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I’ve got a few photos of San Fransisco, the Hearst Castle, Winchester Mystery House, some seals and a little something they call the Mystery Spot! I’ve also got some photos of the Mojave space port and the airplane grave yard in there.

Take a look at the photos on Facebook

There’s a new album here. This one is me and Amos geeking out in Vegas, and trip through Death Valley in 48 degree weather, and some night time photography in the middle of the desert

Take a look!

While I’m here, here is a video I shot in the Silicon valley, tech center to the world!

Wake up in Vegas.  Buy some bumper stickers at the world’s largest souvenir store.

Drive towards Death Valley.  Take photos at real ghost town and bizarre outdoor art exhibit.

Bask in 117 degrees Fahrenheit in Death Valley.  Soak your t-shirt in water and tie it around your head so your eyes don’t feel like they’re boiling.

Take lots of photos of dunes and desert, oh and Dodge hot weather testing the new Challenger.

Stop for photos in front of desert rocks and cacti.  As you pull back out onto the road hear a sonic boom and a deafening roar as an F15 blows past 80 feet above the highway.

Just your typical day in America.  Boring.

We’re Vegas.  It’s absolutely insane here.  On top of the lights, the noise and all the people it’s also a heatwave.  I believe it was 109 here today.  Definitely miss the cool ocean breeze.  We’re going to leave Vegas tomorrow for Death Valley then keep heading home.  I’ll put up a proper post later and some more photos.  Once I’m no longer worried about spontaneously combusting.

Said don’tcha know me? I’m your neighbour.

I’m writing to you today from the real heart of America. Today starts our drive towards Las Vegas, leaving behind the coast and all her liberal lefty politics. We are in Bush country, farmland, water restricting, meat-eating good ‘ol down-to-earth Bakersfield California. Smack dab in the middle of a long valley filled with dirt farms and good wholesome people, I tell you what. No more of this hippie arty-farty shit!

Take last night. Amos and I went to a steak restaurant and ordered the largest steaks on the menu. God damned they were good! When the waitress found out we were from Canada she, like any good natured salt-of-the-earth red-blooded American, wanted to know a little bit more about these two strangers to her country and asked us about health care. She went on to talk about gun control! GUN CONTROL! She must have been a pinko commie, and not representative of the population.

Speaking of gun control, today we will be heading out to “Second Amendment Sports” to rent, and shoot giant hand canons. I’m talking about the huge will-put-holes-through-a-bulldozer types of deadly weapons. We are going to tear small pieces of paper with targets on them to even smaller pieces! This will be my first time shooting a gun, so I don’t actually know what to expect. I’d never want to own one, but I don’t mind the idea of renting one to shoot targets. I imagine that this will be the sort of place that you see in movies where the cops have to go to the range, put on ear protection and blow off some steam.

Red-neck attitude aside, the last few days have been really really nice, the coast was beautiful the entire time. I’m starting to miss it already. Seeing my friend Nick and staying with his family was really nice, since we had been camping the night before, it was made especially welcome. San Fransisco was pretty neat, Amos and I rented something called a go-car. It’s a 2 seater scooter with a gps unit that directs you around and gives you a tour. It’s pretty smart because it knows where you are and tells you about what’s around it. We saw a lot of really great art in San Fransisco, I feel enlightened!

Heading down the coast we’ve seen the Winchester Mystery House, and the Santa Cruz Mystery Spot. Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the Hearst Castle (no mystery).

It’s been a great trip so far, and surprisingly, we’re not trying to kill each other, and we’re ready for more! Bring it on, America!

We’ve done quite a lot since my last update. We drove to San Fransisco, saw crazy roadside attractions, some beautiful coastline, met some great people, toured LucasArts & ILM, went to a race, partied too hard, saw a lot of incredible modern and classical art, drove around in a scooter car, and toured Alcatraz. I’m probably forgetting a bunch of stuff too.

After we went to Trees of Mystery and a few whacky roadside attractions Joel and I finally made it to the California coast and the start of highway 1. We came out of trees and onto the coast just before sunset. It was just so gorgeous, you couldn’t help wanting to take photos of everything. The next morning all the way to San Fransisco was the same thing, this twisting little road surrounded by golden grass, a teal ocean and a blue sky.

We stayed in San Rafael with Joel’s friend Nick, his wife Kieko (spelling?) and their two daughters. It was fantastic of them to share their home with us for a couple nights, a really great change of pace. Thanks guys! The homemade meals were beyond awesome after a week of road food. Nick gave us a tour of LucasFilms and LucasArts. He showed us [transmission error] and [transmission error]!

On Saturday we drove through Berkley and Oakland to go to the first day of the 24 Hours of LeMons at Altamont Motorsports Park. It started great and we were having a lot of fun until there was a fatal crash. At first we were hoping that the driver was going to be alright but when the paramedics and firefighters stopped running around it became obvious that the driver had passed on. It was a quiet ride home. Both of our moods were down for the next couple of days but it appears we’ve both cheered up.

