Oct 28th-31st

On Friday, after waiting for the elk to leave my car alone and leaving the campground, my plan was to drive around and down the eastern side of the Yellowstone loop until I hit the canyon road. Then I would take the canyon road through the park back to the west side and North again to head to Bozeman. I was desperately hoping to see a bear during my drive through the canyon. Unfortunately, I made it to the east side loop and headed south to find that the road was closed after Tower Junction. I had to turn around and head back to Mammoth Springs with my search for a free bear being unsuccessful.
I left Yellowstone and headed to Bozeman for the sole purpose of food, shower, and an oil change. I was surprised to find that I actually liked the small city. The oil change went smoothly and quickly. The shower was refreshing. And the food was delicious and filling with a great wait staff. Bozeman did exactly what I needed it to do. After that, I headed west to try to get as close to Seattle as possible. I made it to St. Regis before needing to gas up. I also to a small look around their gift shop gas station for presents to bring back to family and friends. I hit the road again and made my way to Spokane. I didn't feel like driving any further but it was still early, so I decided to see Inferno with Tom Hanks. I enjoyed the movie but prefer the book.
I woke up Saturday and headed for Seattle. I had an airbnb waiting for me so I went to check in there first. It was a great place to stay because it had a heated mattress and was located right off the Link Light Rail Line which brought me right into downtown. Well it would have brought me into downtown if I had known which stop was downtown. Instead I got out at the International District/Chinatown stop which was roughly 3 stops too early for where I wanted to see things. I didn't mind though because it allowed me to see even more of the city.
Somehow my lucky journey continued and the weather in Seattle was beautiful on Saturday. I walked up to the Seattle Public Market and walked through the first floor. Unfortunately everything was already closing down, so I continued on to the Space Needle. The view from the top was amazing. Again, luck was on my side as our elevator tour guide pointed out that we could see Mt. Rainier in the distance which is only visible for roughly a third of the year. It was just turning to dusk when I went to the top so the city skyline was spotted with lights from all the buildings and was quite a spectacular view.
As I left the Needle, someone caught my attention so I went over to her to see what she needed. She asked if I could take some pictures of her and her friends in front of the Needle so of course I obliged. I then my way towards a bar I looked up on TripAdvisor. Unfortunately it looked dead and not very fun so I continued on to see if I could wander into somewhere fun. I found a place that I liked because one of the waitresses was dressed in a clown costume. It happened that I walked into The Crocodile Back Bar which is a well known spot in Seattle. I sat at the bar and ordered a pizza and some drinks. Next to me there was a couple in costumes so I took a guess at what they were dressed as. She was dressed in the yellow jumpsuit Uma Thurman wore in Kill Bill and he was dressed as Fidel Castro. They were also from out of town and the bartender was giving them some suggestions on things to see and do so I listened too. She was a great bartender with a lot of personality and I had a lot of fun talking to her and the couple dressed up.
I then went to a bar called The Rabbit Hole where there were a lot of people dressed in costumes. I struck up a conversation with a couple next to me named Marco and Karina. They were from San Diego and in town for a small vacation. We talked for a while about my trip, places they had been, and about ourselves. They were incredibly nice and gave me their phone number in case I made it to San Diego. About five minutes after they left, I decided to head back to my airbnb. After a short railway inconvenience, I made my way back to the airbnb for the night. It was a great place to stay because of the heated mattress and the owner was very kind and courteous.
The next morning, after taking a shower and getting ready for the day I drove into the city to a parking garage that I knew would be easy to get to. I stopped at the Seattle Art Museum to see an exhibit by Yves Saint Laurent as well as all the beautiful art the museum usually had on display. After spending two hours in the SAM, I made my way towards a cafe that had wifi for their customers. I wrote up my last blog post and enjoyed some breakfast food and hot chocolates at the Bacco Cafe before asking the waitresses for some directions. They pointed me back towards the Seattle Public Market. This time I walked along the second floor which had many interesting shops. The one that caught my attention the most was Golden Age Collectibles which is a nerd's paradise. It had comics, paraphernalia, movie scripts, and other awesome things. It had been the only place I had seen scripts for sale so I bought a 4th generation script for Young Frankenstein because Mel Brooks is a genius.
