Arrival! Days 18-24
Yes it's true! I have arrived in Olympia, WA! Still, I haven't finished the trip entirely, since I won't be able to move into my apartment until the 20th.
Last Thursday Phill Katz took me to a Steelers bar in San Francisco called Giordano Bros. The Post-Gazette actually wrote an article about it, and if I had gotten knocked on the head I might have thought it was a Primanti's. Phill and I got mightily tanked while watching the game, and then went to a concert at S.F.'s Independent Theater. Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Apollo Sunshine, and Benevento Russo Duo. Switched to whiskey at the concert, and proceeded along a twisted path to pass out at Phill's apartment with a beautiful view of the city.
In the morning I headed back to Berkeley but was locked out of the apartment, so I ate a quick lunch and headed out, at Phill's suggestion, to Fairfield, CA
and the Jelly Belly Factory. Now I love jelly beans, and this factory tour was absolutely incredible. It was wild. There are all these Jelly Bean mosaics everywhere, no less than six of which were of Ronald Reagan. Apparently the guy was a rabid jelly bean addict. They had Amelia Earhart, and Elvis, and Princess Di, and dancing robots... Fantastic. I did end up buying over 4 pounds of Jelly Bellys though.
Friday evening K2 and I had dinner with my stepsister and met up with my nephew. He's 3 years old, and adorable. He's doing a Capoeira class Saturday mornings so we also went to watch him (but showed up a little bit late) and have breakfast. K2 may be babysitting. K2 and I were also a little late to the Power to the Peaceful hippie festival, but we did get to see Michael Franti and Spearhead. Brody, I know you're jealous. We hit the sack early though because Sunday morning was...
FOOTBALL!! Yes, Sunday morning. Cause games start at 10AM out here. Which is crazy. Crazy enough that the only people at the bar for kickoff were me, K2, and two Jets fans. A few Baltimore fans showed, and a couple Eagles fans (we sang the fight song). But that was it for the morning games. We were wasted by noon, and fucked up proper by the time the afternoon games hit halftime. When the bartenders changed, we left, and the walk home is a bit fuzzy. We do know that I belligerently tried to get many people to give me Eagles/Jets wins high fives, and most reluctantly complied. An Oakland fan in a white van did not, however, he just drove away from me. There's little remembering between getting home and waking up again at 7:30 or so. Watched some of the night game, tried to curb the hangovers, and went back to bed
As far as Monday goes, Chris Cooley sucks, Mark Brunell sucks in helping Chris Cooley, and I lost my fantasy game to Drew. Weeds is still the best show on television. That's about it.
Tuesday was a driving day, and pretty uneventful. Driving fatigue started to set in, and for the first time I had to camp because I was tired and not just because I was bored or it was late. Passed out in my tent by 7pm.. which turned out to be a bad idea. It meant I woke up freezing in the middle of the night. It's officially out of summer camping season.
Wednesday was another driving day, though I did get to stop in Portland just for lunch. (Sorry Emily!) I woke up early and hit Portland at noon. It's just as beautiful of a city as I remembered, and construction on that brewpub is done by the way :) I ate in the Sunnyside area, stopping my random driving around when I saw this awesome street art (I know, I know, pictures are coming...), walked around and found a place called the Laughing Planet that was really cool and had great food. I got back on the road and made it up to Olympia!
Today I explored a little bit and found a great brewpub with an awesome variety of beers. British style ales, German style weizens, three different kinds of hard cider, seasonals, specialties, and all of it brewed there. Imagine Church Brew Works with a seafood focus and triple the beer options. I put myself on the local theatre's email list and checked out my apartment complex, which looks pretty cool. It's adjacent to a park, and the running trail runs right outside my backdoor. I'm also right next to a baseball field, so I can watch the games from my balcony. I tried to take a drive around my new campus, but it's kind of difficult when you can't park anywhere and can't see anything from the road. Basically, it's in the middle of the woods. Driving around campus meant driving through incredibly dense forest. I couldn't find any parking, and couldn't find any buildings. I even got lost. Next time I'll bring a campus map. And a compass.
Tomorrow I'll audition sports bars so I'm ready for Sunday and look around for furniture.
I'll take this moment to thank you all for your help in getting me across the country. In addition to the people who graciously put me up on the road, thanks to everyone who lent me their words of support and encouragement. Many people said they were impressed at how I was able to do it alone, but I never really felt alone on the trip. I certainly do have the best friends anyone could ask for, and I'll be waiting for you to come and visit!
