When we got up at 7 in the morning in Big Sur, we did not know that this would be the probably most intense day we've had so far on our roadtrip through California. We packed our tent and all the other things, had some cereals for breakfast and packed everything in the Silver Surfer, who at this point just had completed his first 100,000 miles! Happy Birthday!
Our first destination was Pebble Beach in Carmel, the town with probably the highest amount of millionaires living in one place. It was insane! We had to pay 10$ to enter the so called "17 miles drive" which was a narrow street that led us through the millionaire/billionaire village of Carmel. One huge house next to another - you have to have seen this!
After that it was time for our second breakfast. We celebrated our comeback to civilization after three days with some hotdogs from 7-eleven at 10am. The best - and actually first - real hotdog that I've ever had.
We were then heading for Santa Cruz, a small coast town that actually looks quite Spanish. Like some other Cities on the Californian Coast it has a pier and a funpark next to it. We were not staying there for long because we wanted to arrive in San Francisco at five.
Ferdi, our driver on this day, had to concentrate on the street for the next hour, while we could enjoy seeing the redwood forest on our way to Stanford - thanks for that Ferdi! Soon after, we arrived at Stanford University - a must-see according to Freddy. And he was right! The campus of Stanford is great. Everything is built with sand stone of the same colour, there are flowers and trees (and Mexicans watering them) everywhere. First thing we did: More fastfood at Subway! Then we walked round campus to see where Steve Jobs, Sergey Brin and Larry Page had studied. I can recommend everyone to go there. After we could not stand the heat anymore, we decided to continue our trip and go to San Francisco accompanied by our California Soundtrack (Californication, San Francisco, California Dreaming, etc.).
We were driving down highway 180, Arizona. Grand Canyon wasn´t far away when we saw a sign "Dinosaur - 1.5 miles to the right". We couldn´t believe our eyes when we first saw footprints of a baby Tyrano Saurus Rex. First we thought somebody had carved the footprints in the sand, but it wasn´t sand. Even if it looks like it, the ground is solid rock. Different footprints were just all over the place. They even cut out pieces of the ground to put the footprints into museums. The next thing we saw was a head of a dinosaur, or the parts that were remaining. Once bone it´s now stone. We also saw the remainders of one of those dinosaur birds. Then there was a huge crocodile and another head of a dinosaur. There were also dinosaur-eggs still stuck in the ground.
Our guide Natt even found a few egg-shells and gave them to us. Though called egg-shells they are stones today. Natt is a Navajo Indian who has been doing these tours for a couple of years. The Navajo are an Indian Nation that own a reservation almost the size of Germany. Natt also made us aware of some red small stones that are magnetic. We could just pick them up and carry them home. She also makes her own jewelry out of the stones she finds. The red stones we could keep are said to help against high blood pressure and diabetes. Together with her and her kids, we had a lot of fun.
When travelling the USA one should sometimes leave the big interstates and travel on the smaller highways. The landscape is often more scenery, plus you will get to see some real rural American life - like Holes in the Wall. I think someone should develop an application to find Holes in the Wall. They are not actually holes in walls, but restaurants that look shady and old-fashioned. Despite the outlook, Holes in the Wall offer great food and are often very authentic. The best Hole in the Wall we have found is probably the "Anchor Bar" in Buffalo. That´s the place where original Buffalo Wings were invented. You can see us in front of the Anchor Bar on the left picture. It looked really bad from the outside and also from the inside, but the buffalo wings were unforgettable. They were still good and tender when we arrived in Stamford the next days. The buffalo wings were greatly appreciated by Molly and Ginger.
On the bottom you see Jace in front of a restaurant in Idaho Springs, Colorado. Not really convincing from the outside, but unbeatable in taste of food and wheat beverages.
Great food, here a selection of drinks - See how happy Jace is?
I would say: Get rid of McDonalds, Burger King & Co. Visit original and tastier places. Holes in the Wall usually offer great value, are fast and the service is good. If there is anyone out there, please develop an application for holes in the wall so we don´t have to stop at Subway anymore.
Along the way from Golden to Taos, we stopped at a beautiful rest-area. One of the best I have seen in my life. Look at the building and the architecture yourself. It fits perfectly into the southern Colorado landscape. They should have more of these individual rest-areas.
