Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Reflecting on Native Americans in the US
On July 4, I wrote a post talking about Native Americans and how they have been treated by the United States government and people. Upon reflection the last couple of weeks, I wanted to put together a more dedicated, articulate, and hopefully productive post.
Over the last few years, I have started to educate myself on the history of the Native Americans, their culture, and the difficulties that they face today. Part of this was due to my job at Stanford: Native Americans, particularly Natives who have grown up on reservations, are one of the most at-risk populations in higher education with respect to dropping out and depression. But a large part of this was also due to my almost comprehensive lack of knowledge about these topics.
The treatment of Native Americans by the United States government over the years has been deplorable at best and genocidal at worst. The number of times that we have broken treaties with different tribes is shameful and yet these past actions have not influenced our national consciousness in recent interactions. As you probably know, the tribes that were placed onto reservations (and not utterly decimated) have been largely put on the worst lands in the country. These lands often did not meet the needs or culture of the tribe and in many cases the land was very difficult to cultivate through farming.
Unfortunately, it is easy to categorize these actions as things of the past and that we surely could not be continuing such racist actions/policies today. Some will say that American Indians DID sign treaties on behalf of their people, but often times, these were individuals who were not recognized as tribal leaders and were often bribed. It would be akin to the US speaking to a Cuban émigré, making him an offer to have all the Cubans leave Cuba, getting him to sign an agreement, and then the US taking over the island “legally.”
Others may be aware that the US government set up the Bureau of Indian Affairs within the Department of the Interior to be an advocate for Native American peoples and tribes. The reality is that the BIA has wavered in effectiveness, at times being a vocal advocate and at other times being a complete sham. In fact, it seems that the BIA is only effective when there isn’t something the US government really wants from American Indians.
What boggles my mind is why we as non-Native Americans are so unreceptive to their wishes. For example, there has been a strong push to remove American Indian mascots from universities and sports teams. One of the most offensive of these mascots is the Washington Redskins (in football). The term “redskin” itself is a derogatory term. Aside from our 50-year tradition with football, why wouldn’t we just say, “After everything that we have done to Native Americans, the least we can do is grant them this dignity”? My own alma mater, Stanford University, faced a similar decision almost 40 years ago and decided to change its mascot from the Stanford Indians to the Stanford Cardinal. Yet when I go to home football games, there is still a noticeable number of alumni who wear their Stanford Indians apparel defiantly. And I won’t even get into the Tomahawk Chop used by the Atlanta Braves.
So let me ask you, what is our problem here? What are we giving up by changing our names and traditions that gets anywhere close to what Native Americans have been forced to give up?
Are we being forced to relocate off our lands? Are we being forced to adopt a new religion so that we lose our culture? Are we being forcibly walked hundreds of miles to relocate (Trail of Tears)? The answer to all of these is obviously no, yet we still cannot get ourselves to concede even the slightest of accommodations to them.
I have heard the arguments not to change mascots, too. They normally revolve around two points: 1) not all American Indians care about changing the name, in fact it’s only a small minority of Indians who do care and 2) the name is our way of honoring American Indians (which still doesn’t explain the Washington Redskins). Even if it is a small minority of American Indians who want the name changed and don’t find this “honoring” to be dignified, what does it matter? Plus, there have been no Native American groups that have fought to keep the mascot names, many of them are simply indifferent. In other words, they are saying, “I won’t let this injustice bother me any more – this is not the battle I want to fight.” And furthermore with argument #2, why don’t we listen to how American Indians want their heritage to be honored?
And changing team names in sports is the most minor of concessions. When I was at Devil’s Tower, a sacred site for Natives, I learned that they had requested that rock climbers not climb the monument during the month of June. They had not sought a legal injunction, just asked that we respect their wishes. While the vast majority of groups have done so, there was and still is a small minority that has asserted their right to climb the monument, resulting in this 1999 appellate court decision. I understand that the Department of the Interior backed American Indians on this one, but the bigger question for me is why don’t we have it in our national consciousness to acknowledge our numerous previous injustices and let some of this go without a fight or roadblock?
In my earlier post, I made a comparison to Germany and their national consciousness and guilt about Nazism and the Holocaust. It is as if we as a country lack the ability to say that we are sorry about forced relocation of American Indians, about slavery, and about numerous other injustices (anti-miscegenation laws, for one). Instead, we seem to say, “aren’t you over that yet?”
I have been reading Cadillac Desert, a book that documents the overuse of water in the west and in one part, Marc Reisner documents the Ice Harbor Dam on the Columbia River that was built in the 1950s that flooded reservation lands. The reservation was displaced and moved to worse lands. When they asked for the smallest of concessions (a miniscule amount of water rights to use to irrigate their newer (and poorer lands) and the right to the timber on their reservation that would be destroyed by the creation of the dam), these concessions were denied. The name of lake created by the dam? Lake Sacajawea. Classy move.
If you are interested in learning more about Native American history or culture, I would recommend the following books and authors:
On the Rez, Ian Frazier (a book by a White man who has spent a large amount of time on the Pine Ridge Reservation)
Where White Men Fear To Tread, The Autobiography of Russell Means (just a fascinating book documenting the failures of the BIA and his clashes with the US government from the 60s to the 90s)
Reservation Blues, The Toughest Indian In The World, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven – all by Sherman Alexie (Sherman Alexie is a very gifted writer and mixes Native humor, the overwhelming sense of tragedy, and non-linear time into brilliant story-telling who also wrote the screenplays for Smoke Signals and The Business of Fancydancing)
Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee by Dee Brown.
Over the last few years, I have started to educate myself on the history of the Native Americans, their culture, and the difficulties that they face today. Part of this was due to my job at Stanford: Native Americans, particularly Natives who have grown up on reservations, are one of the most at-risk populations in higher education with respect to dropping out and depression. But a large part of this was also due to my almost comprehensive lack of knowledge about these topics.
The treatment of Native Americans by the United States government over the years has been deplorable at best and genocidal at worst. The number of times that we have broken treaties with different tribes is shameful and yet these past actions have not influenced our national consciousness in recent interactions. As you probably know, the tribes that were placed onto reservations (and not utterly decimated) have been largely put on the worst lands in the country. These lands often did not meet the needs or culture of the tribe and in many cases the land was very difficult to cultivate through farming.
Unfortunately, it is easy to categorize these actions as things of the past and that we surely could not be continuing such racist actions/policies today. Some will say that American Indians DID sign treaties on behalf of their people, but often times, these were individuals who were not recognized as tribal leaders and were often bribed. It would be akin to the US speaking to a Cuban émigré, making him an offer to have all the Cubans leave Cuba, getting him to sign an agreement, and then the US taking over the island “legally.”
Others may be aware that the US government set up the Bureau of Indian Affairs within the Department of the Interior to be an advocate for Native American peoples and tribes. The reality is that the BIA has wavered in effectiveness, at times being a vocal advocate and at other times being a complete sham. In fact, it seems that the BIA is only effective when there isn’t something the US government really wants from American Indians.
What boggles my mind is why we as non-Native Americans are so unreceptive to their wishes. For example, there has been a strong push to remove American Indian mascots from universities and sports teams. One of the most offensive of these mascots is the Washington Redskins (in football). The term “redskin” itself is a derogatory term. Aside from our 50-year tradition with football, why wouldn’t we just say, “After everything that we have done to Native Americans, the least we can do is grant them this dignity”? My own alma mater, Stanford University, faced a similar decision almost 40 years ago and decided to change its mascot from the Stanford Indians to the Stanford Cardinal. Yet when I go to home football games, there is still a noticeable number of alumni who wear their Stanford Indians apparel defiantly. And I won’t even get into the Tomahawk Chop used by the Atlanta Braves.
So let me ask you, what is our problem here? What are we giving up by changing our names and traditions that gets anywhere close to what Native Americans have been forced to give up?
Are we being forced to relocate off our lands? Are we being forced to adopt a new religion so that we lose our culture? Are we being forcibly walked hundreds of miles to relocate (Trail of Tears)? The answer to all of these is obviously no, yet we still cannot get ourselves to concede even the slightest of accommodations to them.
I have heard the arguments not to change mascots, too. They normally revolve around two points: 1) not all American Indians care about changing the name, in fact it’s only a small minority of Indians who do care and 2) the name is our way of honoring American Indians (which still doesn’t explain the Washington Redskins). Even if it is a small minority of American Indians who want the name changed and don’t find this “honoring” to be dignified, what does it matter? Plus, there have been no Native American groups that have fought to keep the mascot names, many of them are simply indifferent. In other words, they are saying, “I won’t let this injustice bother me any more – this is not the battle I want to fight.” And furthermore with argument #2, why don’t we listen to how American Indians want their heritage to be honored?
And changing team names in sports is the most minor of concessions. When I was at Devil’s Tower, a sacred site for Natives, I learned that they had requested that rock climbers not climb the monument during the month of June. They had not sought a legal injunction, just asked that we respect their wishes. While the vast majority of groups have done so, there was and still is a small minority that has asserted their right to climb the monument, resulting in this 1999 appellate court decision. I understand that the Department of the Interior backed American Indians on this one, but the bigger question for me is why don’t we have it in our national consciousness to acknowledge our numerous previous injustices and let some of this go without a fight or roadblock?
In my earlier post, I made a comparison to Germany and their national consciousness and guilt about Nazism and the Holocaust. It is as if we as a country lack the ability to say that we are sorry about forced relocation of American Indians, about slavery, and about numerous other injustices (anti-miscegenation laws, for one). Instead, we seem to say, “aren’t you over that yet?”
I have been reading Cadillac Desert, a book that documents the overuse of water in the west and in one part, Marc Reisner documents the Ice Harbor Dam on the Columbia River that was built in the 1950s that flooded reservation lands. The reservation was displaced and moved to worse lands. When they asked for the smallest of concessions (a miniscule amount of water rights to use to irrigate their newer (and poorer lands) and the right to the timber on their reservation that would be destroyed by the creation of the dam), these concessions were denied. The name of lake created by the dam? Lake Sacajawea. Classy move.
If you are interested in learning more about Native American history or culture, I would recommend the following books and authors:
On the Rez, Ian Frazier (a book by a White man who has spent a large amount of time on the Pine Ridge Reservation)
Where White Men Fear To Tread, The Autobiography of Russell Means (just a fascinating book documenting the failures of the BIA and his clashes with the US government from the 60s to the 90s)
Reservation Blues, The Toughest Indian In The World, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven – all by Sherman Alexie (Sherman Alexie is a very gifted writer and mixes Native humor, the overwhelming sense of tragedy, and non-linear time into brilliant story-telling who also wrote the screenplays for Smoke Signals and The Business of Fancydancing)
Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee by Dee Brown.
Day Eleven - The Final Day of Driving
Location as of Day Eleven: Fort Lauderdale, FL
Miles traveled as of Day Eleven: 5496
At about 2:45am, I was parking Joaquin outside of Deb's house in Florida. My journey had come to an end. I was kind of sad that this would be the last day of driving and that I wouldn't be able to just keep going. It's true that I was starting to run out of land, but I'm sure I could have doubled back on myself and headed up the eastern coast, right?
On the other hand, it was going to be really nice to not have to get up and go.
