California... Knows How to Party... Californuhuh... Knows How to Partayay

We left Berkeley with an ipod full of new podcasts and high expectations for Monterrey, the scenic coastal views from highway 1, and the nearby wilderness of the Big Sur area. How could anything possibly go wrong? Well, we realized that something was in fact quite wrong when passing cars waved us down while pointing to our sticker-laden top carrier. Aptly named Odysseus, the top carrier plays a critical role in shlepping our camping gear, guitar, and other miscellaneous road trip items. Unfortunately for us, the poor guy seemed to have enough after three months, having blown out one of his hinges. Luckily, we were able to make a quick duct tape fix and move on towards the coast.

Visibly shaken from the near demise of our dear friend Odysseus, we continued on to Paul's aunt and uncle's house in Pebble Beach. From the moment we got there, Pebble Beach and neighboring Monterrey were simply a gas. Gary, Terri, and Marcy welcomed us to their home with open arms, and we were able to see the world-renowned Pebble Beach golf course and the strikingly beautiful Point Lobos. Also, if you are ever in the area, make sure you hit up the clam chowder at Fisherman's Warf for the price of on the house. Seriously. Dudes are just standing outside restaurants slinging out clam chowder to passerbys like its there job (because it actually is their job).

The next stop on our tour of California brought us further down the coast to Big Sur for a two-night backpacking trip. Oh what a trip it was. The views from on top of these mountains were simply divine, the pine cones were the largest any of us have ever seen and the camp sites in the Los Padres National Forest were top notch. The only complaint that we could muster upon arriving back at the car was that the trails were a bit overgrown at times.

Little did we know, a few of our merry travelers had been POISONED! (gasp)

Yes, poisoned. A poison most foul. Poisoned by a poisonous oak plant (after all we've been through with you oaks and other trees and plants, this is how you repay us?). Ben and Kate took the brunt of this hellacious attack from Mother Nature, with Paul and Tommy luckily coming out unscathed.

The fab 4 hit the road north on beautiful sunny coastal highway 1, took a quick (albeit necessary stop) back at Gary and Terry's for some grub and a shower and then continued north back to Berkeley for a Labor Day BBQ at Grace's pad.

We were met at the BBQ by our wayward fifth companion, Sarah. After the good times were over at Grace's, Paul, Kate, Tommy, and Ben, sleeping bags in hand, marched on over to Sarah's boyfriend's apartment for the night. It was then that Sarah dropped the bomb that she would not be continuing on the road trip with us. The four of us were deeply saddened by this news, but after some talking, we respected her decision. The now-not-quite-as-fab four will keep on keeping on, and we all wish Sarah the best with whatever the real world throws her way.

The next morning, we headed out with heavy hearts but our heads held high to enjoy San Francisco's vibrant downtown for the day. First stop, Chinatown. Ben has not shut up about how awesome the House of Nanking is for the entire trip, so he and Tommy had to chow down on their Sesame Chicken, delish. Paul and Kate went for Dim Sum, meh.

The squad then went and explored Golden Gate park for the rest of the day and enjoyed the drum circles, flowers and very pleasant weather for the afternoon. The remaining squad left San Francisco and met back with Wilson who treated us to some amazing Pong Pong Chicken (Paul now has to name his dog Wilson) before we got to Sacramento to kick it with our looooong time friend Matthew Cameron Wambsgans.

Classic Lombart Street pic, a touristy moment for Chief

Matt, his wonderful girlfriend June, and his equally fantastic roommates treated us to 2 days of pool, darts, smiles, and amazing meals. Matt drove us north of Sacramento to the Yuba River, which is such a chill spot. We brought Matt's dog Yoko and kicked it by the river with a couple dozen naked hippies. Par for the course in California apparently.