At the rest-area there was also a memorial for the Ludlow Massacre. In April 1914 miners were camping and protesting in Ludlow. Living conditions were bad and the miners weren´t much different then slaves. They had to work under dangerous conditions. Many miners died each year. They also had to live in houses provided by the company and go shopping in stores that were owned by the company. During the strikes about a dozen of women and children were killed, because of a fire. This incident triggered a bigger movement for workers´ rights and unions. The following pictures depict the living standard back at that time and also a little bit more history.
Along the highways, especially smaller ones, you will often find local museums. There is one post about a dinosaur-site to come, which we are going to post in the next days.
Our trip has not gone the way we planned! I don't mean that it has been bad, no i mean that we have been driving like crazy to get from A to B. We started out with a quite easy map, maybe you still remember it!
But the more people you meet and the further you come the more recommendations you get. This "simple" map has changed. And it is still not close to beeing over! Proudly I present to you:
"The real thing!"
Thousands of miles have passed since our last "Roadtrippin" blog post. We like to share a few new experiences we have made on the road.
Pulled Over. Driving 50 miles/hour in a 30 zone is not a good idea. That´s not only what we think, but also the police. Eventually they pulled us over. We were coming from Mount Rushmore driving through some little town in Wyomingwhen it happened. The speed limit signs are really hard to see I have to say. In Germany they look different. We were driving down the road when I suddenly discovered there was a party in my rear mirror. Red and blue and blue, blue, red and red. The colors were just flashing all over the place. We stopped on the shoulder next to the street and waited for the police officer to show up. In the States you are not supposed to get out of the car when pulled over. You have to stay seated and put both hands visible on the steering wheel. To make things work for us we pulled out our strongest German accent and apologized. Indeed I was just following the car driving in front of me. So I didn´t look at the speed limit. The officer asked us whose car it was, so I replied that it´s my uncle´s car. Then the officer went down on his knees, looked straight through the driver´s window and pointed at Ferdi: " Is this your uncle?". He said that with such a straight face, it was so hard for us not to laugh. In the end we got away with driving 20miles/hour to fast. We received a written warning from the State of Wyoming. That was it.
In general, the police is strictly controlling the speed limit. You see police cars everywhere. Mostly because they have already stopped someone. Here is a picture of a what a police car in action looks like. Watch out for them!
Pulled Over Reloaded. Again it was me driving. What a bad luck, but in the end we were lucky again. It happened in Grand Teton near Jackson Lodge. We had just eaten the worst dinner in America, had a long day and wanted to drive home to our camp ground at Jenny Lake. It was so dark already and no car was there, that I didn´t see a stop sign. I was supposed to stop and count 1,2,3. Since there wasn´t any car coming I slowed down and immediately turned to the right. This and driving 5 miles/hour to fast triggered our 2nd road party on this trip. We were pulled over again, this time by a female officer. We pulled out our German accent, said sorry we didn´t see the stop sign - which is true. In the end we got away again. The reason why she pulled us over is that driving in a national park can be very dangerous. There is a lot of wildlife crossing the roads. Indeed it didn´t take us 5 minutes and we saw a fox on the street, barking in the night. 2 minutes later we saw a dead fox on the street, maybe the reason for the first fox to bark. Another 5 minutes later Ferdi yelled:" Freddy, Pass auf" [Freddy, watch out]. It didn´t take much and we would have a road-kill on our record. There was an elk [Hirsch] standing on the shoulder of the street. It had really big antlers and was only 6 feet away when I passed it with 30 miles/hour. We tried to get a picture, but it turned out well. We will have to wait until Grand Canyon where we will see a huge elk, with even bigger antlers.
Speaking of road-kills, we keep track of the road-kill that we have seen: 6 dears, 3 raccoons, 2 cats, 2 big birds, 4 foxes, 1 squirrel, 3 marmots and 7 unidentified objects the size of a cat. It´s macabre to count, but when you are on the road that much you see some big shit. A picture would not be adequate here. We support wildlife! You also see all kinds of cars, like a big RV, pulling a truck, carrying a jet-ski. Since Patrick asked me to deliver more of these pictures we offer you a small variety to choose your favorite from.
