves on crab soup, italian sausages, wrapped sandwiches, needless to say were in tailgate heaven. Several beers later and tons of trips through the snow over the guard rail to relieve ourselves we get a call from Nate's mom, who just happened to stumble upon box seat tickets for us (can this night get any better?). Being the saint Ms. Bounds is she agrees to meet us at the metro stop we got off at. So after filling our pockets with Coronas for the road we head back. Some drunk sprints and pissing behind peoples houses later we make our way back to the station. Once we got their I noticed a problem I had beer, but no way of opening it. So I asked one of the kind metro employees if he had a bottle opener, he told me he did (and what a kind gentlemen he opened it for me too) but told me I couldnt drink it in there, this doesn't stop me. We grab the tickets and head back to the field. We get in and take our private elevator up to our suite right on the ten yard line. We are greeted with more free food, which we indulge in, and a witness the Redskins at their finest. We leave early (like everybody else) and catch the metro back to prepare for our travels to Vermont the next day. Next day we wake up at 7am and hit the road. An hour and a half in Nate's Audi completely shuts off and leaves us on the side of the road some where in Pennsylvania. After dealing with AAA's bullshit an hour and a half later a town truck shows up. The guy takes us into York, PA. After waiting for next to an eternity for the shop to look at our car, we found out we need a new alternator and battery, not to mention it won't be ready for 5 hours. So here we are now sitting in a horse race betting facility waiting, the people here are pretty seedy (I guess you have to be if your betting on horses at 2pm in the afternoon on a monday). So it can only go up from here! Next stop: we don't know yet.

Wale's "Attention Deficit" and Julian Casablancas "Phrazes for the Young"

WALE "ATTENTION DEFICIT"

7.5/10

After hearing Wale's mixtape "Back to the Feature" I was really excited to hear what this D.C. rapper had to offer on a major release. The album starts out strong with the horn heavy "Triumph" which really captures Wale's unique voice and flow. The thing I really like about this album is a can really hear it coming across great live with a full band. As much as I like rappers that rap about things other than drugs, cash, and hoes some of the tracks on Wale's debut album come across as weak. The bulimia inspired "90210" seems like we should feel sorry for a girl that has it all but still suffers, I don't buy it. It sounds like any other ring-tone rap out there and is probably my least favorite track on the album. Wale needs to keep appealing to the alternative rap crowd like he does with "TV in the Radio" which features K'Naan. Thats really where he shines, I really hope he doesn't fall prey to the over produced synth heavy tracks that are already on the radio. All in all you should for sure pick up this album, minus a couple of radio/pop friendly tracks Wale really shines and I can't wait to hear more from him.

JULIAN CASABLANCAS "PHRAZES FOR THE YOUNG"

6/10

The Strokes have always been one of my favorite bands, minus the fact they suck live, but they still write good songs. After hearing other Stroke's members side projects such as Little Joy, which I recommend checking out, I was interested to hear what front man Julian Casablancas could bring to the table. This 8 track synth heavy album sounds like a futuristic 80's version of The Strokes. Casablancas still keeps his talk-sing style like he does with the Strokes through out the album. For only being 8 tracks long you would figure they would all be solid, not so much. My favorite tracks off the album would be: "11th Dimension", "Out of the Blue", and "Tourist". Other than that you can really over look the other tracks which sound like b-sides from an 80's disco. Not saying they are all bad they just lack re-listening ability and sound almost half assed. Maybe Casablacas felt like he needed to keep up with the other Strokes members that were doing their own thing but he should have waited till he had something really solid together. I hope The Strokes put out another album before Casablancas does.

Welcome to this groove

Well since the last time i kept this blog a got a positive response from people about the adventure and about my writing. Don't worry this blog isn't going to be about what I had for breakfast and my favorite colors. Everything I post hope you will find relevant and entertaining. I will also be posting videos I'm working on, any music that gets created, ideas for future productions, anything I find relevant. I hope you all enjoy it and keep up with it. As for now I have just finished up a production called "Great Moments in Hazing History". Its part of the improv group I work with on campus. The idea sprung from a conversation we were having about fucked up things we heard frats/sororities making their pledges do. So our idea was to do an exlax mile challenge and thats all I can say for now. I hope to have it edited by the end of the week and i promise you it will not disappoint. I'm also taking suggestions for future great hazing moments so if you have any really good ones feel free to send them my way. Thanks for reading!

