Puff Puff Pass...Amsterdam is painful

Oh wow. Well, hmmm. Zach and I had fun in Amsterdam. We certainly did our fair share of walking-it just seemed simpler that way. Luckily our hotel was a 10 minute walk from the train station, and 4 blocks to the Red Light District and Dam Square. We basically walked Amsterdam as south as the Flower Market, to the west side near the Anne Frank Haus, and east to the Red Light District.

Well, we did a small amount of tourist stuff and a huge amount of going to "coffee shops". The second day we went to the Anne Frank house, which was very sad--so a coffee shop visit was necessary after that. The third day we were in Amsterdam, we went on a canal tour...of which I remember very little. Must have not been that fun.

I took so many pictures in Amsterdam. It really is a beautiful a city, the best tourist attraction here is just to smoke a little bit then explore on foot. There's so many little alleyways and narrow streets waiting to be discovered. Unfortunately, Amsterdam is very dirty, literally and figuratively-the streets seemed to be filled with trash after the weekend. Also, walking around in dangerous if you don't watch where you're going there's people on bicycles and motorbikes whizzing around everywhere. There was actually one point where Zach and I were accidentally walked along the bike path instead of the walking path whilst crossing a busy road-very bad idea! FYI there's 2+ car lanes, 2+ tram lanes, 2+ bike lanes to cross on foot when crossing a road--and nobody wears a helmet-there must be some spectacular wrecks there. The Dutch are fucking crazy.

The Red Light District was interesting...we didn't do much there besides visit some coffee shops as they are most plentiful there. We were going to try and go to a sex show, but we chickened out both times out of fear of nasty performers. Thankfully there was coffee shops pretty much everywhere in the city-except for the more residential area (anne frank house region). Our favorite was actually about 20 steps from our hotel. Coffee shops seem to range from VERY dive like to almost small club like atmosphere, complete with trance/techno crap music--Zach was happy.

Well we arrived in Bruges, Belgium with hurting lungs and a desire for calm.

Bratwurst Will Never Be The Same...

Well, I've officially had my fair share of sausage here. Apparently Nuremberg is one of the capitols of Bratwurst--here they are small little ~4 inch sausages served in 3,6,8,10, or 12. That's pretty much all we ate here, we had Schnitzel once though, also delicious--food porn to follow in pictures. We actually ate at the oldest Bratwurst place in town, which starting making the tasty little sausages in 1419.

Yesterday we walked all around old Nuremberg (within the old city walls) touring be ourselves. We saw a few churches, St. Lawrence being the oldest with construction starting 1250. Basically we just hung out and looked around whilst drinking at a few Biergärtens. It was pretty incredible walking around a city where medieval buildings were still intact. Oh, Zach and I also took a tour of the Nuremberg Dungeons used back then-although the tour was only in German, so we didn't understand a fucking thing. But it was creepy all the same--video of me being stupid to follow.

Today we took an English speaking tour of the entire old town, including the Imperial Castle, where the views of old town were amazing. Other than that, we just kinda Biergärten hopped our way along--drinking 1/2 Liters of delicious Weizen beer.

Zach and I were able to learn a little German which was fun, although most people knew enough English to understand us if we spoke slowly. In all, German people rock and were really friendly and welcoming. Unfortunately, we learned the sad part about Nuremberg. The tour guide said the 80-90% of the city was destroyed in WWII, but luckily some of their old medieval structures and works of art remained in tact.

That’s all for Germany—we’re off to Amsterdam in the morning for 5 days of debauchery and fun!

22 hours...3 planes, 3 trains, and 1 bus

Wow, it took a long ass time to get here, but Zach and I are finally in Europe! We were worried for a while with all that volcano ash nonsense, but luckily that shit cleared. Unfortunately, the plane ride was 9 hours as they had to divert around the ash cloud.

Once we arrived, it was pretty easy to figure out the local public transportation to get to our hotel. Exhausted from being up for 22 hours, we took a 2 hour nap (any longer could have messed up our sleep schedule)--then headed to the local Biergarten. We attempted some very bad German whilst enjoying 1/2 liters of Hefeweizen and locally made Bratwurst.

Today we went to InterZoo (pet trade show), the whole reason we were able to come to Europe. We spent the day visiting current important vendors just to say hello, and they were very surprised we came all the way from little 'ol North Carolina. Thus, we made some relationships a little stronger today methinks. Anyways, that's the boring part of the trip-work-but we decided one day at the show was sufficient--hey, we showed up, now we can expense the flights! Oh and by the way, all the big booths at the show had bars and were serving beers at 10am!

Zach and I headed to the same Biergarten from last night as we were tired and wanted to get something good to eat early so we could start tomorrow early. Low and behold, the same dudes were drinking there from yesterday--as well as some loud drink young Germans enjoying a football (soccer) game. The best part was a old man of about 80 that was also there yesterday, who when he leaves the place, rides his electric scooter straight up the middle of the road, thus slowing traffic to make way for him-and he smuggles his own booze to enjoy along with his beers. Zach and I dubbed him as our hero for the day--I wish I had the camera ready for a picture, but I missed my chance, oh well.

Well, nothing too exciting yet as we just go here and spend the first day at the trade show. But tomorrow we shall be exploring Nuremberg and all that it has to offer. Here's a couple of pictures that we've taken so far--just Zach and I enjoying our first beers in Germany.

