Road Trip 2011
We finished
Sunday, July 12, 2015
We are everywhere man....
We haven't updated the blog in like 4 years but I wanted to give an update in case you were curious. All of our road trippers are scattered like the wind across the world.
Paul and Kate are... still... traveling. They are in Argentina and loving it. Before that they lived in DC and Portland. So great to see them still exploring the world. Here is their new blog: https://dosvagabundos.wordpress.com/
Tommy is doing his thing. Him and Wilson who we linked up with on the trip started their own alcoholic beverage company. Their signature brew Snakebite (half beer half cider for the n00bs) is a huge success in SF and they are spreading across the nation. I have to say, its delicious and refreshing as hell. Learn more here: http://www.twpitchers.com/
Swells aka Sarah aka the one who left us but we still love her has been in the Middle East loving life last I heard. She was also in San Fransisco. She was in Jordan? I don't even know. I saw her a few years back when she was a baker in Portland and living in a closet. Basically I think she's doing fine. Paul said she is doing a farming apprenticeship in Southern Oregon. That sounds cool. I'm gonna call her actually after I write this. If you want to friend her on Facebook this is the link to her profile.
You also might remember Annie Graeter? She joined us for an epic stint. Annie is also doing well. Just so all of our readers know, after the trip Annie sent us all personalized backpacking spice packs. Because she is nicest person ever and everyone should try to be friends with her. She is now still working in the wilderness. She did NOLS for a while and now works for a national park as a ranger I think. So cool!
And then there's me, Ben. Its been a hell of a ride since the road trip for me. Continued to live in a tent for a stretch near the White House for a few months. Then started organizing fast food workers all over the country for the Fight for $15. If you don't know, ask somebody. fightfor15.org You can usually find me in New Orleans.
Beautiful Road Trip photo by Swells from a Jam Sesh in Maine.
Friday, March 15, 2013
Home
We left New Orleans, nearly out of money, and headed due north, camping in Mississippi before finding our way into magnificent Memphis, TN. We crashed a night with a old friend of Tommy's, Matt Frank. Great food, some playoff baseball, and a tour of Beal Street kept us busy and thoroughly entertained. From Memphis, we drove clear across Tennessee to Nashville to meet up with another CC alum and ultimate frisbee extraordinaire, Nicky Spiva. Nicky gave us an awesome tour of the Vanderbilt campus, and we got some delicious local brews before heading out to the famous Station Inn for some live bluegrass music. A packed crowd and multiple banjos made for a regular barn-burner.
But alas, we had to keep moving, as our funds dwindled even further. We made our way southeast and in the same day hit the Jack Daniels Distillery and the Unclaimed Baggage Center. That's right, whiskey and thrift shopping. We arrived in the Great Smokey Mountains just before sunset and set up camp in a gorgeous mix of orange, red, and yellow leaves.
The next day, we set off on our final backpacking trip into the Smokies. We hiked miles on the Appalachian trail before arriving at an awesomely maintained back-country shelter. Believe it or not, after all our experience as back-country chefs, our last supper was the worst meal of the entire trip. Back in the crowded parking lot, we had at least two dozen people inquire about our sticker-covered top carrier, or ask us if we had done the entire trail.
We drove through Asheville, NC (stopped to people watch and grab a cup of coffee) on our way to Chapel Hill, NC. We stayed with Mr. David Daddio, and met up with Ms. Kat Mclaughlin. Interestingly, we had seen both of these people previously on the trip, in Boston and Maine, respectively. Daddio is finishing up grad school at UNC while Kat is trying to regain her health after a string of unlucky injuries.
We left Chapel Hill, with Daddio (also from the area), and headed home. We arrived in our beloved nation's capital just in time to sit in rush hour traffic. How sweet it is to be home.
We would like to thank everyone who followed up with our blog. But also we want to thank all of you who we got to hang out with, dine with, visit with, and stay with. You guys are the ones that made our trip amazing and unforgettable. And, in the thanksgiving spirit, I'm thankful that we made it around the country and back without being pulled over once, and without any major car problems! So if you're in the D.C. area, hit us up....'cause we're unemployed.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Down South - Long drives and good eats
Thanks for showing us around Amy!