Tour Completed

Well folks we have come to the end of our little journey, thanks to the power of stimulants we made it back from the Grand Canyon to Greenville in 2 days. Sorry I didnt do blogs for LA and Vegas, there are plenty of stories just ask. Unfortunately we ran out of time and didn't make it to Austin but we'll be there soon. Summary of those places goes as follows LA: shitty traffic, huge, and expensive. Las Vegas: hot, big, and to have a lot of fun you have to be loaded. Thanks to everyone who made this trip possible, we all had a great time and our biggest thanks goes out to those that made it happen. This trip has restored more of my faith in humanity, this country is filled with a lot of great people that are eager to welcome you with open arms. We had the time of our lives and recommend everyone doing a trip like this at some point, as long as your open and positive it will happen with great success. So thanks again to everyone that read this blog and followed our trip, so until the next trip god bless america .

-mac

Bay Area

This is my favorite area of California, the weather is usually quite mild, its sunny, and there is a lot to do is a relatively small area. The one cool thing I have began to notice about the weather in California is first they is way more fog in this state than i have ever seen in my life and it affect the climate fairly drastically. Second, you can go over a hill in California and the temp. will drop 10-15 degrees, its crazy. We rolled into my Aunt Beth's house in the late afternoon got settled and then went to this organic burrito place which was amazing. We had some drinks but the night was pretty slow and we had to wake up early for surfing. I have always wanted to try surfing since I skateboard and snowboard, but I never really got around to it. We woke up at 8am to drive to an area right around Santa Cruz to meet up with our teachers. Our teachers, Taylor and Dave, were real cool guys and awesome surfers. After putting on our wet suites we carries our boards a short distance to the water. Now the air temp was probably around 70-75 and water was around 50 or so. We were all pretty nervous about getting in the freezing water but after about 10 min or so you get use to it and it doesn't bother you at all, we just kept thinking hot tub. Once we were all hot in heated in the ocean it came the moment of truth catching the first wave. Nate was first, success. I was next, continuing success(batting a thousand now). Finally CJ, sorry CJ no success (no worries he got up the second time). We probably surfed for a good 2 hours, I had no idea how much upper body strength it took and how much of a bitch it was paddling out but it all payed off once you caught a wave. After surfing we went to San Francisco, we hit up China Town, and went down to Fisherman's Wharf. One cool thing about SanFran is it's pretty mild during the day but it gets chilly in the evening so you get a good mix of all conditions. The following day we caught the train from San Jose to SanFran. When the train let out we decided to hit up the Haight Ashbury district, which was a good 2 mile walk from where the train was, and on top of all the hills in the city it was a good little hike. Haight Ashbury is a really fascinating area, if you don't know it was the epicenter of the counter culture movement in the 60's, this place is still a cool area a little touristy and filled to the brim with head shops but alright. After strolling down some streets we went to Golden Gate Park to an area in the park called 'Hippie Hill'. This place was quite the scene, there was a drum circle, people selling pipes, people smoking pipes, and people selling things to put in your pipes. Its a great place to people watch, we saw a guy playing 'asphalt gold' and then proceeded to do a song and dance with the same golf club. After the park we went back to San Jose and took it easy since we were waking up the next day to go to Monterey. Next day we headed out to Monterey which is a cool little beach town about an hour away. We stayed at my aunt's friends house which was amazing, it had beautiful hard wood floors, a hot tub, surround sound, and a good view of the ocean. We picked a good weekend to head up to Monterey since there was an Italian car show going on. So on every block there were Porsches, Ferraris, Lambos, Bentlys, and every other exotic car you can think of. We attempted to go on a sun set sail but the idiot working at the dock left us, soooo we went to a bar and drank. While at this pub we meet some interesting characters. The first was this highly inebriated bar tender from another bar talking shit about how all the exotic car owners don't tip and are pieces of shit. There is a bigger guy sitting next to her so we are kind of scared to talk to her with out bro staring us down so we stop talking to her. Then 2 girls come up to CJ and Nate with notes that have their number on it and "call me for a good time" written on it. We then began to have a discussion on whether or not they are prostitutes. Nate, my aunt, and I are convinced they are because who writes "call me for a good time" on a piece of paper. Well then Nate and CJ are determined to find out whether or not they are prostitutes or not so they go to the patio the find the call girls. Well that leaves my aunt and I with this surfer from Australia that was sitting next to us. His name is Hayden and he owns a surf company called Fiber Flex Surf Boards, he is a real cool dude. We shoot the shit about 'summer heights high', surfing, and other cultural differences, so check out his site www.fiberflexsurfboards.com. After several bathroom trips from Nate and CJ we come to find out that the girls that passed them the notes are not prostitutes they are just idiots that give out there numbers to any cute guys they see, way to go Nate and CJ your cute. So while I was inside, Nate finds a hat, asks a guy if he is a millionaire which he responds "I work very hard for my money" which Nate responds with "I work for the SEC so don't be stealing from us", then he gets his business card. Then once I come out to collect the playboys to leave I notice that Nate looks like he has been attacked by a badger and CJ is spitting game at one of the call girls. There is more to the story but you are going to have to ask CJ about that, its very good though if I say so myself. The next day we woke up early to head to Los Angeles, so until next time god bless america.

