"it is now in chronological order Amanda..."

Amanda requested that this blog be arranged in chronological order. Because, you know, she's earth and I'm water, so that's how we roll. So, first order of business is The Opera House Internet Cafe. One night we were strolling around looking for a warm place to sit and read, and cringing because we were continually met with the same combination on every street: ice cream place, pizza place, bar, obnoxious gift shop. But suddenly we stumbled upon the Opera House Internet Cafe. This wonderful little place is located on Cottage Street in Acadia National Park, Maine. If you're ever in Bar Harbor, please skip the overpriced t-shirts and the "I climbed Mt. Cadillac" stickers, and instead, go to this place. They operate on the "honor code," meaning they have a little area in the middle of the shop filled with yummy pastries, coffee, and other beverages. You go get what you want, and when you leave, they just trust you to tell them what you actually had to eat. There's also a lovely little circle of grandma chairs with blankets draped over the back of each one. Big band swing music plays in the background. It was such a homey little haven. But the best part is, we played hangman with one of the guys that worked there. His word was "shenanigans," shiz stamp.

Next we have to recount the epic fail that we witnessed in Acadia. After a long day of kayaking in the Atlantic, we came back to shore and saw this:


And this:


Some people just don't understand the concept of "high tide." What had earlier been a sandbar where people could drive down to the water's edge, was now submerged in seawater, and so were this mini van and subaru. We stood by and watched helplessly as the subaru's alarm went off in a muffled cry for help under the water, and then slowly faded away. Can you say epic fail?

A long day of kayaking also left us craving pizza, so when we arrived in Portland, Maine we found a local pizzeria called Otto's. Roasted tomatoes, basil, and ricotta cheese. Highly recommended.



And then--cue Vampire Weekend Contra album--"In December drinking horchata..."

We tasted horchata for the first time in Portland. For only $2. In a mason jar. SHIZ. For those of you who haven't experienced horchata, it's almond and rice milk with vanilla and cinnamon. Ours were iced with an optional shot of espresso. Our hearts sang as the sweet mixture touched our tongues and our cell phones charged on a nearby table in the 2nd story coffee shop that overlooked the street.

Now we're in New Haven, Connecticut visiting Amanda's cousin. We had a great dinner, walked around Yale, and ate some delicious ice cream. After four nights of sleeping in the back of the car, we've had a hot shower and we're sleeping on a bed. Life is good.

Amanda & Stephanie

shiz worthy adventures of 2010

Hellooooo friends, family, and random internet followers! It's 2010 and we're back on the road for epic adventure number 2! This time we're exploring the east coast of the U.S. We're already halfway through our 2 week gallivanting and we've reached our turning point in Maine. Here's where we've been so far:

Asheville, NC
Cumberland Falls, KY
Charlottsville, VA
Philadelphia, PA
Burlington, VT
Mt. Katahdin, ME

While traveling by car past mountains, over rivers, and through cities we've made a list of things we term "the shiz," which therefore receive a theoretical "shiz stamp" and things that are, well, not the shiz. Here are the highlights:

THE SHIZ
-The Twisted Tree Branch Tea Bazaar in Virginia.
-Morning run and wonderful breakfast with our couchsurfing host Nancy in Virginia.
-Epic u-turn across five lanes of traffic in tourist central across from the capitol and famous monuments in Washington, D.C. "I swear, the interstate just ended!"
-$20 futon mattress from Craig's list in Philly. We've now slept on it 2 times in the back of the Pathfinder. Comfy!
-Fresh and cheap fruit market in the middle of Philly.
-Staying with Jamie and Adam in Vermont.
-Nutella crepes at the Skinny Pancake in Vermont.
-$50 ticket waived in less than 30 seconds by friendly northerner in Vermont.
-Katahdin: "My pronunciation is better than your pronunciation"
-Hitching a ride for the 2 miles back to our car after hiking 9 miles on Katahdin.

