Hey everyone, well it's been a crazy few weeks and we've loved the trip, and I hope you guys enjoyed them along with us.
Yesterday we saw the flight museum and the Seattle Art Museum, where we visited a wonderful Andy Warhol exhibit. Then after a failed attempt to find Salty's (a local recommended seafood restaurant), I blame it on the construction, we had some dinner on the Pier and then went to a local improv club.
It was a fun last night and we are now preparing to head out for the 1 day 17hour straight drive ahead of us... we are stopping don't you worry but that is our predicted drive time.
As an update to the Plate Challange: we have found 38 states to date (as far as I am aware)
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
California
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Michigan
Minesota
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nevada
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carollina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
We'll miss the States, but it has been amazing and I'm sure we'll carry these memories with us forever.
So long and thanks for all the fish.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
The Departed
Hello all!
The Alex Trio has safely and successfully landed back in Toronto. There was many a teary eye to return to reality, but one thing that is for sure is that this past month on the road will never be forgotten.
To those who are still on the trip, stay well. I hope your travels lead you safely back home. Itll be strange having to check the blog every day looking for updates of a trip I just left, but im looking forward to witnessing the new adventures that await you.
Best of luck
The Alex Trio has safely and successfully landed back in Toronto. There was many a teary eye to return to reality, but one thing that is for sure is that this past month on the road will never be forgotten.
To those who are still on the trip, stay well. I hope your travels lead you safely back home. Itll be strange having to check the blog every day looking for updates of a trip I just left, but im looking forward to witnessing the new adventures that await you.
Best of luck
Monday, August 23, 2010
On the Road Again - The A-Team Version
Hello everybody!!
Sorry for the long delay in posts; as Adi said before, the time has flown and with so much to do with no breaks to organize the multitude of media we have stored on our collective media sources. Some have leaked onto the ever present and checked FB and others have been gradually appearing on the site, but the trip to Seattle with the varying tempos will be up soon.
It seems Adrian gave a general overview of our most recent travels so I will just highlight a few points that have suffered a brief brush in the previous post.
One guy that was forgotten in our LA week was the lovely and accommodating local by the name of David, who, by chance, gave us the best view of his great city that anyone will ever see. The night-scape was amazing but the day in my opinion was even better. This was because the view came from the top of the Hollywood sign on the Hollywood Hills development. Trouble seemed to follow our half hour hike that day as a man had supposedly fallen into the brush and the police, park rangers and fire brigade were called to the top for the search and rescue. I was very tempted to ask them for a ride down after the killer incline, but I knew I needed the exercise.
It was a sad time leaving LA, especially when the weather began to clear on that last morning. (I say morning very loosely because the group had a very hard time waking at any daylight hour!) However, the coastal highways were the highlight of that day and the epic moonlight pictures that ensued were amazing. Once we arrived in San Fran, a few obstacles dampened our spirits, yet the classy hotel was a fresh change from the constant horrible odour that permeated the Crown Plaza room the boys had inhabited.
San Francisco reminded me of Toronto and subsequently made me crave Timmy’s back home, but the best equivalent was Starbucks, and those prices don’t sit well with me. The group began to split and ended up with Adi, Fletch, Yvonne, and Robin going one way, and Julia, Alex, Alex, and Alex going the other.
Thus, I shall speak from my perspective: The first morning was a comfortable snooze and started off with a very good pub-lunch at the Elephant and Castle. I was aware of this chain in Toronto, but did not know of the other locations across the US. Then we branched out into the Financial district and took in the sights, which included interesting architecture, out-of-the-way parks filled with amazing sculptures and lots of history. History of ports, trains, mail, boats, and even cable cars. And, of course, the abundant amounts of seafood fresh from the coast. My favourite place definitely became Pier 39/Fisherman’s Wharf. The hooky gift shops had a type of charm that immediately endeared and enthralled you; to name a few: Alcatraz Gift Shop, The Holiday Shop, Dreyer’s Ice Cream, Everything Crab, Pearls Jewellery, and so much more. A breakfast crepe at one of their corner stores filled up all our stomachs for most of the afternoon. Bleeding into the second day, where resourceful Yvonne and Julia told us about the historical arcade and ships, as well as the Chocolate factory that moved to SAN LEANDRO. (Spell check Adi!!)
