Portland, OR

I'm still sitting in my hotel room hoping to sort out my phone situation. Verizon kept advising me to come into the store in Albany (like I'm going to fly back 3000 miles) to take care of this, and so I sent my sister in to take care of it. Unfortunately, they still can't have me anything any earlier than Tuesday, and couldn't even guarantee that. My sister's being extremely helpful and offered to FedEx me my grandmother's cell phone for me to use for the week. Unfortunately, FedEx told me that to have it by tomorrow, I'd have to pay over three hundred dollars, so that's out. A reader suggested to me that I get a prepaid phone, so I'm about to go out and do this. I can't believe that this has consumed 5 hours of the last day of my vacation and counting.

While spending the last few hours sitting in my hotel room, I learned St. Ide's Heaven, the Elliott Smith song I mentioned yesterday, on the guitar. I recorded it in CoolEdit and packaged it into a Podcast. I'm not a particularly good singer, but I'm better than this recording would indicate -- it's done in my "I don't really know the lyrics and am reading them off of a webpage" voice. It was also recorded on my new Washburn Rover travel guitar, which is taking some getting used to but so much better than a Backpacker. Take a listen.

I'm really happy to keep opening my homepage to Yahoo! News and finding a new story about Cindy Sheehan's protest. This is real news... it's not Tom Cruise, it's not a runaway bride, it's not the latest OJ interview. Cindy Sheehan is not just an average protester, and she must be heard.

Also from Yahoo, it seems even some of the neocons are jumping on board with the hybrid movement. Just one thing though -- if you're a spokesperson for any company other than Sean John, please don't use the phrase "bling bling" on the record.

Labels: Music, Travel

posted by jbrzoska @ 4:00 PM Trackback Link 0 comments links to this post

Portland, OR

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Someone pointed out to me this morning that my telecommnications equipment hurling incident was eerily reminiscent of Russell Crowe's. Cool!

Sort of -- while I don't endorse my own behavior, in my defense, I have to plead extenuating circumstances. First, I'd been driving for nine hours on about four hours' sleep and was also ("awso" for AMU) operating on an empty stomach. Second, for the last several years, my cell phone has been my security blanket. I rarely turn it off, and if anything ever goes wrong, there's always someone I can call to make it right. Third, this is just sort of a nightmare scenario... traveling thousands of miles away from home with work responsibilities that need be handled over that phone during the next few days, and I'm pretty helpless to do anything about that at this point. And finally, it makes for a pretty funny story, you have to admit...

So I ate dinner at Red Robin across the street from the hotel last night... it's become one of my new favorite places -- there's one across the street from the hotel where I stay in Gaithersburg, MD, and two have just opened up in the Albany area. For those of you who don't know Red Robin, think of it as a TGIFriday's with food you'd actually want to eat.

A guy from Rodondo Beach, CA sat down next to me at the bar and began chatting. He was in on business, and very talkative, and sort of eager to find fun things to do in town. Pretty normal conversation, but one thing of note: He mentioned that he'd gotten change for a purchase earlier today and received a buffalo nickel, which he found exciting until he realized that it was minted in 2005. Apparently, buffalo nickels are back in circulation. The amazingly funny thing he pointed out was that the buffalo on the nickel is "anatomically correct" -- that's right, the buffalo has a penis!!! I thought our government was supposed to be protecting us from that sort of thing... ask our Senator. By the way, who knew that NBA also stands for National Bison Association? Maybe the late Brian Williams knew...

Last point: Red Robin has gotten so much better since I've found that I can get them to custom-make me a salad. Their normal side salad is made with iceberg lettuce, which I've come to abhor. I mean, fiber is one of the most important nutrients in veggies, and it's sort of hard to come by elsewhere. Have you ever looked at the US RDA for fiber and then compared it to how much fiber is actually in most foods? You practically have to eat a cardboard box daily to meet the standards. Well, iceberg lettuce doesn't have any fiber (or much else), so eating a salad that has it as a base is almost like you're eating that salad for nothing. I realized once that Red Robin's caesar salad was really good because it's got romaine lettuce, which is very healthy, so I asked them if they could use the romaine from the caesar in the regular side salad. Happily, the answer was yes, and I order such a salad every time I go to RR. And, I can't say enough lately about oil and vinegar... so nutritious, and so yummy. So, without further ado, I present you a perfect salad!