Last Thursday Phill Katz took me to a Steelers bar in San Francisco called Giordano Bros. The Post-Gazette actually wrote an article about it, and if I had gotten knocked on the head I might have thought it was a Primanti's. Phill and I got mightily tanked while watching the game, and then went to a concert at S.F.'s Independent Theater. Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Apollo Sunshine, and Benevento Russo Duo. Switched to whiskey at the concert, and proceeded along a twisted path to pass out at Phill's apartment with a beautiful view of the city.
In the morning I headed back to Berkeley but was locked out of the apartment, so I ate a quick lunch and headed out, at Phill's suggestion, to Fairfield, CA
and the Jelly Belly Factory. Now I love jelly beans, and this factory tour was absolutely incredible. It was wild. There are all these Jelly Bean mosaics everywhere, no less than six of which were of Ronald Reagan. Apparently the guy was a rabid jelly bean addict. They had Amelia Earhart, and Elvis, and Princess Di, and dancing robots... Fantastic. I did end up buying over 4 pounds of Jelly Bellys though.
Friday evening K2 and I had dinner with my stepsister and met up with my nephew. He's 3 years old, and adorable. He's doing a Capoeira class Saturday mornings so we also went to watch him (but showed up a little bit late) and have breakfast. K2 may be babysitting. K2 and I were also a little late to the Power to the Peaceful hippie festival, but we did get to see Michael Franti and Spearhead. Brody, I know you're jealous. We hit the sack early though because Sunday morning was...
FOOTBALL!! Yes, Sunday morning. Cause games start at 10AM out here. Which is crazy. Crazy enough that the only people at the bar for kickoff were me, K2, and two Jets fans. A few Baltimore fans showed, and a couple Eagles fans (we sang the fight song). But that was it for the morning games. We were wasted by noon, and fucked up proper by the time the afternoon games hit halftime. When the bartenders changed, we left, and the walk home is a bit fuzzy. We do know that I belligerently tried to get many people to give me Eagles/Jets wins high fives, and most reluctantly complied. An Oakland fan in a white van did not, however, he just drove away from me. There's little remembering between getting home and waking up again at 7:30 or so. Watched some of the night game, tried to curb the hangovers, and went back to bed
As far as Monday goes, Chris Cooley sucks, Mark Brunell sucks in helping Chris Cooley, and I lost my fantasy game to Drew. Weeds is still the best show on television. That's about it.
Tuesday was a driving day, and pretty uneventful. Driving fatigue started to set in, and for the first time I had to camp because I was tired and not just because I was bored or it was late. Passed out in my tent by 7pm.. which turned out to be a bad idea. It meant I woke up freezing in the middle of the night. It's officially out of summer camping season.
Wednesday was another driving day, though I did get to stop in Portland just for lunch. (Sorry Emily!) I woke up early and hit Portland at noon. It's just as beautiful of a city as I remembered, and construction on that brewpub is done by the way :) I ate in the Sunnyside area, stopping my random driving around when I saw this awesome street art (I know, I know, pictures are coming...), walked around and found a place called the Laughing Planet that was really cool and had great food. I got back on the road and made it up to Olympia!
Today I explored a little bit and found a great brewpub with an awesome variety of beers. British style ales, German style weizens, three different kinds of hard cider, seasonals, specialties, and all of it brewed there. Imagine Church Brew Works with a seafood focus and triple the beer options. I put myself on the local theatre's email list and checked out my apartment complex, which looks pretty cool. It's adjacent to a park, and the running trail runs right outside my backdoor. I'm also right next to a baseball field, so I can watch the games from my balcony. I tried to take a drive around my new campus, but it's kind of difficult when you can't park anywhere and can't see anything from the road. Basically, it's in the middle of the woods. Driving around campus meant driving through incredibly dense forest. I couldn't find any parking, and couldn't find any buildings. I even got lost. Next time I'll bring a campus map. And a compass.
Tomorrow I'll audition sports bars so I'm ready for Sunday and look around for furniture.
I'll take this moment to thank you all for your help in getting me across the country. In addition to the people who graciously put me up on the road, thanks to everyone who lent me their words of support and encouragement. Many people said they were impressed at how I was able to do it alone, but I never really felt alone on the trip. I certainly do have the best friends anyone could ask for, and I'll be waiting for you to come and visit!
posted by Fraggle @ 2:07 AM
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