Was I really the only one who didn’t find the arcade creepy?? It was fun guys!
Now onto the next travelling portion. After the Golden Gate Bridge.....
Oh....OH....wait a sec! I almost missed out on a correction that jarred so greatly on Adi’s post. The Director’s well-timed, absolutely hilarious motion towards Adrian that momentous second morning in San Fran. I can’t believe Adi reduced this to ONE LINE. Ah well, guess it up to me to explain......
Sorry for the long delay in posts; as Adi said before, the time has flown and with so much to do with no breaks to organize the multitude of media we have stored on our collective media sources. Some have leaked onto the ever present and checked FB and others have been gradually appearing on the site, but the trip to Seattle with the varying tempos will be up soon.
It seems Adrian gave a general overview of our most recent travels so I will just highlight a few points that have suffered a brief brush in the previous post.
One guy that was forgotten in our LA week was the lovely and accommodating local by the name of David, who, by chance, gave us the best view of his great city that anyone will ever see. The night-scape was amazing but the day in my opinion was even better. This was because the view came from the top of the Hollywood sign on the Hollywood Hills development. Trouble seemed to follow our half hour hike that day as a man had supposedly fallen into the brush and the police, park rangers and fire brigade were called to the top for the search and rescue. I was very tempted to ask them for a ride down after the killer incline, but I knew I needed the exercise.
It was a sad time leaving LA, especially when the weather began to clear on that last morning. (I say morning very loosely because the group had a very hard time waking at any daylight hour!) However, the coastal highways were the highlight of that day and the epic moonlight pictures that ensued were amazing. Once we arrived in San Fran, a few obstacles dampened our spirits, yet the classy hotel was a fresh change from the constant horrible odour that permeated the Crown Plaza room the boys had inhabited.
San Francisco reminded me of Toronto and subsequently made me crave Timmy’s back home, but the best equivalent was Starbucks, and those prices don’t sit well with me. The group began to split and ended up with Adi, Fletch, Yvonne, and Robin going one way, and Julia, Alex, Alex, and Alex going the other.
Thus, I shall speak from my perspective: The first morning was a comfortable snooze and started off with a very good pub-lunch at the Elephant and Castle. I was aware of this chain in Toronto, but did not know of the other locations across the US. Then we branched out into the Financial district and took in the sights, which included interesting architecture, out-of-the-way parks filled with amazing sculptures and lots of history. History of ports, trains, mail, boats, and even cable cars. And, of course, the abundant amounts of seafood fresh from the coast. My favourite place definitely became Pier 39/Fisherman’s Wharf. The hooky gift shops had a type of charm that immediately endeared and enthralled you; to name a few: Alcatraz Gift Shop, The Holiday Shop, Dreyer’s Ice Cream, Everything Crab, Pearls Jewellery, and so much more. A breakfast crepe at one of their corner stores filled up all our stomachs for most of the afternoon. Bleeding into the second day, where resourceful Yvonne and Julia told us about the historical arcade and ships, as well as the Chocolate factory that moved to SAN LEANDRO. (Spell check Adi!!)
Was I really the only one who didn’t find the arcade creepy?? It was fun guys!
Now onto the next travelling portion. After the Golden Gate Bridge.....
Oh....OH....wait a sec! I almost missed out on a correction that jarred so greatly on Adi’s post. The Director’s well-timed, absolutely hilarious motion towards Adrian that momentous second morning in San Fran. I can’t believe Adi reduced this to ONE LINE. Ah well, guess it up to me to explain......
