Tag Archives: travel

When Yosemite is Your Yard

Posted on June 28, 2013 by wesblueyes

The roads from Lake Tahoe to Yosemite wind around and around. I’m not used to mountain driving, but it doesn’t really scare me. You just stay on the road. The height doesn’t really worry me too much, because I keep my eyes on the road. Paying attention is probably the most helpful thing one can do in mountain driving where staying on the road becomes even more important than it is on flat land.

I was happy to rest in Angel’s Camp for a while. A cute little town, I loved how they had clothes hanging over the street. It reminded me of shoes that hang above Spectre in Big Fish. Signs were in every window for the upcoming Culaveras County Jumping Frog Jubilee. Apparently Angel’s Camp’s claim to fame is that Mark Twain published a story about a frog from there.

Jumping Frog Mural

I didn’t really have a place to stay planned out for Yosemite. I thought I’d find a camping spot either inside the park or somewhere nearby. I had heard rumors about maybe some nearby BLM camping. I was caught off guard though when I found out that all the campgrounds in Yosemite were filled to capacity and that there wasn’t any BLM land nearby. I decided the smart thing to do would to be to stop and rent a bear can at least, so if I did make some last-minute camping arrangements than I wouldn’t have to worry about my car being broken into.

Read the rest of this entry →

2 Comments

Posted in California, Food, History, Life, Music, Nature and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Lake Tahoe

Posted on June 26, 2013 by wesblueyes

I drove up to the Lake Tahoe area from Bishop, California. My cousin used to work at Lake Tahoe, and I had to check it out for myself after hearing such good things.

The first natural wonder I stumbled upon was Mono Lake. From a distance I was in awe of the beautiful colors reflecting off the water and interested in the strange formations coming up from the water. I found out that the water in Mono Lake is actually really salty, saltier than the ocean. I walked up to the edge, it had an alkaline smell. Gulls hang out and nest there before making their way to the Pacific on little islands of rock in the lake.

Mono Lake
Very Facinating

Read the rest of this entry →

2 Comments

Posted in California, Nature, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

HI Austin

Posted on April 1, 2013 by wesblueyes
SXSW

SXSW

My first week in Austin, I stayed at the Hostel International. It was jammed packed for SXSW. I think I reserved the last spot available 3 months earlier. The place was filled with developers from all over for interactive and Australians for film. The hostel is located right on the Colorado River and you can sit outside on picnic tables and hang out by this dock. The weather was perfect!

My first day in Austin, I offered a ride to this Chinese-American user-interface developer from San Francisco (Robin), who was also staying at the hostel. He needed to stop by the Car-To-Go rental place to get his key and I was having a ridiculous taco craving. We ended up meandering through this very hilly neighborhood with adorable houses and I tried to figure out with all the one-way streets how to get to the car rental store. I ended up just parking on a side street and walking to this place Tacos and Tequila. He wanted to treat me since I drove him and I’m not really one to turn down being treated. The tacos were amazing. They had three different ones offered for happy hour with a toppings bar. The brisket was the best. We sat at the bar sampling tacos and mixed drinks. After the restaurant we

Don's Depot

Don’s Depot

decided to catch a bus and check out downtown. For some reason Robin decided to start treating me all girlfriendy, but I didn’t really care. He was a sweet guy to escort me around with his hand on the small of my back and lend me his jacket.  When we walked back to my car, we were surprised to find a happening neighborhood bar right next to where I parked. We hung out in Donn’s Depot for a while for a bit of authentic Texas entertainment. Located inside an old train car, it was filled with older people two-stepping to the band… and the band played a mean harmonica. Read the rest of this entry →

Leave a comment

Posted in Food, Music, Southwest, Texas, United States and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Steer Shows and Pot Holes

Posted on March 20, 2013 by wesblueyes
Chuck Wagon Race

Chuck Wagon Race

The beginning of March, I stayed in Houston with my sorority sister, Amandine. She is a graduate student at a university there. On Thursday night I arrived just in time for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Three other girls were at the apartment waiting on me. A car and then a train later, we were scouting out fair food. Between the four of us there were giant baked potatoes, a foot-long corn dog, a turkey leg, over a dozen fried Oreos and… fancy metal flasks.

I never realized that a rodeo contained so many different events. We played a ridiculous game of telephone in the bleachers as cowboys and a few barrel racing cowgirls roped, wrangled and rode in the dirt far below. The highlight of the night was the Mutton Bustin’ competition, where five year-olds are padded up and sent off riding lambs. A little guy named Brody won. They presented him with a man-sized belt buckle and asked him what was the secret to winning. He responded with a southern twang, “You just gotta keep you’re head down and hold on.” Read the rest of this entry →

Leave a comment

Posted in Art, Food, History, Music, Nature, Southwest, Texas, United States and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

The Good Kind of Grungy

Posted on March 7, 2013 by wesblueyes

2013-02-23_23-00-16_289Last week, I arrived in NOLA. Luckily because of the time change I arrived on time, instead of an hour late. I wandered up and down Frenchman Street, while waiting to catch up with my host. I read in a guide somewhere that the locals have their own style. For what I’ve seen it varies from hipster to turn of the century Carny. A friendly Tarot card reader let me know ahead of time about a fire show in the parking lot behind his table. Until the show I hung around Frenchmen Art Market, which had plenty of interesting wares. I spent most of my time at the booth of an independent filmmaker listening to stories about train hopping and the hobo life-style in the documentary Cure for the Crash. The fire show ended up being pretty amazing too.

Afterwards I walked to the Hi Ho Lounge, where my Couchsurfing host, Brody was planning to attend a  XXYYXX concert. The show was sold out and packed out! Luckily, with a mix of buying a ticket off a bystander and knowing the right people we were able to get in. Read the rest of this entry →

1 Comment

Posted in Art, Food, Louisiana, Music, South, United States and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

The Start

Posted on February 8, 2013 by wesblueyes
Starting from the charming town of Thomasville, Georgia.

Starting from the charming town of Thomasville, Georgia.

Everyone at one time or another struggles to understand who they are, what they want to do and what they want to be. I still struggle with this. As a kid you know what you’re going to be when you grow-up or at least you know you’ll have it figured out by the time are a grown-up, which must be age 18.

For a time, I thought I wanted to be an advertising copywriter, and eventually a creative director. I religiously read the blog Makin’ Ads by Greg Christensen for years, watched my YouTube playlist of commercials, visited many agency websites and re-read It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be by Paul Arden.  This led me to a solo train trip to Richmond, Virginia for an interview with the VCU Brandcenter.

Read the rest of this entry →

2 Comments

Posted in Life, United States and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.
←
Newer Posts →