The Garden of Hell

O man. Last night we got the worst service at this restaurant called The Garden, in Woodstock. Very nice place. The menu is vegan, and very good. This was my second time there this week. It started out with a 30 min wait outside with us eyeing the four top table that was to be ours. The server told us the kitchen was too busy for us to sit down right then. Odd I thought. The four of us were ok with waiting, nice weather and good conversation. Eventually we just sat ourselves, and got a dirty look from the server. After about five minute of waiting and staring the server down she approached us saying that she was really busy and she would be right with us. More time passed and I realized she was the only one working the patio with about ten tables. More time passed and I realized that she just sucks at her job. She was handling one table at a time, and if someone needed something she just ran inside to check on it instead of saving steps by remembering requests of multiple people. About 20 minutes after she said she was busy she comes to get our order. Mildly frustrated, but still in good spirits, we nail her with our drink and food orders at once in fear that she wouldn't return. Another ten minutes pass and frantically she drops off a bottle of organic wine and three water glasses. There are four of us. While we wait for more water we notice that she is bringing dinner out one plate at a time, for two separate tables. The jokes about her have now become the main conversations of many tables. Also we found out the bottle of wine is no good. This is because she didn't let Zoey taste the wine, telling us I'm sure it's fine. We call her over and explain that we think the bottle has gone bad. She tells us that the wine is good and it tastes like that because "this is our least favorite bottle on the menu". She acted like we had never tasted wine. Like we ordered grape juice and wondered why it tasted funny. I asked her if she could suggest something else. She began to scold us telling us there was nothing in our price range that would suit us. What a bitch I thought. Now yes I did order the cheapest wine on the list, but that was also the bottle suggested on the daily specials list. We decided to go with the cabernet. But that didn't matter she had another agenda. We noticed that the table seated after us had already gotten their food. And were almost done. Finally our food came out, all at the same time. That was nice. The food was very good. But where can my wine be? Oh there it is. Now that dinners done I guess that's when it comes. Jeez! As she tried to sneak away probably thinking I should leave before they find out this isn't juice either, we asked for a box and the check. She took Zoeys unfinished food to the back and we wait some more. Finally Cole and I decide we're going in to pay and give her the credit card. The server tells us we have to wait longer because she doing something. We say fine, we'll wait here. This pisses her off and she gets a tallying. Looks over tells me that it's like $94 and hands me the card back. I say no it isn't, showing her on the receipt where she mis added. "No no... The computer says is right, and it knows more than I do, so it is right." We show her again it's not right. She finally agrees and says "shoot I can't fix it, so I tell you what, just don't tip me." I say um no your going to put that money back on the card. She says "why are you not going to tip me?" I think, until you brought it up I wasn't planning on it. We ask if we can talk to the manager. She says no, let's handle this out side. I think what? Is she going to try to fight us? We laughed at the suggestion. No. Another server comes out and asks if we're all right and helps our server fix the problem. Meanwhile the manager comes out to yell at our sever that her tables need their checks and what not. In front of us mind you. We finally get the bill right, I sign, tell her we're leaving the tip on the table. She says thank you. I ask for Zoeys food that was boxed up and she snaps you already got it. I say no we didn't. She say well if the other server didn't bring it out she doesn't know where it is and then leaves. Well guess were not getting that back. The funny thing is, Zoey asked to box it up herself. The tip was two dollars on an $87 bill. A little too much I think. At least the food was good. About two and a half hours this took. I guess if there is a next time, I'll be like "I'm fine thank you. May I please have four waters, a bottle of wine, these four entrees, a box, and the check when your ready? Thanks"

So Many Hippys in the DubNC

So the last week I have been in Woodstock New York. Very nice. The weather has finally warmed up a little so jackets aren't a must. As you know I got to go swimming the other day and that was a blast. Hopefully today is warm enough to do the same.

A couple days a go I went to my first drive in movie theater. We watched the Year One/Hangover double feature. Both movies were pretty good. It was cool to finally see a drive in, since most are gone in Denver.

I went and checked out this place called Opus 40. It was pretty spectacular. A man years ago bought a rock quarry and started stacking the stones in a way that created this super rad sculpture that you can walk on. The plan was to be finished in 40 years, but he died three years shy of that goal. The cool thing is there is no mortar or anything holding the rocks together, just gravity. So for those of you who like wobbly stones, this place is for you. :) there is lots of nice wild life in the forest that surrounds the sculpture. Saw some deer, squirls, and some super bright fusha colored bird i had never seen.