.....soooo, this morning the collective group in the Club Quarters hotel had been having a pretty difficult time attempting (key word attempting) to get up at a reasonable hour. By the time all of us gathered some semblance of clothing and hygiene the one unmistakable member of the group not yet ready to perform these tasks was Adi. Blood simply mentioned to the equally tired, but dressed Hofmann, to wake up the poor tired Romanian, and without blinking or pause came a loud SLAP right across the supple cheek of Mr. Muresan. Needless to say the room burst into howling laughter as Adi tried to process what Alex actually did to him.
There is no need to say that Muresan was very angry but got over it quite quickly.
Now back to Seattle....oops, I mean the travel to Seattle. There is not a lot to say about it that will not be posted by gourp 2 (Adi, Fletch, and Julia) but the Redwoods are an impressive stop for anyone travelling up or down the coast of Oregon and California.
NOW onto Seattle. The A-Team got into the downtown core ETA 10:00 on the dot and both Hofmann and I were immediately reminded of Frasier with the cityscape. This city is reminding me more of Toronto than the last, but I think that is because I am unconsciously readying myself to head back home to the familiar and comfortable pace that I am used to. The boys and I have a busy day planned tomorrow that will hopefully include the Flight museum, Underground Tour, Original Starbucks, Space Needle, Seattle Aquarium, and the SCIENCE FICTION MUSEUM, (you can eat your heart out Rankin!!!)
Both boys have decided to abstain from sleep tomorrow evening to cram everything into 1 fast-paced day; I only hope to keep up. My feet are not used to this kind of wear and tear.
Signing out from the sleepless city.
Alex S
Now back to Seattle....oops, I mean the travel to Seattle. There is not a lot to say about it that will not be posted by gourp 2 (Adi, Fletch, and Julia) but the Redwoods are an impressive stop for anyone travelling up or down the coast of Oregon and California.
NOW onto Seattle. The A-Team got into the downtown core ETA 10:00 on the dot and both Hofmann and I were immediately reminded of Frasier with the cityscape. This city is reminding me more of Toronto than the last, but I think that is because I am unconsciously readying myself to head back home to the familiar and comfortable pace that I am used to. The boys and I have a busy day planned tomorrow that will hopefully include the Flight museum, Underground Tour, Original Starbucks, Space Needle, Seattle Aquarium, and the SCIENCE FICTION MUSEUM, (you can eat your heart out Rankin!!!)
Both boys have decided to abstain from sleep tomorrow evening to cram everything into 1 fast-paced day; I only hope to keep up. My feet are not used to this kind of wear and tear.
Signing out from the sleepless city.
Alex S
OH and P.S. - Sorry Julia, I lost the game!!!
Sunday, August 22, 2010
On the Road Again
Hey all, sry for falling behind on our posts but life has been hectic. The following looks to be a rather beastly post as it is a recap of the last 4 days or so...
First off a few shout outs to some amazing people we have met along the way:
Thank you for the great service from Rosie at Pete's D restaurant in San Francisco, where we got a delicious "breakfast" burger, as well as Peter the very accommodating cheff at Pete's
We'd also like to mention Andrea and Allie, who we met while dinning at a Cafe in Elk, a small 250 person town going up the 101 on the coast of California
Lastly, but by no means least, we'd like to give a big friendly shout to Nate our waiter at the Lost Beach Cafe and wonderful establishment that had a lot of character and some delicious food.
Now to get to the meat of our adventures
The road from L.A. to San Francisco was beautiful and we took a couple of quick stops for some amazing photo ops, including some moon shadow pictures, these and many more beautiful sceneries will be uploaded soon.
The night that we arrived in San Fransisco we discovered that parking throughout the city was very expensive, so we decided to get a second room the next day that would have cheaper parking (and that we could split with Yvonne and Robyn). Fletcher and Adrian split off to do that, and Alexandros, Hofmann, Julia, and Simmons had their own adventures. They explored the farmer's market and old ferry building. They also saw the aquarium (pretty fish and jellyfish!) where Alexandros and Hofmann got to touch stingrays and sharks. They then went to Pier 39 to explore the shops around there a little bit.