We’ve stayed at a hostel in the center of San Fransisco the past two nights. The first night we went to a comedy club, had a few laughs and a couple beers. Then we found a great little bar and had a few more beers. Yesterday both of us were very hung over. Joel finally managed to get me out in the afternoon and I’m glad he did. We went to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.  It was fantastic, even feeling like I’d been run over.  I finally saw a Magritte in real life.  It was Les valeurs personnelles, I could have stared at it all day.  Their whole collection there was fantastic.

Today we did the touristy thing big time.  We rented a GoCar, basically a three wheeled scooter with two seats.  It wasn’t exactly fast but it was a lot of fun.  They have a GPS based audio tour built in that leads you around the city.  We unfortunately/fortunately stopped at the Palace of the Legion of Honour.  We spent an hour looking at their amazing collection of classic sculptures and paintings before we realized we had to get on with the rest of our tour.  After we’d had lunch in the Haight-Ashbury area we had to navigate our way across town as fast as we could.  Our ferry to Alcatraz left at 4 and we basically had to run the final couple blocks just to make it.

Alcatraz was very cool.  The audio tour walks you through the cell blocks and tells you some of the history of the place when it was federal prison.  I took lots of pictures of the decaying buildings.

Tomorrow Joel and I head down through Silicon Valley to San Jose and then back out to the coast to camp.  I’ve posted some more photos in facebook.  Check them out here.  Now it’s late and I’m tired.   ‘Till the next update.

Marsh’s Free Museum is a nickel and dime shop in Long Beach Oregon. It’s filled with awesome weird things

Good Morning,

Right now we’re watching a prayer for NASCAR.  America!

So I’ve got a cold now, or allergies.  Either way it sucks but it’s not stopping me from enjoying the trip.  Tuesday we stumbled upon the Evergreen Aviation Museum.  We were just cruising along when we spotted this gigantic building.  When we got a little closer we noticed the jets and helicopters and decided to stop.  It was awesome, we were both really glad we stopped.  The Spruce Goose is massive, everything in the museum was dwarfed by it.  Tuesday night we “camped” in the back of the wagon.  It was not exactly comfy and a little chilly but all in all not too bad.

Yesterday we just cruised down the coast stopping to take lots of photos and videos.  The dunes are freaking awesome, I wish we could have spent more time there.  We also stopped at the sea lion caves which was pretty cool, you walk down a long path then take an elevator 200 feet down into the cave.  On a side note, everything is named after the devil here; Devil’s Lake, Devil’s Punchbowl, Devil’s Elbow, Devil’s Churn, etc.  No Devil’s Dunes though oddly enough.

Today we’re gonna head down to California today.  See some giant trees.  Good times.

I’m gonna throw some more photos on facebook.

Hey there,

I’ve uploaded a bunch of my photos

Amos has a bunch, but I don’t know the link just yet.

In the last couple days we’ve explored Portland, bought books from Powell’s Book City (world’s largest book store) We found the Evergreen Air Museum, which houses the Spruce Goose and just today found a sea lion cave. It’s been a great trip so far. We tried camping in the back of the wagon last night, but there’s a weird chink in the floor that makes it a little uncomfortable. Other than that it’s pretty good.

We’re in Gold Beach right now ready to check out the redwood forests tomorrow.

So far the trip’s been great. First day we made it to Ilwaco, Wa no problem. Ate some fantastic BBQ’d oysters in South Bend, Wa. We saw this huge smoking BBQ in front of this little place and just had to stop.

The second day we did a lot. Both of us got the car stuck in Long Beach, me first and Joel almost immediately afterward. After we got towed out we had our first American breakfast, buttermilk biscuits in sausage gravy. Then we hit up the town of Long Beach, it’s just like the little resort town in Jaws. We went to Marsh’s free museum, saw the world’s largest frying pan (fiberglass, what a rip), rode go karts, we were going to stay and find out what the hell a Loyalty Day parade was but we decided to hit the road. After long beach we cruised down to Astoria which involved crossing a crazy long bridge. Astoria is a really cool town, we took some pictures, BS’d with the local comic store owner and he told us how to find the Goonies house. After getting some pictures at the Goonies house we headed to Portland and checked into our hostel.

Portland is a really awesome city. Yesterday we just hung out here and wandered around town in the nice sunny weather. We’re staying in the Northwest part of town which is sort of like a giant version of Kits or Cook St. Village. There’s lots of Pubs here and cool little shops as well as a giant book store called Powell’s. You can walk anywhere really easily and the public transit is free. It’s a very hip, young city, everyone’s under 40 and there’s cute girls everywhere. I could easily live in Portland.

Today we’re gonna eventually head out to the coast and camp for a couple nights. Or at least one night and see how that goes. We got a few days before we’re supposed to hit San Rafael.

I’m gonna through some pictures up in facebook. Later chumps.