Tusha and Cole took us to a park in the Catskill Mountains to hang out. We walked around, played tag, and got lots of sun. It was nice to be in the mountains for the day.

Yesterday we made a two hour trek back to Brooklyn to go check out Cony Island, the Boardwalk, and little Russia. The food we got from a Russian bazaar was super good. All vegetarian. Brighton Beach was nice. The sand was really fine and it felt like a real beach, although I'm sure it not. Lots of people, birds, and good food. It was almost like being in a foreign country. A lot of different languages were being spoken. A melting pot of people who loved the beach.

Conney Island was a little on the creepy side. We rode a great Ferris Wheel. The cool thing about this one is the cars role around on this track while it goes round and round, making it that much scarier. There is a freak show that I didn't check out, but did see the worlds tamest alligator. That was kind of a bummer because I'm sure it was heavily drugged or maybe they took out part of it's brain or something. Not very natural. You have to pay for the bathrooms at Conney Island. Never seen that before. Got lots of walking done yesterday.

I think the plan now is to leave Woodstock tomorrow sometime to return to the city. We are going to spend the night, and our plain leaves for Sweden Wednesday around 8:30pm. Kinda getting scared. It's going to be hard learning a new language and new currency. I'm not that worried, I'm sure we'll do fine.

Physically, I'm doing all right. I shook a cold I had last week, just coughing a lot now. For some reason my right ear has a lot of pressure in it, and I can't seem to pop it. Slightly worried about the flight if it continues. Been like that for about a week now. Very annoying. And Saniego, my ribs still hurt from wrestling around with you last month. Ugh... I guess my body's not 19 anymore.

Other than that hope everyone is doing well. Please drink some beers, and blow some stuff up for me on the 4th. It will be the first 4th I have ever missed. Take some pictures and email them to me. No one is doing that by the way. I love pictures. Miss you all and starting on Wednesday we wont have the phone. So if you can call me before that, I would appreciate that.

Good bye Vermont

Good bye Vermont.

Took a crazy journey to get to our next destination. We spent and hour and a half in a car to get to Burlington VT, then an hour long ferry ride to get to Port Kent New York, then a six hour train ride to Woodstock. Not to bad. The train was nice. Snack car and everything.

This is a picture on a sailboat on lake Champlain "the inland sea", separating Vermont and New York.
Me on the ferry

Today Tusha took us swimming in a river. I caught a toad.

and a frog.

this is where we were swimming. very fun.

The water was nice. Kinda tired. will write more later.

Cabot, O Cabot

This is the car I'm driving in Vermont.

Got a chance to go cannoning the other day in this great pond. That's the life man cannoning with your girl. No complaints. We got to play in the sun for a few hours, in a boat that wasn't ours.

The best thing about Vermont is there is no laws on public nudity. So of course I had to exercise my rights, and canoe nude. Don't worry the life vest was worn while in the boat.

I got a chance to ride around the place where I'm staying. Cabot Vermont. The ride was nice. Vermont has so many hills, it makes riding very hard. In Denver we just have the "one hill" Capitol hill. You know more when you get out to the suburbs, but still Denver is very flat. This is the map of what I rode. Thanks to John who is putting us up for a great bike ride that wasn't to hard. The ride was great. It was nice to be on a nice bike for a while. It was a 63" Canondale with nice dirt tires. The bike was a little to big for me, but got the job done.

Other than that I read a book called "Running With Scissors". Any one read that? I didn't like it too much... Looking for feedback.

We are off to New York on Wednesday. Remember to Email me.... I look forward to letters

So Vermont is nice.

Leaving Marblehead was kinda sad. The ocean was very cool to be around for the week I was there. It was the flattest thing that I have ever seen I think. It was so cool to see the sky touch the horizon forever. Thank you John and Meridith.

The bus ride into Montpelier was nice. The Greyhound got us there within 15 min of scheduled time. The first bus not to be more than an hour and a half behind. The bus driver was so nice. David was his name. He made everyone on the bus laugh at least once on the trip. Kinda hard to do with that type of crowed.