My final day of driving began, once again, a little bit later than I intended. I knew I wanted to get an early start so that I could watch the Germany-Spain game and still meet up with Erin for dinner in Gainesville. I also had to factor in the time change. Once again, it's really odd to be driving and one minute it's 12:30 and the next minute it's 1:30pm. Weird.
Before I left the Red Roof Inn in Panama City, I had a short conversation with the woman at the front desk. I asked her about the oil spill and if it had affected them in Panama City at all. According to her, they haven't seen any of the oil since it is farther west. They have had a few oil recovery workers stay at the Red Roof Inn, but that was the extent of it. As I drove along the gulf coast, I really didn't notice anything and there seemed to be a good number of tourists out and about (and in the water).
The final day of driving was pretty freaking hot. Temperatures were well into the 90s and I thought of my nephew Chris as I passed the Tyndall Air Force Base. It's beautiful to be right here on the water, but hot as sin. Hopefully basic training will be in a more temperate location.
As I powered on through to Gainesville, I listened to the soccer game, figuring that I would find a place to stop, eat, and watch the second half of the game. To my amazement, I found no such place on the way, so I had to content myself with simply listening to the game and watching highlights later. It turns out that it was a bit of an ugly game, so I didn't miss that much.
I finally got to Gainesville around 6:30pm and got to see Erin's place. Erin was one of my advisees at Stanford - she was actually Advisee of the Year for four straight years. (Some of you may wonder what that means - I did an annual dinner for my current and former advisees complete with awards. She won all four years while she was in college.) She's about to leave for Duke to do a Physician's Assistant (PA) program, so it was good to catch her before she left. We went to a place called The Top for dinner (which in San Francisco would be a gay bar next to a place called The Bottom) and the whole place was reminiscent of the type of restaurant I'd eat at in SF. The food was eclectic, the atmosphere a bit hipster, and the service was variable, though we got a great server (named Josh - obviously he was great). I was going to order "That Spicy Peanut Dish" but the blackened catfish with collard greens and jalapeno grits looked too good to pass up. It was very tasty.
After bidding Erin adieu, I started the five hour drive through the center of Florida. Around Orlando, I stopped to get gas and the whole area terrified me because it felt ultra-touristy. Shortly thereafter, I made my GPS explode because I insisted on driving down the coastal freeway (I-95) rather than the turnpike.
And then before I knew it, I was in Fort Lauderdale and my driving journey had ended.
I still have more thoughts to share from the trip and I'm going to send links to maps that show my exact route, so stay tuned for those updates (trying to do one or two a day until I make it through all of it).
Miles traveled as of Day Eleven: 5496
At about 2:45am, I was parking Joaquin outside of Deb's house in Florida. My journey had come to an end. I was kind of sad that this would be the last day of driving and that I wouldn't be able to just keep going. It's true that I was starting to run out of land, but I'm sure I could have doubled back on myself and headed up the eastern coast, right?
On the other hand, it was going to be really nice to not have to get up and go.
My final day of driving began, once again, a little bit later than I intended. I knew I wanted to get an early start so that I could watch the Germany-Spain game and still meet up with Erin for dinner in Gainesville. I also had to factor in the time change. Once again, it's really odd to be driving and one minute it's 12:30 and the next minute it's 1:30pm. Weird.
Before I left the Red Roof Inn in Panama City, I had a short conversation with the woman at the front desk. I asked her about the oil spill and if it had affected them in Panama City at all. According to her, they haven't seen any of the oil since it is farther west. They have had a few oil recovery workers stay at the Red Roof Inn, but that was the extent of it. As I drove along the gulf coast, I really didn't notice anything and there seemed to be a good number of tourists out and about (and in the water).
The final day of driving was pretty freaking hot. Temperatures were well into the 90s and I thought of my nephew Chris as I passed the Tyndall Air Force Base. It's beautiful to be right here on the water, but hot as sin. Hopefully basic training will be in a more temperate location.
As I powered on through to Gainesville, I listened to the soccer game, figuring that I would find a place to stop, eat, and watch the second half of the game. To my amazement, I found no such place on the way, so I had to content myself with simply listening to the game and watching highlights later. It turns out that it was a bit of an ugly game, so I didn't miss that much.
I finally got to Gainesville around 6:30pm and got to see Erin's place. Erin was one of my advisees at Stanford - she was actually Advisee of the Year for four straight years. (Some of you may wonder what that means - I did an annual dinner for my current and former advisees complete with awards. She won all four years while she was in college.) She's about to leave for Duke to do a Physician's Assistant (PA) program, so it was good to catch her before she left. We went to a place called The Top for dinner (which in San Francisco would be a gay bar next to a place called The Bottom) and the whole place was reminiscent of the type of restaurant I'd eat at in SF. The food was eclectic, the atmosphere a bit hipster, and the service was variable, though we got a great server (named Josh - obviously he was great). I was going to order "That Spicy Peanut Dish" but the blackened catfish with collard greens and jalapeno grits looked too good to pass up. It was very tasty.
After bidding Erin adieu, I started the five hour drive through the center of Florida. Around Orlando, I stopped to get gas and the whole area terrified me because it felt ultra-touristy. Shortly thereafter, I made my GPS explode because I insisted on driving down the coastal freeway (I-95) rather than the turnpike.
And then before I knew it, I was in Fort Lauderdale and my driving journey had ended.
I still have more thoughts to share from the trip and I'm going to send links to maps that show my exact route, so stay tuned for those updates (trying to do one or two a day until I make it through all of it).
Memphis - Disappointment on the 4th
When I was planning out my cross country drive, I had decided to spend the 4th of July. I knew that they were holding a Red, White, and Blues celebration in Handy Park right off of Beale Street followed by fireworks. Since Memphis is the home of the blues, I had high hopes for the night.
I have been to Memphis once before with the Stanford Band for the Liberty Bowl back in 1995. I was only 20 back then, plus they were putting us up in Olive Branch, MS, so I never had a chance to hang out in Memphis for real.
The first blues band I heard was decent, but they just didn't seem all that into it. They had absolutely no stage presence - at one point the singer turned it over to one of the guitar players to solo only to find that the guitar player had left to walk among the crowd to sell CDs. I left at that point to go get dinner, walked to Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken (which was closed) and came back to eat at The Pig on Beale Street. BBQ ribs are tasty.
I made it back in time to hear the end of the second band's set. I was a little surprised by the organizer's choice of this band. They sounded like they took Billy Corgan from The Smashing Pumpkins and made him the front man for Jimmy Eat World. I was wondering where the blues were and more importantly, was wondering if anyone else noticed.
Between this band and the last band, I went to grab a couple more beers. I felt like I needed them.
The last band wasn't bad and they were definitely the best of the three to play. They were a five-piece band and played a mix of blues and rock. Their singer had a pretty cool voice - it was a terrific blues voice: kind of gravelly and throaty. Unfortunately, their soloing was mediocre and they took lots of solos. I found myself REALLY wanting Sinister Dexter to be playing especially once the band played four songs that we play (Pride and Joy, Use Me, Superstition, and Tore Down). We could have easily played there and five horns would have blown the crowd away. [Quick side note: I talked to the event coordinator and got her card. Who knows, maybe we'll play there next year!]
And then came the fireworks. Kind of. Apparently, in previous years, the fireworks are shot on the waterfront over the Mississippi River. This year, they fired them from a parking structure overlooking Handy Park. I don't know how to best describe the disappointment we all felt. You know how most fireworks shoot up into the sky and then explode in a ball of color? Yeah, they didn't have those. Instead, they just had sparklers shot into the sky and then these glowing balls of color that shot into the sky and faded out. The people standing next to me said that these were the most disappointing fireworks they had ever seen and that they might have to go to Nashville next year. The show lasted 13 minutes which was 12 minutes too long. The finale song was the William Tell Overture.
Luckily, all this was done by about 10:30pm and I still had time to chill on Beale Street and check out some more bars and music. The first one I saw was Dr. Feelgood Potts. Good band and good blues. Dr. Potts is a harmonica player who may overindulge on occasion, but he sounded good and was a fun performer to watch.
The second band I heard was called Billy Lavender and The Delta Time Band and they were phenomenal. Great blues sound, played some Clapton, some Stones, and some Jimi and it all sounded terrific. Great solos and great sound and they were the highlight of the night.
After listening to them, I went to listen to a DJ play for a bit and then called it a night around midnight. Luckily, I missed the arrests outside my hotel, but it was a pretty crazy scene - there were thousands of people out on the street all night.
I have been to Memphis once before with the Stanford Band for the Liberty Bowl back in 1995. I was only 20 back then, plus they were putting us up in Olive Branch, MS, so I never had a chance to hang out in Memphis for real.
The first blues band I heard was decent, but they just didn't seem all that into it. They had absolutely no stage presence - at one point the singer turned it over to one of the guitar players to solo only to find that the guitar player had left to walk among the crowd to sell CDs. I left at that point to go get dinner, walked to Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken (which was closed) and came back to eat at The Pig on Beale Street. BBQ ribs are tasty.
I made it back in time to hear the end of the second band's set. I was a little surprised by the organizer's choice of this band. They sounded like they took Billy Corgan from The Smashing Pumpkins and made him the front man for Jimmy Eat World. I was wondering where the blues were and more importantly, was wondering if anyone else noticed.
Between this band and the last band, I went to grab a couple more beers. I felt like I needed them.
The last band wasn't bad and they were definitely the best of the three to play. They were a five-piece band and played a mix of blues and rock. Their singer had a pretty cool voice - it was a terrific blues voice: kind of gravelly and throaty. Unfortunately, their soloing was mediocre and they took lots of solos. I found myself REALLY wanting Sinister Dexter to be playing especially once the band played four songs that we play (Pride and Joy, Use Me, Superstition, and Tore Down). We could have easily played there and five horns would have blown the crowd away. [Quick side note: I talked to the event coordinator and got her card. Who knows, maybe we'll play there next year!]
And then came the fireworks. Kind of. Apparently, in previous years, the fireworks are shot on the waterfront over the Mississippi River. This year, they fired them from a parking structure overlooking Handy Park. I don't know how to best describe the disappointment we all felt. You know how most fireworks shoot up into the sky and then explode in a ball of color? Yeah, they didn't have those. Instead, they just had sparklers shot into the sky and then these glowing balls of color that shot into the sky and faded out. The people standing next to me said that these were the most disappointing fireworks they had ever seen and that they might have to go to Nashville next year. The show lasted 13 minutes which was 12 minutes too long. The finale song was the William Tell Overture.
Luckily, all this was done by about 10:30pm and I still had time to chill on Beale Street and check out some more bars and music. The first one I saw was Dr. Feelgood Potts. Good band and good blues. Dr. Potts is a harmonica player who may overindulge on occasion, but he sounded good and was a fun performer to watch.
The second band I heard was called Billy Lavender and The Delta Time Band and they were phenomenal. Great blues sound, played some Clapton, some Stones, and some Jimi and it all sounded terrific. Great solos and great sound and they were the highlight of the night.
After listening to them, I went to listen to a DJ play for a bit and then called it a night around midnight. Luckily, I missed the arrests outside my hotel, but it was a pretty crazy scene - there were thousands of people out on the street all night.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Day Ten
Location at the end of Day Ten: Panama City, FL
Total miles traveled as of Day Ten: 4883
OK, it’s true that I am typing this post in the LAX airport while I wait for my connecting flight to SFO. It is also true that there is a guy pacing in front of me while talking on the phone who bears an eerie resemblance to my brother, Matt. I feel this compelling urge to go and start swearing at him – yep, must be related!