NOT THE SHIZ
-Failing to see the moonbow for the second time, due to clouds at Cumberland Falls, Kentucky.
-$11 ticket in Knoxville, Tennessee, we were so exciting about coffee and tea that we forgot to pay the meter.
-Hoping for a refreshing swim, only to find that the lake was only 3 feet deep and filled with grunge and v-algae in Virginia.
-Toll roads
-Untrustworthy roadsigns in D.C.
-Misinterpreting a northern accent in Starbucks in Maine: "hot or aced?"





Now we're off to Acadia National Park!

Amanda & Stephanie

Following the T-Mobilean dance of frustration

*Ahem* Other than my intensely frustrating battle with T-mobile (see post below), Boise was pleasant. From Boise we headed to Laramie, Wyoming (and of course we did an Avett Brothers "Old Wyoming" tribute). What's in Laramie, Wyoming you ask? Well, our guess was as good as yours, but we had arranged to stay with some couchsurfing hosts there and it was a good stopping point. It turns out that Laramie is an adorable little place full of local shops and wild West spirit. Our hosts, Erin and Shaun, took us on a walking tour. We went to a coffee shop called Coal Creek Coffee where a local musician was playing. They also took us on a tour of the University of Wyoming. The best part was that there's a huge tyrannosaurus statue hidden behind some trees next to the geology department. It's the coolest thing! There was also an incredible wigwam art sculpture made out of real twigs. Amanda and I decided we want to build one and live in it. The next morning we went to the Home Bakery. Mmm. Then it was time to hit the road again, Shaun made us an awesome "snowy mountain mix" CD for the rest of our trip.

From Laramie we headed to Lincoln, Nebraska. What's in Lincoln, Nebraska you ask? A campground! We camped for the night and took a swim in a nearby lake. Now we are in Racine, Wisconsin staying with my friends, the Hengemuhles. Mrs. Bev Hengemuhle is awesome for many reasons, one of them being her endless supply of random cures for various ailments. For example, observe the plant pictured below:

As we were walking alongside Lake Michigan, Mrs. Bev stooped down and said, "look closely girls, this plant is your best friend," she then elaborated on the fact that if you have a bee sting, you should immediately tear up the leaves of this plant and rub it on the sting to make it go down. Who would have thought? She also told me that rubbing apple cider vinegar on sunburn draws it out, I totally needed to know that 19 years ago. Aside from giving us survival tips, Mrs. Bev took us the marina in Racine, as well as the lighthouse on Windpoint. 

Oh! And the Hengemuhles introduced us to a game called sjoelen. It's a Dutch game and ohmygoodness it's fun! We played for hours at a time during our stay in Racine. I didn't get a picture but I stole this one from the internet:

I'm not exactly sure how to describe it other than it involves a lot of strategic sliding. And some baby powder. And some math. And wow, it's fun. Don't worry, we're planning on building our own so we can show you all how to play.  

Tomorrow we are going to visit Chicago for a bit (since about 15 people have insisted that we eat Chicago style pizza), and then we're heading to Rothbury, Michigan to volunteer at the Rothbury music festival. So long for now. :)

-Stephanie

The Curse of T-Mobile

What you see here are silhouettes of Stephanie on a prairie in Idaho.

We camped near Boise in the most unusual campground we've ever seen. Why was it so peculiar? ...there weren't any trees. It was really nice though... the sites each had a picnic table with a shelter and the warm showers were included in the 11 dollar fee. We watched the sunset and slept under the stars and had an overall enjoyable experience.

There was just one problem.

Fellow T-Mobile users will relate to the frustration of not being able to complete a call or send a text message. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the scene above, this is the dance the T-Mobilean people do to call upon the good favor of the cellphone gods. Sometimes it works, other times we end up laughing our heads off in the middle of nowhere.
Thanks a lot, T-Mobile.