I dropped the script back at my car and decided to head towards Century Link Field since I had tickets to the Seattle Sounders playoffs game against F.C. Dallas. I walked past the field first to see Safeco Field as best I could. I only saw the right field line before I followed the crowd back to the Sounders game. It had started raining so I bought a Sounders hat and scarf since my seat was in the rain. Seattle has the best MLS fans as far as I could tell. I couldn't help but feel like I was one of them and will probably take the Sounders as my MLS team. After the game and Seattle had taken a 3-0 lead into Dallas, I left the stadium and found the Cowgirl Saloon to watch overtime in the Cowboys vs Eagles game. I seemed to be outnumbered by Cowboys haters so I didn't rejoice too much when the best team in the NFL won. I then headed back to my car to sleep the night away.
The next morning, I headed towards Portland, OR. I made one pitstop to clean and organize my car but after that I made my to the Oregon Zoo. As you might be able to tell, I love seeing large wild animals. Unfortunately these animals weren't wild but I was able to take a lot of pictures of beautiful animals I wouldn't otherwise have seen.
After walking around the zoo for a few hours, I headed into downtown Portland. I donned my Where's Waldo costume since it was Halloween and headed out on the town. I stopped at Kelly's Olympian first a day enjoyed a few drinks before heading out to Kells Irish Restaurant and Pub and tying on a few more. I had a nice conversation with an Asian woman before heading out and winding up in Mary's Bar. Although I spent too much money there, I had a great time. I then headed back to my car to spend the night and sleep all the fun off.
That's where I'll leave the tale off, although I'm almost a full week behind my adventures. Currently I'm in San Francisco, but we have at least a full blog post before we get here. Hopefully I catch myself up tomorrow. As always you can find some small tidbits from my travels on my twitter or Instagram both @nyknicks167. I also promise a lot more pictures next time. Otherwise, take care and I'll see you very soon.

Oct 24th-28th

I left my tale in a motel in Luverne, MN. In my last post I had mentioned a call from my friend Bill. Well after that call, I saw a news story about a virtual reality interactive video game system in Empire Mall in Sioux Falls, SD. So the next morning, before heading to Badlands National Park, I made a short detour to the Mall to try it. The owner explained that there are only three of those machines in America and two of them were there which allowed two people to actually play against each other, making it a truly unique experience. The machine allowed you to control the pitch and tilt so it felt like you were in flying. It had 3d glasses and sprayed mists of water when the game story went near water. The most unique thing was that it allowed you to do a complete barrel roll. Most games just have you pitch to a side and the screen will roll. The entire machine rolled as you did a barrel roll. It was incredible. I had mentioned to the owner that I had seen it on the news so after my round, he let me play a second round for free.
After a bite to eat at Applebee's, I hit the road for Badlands National Park. I made another small pitstop in the town of Wall to see Wall Drug since there were hundreds of billboards for it. I got there around 4:45 and was surprised to see that practically everything was closed. I did a little shopping and walking around and by the time it was 5pm everywhere was closed. I got back in my car and backtracked to the eastern side of Badlands National Park so I could drive through the whole thing. It was getting dark by then so I took a few pictures before heading to the primitive campsite to set up for the night. On my drive, I saw a few deer and then got a huge surprise when I saw a bison on the road. Obviously I had to stop and that's when I noticed the entire herd on either side of the road. I got to the campsite and camped out in my tent.
The next morning I woke up and saw some bison in the distance when I opened my tent flap. Then I turned around and saw two in the campground area. They were no more than 50 yards away. After a quick breakfast of Chef Boyardee, I packed up my car and decided to drive the whole loop through the Badlands. I turned my GoPro on and attached it to my dashboard to video the landscape as I drove through it. I made a lot of stops at overlook views and took videos from them too. Then I found a place to park and climbed up one of the formations with my GoPro strapped to my head. I also took a hike around one of the paths and saw a deer, a herd of bighorn goats, and an eagle perched at the top of a formation. After my hike, I was getting tired and decided to finish the drive and head to Mt. Rushmore.