Day Ten of the trip was interesting in so many unexpected ways because the day did not turn out anywhere close to how I had planned it. My original plan was to wake up early, check out the Freedom Summer Driving Trail, get to Montgomery by about 2pm where I would go to Dr. King’s church and the Rosa Parks museum, and then book it up to Birmingham where I would drive around a bit before heading to Panama City, FL.
As you can probably tell from this blog, my days don’t typically go as planned.
The first stop in Hattiesburg was the Freedom Summer Trail (which is why I spent the night there). Well, first, let me give you some background on Freedom Summer. Back in the Summer of 1964, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Mississippi enlisted almost 1000 college student volunteers around the nation in a massive voter registration project. An appallingly low number of Black Mississippians were un-registered (about 7% of eligible voters) due systematic racist acts keeping them from registering. As you can expect, there was a huge amount of opposition to the registration drive by Mississippi residents, local law enforcement, local government, and to an extent, the federal government. One of the first incidents of the summer was the disappearance of three volunteers (two White students and one Black student) who were found dead – it is the subject of the movie Mississippi Burning. Despite intimidation, wrongful imprisonment, levying of hefty fines, and unlawful red tape at county offices, the students engaged in the Freedom Summer Campaign worked hard to get Blacks (often poor and illiterate) registered to vote. The entire story is covered in the book, Freedom Summer by Doug McAdam.
I got to the start of the Freedom Summer Trail around 10:15am. It actually begins at the Hattiesburg Visitor Center and apparently, they don’t get too many requests for the tour brochure. I did have a few conversations with people about the fact that I was coming from San Francisco. I was also concerned because I was in the South wearing this shirt (actually not quite that shirt, but it's a close approximation).
I felt that the tour itself could have been organized much better. The brochure had very little information about the sites or their significance. If I hadn’t read the book, I would have been lost. The most interesting part, though, was the fact that the tour takes you through some of the poorest parts of Hattiesburg. I was amazed by the abject poverty just blocks away from much more opulent areas – It was so poor in some areas that I felt like I was in another country. Had I not taken the tour, I would have missed all of it.
Unfortunately for me, the tour took much longer than I expected. I didn’t end up leaving Hattiesburg until after 12:30pm and the GPS didn’t have me projected to arrive in Montgomery until around 4:15pm. And then I hit a huge traffic jam due to a serious accident and road construction. After going a quarter mile in 30 minutes, I knew I wouldn’t arrive until after 5pm. And true to form, I got in right around 5:15pm.
Driving around Montgomery was fascinating. The downtown area is beautiful – it feels as if the whole area is a historic site and seems to call out to visitors, “come spend time here.” My fascination with Montgomery had to do with the dual nature of its confederate and civil rights roots. The First White House of the Confederacy is located in Montgomery just THREE BLOCKS away from the church where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the pastor. A short walk from there is the Rosa Parks Museum where the bus boycotts were staged.
Unfortunately, everything there was already closed, but on the flip side, this gives me a great reason to come back to Montgomery. The South is an area I definitely want to come back to and explore in much more depth. I had always short-changed it in my mind as a place that is racist or homophobic or anti-Semitic. Those elements ARE present and noticeable, but that’s not all that the South has to offer and it’s important for us not to forget that. For those of you interested in civil rights and learning our nation’s history with respect to that topic, a week-long trip to Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Arkansas will give you a very quick education.
The rest of my day included a quick drive up to Birmingham (just to poke around a bit) and then back on down to Panama City, FL. Nothing too much of note except for one part in Florida:
I was eating some beef jerky and a little bit got stuck in my teeth. I had about 60 miles to go to get to Panama City and my only dental floss was in the back of the CR-V. I figured I would just wait until I arrived to floss which was fine except that it was REALLY bothering me. I had to stop and get the floss out. When I pulled over, I noticed how beautiful a night it was (at 1am). A crescent moon was rising and the sky was clear. It was also really apparent how many animals were out (very loud) and that there was a ditch right next to where I pulled over. I suddenly became terrified that an alligator was going to get me which set me into an immediate attack of the willies. I quickly grabbed my toiletry bag and jumped back into the car. So much for big, tough Josh.
Oh, last two pictures... First, a lot of states for their state routs include an outline or a picture of their state on the signs. For Alabama, it looks like there are a couple of balls hanging from the state. And second, there are so many state highways and all that that junctions have ridiculous signs like these!
Total miles traveled as of Day Ten: 4883
OK, it’s true that I am typing this post in the LAX airport while I wait for my connecting flight to SFO. It is also true that there is a guy pacing in front of me while talking on the phone who bears an eerie resemblance to my brother, Matt. I feel this compelling urge to go and start swearing at him – yep, must be related!
Day Ten of the trip was interesting in so many unexpected ways because the day did not turn out anywhere close to how I had planned it. My original plan was to wake up early, check out the Freedom Summer Driving Trail, get to Montgomery by about 2pm where I would go to Dr. King’s church and the Rosa Parks museum, and then book it up to Birmingham where I would drive around a bit before heading to Panama City, FL.
As you can probably tell from this blog, my days don’t typically go as planned.
The first stop in Hattiesburg was the Freedom Summer Trail (which is why I spent the night there). Well, first, let me give you some background on Freedom Summer. Back in the Summer of 1964, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Mississippi enlisted almost 1000 college student volunteers around the nation in a massive voter registration project. An appallingly low number of Black Mississippians were un-registered (about 7% of eligible voters) due systematic racist acts keeping them from registering. As you can expect, there was a huge amount of opposition to the registration drive by Mississippi residents, local law enforcement, local government, and to an extent, the federal government. One of the first incidents of the summer was the disappearance of three volunteers (two White students and one Black student) who were found dead – it is the subject of the movie Mississippi Burning. Despite intimidation, wrongful imprisonment, levying of hefty fines, and unlawful red tape at county offices, the students engaged in the Freedom Summer Campaign worked hard to get Blacks (often poor and illiterate) registered to vote. The entire story is covered in the book, Freedom Summer by Doug McAdam.
I got to the start of the Freedom Summer Trail around 10:15am. It actually begins at the Hattiesburg Visitor Center and apparently, they don’t get too many requests for the tour brochure. I did have a few conversations with people about the fact that I was coming from San Francisco. I was also concerned because I was in the South wearing this shirt (actually not quite that shirt, but it's a close approximation).
I felt that the tour itself could have been organized much better. The brochure had very little information about the sites or their significance. If I hadn’t read the book, I would have been lost. The most interesting part, though, was the fact that the tour takes you through some of the poorest parts of Hattiesburg. I was amazed by the abject poverty just blocks away from much more opulent areas – It was so poor in some areas that I felt like I was in another country. Had I not taken the tour, I would have missed all of it.
Unfortunately for me, the tour took much longer than I expected. I didn’t end up leaving Hattiesburg until after 12:30pm and the GPS didn’t have me projected to arrive in Montgomery until around 4:15pm. And then I hit a huge traffic jam due to a serious accident and road construction. After going a quarter mile in 30 minutes, I knew I wouldn’t arrive until after 5pm. And true to form, I got in right around 5:15pm.
Driving around Montgomery was fascinating. The downtown area is beautiful – it feels as if the whole area is a historic site and seems to call out to visitors, “come spend time here.” My fascination with Montgomery had to do with the dual nature of its confederate and civil rights roots. The First White House of the Confederacy is located in Montgomery just THREE BLOCKS away from the church where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the pastor. A short walk from there is the Rosa Parks Museum where the bus boycotts were staged.
Unfortunately, everything there was already closed, but on the flip side, this gives me a great reason to come back to Montgomery. The South is an area I definitely want to come back to and explore in much more depth. I had always short-changed it in my mind as a place that is racist or homophobic or anti-Semitic. Those elements ARE present and noticeable, but that’s not all that the South has to offer and it’s important for us not to forget that. For those of you interested in civil rights and learning our nation’s history with respect to that topic, a week-long trip to Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Arkansas will give you a very quick education.
The rest of my day included a quick drive up to Birmingham (just to poke around a bit) and then back on down to Panama City, FL. Nothing too much of note except for one part in Florida:
I was eating some beef jerky and a little bit got stuck in my teeth. I had about 60 miles to go to get to Panama City and my only dental floss was in the back of the CR-V. I figured I would just wait until I arrived to floss which was fine except that it was REALLY bothering me. I had to stop and get the floss out. When I pulled over, I noticed how beautiful a night it was (at 1am). A crescent moon was rising and the sky was clear. It was also really apparent how many animals were out (very loud) and that there was a ditch right next to where I pulled over. I suddenly became terrified that an alligator was going to get me which set me into an immediate attack of the willies. I quickly grabbed my toiletry bag and jumped back into the car. So much for big, tough Josh.
Oh, last two pictures... First, a lot of states for their state routs include an outline or a picture of their state on the signs. For Alabama, it looks like there are a couple of balls hanging from the state. And second, there are so many state highways and all that that junctions have ridiculous signs like these!
Saturday, July 10, 2010
LeBron James the 8th Grade Boy
I will take a quick pause from my trip blog posts...
This past Thursday brought us “The Decision” where LeBron James announced his intention to play for Miami. Or rather, to not be stuck in Cleveland. Before I get started, let me just say that I did not watch the announcement, but I was in Miami when it was announced and there was a lot of enthusiasm there.
Were any of us surprised by the decision?
I think that many of us wanted to see LeBron do something other than take the easiest way out (which is what Miami is)…
Cleveland – stay loyal to his fan base and try to bring a mediocre team to greatness every year.
New York – try to reinvent a storied franchise with new teammate Amare Stoudemire
Chicago – try to live up to the legend that was Michael Jordan, but with a strong supporting cast (Carlos Boozer and Derrick Rose).
LA Clippers – take LA’s second-class team (though with plenty of tools) and rival the Lakers.
New Jersey – take last year’s worst team (and blatantly miserable) and turn around their fortunes
Miami – play with your two good friends and be the front runners to win the title the next few years, knowing that Dwyane Wade is one of the two best crunch-time players in the league.
Here’s the thing – we all knew that LeBron wanted out of Cleveland. The only reason I could see him stay would be the pride of knowing that they fell short of expectations this past season and the desire to win a title with Cleveland. But it really seemed like LeBron was trying to break up with Cleveland for the last couple of years and just didn’t know how to do it. Miami offered him the only possible justification for a way out.
This whole thing is reminiscent of a junior high or high school break-up (no, not mine). He didn’t know how to break it to Cleveland, so rather than saying that he was sorry and just didn’t want to play there any more, he needed to find a better excuse. In this case, his thinking was that no one in their right mind could fault him for jumping at the chance to play with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh simply based on sheer talent. The fact that they are all good friends should be understandable to anyone, right? It’s like he said, “you shouldn’t be upset, I’m dumping you because I want to date someone who is a lot prettier than you plus I am better friends with her.” None of the other teams offered him a situation that he could justify to leave Cleveland. “I’m going to leave Cleveland to go to a similar situation with the Clippers,” just wasn’t going to cut it. He could only leave for a situation like Miami because in his mind he could sell the world on it.