Portland

Attention readers, Amanda and I both posted separate entries today, so if you've been keeping up with the blog, make sure you read Amanda's post below BEFORE you read this post. :)

Ahhhh, and now we are in Portland, Oregon completing our tribute to The Decemberists in the very place that they take up residency. I must say that Portland has been my favorite city that we've visited on this trip so far. We arrived on Monday night and our first stop was Powell's Bookstore. Wow, WOW! And might I add wow! I think that if I had not seen anything else besides Powell's Books in Portland, I would still be satisfied. It's a four-story bookstore with color coded rooms (like the Rose Room with all the lovely children's books, the Blue Room with the classic literature, etc.), and a coffee shop inside. Amazing! Thousands of books, old and new and very well organized. I like the old ones that smell loved and have the original pictures in them. After that we went went to the apartment where we were going to stay to meet our couchsurfing hosts. They said that we were guests #231 and #232, that's a lot of couchsurfers! They were hosting some other surfers at the same time that we were there so we got to meet fellow couchsurfers. They introduced us to raw food and let us try some raw cake. Mmm! Mom always told me never to eat singing food, does that go for live food as well (yea, I like the Muppets)? The next day we awoke pretty early because we had to move our car, which by the way, parking in Portland is absolute POOP. It's free over night, but when daytime arises it's impossible to find free parking unless you drive into a neighborhood outside of the city (which we did). But luckily, Portland is very bike friendly so we didn't really need a car. 

The food selections in Portland are endless and we haven't been disappointed yet. For lunch on Tuesday we went to the Pearl Bakery and had two delicious sandwiches. They were each $3.75, we both drank water, and there's no sales tax in Portland! So, we filled our bellies with local deliciousness for a mere $3.75 each.

After that we biked around the city some and realized that we don't really know how to bike around cities. But somehow, we managed, although we pissed off a few Portland drivers (sorry!). We made our way to the river and sat between the Steel and Broadway bridges watching boats and dipping our feet in the water. Later we met up with a friend who took us on a bike ride to Stumptown Coffee (delicious!) and to the East side of Portland. The East side is more peaceful than the West side, it's brimming with beautiful houses and rose gardens. 

Today we went to Voodoo Doughnuts because we had heard much hype about it. It's a tiny, hole-in-the-wall place with the most decadent doughnuts I've seen in my life! They even have a vegan selection (Portland is a vegan's dream destination). I had the Bavarian cream-filled doughnut. 

And now the park and sunshine are begging us to get away from these laptop screens. We leave Portland tomorrow.

-Stephanie

And the road a-winding goes, from Golden Gate to roaring cliffside...

San Francisco is a big, famous city. Everyone vacations there, and everyone knows what to see while they’re there. Well… almost everyone. When we first arrived we didn’t really know what to do. Going over the bridge from Oakland we got our first taste of the busy city—six lanes of bumper-to-bumper California traffic. It was a big change compared to the lonely highways we’d been driving. We drove through the city, along streets and avenues, looking at parks that we couldn’t go to because there wasn’t any parking. It got frustrating.

We finally got out the gps and headed for the Golden Gate Bridge because we knew that would be fun. We grabbed our cameras and followed a little footpath through some trees... and there it was. We smiled, glad to be out of the car, and walked out on the bridge. Before we got even 1/8th of the way out the wind became quite noticeable. I was wearing a skirt. So I have my camera in one hand, I’m texting and holding my skirt with the other, and all the while I’m getting run over by cyclists. It was about this time that we realized all the pedestrians were on the other side of the bridge. This was the first time we made it obvious that we were tourists. By then we were a good 1/3rd of the way out on the bridge and the wind was even crazier, it was blowing our shirts now too. We were laughing at ourselves for being on the wrong side, for wearing inappropriate clothing, and for being such awesome tourists. We never made it across the bridge, but that was okay because we had an awesome experience. Things learned: the wind on the Golden Gate bridge is strong enough to leave you naked—wear pants and a belt, no skirts or scarves for sure. And watch for pedestrian signs too.

After the bridge we wandered some more, got the oil changed, and started to look for something else to do. We decided to pay tribute to the Decemberists by visiting the places from their song Grace Cathedral Hill. Getting there was interesting… it’s a one of those streets you would see in the movies. You know, the kind that goes straight uphill. Scary! But Steph is an awesome driver, so we were fine. No one honked, or yelled, or got run over. Good job Stephanie. The cathedral was beautiful, and we took tons of pictures. We took our iPods with us, listening to the song over and over as we walked around. In my opinion, it was the best part of the day. The Hyde Street Pier was closed, but we were still able to sneak a photo and listen to the song again.