John and Vicky were there to pick us up wielding umbrellas. We hurried in their car and headed to the Montpelier Coop. The Coop was the local membership grocery store that was way to comparable to Whole Foods. Good prepared food section and nice service. We all four picked up what we needed for the week and headed home.

The house is so cozy. Very comfortable couches, wood floors, hommie kitchen, great beds. TV is hidden in the den that seems to be for guests only. The house sits on a 2 acre lot for personal use and on a shared 130 acre lot shared between three families.

The weather started out very rainy and has some how managed to keep everything wet. So the lakes and ponds are pretty high for the year.

Get this... Zoey and I got to the house, got comfortable, and got ready to eat dinner. John offered us the option of a sauna after dinner. We said yes. The Dinner was good. Rice and stir-fry with almond encrusted tofu. The best meal in your life is the first warm one after any bus ride. During dinner we discussed the idea of dogs are loyal to us because we are the only other animal that chooses to hang out with same sex friends. Among other like topics. We drank about three beers each and waited about 45 minutes after dinner for sauna time. When that time came I grabbed a beer and walked out to the sauna, towel in hand. The night air is cold and rainy. Dark too. Very dark. Too bad the sky was so cloudy, the stars would have been so bright.

Upon entering the sauna I gave a "hello" nice and loud. John replies the same. I open the door to find 50+ year old John naked. Ok I can get down with that. Strip down and and get on the top section of this custom four person split level sauna. Zoey came in uniform right after me. the only light was this dim candle lantern outside a 5 inch by 5 inch window.

Now I have been in Saunas before but not one like this. John had the thing cranked up to 180 degrees at the beginning. The warmth was so nice because of the cold wet night. About five minutes in John poured water and essential oils onto the red hot rocks creating mentholated steam. The steam soaked the entire room making you feel like like the center of a cough drop. The temperature got so hot it felt like you were going to pass out, but only for a few minutes. After that we got out and squatted in the cold for five minutes. Then we get back in, more steam. We did that three times lasting for a one hour season. My body felt so good. skin felt so healthy.

After the sauna we all came back in. I hurried up to my room wrapped only in a towel. Changed clothes rapidly and headed back down stairs. Zoey warned me that John was a borderline nudest. When I set down on the couch John was opposite me in a chair. Naked. Drinking tea. Now nudity doesn't bother me one bit, but it's really hard not to stare, no mater how many times you have seen it before. We sat like that for about an hour. Us clothed, John not so much. Definitely the hippy side of the family.

I went to bed and just wondered what the rest of the week would be like.

Day trip to Boston

The other night right before bed I went out to smoke my last cigarette for the night and low and behold I found a snail. Since we don't have these in Denver, I got really excited and called Zoey out. Snails are really a big deal to that girl. She even got one tattooed on her. It was really cool to see how excited she got from just one little creature. The snail was pretty cool though. It slimed its way all over Zoeys hand and was over all very curious about what was happening to it. I do believe we took it as a sign of good luck, since it didn't hide in it's shell like a coward.

The next morning we got up early and headed down to the beach, just the two of us. I think it is so funny the way I act around new things that I have never seen before. Much like a kid. Camera in one hand and the other holding me up as I slip and slide on wet seaweed covered rocks, snapping pictures of everything that I see. I noticed that the seagulls were swooping down into the water and bringing back something to the shore. Like a jerk I ran after one making him drop his treasure. A crab. Poor thing had a bite taken out of it. On it's last leg I thought he was looking at me begging for some kind of help. So I did my best and took some pictures of him and with a mighty toss, back to the sea little guy. Zoey wasn't too happy about that. Hmmm. The Atlantic coast I hear is different from the Pacific because it's more rocky and harsh. We are still waiting for summer to really begin. There has been lots of rain and it's been cloudy a lot of the time since we have been here. It has been a lot colder than I thought it would be too. 50's to 60's. The water is way to cold to go into right now. The wind makes the air even colder. The Air out here smells so neat out here. Must be all the salt, or just the way the ocean smells. I like it.

After that we hopped on a train headed to Boston, this time with money. We finally got a chance to eat at the World Famous Pizzeria Regina. Not too bad. The crust was a little on the thin side. But not too bad. Didn't really hang out in Boston too much, we crossed the Charles river to Cambridge.

