By the time we left the room (and the Challenger parked for the day), it was after 11am. Our plan was to head downtown by MUNI rail to Fisherman's Wharf at Embracadero, walk the piers, see the sites and be tourists for a day. First of all though, we needed food. Roger took the lead and suggested we hit up Chinatown for some "authentic" Chinese food for lunch. After reaching Embracadero,we explored the Asian part of the city a bit before settling on an almost literal hole-in-the-wall eatery called Gourmet something or another.
The less said about that place, the better.
The Challenger gets the day off while we exercise our feet
We made our way down to the piers and strolled up to Fisherman's Wharf, passing a number of seafood restaurants, Alcatraz tours and all manner of shops and such in the process. Being as Roger and I both share an allergy to all things shellfishy, we decided against upsetting our tummies any further and did some shopping. We also saw the famous Pier 39 sea lion colony, visited the Exploratorium and rested our feet with some light drinks at Fog Harbor Fish House.
Roger admiring the sea lions
Apparently at times, the colony numbers in the thousands.
Seafood bars litter the place
Historic part of the wharf
The infamous Alcatraz
Nice decor
The Bay Bridge
Roger trying to figure out where the heck the train left us
Golden Gate Bridge in the distance
After waltzing up and down Embracadero, we so wanted to get that taste of kung pao out of our system that we decided to have a late lunch at The Naked Lunch. A short walk from wharf area, this sports bar and grill has an interesting menu that apparently changes daily and a no-nonsense atmosphere to it. I had their staple, farm-fried chicken sandwich while Roger elected for the burger-of-the-day. While I have no doubt the chicken sandwich is absolutely scrumptious, this time around it was less than stellar (the chicken could've been left in the fryer a little longer) and probably further aggravated my already-karate-chopped stomach. Nothing a cold IPA can't assist with.
We were scheduled to leave San Fran' the next day, but we couldn't bid adieu without at least sampling the city's nightlife. Roger suggested we hit up a hip hop club that was relatively close by. Called Double Dutch, the place boasts a pretty rad interior design, one that I'm sure will appeal to my DJ counterparts. As you walk in, you're met with a wall made almost entirely of vintage boombox radios on one side, while the bar itself sits opposite. The wall above the bar, is decorated with pictures of hip hop icons like Naughty-By-Nature, Run DMC, Ice Cube, etc. The DJ spun pretty well, though the transitions could've been better (my DJ criticals would not be contained) but everyone there seemed to be having a good time. Knowing we had a full day ahead, we stayed an hour before returning to our base (hat tip to Phil!).
Did I mention we got a parking ticket during our day trek downtown? Apparently we parked Big Sexy Grey in an area (adjacent to our base) where street cleaning happened during a specific time. It just so happened that while we were gone, that's when the street cleaning happened. Parking in this city is tough, man. The parking instructions alone, left for us by our host had us triple and quadruple checking our spots to ensure we weren't breaking any laws and parking by any green, yellow, blue, red or black sidewalks.
In that order.
We had a pretty good day all the same. Check out the video below for our views on Day Six as well as what's to come on Day Seven when we tackle the famed Pacific Coast Highway:
Once again, a hat tip has to be extended to our more-than-gracious Santa Rosa host, Tamara. Not only did she allow us to couch surf for the night, she also pretty much planned our next day as far as sites and eats.
And, oh boy, did she nail it.
First off, we needed breakfast. Never mind it was already an hour later than we intended to leave (around 11am if you really must know), we were going to make it to breakfast and that was that. Her first suggestion to start the day was a Mediterranean eatery called East West Restaurant. We were greeted by our beautiful and friendly waitress, Christina (please forgive if I misspelled your name if you see this) and, it being a gorgeous day, we elected to eat outside.
With breakfast on my mind, I opted for the Mediterranean Omelette: a three-egg wonder stuffed with mushrooms, tomatoes, basil, feta cheese and a bunch of other stuff I can't remember, with country potatoes and sourdough toast on the side. Washed down with Jasmine Chai tea, it was a relatively healthy meal that didn't leave me feeling...heavy. Roger chose the French Toast combo with scrambled eggs, artichoke chicken sausage (fancy) with some multi-named iced tea. The meal was, in a word, delicious. Along with the great weather and fantastic service, the day couldn't have gotten off to a more awesome start. After ordering a meal to go, we thanked our waitress and set out south to Tamara's office to drop off some lunch (hey, it's the least we could do) then headed west to our first sightseeing stop of the day: the Korbel Winery in Sonoma County.