That night we went out to check out the club scene in San Fran, sadly the club we wanted to go to refused to admit us with foreighn ID :'(... but we ended up goign to a wonderful place called Ko-Ko's Cocktails... The bartnder there defiatly knew how to mix. The gin mix he made me was a artistic. I highly recomend it for a chill night with a more local crowd.
The next morning I suffered a quite rude awakening at the hand of our Director. After which I was dragged out of bed at an unreasonably early hour. This breach of my beauty sleep, was, however, compensated with a delicious ham and feta crepes on pier 39.
We then visited the old Arcade on the pier. It was a trip through time, with many old arcade macxhines and most games goign for 25 cents. There was even a large mechanical diorahma of a carnival.
We were slightly creeped out by the overy smilling painted faces but it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
There were also two WWII era naval ships at the pier set up as museum exhibits. One was the USS Jeramiah O'Brien, a ship in the Merchand Navy. We got to see it's giant engines, which can take up to 1900 gallons of fuel, and many of it's quite large guns. The Director and Alex M. spent some time aiming it at Alcatraz. The museum on board the ship contained a very large and detailed diorama of D-Day. The other was a submarine whose name temporarily escapes me unfourtuantly
We were informed by a tour guide on it that it was in running condition, except that it needed some new batteries (and sometihng tells me runing to the corner store for some duracells just won;t cut it) and that it's propeller wascurrently on exhibit in Honolulou.
We also paid a brief visit to Ghirardelli Square. For those of you, like me, who are not in the know on the magical world of chocolate, Ghirardelli is one of the big names in the "biz". The square was nice but the factory that we had gone to see had unfourtunatly moved to San Leonardo... still it was very pretty.
Later in the Evening, armed with our passports (which we were told would gain us entry to clubs in San Fran) we tried to hit the city again. We went to two diffrent bars. The first wa a nice small place called the Minx, where we met a canadian bartender. Upon hearing my drink order she informed me that I was no longer in Canada... apparently bars int he states don't carry bar lime or smirnoff ice...
We left the Minx in search of a more dancey atmosphere and after several missed attempt with long lineups we ended up at a club called Swig. It was a nice place with a greart atmosphere and a good DJ. Unfourtunatly, to everyone's surprise, they did not carry Jagermeister or Rye... We made due with substitutes, but they unexpectadly called last call at 1:15, then closed the club and sent everyone home at 1:30... a ridiculously early time by our standards... and by the bartender's as well, who looked astonished at this turn of events as the club was full and people were lined up at the bar buying drinks.
The next morning we crossed the iconic Golden Gate bridge and made our way further up the coast. We broke up into three gourps. The A-Team (or the three Alexs) took one car at a faster pace so as to make it to Seattle in 2 days... sadly they have a plane to catch. Myself Julia and Fletcher took a slightly slower pace aiming to get there in 3 dsays, and Yvonne and Robyn took an even slower pace allowing themselves 4 days up the coast.
We drove to Eureka, Ca on the first day and spent the night there. Along the route we stopped at an Oyster bar just outside of San Francisco and had some delicious BBQ oysters, as well as some other scenic points. We have many pictures and you cna be assured they will be uploaded post haste.
It was later on this drive that we mte the previously mentione Andrea and Allie and had a delicious meal.
Today we are setting off for Portland, Oregon... an ambitious drive but with three drivers and alot of pretty redwoods we are excted about it.
Atractions comming up:
Redwood national Park (including us driving through a redwood!!!)
Scenic Drive offs (picked out by Julia from her guidebook)
and many more zany times
First off a few shout outs to some amazing people we have met along the way:
Thank you for the great service from Rosie at Pete's D restaurant in San Francisco, where we got a delicious "breakfast" burger, as well as Peter the very accommodating cheff at Pete's
We'd also like to mention Andrea and Allie, who we met while dinning at a Cafe in Elk, a small 250 person town going up the 101 on the coast of California
Lastly, but by no means least, we'd like to give a big friendly shout to Nate our waiter at the Lost Beach Cafe and wonderful establishment that had a lot of character and some delicious food.