An update on the phone situation: I'm sitting here wasting my vacation in my hotel room, like I have for the past two hours, waiting for a call back from the Verizon Wireless store. I called them two hours ago, explained the situation, and they told me that they'd call me back within an hour. After 90 minutes had passed, I called them back and was told that they're just too busy to deal with me and that I should call back on Monday. I explained to the woman that that just wasn't an option, and she put me on hold. In between hold music, a message explained to me that at Verizon Wireless, "your problem is our problem." Apparently, that's total BS. I have one of the bigger problems of my life, and I'm once again waiting for a call back that just isn't coming.

Labels: Travel

posted by jbrzoska @ 1:00 PM Trackback Link 1 comments links to this post

Red States Trip, August 8th-12th, 2005

My first attempt at blogging, I originally aimed for this 1,500 mile driving trip to give me a better comprehension of how different "red" states are from the normal environs of a Blue Stater from New York. After all, I thought, if nearly half of the country doesn't believe in evolution, and I'm not sure if I know anyone personally who strictly believes in creationism, there must be parts of the country where the entire population holds a strong disdain for Darwin. I set out to find some of those areas, but my conclusions were a bit different than I'd expected.

Some lessons relevant to the journey:

1. On the scale of conservatism, the Northwestern "red states" are more libertarian than neoconserative, and the denizens do not tend to wear their politics on their sleeves

2. Northwestern conservatives, many of them hunters and fishermen, are pretty pro-environment

3. Even the most conservative of states have liberal strongholds

4. If you want the inside scoop on a city, speak to its bartenders

5. People working in state government will happily take the time to chat with you in August when the legislature is not in session

6. Coeur d'Alene, ID is just spectacular -- who knew?

7. It's pronounced "Byoot." Get your head out of the gutter.

8. Wi-Fi is popping up everywhere!

9. Uh... Paul Anka rocks?

10. I can enjoy myself anywhere, as long as I have my hands on a burger, or a beer, or calamari, or a huckleberry shake, or a... well, you get the ideaI drove in from Seattle (which is out of the realm of this context), and began blogging in Moses Lake, WA, on the "red" side of Washington State.

Labels: Democratic Party, Politics, Republican Party, Travel

posted by jbrzoska @ 3:00 AM Trackback Link 0 comments links to this post

Boise, ID

I had one last night in Red America last night, and it was interesting. I made a Podcast of my story, but I'll only send it to you if you're a guy -- a bit too rough for the ladies. If you're interested, send me an e-mail. Downtown Boise turned out to be surprisingly nice (photo, photo), and there were several places open close to midnight on a Thursday night.

I took a wrong turn last night through a historical district of Boise called Warm Springs. The houses were beautiful (photo, photo) and I saw an apparently well-known glowing crucifix on a mountaintop.

I'm not a Mets fan by any stretch, but I do believe I'm falling in love with David Wright. And speaking of the Mets, did anyone see that horrible collision yesterday between Mike Cameron and Carlos Beltran? Cameron's lucky he got away with just a few broken facial bones... I broke out into a cold sweat the second I saw the play. Yikes!

The things I do for work... my mugshot and signature went out in an e-letter sent to 20,000 people yesterday. That'll get us more than a few unsub requests!

I'm heading out this morning back to the Blue States. Once I get to Oregon, I'll officially have visited every single state on both coasts. I'm still bummed that I didn't get to Salt Lake City, but I guess if I want to see Mormons, I can just visit Boston, or perhaps, soon enough, in the White House!

My first stop in Oregon is a small town called Hermiston, very close to Walla Walla, WA. Why am I planning to stop there? You'll see. I'm hoping to have a pretty darn good post up in 5-6 hours. And don't try calling me; my poor Blackberry has bitten the dust (is anyone surprised?).

Labels: Travel

posted by jbrzoska @ 9:30 AM Trackback Link 0 comments links to this post

Boise, ID

Whew, this heat'll kill ya... I went out in the mighty Sebring today into the heart of downtown Boise. Neat town. College and political town, like Albany. Something I havn't really touched on over the last few days is that each city I've visited over the last couple of days is surrounded by mountains, and Boise is no exception.

