from Vancouver

Tipi’s I helped set up in Austin, TX over the past couple...

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:55:41 -0400

Tipi’s I helped set up in Austin, TX over the past couple of days. Jess and I missed Texas on the farming trip, but we got to see it now. I wonder if britt and meredith are seeing some alternative living styles in central america?????

New photos of the trip post-Denver can be found here.

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:41:23 -0400

New photos of the trip post-Denver can be found here.

We started our visit last night to Bandelier National Monument...

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:04:23 -0400

We started our visit last night to Bandelier National Monument with a hike to an overlook of Anisazi ruins. Today we did a much longer hike in which we got to climb up ladders into alcoves that used to serve as cliff dwellings for the Native American tribe. We then made our way to Santa Fe, which was an awesome city. There were tons of people outside enjoying the day. We ate some really good fajitas, and Meredith got a saint refrigerator magnet. We finished the day in a hotel in El Paso. Tomorrow: Austin.

Yesterday we stopped by the city of Taos and the nearby Taos...

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:53:28 -0400

Yesterday we stopped by the city of Taos and the nearby Taos Pueblo, a 1000+ year-old Native American settlement. The architecture was all real adobe, and there were tons of art shops. Although intrigued by the age of the culture at Taos Pueblo, both Meredith and I felt a certain voyeurism while touring the village, paying $5 to use our camera (and thus agreeing that we wouldn’t take pictures of the natives without their permission), and realizing that most of the white tourists spent their time in the pueblo collecting “real” and “authentic” native crafts. We sped through the village, snapping a few pictures and escaping with the hope (probably unfounded) that we were different than those “other” tourists. We continued this culturally-confused afternoon by stopping at the adobe-style McDonalds, where we cooled down with an ice cream cone.

After sending Bill, Jessie, and Patrick back to the northeast,...

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:40:02 -0400

After sending Bill, Jessie, and Patrick back to the northeast, Meredith and I have continued our travels on to New Mexico and Texas. Two days ago we went hiking at Pike’s Peak in Colorado, which is apparently the second-most visited mountain in the world (next to Fuji). The hiking wasn’t too difficult and we may have seen a wild cat.

Our last stop was Denver Colorado, where we stayed with...

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:58:11 -0400

Our last stop was Denver Colorado, where we stayed with Jessie’s uncle Mike Rooney in his sweet bachelor pad in the city. The apartment complex had a real nice pool/hot tub and really delicious chocolate mints. It was nice being there for longer then just a day, we were able to explore a little bit more and get a better feeling for the city. We went to the botanic garden (which had a neat urban art exhibit going on in it), the natural history museum, Red Rock concert theater, and we saw some armature improv comedy. Good last stop.

the next 2 days we did a lot of driving. Lake Tahoe to Salt Lake...

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:43:03 -0400

the next 2 days we did a lot of driving. Lake Tahoe to Salt Lake City to Denver. California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, then Colorado. Lots of dry, deserty landscapes. At one point tumbleweeds were literally bouncing across the road. We caught back up with Britt in Salt Lake City and made our way out to Denver.

after much deliberation between Yosemite and Lake Tahoe we ended...

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:38:37 -0400

after much deliberation between Yosemite and Lake Tahoe we ended up choosing Tahoe because we wanted to swim and because it was closer. The lakes ended up being too cold to swim in, but it was still pretty nice. We went hiking the next morning up to the Angola lakes. They were still cold, but Meredith went swimming anyway.

patrick moberg has joined the road trip! arrived the last night...

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:28:00 -0400

patrick moberg has joined the road trip! arrived the last night in san francisco to catch the hotel party we crashed.

spent the last 2 nights in San Francisco, a big change from our...

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:29:49 -0400

spent the last 2 nights in San Francisco, a big change from our farming and camping adventures recently. The traffic here is crazy - its very stressful driving around with all the hills and speeding people in convertibles. We had a great meal in San Francisco’s Chinatown and we spent some time in the Golden Gate bridge park and on the actual bridge.