Now to get to the meat of our adventures
The road from L.A. to San Francisco was beautiful and we took a couple of quick stops for some amazing photo ops, including some moon shadow pictures, these and many more beautiful sceneries will be uploaded soon.
The night that we arrived in San Fransisco we discovered that parking throughout the city was very expensive, so we decided to get a second room the next day that would have cheaper parking (and that we could split with Yvonne and Robyn). Fletcher and Adrian split off to do that, and Alexandros, Hofmann, Julia, and Simmons had their own adventures. They explored the farmer's market and old ferry building. They also saw the aquarium (pretty fish and jellyfish!) where Alexandros and Hofmann got to touch stingrays and sharks. They then went to Pier 39 to explore the shops around there a little bit.
That night we went out to check out the club scene in San Fran, sadly the club we wanted to go to refused to admit us with foreighn ID :'(... but we ended up goign to a wonderful place called Ko-Ko's Cocktails... The bartnder there defiatly knew how to mix. The gin mix he made me was a artistic. I highly recomend it for a chill night with a more local crowd.
The next morning I suffered a quite rude awakening at the hand of our Director. After which I was dragged out of bed at an unreasonably early hour. This breach of my beauty sleep, was, however, compensated with a delicious ham and feta crepes on pier 39.
We then visited the old Arcade on the pier. It was a trip through time, with many old arcade macxhines and most games goign for 25 cents. There was even a large mechanical diorahma of a carnival.
We were slightly creeped out by the overy smilling painted faces but it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
There were also two WWII era naval ships at the pier set up as museum exhibits. One was the USS Jeramiah O'Brien, a ship in the Merchand Navy. We got to see it's giant engines, which can take up to 1900 gallons of fuel, and many of it's quite large guns. The Director and Alex M. spent some time aiming it at Alcatraz. The museum on board the ship contained a very large and detailed diorama of D-Day. The other was a submarine whose name temporarily escapes me unfourtuantly
We were informed by a tour guide on it that it was in running condition, except that it needed some new batteries (and sometihng tells me runing to the corner store for some duracells just won;t cut it) and that it's propeller wascurrently on exhibit in Honolulou.
We also paid a brief visit to Ghirardelli Square. For those of you, like me, who are not in the know on the magical world of chocolate, Ghirardelli is one of the big names in the "biz". The square was nice but the factory that we had gone to see had unfourtunatly moved to San Leonardo... still it was very pretty.
Later in the Evening, armed with our passports (which we were told would gain us entry to clubs in San Fran) we tried to hit the city again. We went to two diffrent bars. The first wa a nice small place called the Minx, where we met a canadian bartender. Upon hearing my drink order she informed me that I was no longer in Canada... apparently bars int he states don't carry bar lime or smirnoff ice...
We left the Minx in search of a more dancey atmosphere and after several missed attempt with long lineups we ended up at a club called Swig. It was a nice place with a greart atmosphere and a good DJ. Unfourtunatly, to everyone's surprise, they did not carry Jagermeister or Rye... We made due with substitutes, but they unexpectadly called last call at 1:15, then closed the club and sent everyone home at 1:30... a ridiculously early time by our standards... and by the bartender's as well, who looked astonished at this turn of events as the club was full and people were lined up at the bar buying drinks.
The next morning we crossed the iconic Golden Gate bridge and made our way further up the coast. We broke up into three gourps. The A-Team (or the three Alexs) took one car at a faster pace so as to make it to Seattle in 2 days... sadly they have a plane to catch. Myself Julia and Fletcher took a slightly slower pace aiming to get there in 3 dsays, and Yvonne and Robyn took an even slower pace allowing themselves 4 days up the coast.
We drove to Eureka, Ca on the first day and spent the night there. Along the route we stopped at an Oyster bar just outside of San Francisco and had some delicious BBQ oysters, as well as some other scenic points. We have many pictures and you cna be assured they will be uploaded post haste.
