Roadtrips!!
Alright, it's been a while since I've come to this site and since I just got back from vacation I figure that now is the best time to scribble out a post. Probably the best, well balanced, trouble free vacation that I've ever been on. Before we left I had many conversations that went along the lines of... "Where are ya going??"...."Niagara Falls.".... "When's your flight?"....."Oh we're not flying, we're driving."...."WHAT?! Are you crazy?! That will take forever" .... .... "Exactly."
The best part of these trips is the drive there, nothing but time to think and take in a place that you've never been through before. We went in my Mustang, and thanks to the nice weather, the top stayed down a good portion of the drive. At one point we were passing through Georgia at night, there were no cities around to give off light pollution and I swear that you could see every star in the sky. A sight that I don't get to see in Palm Bay. It's great when you go on a roadtrip, you feel this imaginary strap pulling taught on you the further you get away from home. And at one point you feel it snap off and give way and all the worries and thoughts about your day to day just vanish. Mine snapped off when I was staring at that starry sky in Georgia.
Our first stop was in Baltimore, to go to the Virgin Music Fest. We stayed at Jessicas friends house, Samantha and Julie's. Most festivals that I've been to tend to get tiring from the waiting and the heat. But here it was 70 degrees and overcast, but never rained and there were 3 stages and plenty else to do. Saw some bands that I've never seen before, WolfMother was really good and there were a few others that caught my interest. The Killers were spot on and sounded great. It was awesome to see them with Jessica, being that they are sort of "Our Band". Oh and before I forget we got see Skeletor sing on the Freak stage, he sang a lovely ditty about how he was going to kill us all. Back to the music... after The Killers, The Who was next, I've never had so much anticipation before a band came on before. We squeezed our way in as close as we could, and then there they came out, Pete followed by Roger and I freaked out. Here I was, feet away from these two guys, they have been playing for more that 40 years, they played at Woodstock for Christ sake, not to sound corny but I truly felt that I was in the presence of Rock Gods. They played a great set, to name a few... Substitute, Won't get fooled again, Baba O' Riley, Behind Blue Eyes, Who are you, Pinball Wizard, and they ended with See me, Feel Me. I was really hoping to get to see Love Reign O'er Me, but unfortunately didn't get to, but I still could not be happier. Roger was swinging around his mic like he does and Pete was jumping and windmilling his arms around on his guitar. It was really great to see such legends play, I never thought that that I would get that chance. Next was the Chili Peppers, and while I did like the Peppers around the time of Mothers Milk and Blood Sugar Sex Magic, I really didn't have the urge to watch them play, also I was a little upset that they gave the Peppers the final act slot over the Who, so we left, keeping the Who as the last memory of the show.
The next day was driving through Penn and NY. The leaves were changing color and the mountains were beautiful. We got to the falls after dark so we decided to wait until the next day to see them. And it was worth the wait. I can't describe it in words on how amazing and breathtaking a sight it was, so I'm not even going to try. We did the Journey behind the falls thing, which takes you to the base and through a tunnel dug behind the falls. Feeling the power and being so close to something that had been here for ages and will continue to be be long after I'm gone is, once again, indescribable. We took it easy that day, had a little sushi picnic on a small hill overlooking the falls, it was a good day. That night we went to the tourist area and blew some money doing the cheesy things (wax museums, ferris wheels, black light golf, etc) I tried to get Jessica to come with me to a haunted house, but she wasn't having the scariness, it was fun watching her squirm anyway.
The next day we headed to check out Toronto. We went up in the CN Tower. One thing that stuck out to me about the was that in the tower they have a glass floor that you can walk on, it's a bit disconcerting at first but you get used to it. There was a little girl around 18 months looking up at everybody and then she glanced down to realize that she was standing on thin air and freaked out tumbling backwards only to find she had tumbled right on to more thin air and freaked out all over again. It was cute watching her figure it out.
Our last day we spent back at the falls. We did a walk down by the rapids and spent hours just staring at the river. Then we headed north and found a path down to the Whirlpool. It was a steep hike down, but well worth it. The Whirlpool was huge, it churned clockwise and had a beach full of polished stones. That night we blew 200 bucks at the Casino, which disappointed me to say the least. It was a study watching all of the people in the Casino, I'll write more on that in another entry.