Auf Wiedersehen!




oh you can see the old dudes wheel chair in the above pic...nice

South Dakota--Gunslingers and "bad land"

The wind finally died down enough for us to make it to South Dakota. The first thing we did was head to Crazy Horse Memorial, which was by far more impressive then Mount Rushmore which we saw real quick afterward. The actual memorial isn't anywhere near completed yet, but is still a work in progress. The original sculptor has passed away, but luckily 7 out of 10 of his children and his wife have continued his dream.

Mt Rushmore was mush smaller in scale then Crazy Horse. We payed our $10 for parking, and walked up to take a picture, and that's about it. It was very unimpressive compared to Crazy Horse.

After Mt. Rushmore, we finally headed to Deadwood. We stayed at a campground right in town, so we could walk to town. The town of Deadwood (in case you haven't seen the show--which was awesome--to bad they cancelled it), was a wild west town founded by folks looking to make their fortune in panning for gold. The famed "Wild Bill" Hickock and Calamity Jane where infamous inhabitants. We got to see the bar where Wild Bill was assassinated, and their museum in town was interesting. Today Deadwood is like a minature old west Vegas. Casinos line the main street amoung the saloons and hotels. We hiked up to the cemetary where Wild Bill, Calamity Jane, and the sherriff Seth Bullock were buried. That was definitely a bit eery as it was cloudy and it even started hailing on us. So we took off after a nice lunch in town to head towards the Badlands.

A trip to the badlands would not be complete without a stop at Wall Drug, which was as silly as I thought it would be. There were many "Jackalope" souviners amoung other sily South Dakota trinkets.

We arrived at the Badlands late, so we set up camp and hiked them the next morning on the way out of town. One of the trails went up a steep formation and we had to use a ladder to make it to the top, where the view was amazing! After a good hike, we were on the road again to head towards Wisconsin to see my friend Allison...

A little bit of Colorado, and old friend, and some fierce wind

After Moab, Utah, we decided to head up to Steamboat Springs, Colorado--where an old friend of mine lives. I haven't seen her in at least a decade (wow, feeling older) and it was kinda on the way. Amy recommended a great campground in Stagecoach State Park around the corner from where she lives. So Zach and I got a great site right on the lake. After work, she come to hang out with us by the campfire--it was great catching up!

The next day we all went on a mountain bike ride along the lake before we took off, which was beautiful. We planned on hauling ass up Wyoming to Deadwood, SD, but unfortunately, the wind decided to gust up to 60 mph! The RV does NOT like this, nor did we and we had to stop tonight...only 60 miles shy of Deadwood. It took us 4.5 hours to go 150 miles, as we can only do about 40 in this kind of wind--otherwise the RV gets flung to the side.

Oh well, Deadwood, SD, mt rushmore, and crazy horse tomorrow!

Moab, Utah...

Wow, where to begin. I would've posted earlier, but our Internet wasn't working so great in Moab. Moab is exactly what I wanted to experience in terms of desert landscape. The red rock and arched were amazing! Saturday we went to Arches National Park to see the arches and do some hiking. The hike up to Delicate Arch was beautiful and well worth the steep climb up a rock face.

Moab is famous for off-roading and mountain biking. We camped in the Sand Flats which had incredible panoramic views all around--it was by far the most beautiful campsite yet! On Sunday, we decided to do what seemed very popular in this area--off-roading! We rented a beefed up Jeep Wrangler and tore ass on Potash trail, but we didn't realize that we would have to literally drive up a canyon on a small winding road--that was a terrifying 30 minutes for me. But the view once we reached the top of Canyonland Park was worth it!

We planned on hitting the famed SlickRock Mountain biking trail afterwards, but we didn't even make it to the practice loop after realizing that this trail was for hard core mountain bikers. Both Zach and I are a bit clumsy and did not feel like falling and sliding down 50 ft. of rock...ouch. So we thought it best to go back to the campsite and exercise our left and right arms...drinking beers.

I hope you enjoyed all the pictures, we couldn't take enough at this beautiful place.

Not Just Potatoes...

We came into Idaho expecting to pass through the en route to Yellowstone with out much event, but we did plan on visiting Craters of the Moon National Monument. Craters of the Moon is a giant lava field that tends to erupt every 2,000-4,000 years. It was fun to hike around the trails and all, but there were gusting cold winds. After climbing a large "cinder cone" where we were nearly blown off and exploring some caves we were ready to head off.

I had seen an add somewhere (where, I can't recall...) about Lava Hot Springs, Idaho. A small town of 5,000 in southeast Idaho--apparently they're famous for naturally occurring hot mineral water springs. The town runs hot mineral springs pools...for $6 a person.

Zach and I started our night at a place called the Blue Moon Bar and Grill. Having a burger and a few beers here gave us a glimpse of the real Idaho locals. Good beer on tap (Oregon is still close..) and cheap eats and live music, usually on the weekends. We happened there on a Thursday, where people from all over town come in to drink and jam together. They gather together in on half of the bar and pass instruments around and play/sing a variety of music--from country, old timey bluegrass to classic rock. We decided to come back after hitting the natural baths in town.

Unfortunately, we also learned that we had to change our plans for our trip. Originally we planned to head to Yellowstone National Park the next day, but the forcast was not in our favor. With daytime temperatures only in the high 30's and lows in the teens, the roads would not be good for the RV. So we must return someday in the summer to get milder weather...

so we deciding to go back to the desert! We're heading to the Moab, Utah to go to Arches National Park...and whatever else we can come up with before heading back northeast!