We waved goodbye to Matt and packed back in to Chief and headed to what we thought was going to be another spectacular backpacking trip, this time in Yosemite National Park. We headed into the wilderness two hours up a dirt logging road with our food in bear boxes and joy in our hearts. We tied up our boots and walked about a mile before it started raining. We put on our rain coats and trudged on. Then the thunder got really loud and the lightening appeared to be very close. Still, we persevered. Then there was a hail storm pelting us with ice balls the size of marbles. At that point we decided to bounce and went back to the car to wait out the storm. The Sierra National Forest was cool and all, but we were trying to do a sweet backpacking loop in Yosemite. Oh well. We hit the Grizzly Giant tree (very cool) in the Mariposa Grove and trekked south to Sequoia and King's Canyon National Parks.

Now, at this point on the road trip we have seen our fair share of trees, so it was only right that we went on a pilgrimage in Sequoia National Park to see the widest (General Grant) and biggest (General Sherman) trees in the world.

While all of the giant sequoias in these groves were stunning, in an anonymous poll of the fab four, it was unanimous that the redwoods were the cream of the crop tree wise, beating out giant sequoias, dogwoods, birch trees, etc.

Now, this trip from the get go has been billed as a tour of America to get the 411 on all things associated with our beautiful country. And as any true American knows, Sundays are associated with two words: football season. Because of this it was our duty to go experience this cultural phenomenon by speeding out of King's Canyon to make it to a dive bar to catch the end of the Redskins game. As I'm sure you all know, it was a resounding victory for the skins (hail), something that we certainly had to celebrate the only way we knew how; with a trip to some free hot springs. After a little research, we found exactly what we were looking for in the southern reach of the Sequoia National Forest.

We found a great campsite in the area next to a raging river and all went to sleep with dreams of 104 degree pools floating through our heads. The next day, our dreams became reality at the Remington Hot Spring. Located about two miles west of the Hobo Campground on Kern Canyon Road, which is off of highway 178 a little south of Lake Isabella (theres a parking lot on your right you can't miss it), the Remington Hot Spring is sort of like heaven on earth with three tubs of hot water right off of a river with a rope swing only a short float away. Additionally, at the hot spring there is a massive river eddy, which you can ride upriver only to ride the faster main current back down to the hot tubs. If any of you faithful readers are ever in the area or are looking for something to do in SoCal, we could not recommend this highly enough. (if you dont like seeing naked hippie butt then dont look to the right of this next picture)

After our relaxing hot springs, it was off to LA for some good times with some old friends. We stayed with Paul, Kate, and Tommy's friend Danny Cohen (sorry Ben) in Venice and had wonderful times going out to get beers and even some tacos with Tommy's amigo Isaac Nicholson and Ben's chum Joe Lennarz.

Once we had our fair share of the Hollywood lifestyle, we headed even further south to La Jolla to stay with Tommy's extended family, grabbing some frozen bananas on Balboa Island along the way (there's always money in the banana stand).

Although Uncle Kurt and Alex were both away from home and missing from the Eve clan, Aunt JJ and Kevin certainly picked up the slack, showing us an unbelievable amount of hospitality during our stay. Aunt JJ even rented us boards so we could attempt to go surfing (key word being attempt).

Today we are packing up and heading out to Joshua Tree National Park with Danny for the weekend and then VEGAS on Sunday. Should be a good time. California has been spectacular but its time to head east.

Stage 4 - the BROad Trip

After arriving in Portland, Ben jetted off to Taos for a family vacation and Tommy finally joined us again after galavanting in Turkey for the past two weeks. Since Kate and Sarah hail from the grand ol' Rose City, we were able to use it as a home base of sorts and take a brief respite from the road. Many thanks to both of our families for your hospitality, food, and good times! Highlights of our Portland excursions include a hike in the Columbia Gorge, sample tasting at the Portland Farmer's Market, an afternoon at the Sauvie Island beaches, bike tours of the Portland's east side, collecting eggs straight from the coop with Tommy's friend, Abby Conyers, a day of swimming and cliff jumping at Three Pools, and touring the Deschutes, Rogue and Bridgeport ale houses.