-mac



^^where the Grateful Dead lived

NorCal

After the long drive from Portland we finally made it into the great state of California, but not before stopping at a 'jack in the box' in Crescent City, CA (ps this place is a shit hole so dont ever go). The reason I bring up this 'jack in the box' experience is for 2 reasons 'jack in the box' sucks and while we were there, there was some guy who may have had some mental problems or was on something, but the guy kept on walking laps around the restaurant and no one there seemed to notice. We kept on watching him thinking what the fuck is going on while in awe of the fact that no one in the restaurant seemed to notice or even look over at the guy, like he is a regular and does this all the time.So ya that creeped us out but moving on, it's kind of funny when your driving towards the redwood forrest slowing start see the trees get bigger and bigger. These things are unbelievably enormous, its like being in Jurassic Park or something. They tower over you blocking out a good amount of sun, and the branches on them don't even start till about 50ft up. You can't conceptualize how large they really are until you actually see them before we went to our Humboldt family house we decided to check out a thing called 'strawberry rock'. We heard a lot of the locals telling us to check it out so we decided why not. The only thing was that we didnt really know what to expect, was it a strawberry shaped rock? rocks made of strawberries? or something they send visitors on to get them lost. Well strawberry rock is kind of a off the map sort of place so we get some vague directions from some locals and head out. After a fairly steep 30min hike then through a rock quarry we make it up there. Its pretty much a high rock with a great view of the redwoods and the ocean. After playing pioneers we went to meet up with our hosts for the evening. Bridget and Jeremy were super nice and welcomed us with open arms, which is pretty much how everyone has been treating us the whole time. We set around and had a bbq and met Bridget's two other sister who were cool as well. The following day we went and checked out Arcada which is where Humboldt state is and was the inspiration for Springfield on the Simpsons (the creator went to school at HSU). Arcada has a cozy small town feel and is very laid back. It's funny to think that one of a towns main source of economy is cannabis, but with out it this town wouldn't be the same. From people I've talked to the whole west coast (especially the northern part) would not be as alive and vibrant with out it. Most people are actually against legalization because it would take so many jobs away from people and industrialize the industry and potentially corrupt it from the homegrown scene it is now. Until next time god bless america