On our way from Washington to Chicago we thought it would be worth it to meet the Amish. Pennsylvania and Ohio are known for being home to the Amish. They are religious people, close to Mennonites. In comparison to Mennonites they do not only obey religious rules, but also social rules, for example they have rules how coaches and clothes have to look like. All of their coaches look the same. Some Amish communities are more conservative, some are more liberal. They are known for being stuck somewhere in the 19th century - just recently some have decided on accepting bicycles.
The Amish are also called Dutch Amish and the counties they live in are sometimes called Dutch Country. Dutch does not refer to the Netherlands, but to Germans. Their ancestors left Germany, often for religious and political reasons. Somewhere at sometime Americans must have confused something when labeling the language as well as the people of the Netherlands as "Dutch". In reality the word Dutch most likely comes from the German word "Deutsch" which means "German" in German. Therefore, I would propose calling the Dutch "Hollanders", "Netherlanders", "Netherlandish" or "Netherish". This confusion with the Dutch has to end. For more clearance about the difference between Holland, the Netherlands and Amsterdam I propose the following video: And, no! France is not the capital of London.
So we were on our way to Chicago when we decided to leave the highway for a good 70 mile drive to explore the Amish country. It took about an hour until we saw the first sign next to the road that hinted towards Amish existence. It was so funny to see the first coach just driving in front of us - of course we were much faster. The next 10 miles we saw about 10 coaches, a few Amish on bikes and Amish children playing and working in their parents gardens. The Amish try to integrate their youngsters early on. They will receive their first little responsibilities when they are five years old and will increasingly continue to do so. They help their mother and father according to their gender in works around the home or on the field. Once they reach a certain age to be independent they are free to leave the Amish community for one year, which is called "Rumspringa", which sounds like a German dialect and means "Jump around". After Rumspringa they are free to choose to leave the Amish forever and cut boundaries or to go back and stay with the Amish. Not many choose to leave.
On our way through Amish country we stopped at a Tourist Information Center called Menno Hof. (Hof is German and means farm). There we could have participated at an information tour through a small museum and watched a museum. The staff there was not very cooperative and didn´t show much effort to answer our questions. The man who worked there was a Mennonite, but not an Amish. To our regret we could not meet an Amish person. In general Amish and other US citizens tend to meet and greet at public festivals such as auctions and other activities. They tend to get along well with each other. That´s at least what we have heard. Before leaving the Menno Hof we bought Blueberry and Apricot Butter as a gift for the Miller family which we are to visit in York, Nebraska! After Nebraska we will say Hi to Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, but first we will head to Chicago!
"Road Trippin with my two favourite allies" - Red Hot Chili Pepper in their song "Road Trippin" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11GYvfYjyV0)
In my case I have to say that would be Ferdinand and Silver Surfer - not the comic hero, also not my Silver Surfer shirt, but our car Honda Civic LX 2001 "Silver Surfer". We baptized the car Silver Surfer even though the Lady at the DMV (Department of Motorized Vehicles) said it´s grey.
See us eating healthy food on the picture below
People in all ages and areas of the planet used to travel. First, by the very first homo sapiens by foot invading Europe and Asia, later North and South America. As evolution continued mankind tamed horses, and donkeys, constructed wagons and coaches.
For almost two centuries now humans are increasingly relying on other forces than mammals. Steam engines featuring trains, also called "iron horses", steamboats and finally the motor vehicle as developed by Daimler Benz and publicly made wide available by the Ford T Model. Back in the very olden days the movement of the own corpus or whole tribe was used as a mode to achieve something - hunting and finding new living space. Today the most prevalent movement vehicle is the car. While it is still used for driving to work and picking up grocery´s to sustain life, a car also stands for freedom. Freedom in a sense that a car, our car, enables us to go wherever we want in order to do whatever we want. The move across the country is not only an investigation of US culture, but also of our selves. We are moving and bound together for a long term, seeing, meeting and eating together. On the highway one has a lot of time to think. Think about the past, the present and the future. Sometimes even day dreaming into fantasy.
Today human kind works the earth that well, that we no longer depend on the need to seed, grow and harvest, in other words to work full time. During parts of our lives, which for us is right now, we can enjoy travelling and not worry about the future. This luxury of taking a break was always there, but only existed for a very small aristocratic ruling class. We have to thank the industrialized revolution, mass production and the ingenuity and hard work of our ancestors. There is no doubt that Ferdi and I will get back to normal - work hard & play hard, that´s the motto raised by a wise man called Bill at Point Reyes, California.