Top down, I went seeking the mythical Sonic Burger. If you don't know Sonic, that's 'cause you're well, not cool. Sonic is a place that has excellent burgers and a really creative menu. For whatever reason, they advertise in the Northeast despite the fact that there aren't any Sonics there. It's such a cruel tease -- the commercials are totally droolworthy. I was lucky enough to get a chance to try Sonic for the first time last winter in Jacksonville (eatin' a Frito Pie back when I was sportin' the Jewfro), and have wanted more since, every friggin' time I watch ESPN's Best Hour on TV (Around the Horn/PTI).

I didn't ask for directions to Sonic, because 1. I never ask for directions, and 2. there are a zillion of them around here, so I figured I'd find one easily. Well, I didn't. I drove and drove, and ended up in Eagle, a rather nice suburb of Boise (photo, photo, photo). Eagle is more or less what I figure a Colorado town to look like -- nice houses, gated communities, horses, and lots of mountains! On my way, I heard a couple of songs that I love -- Toad the Wet Sprocket's "Something's Always Wrong" and Pearl Jam's "Glorified G" -- though someone should really introduce a bill making it illegal for DJs to declare that a song that was released when I was 14 is "so old!" Oh, and capital punishment for this jerk.

Having overshot Sonic, I headed back in search of it again. This gave me a bit more time to switch back to Christian radio... I had to make a stop at Wal-mart (where else?) because I just had to pick up a notebook to write down what I heard... Two women were discussing false Christian teachings and began telling discussing several... two of the ones I heard sounded sort of weird -- a guy who said that anybody can be a "Christ," not just, as they said, "Jesus of Nazareth." Another was a guy who says that the second coming of Jesus lives in a Western city and goes by the name "Matea," and has a collection of followers. A little strange to me, and the women were acting like the fact that people even think these things is utterly detestable (they weren't freaked out that these people say they talk to God, just that it wasn't the "real" God -- to me, anyone who says he/she talks to God is a kook in my book). They were convinced that these false prophecies are taking hold among the "professionals" and "intellectuals" all over the country.

The third "false prophet" was a woman by the name of Barbara Marx, who has received a congressional honor for her attempts to start a Department of Peace (doesn't that already exist?) and who has been cited but no less of a theological luminary than Walter Cronkite. Anyway, her teaching is that Armageddon can be bypassed if world peace can be brought out all over the world. That sounds nice, right? Not to these women... according to them, this philosophy is "Luciferian Doctrine" -- the "type of thing that Satan wants us to believe." Well, now I'm beginning to understand why we're in this aimless war, led by our Prophet-in-Chief, and why an American hero like Cindy Sheehan is doing what she's doing to stop it. By the way, I think her story is catching on. Unfortunately, this administration's "highest stage of Nixonism" may keep her actions from having an effect.

Another thing from Christian radio... those people certainly do NOT like Gnostics. Which is ironic, since they finished them off, massacre-style, like 1600 years ago. Dr. McGee, the radiovangelist was talking about how "arrogant" they were... isn't that kind of like the Turks talking about the "conceit" of the Armenians or us, as Americans, talking trash about the Indians?

Shortly after leaving Wal-Mart, I stumbled upon the elusive Sonic. It was everything I'd been waiting for ('cept they didn't have Sonic Water :( ). No mind, I can make that myself at home. I ordered a Fire Island Burger and a Foot-long Coney (hot dog with cheese and spicy baked beans). So good!

After Sonic, I visited the Idaho State Capitol (photo, photo, photo, photo). That's two Capitols in two days! I think I'm going to alter my plan and hit Salem tomorrow, to make it three in three... Anyway, I got to go through the Capitol here at a much more leisurely pace than the Montana one. I spent time talking to the assistants to Governor Kempthorne (R) and to his Lt. Governor. They were happy to show me around, though, just like in every other state I've visited so far, had some pretty negative things to say about a certain female Senator from my home state. And I got to take this rather frightening photo.

I didn't get to meet the real governor, because he was out getting ready for his daughter's wedding, which is this weekend in Boise.

In pro sports news, that schmuck T.O. may get his comeuppance if the ownership of the Eagles has its way. And in playground sports news, kickball is catching hold among adults -- like I'd hoped it would! I stole 242 bases in the summer of 1989... eat your heart out, Rickey Henderson!

Final thought before I go out for dinner and a few drinks among the good people of Idaho... is there any friggin' way to avoid that AWFUL Coldplay song on the radio?