-mac

PPPortland

Portland, the city of ports, well not really but its a really cool city anyway. One of the coolest spots was where we stayed which is in the art district around Alberta street. It's filled with coffee shops, unique restaurants, and an odd collection of stores. Everything around Portland is local and organic, there's a huge push for everything to be different and unique, for example there was a vegetarian BBQ place right around the corner (how is that possible?). The city really prides itself on it's individuality, sure there is Starbucks and all your typical chains but they are far out numbered by all the local eateries, and you would have to be insane to go to one of those places over the other awesome array of food options (which are mostly mexican or thai, so what else do you need?). Our first full day in Portland we slept in pretty late after an exhausting weekend and woke up around 12. We then proceeded to have Thai for lunch at one of the restaurants on Alberta, it was all very delicious. After lunch we met up with our friend Leaf and had a quick impromptu jam session at his place. Afterward we went to a local watering hole which was about 30 minutes away. This place was a small hike away from the road, but once you got down the small trail it opened up to a river bed with a small lagoon that was perfect for swimming or floating around. The bed of the river was covered in flat smooth rocks which made it really easy to loose your balance and bust your ass, which happened a couple of times. Following swimming we all went to a BBQ place for dinner, it was pretty good but its hard to compare when you come from the BBQ capital of the world. Once dinner was over we had a pretty slow night comparatively, CJ and myself just decided to skateboard around the neighborhood for a little bit. Day 2 we ventured over to another popular street right outside the city called Hawthorne st, it also had its fair share of headshops, recorded stores, and oddity shops. For any one that thinks vinyl is dead just come out west, its a booming industry. Following our visit to Hawthorne st it began to rain, as it does so commonly in the pacific north west. So we decide to do what any respectable citizen does when it rains and that is drink. We attempted to make it out to happy hour at the Portland City Grill which which sits high on the 30th floor of a building and has a great view of the city. Well we were a little too late and the place was packed with no where to sit, so we went back to alberta to find a spot. For those who don't know what 'happy hour' is it is a time of day, usually 4-7, where bars have amazing drink specials, it is awesome and my best friend, North Carolina needs to catch up. We find a nice spot call Hilt and we post up there for awhile and play some pool. After some pool we decide to head over to Nate's cousin's for a minute. While there we meet Bridget and Jeremy who have 3 really cool kids, they are old friends of Nate's cousin. We find out that they were at the Phish show too and were only a few tents down from us. We bond over seeing the same tweaker girl try to beat up her boyfriend at the show. We talked about our trip and where we are headed, and turns out they live in Humboldt county, and since our other friend Chad (way to go Chad) bailed on us they offer us a place to stay, so we say of course. Once they leave we head over to Leaf's house. We have another impromptu jam session, then we sit around for story time. Leaf has to be one of the most interesting people I have met, he has been through a lot and has all the stories to back it up. The guy has hitch hiked his way up and down the west coast several times and is about to go to europe with no real plan except a plane ticket back. Leaf has enough stories to fill a book and make it a best seller, he also makes tucker max look like a pussy. He has a very unparalleled view on life and a strong belief in the power of manifestation. He explains to us why he believes the power of manifesting things is so strong with various stories involving focusing your mind on things you desire to happen. I truly believe that Leaf is on to something and I wish him the best on his journeys. Portland is an amazing city, there is a huge art scene and the city just encourages you to be yourself and do something different. You constantly see people dressed in different and odd ways which is cool to behold because you should dress how you feel because you should be you for you. It is also very pet friendly, you see people just walking into stores with their dogs and several places will place bowls of water outside for dogs, not to mention there is an organic pet store and every corner. Thats another cool thing is the push Portland has for everyone to go green, be organic, and buy local, which is a philosophy I think every city should try and follow. Furthermore, all the people we met there were super nice and open to us, not to mention most of them weren't Portland natives. Most of the people we met were transplants from the east coast. There are also a lot of younger parents on the west coast (i.e. late 20s) and they all appear to be happy. It's also endearing to see their children dressed like they are in their own unique outfits and mohawks or shaggy hair. We all had an awesome time in Portland, its such a mix of people and ideas, and if it wasn't for the other 9 months where its rain and grey I would be sold. The next day we woke up early to head out to the red woods + humboldt county= california., until next time, god bless america

