The Day we were had, Part 2

So we decided that Sweden would join us and sit in the middle seat of the worst car known to man.
Our destination, Portland Oregon. Our knowledge of Portland Oregon, minimal. Our mistake, large.
It took us about 5 or 6 hours drive from the magnificent San Francisco and we drove into Oregon refreshed as the scenery of said state was quite stunning. We passed through a whole bunch of mountainous areas covered with trees and moss carved through by large lakes an long rivers. This marvelous scenery gave us false hope about Portland. While the layout and look of the city were fairly nice, the people and the place were rather bland. Not particularly bad, just forgettable. We picked up a 5 person room which had a bunk with a double bed underneath it, which Chris and Rhys shared in order to make sweet, sweet love. I'm pretty surre I heard them deep in the night. I was particularly chuffed with the top bunk as it allowed me to create a tent like situation by using the pipes above me and a large blanket we found in the closet. That night MJ stayed in due to his sickness and Sweden, Chris, Rhts and I braved the cold to go to the pub. The food was ok, but again, forgettable. We wandered for a while then gave up and returned to sleep. Chris and I got bagels to use the vegimite with that we'd bought in San Francisco at the Australian Store. It was awesome and made me a little homesick. I'm craving a Cherry Ripe so badly. On our way out of Oregon we stopped at Powell's books which was literally as big as a city book. The place was divided into 8-9 sections ranging from comuics to romance to biographies, anything. I picked up 4 mangas and had to resist getting more cause my wallet was not safe. We then took a drive up a faily steep hill to visit the japanese garden which was, according to the japanese ambassador the 'Most authentic garden outside of Japan''. I'd recommend it to anyone who appreciates that kind of thing, it was amazingly peaceful. The drive from Portland to Seattle was covered with heavy rain. So heavy that Chris considered pulling over at one point. We drove past Mt St Helen, the active volcano which exploded in 1980 killing 50+ people and generally screwing shit up. We wanted to see it but the rain would have made a satisfying viewing nearly impossible. Seattle was very cold, to the point that we were afraid that MJ was going to keel over and die. The best thing was that our beds were already caves and double, some of the best sleeps on the trip. We tried to do as much as we could in the short time we were there so we zipped down the markets and I picked up some goodies from the various gift shops and the well stockef comic shop. We got coffee from the worlds first Starbucks which still sported the original brown mermaid logo. It was good that they'd pretty much kept it in it's original look with creaky wooden floors and old style menus. That night we went and had Terminator Stout at a pub up the road then went to play pool and go bowling.. After I schooled the boys at pool I realised they had cider and needless to say I was a little too drunk to bowl properly. We didn't do much the next day apart from going up the Seattle Space Needle. The view was amazing from all the way up there but freaking freezing and you could only stay outside for so long before getting too cold. I also tried 'space chocolate' from the gift shop and realised I should't have done so. I'll leave you all there dear readers. Give my love to all the d-bags who don't read my blog and give youselves hugs from me. Happy Travels, Reece