Labels: Religion, Restaurants, Travel

posted by jbrzoska @ 8:30 PM Trackback Link 0 comments links to this post

Boise, ID

Man, am I exhausted. I haven't seen much of Boise yet, other than the couple of miles of downtown I drove through last night... I did the entire 3 1/2 hour drive from Idaho falls without stopping, thanks to the sweet rock your socks off sounds of Tenacious D (this is not the greatest blog in the world... this is just a tribute). This was my first and probably only stint of night driving on this trip, and the sunset on I-86 was really nice (photo, photo). Words don't do it justice, and neither does my photography. And, for the record, though my digital has done a great job of handling light, it can't take pictures of the stars at 85 MPH for shit!

Near Pocatello, ID, I drove past a Shoshone Indian reservation... it made me pretty sad to witness its surroundings, which were overwhelmingly industrial. Seriously, has any group in the world gotten screwed worse than the Native Americans? We killed, what, 98% of them, and give them a few hundred square miles of Southern Idaho? As Rob Corddry said recently on The Daily Show, "casino" is an old Indian word meaning, "Well, I guess this makes up for everything!"

I listened for an hour last night to a radio preacher named Jim Towle, who gave a surprisingly balanced sermon (for an evangelical) on the Israeli/Palestinian situation -- for example, he called for everyone to pray for the Jews who were being forced out of their homes, but also for the understanding that the same thing has happened to many Palestinians. The next part of his speech was about the healing power of God. He read off a laundry list of lessons that his listeners "could distribute on the street corners of Los Angeles" (he broadcasts from Van Nuys). The gist of it was that God always wants to heal people, but if he doesn't, it's either their own fault for not having enough faith, or because we just don't understand that God may have a reason for not healing (he said that God may not heal your broken finger because healing that finger may cause you to exact vengeance on others). The thing with religion is that because it's not dependent on logic, there's always an out. I just can't have that mindset, nor can I ever really understand it. It's kind of fun to try, though.

Last item before I turn on the light, hit the shower and venture into downtown Boise. Here's a great little editorial from the Fort Wayne (IN) Sentinel about whose fault it is the troops are dying in Iraq.

Labels: Politics, Religion, Travel

posted by jbrzoska @ 1:15 PM Trackback Link 1 comments links to this post

Idaho Falls, ID

Rappin' at you from Bubba's BBQ on US 20/26 in Idaho Falls (WELCOME TO IDAHO!)... I'm a bit disappointed as I review the last post; it's just not as good as it could have been. I'd written something much better, and managed to delete it as I was trying to FTP it over the pretty flimsy Wi-Fi connection, and had to recreate it quickly from memory and upload it as the battery on my laptop ran close to zero.

The drive down I-15 (photo, photo) from Butte demonstrated to me the NOTHING that Montana and Idaho's roads are known for. I-15 and I-90 are very different roads, to be sure. It wasn't convertible weather -- pretty cold and rainy (dropped to the mid-50s), though in Dell, MT, it resulted in a really vivid rainbow. As you proceed through Idaho, you begin to notice a progression in the plant life to more and more cactuslike -- must be pretty dry around here (photo).

This town is pretty Southern, and lies 40 miles north of the intersection of I-15 (which I've been on for well over 200 miles) and I-86's western side (not to be confused with the under construction eastern half, still mostly currently known as NY 17) and near the Great Tetons, so I guess it's pretty close to Wyoming. Lotta country music 'round here. I'm imagining this is a pretty Republican town -- nice NRA poster up in the entry of Bubba's!

Anyway... In between spins of Mott the Hoople's "All the Young Dudes," I managed to catch a couple of good NPR stories, including this one about the comparative zoological museum at Harvard. And, of course, one about Bush's signing of the $286 billion transportation bill, which counts among its pork the successor to Alaska's "Great Bridge to Nowhere."

After finishing my meal at Bubba's, Boise is next. 300-odd more miles.

Labels: Travel

posted by jbrzoska @ 9:45 PM Trackback Link 0 comments links to this post

Rocker, MT

Blogging is really a lifestyle -- I'm at a counter at a truck stop just outside of Butte eating a Summer Special: burger, fries, and and a Montana specialty -- a huckleberry shake! The waitress here is married to a guy from Salisbury, MD, which I remember as the place I stopped for KFC east of the Cheseapeake on US 50 on my way to Ocean City, MD last month.

I took a couple of shots of a beautiful idyll on the way south on I-15.