-mac

Steal Your Face

After a brief stay in Spokane we setted out for The Gorge in George, WA to spend the weekend with Phish. The whole reason for us going to this show was because Nate's cousin who we are staying with in Portland was going, so we wouldn't have a place to stay and none of us had been to a Phish show so it seemed like a good time. On the way to the show we stopped off at a grocery store to pick up some supplies (aka beer & cold hot dogs) then continued on our way. One minor note about the Safeway we stopped at on the way to the show, it had a needle disposal. Now I don't think Washington has a big problem with diabetes patients dropping their needles in the bathroom, so I don't know leave it up to your imagination. When I asked the girl that checked us out why it was there she said she didn't even know it was there and that there wasn't one in the girls bathroom, weird eh? Now I knew that The Gorge was a scenic venue, but on the drive out there we would have though that we had taken a wrong turn because there is nothing out there just barren desert like areas. Once we got there we were ready but at the same time not ready for what we were about to get ourselves into. Now I have been to plenty of concerts in all sorts of venues, but nothing like this, Phish shows are something of a different breed of concert. We wait in line to get into the camp ground and you can already smell the heavy odor of cannabis filling the air. When we finally got in it was a first come first serve, just find a spot, type of camping. The camp grounds appeared to have once been a crop field of some sort because they still had the large sprinklers set up. We find a spot right next to these two guys from Canada, Hank (The Tank) and Zetty, they were cool as hell and down to have a good time. Side note on Canadians, every Canadian I have met has been cool as hell, they are always nice, friendly, and very open, way to go Canada your people represent you well. After we get settled we pop a few beers and head out to meet up with Nate's cousin. Now I don't know if this happens at all Phish shows but there is a "street" where people sell "things". It's called "shake down" and people are selling food, shirts, drinks, and everything else under the sun, and their not venders selling things they are random people, mostly people following Phish around. We make our way down to meet up with Nate's cousin Cristy, dressed in a penguin suite, selling pina coladas, she's cool as hell. We meet all her friends and go to where they have camp set up. We chill, have some mini jam sessions and get ready for the show. After properly getting ready for the show we head towards the venue, which is about a mile walk. CJ and I hadn't planned on going to the show the first night but with enough peer pressure we fold and decided to find tickets. We found a pair for $15 each, they retail for $50. On the walk to the venue we found that people give away tickets for free to Phish shows, this would benefit us the following night. Upon entering the Gorge we walk up a small hill and then BAM! This venue is amazing, you have a perfect view of the Columbia River and mountains in the background. This is probably the best outdoor venue I have ever been to. I would say look at the pictures but they don't do the place justice. There was no opening band just Phish. They are one hell of a live band, I can defiantly see why people follow them around the country. Phish isn't exactly my cup of tea but I have always wanted to go to a show and the musicianship they have is unreal. They went on around 8 and played 2 different hour and a half sets. The show was a lot of fun, pretty much you can dance any way you feel and its accepted, there are more glow sticks than you can shake a glow stick at, and the scent of the evening is "a night in cannabis". After the show the party keeps going. Bands set up and play, DJs spin through out the night, and shake down is packed with people getting their late night munchies. I don't know how these kids party so late (drugs) but we stayed up for a little bit and passed out pretty early, by that I mean we didn't watch the sun rise. Day 2 was pretty chill, we mostly sat around our camp kicking it with the neighbors. The funny thing about Phish shows is it brings people from all walks of life, you had your stereotypical dreaded hippie, then you have your burn outs, and you even have little babies running around. Yes, people bring their children, some of them probably no more than a few months old, to Phish shows. Not that I believe they are in any sort of danger, but this place is just so much of a circus it can be a little overwhelming. You can also find any drug under the sun here. Just walk down shake down and people are just walking down shouting out "headies, doses, yay, chocolates, molly, k. . ." so its all here. We thought it would be funny to walk around with a spinning office chair and say "dizzy! get dizzy for only a dollar.", maybe next time. We also talked about how interesting it would be to follow some of these people around on a daily basis, because some of them are just so out there I dont know how they function on a daily basis in the real world. Another anomaly we noticed in the hippie world is that they have really high beer standards. You would think with all this massive alcohol in take that they would be drinking something cheap like keystone or natty (like we were) but no a majority of them were drinking some sort of micro-brew or premium beer, standards change I guess when it comes to beer. So 7 o'clock rolls around and we start to get ready for the show. CJ and I again don't have tickets for the show but we figure were going to try our luck at scoring a free pair (sounds crazy right?). Well we get right up to where they scan your tickets to let you in, still no tickets, hold our finger up like were ordering a beer and sure enough some guy comes up to us and hands us 2 tickets and tells us to enjoy ourselves, they scan and we go in and join the craziness. That is the one cool thing about Phish shows is everyone there was super nice, friendly, and would try to look out for you the best they could. Once Phish comes on everyone goes insane and starts dancing. Then once the lights go out my god I have never seen so many glow sticks in my life. People are just throwing them in the air, and I mean in colossal amounts. At some points it was just raining glow sticks, there seemed to be an endless supply. The show was yet again awesome and yet again we couldn't hang too long into the after party. We woke up around 9 the next morning, packed up camp, and said goodbye to our Canadian friends. All in all we all had an awesome weekend, going to this show was like nothing any of us had experienced in our lives. Even if you aren't a big Phish fan I would recommend going to this drug infused traveling circus, because you'll have a great time, and hey you might get in for free. That leaves us to where we are now in Portland, OR. So until next time, god bless america