Cambridge is pretty hip. That's where M.I.T and Harvard are. Lots of rich people, but since the schools cost so much, there were broke kids like us running around. We checked out a couple of thrift sores hoping that there would be some real catches out there. But no. The picture above are dorms on the M.I.T.. I really liked the campus at M.I.T.. There was a cool museum I wanted to check out... Maybe tomorrow.

We found a really great bike shop called Cambridge Cycles. This place had Zoey and I drooling. We found bikes that Denver has yet to see. Watch out for the new Langster Saniego. Saw some Belt driven bikes. No lube needed. Last forever. They had some of the most amazing cycling caps that are locally made and have silk screening by hand. I think were going back tomorrow to get Zoey one. After that we did our normal thing, ice cream and the park. Sorry Sweet Action, found some better. We ended up catching the "t" (the subway) back to Boston and walked through the Boston Common. Found the public gardens there. The gardens are becoming one of my favorite things to see in city's. So peacefully. After that we just headed back to Marblehead.

To day I got to get on a bike for the first time in two weeks. John took us around Marblehead and out to Marblehead neck. Kind of a causeway, or a peninsula I think. That's the lighthouse out there. And the video is the whole view. Sorry about the quality. We found this awesome grave yard that had tomb stones from the late 1600's very cool. I have a bunch of these pictures Rob, you will like them.

Other than that, I just finished "Lila Says" by Chimo. That is the second book that I have read since I left Denver. Most of you know that is more reading than I have done in five years. Maybe Denver is to high in elevation for me to read. The other book I read was "Invisible Monster" by Chuck Palahanuik. Both very good. Thanks for reading folks. You give me a reason to write.

Some pics along the way

So I am in Marblehead Mass. We are about five blocks from the Atlantic ocean. These are some pictures that I took the first day on the beach. Some of you already know that I have never really seen the ocean. Talk about taking my breath away... just kidding. But it was really really cool. I made it down to Boston for a few hours yesterday.

We walked around for a while, got in line for this famous pizzerias and realized that we forgot our money back at the house were staying. Damn. So we decided that it wasn't that bad and carried on. Hungry. Turned out that we had exactly the same amount of cash as the fare on the train was.

We walked around Boston and Cambridge. Both very cool towns. Got on the bus and headed back to Marblehead. Oh well. Could have been worse. At least we saved some money that day.


The Bee and the Rose pictures are from Hartford.


Our time is almost up here in Mass. I think we will be leaving on Thursday for Vermont.

Hartford CT

As sad as it was to leave New York city, it was finally time. Especially because of the night before. And don't worry folks, no SS# on my id or anything. We had a nice bus ride in, leaving from Manhattan. Peter Pan bus lines took us on an express trip to Hartford CT. We both buried our faces in the books we were reading and two hours later we arrived. A woman friend of Zoeys named Bobbie was waiting for us in a beautiful car. Seemingly over polite, smile ear to ear, she gets right to the point, asking us what we were doing in CT and what our plans for the trip were. We pulled up to her incredibly huge house and go in. We took our stuff to the bedroom we would have for the night, and decided that we were hungry. Bobbie and her husband had already made reservations at a restaurant called The Pond House at Elizabeth Gardens. The garden turns out to be the oldest public rose garden in the USA. O man what a treat. The complete opposite of



where we just were. From a town of millions of people, to a garden with millions of roses. Every kind of rose you could imagine. Quiet. Very Quiet. So nice. Dinner time came about and we met up with Bobbies Sister and Mother. The Dinner turned out to be so nice. I had the diver scallops that I would love to believe were fresh from the ocean. Although these people were well of their generosity was so moving. We all shared all of our salads, entrees, and deserts. Very kind. The conversation during dinner turned to Alex Palmer, Zoeys mother. Bobbie loved Alex so much. This conversation was kind of hard for Zoey to listen to. But she maintained well. Hearing stories about how great her Mother used to be was so great. I always assumed the way Zoey turned out she must have been so cool. Diner turned out to be great with great company. After we got home they let us get all of our laundry caught up, which was also pretty amazing. The next morning they let us take out a $4500 tandem racing bike that turned out to show Zoey and I need to work on more communication.

I guess what took me back by surprise was just how real and down to earth this family was. Yes they had a lot of money, and nice things, but they weren't snobs about it. It was so nice that they didn't fit the stereotype that I immediately put them in. Guess I have some things to work on.


