Trips

Adventures, Vacations, Weekends, etc.

My thoughts on Canada, America's Hat.

Life, Trips

I tried to get all my Canada jokes out before we got across the border, but I still think they’re funny dammit.

But after being there for 6 days I’m pretty sure I can’t find anything I don’t like about Canada. Just like South Park taught us they’re polite and clean and (most of them) love America… probably more than most Americans. They have socialized medicine, decriminalized Marijuana laws, low crime, and all the moose you can eat. Plus I can not say enough about poutine and ceasars. It’s pretty much how I’d like to see the USA someday.

If I could get past them spelling “Sportscenter” with an “e” on the end and second rate cable system I would move there in a heartbeat. But alas…

All hail America, Canada’s Ass.

All Good 2008

Life, Trips

I’m going to try and avoid the obvious phrase… All Good 2008 was the sweetness. I’m not sure if it was really bigger than last year, we didn’t camp in the same area, but it felt big. The people we camped with and around were the kind of people that I expect to be there, good people.

The Line:

We got the early admission tickets for Thursday and I’m glad we did. We got into the line around 4:30 and then hit traffic, it actually turned into a moving party. We would all jump in our cars, move 20 feet, then get back out and open up the coolers. It was fun to walk up the liine and back to see what kind of music the different folks were listening to. Four hours later we reached our parking space (side of a hill) there were still people in that line at 2am. The Stage seemed to be about a 20 minute walk (at least) from where our car was packed so we decided to hike our camp closer to the stage.

The Spot:

We had planned for this event by bringing a wagon this year. But we also brought about 10 times more stuff. We’re good planners, not good packers. We took only the essentials on the first trip, tent, bookbags and “The Spot Claimer”. When we got up there we found that it was pretty packed in. We spent a couple minutes looking for a spot big enough to plant the shade tent when a nice bearded guy said that there was some room by his group. They seemed like nice enough people and they were really excited by all the crap we brought (who wouldn’t be!). They seemed to be running the “We’re in college and all we brought was beer” Camp. The spot was in the Dogwood neighborhood, pretty close to the stage, About as close as last year without the giant hill (good). The neighbors were good people, the “Boy Scouts”, the “Really prepared Sisters”, the “Jam Band Junkies”, and the “Nice people who brought games”. No trouble from any of them, just good vibes.

The Music:

Like every year, I really wish I had seen more music. But waking up after a long night and then it’s hot outside the shade tent… I really didn’t want to go sit in a hot field. So we only saw a couple of daytime shows. We heard them from the camp, but that’s not really the same. My favorite show was by far Michael Franti and Spearhead (Last show of the Fest) I thought they really rocked it out and I really didn’t want it to end. Second would probably have to be the Widespread Panic set. I’ve been listening to them a lot before the fest so I was really excited to see them live. Phil Lesh was surprisingly good (I’m not really a Dead follower and didn’t like Ratdog last year) That Bassnectar guy ripped the place down, AWESOME! BOOOOM! and then BOOM! The crowd was so intense during that set and the glowstick rain was killer. Laurel loved the Dark Star Orchestra late night set on Saturday (Even though I’ve been trying to tell her that she would like it since last year). The music at the campsite was really awesome too, we had some guys that could really play the guitar and drums. Plus random “Mandolin Man” who came by on the last day. My plan for next year “See More Music”.

The Vibe:

Half the fun of All Good is the people. This year I think I heard that 18,000+ people were there. There were some sketchballs but not any more than last year. I only saw a few people that I know were not there for the music (there to make money). Laurel and I tried to make the fest fun for anybody and everybody around us. I think it makes us both happy to care for others. I wish I could find some other people like us before we go next time, I want to bring a little bit of the Burning Man art vibe out to the mountian next year. I think I’ll try to hang out on the Jambase forums and spread the vibe out for next year.

Next Year:

We’ll definatley be there, hope we can bring out some of our friends instead of just making new ones (that we may never see again) Laurel and I have already started thinking about what to do for next year. I have one plan… PERSONAL PARTY DOME.

If our new friends from VA TECH ever search for all good online I hope this post brings us back together.

Thanks for a GREAT time. (I’m not good with names)

Annie, Scotty, Matt, Jager, Coco, Desi, Jess… There are a couple more, but my mind is blank now.

Later!

Portland Trip Roundup

Life, Trips

Don’t really feel like writing a whole post on how awesome the trip to Portland, Oregon was. (it was really sweet!) But I do have some pictures to post.

Humbolt County

highway 101

I’ll post the pictures from Portland and Mt Hood as soon as I go through them, Wade took like 400 pictures in 4 days, so there’s a lot of fat to trim.

Later!

Mark

*UPDATE*

here’s the link to the Portland and Mt Hood pictures. I trimmed a little, but theres still 286 of them.

Portlang!

Down and out in the Magic Kingdom.

Life, Trips

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December 29th 2007 – January 2nd 2008

Mark’s adventures in the Happiest Place on Earth ©.

From what I remember I hadn’t been back to Orlando since around 1993? The last time I was there I remember just seeing everything as boring and for kids. This time was a little different, I’m still not indoctrinated into the Cult of Disney, but I did wear some mouse ears for a while.