Now is the time to play for us! We have Silver Surfer, family, friends and new friends (www.couchsurfing.org) to stay with. In total we expect stay in four destinations with family, 6 destinations with friends, and three to four couchsurfing experiences. The other nights we will be spending camping at Mount Rushmore, South Dakota; Grand Teton, Yellowstone; National Parks in Colorado & Arizona; Big Sur, California. We are also looking forward to meet Ferdi´s sister Natalie joining in Vegas and Raphael, a fellow student, joining in L.A. Us for will travel up to San Francisco to meet my cousin Patrick Bareiss. San Francisco, probably the Golden Gate Bridge will be the inofficial or at least psychological end point of our roadtrip.
Today is July 24th, two weeks have gone so far, we have seen many cities and great nature, in Canada and the US. We got to know new people and met good old friends. Many people have helped us on this roadtrip. Without their help I wouldn´t be sitting in our, legally speaking Hughs´ car, right now writing this entry on Ferdi´s laptop. Ferdi is driving and complaining right now that this blogpost will be too long. On a roadtrip you really get to know each other. So far we have shared 4 beds in 9 nights together and have been together almost non-stop. It´s an acid test for a long lasting friendship. Ferdi and I have been on the road before in Scotland, walking the Westhighland Way in April together with Tilman and his friend Richard, which was a hell lot of fun. Travelling by foot is another interesting story worth experiencing - so would be a bike ride through for example the Netherlands.
The past or passed Itinerary. We have been driving approximately 600 miles with Cassia in Canada, which was a lot of fun. With a girl among boys there is always more conversation. Boys tend to keep their mouth shut and think about stuff, I guess. Cassia showed us the Niagara Falls and brought us to the boarder of Canada , to the Peace Bridge in Fortres. The next part is history. Ferdi and I walked across the Peace Bridge to Buffalo. There were no other pedestrian. Only once a cyclist passed our way while thousands of cars were stuck in a traffic jam on the bridge and before the bridge in Buffalo. Many of those faces looked weirdly out of their cars at us, but we smiled back. From Buffalo we took the famous greyhound bus. One of the oldest and most common bus travelling company in the United States. We payed $56 each from Buffalo to NY. An eight hour bus drive took us through Syracus, New York State and a small part of Pennsylvania until we reached the city that never sleeps. The view from New Jersey across the Hudson River on Manhattan was nothing but stunning. Once you would stand on an intersection in downtown Manhattan and you look above your head the only thing you see are skyscrapers, in every direction! The motto the sky is the limit does not apply here, there is hardly any sky.
For some people being in Manhattan might feel like being trapped or imprisoned, but if you look at the people around you, you will notice that this is a people magnet. The most diverse place you have ever seen. People from all colors, ages and status accumulate on the same sidewalk. When the pedestrian traffic light turns on to green, it´s like rolling a dice of which cultural and social combination will accumulate together next.
Where was I... ? Right, Roadtrippin! We got to NY by the help of Cassia and Greyhound Bus. In NY everything would change. In this place one hour north of Manhattan called Stamford, Hugh was waiting for us. Arm wide open he welcomed us into his house for one whole week. We can see him as our manager. He set us up with a car, gave us best advice and took great care of us. My cousin Molly introduced us to a bunch of American young people - we partied a lot in Stamford. The motto work hard, play hard was lived to the fullest. Partying at night until dawn, working during the day to organize a car and visiting NY on the afternoon. Let´s hope the journey will continue like that...
Once set up by Hugh and his family we were ready to go. The real roadtrip, the adventure could begin...! ... As I am writing right now we are driving West on highway 80 somewhere between Chicago and the middle of nowhere. While we are passing cornfield by cornfield, we thank highway 80 for being curvy. The Midwest is known for straight highways, cornfields and boredom. It makes driving hard as one easily falls asleep, but at the same time travelling straight forward is the most efficient way to get from point A to B. With a speed limit of generally 70mph (=112kmh) driving is chilled and relaxed. The music playing straight from the CD player for up to 12h is keeping us cheered. Thank God we have so many CDs to choose from - we got Jimmy and Bobby. Both do remind me of past roadtrips. In comparison radio kind of sucks, reception is miserable and if we find a station it plays only bad music and airs a lot of ads.