Butte was described to me by the "Missoulans" as a literal cesspool, and they're not far from the truth (photo, photo). One of the great things about the interstate system in the West is a series of "business loops" (photo) around the cities, which take you from one exit to another, through all of the city's commercial areas. I've been on several over the last few days, believe me.

I guess Butte isn't horrible, it reminds me of the poorer NY cities like Gloversville. In every downtrodden town, there are many ways used to take advantage of the impoverished populace. Butte is littered with pawn shops and "post-dated check" loan houses. One of Montana's bits of local color is the omnipresence of casinos (don't think Las Vegas, you'll be disappointed)... In the Butte area alone, there were three "Lil's Casinos" (photo, photo), and many others.

I can't believe that though I had to drop five bucks for it, I have an internet connection here. Progress is slow, but it's happening (more on this on Friday).

I have a terrible six-hour+ drive ahead of me to Boise... at least I gain an hour back when I cross time zones... Adios!

Labels: Travel

posted by jbrzoska @ 5:15 PM Trackback Link 0 comments links to this post

Helena, MT

The drive from Missoula to Helena was pretty harrowing (a word whose true definition I now understand after reading Dante!)... I was caught in construction traffic about 30 miles from Helena on US 12, which backed up for several minutes due to paving. Right after the line of cars was cleared to go, we reached a few signs that indicated a steep slope, and then a sign that read "Continental Divide -- Elevation 6235 Feet." Well I'd had no idea I'd ascended that high, and I wasn't to stay up there for long. Suddenly, the road almost drops out, and I found myself going through a series of steep hairpin turns, with all of the cars all around me. It kind of reminded me of that Marbleworks game when the marbles hit the funnel... Montana drivers are nuts, and I even got the bird flipped to me by some guy that got pissed off because I was only going 55...

I arrived at Helena at about 7 PM, and -- jackpot! Exactly what I was looking for. This place was nothing like home. It's very slow-paced, a bit run-down, and everybody everywhere seems to know each other. I took a jog down to the Capitol and then headed over to a local bar, the Overland Express (photo). I hung out with a townie bartender named Ginger, who seemed to want to get out of this area pretty badly but hadn't found a way yet at 24, and two drunk alkies, one of whom was drinking beer straight from the pitcher, and the other who polished off six LI Iced Teas last night. Few people I met while in Helena had been out of Montana much, but many spoke of wanting to do so pretty badly. Interestingly, Ginger had been a bikini girl at a demolition derby in her late teens -- now that's Montana!

This morning, I went to the Capitol (photo, photo, photo), where I felt pretty welcome -- little to no security. I spoke to the Governor's secretary for a few minutes, and saw all of the offices. Apparently, I'd just missed Governor Schweitzer by a few minutes, but his door's pretty open to visitors, it seems.

I head for Boise, and on the way, I'm going to stop in Butte, just 'cause it's Butte... pretty appropriate for National Underwear Day.

Labels: Travel

posted by jbrzoska @ 3:00 PM Trackback Link 0 comments links to this post

Missoula, MT

Before leaving CD'A, I took a hike by the port and up into the hills (photo, photo, photo). I left at about 11:30 and decided to aim to have lunch in Missoula. Man, I was sure it'd be genuine Montana! As I drove through Idaho's mountains and into Montana, the speed limit went up to 75. I've never been on a 75 MPH road, and this one, for at least the first few miles, was inappropriately so. Lots of very tight, sexy curves -- in the Northeast, the speed limit would be no more than 50. But, man, once it got flat... 95 miles per hour in a convertible in 90+ degree heat is pretty exhiliarating.

As I got closer to Missoula, I began looking at billboards and listening to the radio, and realized that Missoula was probably an oasis for Coasters in the middle of Montana. That was confirmed when I saw the restaurants in Missoula, as well as the big mall.

I had lunch (gorgonzola ravioli) at a chain called Johnny Carino's Country Italian, which apparently is based in Texas. The bartender, Brian, who was from Newton, said, "Dude, I've been here for a year and a half, and I've met more people from Boston than I have from Missoula." The guy sitting next to me had a really thick Boston accent and was a friend of the bartender's from back in Newton. "Missoula's totally liberal." -- according to a waitress named of Lindsey, who, just as we were discussing Waltham, walked in and was the spitting image of Julie, my roommate in Waltham. "One of the few liberal areas of Montana," concurred the bartender. Oh, and one of the waiters was just flamboyant!