I got to Mt. Rushmore and decided to take my Where's Waldo costume out again. This time I remembered that I had binoculars with me which made the costume even better. I took some pictures of the monument and snuck in the background of other people's pictures. The monument was incredible and learning about how it was made was amazing. I then went to Crazy Horse Monument. The monument is far from completion but there were scale models of the finished monument. Only the face was completed and an outline of his horse drawn on the mountain. When completed, the monument will be absolutely massive. For scale, all of Mt. Rushmore would fit in Crazy Horse's head!
I left the monument and headed to Belle Fourche, SD to see the geographic center of the nation. It was dark by the time I got there so I only took a few pictures before finding a bar to get some food before heading to my hotel room. I ate at Stadium Bar & Grill and talked to the owner Chris about my journey and about where he's from. The food was delicious and it was a nice environment.
The next day I headed into Wyoming to see Devil's Tower. I took a walk around the base and badly wished that I was a skilled enough rock climber to climb to the top of it. Sections of the forest around the base were smoking from the fire that is needed to help rebuild and renew the landscape around it. I then started my drive towards Yellowstone. Fortunately for me, my drive took me through Bighorn National Forest. The winding road up and down the mountain through the forest was a bit nerve-wracking but it had beautiful views allowing you to see for miles to the east and amazing rockfaces on the way back down. I didn't make it to Yellowstone before the sun went down, so I pulled over  outside of Buffalo Bill City at a campground on Buffalo Bill Reservoir. Unfortunately the ground was gravel so I couldn't stake my tent down. Instead I opted to stay the night in my car.
The next day, I made my way into Yellowstone from the eastern entrance. With many stops for pictures, I made my way to Old Faithful and the geysers surrounding it. When I got to Old Faithful, I stopped for some lunch before walking around to see all the smaller geysers and pools. About 10 minutes into my walk, I saw one of the larger geysers blow. A few minutes later, I saw Old Faithful going off in the distance. So I headed back to the visitor center to see the museum and find out when the next eruption would be. They also had a movie about Yellowstone and the different aspects of the park. After the movie, I headed outside to sit and wait for Old Faithful to erupt. It was only a short wait before the geyser began blowing. The main eruption where the water was at its highest lasted about 10 seconds and then continued on for another minute or so.
Next, I started making my way to Mammoth Springs to camp out for the night. I was hoping to see a bear at some point, so I continued to make quick stops for pictures and sight seeing. Unfortunately I did not see any bears by the time I made it to the campground. Before setting up my tent, I went for a little hike to the top of the hill, still hoping to see a bear off in the distance. Safety lesson, never hike alone and when in Yellowstone carry bear spray just in case. I was lucky and had no encounters but it truly can be very dangerous hiking alone. I hiked back down the hill and set up my tent for the night. It was unbelievably windy and I was worried my recreational tent wouldn't hold up but I made it through the night with no problems.
I woke up on Friday and broke down my tent. Before heading off for the day, I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. On my way back to my car, my path was cut off by a huge male elk. I decided to walk a little out of my way to get back to my car but he was walking down the path that led to my campsite. He ended up stopping for a food break 10 feet from my car! If I had woken up 30 minutes later, he would have been right outside my tent! After he moved to the other side of the path, I snuck into my car. Only after I was sitting down did I remember that I needed to grab my campsite slip from the post next to where my tent had been. So I had to slip back out of my car, get the slip, and get back into my car while the elk was only on the other side of a one lane pathway. As I was driving away, I noticed a second male elk sitting down in one of the campsites right next to the pathway. There were numerous females as well but they stayed on the outskirts of the campground for the most part.
Well, although I'm still very behind on my posts about my journey, I'll leave my tale here. As always, if you want to follow my journey, I do some tweeting on @nyknicks167 and I'll continue posting pictures on here. Eventually, I will post my videos somewhere but I still haven't figured that out yet. So stay tuned for the next installment!