Since our start at Hugh´s place in Stamford we passed Philadelphia, Washington and Chicago. Telling from the odometer we have driven more than 1000 miles and we start feeling at home in our Silver Surfer. An urgent drive to put in the CD with "Surfing USA" by the Beach Boys just struck me. Unfortunately, the CD that contains this song is labeled "California" and is not to be listened until we leave Las Vegas to Los Angeles. That´s the only rule we have established so far. As the trip continues through boring cornfields, like Hugh prophesied, we are keeping up the good mood happily awaiting the arrival in York, Nebraska. What will follow next is the future...
Which type of beer and liquors we are experiencing did not have its deserved space on this blog yet. This is the time...
On the right there is a picture of Freddy at Hugh's and Margaret's house having a German Bitburger. It tastes delicious. Besides the big brands like Coors light and Budweiser there are many local brewerys in Canada and in the US - some very good, but the big portion of it is, lets say, surprising in taste.
At Raven and Republic (http://www.ravenandrepublic.ca/) we had a "Beer Flight". You will get 6 different beers of your choice from a list of 25, served in small 6oz (177ml). Never try Mad Tom - it'll make you turn mad, but Okanokan Springs 1516 Bavarian Ale is definitely a must have.
If you are up for trying the taste of the street try this Cobblestone Beer Mill Street Brewery Cobblestone Stout ((4.2%) — A traditional styled black stout which has a roasted malt flavour and a hint of toasted walnuts and choclate in the finish. Select imported hops are used to dry out the finish of this ale.)). So if you like walnut or choclate beer, this is something for you, but who does? In fact it really does not taste that great. To those who can't handle Guinness the Cobblestone will make you want to puke.
Mmmh this sounds tasty: Guinness Stout* (4.3%) — Pours a very dark amber which is almost black, with a coffee-coloured head. The nose is biscuity rather than very dark and malty, with a nice hoppy edge. On the palate it is smooth and creamy- textured, though not as dense as draught Guinness, with a big raft of bitter, burnt, dark-roasted flavours.
Speaking of international brands, I want to thank Henri Bareiss for the awesome cool & fresh Heineken right besides the pool.
You can even get German beer. For the Dortmund Fans of you. DAB - Dortmunder Actien Brauerei - Das Bier von Weltruf. A global player in terms of beer, not only football http://www.dab-beer.com/. I did not even know this beer brand until Phil offered me one in North Bay, Canada. Good stuff. Good night at the Zoo. Bitburger & Becks are available in any good beer store.
Stamford, Connecticut - Arriving Ceremony
Stamford, Connecticut - Arriving Ceremony I guess it is time to start telling the story of arriving at the Bareiss' house. Monday July 15th Ferdi and I arrived late in Stamford after a long day travelling from Buffalo. The driveway was empty and everything was in dark, when the cab dropped us off in front of their house. We, two shy German boys, traveling from all around the world were standing at the open door, a dim light was shining in the back inside the house. Loud music, giggling sounds and a mood of party was in the air. Luckily we were bold enough to make a move and enter the house after our intense interaction with the doorbell didn't show its expected result... Molly, my cousin was the first to see us. We cannot imagine a better welcome than her hug. Molly, really made this first encounter an experience with such a hospitality we will never forget. Molly just finished a video project and was in the right mood to welcome us, exhausted travelers, with the right stuff. We had Coors light, a couple of ice-cold Vodka shots and nipped the red whine, which was not bad either. Suddenly Hugh and Margaret came back from their trip to Long Island and togehter we tasted this amazing, "outstanding" beer called" Berkshire Brewing Company (http://www.berkshirebrewingcompany.com/navigation.html). Chilled from a long field trip to the fridge this 64 oz roughly 2L bottle was enjoyed in the brotherhood of Hugh, Ferdi and Freddy - great taste, but do not ask about our condition the next morning. We were not ready for work yet. So what had happened in between? We sat together at the house, mainly enjoying the summer evening outside on the terrace when Steve & Ginger, Molly's friends decided to go with us to the Wall - the place to hang out at the sea. Good talks and a few cuts and scratches from the rough coastline later, we were all saturated and satisfied going to bed.