To an 8th grade boy, or to LeBron, this is sound logic. To everyone else, it’s just stupid. And then to do this as an hour-long special on ESPN is just classless.
Now, we all know that Miami is going to be really good. Hell, they could have me and my dad as their fourth and fifth players and they could still be a 50-win team.
But there is a lot that can go wrong. LeBron, Wade, and Bosh all became friends on the US National Team and mused with the idea of all three playing together. Kind of like being roommates with your friends, it’s a really different thing than just getting along. The question is whether they know how to disagree with each other, how to push each other, and then how to include the rest of their team in their friendship. It will be easy for them to alienate the rest of their teammates and if they lack the right perspective, to create a toxic locker room atmosphere.
What they need is a seasoned veteran that they all look up to who can tell them when they’re being idiots. Along with that, Dwyane Wade needs to know to keep LeBron feeling like the top banana (and taking credit for being the main man) even though everyone else will know that it’s Wade who is in charge.
This past Thursday brought us “The Decision” where LeBron James announced his intention to play for Miami. Or rather, to not be stuck in Cleveland. Before I get started, let me just say that I did not watch the announcement, but I was in Miami when it was announced and there was a lot of enthusiasm there.
Were any of us surprised by the decision?
I think that many of us wanted to see LeBron do something other than take the easiest way out (which is what Miami is)…
Cleveland – stay loyal to his fan base and try to bring a mediocre team to greatness every year.
New York – try to reinvent a storied franchise with new teammate Amare Stoudemire
Chicago – try to live up to the legend that was Michael Jordan, but with a strong supporting cast (Carlos Boozer and Derrick Rose).
LA Clippers – take LA’s second-class team (though with plenty of tools) and rival the Lakers.
New Jersey – take last year’s worst team (and blatantly miserable) and turn around their fortunes
Miami – play with your two good friends and be the front runners to win the title the next few years, knowing that Dwyane Wade is one of the two best crunch-time players in the league.
Here’s the thing – we all knew that LeBron wanted out of Cleveland. The only reason I could see him stay would be the pride of knowing that they fell short of expectations this past season and the desire to win a title with Cleveland. But it really seemed like LeBron was trying to break up with Cleveland for the last couple of years and just didn’t know how to do it. Miami offered him the only possible justification for a way out.
This whole thing is reminiscent of a junior high or high school break-up (no, not mine). He didn’t know how to break it to Cleveland, so rather than saying that he was sorry and just didn’t want to play there any more, he needed to find a better excuse. In this case, his thinking was that no one in their right mind could fault him for jumping at the chance to play with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh simply based on sheer talent. The fact that they are all good friends should be understandable to anyone, right? It’s like he said, “you shouldn’t be upset, I’m dumping you because I want to date someone who is a lot prettier than you plus I am better friends with her.” None of the other teams offered him a situation that he could justify to leave Cleveland. “I’m going to leave Cleveland to go to a similar situation with the Clippers,” just wasn’t going to cut it. He could only leave for a situation like Miami because in his mind he could sell the world on it.
To an 8th grade boy, or to LeBron, this is sound logic. To everyone else, it’s just stupid. And then to do this as an hour-long special on ESPN is just classless.
Now, we all know that Miami is going to be really good. Hell, they could have me and my dad as their fourth and fifth players and they could still be a 50-win team.
But there is a lot that can go wrong. LeBron, Wade, and Bosh all became friends on the US National Team and mused with the idea of all three playing together. Kind of like being roommates with your friends, it’s a really different thing than just getting along. The question is whether they know how to disagree with each other, how to push each other, and then how to include the rest of their team in their friendship. It will be easy for them to alienate the rest of their teammates and if they lack the right perspective, to create a toxic locker room atmosphere.
What they need is a seasoned veteran that they all look up to who can tell them when they’re being idiots. Along with that, Dwyane Wade needs to know to keep LeBron feeling like the top banana (and taking credit for being the main man) even though everyone else will know that it’s Wade who is in charge.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Adventures with Eutimia
Eutimia (or Timi) was one of my RAs at Stanford – she was in the small group of RAs that I trained that year. I mean, I trained all the RAs, but I had a group of 15 or so RAs who I worked directly with and she was in that group. The following summer, she worked in the Residential Education office before moving home to Denver.
Leslie and I ran into her at the Outside Lands concert a couple of years ago and I could tell what I already knew – she would be a fun person to hang out with and go on adventures with. I could tell that she was a kindred spirit and would probably get along well with a bunch of my friends. So when I knew I would be in Denver, I emailed her and she immediately replied and even offered her place for me to stay.
Our plan for the night was to make it to the Art Walk, the monthly art festival held in Denver’s art district (first Friday of the month). It ran from 7-10pm, so our leaving at 6:30 should have afforded us plenty of time to get there, at least before it ended, despite any threats to sobriety. After stopping for a drink and getting caught up on the World of Eutimia, we walked down to the 16th Street Mall for some food and beer.
By that point, we were a bit toasty and started to head to the Art Walk. The bus we wanted was taking to long, so we decided to walk. The weather was warm, though a bit overcast and it got my “Ain’t No Sunshine” song obsession kicked into overdrive. When I mentioned Bill Withers to Timi, she started singing the melody to Use Me, so I had TWO songs stuck in my head (though both good). By the way, Timi is an amazing singer – for those of you who are Stanford folks, she sang for Talisman.
We finally got to the Art Walk about 8:45 or so and started poking around. The Art Walk is really cool – all the art studios stay open late and some serve free refreshments and wine (others charge for the wine). There were a couple really cool artists on display – Dean McCready had cool colors and there were several photographers whose art I really liked (including Greg Thow). We also checked out some live music here and there, some were decent, some weren’t.
We were about to go check out some more live music or a bar when we decided to go to one last art studio…
We walked up a narrow stairway and opened a door to the coolest studio of all containing mostly leather masks by Mike Romoth. The whole studio was awesome – cool masks, cool jewelry, cool paintings. All around, it was a great space and one I could easily see in the Mission or Berkeley. Mike told me that he is able to make masks fitted to goggles for use on the playa at Burning Man, so I’m going to get one (probably the sun devil mask). We ended up hanging out on the balcony for about 30-45 minutes with Mike and a few of his friends. He brought out a drum, Timi did a little freestyle singing, and one of the other guys started doing some spoken word stuff. It was an awesome way to spend a warm Denver evening.
On the walk back, we passed a skyscraper that had a really cool concave design. As we got closer to it, Timi told me that they built the building around an old church that was preserved, so as we got close, I could see the church that was dwarfed by this enormous building. I don't remember what it was called, but it had a cool feel to it.
And then we were back at Timi's place after a long walk from the Art Walk. It was a terrific adventure!
Leslie and I ran into her at the Outside Lands concert a couple of years ago and I could tell what I already knew – she would be a fun person to hang out with and go on adventures with. I could tell that she was a kindred spirit and would probably get along well with a bunch of my friends. So when I knew I would be in Denver, I emailed her and she immediately replied and even offered her place for me to stay.
Our plan for the night was to make it to the Art Walk, the monthly art festival held in Denver’s art district (first Friday of the month). It ran from 7-10pm, so our leaving at 6:30 should have afforded us plenty of time to get there, at least before it ended, despite any threats to sobriety. After stopping for a drink and getting caught up on the World of Eutimia, we walked down to the 16th Street Mall for some food and beer.
By that point, we were a bit toasty and started to head to the Art Walk. The bus we wanted was taking to long, so we decided to walk. The weather was warm, though a bit overcast and it got my “Ain’t No Sunshine” song obsession kicked into overdrive. When I mentioned Bill Withers to Timi, she started singing the melody to Use Me, so I had TWO songs stuck in my head (though both good). By the way, Timi is an amazing singer – for those of you who are Stanford folks, she sang for Talisman.
We finally got to the Art Walk about 8:45 or so and started poking around. The Art Walk is really cool – all the art studios stay open late and some serve free refreshments and wine (others charge for the wine). There were a couple really cool artists on display – Dean McCready had cool colors and there were several photographers whose art I really liked (including Greg Thow). We also checked out some live music here and there, some were decent, some weren’t.
We were about to go check out some more live music or a bar when we decided to go to one last art studio…
We walked up a narrow stairway and opened a door to the coolest studio of all containing mostly leather masks by Mike Romoth. The whole studio was awesome – cool masks, cool jewelry, cool paintings. All around, it was a great space and one I could easily see in the Mission or Berkeley. Mike told me that he is able to make masks fitted to goggles for use on the playa at Burning Man, so I’m going to get one (probably the sun devil mask). We ended up hanging out on the balcony for about 30-45 minutes with Mike and a few of his friends. He brought out a drum, Timi did a little freestyle singing, and one of the other guys started doing some spoken word stuff. It was an awesome way to spend a warm Denver evening.
On the walk back, we passed a skyscraper that had a really cool concave design. As we got closer to it, Timi told me that they built the building around an old church that was preserved, so as we got close, I could see the church that was dwarfed by this enormous building. I don't remember what it was called, but it had a cool feel to it.
And then we were back at Timi's place after a long walk from the Art Walk. It was a terrific adventure!
BTW - I Made It!!
I should have mentioned this more explicitly...
I MADE IT TO FORT LAUDERDALE!! After 5496 miles, I pulled into Deb's driveway in Fort Lauderdale at 2:45am - a few hours ahead of schedule!
So, I made it here safely. Believe it or not, I'm a little sad that I won't be hopping into Joaquin and driving another 500 miles today.
More updates on their way...
I MADE IT TO FORT LAUDERDALE!! After 5496 miles, I pulled into Deb's driveway in Fort Lauderdale at 2:45am - a few hours ahead of schedule!
So, I made it here safely. Believe it or not, I'm a little sad that I won't be hopping into Joaquin and driving another 500 miles today.
More updates on their way...
Day Nine
Ending location on Day Nine: Hattiesburg, MS
Miles traveled as of Day Nine: 4206
I woke up a bit later than I intended on Monday, July 5, quickly took a shower and packed up for check-out. I actually ended up hanging out in the lobby for a bit while I worked on blog posts and also looked up some sites for Day Nine and Day Ten. I was really looking forward to exploring a lot of the civil rights history in the South and there were a ton of places to pick between.
My first stop on Monday, though, was lunch at Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken as recommended by Jenn Chou. I had tried to go on the 4th, but it was closed. Luckily it was open on Monday for lunch. OH MY GOD!! It was so incredibly good. The fried part was tender and tasty and crunchy, but not too crunchy. And the chicken was tender and moist and oh so good. I NEVER buy t-shirts from restaurants, but I bought one here because it was so good.
From there, I went to the National Civil Rights Museum which was just a few blocks from Gus's. The museum is located at the motel where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. I'll talk a little bit more about the experience in a later post, but the whole thing was incredibly inspiring and moving. I had intended to spend maybe an hour there and ended up there for almost three hours and I could have spent at least another hour or two there. The following picture is of where Dr. King was shot.
\
From there, I drove to Jackson, MS and decided to stay off of the Interstate (55) and took a much smaller (and slower) road - state highway 51. In 80 miles of driving on the road, I passed about 60 churches and one tank (see below). I was a little sad that the tank was not outside a church, but only because I wanted to have an excuse to have a tank outside of a Jewish synagogue just to see what the difference in reaction would be. I also realized that it would take me another 6 hours to get to Jackson and since I had already been driving for two hours and it was 6pm, I switched to I-55 which got me into Jackson right at 9pm.