Sarah is making the journey south with her boyfriend, so until we meet up in San Francisco it is just Kate and the dudes. The four of us left Portland on the 25th and headed to Oregon's lone National Park, Crater Lake. We made it just in time to hike up to the fire watch outlook point for an incredible view of the lake, Wizard Island, and the surrounding mountains.

The following day we headed southwest towards the famed highway 101, stopping for a quick dip at a little known swimming hole. If you're ever on highway 62 between Medford and Crater Lake, definitely take the turn onto Crowfoot Rd. between mileposts 29 and 30!

Next stop: the Redwoods! After an incredible drive on the Redwood Highway, we backpacked into the "Tall Trees Grove" in Redwood National Park near Orick, CA. This is probably the closest we've all come to feeling like ants among these giant trees, the tallest of which is 370 feet tall!

Redwoods

The entire experience went very smoothly, until we got back to the car the next day and realized we had left our pots and pans at the campground. Whammy! Three points to Kate for running back to get them.







Then we headed to Santa Rosa to tour the Lagunitas Brewery and visit Paul's Aunt Laurie for a scrumptious dinner. Afterward we headed to the local Russian River watering hole, home of two of the top-ranked beers en el mundo. Luckily the day's journey was over since Tommy's good friend Wilson lives just over the hill in Napa Valley. He graciously showed us around the vineyard laden hills for the next few days.

On Monday we headed into the city with Wilson and his friends for the Giant's game that night, making sure to stop for In n' Out on our way. Sadly the giants lost 7-0 to the Cubs despite our fervent enthusiasm for Tim Lincecum. Beer and baseball: this is what happens when the road trip goes 4/5 bro.

For the past few days we've been staying with Silver Spring's finest, Grace Reinhalter, across the bay in Berkeley. We've been showered with hospitality from all of our Bay Area friends and family. We dined on a sailboat with Ben's family friend Annie, toured the Cal campus with Paul's cousin, Carly, and chatted over lunch with the Rosen clan of Paul's family, Mark, Fonda, and their daughter Sasha. We also enjoyed exploring Tilden regional park and sampling world class beers at Toronados. Today we're heading south to Monterrey and Big Sur, so stay posted for more fun times in the golden state.

The Fab Four Goes Coastal

The San Juan Islands were seriously prime. Weather check, family check, lodging check, food check, killer whales check. (Killer fucking WHALES ya heard!?!?!) Sorry for the french, but it was tight and I just want to make sure you all understand the magnitude of how sweet Cory's spot is and how much we enjoyed ourselves. Paul's parents, Bobby and Bill, were visiting Cory at the same time, so we all coat-tailed the family hospitality and home-cooked meals, while enjoying the familiar faces. After spending our days exploring the sculpture garden, the British camp from San Juan Island's historic Pig War, hiking tiny mountains, eating delicious regional Dungeon (or maybe it was Prison) Crabs, seeing three pods of orcas on a free whale watch tour, sunbathing, and checking out local happy hours, we had exhausted all that San Juan Island had to offer.

Fortunately, the inter-island ferry is $free.99, so we hopped on with all of our stuff to check out Orcas Island for a day. We arrived on Orcas by nine in the morning and befriended some local store owners to leave all of our gear with while we explored. On the islands, hitch-hiking is actually the preferred method of travel because it is legal!



We hit the curb for a short fifteen minutes and caught a ride towards Moran State Park. After a brief transfer to a more personable chauffeur, we made it to an awesome lagoon with bridge jumping and sun bathing to boot. After a relaxing day, we hitched our way back to the ferry, thanks to a man from Wheaton, MD. (Shout out Pollo Rico!)

We hit the ferry back to our car and set off to Port Townsend, WA to meet another awesome CC graduate, Sarah Delaney. She is staying with another generous CC family for the summer during her internship and was able to adequately house us all for the night. In what's becoming typical roadtrip fashion, we threw a delicious PIZZA PARTY and enjoyed a local watering hole for a delicious pitcher of Port Townsend's Scotch Ale.