Oct 21st-23rd

So I left off my story in Green Bay on Thursday night. I decided to spend another night in my car that night and in the morning I went back to Lambeau Field to get some closer pictures. I took pictures of the Earl Lambeau and Vince Lombardi statues out front and asked someone to take my picture on the Lambeau Leap statue wall. It was packed inside the pro shop so I took the escalator upstairs to take a walk around the Packers Hall of Fame. As you can imagine, there were so many interesting facts and information about the team and the stadium. Each inductee into the Hall of Fame had a golden ball with their name and face on them. Some of the more iconic figures had mock lockers in the next room. At the end of these rooms were all the championships the Packers had won, including the championships before the merger and the four Lombardi Trophies. On the second floor of the Hall of Fame, there was a room set up like Vince Lombardi's office along with his film projector. After exiting the Hall of Fame, I went back down to the pro shop from a different escalator and saw the three-story high Lombardi trophy. It was incredible.
I left Green Bay and headed towards Minneapolis because I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to get familiar with the city before the USWNT game that Sunday. I was planning on staying the first night in a campground that I had researched but when I got there, the office was closed. So I found the closest walmart and camped in my car for the night. I was feeling quite down about my trip at this point because it was my third night in a row sleeping in my car and I hadn't been able to shower for a few days. I felt gross and discouraged and wondered if I was going to be able to make this trip around the country work. The next morning however, I found a gas station with a travel center that had private showers for travelers. After a much needed shower, I was reinvigorated and headed to downtown Minneapolis.
I went to the Minneapolis Central Library first in order to print my ticket for the game. After asking the kind librarian for some suggestions to eat, I started wandering around downtown. Although she didn't exactly give me any ideas for local restaurants, she pointed me in the direction of a main road where I had a pick of bars and restaurants. I ended up getting lunch at the Rock Bottom Brewery. After lunch, I did some more walking around, taking pictures of sculptures, architecture, and paintings. When I returned to my car, I decided to go see the Mall of America since I had a few hours to kill before it would even be dark.
As I left the parking garage, I noticed that I had only paid $4 for quite a few hours. I decided that instead of looking for a motel room I would once more camp out in my car in this parking garage. It was perfect because I wouldn't pay much for the night and it was only 3 blocks away from U.S. Bank Stadium which was where the game was being held the next day.
So I went to the Mall of America and luckily found parking rather easily. I was expecting the mall to be big and to be packed but it was even larger and busier than I had imagined. It took me two hours just to walk around the outer layers of the three floors before venturing into the center of the Mall which is basically an amusement park for children. I came across a museum for the great Prince which unfortunately did not allow photography. I also counted 5 different Lids stores, and two sets of Victoria's Secrets and Pink stores. There were too many Caribou Coffee shops for me to remember. There was only one place to get a haircut though which I decided I needed. I went to Jamba Juice for a smoothie while I waited and walked around the small 4th floor which was a few restaurants. My barber was a very nice guy. We talked about my trip and some of the places I had seen and was planning to see. After the haircut, I left the Mall and found a McDonald's to use their wifi and charge my phone before returning to the parking garage. I parked on the very top so I could see the stadium and wouldn't have the lights from inside the garage keeping me awake.
I woke up around 9 the next morning very excited to see the game. It was going to be the first time I wore the present my friends had gotten me. I put on my Where's Waldo costume and headed to the game around 11:45. It was a short walk to the stadium but I wanted to make sure I had no trouble getting in through security and finding my seat, which happened to be on the exact opposite side of the stadium. So I walked around until I found my section and sat down in my seat. I took some pictures of the stadium, field, and the teams warming up.
It was a poor start for the US who conceded early in the 7th minute to go down 1-0. To me, it looked like we were playing a 3-5-2 that would turn into a 3-4-3 with Carli Lloyd pushing forward. Switzerland did what most teams do against the USWNT and packed it in trying to counter on the break. In the 25th minute, Carli Lloyd hit a screamer from 25 yards out for an absolute beauty of a goal to equalize.  At halftime, the game remained 1-1. This game was a friendly so each team was allowed 6 subs instead of the usual 3. So at halftime, Christen Press and Samantha Mewis came on for the US.  In the 51st minute, Press had her shot rebound off a defender to Lloyd who placed it home to give the US a 2-1 advantage. Two minutes later, Press added her own goal off a beautiful one time chip shot over the goalie to make it 3-1. Crystal Dunn scored in the 63rd minute to make it 4-1. In the 81st minute, Kealia Ohai was subbed on and it was announced that she was making her first appearance for the team. The crowd gave her a loud cheer to welcome her and a minute later she returned the warm reception with her first goal off a Christen Press assist. The crowd went absolutely nuts for her as she ran around hugging everyone she could find. The game ended 5-1 good guys.