The day I left my heart in San Francisco

Do yourself a favour, visit San Francisco.
What an amazing city.
We pulled in from the lovely Bakersfield around 3ish and pulled into our Hostel to realise that we were staying at 'The best party hostel in America', The international hostel. Turns out that this place, which houses over 800 guests serves free beer after 9 and has a nightclub with beer pong and poker beneath it. And that's in the slow season!
The first night we decided to get dinner and see what this party was like. The club itself was fairly small but it was a nice and intimate. Also we found out that not only is proper beer pong really fun, but Rhys, George, MJ and Chris are quite good at it winning all three games that night and securing ultimate victory for Australia.
We also met a fine gentleman named Daniel Andersson who is from Sweden, which we have made his nick name. He essentially partied with us every night proving quite the formidable beer pong player as well.
The next day we took the 'Historic F Tram' all the way down to the piers and went shopping on Pier 39. I bought the X-Men beanie you may have seen in a few pictures and we stumbled our way through a rather confusing mirror maze which was a first time experience for me.
After a terrible meal at the Hard Rock Cafe, we strolled down to pier 31 and caught our cruise boat.to the infamous 'Alcatraz' island. I didn't know what to expect on The Rock since I've heard a lot of different reviews about it in my time. A lot of people have said to me that it's just a big old building but seeing it first hand was a log better. After the fairlt taxing hike up to the main cell block we strapped on our headphones and began the audio tour which was primarily narrated by ex-prisoners and guards who served on the rock when it was operational. The tour taught us about living conditions which were scarce but seemed like they were looked after if they behaved, most rooms were single dwelling and had a small seat, toilet and fold down bed. A lot of the cells were allowed to add their own things to them to create a home as a lot of them thought they would die there. The solitary confinement block waz fairly intimidating, the rooms were a little more spacious than the normal ones but they literally had a small drain in the middle and a door. One of the prisoners said: 'I used to pull a button off of my shirt and throw.it up in the air, spin around, bend down and try to find it, then do it again.'. I'm not sure if that would help stave off insanity or help it along. As we walked around we learned about a foiled escape attempt when a prisoner and a group of his cronies used a home made bar seperator to break into the gun gallery (The walkway equivalent you see in modern prisons). They locked the guards all up in some cells but one guard hid the key that would let then outside. This guy was the one dude who was killed before the other guards raised the alarm and made the escapees yodel. I like heroes. That guy was definitely a hero.
The walk down was a little easier and we caught one of the last boats back to the pier at around 5. That night we wandered up toward chinatown and saw the Dragon's Gate (Wu Zi Mu!) and I finally got to have some Japanese food at a cool place called Sushi Rock. This was the first time we experienced San Franciscos hillyness, but it would not be the last...
That night I relaxed while the fellas tried and failed to uphold our title of Beer Pong champions and then got amazingly drunk.
The next day after a hangover killing breakfast for those afflicted we took the long, steep walk up to Coit Tower. Why I thought it wouldn't be too taxing is beyond me. All I know is that by the time I got to the foot of the tower I'd already lost 5-10 kilos and was looking down the barrell of way more stairs. We eventually got to the top of the tower and the view up there was great, offering a 360 view of the beautiful city.
Chris and Rhys gave up after the tower and returned to the hostel to take a nappy-nap while George, MJ and I carrief on toward 'Ghiradelli Square',an allegedly famous chocolate production factory and collection of retaurants, all chocolate-centric of course. We all bought blocks of chocolate to couter-act the exercise we'd just inflicted on ourselves. George got Dark Chocolate + Raspberry, MJ got White Vanilla and I picked up my personal all time favourite; Dark Chocolate Orange. Om nom nom. It was delicious and we also had some hot fudge sundaes before we moved on.
We stumbled along down to the shopping district by accident where we found a bunch of half naked women modelling infront of a nice car while a bunch of photographers took photos of them. George and I are also photographers.
Nearly missing it, we turned back to visit the Ripley's Believe It or Not Odditorium which was one of things I really wanted to visit and experience. I won't go into detail but some of the exhibits in there are very weird. I believed them, but they were weird. Ripley's also had a mirror maze which had a layered level of difficulty; they gave us weird, psychadellic glasses which made all the lights in the maze flip out and shine in your eyes all crazy. It was a little harder than the other one.
The wharf also yielded a 'Vintage Arcade' which was full of old pre-80s, fully functional arcade machines ranging from fortune tellers to bowling games. As a user of modern machines it was great to learn the history of the industry I love so much.
We eventually caught the F tram back to the hostel.and after a quick detour to a comic shop we went to beer pong party and then went off to bed eventually.
We took a trip up to the Muir Woods the next day in the afternoon and got to spend a little time walking among the gigantic redwoods and looking for 4 leaf clovers in the green sea of them. One thing that really struck me, besides the height of the redwoods, was how different the colours of the flora were from the ones back home. Evergreen takes on a while new meaning when you see the bright colours on some of the trees. Fungi in abundance as well as miles and miles of moss covering almost everything! I wish we coukd have stayed for a little bit longer to soak it all in but alas, we had other things to attend to, like accidently leaving George behind.
George and Chris went to see Chuck Ragan and the revival tour while Rhys and I went to plag beer pong. Sweden and I formed 'Team Ultimate Victory' and made Rhys' team yodel a few times. Not long after we went and danced for a while and played limbo, allowing me to show off my secret skill and win. Now, I know what you're thinking, 'Reece, you couldn't limbo for shit'. If that's you, bring it. Also turns out a 12 pack of Budweiser is a little over 13 dollars over here, it's pretty easy to get drunk in America.

The next day began rather fruitlessly so George and I split off from the group and took the 'Zero Emissions' bus to Golden Gate park which was very nice. We'd managed to get out there on Earth Day so the hippies were out in force dancing and playing haki-sack. There were a bunch of people having an outdoor roller disco as well, which George and I found rather entertaining. The science museum beckoned and we entered about an hour and a half before closing. The planetarium was impressive and we watched a short film called 'Fragile Planet' which was narrated by Sigourney Weaver.
We also had access to an indoor rainforest which let us find out that George was terribly afraid of spiders, especially the Orb Weaver which, if you google it, is quite creepy. Especially at close range.