Any ways thank you Bobbie Phill and thank you Hartford. What a beautiful town.

Old Friends...

I finally made it up to Time Square last night. Very crazy. So bright that you wouldn't believe. I got a chance to run in to an old friend named Laura. Laura works for the Blasco theater on Broadway. They are currently on their last week for a show called Joe Turner Come And Gone. Mr. Obama came a couple of weeks ago and saw the play. Laura gave us a tour of the house. It was very cool. It is the second oldest theater house in NYC. 1908. Everything is still original, from the five toilets to the colored persons balcony. The play seemed to be somewhat of a success, this being good for Laura. She is the lead prop man for the house. It had been a long time since I was back stage of a theater. After that we went and got a drink at some super fancy bar across the street and talked. Laura is doing great, very much married to her job. She lives only five blocks from the theater, so we walked down time square, and I got pictures. At 12am you cannot tell that is night. It was really cool to see. But with all the people it was driven home that Manhattan is not the town for me. We went back to Laura's house and she showed pictures of me to Zoey from 1992 when I was in her wedding. We sat around there for a while then getting tired we decided to push off. Went down to the subway and before getting on 2 men asked me to stop. Shit I said. They flashed some kind of badge and said they were police. They were in street clothes. They asked me about the knife that was in my pocket. I didn't know that a knife was illegal in the subway. One of the men took my ID and the other stayed with us. We asked the man holding us for some kind of ID himself, because I didn't think he was a cop. The man could produce nothing really solid. No business card, just some "police" id that hey showed us really fast. Anyways he gave me my knife back and said that I could be arrested for this, but because I wasn't from here her would give me a break. Still not very sure if this was all legit. They wrote down all my info on my ID and that was that. Very weird. What ever I'm off to Connecticut today. Try something else out I guess. Lesson learned. Keep knife hidden. Could be problems in foreign countries.

Manhattan Shoes and the 25 Year old Argument

In a city with so many people it still amazes me that no one looks each other in the eye. People seem to be friendly enough, but it's not the same as it is in Denver. Today I hopped on the subway with Zoey, Manhattan bound. Two tasks on the agenda. Buy new shoes and eat a a joint called burgers and shakes. 

Have you ever tried  to go shoe shopping in Manhattan? Nuts. Ever tried to do any thing there? It's hard. I found a store called "Shoe Mania". There gimmick was buy one pair get the second half off. Sounded simple enough. Pick out two pairs of shoes, save some loot and then out. Not so much. The shoes we were shopping for were good sandals that could get us around the world and then some. Mine were relatively easy to find, due to the lowered selection of men's styles. Zoey's on the other hand were a bit more tricky. The way this store was run was something to be in awe of. Many, many men walked around asking if you needed help. I sure did. I wanted to know more about the shoes I was about to purchase. Do the do well in the water. What about in the sand. Do they last a long time? Why are they $100? But alas, very few of the employee's new much more English than, "Do you need help?" and "what size".  The store probably had 75 to 120 customers in the store. Now the "Mania" part of the tittle made sense. When you asked the store associate for a size, he would call it in to some unknown dispatch center via blue tooth headset and ask you to sit. Minuets later he would return with the shoes and asked if they were OK for you, before running off to help some one else in there dire shoe crisis. Minuets more later he would return to see if you wanted anything else. Zoey struggled with here decision. So many to choose from and the two she liked the most, well, they didn't have her size. I told her that this was just the first store that we had come to, and if she didn't feel comfortable in her selection, we would go some where else. She decided that since we were here we should just get them and get out. Settling for some very nice shoes we went to the register to make our purchase. $195 the cashier tells us... What? that is way too much. We explain to the clerk her stores sale and get the total down to $125. Geez. What a mess.... 

Cigarettes although being rationed for only after eating were fired up 6in from the door. Food was the next priority. Burgers are never a bad idea. This proved to be right again. Yea grease!!! The ice cream of the day flavor was coffee and donuts.... Not too shabby. 