Now, I know what you're all probably thinking: what's so special about the champagne we pop every New Year's Eve? Trust me, so were we, but it turns out there's over a hundred years worth of history inside that bottle in your cupboard. We were shown a brief video about the history of the winery and then led through the original building used to actually make the wine, as well as shown the time-consuming methods used to blend and bottle the product. At the end of the tour, we were treated to a complimentary tasting of the four lines of champagne made at the winery (we both took part in that last bit) from driest to sweetest. We also learned that Korbel makes much more than just champagne, such as brandy and actual wine. You won't find them for sale at retail stores however as they can only be purchased at the winery. Hey, believe me, if we could we would, but we're flying back, so we didn't.
The old way of prepping, corking and labeling
World's largest champagne bottle and glass
The full line of products
So what were our thoughts? Here ya go:
Following our wine tasting stint, we pointed the Challenger's nose westward to Tamara's next suggested stop, the actual west coast, specifically Doran Beach. Taking the 116 road west linked us up to the California 1 aka one part of the famed Pacific Coast Highway. While the road there might not have had the same, hilariously hairpinned and blind curves as the road Roger took the previous night, there was still plenty of turns and braking/accelerating events to make the drive interesting. Of course, the Challenger is a pretty big car, bigger than the Mustang, bigger than the Camaro. As a result, you can't argue with physics. Instead of deftly swinging the Challenger's nose through tight turns, I was more herding the big car. The brakes were decently strong and the power from the big V6 was adequate to pull us through the corners. But as Roger alluded to previously, the big failing part is the 5-speed transmission. At anything more than 6/10ths, the Challenger falls over itself and the transmission's slow response to prods of the go-pedal exacerbates this. The steering is quick, but the body takes a while to settle once's the nose starts swinging into the desired direction. Anyway, having never seen the Pacific shoreline (at least enough to appreciate it), once we arrived our collective breaths were taken away.
Spectacular
The Challenger looks just about right here
The views were utterly breathtaking. If this is what the Pacific Coast Highway has in store for us a few days from now, we'll most certainly take it. This, my friends, is what road tripping is all about: going somewhere you've never been to see things you've never seen. And we enjoyed every flippin' minute of it. The images don't do these views justice. It was windy, like 40-50mph windy, the air was cold and salty, necessitating the donning of our jackets. Plus, even though the cliffs we were on were perhaps 100ft above the water, the pounding surf was enough to spray salt water that high up on our faces. And even then we still reveled in the natural wonder. It had us both feeling...exhilarated.
There are a ton more photos and video we took, a lot more than I can post at the moment. You can catch some of the videos posted here as well as others on my YouTube channel. After a an hour or two of soaking in the views, we made our way to the third leg of our Santa Rosa excursion to the town of Sebastopol where we cooled our heels at the Russian River Brewing Company. We wanted to take the tour but elected instead to just rest a bit. Toasting to a pretty awesome day thus far, we chowed down on some chicken wings then started the southerly drive to our date with San Fransisco. It was around 6:30pm when we arrived at the Golden Gate Bridge (we were annoying our friends Tiffany and Kerrie on the phone at that point so not many images were taken at this particular milestone). Yes folks, we've finally made it to the town of cable cars and Rice-A-Roni. We were pretty beat but knew one of the first things to do was update you guys on our trip since we've missed a few days. You can read all about Day Four here and since we've just completed Day Six and our tour of the city, that update will be posted soon. That night we felt peckish so we made a late night run to an In-N-Out Burger joint a few miles away. No frills is how I'd describe the place and the food. The ingredients were fresh and the burger patties were well cooked. Our bellies full, we headed back to our staging area (hat tip to Phil at airBnB for the comfortable room!) to rest up for the next day's activities.
Not only does Roger take the wheel of the Challenger this time around, he also takes the reins to the blog for this update (hey, he needs to share his perspective as well too, right?)