They’ve really got some good rides at MGM now, The Tower of Terror and Rock N’ Roller coaster were actually awesome. Not just Disney Awesome. The Star Wars ride could use some work. I really think they could update it and make it a lot better. I’m sure they’re going to just tear it down and build something else. But it was kind of nostalgic to see the training video that looked like it was made before 1990.(update – the wiki on this ride states that a sequal ride is in the works. probably because this one cost 35 million bucks)

The Magic Kingdom definitely wasn’t lame. There still aren’t many “thrill rides” but they do such a good job of entertaining you while you’re in line and on the ride that you forget that they’re a little slow. The new Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean rides are really good. They’re so well done that you forget you’re just on a track inside a warehouse. Especially in Pirates, when you’re floating by as Barbosa is attacking the fort you really feel like you’re out in the ocean. Especially awesome was the blast of air that comes through and feels like a cannonball just missed you.

I wish I could have spent more time at Animal Kingdom, But I wanted to go watch the Illinois Rose Bowl game (bad game). The safari was really cool, it felt like you were really out there. They’ve designed the enclosures so that there are no visible boundaries from one area to the next, so it looks like the lions could go over and attack the other animals at any time. I think that makes it really cool. The Everest ride/roller coaster is another example of the typical Disney ride. They take an average coaster and dress it up so that it’s a really fun ride. I’ve never seen a coaster have so many video/ anamatronic elements. The image that really sticks in my head is coming flying through the cave at the end and having a 30ft yeti hanging over me and trying to claw at me. Really cool looking!

New years eve at Epcot center was a really fun time. I think as ive gotten older I really appreciate Epcot more. When I was last there the only thing I can remember is buying a really big sombrero in Mexico and walking around a lot. This time it was really cool eating in the different countries and realizing that the people working there were actually from those places. Also getting a beer in every country was excellent.

Laurel’s Dad and Step-mom were my guides for the adventure, I really like vacationing with them. They have their little quirks like any parents, but they do really know how to have a good time and are really interesting people. We did so many fun things that I can’t believe that we were only there for a few days. I’m really looking forward to out next vacation together.

Later!

In which our hero goes to Denny's… No, Yes, Maybe

Life, Trips

I went to New Hampshire this weekend for Ben and Bonnie’s wedding. This seems like it’s a long time in the making, maybe because they’ve been dating for forever, engaged for over a year, and I went to the bachelor party in vegas almost two months ago. But I always like going up to New England to visit those guys. This was also the first time that they met Laurel, so it was a very big trip.

We left on Friday from BWI at about 8pm but didn’t get into Manchester until about 1030 due to a storm that had us sitting on the runway for over an hour… or longer than the entire flight. So when we finally do get to Nashua in our rental car it’s already midnight (I think we took the long way). But having been to Vegas with these people, I should have know that we were just getting started. The first few hours are a blur of introductions and re-introductions then the next few hours are a vision of blurs punctuated by the knowledge of a dwindling beer supply. Then the large clear bottles of foreign liquids came out and it was at this point that I should have been looking for a bed. I did have the forethought to hoard some blankets upstairs. I also realized that the state motto shouldn’t be “Live Free or Die” it should be “We sing the Ole’ Ole’ Ole’ song every 15 minutes for no apparent reason” . Laurel got along great with everyone, especially that guy that thought we were from “Icelandia” because we were the only people with blonde hair in the entire house and I’m really tall.

I don’t know how it happened but I heard someone call out “There’s a cab here and we’re going to Denny’s” which sounded like a place I wanted to be at. I remember hearing Laurel say that I should bring her back pancakes (which I did not do). So this cab ride was something out of a twisted movie. The cabbie must have been the brother of someone they went to high school with, that or they know everyone in Nashua. He looked like a cross between Dom Deluise and a 1970’s Lazy Boy. Like the pirates of the Black Pearl, I think he had become part of his taxi. So just when I think that he was the weirdest person I could have seen that night, we actually get to Denny’s. Working the night shift at a pancake house must be the last stop on the train to rock bottom. The waitress who greeted us must have been working there for 15 years, it was like they were having a casting call for “Truck Stop Waitress”. She was finishing up her shift and spent our whole meal telling us what a “Crazy Bitch” our waitress was… and she probably was. We ordered 4 “Extreme” Grand Slams, because that’s what the first person ordered and I don’t think any of us could read at that point. What I do remember from this watress is that she looked a little like Lorri Petty from Tank Girl… and she had “Fuck U 2” tattooed inside her bottom lip. When I picture her I can still hear the New Hampshire accent yelling in the background “She’s a Crazy Bitch!”. What makes this night complete is that at the end of the night when we were going to catch a cab back to Ben’s the “Truck Stop Waitress” offered to give us a ride home. She drove a baby blue 1994 Lincoln Town Car which handled like a whale on drugs. She dropped us off four blocks away from Clark’s house, because we had to wait a few minutes for his girlfriend to leave for work (not sure why, but it seemed reasonable at the time) Probably because as much fun as it is to recap this story now, it might not have been that funny at 8am coming from your drunk boyfriend. So I spent the night splayed out on a leather chair and ottoman with no blanket… at Clark’s house, not at Ben’s where Laurel was.

After we borrowed Clark’s jeep and drove back to Ben’s it was already 1:30 so we had about 5 hours before the wedding. I spent most of this time laying on my back upstairs trying to drink water while singing a spiritual song that I was writing about my night. To the tune of Amy Winehouse’s ‘Rehab’ it went “They tried to make me go to Denny’s, I said No, Yes, Maybe.” Apparently there were more verses, but I really don’t remember.

The rest of the day went as expected, Ben and his 12 groomsmen in their white suits, pink vests and white Nike Air Force Ones. Bonnie looking beautiful in her white dress followed by 12 bridesmaids. There was a drunken speech. Great dancing by middle aged white guys to “Baby Got Back”. And a Margarita fountain.

A good time was had by all.

Later!