-mac

boo boo its a picnic basket

So after our extended stay at Burger King we trekked forward to Yellowstone. After about 2 hrs of driving we decided to spend the night at this 5 star resort in Wyoming called 'Rest Area'. It had three beds, can you believe it! I got the drivers bed, nate got the passenger bed, and cj got the back seat bed. Luckily we weren't raped by truckers and left at around 7 the next morning. On the drive to Wyoming I really started to notice how varied America's landscapes are, we would drive the vast open desert like fields then through lush forest with high rock cliffs, so the drives have been getting quite scenic and amazingly beautiful. I have to give Wyoming credit, I didnt think there was much going there but driving through there has changed my mind, the scenery there is stunning and Yellowstone is way bigger than I imagined. Once we got there we proceeded to set up camp and gather fire wood. You can always tell when there is viewable wildlife in Yellowstone because you'll see about 10 cars pulled over on the side of the road and 20 people with their cameras out. While there we saw a "bear"(it was far back in the forest and laying down so we couldn't see much), elk, and buffalo (they are every where one even walked out in front of car). After we set up camp we went to see the star of Yellowstone, Old Faithful. Lucky for us we got there about 10 min before it erupted and we saw it in all its glory. I guess now a days it isn't as faithful and erupts about ever hour and a half now. There are also plenty of other geysers and geo-thermal pools around where old faithful is so we went exploring. But damn do the geysers smell, they reek of sulphur and I mean reek (like imagine being trapped inside a car when it's 100 degrees outside with 20 dead skunks that had been on a strict diet of cabbage), but they are awesome to look at. After the geysers we finished setting up camp, had dinner, opened a fifth of rum, and tapped into our inner pyro. We also ended up befriending the girls staying next to us and they shared their smores with us, theres nothing quite like it. The next morning we woke up a little wet thanks to our magnificent tent, but it wasn't too bad. We then went exploring around Yellowstone. Yellowstone is a beautiful park, a little touristy, but still breathtaking. There are rolling hills, flowing streams, and picture perfect lakes, all in all some of the best scenery I have seen in my life. After some exploring we jetted out to Spokekane, WA to stay with Nate's cousin, Paul. So that leaves us to where we are now. Tomorrow we are headed off to see Phish for a weekend of camping at the Gorge in Washington, this should be very interesting since none of us have ever been to a Phish show. We'll be getting out hippie on, until our next stop in Portland, god bless america.