God bless Marlon for staying up so late to write the last blog post. I wish I had his determination, then maybe I would have finished blogging about my trip to Japan last year.
Anyways, I'm taking over just for this one time, easy now since we've pretty much fully acclimated to our current time zone.
It wasn't until the morning when we woke up that we realized just how damned tired we were from all the activity in Seattle and Portland earlier in the day. That, and the beds at the Holiday Inn Express in Eugene were flippin' fantastic. We managed to somehow crawl out of bed in time to take advantage of the free breakfast included with our stay and check out before noon.
We spent the first part of the day taking a self-guided tour of the University of Oregon's campus (our hotel was conveniently located right across the street). As a proud University of Florida alumnus, I simply had to check the place out and compare it to my home campus in Gainesville. I will say this- Phil Knight's money is plain to see in all the athletic program's facilities, but everywhere else... let's just say not so obvious. Overall my impression of the campus was "mehhh". One building that wasn't built yesterday with Nike money that was really impressive was the Museum of Art. Granted, we didn't go inside the building, but from the outside the gothic touch to the architecture was rather fetching, and helped the building stand out from its relatively drab neighbors. As a gesture of respect to our fellow D1 competitors, I went around Chompin' in front of as many major landmarks on the campus as I could:
I didn't chomp the museum; that would have been disrespectful (and I liked it).
After we got our fill of dirty looks sent our way (and a couple head nods from peeps who know what the heck is up) we stopped by the Duck Store just off the main campus to pick up a keepsake- Leninade!
Tastes like suffering and starvation, with just the right hint of sweetness! (Made in the USA)
Overall Eugene and Gainesville have a lot in common as cities built more or less around the flagship universities of their respective states- there are the schools, and not a whole lot else- but the nature surrounding them is pretty sweet.
We probably stayed in Eugene a little too ducking long though (sorry, couldn't resist), so when we finally hit the road it was almost 1:30pm local time. We were a little behind our VERY loose schedule. From this point on we had an almost 8 hours total of driving time ahead of us to get to our base camp in northern California. I took the wheel for this leg of the trip.
Thankfully, the ride to the border was anything short of boring- it was amazingly picturesque with fairly sharp changes in grade and temperature. We spent a good portion of the trip to Medford, OR (where we made our first pit stop) dodging trailers and popping our ears. We finally made it to our exit and drove towards downtown looking for somewhere to eat.
One thing we probably haven't mentioned earlier is that this trip is almost as much about food as it is about the road itself. With that we shall introduce Vinny, owner of Paisans Pizzeria.
Vinny, that Marinara sauce would be illegal if black people made it.
Marlon and I ordered a couple slices of pizza with garlic bread and a pair of lemonades to wash it all down. Specifically, I had a meat pizza slice that was loaded- no, gloriously burdened with what must have been six different types of meat. Marlon went a bit more traditional with a slice of pepperoni that he couldn't have finished faster if he was being chased by hyenas in the Serengeti. The real star of the show though, surprisingly was the garlic bread. My friends, this was no mere garlic bread, with Italian bread toasted with plain old garlic, salt and oil/butter. No, this was something more, with freshly grated parmesan, oregano, basil, extra virgin olive oil, and some other stuff that added up in flavor to more than the sum of its humble ingredients. Toss in what was clearly the BEST DAMN MARINARA SAUCE IN THE WORLD for dipping, and it's a wonder why he hasn't franchised this place. If you like pizza and you happen to be in Medford, check this place out.
We cleaned our plates, high-fived the owner on the way out (greasy hands and all) and hopped back in our steed to continue our journey.
We crossed the border into California not long after and, besides gazing at the awesome beauty of the terrain, realized just how severe the state's water shortage was. Approaching just north of Lake Shasta, while taking in the scenery, something about the lake itself seemed...well, out of place. Then it hit us: the water line was waaaaaaaaaaaaay below where the tree line began. I'll let the video below tell the story:
Shortly after we shot the video, we did some research and what we found was pretty shocking. The landscape was literally changing before our eyes and we witnessed it for ourselves.