We hit the road again the next day, now with two Sarahs, for Olympic National Park. With a hot spring plan firmly in mind, we arrived only to have our dreams of a natural hot spring soak shattered by road construction. But alas, we're pretty good by now at rolling with punches, and found a day hike with incredible views up Hurricane Hill before "backpacking" into PJ's Lake to spend a quiet night.



Since the backpack was only one mile, Ben decided to bring in the guitar. Shortly thereafter we realized that the hike was straight down (and straight back up the next day.) Fun was had by all and we dropped off Sarah Delaney at home and used her showers before heading to Vashon Island for a wedding!

And so it was that Amanda Heffernan married Joshua Mattson in a gorgeous field laced with sanskrit chants and alternative garb, cherry-wood smoked salmon, and hundreds of dancing, smiling friends and family members. (Amanda is essentially Paul's cousin for those out of the loop.) We camped at the site and tried to help as much as possible to show our gratitude for the invite. We were fortunate enough to cross paths with Paul's parents again and spent many an hour fraternizing at their lovely rented cottages.

Take a good look, this is as pretty as we get.

We left the morning after the wedding to head south to Oysterville to meet up with Sarah's and Kate's old friend Nicole Freshley. And guess what we made for dinner?!

Hand made dough and sauce from organic heirloom tomatoes!

We took an amazing walk along the bay to see the full moon and drank beers and wine by the fire. But the two Portland girls were anxious to get home after being within a stones throw for over a week now. We hit the road to the 5-0-3 and don't plan on leaving for at least a week, especially not after our hilarious first night here. We wandered into bar after receiving good advice from Kate's sister Sarah in time to catch the last round of BINGO of the night! (A little ironic to play our first game of bingo without Tommy and his beloved hat...) But the game went smoothly, and suspense built as our very own Benji drew close to victory. At at shocking turn of events, Ben and another less handsome man both cried Bingo after hearing O - 69 announced! After verifying that neither had cheated, the hostess declared that it was to be determined by a danceoff! (which we got on video)

Ben is awesome, other guy sucks.

And to add to the hilarity, the grand prize was one large purple rabbit vibrating dildo, complete with 4 AA batteries!

So if you're looking for a good time..... and you're here in Portland hit us up, because we'd love to see you!

Support Cool Tunes

We're all about cool tunes here on the road, Live, Local and all that Jazz (pun intended). And we've really been meaning to switch up the blog. (A little less formulaic, you know.) It's nice and all to tell you guys we did this, and then that, BUT we're going for a little more flavor in the future. Be on the look out for recipes, a list of places we've spent the night, trivia, (and yeah, we're overdue on an update too).

In the vein of sweet new stuff, a good friend of ours Elijah Balbed is (and has been) killin it on the DC jazz scene. Trying to raise money can be tough though. Hit the link to help a brother out on his DEBUT CD.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1215520993/elijah-jamal-balbeds-debut-cd-checking-in

"Finding a balance between tradition and modernism is critical to finding your voice, and can be a life long journey for many. 21-year old Elijah Jamal Balbed is a modern saxophonist with a strong root in tradition, his sound and approach uniquely displays a tasteful blend of old school and new school. A native of Washington, DC, Elijah has established himself as rising star on the saxophone, having been named the Best New Jazz Musician of 2010 by the Washington City Paper, as well as being the Bohemian Caverns Artist in Residence for the month of June, 2011. Elijah currently performs with Funk Ark, Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra, and Chuck Brown." (Chuck Brown, man!)





Elijah Beast Mode, so what?

Five Scholars rock fresh, North by Northwest

And it's still no rest 'cause we're not finished yet


Greetings from West (and arguably the best) Coast! (well, at least top 2)


Leaving Bozeman, we forged onward to the wild bear country of Glacier National Park. In light of recent mauling incidents around the world, we debated the necessity of bear spray but a park ranger said we would be alright and sent us off after watching an overly cheesy safety video. Our two night backpacking loop in the southern corner of the park was surprisingly tame and wildlife free, except for a brief encounter with a baby black bear. We also managed to hike two miles on the wrong trail, turning a five mile hike into nine.