-mac

Badlands, SD

I am writing this blog from a Burger King in Sturgis, SD, I'm in here because we came here for biker week and within 30 minutes of us coming here a crazy thunder storm began, but let me back track a little bit and tell you what we've been up to. We left Chicago at 2 am to make the 14 hr drive to the Badlands. The drive wasn't too bad, but let me tell you I have not seen more fucking corn than I have driving through Minnesota. Corn as far as the eye can see every where and if its not corn its vast fields of soy, the moral of this story don't go to Minnesota. We also saw huge energy windmill fields along the way which was awesome to see, I really don't understand why there aren't more of these around because they actually look pretty cool and I'm sure it could save millions in energy cost. Anyway, on the way to the Badlands we stopped at the 'Corn Palace' in South Dakota, and it's probably the biggest tourist trap is SD. It's this 'Palace' thats made from real corn and theres designs in it. Its free to get in and once inside its like a high school gym with a gift shop in the middle, pretty lame but it made us laugh, we also met some people from NC there. On to the Badlands, which I have never heard of before Nate brought it up to go to. It kind of pops up out of no where and is a cross between what you think the surface of the moon would look like and a smaller Grand Canyon. So once we got there we set up camp at our camp site and went out to explore. We started off on trail and then decided that it was lame and not exiting enough so we were going to make our own. This idea ended up being worth it and we got some amazing pictures and saw a lot that we wouldn't have otherwise. After hiking we ate our dinner of cold hot dogs and trail mix, we have a lot of class. We then hung out and drank some beers until the wind started to pick up. Out in the distance we start to see some insane lightning and the wind is continuing to pick up. Our tent looks like its struggling and the only way we can guarantee it doesn't blow away is if we get inside, so we get inside and proceed to cuddle like fat girls that just got dumped. The wind blows crazy for the rest of the night and it rains a little bit but not nearly as bad as we thought. The next day we go out and continue hiking around the Badlands, making our own better trails of course. This place is like one big rock climbing area, the only thing is the rocks are really soft and loose so you have to be careful where you grab on to. We packed up camp and left the Badlands around 12pm and headed out to see Mt. Rushmore. We see the exit for Mt. Rushmore which is in a town called Keystone, we pull off and my god I have never seen so many motorcycles in my life! Apparently in the town over, Sturgis, there is a week long bike rally and we happened to stumble upon in. Bike week is pretty much a non stop noisefest where bikers come together and well. . . bike. Its kind of like spring break for bikers. Not only do they take over Sturgis they take over any town within 50 miles. So we go up to see Mt. Rushmore, its awesome and everything I thought it would be, we decided we got enough of a view from the road and this 'authorized vehicles only' road we went down so we didn't go into the actual park. After we see the faces in rocks we go back down to Keystone to see what bike week is all about. Its crazy, we go to this local bar and have a couple of beers and shoot the shit with some bikers. A lot of these guys are actually pretty old and have the gnarleiest beards I have ever seen. After our brief taste with biker week we decided we wanted to get biker week wasted, so we headed to the epicenter of it all Sturgis, SD. Sturgis is about an hour or so from Mt. Rushmore and don't ask me why all these bikers picked Sturgis to converge on but they did, and its been going on for like 60 years. So we roll up to Sturgis and the town itself is nice but really nothing special, except for like a million bikers. We park and head into town. We don't get too far in before we stop at this shirt stand with this guy selling homemade shirts, his name is Chad. I notice he is from Humboldt, CA (Northern California), we strike up a conversation and mention where we going and he offers us a place to stay. This guy reminds me of Jack Black so were probably going to have to hit him up when we get there. After talking to him for a little bit we notice the ridiculous lightning going on around us and then it just starts to come down. We then sprint through a down pour back to the car. Now we come to this me sitting in a Burger King writing this, tonight we are leaving for Yellowstone, we have a place to stay, so until next time. . . god bless america.