After a having a good long gawk, we hopped back into the steed and noticed that we were not going to make it to San Francisco that night, which was probably for the best anyway and not really our intention to begin with. After a quick call to our friend in Santa Rosa (about an hour north of San Francisco) with the hopes of having a spot to crash for the night, we continued on as darkness fell. Once we had our confirmation from Tamara (shout outs to Tam'ra :-)), we were faced with a major decision- continue on I-5 (which was the major highway we had been on since we left Seattle), or divert west along a 2 lane highway with no street lighting that goes into the thickly forested mountains of Northern California, filled with deer and bears and probably wolves or some shit. We stopped for gas and contemplated our next move. Marlon leaned towards staying on the highway, but ultimately left the decision to the man at the wheel. I of course gave in to my more adventurous side and decided to head for the hills, into the unknown where nothing but the blackness of night laid ahead for certain.
Now, I was not sure what I had gotten us into, but WHOOOOOOOT it was fun! We finally had a chance to put the Challenger through its paces as a supposed sports car:
We somehow made it through all those twisties without Marlon tossing his cookies and landed at our new base camp in Santa Rosa safe, sound and utterly sapped. After talking over the plan for the next day with some great input from our most gracious host (and some local wine- we were in Sonoma County after all) we tapped out. The next day was going to be epic...
That, dear readers, is NOT a Dodge Charger but rather its two door counterpart, the Challenger. How did we arrive at this vehicle? Well first, let's back up some 36 hours prior. Let's start with the events of Day 2, just after I posted the last update.
On Saturday, after doing a bit of grocery shopping for Marsha, Roger and I went into town to meet up with Cristina and catch the last of Warriors/Clippers basketball game and all of the Hawks/Pacers game at a hole-in-the-wall bar called Auto Battery Bar (don't know how the name got coined). We then headed to Century Link field to see the Seattle Sounders MLS team face off against the Philadelphia Union. By this time, Seattle's usual overcast, rainy weather returned and let's just say I underestimated how utterly wet the weekend was going to be. It wasn't torrential rain mind you, just pocket after pocket of steady light to moderate rain that, after standing outside for a few minutes, would just leave you drenched. It was a long walk and a bus or two from Auto Battery to our pregame pit stop at Fuel Sports Eats & Beats bar so you can imagine that we'd be soaked....well, one of us anyway. I had the bright idea to leave my actual rain jacket (I only brought a light jacket and a fleeced hoodie) so ill-prepared was my middle name that day. Luckily, after meeting up with Marsha and heading inside the stadium, I managed to get some of the last ponchos from the guest booth so I wasn't totally soaked.
Century Link Field where the Sounders took on the Philly Union
The game itself was very exciting. Seattle sports fans are arguably some of the loudest and most hardcore in the country and, as far as I've been told, they value their MLS team over their NFL counterparts (who, as a reminder, just won Super Bowl). After going one up on the Sounders, the Union defense crumbled against a non stop surge by Seattle, leading up to striker Chad Marshall shooting the game-winning goal in the latter part of the second half. Needless to say, the atmosphere was electric and contagious.
Enjoying the game!
Yessir!
Leaving the stadium, we decided to head back to Fuel to take in the Mayweather vs Maidana boxing match, where Marsha took her leave (she'd been working all day and was understandably exhausted). Once the match started, it was clear that among the viewers battle lines were drawn. The Argentinean contingent was extremely vocal in their support for Maidana while the majority of the Mayweather camp was in the upstairs area (we were holed up somewhere in between). Roger, being the boxing aficionado he is, gave us a play-by-play on each round, breaking down the techniques each boxer was using and coming to the (rather obvious) conclusion that Mayweather was winning. There were some that didn't take kindly his views, especially one guy who for some reason or another, was hung up on Mayweather not fighting Manny Pacqiao a few years earlier. After a heated discussion, they both agreed to disagree (Cristina and I were just silent obeservers lol).
Feeling a bit famished (and because Roger mentioned the word 'burger' at some point), Cristina took us up Capitol Hill to a new burger joint called Freddy Junior's. Basically, they sell slider-sized burgers and hot dogs at very reasonable prices along with no frills and a very simple menu. The burgers themselves were tiny bites of awesome flavor (if you're ever in the area, go for the Kahuna burger with grilled pineapple...delicious). After a filling meal, Roger and I were feeling...well, tired. A shot of Red Bull quickly woke us up and explored Seattle's nightlife, stopping by Barboza. Maybe it was the DJ in me, but the music (a mix of hip hop and EDM) sounded a bit more bassy and ultimately distorted for my tastes (hat tip to Selecta AJ and DJ Valho for the insight) but in any case, we enjoyed ourselves. Before long though, exhaustion started to set in and we called it a night.