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Returning to the Mile High
After leaving San Diego, we arrived in Joshua Tree with Sir Daniel "Sneezebird" of Cohen and set out for a one night out-and-back trip to MARS! Joshua Tree is truly specatcular and if you haven't been, I highly recommend it. We did an awesome loop hike called the Panorama Loop, so as you can imagine, the views were simply divine. The silhouettes of the wacky Joshua Trees (not actually trees mind you, they're closely related to the yucca cactus) at sunrise and sunset were a personal favorite. But the weekend ended (a little too quickly) and Danny had to head back to LA to get his grown man on.
The next day was our slowest of the trip. But, slow is relative for us. We headed back west, ("But I thought you guys were headed east now?") to check out DEATH VALLEY. Now, we headed west because we did really want to see this crazy geological valley and hit the lowest spot in the United States, but we also had a piece of great news that we're about to share with you readers. A fifth person had agreed to fly into Las Vegas the following day to join our road trip and D.E.A.R.T. (drop everything and road trip). As much fun as we had in Vegas, we couldn't spend another full day there. We kicked it in the scalding-hot Death Valley before the arrival of our new roommate, companion, chef extraordinaire, fellow CC grad, and best friend, Miss Andrea Christine Graeter!! You heard it here first ladies and gentlemen.
After a wild, wonderful, and Police Free (a feat for travelers with out-of-state liscence plates) time in Utah we headed to Colorful Colorado. After a quick pitstop for burritos at Los Jilbertos in Grand Junction, we made it to Aspen to see the changing colors at the Maroon Bells.
We had planned on doing arguably the best hike in Colorado, the Four Pass Loop, but with rain in the forecast for the next five days, we reluctantly moved on. We stopped in Leadville, the highest town in the U.S. at 10,152 ft and went to some awesome thrift stores and the one of a kind Melanzana outdoor store where Paul and Kate each bought highly coveted hoodies. After another brief stop in Idaho Springs to get some hot-sauce at Two Brothers Deli, we made it to Littleton where Aunt Laurie greeted us with open arms (not really, she hosed us off outside).
Today we're headed up to Longmont, Boulder, and Fort Collins to hit an assortment of Oskar Blues, Left Hand, Boulder, and Odell's Breweries. We'll let ya know.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
California... Knows How to Party... Californuhuh... Knows How to Partayay
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Stage 4 - the BROad Trip
Sarah is making the journey south with her boyfriend, so until we meet up in San Francisco it is just Kate and the dudes. The four of us left Portland on the 25th and headed to Oregon's lone National Park, Crater Lake. We made it just in time to hike up to the fire watch outlook point for an incredible view of the lake, Wizard Island, and the surrounding mountains.
Next stop: the Redwoods! After an incredible drive on the Redwood Highway, we backpacked into the "Tall Trees Grove" in Redwood National Park near Orick, CA. This is probably the closest we've all come to feeling like ants among these giant trees, the tallest of which is 370 feet tall!
Then we headed to Santa Rosa to tour the Lagunitas Brewery and visit Paul's Aunt Laurie for a scrumptious dinner. Afterward we headed to the local Russian River watering hole, home of two of the top-ranked beers en el mundo. Luckily the day's journey was over since Tommy's good friend Wilson lives just over the hill in Napa Valley. He graciously showed us around the vineyard laden hills for the next few days.
On Monday we headed into the city with Wilson and his friends for the Giant's game that night, making sure to stop for In n' Out on our way. Sadly the giants lost 7-0 to the Cubs despite our fervent enthusiasm for Tim Lincecum. Beer and baseball: this is what happens when the road trip goes 4/5 bro.
For the past few days we've been staying with Silver Spring's finest, Grace Reinhalter, across the bay in Berkeley. We've been showered with hospitality from all of our Bay Area friends and family. We dined on a sailboat with Ben's family friend Annie, toured the Cal campus with Paul's cousin, Carly, and chatted over lunch with the Rosen clan of Paul's family, Mark, Fonda, and their daughter Sasha. We also enjoyed exploring Tilden regional park and sampling world class beers at Toronados. Today we're heading south to Monterrey and Big Sur, so stay posted for more fun times in the golden state.