-mac

Chi city don't stop

Following last minute errands and saying good bye to our friends, CJ and I started the drive up north to pick up the final member of our group, Mr. Bounds. Not being able to wrap our heads around what we were about to do we spent the whole trip up to maryland musicless discussing the amazing task we were about to start. We couldn't contain the excitement after CJ and I met up with Nate in Baltimore, we had to head out to the windy city. It was 11pm and after several energy drinks we were ready to roll. Taking turns driving through such boring states as Indiana and Ohio, we pushed ourselves through the night. Once the sun rose we made a stop at the Notre Dame campus to see touchdown Jesus, and to walk around. We rolled into Chicago around 11am, just in time to start exploring. We stayed at my uncle Pete's apartment, but we hardly stayed there. He lives in a neighborhood called Wicker Park, it's about 15 minutes outside the city but it's a great place because you still get the city feel but its not nearly as crazy as the downtown area. After being shown around the neighborhood we stopped to have lunch at this amazing Thai restaurant that was byob. Yes folks in Chicago at certain restaurants(actually a lot of them, mostly ethnic eateries) you can bring your own beer, wine, and if you wanted to liquor. They will even bring you a container of ice to chill your beverages, at this point I knew Chicago was going to be awesome. The food was amazing and very affordable, the chicken red curry I got blew my mind and was spiced hot enough to warrant a colonoscopy. After lunch we met up with our friend Tierney from ECU who was interning in Chicago for the summer to show us around. We got the grand tour of the city including men in spandax green leopard jump suites. There is so much to do and so much to see its hard deciding what to do next. After a short nap, it was time to drink. We found a small mexican restaurant to eat at and then proceeded to wash our burritos next door with Pabst Blue Ribbon. After a few Pabst we struck up a conversation with a Chicago local named Bryce. Bryce, who insisted we were all Italian, informed us on how it is better to be arrested in the south than in Chicago because in the south they call you sir. He also explained the finer points of taking Jager Bombs, comparing it to such things as 'sucking on a big titty', implying to be gentle in order to not let the shot glass chip your teeth. We then went to Lincoln Park to further our drinking extravaganza. Now don't get me wrong everyone in Chicago is really nice and friendly, but they give the worst directions. In their defense there used to be 2,000 bars in Chicago, now there are only 600, but we got 5 different directions on how to get to the bars we were trying to go to. After some time in Lincoln Park we headed off to Wrigleyville. While in Wrigleyville we saw none other than. . . Wrigley Field, which kind of pops out of no where and doesn't really seem like it belongs where it does. Apparently this area is packed when the Cubs are in town and when they win they release bears in to the streets to eat children for good luck. The next day we went out to the 'Twisted Spoke" for lunch or as they call it 'Hangover Hospital'. This place is like an upscale biker bar where the motto is 'no crap on tap'. The best time to hit this place is on Saturday where from 12am-2:30am they have 'Smut and Eggs". At this time they serve eggs and show vintage porn, apparently it's not as creepy as it sounds and actually draws a pretty large crowd. After my amazing order of Chillikillas, we went over to south side Chicago. While there we checked out Obama's house which has a 24 hr police barricade, even though he is never there. We then strolled around Chicago University which is right next to where they used to hold the World's Fair. Following our trip to the south side, we went sailing with Pete on lake Michigan. This was absolutely amazing, the weather was perfect and we had an unbelievable view of the city from the water. There's nothing quite like drinking a Dos Equis on a boat in front of the Chicago sky line. Once we finished sailing we went to do what anyone that comes to Chicago has to do and thats have a deep dish pizza. We picked up a pizza from Lou Malnati's and filled ourselves at a chess board table in Wicker Park. All in all Chicago is an amazing city that I would definitely like to come back to and see more of. The people here are very friendly and there is so much to do here there is no way you can be bored. Tomorrow we visit the Badlands in South Dakota, we don't know where were staying yet, god bless America.

-mac

America, ya that sounds nice

So heres the plan Me(mac), Nate, and CJ are driving cross country starting Aug 1st and ending on or around Aug 24th. Some how (mostly thanks to nate) we got sponsored to go on this little expedition by a elementary school science supply company. All we have to do is keep up a blog, not this one, and do some news paper interviews. The purpose of this blog is to provide you all with the unfiltered up to date information about what we will be doing. We will be posting pictures and stories from our encounters across America. The rough outline for this trip goes something like this, Chicago, Badlands, Yellowstone, Portland/The Gorge, The Pacific Coast Highway, Las Vegas, Austin, New Orleans, ?, Home. all locations are subject to change based on whatever we feel like doing. Tell all your friends about this blog and pray that we don't end up broke on the side of the road some where in Wyoming. Questions, comments, suggestions, and things we should see along the way are all welcome. So until next time.

-mac