"Uhh, did we walk for an hour in the wrong way?"

Once we got back to the trailhead, we hightailed to the river for a quick bath and then proceeded to the famed Going to the Sun Road. 

Awwwww

The curvy, narrow road had fantastic views of the park, including a few mountain goats munching grass on the shoulder. We continued towards the border, but the Canadian customs folk weren't so inclined to let five dirty, unemployed 20-somethings into their northern lands. With nothing to declare but handle of whiskey and a jam-packed car, we were certainly a suspicious looking bunch, but happily made it through after the minor holdup.

We spent two nights in the Ghost River Wilderness, Canada's equivalent to our national forests and BLM land -- aka Free Camping! Ben and Tommy were gracious enough to host a housewarming party, featuring their favorite meal: frank & beans and each of our favorite types of candy.

The next day's meals of blueberry pancakes and pita pizzas were also major hits. Little did we know, the area is also a haven for off-road vehicles so we quickly made friends with our ATV and dirt bike riding neighbors.

After two days of extreme relaxation, reading, and card playing, we finally ventured to Banff National Park. Sadly the steep price of $10 per night per person for a backcountry permit was beyond our measly budget, so we settled for standard car camping and woke up bright 'n early to hike Healy Pass.

Thanks for the hats Jackie!

We got to the trailhead before sunrise and made it to the pass in time to see the wildflowers, mountain lakes, waterfalls, and snowy peaks all by ourselves.

On August 2nd we dropped Tommy at the Calgary Airport and jumped with joy as the Quad came back into action!! (Mr. Hester visits his girlfriend Smitty in SoCal and jets off to Turkey for family vacay.) Without Tmoney's shady figure, we crossed the border like Easy Mac and made our way west on I-90. Careful to partake in as many regional foods as possible, we picked up a sack of Idaho potatoes and baked them in our campfire in the national forest outside of Seattle. That night crossing road trippers Nick and Tamara kicked it with us in the Snoqualmie forests, shared their avocados, and crashed on our tarp with us. 

Next stop, Seattle. We were probably the least showered we will be of the whole trip. I'm serious, really stinky. Then we got real clean and went over to the Hunts for dinner. Pat, Bryan, Grandpa and the whole squad threw down an awesome BBQ party. Perfect way to get back into civilization: brauts and grilled meat and great company. 

Then we scooted back over to Paul and Kate's homegirl from CC, Ally. Such a wonderful host. We kicked it in her hottub, we cruised around Seattle and Pike's Place Market, cooked an amazing dinner and went out on the town. 

We went to this sick taphouse, Brouwers, where we had the best beers of the trip. This amazing watering hole had like 50+ beers on tap. Ben loved the Scuttlebutt tripel 7 Belgian, ya heard me?

We crawled out of bed and hit the road to make it to the Phish show where thousands of Phish fanatics were enjoying the beauty of the Gorge at an epic stop on Phish's summer tour. 

Amazing show, first set was the bomb, everyone needs to go see Phish soon. Shakedown street was wild. The scene in the Phish lot is pretty great, wish we could see another show. 

(Yes, we got perfectly photo-bombed by this bro in the red hat.)

Now we are chillin back in Seattle for the night till we make it out the San Juans to kick it with Cory, Alex, Bobby and Bill. Can't wait.

Peace.