Sunday morning saw us packing our stuff, bidding Marsha a heartfelt farewell and heading south to SeaTac Airport for our date with the steed to begin the road trip. After a bit of a snafu, we were presented with wide choice: full sized (which we had reserved), luxury or SUV. Again, we initially wanted a Charger but spying two Challengers lurking in the shadows (and the Enterprise attendant giving us a heck of a good deal), we decided on the Charger's two-door brother. I'll let the following video explain our decision:
Whoops!.....errr, I mean this one:
Roger trying to figure out the nav system
So yeah, we got a deal and we took it. Besides, we're in vacation mode baby. Roughly two hours later, heading south on the I5, we arrived in Portland, OR and explored a bit (not to mention bought a cheap aux cable and a car charger since neither of us brought ours and after an hour or so we got tired of AM/FM radio).
Just an arrow straight highway, perfect for the Challenger
Outside the Trailblazers' NBA arena
Pose off
Afterwards, we headed just over an hour south to Eugene, OR where we're currently staying for the night. Day 5's plan should see us exploring the University of Oregon's campus (Roger obnoxiously wearing his Gators shirt) before resuming our trip south. Next update, we each break down our personal reasons for undertaking this odyssey as well as upload a few more photos. Who knows? You'll probably get more hilarious videos. Until then, I'm beat. It's 1:15am here (my body is still insisting it's three hours later) and we gotta be up early.
Well, we've arrived in Seattle and I must say, even though I arguably got the better deal in terms of having a direct flight, Roger definitely had the better experience. Now I'm not downplaying American Airlines, having traveled them almost exclusively for the better part of my life, but in terms of inflight enjoyment they're way behind the ball. Or it could be that the aircraft I was on was just plain old. Either way, my flight was like a time travel back to the 90s' with the only thing missing being the flight attendants actually doing the safety demonstrations live. This particular Boeing 757 still sported CRT monitors hanging from the central ceiling and no other form of entertainment, save a power outlet in select rows. Even then, mine was a bit dismal. I mean really, the heck are you supposed to plug in to that? As a result, my phone died a slow and painful death. Roger on the other hand had a fully immersed, 21st century experience flying Delta Airlines, connecting in Minneapolis (LCD display on the seat back, USB charger on every seat plus his choice of food). Anyway, like clockwork, our respective flights touched down within minutes of each other, we met up and headed to our overnight accommodation (Seattle was a strangely balmy 78 degrees with clear skies...very odd). Having not eaten much all day after checking in, we headed on the road a few blocks to grill called Sharp's Roasters. Their late menu (it was just after 11pm at the time) featured 50 cent pulled pork/beef sliders and wings so we chowed down. Those wings were pretty tasty, arguably some of the best we've ever had. Full and slightly jetlagged, we lumbered back to the hotel calling it a night.
How the hell do you plug in to this thing?
Friday morning saw us up early, we needed enough time to navigate Seattle's public transportation system so we could meet up with our sister Marsha. After a hearty breakfast of Hawaiian sausage, scrambled eggs and white rice (trust me, sounds strange but it was SOOO good) we checked out and headed to Seattle's LINK train station by the airport to start our journey. Roger, having done this once before, took lead with Google maps pointing the way. After an hour or so of trains and buses we eventually made it to a suburb just north of Seattle's urban center. Then began an afternoon of walking that saw us finding a bank, getting a Vietnamese lunch (soo good), walking off the food fatigue, then randomly deciding to see The Amazing Spiderman 2 in the downtown area. We took a few pictures (battery life was again an issue) which you can see below. Seattle's public transport system is pretty efficient and it was very easy to find our way around. Plus, everything was in walking distance. One of the beautiful things about our present accommodations is that Seattle's iconic Space Needle tower is directly in view once we head out door.