I left Minneapolis right after the game trying to make as much ground to my next destination, Badlands National Park. I made it as far as Jordan, MN before getting hungry so I pulled off and found Clancy's bar. Imagine a truck stop biker bar in a movie. That was Clancy's bar. The people were very nice and the food was great too. I got back on the road and made it to Luverne, MN to a Quality Inn Motel. It was Sunday night, so Bill gave me another call to check in for the podcast. Even though the show has gone down since I left, it's still pretty good so follow them on twitter @NationPod and find them on iTunes or SoundCloud at Nation of Conversation.
I'll leave it there for now since the next few days has quite a lot to talk about as well. If you want to follow me on twitter, you can find me @nyknicks167. And as always thanks for reading!

Oct 18th-20th

Let's see. I left off in Fort Wayne, Indiana on Monday. I stayed in a motel that looked like the type of place people go to have an affair. Or it was the place to get a room with a stripper from the strip club that used legitimately the same parking lot. So that was interesting.
On Tuesday, I took a walk around downtown Fort Wayne. First, I stopped at the Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory to check out all the beautiful plants. The Conservatory had 3 rooms of different climates. They had a showroom, a rainforest, and a desert along with a few outdoor patios. Then I walked over to Parkview Field, the baseball field for the minor league Fort Wayne TinCaps. It was a very nice field and I found it interesting that it was open to the public at all times. After the baseball park, I moved over to the Fort Wayne Museum of Art. Luckily, there happened to be a Picasso exhibit being displayed. Unluckily, photography wasn't allowed in that part of the museum. I found this out after taking a picture and immediately being told not to take pictures in that exhibit.
After the Art Museum, I decided to take off for South Bend. Of course, the only reason I was going to South Bend was to see the Notre Dame campus. It was just as beautiful and amazing as I expected it to be. I walked around the campus for an hour taking pictures and enjoying the architecture. I was able to see the famous Golden Dome, Basilica of the Sacred Heart, and Knute Rockne statue before heading over to O'Rourke's Public House across the street from campus for dinner and some drinks. My first post was written here while eating and enjoying some local beers.
I left South Bend at 7ish not truly knowing where I was headed. I decided to check the TripAdvisor app for some suggestions on campgrounds and headed towards one that I thought would be good. When I got there it was dark and very sketchy looking so I opted against it. I got back on the main road and headed west just thinking I'll pull over and sleep out on a side road if I need to. I saw on my GPS a parking lot that looked out of the way and headed for that. It ended up being a campground in the Indiana Dunes State Park. So this was my first taste at camping out on my trip. Luckily, I was prepared with a lantern and was able to set my tent up without any problems.
My tent was a little shorter than I expected so I had to sleep diagonally in it. I woke up around 9 the next morning and decided to take a walk around the park. The park had a 3 Dune Challenge that was a hike up the 3 highest sand Dunes in Indiana. I knew I was very close to Lake Michigan but didn't realize how close until I got to the top of the second dune. I climbed to the top, looked straight ahead and saw the lake stretched out in front of me. It was only a short walk down the dune on the other side to the shore of the lake. It was so massive that it reminded me of standing on the shore of the ocean at Cape Cod. The only difference was that I could just barely make out the Chicago skyline off to the left. It was amazing seeing the breadth and massiveness of the lake. After completing the 3 Dune Challenge, I made my way back to the nature center to see if there was anything interesting. It was a quaint center with a few fun facts about the lake and the state park.