As I mentioned earlier, Shing directed me to a Chinese restaurant in Jackson. I should probably give some of the back story as to why I wanted to go to a Chinese restaurant in Jackson. Why there? Why now?
As part of my master's program in Sociology, I took an Asian American studies class and one of the books I read was called The Mississippi Chinese and had a lot to do with Chinese immigrants who settled in Mississippi. This population found themselves caught in-between the White and Black communities in what was termed a Middleman Minority much like Jewish populations had been in other parts of the world. As the middleman minority, the Mississippi Chinese often owned grocery stores and other businesses that would bridge the gap between Whites and Blacks. What was interesting is that Whites would categorize the Chinese as Blacks and Blacks held a great deal of resentment toward the Chinese because they enjoyed privileges from the Whites that they could not get.
Anyway, the long and the short was that I figured that I'd have as good a chance as any to get decent Chinese food. The Yelp search on Chinese restaurants in Jackson, MS yielded the following search results. I ate at Five Happiness Chinese Restaurant because it wasn't serving Korean BBQ or submarine sandwiches. Just take a look at the reviews and search results and maybe your soul will cry a little bit, too.
After dinner, I made the drive down to Hattiesburg, so that I could start my journey from there on Day Ten!
Miles traveled as of Day Nine: 4206
I woke up a bit later than I intended on Monday, July 5, quickly took a shower and packed up for check-out. I actually ended up hanging out in the lobby for a bit while I worked on blog posts and also looked up some sites for Day Nine and Day Ten. I was really looking forward to exploring a lot of the civil rights history in the South and there were a ton of places to pick between.
My first stop on Monday, though, was lunch at Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken as recommended by Jenn Chou. I had tried to go on the 4th, but it was closed. Luckily it was open on Monday for lunch. OH MY GOD!! It was so incredibly good. The fried part was tender and tasty and crunchy, but not too crunchy. And the chicken was tender and moist and oh so good. I NEVER buy t-shirts from restaurants, but I bought one here because it was so good.
From there, I went to the National Civil Rights Museum which was just a few blocks from Gus's. The museum is located at the motel where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. I'll talk a little bit more about the experience in a later post, but the whole thing was incredibly inspiring and moving. I had intended to spend maybe an hour there and ended up there for almost three hours and I could have spent at least another hour or two there. The following picture is of where Dr. King was shot.
\From there, I drove to Jackson, MS and decided to stay off of the Interstate (55) and took a much smaller (and slower) road - state highway 51. In 80 miles of driving on the road, I passed about 60 churches and one tank (see below). I was a little sad that the tank was not outside a church, but only because I wanted to have an excuse to have a tank outside of a Jewish synagogue just to see what the difference in reaction would be. I also realized that it would take me another 6 hours to get to Jackson and since I had already been driving for two hours and it was 6pm, I switched to I-55 which got me into Jackson right at 9pm.
As I mentioned earlier, Shing directed me to a Chinese restaurant in Jackson. I should probably give some of the back story as to why I wanted to go to a Chinese restaurant in Jackson. Why there? Why now?
As part of my master's program in Sociology, I took an Asian American studies class and one of the books I read was called The Mississippi Chinese and had a lot to do with Chinese immigrants who settled in Mississippi. This population found themselves caught in-between the White and Black communities in what was termed a Middleman Minority much like Jewish populations had been in other parts of the world. As the middleman minority, the Mississippi Chinese often owned grocery stores and other businesses that would bridge the gap between Whites and Blacks. What was interesting is that Whites would categorize the Chinese as Blacks and Blacks held a great deal of resentment toward the Chinese because they enjoyed privileges from the Whites that they could not get.
Anyway, the long and the short was that I figured that I'd have as good a chance as any to get decent Chinese food. The Yelp search on Chinese restaurants in Jackson, MS yielded the following search results. I ate at Five Happiness Chinese Restaurant because it wasn't serving Korean BBQ or submarine sandwiches. Just take a look at the reviews and search results and maybe your soul will cry a little bit, too.
After dinner, I made the drive down to Hattiesburg, so that I could start my journey from there on Day Ten!
Day Eight
Location at the end of Day Eight: Memphis, TN
Total miles traveled as of Day Eight: 3881
So I'm catching up a little bit since the last few days had a whole lot of driving and not a whole lot of down time. I'll keep these next few posts brief and then expound on other topics separately.
Anyway, Day Eight started in Muskogee, OK. The only goal for the day was to get to Memphis before 5pm so that I could hit Beale Street for the 4th of July festivities. I had read that they were doing a "Red, White, and Blues" festival in Handy Park from 6-10pm followed by fireworks.
The drive through Arkansas was fairly unremarkable except that the scenery was quite a change from Kansas and Oklahoma. It felt much more like the South than I had been in to that point. In general, the South is much greener than I had envisioned in my head and every bit as muggy as I thought.
Once I got into Memphis, I decided to splurge a bit and got a room at the Holiday Inn a couple of blocks away from Beale Street. It just felt amazing to finally be in a place where I could relax, especially after driving 1400 miles in two days. I'll talk about the July 4th night, but I went to The Pig on Beale Street for ribs for dinner and that was quite good!
More later!
Total miles traveled as of Day Eight: 3881
So I'm catching up a little bit since the last few days had a whole lot of driving and not a whole lot of down time. I'll keep these next few posts brief and then expound on other topics separately.
Anyway, Day Eight started in Muskogee, OK. The only goal for the day was to get to Memphis before 5pm so that I could hit Beale Street for the 4th of July festivities. I had read that they were doing a "Red, White, and Blues" festival in Handy Park from 6-10pm followed by fireworks.
The drive through Arkansas was fairly unremarkable except that the scenery was quite a change from Kansas and Oklahoma. It felt much more like the South than I had been in to that point. In general, the South is much greener than I had envisioned in my head and every bit as muggy as I thought.
Once I got into Memphis, I decided to splurge a bit and got a room at the Holiday Inn a couple of blocks away from Beale Street. It just felt amazing to finally be in a place where I could relax, especially after driving 1400 miles in two days. I'll talk about the July 4th night, but I went to The Pig on Beale Street for ribs for dinner and that was quite good!
More later!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Ethnic Food Where You Don't Expect It
So last night, I ate a Chinese restaurant in Jackson, Mississippi and it was actually halfway decent. That said, I think I broke Shing as we spoke over the phone and she was looking at Yelp to find a Chinese restaurant for me to eat at. The Chinese restaurant that also served Korean BBQ was ruled out. But I think the Chinese restaurant that served cheesesteaks and sub sandwiches made her soul die a little bit.
Anyway, while I was eating dinner, I had this idea for a new blog/website where people would rate/recommend/discourage ethnic restaurants in places where you wouldn't expect to find them. For example, a Mexican restaurant in Rocky Ford, CO or a Chinese restaurant in Jackson, MS. The problem with Yelp is that you have locals rating the places and you can't get a good feel for whether or not the food tastes right. Plus in smaller towns/cities, not as many people are on Yelp as they are in, say, San Francisco. Like last night, the restaurant had three reviews and was rated at 3.5 stars. Everything that was spicy was very very very mild. If I ate there again, I would request the food to be prepared spicier than normal.
What we would need would be for people who are traveling to take one or two meals during trips in places that might be dubious, but might not be. Next time you're in Tahoe, go off the beaten path for just one meal. Or learn how to order things so that they taste right!
Who's with me on this?
Anyway, while I was eating dinner, I had this idea for a new blog/website where people would rate/recommend/discourage ethnic restaurants in places where you wouldn't expect to find them. For example, a Mexican restaurant in Rocky Ford, CO or a Chinese restaurant in Jackson, MS. The problem with Yelp is that you have locals rating the places and you can't get a good feel for whether or not the food tastes right. Plus in smaller towns/cities, not as many people are on Yelp as they are in, say, San Francisco. Like last night, the restaurant had three reviews and was rated at 3.5 stars. Everything that was spicy was very very very mild. If I ate there again, I would request the food to be prepared spicier than normal.
What we would need would be for people who are traveling to take one or two meals during trips in places that might be dubious, but might not be. Next time you're in Tahoe, go off the beaten path for just one meal. Or learn how to order things so that they taste right!
Who's with me on this?
Monday, July 5, 2010
Some pictures and a video!
I had some pictures that I needed to add plus a video, so here you go. The pictures are from my day in Wyoming and South Dakota, specifically Devil's Tower, Mt. Rushmore, and the Crazy Horse Memorial. The video is from my drive on Highway 212, literally while I was driving (and I'm using literally the right way, not figuratively).
ARRRRGH!! The video won't load because the file is too big.
Oh well, here are the pictures I was mentioning...
ARRRRGH!! The video won't load because the file is too big.
Oh well, here are the pictures I was mentioning...
Food Food Food!!
I realized that I’ve kind of been glossing over my culinary adventures. Let’s see what I can remember…
Day 2 – I stopped for lunch at the Sugar Pine Café in La Pine. I was craving something other than meat, so I got a grilled chicken salad. So disappointing. It was breaded chicken over iceberg lettuce. At least there were tomatoes and green peppers on it!
Day 3 – Goldys for brunch was spectacular as I described here. Dinner was also described there, but it was an unremarkable dinner at Cedric’s Family Restaurant.
Day 4 – Bogart’s Mexican and Pizza place as described here.
Day 5 – I don’t remember where I ate. I think I had Mexican food, though and it was decent.
Day 6 – Lunch with Annie at Hapa in Boulder. It was pretty tasty. I had a roll called the hamapeno roll that was hamachi with jalapeno. I’ve never had that combination before – it was a simple roll, but really good. Dinner was with Timi at Ling and Louie’s asian fusion in Denver on the 16th Street Mall. The food was pretty good – we totally over-ordered, but had a sizzling plate of chicken and string beans (yummy), a duck dish that was decent and wok fried veggies. I had no complaints about the food, though we weren’t sure if it violated my “no chains” rule. I have never heard of Ling and Louie’s, but it definitely had a chain vibe to it – kind of a P.F. Chang’s feel.
Day 7 – Lunch was at a Mexican restaurant in Rocky Ford. I had "tacos a la king" - three soft tacos (one chicken, one shredded beef, one ground beef). It was pretty standard fare. Dinner was at Bad Habits Sports Bar and Grill where I ate some spicy chicken wings. After driving by the Tyson factory, I couldn't help but picture the chickens these came from and how bloated they were on corn and not being allowed to go outside. I still ate them, though, so how bad can it be to know where your food comes from.
Day 8 – I had dinner at The Pig on Beale Street. Nothing says 4th of July like very tender bbq ribs. They had a sweet sauce and a spicy sauce and I just couldn’t decide between the two! I got the regular order with bbq beans and french fries. It just felt right.
Day 9 - I'm going to try to hit Gus's Famous Chicken in Memphis. It was closed yesterday, but hopefully it will be open today. Jenn highly recommended it, so we'll see.
Day 2 – I stopped for lunch at the Sugar Pine Café in La Pine. I was craving something other than meat, so I got a grilled chicken salad. So disappointing. It was breaded chicken over iceberg lettuce. At least there were tomatoes and green peppers on it!
