Monday, September 22, 2008

Arizona, New Mexico, etc.

We have been driving straight to Kansas for awhile. It's going to take about 27 hours. Instead of boring you with all the cows I've been counting, I'll give you more interesting statistics.

Number of times camped out: 2
Number of Jeep breakdowns: 0
Number of blackouts Lacy has had due to alcohol: 2
Number of times EGo has thrown up from being too full of beer: 3
Times pulled over: 2 (Lacy and EGo 1 each)
Tickets received: 1 (Lacy)
"Butt-chewings" received by officer of the law: 1 (EGo)
Parking tickets received: 2 (EGo)
Times we've wished we brought Rock Band with us: COUNTLESS
Miles traveled: Over 5,000

Okay, that's enough for now.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Rosarito, Mexico

Mark and I went to Mexico. AND IT WAS AWESOME.

When we got there, we missed the bus out of Tijuana to the hotel in Rosarito. Oh, great. If you've never been through the walk-through customs direct into Tijuana... Well, it's not really a place where you wanted to spend a bunch of time. Even during the day. There's not a lot there. Convenience stores are every other store, followed by Pharmacias. Did I mention you don't need a perscription? I did not partake, though. I figured I was going to be pumped on a lot of tequila.

So, after we wander around the streets of Tijuana, we wind up at an ABC bus station. Only problem is, the ladies selling tickets don't speak English. Well, fuck. One of them knows a little bit of English, but not enough to tell us where we can catch a bus to where we need to fucking go. So, we go back and take an over-priced taxi to Rosarito.

Well, shit, Rosarito Beach Hotel is a nice joint. We get there, and the room that they've given us is an ocean view. Fucking awesome. We didn't even have to pay extra. Then we hit the beach. The ocean waves were so intense that we couldn't even get out to a point where we could tread water. BIG waves, man. Would have been awesome if either of us could surf and had a board.

After being defeated by the ocean, we hit up a beach bar. After two drinks, we cruise on over to some ATVs that were parked next to the bar (nice placement, right?). I talk the dude down five bucks, then Mark and I go racing down the beach. We cruise around this crazy circle in the sand for half an hour; it was built with bumpy patches and whatnot so it was more fun to ride. Once our time is up, we tear ass back down the beach.

After that, we eat dinner (Mexican quacamole is THE SHIT), drink tequila, strawberry margaritas, more Mexican beer; we even get one of those dudes with the guitar who comes around to serenade us. Then we go and chill out in some hammocks by the side of the hotel. We tried to walk down the pier that was there, but it was locked.

But seriously, it couldn't have been more awesome an experience. My first time in a foreign country!

Carlsbad, CA, part IV.

Yeah, they're all blending together.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Carlsbad, CA, part III.

So today, EGo, Jon, Mark, Bryan and me went to Stone Brewing Co.. We were too late to make it to the brewery tour, but they have some awesome house bars there. So we drank there for awhile, until Bryan and I got antsy, and took off before the other guys to go get grub.

Before we left, Bryan and I climbed up a rock wall outside the bars. Down about 25 feet below us were a bunch of people watching a movie on the lawn of the brewery. I did this creepy arms spread, crouched down, ready-to-jump-on-some-prey move while Bryan took a flash photo from behind me. I hope a bunch of people looked up and were scared.

Anyway, we wind up at a bar/restaurant called Hennessy's Tavern. And what happens to be going on that night? Karaoke. Oh, yes. That's right. Once the rest of the boys showed up we commenced ruling that shit. House of Pain was first, then a bunch of other songs that blend together because I was busy drinking Jack and Coke's like it was my job. I know we sang some Eve 6, some Andrew W.K., Sum 41... And so on. Seriously, no less than four of us were up there at a time, and most of the time it was all five of us screaming into two microphones. Awesome.

And since we create our own party, eventually the rest of the drunk patrons of this bar joined in. after he had a decent crowd piling up the song requests, he stopped letting us up there so much. But, hey, at least we had a good run.

Carlsbad, CA, part II.

This place has changed my mind about the ocean. Mark and I went in today (EGo can't swim: he stayed in the shallow part), and there's literally NO animals. I won't lie, though; I did look up how to survive a riptide and an undertow, in case those did happen. It was awesome. Jumping through the waves, getting kicked around a bit by the ones that broke over me: at one point I wound up underwater entangled in Mark's legs. Don't ask me how.

The other thing that was eventful today was this mircobrewery/pizza joint that we went to, called Pizza Port. Decent beer; they wouldn't serve single slices of pizza after 3pm, though. That was dissapointing. But hey, we sat and played more asshole until the place closed down. The place is worth a visit.

Carlsbad, CA

The drive from San Francisco to San Diego only took about 7 hours. Took way less time than I thought it would.

Mark has an awesome apartment that he shares with two roommates. It is a block from the ocean. A BLOCK. Fucking awesome.

What's also convenient is that Jon flew into the area for business. And another one of our high school friends, Bryan, also lives in this area. So, it was like a mini-reunion for me, EGo, Mark, Jon, and Bryan. The first time in a long time that we've all been in the same place. Awesome.

We didn't go out tonight--we just sat around and played Asshole and drank a bit. Tomorrow, we'll go out and do stuff.

Berkeley, CA, part II.

We went out in Berkeley today and wandered around. There's lots of homeless kids near the campus. Or, not homeless, but kids who basically just travel around. They chill on the street and ask for money. And then the crazy, really homeless people also chill on the street and ask for money.

We didn't do much today... Just watched Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (which is surprisingly good and funny), went out for lunch, then went out for dinner. As we walked up and down the main drag, I gave some of my change to the kids who had been sitting on the street all day, and told them to get beer. When we were walking back from where we ate to go to Raleighs, a bar, I gave them more change and asked them if they got beer yet. One of the guys, after saying thank you, said, "First we get home; then we party!" Ah, kids with a goal. I'd have split the take and bought some liquor or beer.

Next: San Deigo! And my best buddy Mark.