The last two days we camped out in Napa Valley, California. Wine...

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 20:07:31 -0400

The last two days we camped out in Napa Valley, California. Wine country. All the farms turned into grape fields, long lines of waist high bushes crawling over hills and valleys. Pretty neat looking, it was fun to go taste wines as well. My favorite was Laird Family Estate. Their farm was designed by the same architect that did the louvre.

last night we camped out in the RedWood forest of northern...

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:54:42 -0400

last night we camped out in the RedWood forest of northern California. The hike the following day was amazing. The most beautiful thing I’ve seen all trip. Our hike was called Damnation Creek and went from the forest to the coast. All of it was amazing. Also - some of the original Jurassic Park was filmed in this forest. check on the flickr account for some more photos.

after a nights stay in Everett, Washington we headed south to...

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:49:32 -0400

after a nights stay in Everett, Washington we headed south to Portland, Organ. We all really liked the city a lot, although we didn’t get to see as much of it as we wanted. Jessie’s friend from Japan, Patrick Dedrick, gave us a private tour of the Sakery where he works. We also went to a gigantic used bookstore and bought some books. I got this one. Also ate some conveyor belt sushi!

farming documentaries

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 12:53:40 -0400

Bob and Eva were both activists for organic farming and they showed us a couple documentaries that were both enjoyable and educational. Especially after driving across the US and seeing how many farms are actually in our country and wondering why so many of them were run down and broken. We watched King Corn, The Future of Food, and The Corporation.

we have now left Canada. We ended our farming experience and...

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 12:49:05 -0400

we have now left Canada. We ended our farming experience and left for the US. We were all strangely excited to return to America, but after a terse intercourse with the American customs people our excitement faded away. I guess we were expecting a “Welcome Home!” or something. Britt left for New York for a History Fellowship but he will return to the road trip in Salt Lake city a week from now. We now head South through Portland and the Napa Valley.

We returned to the Green Haven! Bob and Eva invited us back to...

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 12:44:02 -0400

We returned to the Green Haven! Bob and Eva invited us back to their farm to work for another week before we continued on south on our road trip. So we crossed over to Vancouver Island once more to continue our organic Farming Experience. Since we had 4 people we went on a lot of day/afternoon trips around the island and did a good deal of hiking. Thats jess at Nymph Falls.

so after much much much deliberation, we got up the courage to...

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 12:39:06 -0400

so after much much much deliberation, we got up the courage to tell the goat farmers that we were leaving, which resulted in an amazingly awkward conversation. But we got out of there and retreated back to Britt’s family friends in Vancouver. Britt’s friends, the Taylors, just got a new puppy named Flin that looked like a Teddy Bear.

our next stop was Goat’s Pride Dairy in Abbotsford, BC. We...

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 12:24:04 -0400

our next stop was Goat’s Pride Dairy in Abbotsford, BC. We had been so excited about this goat dairy from the beginning of the trip. Learning how to make goat cheese? I mean, come on. Unfortunately, our experience was not quite what we had expected. To cut the story short we left the farm after 2 work days.

All 4 of us would probably list off different things for reasons of why we left but for myself it was mainly the food. If the food had been edible I could have sucked up the long work hours, excessive pray sessions, and their annoying kids. But they fed us rotten fruits and vegetables, unlabeled meat from Costco, and the bad cheese from their dairy. In the WWOOF program where your pay is in the form of food, this became an issue.

after the “green haven” farming experience on...

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 12:15:17 -0400

after the “green haven” farming experience on Vancouver Island we traveled across to the mainland for a couple nights stay in Vancouver. Britt had some family friends that we were able to stay with in a really nice area of the city. The hedges in their neighborhood were quite ridiculous. They took us out for steak like 5 times.

clips from Bob and Eva’s farm Green Haven. Pet goats,...

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:37:00 -0400

clips from Bob and Eva’s farm Green Haven. Pet goats, portable chicken coup, and turkeys. if the video doesn’t play go here -> http://vimeo.com/1124305