All in all, San Fransisco was easily the best city I have visited so far.
All my love.
Let me know you're reading and happy travels,
Reece

The day I was days late with blogs

Hello world!
How ya'll doin?
Well it's been an interesting few days since we left Vegas. The drive was not as painful as I had anticipated, Rhys was nice enough to let the fatman sit in the front and this let me relax a little more. Plus I'm sure the back seat had a lot more room thanks to my absence.
For those new to the blog George has joined us for a while through Vegas and San Francisco. It's good to have him along for our adventure. Poor guy had to have the middle seat all the time since he's the slimmest.
All if our luggage ended up covering the drivers view out the back window which I'm sure is quite dangerous. We tried our best to get a view out there but despite our efforts we gave up and decided to rely on wing mirrors. We didn't crash at all. That was good.

On our way to Bakersfield, where we were planning on spending the night to break up the 8 hour drive, we saw some interesting things;
A town called Yermo which was primarily burnt down. There were at least 5 burnt out gas stations which led us to believe that the townspeople got mad, set things on fire and realize how silly it was in the morning, later deciding to build the new one next to it, promptly setting it on fire a few weeks after its completion.
We also visited a 'Ghost Town' called Calico. It was an old mining town which had over 1500 people at it's peak and then ended up having like 8. Turns out ghost town doesn't mean ghosts.
We made our camp in a town called Bakersfield (Where the band Korn come from for those playing at home) and slept at the Motel 6 there. We slotted in a game of mini golf and I made everyone yodel. We them decided it was a good idea to walk half an hour to the cinema to see 'Cabin in the woods' which was really impressive, as to be expected from Joss Whedon. We then realized that Bakersfield has quite a high murder rate. Them walked home.
We're smart.
The drive from Bakersfield to San Francisco was fairly uneventful except that we had American KFC. It was pretty much the same.
I'll try and do a San Francisco blog when we're driving.

Happy Travels,
Reece

The day we Viva Las Vegas'd

Wow, what a place this town is!
I'll admit that I was a little apprehensive at the the thought of Las Vegas initially since I rarely gamble (Predisposition to addictive behaviour makes it too dangerous to do it) and as much as I can slam them down I'm not the kind of person who'll go hard on the sauce night after night.
To my surprise there is a lot more than just drinking and gambling to do here and we've been busily adventuring for the past few days wandering up and down Las Vegas Blvd which is amazingly long by the way!
We managed to get rooms in the Bellagio which made us feel rather classy and we would have held that level of smugness if we hadn't visited the Wynn later in the stay. That was by far the swankiest hotel and casino that we saw. Though, on reflection, I feel like the Trump building would have been nicer. Nevertheless the rooms we did have were very nice and served us well as a base of operations.
George has come over the ocean to spend just over a week travelling with us which is pretty cool. He'll be with us through San Francisco as well.
We managed to go shooting while we were there at range just off the strip and finally got to shoot some automatic weaponry. I paid 165 dollars and got to fire:

50 rounds from an MP40, which was probably the easier of the 5 to fire and I unloaded an entire clip in one burst. Very satisfying.
25 rounds from an M4, this was the coolest of the 5 guns since it had a red dot sight which made it super easy to aim and hit what you wanted to. There was barely any recoil, even when you flicked it over to full auto it was not a problem to keep hold of the weapon.
20 rounds with a Glock, pretty sure it was a 9mm. Very easy to fire and I would have felt comfortable shooting it one handed. Just a pop gun comparatively.
5 shots with a Coach Gun, a double barreled shotgun for those playing at home, was amazing as it was painful. The handler informed us as we prepared to fire the coach that the range had run out of low recoil slugs for ask shotguns so we all had to use 'Power Shots', which are exactly as they sound. Bracing the butt of the gun on your shoulder only provided more pain. But, it was an awesome gun, George managed to nail hit target right in the face with his last shot and Rhys bitched out at 3, leaving Chris to become ultimate badass and fire his remaining shots plus his own.
5 rounds from a Mossberg Shotgun or Pump Action Shotgun. SO much fun shooting. Always been my favourite gun and it did not disappoint. Reloading it and seeing the spent slug flip off to the side, very nice. It didn't hurt your arm as much as the coach either. My only regret is that I wasn't able to hold the gun vertically and reload it with only one hand.
Chris and George also got to fire a Sniper Rifle, which I imagine was difficult but accurate.