Day 3 – Goldys for brunch was spectacular as I described here. Dinner was also described there, but it was an unremarkable dinner at Cedric’s Family Restaurant.
Day 4 – Bogart’s Mexican and Pizza place as described here.
Day 5 – I don’t remember where I ate. I think I had Mexican food, though and it was decent.
Day 6 – Lunch with Annie at Hapa in Boulder. It was pretty tasty. I had a roll called the hamapeno roll that was hamachi with jalapeno. I’ve never had that combination before – it was a simple roll, but really good. Dinner was with Timi at Ling and Louie’s asian fusion in Denver on the 16th Street Mall. The food was pretty good – we totally over-ordered, but had a sizzling plate of chicken and string beans (yummy), a duck dish that was decent and wok fried veggies. I had no complaints about the food, though we weren’t sure if it violated my “no chains” rule. I have never heard of Ling and Louie’s, but it definitely had a chain vibe to it – kind of a P.F. Chang’s feel.
Day 7 – Lunch was at a Mexican restaurant in Rocky Ford. I had "tacos a la king" - three soft tacos (one chicken, one shredded beef, one ground beef). It was pretty standard fare. Dinner was at Bad Habits Sports Bar and Grill where I ate some spicy chicken wings. After driving by the Tyson factory, I couldn't help but picture the chickens these came from and how bloated they were on corn and not being allowed to go outside. I still ate them, though, so how bad can it be to know where your food comes from.
Day 8 – I had dinner at The Pig on Beale Street. Nothing says 4th of July like very tender bbq ribs. They had a sweet sauce and a spicy sauce and I just couldn’t decide between the two! I got the regular order with bbq beans and french fries. It just felt right.
Day 9 - I'm going to try to hit Gus's Famous Chicken in Memphis. It was closed yesterday, but hopefully it will be open today. Jenn highly recommended it, so we'll see.
Day Seven
Day Seven ending location: Muskogee, OK
Total miles driven as of Day Seven: 3525
What a day of driving. I drove just about 900 miles (902 to be exact) from Denver to Muskogee. This map shows roughly the route I traveled. There were a couple of snafus like the closing of the highway due to a bad accident. I also tried to go up to Pike’s Peak, but found that it would have taken me two hours to drive up and back and I wanted to get some serious distance so that I could make it to Memphis by the 4th.
Once I left Colorado Springs, there really wasn’t all that much to see on the road. The countryside looked very different from the mountainous region I had been driving in, but it’s amazing how far you can see in the plains. For those of you who have watched Food, Inc. I saw a bunch of factory farms just totally overloaded with cattle. I didn’t really expect to see so many of those farms just right off the main highway, but I guess there isn’t really any need to hide what everyone in the area already knows. It appears that these farms (and the giant Tyson foods factory) are major employers in Kansas.
I stopped in Rocky Ford (Colorado) for Mexican food and watched the second half of the Spain – Paraguay game. Oh my goodness what a game. I walked in just in time to see Paraguay awarded a penalty kick (and then get blocked)! Then Spain got awarded one and scored, but had it called back and then the re-kick was blocked. I wanted to see it go to penalty kicks, but David Villa knocked one home after hitting three posts. In all my experience of playing soccer, EVERY shot I’ve seen off the post comes out.
I totally forgot to mention Joaquin's "accident" at the gas station. I was re-fueling and went inside to get a couple of refreshments. While doing so, a woman came in somewhat frantic, "Sir! Sir! The pump wasn't shutting off!" Apparently, the auto-release on the pump didn't go and a bunch of extra gas spilled down the side of the car and onto the ground. Yeesh. I cleaned Joaquin up a bit, crossed my fingers, and started the car hoping that it wouldn't blow up.
It didn't.
I got to Dodge City by 8:04pm (damn time change). The historic downtown area closed at 8pm so I just missed being all old-timey and all that. So sad. I managed to get some chicken wings there and a blue moon for under $10.
Aside from that, I pretty much just kept driving all the way to Muskogee. I was going to stop in Tulsa, but I was still pretty awake and figured I’d get as far as I could. Muskogee was the next stop and that’s where I ended.
Total miles driven as of Day Seven: 3525
What a day of driving. I drove just about 900 miles (902 to be exact) from Denver to Muskogee. This map shows roughly the route I traveled. There were a couple of snafus like the closing of the highway due to a bad accident. I also tried to go up to Pike’s Peak, but found that it would have taken me two hours to drive up and back and I wanted to get some serious distance so that I could make it to Memphis by the 4th.
Once I left Colorado Springs, there really wasn’t all that much to see on the road. The countryside looked very different from the mountainous region I had been driving in, but it’s amazing how far you can see in the plains. For those of you who have watched Food, Inc. I saw a bunch of factory farms just totally overloaded with cattle. I didn’t really expect to see so many of those farms just right off the main highway, but I guess there isn’t really any need to hide what everyone in the area already knows. It appears that these farms (and the giant Tyson foods factory) are major employers in Kansas.
I stopped in Rocky Ford (Colorado) for Mexican food and watched the second half of the Spain – Paraguay game. Oh my goodness what a game. I walked in just in time to see Paraguay awarded a penalty kick (and then get blocked)! Then Spain got awarded one and scored, but had it called back and then the re-kick was blocked. I wanted to see it go to penalty kicks, but David Villa knocked one home after hitting three posts. In all my experience of playing soccer, EVERY shot I’ve seen off the post comes out.
I totally forgot to mention Joaquin's "accident" at the gas station. I was re-fueling and went inside to get a couple of refreshments. While doing so, a woman came in somewhat frantic, "Sir! Sir! The pump wasn't shutting off!" Apparently, the auto-release on the pump didn't go and a bunch of extra gas spilled down the side of the car and onto the ground. Yeesh. I cleaned Joaquin up a bit, crossed my fingers, and started the car hoping that it wouldn't blow up.
It didn't.
I got to Dodge City by 8:04pm (damn time change). The historic downtown area closed at 8pm so I just missed being all old-timey and all that. So sad. I managed to get some chicken wings there and a blue moon for under $10.
Aside from that, I pretty much just kept driving all the way to Muskogee. I was going to stop in Tulsa, but I was still pretty awake and figured I’d get as far as I could. Muskogee was the next stop and that’s where I ended.
Day Six
Day Six ending location: Denver, CO
Total miles traveled as of day six: 2623
First off, I should be sleeping right now. I just finished a marathon drive from Denver to Muskogee, OK (an hour past Tulsa), but I’m still a bit too awake to sleep.
I woke up in Laramie, WY just in time to watch the Brazil – Netherlands game, but I was a little bit tired, so I started dozing and was re-awoken by a phone call. That was good, since I managed to stay awake to see Brazil’s goal in the first few minutes. (It’s actually disturbing right now – I’m watching 28 Weeks Later while typing this. There’s nothing like massive zombie-like violence to put you in a reflective mood.) I’ve mentioned the game earlier, but it was a great game!
After the game, I started the 2-hour drive to Boulder. Despite my getting a bit lost on the Pearl Street Mall and passing the same Greenpeace volunteer (Andrea) three times, I finally met up with Annie. She gave me the option for Japanese, Mexican, or American food and having not had anything but Mexican and American food the last week, I jumped at the chance to have Japanese food. We went to a sushi place called Hapa (I guess it was only half Japanese), and it was quite tasty.
It was great catching up with Annie – I don’t think we had seen each other in person for a few years. It had already been a while since we had even spoken over the phone. She and Brian are doing well with their two kids and love living in Boulder. I keep hoping that one day I’ll be on Brian’s flight on Southwest, but I guess I should do more flying if that’s going to happen!
Upon completing lunch, I went to Starbucks to do some blog updates and then went in search of a Jiffy Lube to change Joaquin’s oil. Apparently, GPS is better than iPhone maps. The iPhone had me in a residential area about 2 miles away from where I needed to be. GPS got me there right away. Grrrrrr.
The drive to Denver was short and sweet and I found Timi’s place right away. Well, Adventures With Eutimia deserves its own post, so that will have to wait. Suffice to say, it was very nice to only drive a couple hundred miles and to sleep in a comfy bed.
Total miles traveled as of day six: 2623
First off, I should be sleeping right now. I just finished a marathon drive from Denver to Muskogee, OK (an hour past Tulsa), but I’m still a bit too awake to sleep.
I woke up in Laramie, WY just in time to watch the Brazil – Netherlands game, but I was a little bit tired, so I started dozing and was re-awoken by a phone call. That was good, since I managed to stay awake to see Brazil’s goal in the first few minutes. (It’s actually disturbing right now – I’m watching 28 Weeks Later while typing this. There’s nothing like massive zombie-like violence to put you in a reflective mood.) I’ve mentioned the game earlier, but it was a great game!
After the game, I started the 2-hour drive to Boulder. Despite my getting a bit lost on the Pearl Street Mall and passing the same Greenpeace volunteer (Andrea) three times, I finally met up with Annie. She gave me the option for Japanese, Mexican, or American food and having not had anything but Mexican and American food the last week, I jumped at the chance to have Japanese food. We went to a sushi place called Hapa (I guess it was only half Japanese), and it was quite tasty.
It was great catching up with Annie – I don’t think we had seen each other in person for a few years. It had already been a while since we had even spoken over the phone. She and Brian are doing well with their two kids and love living in Boulder. I keep hoping that one day I’ll be on Brian’s flight on Southwest, but I guess I should do more flying if that’s going to happen!
Upon completing lunch, I went to Starbucks to do some blog updates and then went in search of a Jiffy Lube to change Joaquin’s oil. Apparently, GPS is better than iPhone maps. The iPhone had me in a residential area about 2 miles away from where I needed to be. GPS got me there right away. Grrrrrr.
The drive to Denver was short and sweet and I found Timi’s place right away. Well, Adventures With Eutimia deserves its own post, so that will have to wait. Suffice to say, it was very nice to only drive a couple hundred miles and to sleep in a comfy bed.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Memphis!!
I'm so excited! I made it to Memphis around the time I was aiming for. How's that for efficiency?! In the last two days, I've driven close to 1300 miles - most of that was yesterday when I drove 902 miles. There ain't no stoppin' me!!
I decided to splurge a little bit. Rather than staying in a motel a couple miles away from Beale St, I'm staying at the Holiday Inn Select just two blocks away from Handy Park where they are doing the Red, White, and Blues Festival and fireworks. Gonna go take a quick shower (damn do I smell) and shave then go get some food and beer. Should be a fun night!
I decided to splurge a little bit. Rather than staying in a motel a couple miles away from Beale St, I'm staying at the Holiday Inn Select just two blocks away from Handy Park where they are doing the Red, White, and Blues Festival and fireworks. Gonna go take a quick shower (damn do I smell) and shave then go get some food and beer. Should be a fun night!
Day Five
Day Five ending location: Laramie, WY
Total miles traveled as of Day Five: 2380
I woke up in Gillette, WY and was having a hard time getting up. It probably didn’t help that I was a bit wired the night before and didn’t get to sleep until 5am. So waking up at 9am didn’t go so well, but I still managed to wake up and do some updates on the blog.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but I got a little bit of a later start than I had intended. After showering and doing some research on sites in South Dakota, I managed to leave Gillette by about noon. Ugh.