It took about 2 days to drive home, while it's good to be back... I can't wait to leave again.
The best part of these trips is the drive there, nothing but time to think and take in a place that you've never been through before. We went in my Mustang, and thanks to the nice weather, the top stayed down a good portion of the drive. At one point we were passing through Georgia at night, there were no cities around to give off light pollution and I swear that you could see every star in the sky. A sight that I don't get to see in Palm Bay. It's great when you go on a roadtrip, you feel this imaginary strap pulling taught on you the further you get away from home. And at one point you feel it snap off and give way and all the worries and thoughts about your day to day just vanish. Mine snapped off when I was staring at that starry sky in Georgia.
Our first stop was in Baltimore, to go to the Virgin Music Fest. We stayed at Jessicas friends house, Samantha and Julie's. Most festivals that I've been to tend to get tiring from the waiting and the heat. But here it was 70 degrees and overcast, but never rained and there were 3 stages and plenty else to do. Saw some bands that I've never seen before, WolfMother was really good and there were a few others that caught my interest. The Killers were spot on and sounded great. It was awesome to see them with Jessica, being that they are sort of "Our Band". Oh and before I forget we got see Skeletor sing on the Freak stage, he sang a lovely ditty about how he was going to kill us all. Back to the music... after The Killers, The Who was next, I've never had so much anticipation before a band came on before. We squeezed our way in as close as we could, and then there they came out, Pete followed by Roger and I freaked out. Here I was, feet away from these two guys, they have been playing for more that 40 years, they played at Woodstock for Christ sake, not to sound corny but I truly felt that I was in the presence of Rock Gods. They played a great set, to name a few... Substitute, Won't get fooled again, Baba O' Riley, Behind Blue Eyes, Who are you, Pinball Wizard, and they ended with See me, Feel Me. I was really hoping to get to see Love Reign O'er Me, but unfortunately didn't get to, but I still could not be happier. Roger was swinging around his mic like he does and Pete was jumping and windmilling his arms around on his guitar. It was really great to see such legends play, I never thought that that I would get that chance. Next was the Chili Peppers, and while I did like the Peppers around the time of Mothers Milk and Blood Sugar Sex Magic, I really didn't have the urge to watch them play, also I was a little upset that they gave the Peppers the final act slot over the Who, so we left, keeping the Who as the last memory of the show.
The next day was driving through Penn and NY. The leaves were changing color and the mountains were beautiful. We got to the falls after dark so we decided to wait until the next day to see them. And it was worth the wait. I can't describe it in words on how amazing and breathtaking a sight it was, so I'm not even going to try. We did the Journey behind the falls thing, which takes you to the base and through a tunnel dug behind the falls. Feeling the power and being so close to something that had been here for ages and will continue to be be long after I'm gone is, once again, indescribable. We took it easy that day, had a little sushi picnic on a small hill overlooking the falls, it was a good day. That night we went to the tourist area and blew some money doing the cheesy things (wax museums, ferris wheels, black light golf, etc) I tried to get Jessica to come with me to a haunted house, but she wasn't having the scariness, it was fun watching her squirm anyway.
The next day we headed to check out Toronto. We went up in the CN Tower. One thing that stuck out to me about the was that in the tower they have a glass floor that you can walk on, it's a bit disconcerting at first but you get used to it. There was a little girl around 18 months looking up at everybody and then she glanced down to realize that she was standing on thin air and freaked out tumbling backwards only to find she had tumbled right on to more thin air and freaked out all over again. It was cute watching her figure it out.
Our last day we spent back at the falls. We did a walk down by the rapids and spent hours just staring at the river. Then we headed north and found a path down to the Whirlpool. It was a steep hike down, but well worth it. The Whirlpool was huge, it churned clockwise and had a beach full of polished stones. That night we blew 200 bucks at the Casino, which disappointed me to say the least. It was a study watching all of the people in the Casino, I'll write more on that in another entry.
It took about 2 days to drive home, while it's good to be back... I can't wait to leave again.