I think this is an old Saab 96
I KNOW this is a Pontiac GTO
After seeing Amazing Spiderman 2, we briefly stopped by the Red Lion hotel a few blocks from the Pacific Place mall for happy hour at Frolik Kitchen and Lounge. The lounge's layout had the main bar being inside with a large outdoor balcony that looks towards Pugent Sound. The balcony itself was nicely designed with a DJ in one corner spinning low volume, background music and another corner that featured two ping pong tables and a shuffleboard area. Meeting our friend Cristina there, we enjoyed a few spirited rounds of ping pong (haven't played in years) and having casual conversation with the other attendants. Later that night, we were a bit peckish so Marsha suggested we go to this burger joint called Dick's Drive In. The burgers and fries were pretty good, but bring cash as they don't accept credit/debit cards. Plus, unlike Burger King, you CAN'T have it your way. Seattle has a very friendly population, eager to help and just as eager to strike up a conversation. One example was on the bus heading up to the Queen Anne suburb, complete strangers struck up a conversation that sounded like they were old friends. That NEVER happens in Miami, let alone on a bus (from personal experience). I think that typifies our first day in Seattle: friendly people, fantastic food and easy ways of getting around.
Seattle's Space Needle
Roger snappin' a pic
I think another random day awaits us on Saturday so stay tuned for the next update!
Well, not in such a way that I could appreciate it (I was a sniffly, runny-nosed kid back then). Though this roughly two week odyssey I'd be embarking on with my brother was one that has been in the planning for a few months now. Sure I've been to the Pacific Northwest a few times but this particular trip would be one to remember (and cross off the bucket list). Destinations needed to be charted, hotels booked, highways and back roads plotted...trust me, this kind of planning isn't easy. Above all else, as far as I'm concerned, the right car needed to be rented. Not just any old rental grade Chevy Impala or craptastic Sebring. An all-American road trip of this caliber needs an all-American car of similar stature. Before I get ahead of myself, a few points.
Here's my travel partner-in-crime's (aka Roger) mugshot:
And mine
For the next ten days, we'll be flying, walking and driving America's West Coast from Seattle, WA all the way to San Francisco, CA taking our leisurely time to see the sites in between. Our mostly all-highway route will take us through Portland, OR and eventually across San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge where we'll spend a day or two exploring this beautiful city. Who knows? We might even hit up CNET's offices and test drive a few cars (Tesla anyone?). Following our stint in the Bay area, comes my favorite part (and where the perfect car comes into play): driving a section of California's magnificent Pacific Coast Highway. This is one of those roads that has been calling my name ever since I was old enough to drive (and read car magazines about).
We initially agreed on getting a sports car (Challenger, Camaro...no Mustang for some odd reason). After calling all manner of car rental agencies and having no luck (not to mention how prohibitively expensive such a specialty vehicle would be), we eventually settled on getting a full sized rental with the option to upgrade (for free) should the opportunity arise. Specifically, we wanted a Dodge Charger. Something large, highway-comfortable and economical but with just enough starch in the suspension to make any back roads we encountered exciting. Obviously for gas mileage purposes (and the higher cost of fuel compared to Florida) we're opting for the Pentastar V6 as opposed to the more powerful, yet thirsty Hemi V8. We also needed a car big enough that we could actually sleep in, should the event ever rear its head. Why didn't we go for a crossover? Or SUV? Simple, we wanted a CAR. Having previously driven a Hemi-powered Chrysler 300C around the Washington area for a few days, I can attest to the car's capability and gumption for gobbling up highway miles. Roger has driven Chargers before and even though he wouldn't call it a sports car, he does speak to the car's stable and predictable handling. Let's hope we get that car, although we probably wouldn't turn our noses up at a Ford Fusion (pray that Mother SYNC doesn't drive us insane).
Dodge Charger SRT8 (we're hoping for something just a bit less potent)
Following our scenic PCH drive, we'll make a beeline for the desert and end our road trip in Sin City aka Las Vegas, NV where we'll hand our steed over and transition to the ten-toe turbo way of getting around. In all it should be a pretty exciting ten days. Road trip essentials like snacks, plenty of water (and gas) are already on our list of stuff to procure once we're in position this weekend. If you think there are any sites we need to see on the way, feel free to post suggestions in the comments area.