My plan was to stop at Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, then head to Mt Rushmore and then the Crazy Horse memorial. I decided not to go to the Pine Ridge Reservation – I wanted to stop by, but I saw that there wasn’t really a there to go to. Plus, with the level of poverty that is present on that particular reservation, I felt that being an obvious tourist was disrespectful.
The whole day produced mixed feelings for me. Much of the land that I went to had been not just important to native tribes (the Oglala, the Sioux, the Lakota), they were sacred lands. To be visiting monuments in these places felt odd – I wanted to be respectful of the land and of the history, but at the same time, I was making the decision to visit.
This may sound very unpatriotic (especially since this will be posted on July 4th), but I honestly disliked Mt. Rushmore. Of the three monuments, this one felt the most out of place with the surrounding environment and with the history of the area. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an impressive monument and the carvings are really cool, but the whole parking garage, the pavilion, the museum, etc. are such an eyesore in comparison to the Black Hills National Forest. What gets me more than anything, though, is the knowledge that this land is so important to the tribes that were here first. And then in the late 1800s when gold was discovered in the Black Hills, the Lakota were moved against their will to other parts of South Dakota. So for there to be a monument to these four influential presidents in the middle of this land doesn’t feel right, especially since one of the accomplishments that is highlighted is the expansion of the US land via the Louisiana Purchase which led directly to the displacement of the Native Americans.
The day really just produced a lot of disappointment with our past and present treatment of Native Americans. As I was researching the Pine Ridge Reservation, I was reminded of something I read in On The Rez by Ian Frazier which had to do with the town of White Clay, Nebraska, just across the border from the reservation in South Dakota on disputed land. The village has a population of 14 people, but four liquor stores. So while the tribe attempts to work on the problem of alcoholism, the surrounding area profits from it. This site is much clearer than I could be.
I have found myself trying to come up with an historical parallel to how we have treated the Native Americans and how we continue to treat them overall and I am at a loss. I think about Germany and their national guilt associated with the Holocaust. At some point, you would think that our national conscience would lead us to make amends or at least stop overtly screwing over the people who we displaced.
Total miles traveled as of Day Five: 2380
I woke up in Gillette, WY and was having a hard time getting up. It probably didn’t help that I was a bit wired the night before and didn’t get to sleep until 5am. So waking up at 9am didn’t go so well, but I still managed to wake up and do some updates on the blog.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but I got a little bit of a later start than I had intended. After showering and doing some research on sites in South Dakota, I managed to leave Gillette by about noon. Ugh.
My plan was to stop at Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, then head to Mt Rushmore and then the Crazy Horse memorial. I decided not to go to the Pine Ridge Reservation – I wanted to stop by, but I saw that there wasn’t really a there to go to. Plus, with the level of poverty that is present on that particular reservation, I felt that being an obvious tourist was disrespectful.
The whole day produced mixed feelings for me. Much of the land that I went to had been not just important to native tribes (the Oglala, the Sioux, the Lakota), they were sacred lands. To be visiting monuments in these places felt odd – I wanted to be respectful of the land and of the history, but at the same time, I was making the decision to visit.
This may sound very unpatriotic (especially since this will be posted on July 4th), but I honestly disliked Mt. Rushmore. Of the three monuments, this one felt the most out of place with the surrounding environment and with the history of the area. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an impressive monument and the carvings are really cool, but the whole parking garage, the pavilion, the museum, etc. are such an eyesore in comparison to the Black Hills National Forest. What gets me more than anything, though, is the knowledge that this land is so important to the tribes that were here first. And then in the late 1800s when gold was discovered in the Black Hills, the Lakota were moved against their will to other parts of South Dakota. So for there to be a monument to these four influential presidents in the middle of this land doesn’t feel right, especially since one of the accomplishments that is highlighted is the expansion of the US land via the Louisiana Purchase which led directly to the displacement of the Native Americans.
The day really just produced a lot of disappointment with our past and present treatment of Native Americans. As I was researching the Pine Ridge Reservation, I was reminded of something I read in On The Rez by Ian Frazier which had to do with the town of White Clay, Nebraska, just across the border from the reservation in South Dakota on disputed land. The village has a population of 14 people, but four liquor stores. So while the tribe attempts to work on the problem of alcoholism, the surrounding area profits from it. This site is much clearer than I could be.
I have found myself trying to come up with an historical parallel to how we have treated the Native Americans and how we continue to treat them overall and I am at a loss. I think about Germany and their national guilt associated with the Holocaust. At some point, you would think that our national conscience would lead us to make amends or at least stop overtly screwing over the people who we displaced.
Friday, July 2, 2010
I'd like to hear from you!
I've been doing my best to call many of you during my drive, but the spotty coverage has made that difficult at times. Sorry!
That said, it's really hard to tell how many of you are reading the blog. I like writing for an audience, but I'm curious to hear what you like hearing about.
Which of the following do you find most interesting (and I know that you find it ALL interesting)?
- Pictures from the road
- Step by step details of the trip
- Reflections on the country/countryside
- Short anecdotes from portions of the trip
- Reflections about myself
- People I'm meeting with
I'll probably keep doing my mix of things, but it would be great to know how to tailor my writing!
That said, it's really hard to tell how many of you are reading the blog. I like writing for an audience, but I'm curious to hear what you like hearing about.
Which of the following do you find most interesting (and I know that you find it ALL interesting)?
- Pictures from the road
- Step by step details of the trip
- Reflections on the country/countryside
- Short anecdotes from portions of the trip
- Reflections about myself
- People I'm meeting with
I'll probably keep doing my mix of things, but it would be great to know how to tailor my writing!
Some Random Thoughts That Don't Fit Anywhere Else
- AT&T has some major holes in coverage. I need to look at their slogan. Is it that they cover 97% of Americans? Or that they cover 97% of America? I could see the former through some technicalities. The latter just doesn’t seem accurate in the least.
- Yes, I understand that I am driving in remote areas of the country.
- After driving a while in the dark with my bright lights on, I find myself wishing that there was an “Even Brighter” setting for the headlights.
- Watching the Brazil – Netherlands game, I’m really surprised how much Brazil melted down. Well, especially Felipe Melo for Brazil. This is quite uncharacteristic and you can see how his frustration and subsequent red card have affected the whole Brazil side. The commentators just mentioned that there is still plenty of time, but if Brazil lose, it’s hard not to pin a large part of it on Felipe Melo (own goal, though that’s questionable , and a red card). If nothing more, if Brazil win, it won’t be because of his contributions.
- Much more than flying, when you drive across a time change, it really messes with you. Suddenly it’s an hour later and it doesn’t feel any different. At least with a plane, you have the moment where step off the plane and reassess where the heck you are and what time it is.
- Another note on my condemnation of Twin Falls the other day. Having now driven through many towns of the same size, it is clear that Twin Falls didn’t need to be all boxy warehouse stores and chain restaurants. Laramie, WY and Fort Collins, CO are two examples of towns that are decently sized but have a strong local flavor to them.
- There is a LOT more open space in this country than I realized. A LOT!!
- Yes, I understand that I am driving in remote areas of the country.
- After driving a while in the dark with my bright lights on, I find myself wishing that there was an “Even Brighter” setting for the headlights.
- Watching the Brazil – Netherlands game, I’m really surprised how much Brazil melted down. Well, especially Felipe Melo for Brazil. This is quite uncharacteristic and you can see how his frustration and subsequent red card have affected the whole Brazil side. The commentators just mentioned that there is still plenty of time, but if Brazil lose, it’s hard not to pin a large part of it on Felipe Melo (own goal, though that’s questionable , and a red card). If nothing more, if Brazil win, it won’t be because of his contributions.
- Much more than flying, when you drive across a time change, it really messes with you. Suddenly it’s an hour later and it doesn’t feel any different. At least with a plane, you have the moment where step off the plane and reassess where the heck you are and what time it is.
- Another note on my condemnation of Twin Falls the other day. Having now driven through many towns of the same size, it is clear that Twin Falls didn’t need to be all boxy warehouse stores and chain restaurants. Laramie, WY and Fort Collins, CO are two examples of towns that are decently sized but have a strong local flavor to them.
- There is a LOT more open space in this country than I realized. A LOT!!
Ain't No Sunshine
One of the great things about this long road trip is that I’ve had enough time to get totally obsessed with a few songs. The current obsession is with Bill Withers’ Ain’t No Sunshine.
Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone
It's not warm when she's away
Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone
And she’s always gone too long
Anytime she goes away
Wonder where she’s gone away
Wonder if she’s gone to stay
Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone
And this house just ain’t no home
Anytime she goes away
And I know I know
I know I know
I know I know
I know I know
I know I know
I know I know
I know I know
I know I know
I know I know
I know I know
I know I know
I know I know
I know I know
Hey I oughta leave the young thing alone
But ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone
Only darkness when she’s away
Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone
And this house just ain’t no home
Anytime she goes away
Anytime she goes away
Anytime she goes away
Anytime she goes away
Anytime she goes away
I’ve listened to that song about 10 times in a row a couple times a day. And then just today when I was hanging out in Boulder's downtown promenade-type thing, a band played this as their last song before rain forced them off a stage.
Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone
It's not warm when she's away
Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone
And she’s always gone too long
Anytime she goes away
Wonder where she’s gone away
Wonder if she’s gone to stay
Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone
And this house just ain’t no home
Anytime she goes away
And I know I know
I know I know
I know I know
I know I know
I know I know
I know I know
I know I know
I know I know
I know I know
I know I know
I know I know
I know I know
I know I know
Hey I oughta leave the young thing alone
But ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone
Only darkness when she’s away
Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone
And this house just ain’t no home
Anytime she goes away
Anytime she goes away
Anytime she goes away
Anytime she goes away
Anytime she goes away
I’ve listened to that song about 10 times in a row a couple times a day. And then just today when I was hanging out in Boulder's downtown promenade-type thing, a band played this as their last song before rain forced them off a stage.
Beartooth Mountain Drive
This is the last part of the Day Four description.
The northeast road out of Yellowstone is highway 212. It runs about 65 miles from Cooke City to Red Lodge starting in Montana, dipping into Wyoming, and then back into Montana. The road travels through the Beartooth Mountains.
I have done my fair share of driving (not just on this trip, but in general). I've driven from Anchorage to Fairbanks (after stopping in Denali), I've driven a bunch in the Sierras, driven outside of Seattle and Portland, even in Maine and Canada. But the Beartooth Highway is absolutely the most amazing road I have ever driven in my life. Without a doubt.
I doubt that anything I can write could fully encompass my amazement and wonder, so I'm going to keep it brief and instead include more pictures/video. The road begins in a valley, traversing a mountain to the north. To the south is a set of pretty impressive mountains. The road just keeps going up, so you see the rest of the Rockies in the background and eventually the Tetons. As you gain in elevation (ultimately up to 10,590 feet), you pass mountain lakes, patches of ice, the beginning of streams, tundra, and countless overlooks. I think I stopped about 15 different times to take pictures and videos. (I think Joaquin wasn't happy with my frequent stops - I would park, get out take pictures and then drive less than half a mile and do it again.) It might have been that I was on the road at just the right time and that it was very clear, but whatever it was, I am incredibly lucky to have been on the road at the right time.
The following pictures are posted in chronological order of the drive:
The northeast road out of Yellowstone is highway 212. It runs about 65 miles from Cooke City to Red Lodge starting in Montana, dipping into Wyoming, and then back into Montana. The road travels through the Beartooth Mountains.
