Days 6 & 7!

Hey, Blog Watchers! The time is flying by as fast as the odometer on the CR-V. Fun road trip fact #1- I bought my car from Charlie and his parents a year ago when we graduated. Charlie was moving to NYC and I was moving to LA, so it worked out perfectly. {Side note to Dr. and Mrs. Semine- those last few payments are coming real soon ;-) }

So far we have traveled 1,424 miles! Crazy. As I type this, I am sitting in the backseat watching the beautiful scenery of coastal Washington. We just crossed the Oregon/Washington border and it is truly awe-inspiring.

We arrived in Portland on Friday night at 7:30. On the way to Portland we stopped and swam in a river in the Redwood Forest. It was very refreshing. The air further north was thick with smoke from the wildfires. It was hazy and warm. We drove directly to the restaurant my good friend Jesse Leo works at called “Night Light”. Jesse and I grew up together in Bethel, CT. He and my other childhood friend John Ricci both moved to Portland about 8 years ago and they both love it. I can see why; Portland is a city rich in culture, beauty and great food. Snow capped Mt. Hood loomed in the distance as we enjoyed a cold beer in the late June heat of SE Portland.

Tommy’s sister, Dawn, also lives in Portland. She owns an amazing company called fruitforward.com. Fruitforward.com is a web-based wine club that ships two bottles of great wine every month to its members for a great price. Check it out!

Tommy and Dawn went out on the town and enjoyed an amazing meal at Paley’s Place. Charlie, Jesse and I visited with Jesse’s life partner, Silvana, before going to meet up with John at his burgeoning business, Mr. Biggs Wings. It was great to see John and Jesse again.

Saturday morning Charlie and I got to spend some quality time with Jesse, Silvana and their 17-month-old son, Silas. He has gotten so big since I saw him in November. He is talking a lot and loves to eat breakfast. We all went to the farmer’s market at Portland State University. It really was the best farmer’s market I’ve ever experienced. There was so much great local produce and food. Next, we made a quick stop at REI before saying goodbye to everyone. Tonight we will be staying at Pacific Beach State Park just outside of Olympic National Park in the Northwest corner of Washington. Tomorrow we will be getting up bright and early for our first backcountry foray into the wild! Can’t wait.



Oh, one last thing. Just wanted to say an extra special thanks for the tons of comments from everyone on the blog. When Tommy, Charlie and I finish an exhausting day of hiking and camping there is nothing like hankering down and reading all the wonderful comments and advice. Keep 'em coming!

Days 3,4,&5!

Hey, Blog Watchers! Wow. What an amazing trip we are having. When I last left you Charlie and I were on our way from Big Sur to San Francisco to pick up our third road-tripper Tommy Russell. Tommy flew in from NYC after having just returned from 3 weeks in Europe. Talk about jet-lag. He was so much fun in the car for the first six hours. And when I say fun, I mean asleep. In San Fran we met up with two of my great friends from LA; Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Andrew Dudley. Jesse and I are ole friends from NYC and I met Andrew through Jesse in LA. However, he recently moved to San Fran to work on his internet start-up wundrbar.com. Check out that site and you can hear some of my voice-over handiwork. Anywho, we all drove up to Humboldt Redwood State Park for two amazing days of camping, hiking and fun. We stayed at Hidden Springs Campground, site #27. It was really secluded with a firepit and bear-proof lock box for our food. Also, hidden behind our site was an awesome rope swing. Swinging up into the redwoods was breathtaking. We got into Hidden Springs around 9 PM Wednesday night. We made some burgers and sausages and then got some sleep. The next morning, after some pancakes, we took a 6 mile hike through the Redwood Forest. That night we cooked some more, swung on the rope swing, played some yahtzee and then hit the hay.

Charlie, Tommy and I said goodbye to Andrew and Jesse this morning and are now driving 8 hours to get to Portland, OR by tonight (Friday). We stopped right outside of Oregon for a dip in the river. So fun!

Thanks to all of you for the many comments! It keeps us going!

Day One and Two!

Hey Blog Watchers! Charlie and I left LA on 6/23 with our ole' classmate Alec in tow. The three of us went on a wonderful hike in Point Mugu State Park and then met my good friends Jesse and Kevin at our campsite on the beach in Malibu. We did some cooking and eating and drinking. A fun time was had by all. There was some alarm on Charlie's part concerning the size of our tent and the idea of three of us sleeping in it. We did a dry run and it seems perfect and cozy! Our friends departed and Charlie and I played a game of Settlers of Catan before hitting the hay.

Day two brought us to Fernwood Campground in Big Sur. We had to take a detour off of Route 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) because of the wildfires! They are only about 10 miles from our campground and at this point they are not controlled. We took an amazing hike to the top of a mountain and we could see the ocean and the smoke from the fires. We could also see the emergency planes dropping water onto the fires. Scary! We also saw a few deer.

There is Wi-Fi at the lodge where I am right now. The vlog was put together hastily but please enjoy!

We are about to leave for San Fran to pick up Tommy at the airport! Then off to the redwoods!

See you soon!

Joe and Charlie

Roadtrip 2008!

It looks like it may be time for a blog title change, eh? We are about to embark on the roadtrip to end all roadtrips! Charlie and I leave from LA tomorrow and pick up Tommy on Wednesday in San Fran.

Stay tuned for updates and vlog entries. We are hoping to have Wi-Fi in some places along the way. Here are some rough time estimates:

Malibu: 6/23/08
Big Sur: 6/24/08
Redwoods: 6/25-6/26
Portland, OR: 6/27
Olympic National Park: 6/28-6/30
Banff National Park (Alberta, Canada): 7/1-7/3
Bozeman, MT: 7/4
Yellowstone: 7/5-7/7 (Happy Birthday, Dad!)
7/7-7/12: TBA!

Any recommendations for places to visit or things to see are greatly appreciated in the comments section.

Best,
Joe

Manny Time!

I went on one of my regular manny trips two weeks ago. My sister Mary had an academic conference in Montréal. My brother-in-law Ken was in China at the same time. Therefore, Professional Manny Joe (meaning me) flew in to help out. Unfortunately, I left my camera behind for many adventures in Montréal. We toured the Old City, went to the bio-dome, insectarium, and botanical gardens. It was so much fun and very exciting. Mary had downloaded Tootsie for us to watch and we all became obsessed with the theme song; hence it is the soundtrack for the vlog below! Enjoy!





Only 10 days till the road trip of the century!!!!!!!! Thank god the gas prices are reasonable right now!!!!!!!