So now that I am back home, time to write a bit about the south island. When I left off, we were on the ferry from the North Island to the South Island. Once driving off of the ferry, it was time to point the trusty Britz on to the Marburg wine areas. Stopped in at Nautilus winery and got some killer Pecorino sheep cheese and a bottle of Chardonnay that miraculously made it back home with me. NZ is home to some of the curviest narrowest highways I have seen. Something may look close on the map, but there could [View Full Entry]

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Arriving in Auckland at 5:30 am after losing a day over the International Dateline (yes - Ladytron’s International Dateline was the theme song for the flight) means waiting until 8:00am to go pick up the campervan. This is my third time to NZ and a couple times in England means I have been exposed to driving on the left hand side of the road. Everything is reversed, except for the clutch, brake and gas - so it has taken some time to not turn on the windshield wipers when I want to signal. Straight into central Auckland on the NZ’s busiest [View Full Entry]

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I found myself in Telluride for the weekend, doing some 'research'. Telluride is one of my favorite places of all times. Since most of my time has been spent during the winter - late spring was a new experience. After 9hours of driving there was no more room at the town camping ground, so up Alta Lakes to over 10,000 feet for some national forest camping up past some old mining ghost town. Random scurring animals and what was thought to be a bear trying to get into the car were heard - after investigating nothing was seen. Saturday and part [View Full Entry]

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From Seattle to Phoenix to Madison this week. Training this coming week in Chicago area, meant time to fly into Madison - visit Zoe and friends - plus be a bit of a tourist in where I once called home. I arrived in to MSN late, and after upgrading to a Subaru Outback rental car - another driver decided to test the side air bags and see if Subaru's safety claims were true at my disposal. The other driver ran a red light and t-boned me as I was turning left. I am sure her night went worse than mine after [View Full Entry]

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Rental car = exlpore time. Viva International District! Also known as chinatown - but there are so many other asian cultures represented cant be Chinatown Wikipedia has a great description/history of the International District. http://wikitravel.org/en/Seattle/International_District Lots of history in seattle with a clash of all cultures here. Based on current events seemed like a good place to visit. Perfect place for me to go get lost. I like to travel by getting lost and seeing what I can find. Each block seems to be it's own culture from Asia. Vietmanese, China and Japan (by way of huge shopping center) are the [View Full Entry]

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Belltown. Plans were for Emmets Oyester, but as with everything in Pike market area they closed at 7. So went by Zoe Cafe in tribute of the greatest dog and I would of taken Zoe, but it was too highclass for just me. Ahh yes I might as well get lost and wander..I spot The WHiskey Bar. Collection of messengers, punk music spinning by Thrasher Hat DJ, tattoo women (and men), soccer on the tv, art on the wall and $1 PBR's. I felt right at home. Check it out. Off to Pike Brewing for some oyster shooters (i have had [View Full Entry]

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I have been impressed at how seattle has so many neighborhoods. My temporary home is the u-district. This week I have been through belltown, queen anne, fremont, ballard and capital hill. If it was not for the geography you would not know one neighborhood from another. They each have their own central area so its like many 'downtowns' in one area. So far fremont and capital hill are my 2 fav neighborhoods. LadyTron sold out Neumos - and Neumos was the perfect spot to see them. Presets Opened. 2 guys, drums 2 korgs and an ipod can crank out a lot. [View Full Entry]

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This week is concert week for me. I was suppose to go to Coachella, but alas with my current work travel schedule and lack of time with the doglets in AZ - i will see most of the bands I want to see in Seattle. Tonight i met Bruce at Matt's in the Pike St market area. This little place has had rave reviews, small menu and reservations are a must. After the black cod special, we were off. Well ok a Bombay Saphire and Tonic pit stop and we were off to the Paramount. Paramount Seattle is an old theater, [View Full Entry]

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Its a late dinner tonight. Wandering past the Neptune where i have taken in a couple of good movies, i noticed that Celestine Prophecy movie was on this week, I thought to myself oh man i need to eat and go cath the 9:40 showing since I will be at 2 concerts this week. Its only playing for 1 week. Well I go to Ruby, a bar/eatery with ecclectic unmatched furniture to match the the food. I just had a cliantro pesto eggplan sandwich that rocked! I open the computer to do some work, and low and behold - there is [View Full Entry]

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It has been a while, and a number of corners of Seattle have been explored. I sit here sipping a Vallerosa white at the Hotel's Wine tasting. Free wine tastings when I hit the streets traveling for pleasure wont be in abundance. In the past month since my updated, I have been to Safeco Field - scored free baseball tickets with Jay. Second game of the season, cool field. Garlic Fries were awesome there! Did the Pike Street Market area with Bruce/Elizabeth - we hit up Brooklyns which has a oyster paired with different voodka topped with caviar sampler. Exquisite! We [View Full Entry]

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