I'll fire off the casinos we managed to visit as well:
The Bellagio, our home base and definitely one of the classier ones probably second to the Wynn.
The Wynn, see above.
The Cosmopolitan, pretty swank but otherwise boring.
Planet Hollywood, was pretty cool as we shopped there quite a bit. Seemed like a good place for younger people as well.
New York New York, one of my favourites that we saw, had a roller coaster we had a ride on and it had a loop the loop! The atmosphere was also amazing, everyone there was excited and having fun.
The Excalibur, medevil themed casino complete with a fun dungeon, which isn't as bad as it sounds. There was a laser maze there which we all ran through and I emerged supreme champion! MJ and I also played 6 rounds of DDR.
The Luxor, an egyptian themed casino was the only place that I managed to get a buffet and my first glass of milk in nearly 3 weeks!
Treasure Island, pirate themed casino. Rhys, Chris and MJ all lost monies on Blackjack here, pretty sure MJ ended up in the green somehow though.
The Mirage, was full of plants and dolphins apparently but we didn't really get a chance to see much.
The MGM Grand, definitely a standout casino on the strip, big, full all the time. And we went to Brad Garretts comedy club which was amazingly funny. He wasn't billed for the night but he came out and did 3 sets. He's so full of hate and spent most of the time picking on the front row. He also kept making fun of Ray Romano's family humour and explained that he got fired from their duo act at the Mirage for asking a 6 million dollar asian high roller where his laundry was!
The Mandalay Bay, where we got tickets to see Steel Panther for 20 dollars. They put on an awesome show and got Joey Fatone up to sing with them for a few songs. Not only was the music great, they also really played off the crowd and their banter was hilarious. If you can get out to see them, please do yourself a favour, do it.

So that's our Vegas trip. Stay tuned for our 2 day drive blog soon.
Happy travels,
Reece.

PS. I miss you all. Send me love back.

The day I got half way to first base with Buffy Summers

Finally, Buffy admitted her undying love for me and let me kiss her on the cheek. If you don't believe me then look at the photo, doesn't she look impressed?
So LA has probably been one of the nicest cities we've visited so far. I know, sounds wrong? Trust me when I say, go to Santa Monica and you'll be well impressed. We managed to jump on a tour bus and get an amazingly talented tour guide named John who really spiced up the trip with his wit and extensive knowledge of the city. He pointed out Nakatomi plaza building (Die Hard for those playing at home) on the way to our first stop at Rodeo Drive which, to be honest, was pretty boring. It was a really fancy upscale shopping street which I think they mainly take you to for celebrity sightings but unfortunately there were none. Back on the bus we drove to  Hollywood Blvd to go to Madam Tussauds (Or however you spell it) and I got to see the amazing wax sculptures up close which, I must admit, was as impressive as it was creepy. I remember catching Briteny Spears' eyeline at one point and getting weird ed out. The photos will all be up eventually, but attached is my favorite one.

The Blvd was closed off for the premiere of The Avengers and there was security everywhere. We didn't really have the time to hang around too long so we saw the Hollywood sign and took the tour bus up Mulholland drive which was impressive, the view up there was amazing. Coming from Perth it really made me realise how small my home is in comparison.
Traffic is different too, for one thing, horns are used a lot more but not really aggressively. And theres a lot more of it!
The Santa Monica pier was pretty cool and the beach induced memories of San Andreas and Los Santos. They basically lifted everything from real life.

A bit tired so I'll save everything for another blog.
Happy Travels,
Reece

The days we got had

I want my money back.

When we went to see a basketball game I was so excited to see it. I was expecting Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck to be there battling some weird and wonderful enemy from beyond the stars with Michael Jordan and Bill Murray, but no. To make things even worse, when we went to a so called 'ice hockey' game, I didn't once see Emilio Estevesz, nor did the team win by forming a flying V. Plus neither goalie had a witty pun for their last name.

But in all seriousness, Ice Hockey was pretty sweet, it reminded me a lot of soccer as the game was quite low scoring. Interestingly enough the loudest cheer was let loose when one of the players gloves got caught on the others helmet and the helmet one took exception to this accident and violence ensued. The Dallas Stars, the home team, lost by one goal and most of the stadium left disappointed. However we noticed that the hockey fans were not nearly as one sided as the basketball ones.

MJ and I managed to get a sleep in this morning while Chris and Rhys went exploring and then we went to do our laundry at the laundromat. Remind me to make sure I always have a washer and dryer wherever I live, it was genuinely depressing and a little creepy. Not to mention boring.