The next day we began our drive up California 1. The Decemberists also have a song about CA-1 so of course we listened to it a lot too. Again we found ourselves saying, “This is the best part yet!” The road winds along the shore, occasionally dipping inland over hills and pastures. The air smells salty and fresh. At every curve there is another spectacular view—Giant boulders sitting in the shallows with waves crashing against them, sending sea spray high into the air, and fields of flowers that suddenly turn into cliffs. It was very beautiful. We stopped often to take pictures, and took some out the window as well. That night we camped at Patrick’s Point State park, in the southern part of the Redwoods, and played along the shore while the sun sunk below the horizon. Stephanie saw a seal, I got attacked by a wave, and we both froze our butts off. It was a really good day. Oh, except for the cost. Its $27.50 to camp anywhere in California and we had to pay for our showers too. : /

The next day we waved farewell to California and headed up the coast of Oregon. For breakfast we had delicious Chai Spiced Tea from a gas station where we bummed hot water. The drive was similar to the California coast, and just as amazing. We stopped at the Sea Lion Caves, only to discover they wanted 11 bucks to walk down the trail. We politely declined and kept driving. Two seconds down the road there was a pull-off where we saw, smelled, and photographed the sea lions for free. It was a triumphant moment. We drove for about 9 hours that day, through picturesque coastal towns, and eventually drove inland to one of our main destinations—Portland.

-Amanda

Crazy Pants and Bike Tours

I'm sitting in the quant little couchsurfing guest room that our generous hosts provided us with in Fresno, CA. There's a beautiful Singers sewing machine table to my left and some wide open windows with bamboo blinds to my right. The house we are staying in is historic, designed by Henry Greene in 1917, and our room is connected to the kitchen and used to be the maid's quarters. But before I write about our stay in Fresno, let me recap the past few days:

Wednesday

Before leaving Albuquerque we discovered that they have an excessive amount of CrAzY pants for sale in a store called Buffalo's. It's pretty much the equivalent of Plato's Closet, but much better (the attendant stressed the fact that Plato's Closet and any other store like it is a knock-off of Buffalo's). By CrAzY pants I mean huge, linen, comfy pants, perfect for 9 hour days in a car. So if you happen to find yourself in Albuquerque one day, be sure to get yourself some CrAzY pants at Buffalo's. We also went to a delicious coffee shop called Daily Grind, best cinnamon toast ever. Seriously. We then headed towards the Grand Canyon south rim.

Thursday

First off, the bus system at the Grand Canyon takes about an hour to get anywhere, we suggest riding bikes, although some of the hills suck if you're a weak biker (like me). We took a day hike into the Canyon down Hermit's Trail, it's about a 5 mile hike round trip. For lunch we stopped on a wide ridge of the Canyon and ended up staring at it in silence for about 20 minutes. The Canyon is vast and beyond words. As we sat there munching on cheezits and granola bars and observing the Canyon with gaping eyes, I had the feeling that it is unconquerable. No matter how many trails we carve into it, or tourist attractions we cover its ridges with, it still demands awe and fear. At sunset we went to Hopi Point and watched the clouds turn purple as the rain tugged at their underbellies. Shadows crept around the ridges of the Canyon, dulling the colors and darkening its depths. Later we stargazed at our campsite. 

 

Friday

We left the Canyon in the early morning and headed to Fresno, where I'm sitting in the quant little guest room now. Our hosts, Stephen and Nancy took us on an amazing bike tour of the city. We went to an ice cream shop called La Reina de Michoacan (no I can't pronounce it). It's famous for its sherbert ice cream made with real fruit. Then we went to a pizza place called Milano's. I think my favorite part of our stay here was getting to wear a rad yellow reflective vest while we rode bikes. Stephen and Nancy are certified bike instructors so they equipped us well for the tour. 

Today

Heading to San Francisco!

-Stephanie