Hopping back on the subway we decided to get the hell out of Manhattan... Too many people. We ended up back in Brooklyn in a neighborhood called Williamsburg. This is kinda the hip part of town among kids our age. All the bare are full of tight jeaned bandanna cycling 20 to 30 somethings. It kinda gets old not being the cool kids in those bars. So much wanting a drink we came across this bar called Rosemarys Green Point Tavern. The windows were all covered with these horrible silk flowers and really lame nick-knacks.  We go inside, and talk about a dive. This place is the epitome of dive bars. Wood panelling, juke box, and one arcade game. There sit 2 men in there late 50's. Staring at us silently, we take the first two seats closest to the door. The bar tender comes up to us and asks what were having. Two big Buds I reply. The men carry on in there banter. Swiftly he returns with just that two 32oz beers in Styrofoam cups. Zoey and I smile. This is the first time that I have been served beer in Styrofoam. Shifting my attention to the other two customers, it turns out they are in a mildly drunken debate about which doo-wop songs were technically the most difficult for a lead to sing. Amusing. It turns out guy number one has already decided that "Gloria", "Sunday kind of love", and "In the still of the night" are the hardest. The bartender apologizes for these men drunken behavior, and us smiling day its fine. The bar tender goes to the juke box and plays all three songs to maybe settle the argument. The great thing is during each song the two men and the bartender are all trying as hard as they can to sing along. Loudly. Zoey and I are laughing so hard by this point. Guy number two won't budge. "Forgetaboutit" is all he says. Guy number two goes on to tell us about some of these old groups singing in the subways when he was a kid. Tells us about the time he was in a singing group called the Kents (after Kent st. two blocks up) He tells us that the Kents were the only doo-wop group to ever get thrown out of the subway. We all assume that's how bad they were. It was so cool to come across the three singing men. The have probably not lived more than 10 blocks from where they were born 50+ years ago. This was there neighborhood. And they were proud of it. 

Later that night we went to Prospect Park in Brooklyn and got to See a free David Buyrne concert to kick off summer. It was cool seeing how many people the five boroughs can fit in a park. His show was good the people watching was fabulous. We ended up taking off early thinking that the subways would be packed after the show let out and came on home. Thanks David Buyrne.

New York City?!!?

Wow what a place. This is one of the coolest cites that I have ever seen. After ariving here on the bus, showers were taken, then straight to the road we went. We are staying with a friend of Zoey's in Brooklyn. This part of town is primarily Polish. So we found some good Polish food and walked around for an hour or so. When we got home Zoey's friend was still not home, so we laid down around 7:30p and woke up at 5am the next morning... That bus ride totally killed us. It ended up taking right around 40 hours to get us here, with little food that didn't come from a vending machine, and minimal sleep.

Today was great. Woke up early and went out to get some coffee and donuts. Get this, ordering coffee regular on the east cost means you get cream and sugar. Different. The day was productive. Walked around Manhattan for the better part of the day. We ate at the tiniest cafe I have ever seen. 2 tables and a 5 person bar. Not bad. went to the farmers market and got some strawberries that were o so good. Later when Zoey's friend got home we ate some Brooklyn style Mexican food. Denver's Mexican food is way better. 

The cheapest cigarettes I can find are $9.65 a pack...

Had 4 all day

Indianapolis to Columbus

O the joys of being among some of the nastiest people in america. The bus is not the classy way to travel, but at least there is a toilet. No sink though. O yeah it's super cheap. Seeing I-70 from Denver to Columbus is a familiar experience. Every summer on the way to grandmas house towns like Topeka, Salida, and St. Louis were ways critical stops. Being on the road for this long it makes me wish my passenger irritants we my brother and sister sitting to close, or not sharing the cd player. But it's not. Now I have a very young mother and her slutty friend talking about boys back home while a one year olds screaming is piercing my ear drum through my loud headphones. It suck these two will be my peers until New York. The two continue beeing a nuisance for a few hours more until we get to our destination. Due to road work and the minor incompetences of Grey Hound staff we are two hours late. This where things get better... This stop finally has food not out of a vending machine. Even better they are open. Hell yes we say. Finally after leaving Denver more than 24 hours ago, we get our first real break. Grey hound amazes us yet again and puts all going to New York city on a bus to Pittsburgh, instead of Cleveland, finding us our lost time. Belly full, headed to Pitts, I post with headphones in and a good attitude. Here I come New York. Here I come.

holly cow

O man. Tomorrow I start the rest of my life. 630pm the bus leaves. Seeing my famiy was so nice. I will miss you all so much. I promise to keep in touch. Good luck and god bless.