Westward Expansion

Loyal Readers -

We apologize again for the long wait. We know you’re all sitting by your computers for the next post, or (for the lucky few) sitting by your phone for a brief call. We’ve been on the road again after our residency at the Lake House in Nisswa, MN. Its been over a week since we left the lake house and traveled into the beautiful Twin Cities to meet up with Kate’s friend from studying abroad in Bolivia, Tressa. We had a wonderful afternoon swim, a delicious outdoor barbeque, and an evening bike ride complete with our own Tommy and Ben sharing a tandem bike! The next day we went to The Tap to watch the Women’s World Cup heart breaking loss. But, our day was salvaged as Paul unexpectedly ran into another study abroad friend, Leah, from Costa Rica. After the penalty kicks and reconnecting chats, we hit the road to Badlands National Park in South Dakota (emphasis on the bad).

We had an 21 mile backpacking loop planned in the Badlands, but struggled to find the appropriate backcountry map (with no help from the Park Service. boo). Fortunately, Paul had printed two miserable, yet passable copies of our loop. The five of us geared up and headed out into Badlands with close to 90lbs of water to brave the 110 degree heat.

Despite good planning, the heat, lack of a good map, and shrinking water supplies forced us to turn back after just one night in the back country. Fortunately, we all lived to tell the tale of those bad, bad lands (even after our run-in with a baby rattler).

After leaving the Badlands, we desperately needed to clean ourselves, so, of course, we stopped by the Wall, South Dakota fire department for a little hose down.

Oh yeah, and we hit Rushmore (without paying the $11 to park for the 11 minutes that we were there, shhh don't tell).

Our next stop was to cross the beautiful state of Wyoming on our way to see a Williams alum, Will aka An aka Gill Pettingill. Halfway through Wyoming, we stopped in the dead of night to sleep off of an old Forest Service road in the Big Horn Mountains. When we awoke, we were greeted with the most gorgeous view of a few snow-capped peaks.

Despite the amazing view, we had a date with this “An” fellow, and made our way to Victor, ID. In Victor, we checked out the Grand Teton Brewing Company, and the best small town event in the U.S., Music on the Main! The town of Victor throws down every Thursday night, and everyone comes out for some good funky music, sweet vendors, and craft beers. Unfortunately, we had to leave Victor the following day to get all up in those Grand Tetons. The loop we had planned was too snowy and required ice picks, so we decided to take some friendly advice and check out Phelps Lake and hike into Death Canyon.


Despite how trecherous Death Canyon sounds, the hike into our campsite was very enjoyable. We hiked all day along a raging river of snow melt and arrived exhausted at our home for the night. After an awesome dinner of veggies and cous cous (the food so nice they named it twice), we hit the tent for some sweet card playing and bed. While we slept we were visited by some mysterious intruders. I could type you this story, but I would rather have Tommy sing it to you. Take it away.

We spent another night in Death Canyon, now more aware of the salt hungry wildlife. However, the next morning we had some welcome visitors in our campsite, a Momma Moose and its child. On the way out we also saw a red fox and a coyote bear its teeth at Ben. Road Trip Wildlife Day continued as we drove north through Yellowstone and saw many more moose, elk, and bison. Old Faithful was a BLAST (zing), and we even got some ice cream and a bumpersticker.

We drove just out of the park to enjoy some camping for the price of free.99 rather than paying an arm and a leg to be corralled in with the riff raff. The next day we took the plunge 328 steps down to check out the glorious Yellowstone Falls, which beat out our buddy Niagra by a mile to be crowned the best waterfall of the trip.

We left gysertown, USA to head towards Bozeman and prepare for the big day of the 26th of July, a day that will go down in history. Our very own Thomas Channing Hester was invited by John Harwood to be on the NPR show On Point to talk about the loss of our dear friend Brendan Ogg. The show went swimmingly with help from our friends Deb and Gil at the world class Peak Recording studio (we even got freshly baked cookies, hot coffee, and a sweet bluegrass CD for the road. best. studio. ever). Check the audio at http://bit.ly/o2Jnzm. We are currently in the Bozeman library basking in Tommy’s newfound fame and glory and planning to hit up Costco for some free samples. Wish us luck. Until next time (which might be a little while because we are off to Glacier, Banff, and Jasper), take it easy America (and all of our international friends).