I discussed my trip to Helena with the wait staff, one of whom was from Helena, and none of them thought that it was a particularly good place to visit... well, I guess I'll see shortly. And, according to one, Wyoming "It is a waste of country."

Next stop, Helena. The CD, for now, is the soundtrack to the movie "X-Files," which I'd bought just for the Foo Fighters song "Down in the Park." It has some other good stuff on it, including great songs by Frank Black and P.M. Dawn (yes, that P.M. Dawn).

Labels: Travel

posted by jbrzoska @ 6:30 PM Trackback Link 0 comments links to this post

Coeur d'Alene, ID

I decided to stop for breakfast at an Idaho town called Coeur d'Alene, a municipality of 35,000, east of Post Falls. It's situated on a shimmering lake on the Lewis & Clark trail. I'm writing over granola from Cafe Doma, a coffeehouse with a wireless internet connection. One of the waitresses at the cafe was from Clifton Park and went to Shenendahowa for two years before moving to Idaho. She said that northern Idaho is beautiful and generally comparable to Oregon. However, southern Idaho, like Boise, where I'm headed tomorrow, is brown and dry. A glowing endorsement, indeed.

Labels: Travel

posted by jbrzoska @ 1:00 PM Trackback Link 0 comments links to this post

Spokane, WA

So, I left Lake Moses to do the last 100 miles to Spokane. Seems pretty crazy that I can do all of this driving without any company, but I do it all the time -- how? Well, I've created this pretty high tolerance for driving as long as long as there's something good on the radio. My definition of "something good" has broadened significantly -- I've developed a Christianity fetish lately... it just sort of fascinates me. I just wrapped up Dante's Purgatorio on the plane (which, just like Inferno, I would not have been able to follow without Robert and Jean Hollander's amazing translation and commentary), and it's pretty hard to keep up with medieval poetry if you don't know much about the New Testament. Christian radio can be a lot of fun to listen to. They can fit Jesus into everything (see Crown Financial Ministries), and before today, I'd never heard the word "prayerfully." I'd listened to a piece on dieting for God, and the diet turned out to be Kashrut!

One of the things that makes Christian radio so much fun to listen to is their incessant bashing of liberals and liberalism. Case in point: on USA Radio yesterday, I was listening to a preacher who called himself Dr. McGee. His daily sermon cited the NT to relate how St. John didn't want Christians cavorting with liberals (the "dangerous jungle of liberalism") or "extremist" conservatives. I thought that he might be a little balanced because of his talk of the latter, but it turned out that his definition of an extremist conservative was anyone who bashed him. His example was another preacher accused him of associating with a Catholic bishop -- he'd never do that. (EDIT -- Apparently he's been dead for 20 years but his show is still broadcast on Christian radio).

I finally managed to catch a Fresh Air piece I've been hoping to hear for over a week; an interview with '50s teen icon Paul Anka. Mr. Anka has recently released an album called "Rock Swings" (LINK), a full CD of swing covers 80s and 90s rock songs. Very odd to hear his version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" alongside the original.

Spokane turned out to be beautiful; architecturally its downtown reminds me of an live version of Springfield, MA (which comes across as a ghost town to me), and much of it is centered on the Spokane River (photo, photo, photo). -- shows what a city can do with a river if it doesn't place an interstate highway within a couple hundred yards of it. Did you know Gonzaga was here? Neither did I (photo, photo).

On the recommendation of a couple of people working at my hotel, I had dinner at C.I. Shenanigan's (photo) -- a seafood chain based in Spokane and Tacoma which brews its own beer. At first, I tried a blond and a Yellowjacket summer brew (photo) -- the yellowjacket was better, but the Bighorn Amber, which I had next, was best of all. The menu was great, and I had pepper calamari (photo) and a spinach salad. Places on the east coast should have pepper calamari! My waiter told me that he was a rare liberal in a red area -- he was part of a militarily transplanted family from Norfolk, VA. I sat next to a couple of Bush voters who have been living in Spokane for 8 years -- the wife seemed ambivalent about having voted for Bush, but the husband said repeatedly, "I voted for him five times -- in the last election!" Oh, and here's a rare photo of me on my own vacation.

As it turns out, South Dakota is just too far, so my itinerary is getting a bit more set.