I have done my fair share of driving (not just on this trip, but in general). I've driven from Anchorage to Fairbanks (after stopping in Denali), I've driven a bunch in the Sierras, driven outside of Seattle and Portland, even in Maine and Canada. But the Beartooth Highway is absolutely the most amazing road I have ever driven in my life. Without a doubt.
I doubt that anything I can write could fully encompass my amazement and wonder, so I'm going to keep it brief and instead include more pictures/video. The road begins in a valley, traversing a mountain to the north. To the south is a set of pretty impressive mountains. The road just keeps going up, so you see the rest of the Rockies in the background and eventually the Tetons. As you gain in elevation (ultimately up to 10,590 feet), you pass mountain lakes, patches of ice, the beginning of streams, tundra, and countless overlooks. I think I stopped about 15 different times to take pictures and videos. (I think Joaquin wasn't happy with my frequent stops - I would park, get out take pictures and then drive less than half a mile and do it again.) It might have been that I was on the road at just the right time and that it was very clear, but whatever it was, I am incredibly lucky to have been on the road at the right time.
The following pictures are posted in chronological order of the drive:
This is one of two videos from the drive. The videos take FOREVER to load, so I'm going to load the other video later.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Hiking Mt. Washburn
You may want to refer to the day four description first to get an overview of the day.
Once Kat and I met up, we began the three mile (plus) hike up to Mt. Washburn. Mt. Washburn is at the northern end of the park and sits at 10,243 feet (as you can see in the picture). We started the hike somewhere around 7500 or 8000 feet, so there was a bit of a climb.
At the top of Mt. Washburn is a fire lookout tower that just seemed to get further and further away the farther we walked. And then the wind started picking up. It was almost as if there were forces that were thwarting our progress up the mountain. But we made it to the top! It was amazing - we had a full 360 degree view and could see the entire Yellowstone Park from that spot...even all the way to the Grand Tetons south of Yellowstone.
It was literally breathtaking - partially because of the view, partially because of the altitude. I had to sit down a couple of times at the fire tower so I didn't accidentally pass out.
Driving in Yellowstone
As I mentioned in the first post about Day Four, my first order of business for the day was getting into Yellowstone to meet Kat at noon.
Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves, too much. This map of Yellowstone will be helpful in understanding my plight!
I entered the park around 10:00am at West Yellowstone and drove to Madison Junction. There, I learned that there was road construction on the way to Norris and that there would be 30 minute delays. Figuring I had plenty of time, I decided to go the other way - down to Old Faithful, West Thumb, up to Canyon Village and then to the trailhead between Roosevelt and Canyon.
I KNOW, I KNOW!! I may have underestimated both the length of the route and the amount of time it would take to drive. In driving in the park the previous night, the roads were empty (mostly because a huge storm was coming in). What I didn't encounter were people stopping for every single animal that was on the side of the road, causing long backups.
Now don't get me wrong, I think wildlife is cool, but I'm much more of a mountain scenery sort of guy. With the first bison, I stopped and got a picture. The second one, I slowed down the car and took a picture as I drove by. By the time we stopped for a third bison between Madison Junction and Old Faithful, I was tempted to yell out, "Let's get a move on! Go watch Dances With Wolves!!"
The drive itself was amazing. Unfortunately, right around Old Faithful, I realized that I had passed the point of no return and that I wouldn't be able to turn around and still meet Kat on time. So I spent the rest of the drive frustrated that I couldn't go any faster and that I had a long way to go. It also meant that I couldn't stop to take in the sights. However, it gave me a lot to be excited for when I return.
I also saw that I made the wise decision in turning back the previous night. The road to Grant Village became more treacherous after Old Faithful, going up and over the Continental Divide and a mountain. Driving that in heavy rain on an unlit road would not have been good.
In the end, I met up with Kat about 45 minutes late. As I apologized profusely, she explained Montana Time to me and that I wasn't late since I showed up. She also mentioned that the view she had from the parking lot was amazing. This was all quite gracious of her and made me feel okay.
Here are some pictures from the drive...
Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves, too much. This map of Yellowstone will be helpful in understanding my plight!
I entered the park around 10:00am at West Yellowstone and drove to Madison Junction. There, I learned that there was road construction on the way to Norris and that there would be 30 minute delays. Figuring I had plenty of time, I decided to go the other way - down to Old Faithful, West Thumb, up to Canyon Village and then to the trailhead between Roosevelt and Canyon.
I KNOW, I KNOW!! I may have underestimated both the length of the route and the amount of time it would take to drive. In driving in the park the previous night, the roads were empty (mostly because a huge storm was coming in). What I didn't encounter were people stopping for every single animal that was on the side of the road, causing long backups.
Now don't get me wrong, I think wildlife is cool, but I'm much more of a mountain scenery sort of guy. With the first bison, I stopped and got a picture. The second one, I slowed down the car and took a picture as I drove by. By the time we stopped for a third bison between Madison Junction and Old Faithful, I was tempted to yell out, "Let's get a move on! Go watch Dances With Wolves!!"
The drive itself was amazing. Unfortunately, right around Old Faithful, I realized that I had passed the point of no return and that I wouldn't be able to turn around and still meet Kat on time. So I spent the rest of the drive frustrated that I couldn't go any faster and that I had a long way to go. It also meant that I couldn't stop to take in the sights. However, it gave me a lot to be excited for when I return.
I also saw that I made the wise decision in turning back the previous night. The road to Grant Village became more treacherous after Old Faithful, going up and over the Continental Divide and a mountain. Driving that in heavy rain on an unlit road would not have been good.
In the end, I met up with Kat about 45 minutes late. As I apologized profusely, she explained Montana Time to me and that I wasn't late since I showed up. She also mentioned that the view she had from the parking lot was amazing. This was all quite gracious of her and made me feel okay.
Here are some pictures from the drive...
Day Four - Yellowstone
Current Location: Gillette, WY
Miles Traveled: 1978
Today was a spectacular day. There was too much to put into one post, so I'm going to break it up into three other posts: Yellowstone Drive, Mt Washburn Hike, Beartooth Mountain Drive.
Here's the general overview...
I started off waking up in West Yellowstone, packed up, grabbed a quick breakfast and headed into Yellowstone. The plan was to meet up with Kat (one of my frosh from Alondra years ago) at noon at the Mt. Washburn trailhead. Once we met up, not necessarily on time, we did the hike (more on that later). And then I drove out of the park on highway 212.
On my way into Montana, I stopped in Red Lodge, MT and ate at Bogart's Pizza and Mexican Food. It was an odd juxtaposition of Bogart movie posters, pizza, and mexican food. I had a "Hey Macarena" pizza which hurt to order, but it was a pizza with artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, something else and pesto sauce. At the same time, they brought me a basket of chips and salsa. I wasn't expecting that.
After dinner, I made the decision to alter my itinerary pretty substantially. I am skipping North Dakota altogether. GASP! Here's the thing, I realized that I was going to have to wake up in Miles City, MT, drive to North Dakota, then South Dakota, and then to Laramie. I'd hardly have time to stop anywhere. In South Dakota, I really want to see the Black Hills Forest, Mt Rushmore, and the Pine Ridge Reservation. A few years ago, I read a book called On the Rez that focused almost entirely on the Pine Ridge Reservation. There's a lot of Native American history in the Black Hills Forest, too, so I want to make sure that I have time to explore. Pretty much the only thing I wanted to do in North Dakota was buy gas so that I could say that I had been to North Dakota, so it was a pretty easy choice.
More posts after I sleep! Before I go, here's one picture from the drive from Billings to Gillette. It's weird, I knew I should just stay away from the river, but something about it was so intriguing.
Miles Traveled: 1978
Today was a spectacular day. There was too much to put into one post, so I'm going to break it up into three other posts: Yellowstone Drive, Mt Washburn Hike, Beartooth Mountain Drive.
Here's the general overview...
I started off waking up in West Yellowstone, packed up, grabbed a quick breakfast and headed into Yellowstone. The plan was to meet up with Kat (one of my frosh from Alondra years ago) at noon at the Mt. Washburn trailhead. Once we met up, not necessarily on time, we did the hike (more on that later). And then I drove out of the park on highway 212.
On my way into Montana, I stopped in Red Lodge, MT and ate at Bogart's Pizza and Mexican Food. It was an odd juxtaposition of Bogart movie posters, pizza, and mexican food. I had a "Hey Macarena" pizza which hurt to order, but it was a pizza with artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, something else and pesto sauce. At the same time, they brought me a basket of chips and salsa. I wasn't expecting that.
After dinner, I made the decision to alter my itinerary pretty substantially. I am skipping North Dakota altogether. GASP! Here's the thing, I realized that I was going to have to wake up in Miles City, MT, drive to North Dakota, then South Dakota, and then to Laramie. I'd hardly have time to stop anywhere. In South Dakota, I really want to see the Black Hills Forest, Mt Rushmore, and the Pine Ridge Reservation. A few years ago, I read a book called On the Rez that focused almost entirely on the Pine Ridge Reservation. There's a lot of Native American history in the Black Hills Forest, too, so I want to make sure that I have time to explore. Pretty much the only thing I wanted to do in North Dakota was buy gas so that I could say that I had been to North Dakota, so it was a pretty easy choice.
More posts after I sleep! Before I go, here's one picture from the drive from Billings to Gillette. It's weird, I knew I should just stay away from the river, but something about it was so intriguing.
Twin Falls... What Could Have Been
On my way from Boise to Yellowstone, I stopped in Twin Falls, ID. I wasn't expecting much from Twin Falls, let alone a major geological site. So as I drove across a bridge that came out of nowhere over a canyon and river, I sat up.
And took pictures.
Cool huh?
Well, here's the thing. This was my first impression of Twin Falls - I saw it as a quaint little Idaho city with cool geography. But it just went downhill from there.
There was a short walk along the rim of the canyon that I took to an overlook point. The first two pictures are the view from the overlook of the river. The third picture is looking back to Twin Falls from the overlook spot.
And therein lies the problem. Twin Falls is actually the second largest city in Idaho and has a population of about 41,000 people, but the majority of its stores are chains - Best Buy, TJ Maxx, Olive Garden, Taco Bell, McDonalds, Applebees, Old Navy, Office Depot. I'm not going to get all holier than thou - I shop at these stores, what struck me is that aside from the amazing canyon, Twin Falls seemed to lack any local flavor. Not only that, these large box stores were overlooking the canyon. And it didn't need to be this way.
And took pictures.
Cool huh?
Well, here's the thing. This was my first impression of Twin Falls - I saw it as a quaint little Idaho city with cool geography. But it just went downhill from there.
There was a short walk along the rim of the canyon that I took to an overlook point. The first two pictures are the view from the overlook of the river. The third picture is looking back to Twin Falls from the overlook spot.
And therein lies the problem. Twin Falls is actually the second largest city in Idaho and has a population of about 41,000 people, but the majority of its stores are chains - Best Buy, TJ Maxx, Olive Garden, Taco Bell, McDonalds, Applebees, Old Navy, Office Depot. I'm not going to get all holier than thou - I shop at these stores, what struck me is that aside from the amazing canyon, Twin Falls seemed to lack any local flavor. Not only that, these large box stores were overlooking the canyon. And it didn't need to be this way.
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