Posts tagged Places

I do not intend to make advertisement for drinking alcohol. It‘s more that I‘d like to feature a really nice place that, basically, doensn‘t need to be featured any more (I suppose). The Rogue bar (not the nightclub) in San Francisco.

• For it‘s nice and friendly staff (as long as you do not steal their pens, that is). 
• For it‘s (oh, here I go) delicious beer, brewed over in Newport, OR (Tyler would now mention the Dead Guy Ale, Bud the Double Chocolate Stout, me the American Amber). 
• For being the place to meet awesome folks. 
• And for a really nice slogan:
  Dare - Risk - Dream. 

It‘s strange being back in a city after seven years. I clearly remember the feeling back then: I just wanted to get to the waterfront of the Pacific, but really struggled. There‘s this huge highway that cuts you off, since you sit on the hill in a park. Gettng down isn‘t that easy, especially at night and if you don‘t know your way around. Later on I made it to the piers, and the piers wasn‘t what I really expected. No possibility to sit right at the waters edge. Now, there I was, sitting on that pole, feeling lost and not at all deliberate, trying to get a hold on my travels again. 

So the first thing I wanted to do today (after getting that coffee fix, that is) was to get down to the pier and see how it felt.  And to the surprise of everybody, me included, it really did feel good. Behind me the beautiful hills, before me the waters, right in the middle me, myself and I. 

Besides that I, obviously, loved the big farmers market, all those fresh produce, and in the afternoon I even found that perfect coffee joint. What else could a man expect to be happy?

As being said earlier we really tried hard to enjoy Vancouver. And failed. Tyler was really looking forward to this town, what makes it hard to beat the expectations. But for Bud an me, well, we just wanted to hang out a bit, sipping some coffee (me) and try some local sweets (Bud). Shouldn‘t be that hard, don‘t you think? 

Maybe we were surprised by the short skirts on the streets Saturday night (come on, it was almost freezing cold out there!). Maybe we didn‘t expect to see that many bums (we were still used to the middle west where you ain‘t gonna see somebody lying around like this). Maybe it was just raining too much. 

So let‘s just skip the complaints. We loved the food (1.95$ for a quite good pizza slice? Chicken Shwarma? Falafel? Sushi? Ramen & Udon? Indian Curry? You name it, they have it). We kinda loved the locally brewed beer (Glenville Island, at least as long as we didn‘t have to get up in the morning). I really loved the view of the Pacific ocean. 

But I guess we‘re all ok with being back in the States, now hanging out in Seattle, the coffee capital of the world, still a little confused by the customs officers question: «Where‘s home?» «Where the heart is!», we were all up to shout out, but this answer maybe wouldn‘t have earned us that stamp in the passport. 

Guys and gals, I really dig Montana state. Not that I would have seen much of it though. Almost nothing that is, but I already now love it. Fell asleep right at the exit of Yellowstone NP, exhausted by all those Bison, bear, elk and, yes!, that one white headed eagle watching over us on our drive out.

Next thing I know: I see this red barn with written Buffalo Bump Pizza on it and thinking ,How can I ever eat Pizza now?!‘ (maybe I should add the sidenote that our last evening in Yellowstone NP wasn‘t about animals and hiking and going to bed early), but there‘s no way around it, so everybody jumps out of the car and kind of hungry we enter that beautiful place I described earlier to you and all get that delicious Pizza.

I guess when chosing the dough everything was set already: I fell in love with Montana state. Later on that day it only got better: Really nice landscape, switching between flats and mountains, forests and fields, lakes and almost deserts. Horses every few minutes, some cows around, nothing too exciting, meanwhile nothing too boring. One more (thick) mark of my ,If I ever should come back to the States‘ list (besides checking out the south, of course) is set. 

What a town. Really in the middle of nowhere, quite exactly in the middle between Atlantic and the mighty Pacific oceans, time seemed to have stood still in that town.

Again we were zooming through corn fields and corn fields and corn fields and maybe one or the other soy field (all with genetically modified seeds, but that‘s another topic). We were heading west (oh, what a surprise), were really excited getting to Yellowstone NP and quite fed up with corn (some still are).

Almost running out of gas we finally arrived in that town called Kadoka with 736 inhabitants (counting the dogs, too), got our motel room and while Bud only wanted to get to sleep, I convinced Tyler to get out with me and hit town. What we did.

Now, obviously ,hitting town‘ is a too big term in that context, but we found the bar. That was closed on Sundays. Even though only 8pm, we didn‘t see anyone  anywhere, the houses were almost all dark already, still Main Street was wide as in our country the highways. Some wind was going and we almost could see the cowboys getting themselves ready for the duel. Time really stood still in that town. I really would have loved to talk to people living there about their lives, pitty I couldn’t find any. 

We currently try to enjoy Vancouver which works out to be harder than expected (for reasons unknown). Nothing against that town, though: It’s really lovely.

For the first time it’s really rainy today, after a marvelous sunny day yesterday. Vancouver seems like a fusion of European cities with American lifestyle. We enjoy the choices of food we have here (Japanese, Arabian, Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Afghan, etc. etc.) and even Tyler likes the more healthy diet we get here (while Bud misses the peanut butter). 

Me appreciating the more social atmosphere of hostels I checked in at the youth hostel; while Bud and Tyler are more into having some quiet space to hang out, they checked in at a quite sophisticated hotel (don’t tell them I called it sophisticated..). So during the day and for nightlife we hang out together, splitting up for sleeping in quite different environments. So much about win-win-situations.