I left the state park and made my way for Chicago! I was trying not to use the GPS on my phone for data reasons and immediately took the wrong exit once I got into the city. Somehow I ended up close enough to go see U.S. Cellular Field which is the home of the White Sox. I stopped to take a picture and then decided to head uptown to try to find a place to park. I got close enough to Navy Pier that I decided to start looking for parking. Unknown to me at the time, I parked under Millennium Park. The only reason I parked there was because I was already in the lot before I saw the prices which were quite steep. That's when I decided that I would sleep in my car that night.
I got out onto the street and headed to the lake shore. I decided against going across to the shore because the traffic on Lake Shore Dr was very heavy. Instead I took a walk back through Millennium Park. There was quite a lot to do, if you were less than 12 years old. For me it was just a nice walk through a park. At this time, I do have to say a big thank you to the mobile app Pokemon Go. If I hadn't been playing that game, I would have walked right past one of Chicago's most notable landmarks, the Bean. After that, I decided to cross over to the lake shore and take the Lakeshore Trail to Navy Pier. I've been to Navy Pier once before but still felt that it was necessary to go see. I took some more pictures and sat at the end of the pier for a little while enjoying the view.
I then made a horrible decision. Remember, at this point I had already walked probably 4 miles that day. From Navy Pier, I decided to walk up the Lakeshore Trail to Wrigley Field. One way, this is a 4.3 mile walk. It was around 6pm when I left Navy Pier and the GPS said about an hour walk to Wrigley Field. To me that meant I would have an hour in Wrigleyville before the Cubs game started. However, I forgot that the night before I had changed time zones. I was walking towards Wrigley Field and looking at possible bars to watch the game in, when I noticed that the game was already on. Damn time zones!
I took a quick picture at Wrigley Field before going to Rockwood Place to drink and watch the game. Surprisingly, it was fairly empty but the bartender was friendly and let me charge my phone behind the bar. I talked to her a bit and found out that she was moving to Los Angeles in a week or so. She was moving there to pursue her dream of being a script editor. She mentioned that she had worked for a company in New York and had recommended a movie script that was being filmed in Utah and Canada but unfortunately I can't remember the name of the movie.
I also met a nice guy named Dontrelle who I talked to while watching the game. He didn't seem to be a big Cubs fan but he was a pretty cool guy who would cheer when everyone else was (the same as me). After buying him a beer, I left to head back towards my car, which was a long walk away. About 5 minutes after leaving the bar, I realized I made another mistake and didn't use the bathroom before leaving Rockwood Place. I had to make a pitstop. So I walked into a bar called L&L Tavern. I got through the door and immediately realized it was a lesbian bar. So I ordered a beer because I can't use their bathroom without buying a beer. It was a dive bar which is always my favorite type of bar. After using the bathroom and finishing my beer, I left and restarted my trek to my car to sleep in the underground parking lot.
Other than my legs falling asleep a lot, sleeping in my car wasn't too bad. When they woke up, I realized that I walked way too far on Wednesday, with the sand Dunes and up and down Chicago. Instead of doing some more walking around the city, I decided to start driving to Green Bay. It was perfect because the Packers were playing the Bears and I figured there's no better place to watch this game than Green Bay. I took a short drive by Lambeau Field before heading to The Ravine. I got there very early compared to game time. Actually I'm still here since I'm writing this post before the game even starts. If you ever go to Green Bay and you're looking for a relaxed bar with the best wait staff ever, you have to go to The Ravine. Everyone is so friendly and funny. I was able to talk about my experience so far and about my plans for the rest of my trip.
After leaving Buffalo, the spectacular nature of my trip truly began to impress me. I realized that absolute freedom is mine. I'm completely at my own whim, which might not be the best, but it really is the most freeing sensation in the world. I don't have to listen to anyone. I don't have to think about anyone else. I can just be me on the road enjoying everything this life and this country has to offer. I am free. And I love it.
Once again, if you want to follow me on twitter you can find me @nyknicks167. Give me suggestions. Keep in touch. And of course, thank you for reading!