It was later on this drive that we mte the previously mentione Andrea and Allie and had a delicious meal.
Today we are setting off for Portland, Oregon... an ambitious drive but with three drivers and alot of pretty redwoods we are excted about it.
Atractions comming up:
Redwood national Park (including us driving through a redwood!!!)
Scenic Drive offs (picked out by Julia from her guidebook)
and many more zany times
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Last Day in Hollywood
Our last day in Hollywood was 2 days ago. Julia got in at around noon and we immediately started to do the Hollywood tourist thing. We saw the Walk of the Stars as well as the Chinese & Kodak theaters, drove through Bel Air to see the Fresh Prince house, went down Rodeo Drive, and took Julia to the Hollywood sign.
While we were at the sign, there was some sort of police thing going on. Apparently, police spotted someone in a ravine nearby who was reported to be kidnapped.... or something. Whatever it was, there were several police helicopters and vehicles that passed us on our way to the top. When we got there, everything was done, but I snagged this panorama for your viewing pleasure.
While we were at the sign, there was some sort of police thing going on. Apparently, police spotted someone in a ravine nearby who was reported to be kidnapped.... or something. Whatever it was, there were several police helicopters and vehicles that passed us on our way to the top. When we got there, everything was done, but I snagged this panorama for your viewing pleasure.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Disneyland and Universal Studios
Here is a text update covering the highlights of the last couple of days. Two days ago Fletcher, Adrian, Alexandra, Alexandros and I went to Universal Studios here in Los Angeles. I didn't get any pictures because I didn't bring my huge camera into the park, but there will be video. We went on The Simpsons ride which was AWESOME, but the physical ride still resembles the DeLorean from the Back To The Future ride. May it rest in peace.
A shout out to Pam and JOE. Pam was our guide through the back-lot tour of Universal. She was the best tour guide ever. Joe was our heroic driver. No matter what happened, no matter what attacked us, Joe would see us to safety. Perhaps one would question why Joe would lead us to such dangerous places in the first place... but not us. Adrian got a picture with Joe afterward which can be viewed on facebook.
Later we ate outside of the park on the City Walk. One of the first restaurants you see when you enter is a Bubba Gump Shrimp. Naturally we stopped there for some delicious seafood. Our server was totally cool. Shout out to Chris Brown who was very nice when he boxed up our.... leftovers. Everyone at Bubba Gump was so nice. I am not sure if it is like this at all locations, but if you are ever in LA, you NEED to eat at the City Walk Bubba Gump.
Yesterday I went with Alexandra and Adrian to Disneyland. It was busy but fun. I purchased an Indiana Jones hat since my last one was stolen by a university friend (INA!). There is a video of us in the teacups. We tried to spin as fast as possible. I almost lost the caramel popcorn I had as a snack.
Tonight I think I'll have enough time to upload some more video. Until then I'll catch you all later!
A shout out to Pam and JOE. Pam was our guide through the back-lot tour of Universal. She was the best tour guide ever. Joe was our heroic driver. No matter what happened, no matter what attacked us, Joe would see us to safety. Perhaps one would question why Joe would lead us to such dangerous places in the first place... but not us. Adrian got a picture with Joe afterward which can be viewed on facebook.
Later we ate outside of the park on the City Walk. One of the first restaurants you see when you enter is a Bubba Gump Shrimp. Naturally we stopped there for some delicious seafood. Our server was totally cool. Shout out to Chris Brown who was very nice when he boxed up our.... leftovers. Everyone at Bubba Gump was so nice. I am not sure if it is like this at all locations, but if you are ever in LA, you NEED to eat at the City Walk Bubba Gump.
Yesterday I went with Alexandra and Adrian to Disneyland. It was busy but fun. I purchased an Indiana Jones hat since my last one was stolen by a university friend (INA!). There is a video of us in the teacups. We tried to spin as fast as possible. I almost lost the caramel popcorn I had as a snack.
Tonight I think I'll have enough time to upload some more video. Until then I'll catch you all later!
Monday, August 16, 2010
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