Blogs from United States, North America - page 5517

"Come, my Unatapees!" Barking ensues. "Come, babies. Puna, come. Beta." The barking turned into growling. "Puna, beta! Beta, Puna!" And yapping. "Puna, get your ass back here!" That meant it was about 7:15 a.m. I had set my alarm for earlier and had ignored with the same goal-driven decisiveness. This was Waimea Canyon morning. This is the day I intend to find and trip on mushrooms. Not attempt-- I intend today. Already, we wake up in unchartered terminology. Searched for water in the tent and then immediately back to the air mattress. I was glad we hadn't left for Waimea now, although later we would have to consider daylight, so later would suck more than waking early did. And I could live with that now. "Puna, beta! You're a fucking dumbass. Why you have to ... read more

After another awful drive day, this time with a screaming Amish baby on the bus (maybe he was crying because his parents don't have a TV) and lack of food until a very dubious chicken sandwich at motorway services, I arrived at my friend Dan's at about 9, just in time to go out drinking and get more drunk than I should have on not that many beers. The next morning we took a walk down to Lake Michigan, where the temperature seemed to drop about 10 degrees, so needless to say we didn't hang around long. Dan then had to go to work so I got the subway downtown and went to the Chicago Art Institute. Annoyingly, the section on European Art from 1400 to 1800 was closed which left just the impressionist section open, ... read more

We rode our convertible car through the desert with the top down and froze our butts off. But it was worth it - the red desert was amazing. I loved the petroglyphs the best!... read more

Posted by: Onaxthiel: The night was a bit long for me, with neck pain waking me up for about three hours in the middle of the night. The night was much warmer than our last outdoor stay in the Great Smokies. The temperature barely dropped below freezing, and given that we were car camping this time rather than backpacking, both of us were bundled up quite warmly. In the distance a set of dogs had an ongoing howling contest for most of the night, finally ended by what I think was a bobcat or panther screeching them into silence. Or eating them. I'm not sure which. Eventually, I took some muscle relaxants and went to sleep until a bit after dawn. The morning arrived with a heavy fog in the valley in front of us, and ... read more

Last night was warm and balmy and very pleasant as we headed out for supper (steak for Andy and salmon for me served with dirty rice and mixed squashes and sautéed vegetables) the food tasted good but we did have to wait a while. We decided to plump for cocktails this evening - Andy choosing a spicy Louisiana bloody Mary (a rainforest in a glass as described by our server) and a pink lemonade for me… yes it was made with vodka before you ask! Of course we ended up in the Kerry where tonight’s music was supplied by a bluesy sounding James Blunt called Chip Wilson. He was an absolutely brilliant guitarist. We also met Stephen Clarkson - the in-house Irish musician; strange chap, from Galway but spoke with an American Irish lilt. He also ... read more