Labels: Music, Religion, Restaurants, Travel

posted by jbrzoska @ 10:00 PM Trackback Link 0 comments links to this post

Moses Lake, WA -- My First Blog Post

I'm having lunch in a restaurant called Michael's (photo) on Moses Lake, WA, a resort/farming town 150 miles or so east of Seattle and 100 miles west of Spokane. I decided during the course of the drive to start this blog, because I just found myself thinking way too much and needing an outlet. Everybody knows very well how much I like to whine continuously about work, but that's only because my brain never stops and my job is always on my mind. I'm finding that getting away from work hasn't stopped my brain, but it's changed what I'm thinking about. It's very, very different, and I think I'm going to have fun sharing it.

I really enjoyed the drive to Moses Lake. Going through the Cascades Mountains (photo, photo, photo), which are about 30 miles to the east of Seattle was an experience. Seattle gets neither too hot or too cold... it doesn't reach 80 that often in the summer, but it also doesn't get below 40 much in the winter. Once you go over the mountains, that changes significantly. It was around 70 degrees most of the drive from Seattle to the Cascades, courtesy of the dashboard thermometer in my rented Chrysler Sebring convertible (whee! -- photo). It suddenly plunged about 10 degrees in 5 minutes on the western side of the mountains. But as soon as I reached the other side, the mercury rose considerably -- it went from 60 degrees to about 95 in the inside of two hours! The photos I took of the mountains turned out surprisingly well, considering that all of the photography was done with one hand at about 75 miles per hour while trying not to let the camera blow away in the wind (for all of you who have driven with me, you realize that I was probably writing e-mail on my Blackberry with the other hand). The fun thing about the "high speed photography" in the mountains was that the picturesque scenery made me a much better shot -- even if I missed what I was trying to photograph, whatever I ended up capturing was beautiful, too... at least to the extent of my photographic skills, which are roughly nil. For all of the things I'm good at, I have no clue how to use a camera.

The mountains were so amazing, and I just kept ruminating about how anyone could consider harming such a landscape through deforestation and pollution, but on the east side of the mountains, I was pretty infuriated by the vast collection of tree stumps I saw by a lake (photo). It also occurred to me during the course of the drive how great it would be to be able to drive through these pristine areas without causing any damage myself, as I always feel a bit guilty about how much driving I do while using up precious oil and producing carbon emissions in its place. Of course, the Bush administration and Congress don't care much about that, as can be found in our corporate-profit-fattening energy bill.

As I found myself saying over and over in phone conversations during the course of the drive, after passing the mountains and heading east, the next couple hundred miles were like nothing I'd experienced before. Hundreds of miles of farms, little civilization otherwise. I'd never seen a live irrigation system before, and perhaps neither have you, but now you have (photo). I passed through a five-mile stretch of peppermint fields, whose aroma was strong and sweet. I hadn't expected to, but I also passed The Gorge Amphitheatre, which hosts a bunch of great shows (including the DMB "Live at the Gorge" album). Also saw a town name that only I would find funny -- "George, Washington".

I had a nice lunch at Michael's, talking to a bartender named Debby who served me a pretty yummy seafood alfredo. Debby told me that Spokane is a "very cool city." I don't know if I believe her, but I hope so. She didn't have a lot to say, but gave me free rein on the bar TV, which I tuned to ESPN, where I saw a racing program called the "Top Alcohol Dragster" race. Isn't there something very, very wrong with that? Behind me at the bar were two women who seemed out of place here; more suited for a guest appearance as Aunt Yetta's sisters on The Nanny than in middle-of-nowhere, WA. It was also pretty amusing to overhear the Kiwanis Club of Moses Lake singing their anthem in a nearby meeting room, which was more or less untelligible.

I thought a lot about how my trip will proceed. I have a strong desire, for no reason, to add South Dakota to the list of destinations, but was told earlier that it's probably too far. I'll check later. After leaving the restaurant, I took a few photos of Moses Lake (photo, photo), and then stopped for a fillup (when was the last time you saw a pump like this? -- photo).

By the way, the CD that got me through the ride was Cream's "Goodbye." (their last album). A couple of choice tracks are "Badge" (written with the late George Harrison) and "Doing the Scrapyard Thing," which has the irreverence of a mid-era Beatles track.

I'm starting this page as nothing but a blog, because it's sort of spur-of the moment, and heck, everybody's got a blog these days. By the way, if you don't like the design of this site, I'd like to see what you can do with just two hours and a couple of beers ;)

Labels: Music, Travel

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