Rain has been following us which kinda sucks. Hopefully it hold out nice for the San Diego zoo tomorrow and Legoland the day after. We found a giant comic warehouse in San Diego though... My wallet is not ready.

Waiting at our delayed flight out of Dallas now which is frustrating, I was hoping we'd avoid any kind of delays and up until now we had. Guess we had to have it happen at some point.

Anyway, thanks for taking an interest and reading!

Happy travels,
Reece

The Day we Space Jammed

Wow, already in city number 3. Time flies when you're adventuring. Quick update on New Orleans closing days since I haven't updated ya'll for a little while.
Most people who check facebook will know about our adventure to Bebes Cabaret, I mention it only for memory (Also I may as well face it, it was pretty funny) and we'll leave if at that.
The second last night we were there we saw an amazing band featuring 'Big Al', an amazingly jolly singer who's size was matched by his talent as a singer and his inappropriate sense of humour. Very rarely do I manage to get out and actually see great live music and I feel priveliged to have seen a local legend at 'The Funky Pirate'. We also briefly went to a club called duelling pianos, which was also awesome and for those playing at home the premise of the club is exactly as it sounds, it was impressive to say the least.
Our last day was a little more relaxed, we took a trip to the Hard Rock cafe which, to be honest, was not amazing. When Rhys was defeated by his entree order of Nachos we left and went to the 'Insectorium' which was interesting. For those who've known me long enough, you'll know I've ways been interested in crawly creatures so this museum was a little trip.down memory lane. It was rounded off with a 'Bug Award show' featuring voice talent of Jay Leno and Brad Garrett. Sure, it doesn't sound that interesting excepf that the seats and room was rigged to bump you back and ass and shoot perfume and squirt water... It was horrible. We all got molested by that machine and we'll never be the same again.
The fellas met a bunch of other Australian at the hostel and decided to go to Bourban street again but my blistered feet couldn't really take another walk like that so I stayed behind and relaxed (Turned out to be a good decision cause I can walk properly again now) while really getting into the Shaman King manga, I highly recommend it.

We left for Dallas at 10:20 Louisiana time and the flight time was very low, only about and hour and a half. We ended up ditching the hostel we'd booked cause we felt like we'd probably get raped or murdered there and we booked the Marriott Hotel. Totally worth 99 for 2 nights.
This afternoon I got to fulfil a dream, by visiting the Grassy Knoll and the 6th floor book depository to polish my knowledge of JFK. To be honest the museum was a whole lot more interesting than I thought it was going to be and even found myself a little emotional listening to some of his speeches. Was nice to see such an important place from our worlds history.
We're currently at The American Airlines Center about to watch The Dallas Mavericks vs. The Portland Blazers and I was filmed up on the big center screen. I did the robot.
I was amazing.

Happy travels and don't forget to send me love,
Reece.

The day the sky exploded

It's raining like an absolute bitch today. Apparently there's a whole bunch of tornadoes in Texas ripping the place up (Our next destination might I add) and sending all sorts of bad weather our way, which kinda sucks.
We went Airboating yesterday, which was amazingly fun. Such a rush when the guy opens up the engine and lets fly. We saw a few smaller alligators swimming about but due to the weather the bigger gators were nowhere to be seen.

The rain has partially let up now, but the skies are still very dark and I expect it'll probably rain at some point later. The humidity has done a number on my feet and I've developed 4 nasty blisters, 2 of which are on my on my little toes, turns out the shoes I bought are too small for me and push my little toes under my others and frictions them to shit. Basketball game tonight which should be pretty cool, Rhys is really excited but it sucks the times didn't line up so he could see his favourite team. Burning through money a little faster than I thought I would but like I've said, I didn't come here to be frugal! Also going to hit up the famous Bourban Street tonight, hopefully we can find some great music somewhere and have some dinner. Let me know if you want to know anything and Mum, make Scott or Shelby make yoy a google account so that you can comment. Happy travels, Reece

Wrestlemania XXVIII

Dear readers, today was a landmark day in my life because I have gained something I feel every person needs to have and know before
A defining momemt. A moment where you stop and think to yourself: This is right, this is perfect. For some people, it's things like getting married or having a child or attaining max level on an MMO of choice. For me, it was an event.
This event, an extraveganza that only happens once a year in the month of April.
Wrestlemania, the showcase of the immortals, my boyhood idols out for a night of fanfare and fireworks.

I just wanted to share with you all that I now know, without a doubt, that April 1st, 2012 was the greatest day of my life.

Happy travels,
Reece