Oct 11-17

Well here's the second attempt at my first post. This blog is about my solo road trip around the US. I was meaning to write a post before taking off but I'm a horrible procrastinator. I've always wanted to travel and decided that if I don't take a trip around the country now then I might never be able. So here's the start of my journey around the country.
I started my trip on Tuesday Oct 11th going from Cohoes, NY to Syracuse. I stayed in Syracuse for a few days with my friend and she planned out a bunch of things to do while I was there. We started Wednesday by going to Green Lakes and taking a walk with her dog and friends around both lakes. I had only been to the park once beforehand so it was nice to explore it more than staying by the beach. It was incredibly busy and we had to make sure her dog behaved while other dogs were around. He's a very well behaved dog compared to many others I've seen.
After a quick lunch in Manlius, we went to see Chittenango Falls and Pratts Falls, two other sights I have never seen despite going to college in Syracuse. Chittenango Falls were really nice though it was still a little crowded. The park at Pratts Falls was completely empty which was nice. The falls were more of a trickle than anything but the scenery was beautiful with the changing leaves. After dropping her dog back at the apartment, we went rock climbing at an indoor gym. It was incredibly fun but I realized quickly that I do not have the strength for rock climbing. It is a great workout and something I would do regularly if I could.
The weather on Thursday wasn't as nice as Wednesday but we still decided to take a hike around Glacier Lake at Clark Reservation State Park with her dog again. This time we let him off his leash and this was really were I saw how well trained he is. No matter how far he was, she would call him and he would turn, run straight back to her, and wait for the next command. The path around the lake was much more like hiking than walking on a path like the others had been on Wednesday. Then we decided to head to try Beak and Skiff for apple picking and cider/wine tasting. After enjoying some drinks and the tiniest cider doughnuts you can imagine, we opted against the actual apple picking and ended the day with grabbing dinner at World of Beer in the Destiny USA Mall.
Before I took off for Buffalo on Friday, we took another hike at Clark Reservation State Park, this time staying on the hill instead of going down to the lake. The drive from Syracuse to Buffalo was boring but the scenery was nice. In Buffalo, I stayed with my friend Stefan. We hung out at his apartment for a little while before going to his regular bar for some food and drinks. It was a cool place and definitely the type of place both of us would be regulars. Then we grabbed some doughnuts at a local shop next door and went to Wegman's. By the way, Wegman's should be everywhere.
Saturday we started a little slow but eventually got off our lazy asses. We went to see Niagara Falls since that was on my Must-See Road Trip list. We stayed on the American side but it was still amazing to see the falls. I would recommend going to the Canadian side if you really want to see them in their glory though. Before leaving, we took a small worn down path which let out right at the river. We were maybe 30 yards from the edge of the falls where this little spot was. You couldn't see much but it was still incredible knowing that the water here was ten seconds from going over. Maybe I'm just a nerd like that.
For dinner, we were trying to decide where to go when I remembered a place that Stefan had mentioned the night before. We went to a place called Pi Craft. Stefan described it as the Chipotle of pizza places which is a pretty accurate description. They knead the dough in front of you and add all the toppings before putting it in a rotating oven. It was a absolutely delicious. Sunday was a day of relaxing with video games and watching the Cowboys beat the Packers. I also got a phone call from my friend Bill who was asking for an update about my road trip for the podcast I used to be on with him. If you're interested in hearing that conversation, you should download the Nation of Conversation podcast and listen to it. It's a fun podcast about wrestling mostly but we got into some other things too. You can also follow the podcast on twitter @NationPod.
I left Monday around noon and headed to Fort Wayne, Indiana. The reason I mentioned that this was the second attempt at my first post was because Monday night I took an hour or so writing all of this out, just to have the app crash from the bad Internet connection from the shit hole motel. So that's how the first week of my trip went. Started a little slow in terms of distance covered but it was well worth it. I'm not sure what I'm doing really and the only goal I have right now is to be in Minneapolis for a soccer game on Sunday Oct 23rd. Hopefully I'll figure out how to post pictures on here too. I'm on twitter @nyknicks167 if you want even more of me or have suggestions on places I must see on my trip. Also I started rereading this to edit it but laziness took over and stopped. Anyways thanks for reading!