I’ve been doing a lot of traveling lately. I was home a total of 4 days in May, and then I was away the first two weeks of June. Here’s a recap of the most interesting stuff:
San Francisco
Eddie Rickenbacker’s is a fantastic bar that has all these old motorcycles hanging from the ceiling – mostly Harleys and Indians with a bunch of other older ones thrown in. I think there was one bike from the ’50s, with all the other ones being even older. A lot were the almost bicycle looking ones with pedals. They have one ’41 Indian that had been given to Clark Gable by MGM. Apparently the owner sits in a recliner in the front all day long and tells people about it but he was actually in the hospital while I was there so I didn’t get a chance to talk with him. One last cool thing – the fat cat that wanders around and all over the bar.
I toured the USS Pampanito, a submarine from WWII. That kind of thing is interesting to me because my grandfather was in the Navy in WWII, although he was on a LSM (landing ship medium) and not a submarine. The quarters in there were ridiculously tight. I don’t know how they stood it.
I saw Tyrone Wells at the Red Devil Lounge. It was a cool little venue, kind of reminded me of the Troc. Wells was good although I honestly can’t remember the name of the opener. Wells was more soul and the opener was more emo I think, which I’m not at all into.
The Plough & the Stars in SF is so much better than the one in Philly. They have live music almost every night, whether its Irish or bluegrass, an actual concert or a jam session, or even set dancers. I’ve heard the one in Philly has Irish music on Sunday afternoons but I’ve never been. I know it’s pretty crappy and crowded on Friday and Saturday nights but that’s because it’s in Old City. While I was in SF, I went on a night with an Irish jam session and had a great time, ended up talking with some of the Gasmen most of the night. They opened for Gaelic Storm back before Titanic made them big.
I also saw the Ed Earley Band at Biscuits and Blues. Another cool venue although it was practically empty that night. The band was good, great rhythm and blues going on.
One last thing about San Francisco – it has absolutely amazing weather to walk around in, and motorcycles are everywhere – on the road, tons of parking for them. I’d love to see Philly get into that.
Camp Jam in the Pines
This was my first time at Camp Jam although my dad had gone before. I had a great time even though it rained for half the weekend. Everyone still stood or danced in the rain though to see the great musicians playing. Friday night had a sort of Cajun / blues theme going on so that was my favorite night. I saw the Red Stick Ramblers again along with Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys – both were really good. It was at a really nice campground too, which is surprising for South Jersey. Most of the ones here are not in good shape but I would definitely go to Old Cedar Campground again. Actually I’m already scheduled to go there this fall for Camp Jam again (they do spring and fall festivals every year).
North Carolina
I went down to North Carolina on Memorial Day weekend to visit my cousin and her husband and check out their new house. Raleigh is a nice little city, although it feels more like a small town. The people there are way too friendly for my comfort zone, although I think coming from the North East I’m weirded out if people even look at me. We actually spent most of the weekend backpacking though. It was my second trip and their first so we did a 2 nighter in the Uwharrie Lakes Region. Beautiful and we kept crossing over a creek so we got to use my new water filtration system – the Katadyn Hiker Pro. I highly recommend it. Lightweight, quick, and works like a charm. The water was pretty tasty too. One other piece of new equipment I got to try out was my Thermarest Trekker Chair. Nothing feels better after hiking all day than having a comfortable chair to sit in, but since any kind of camp chair or stool weighs more than I want to carry this was a great solution. I bring a Thermarest any way and that slides right into the extremely lightweight “chair” (really just a fabric pocket) and it’s oh so comfy.
Usually when you go camping with someone new, you get to see their gear and then you have a new list of things you “need” to have for next time. Well my cousins had the tent I already knew I wanted – REI’s Quarter Dome T2 – but it was nice to see it in action and made me want it more. It actually weighs less than my current one person tent, and has room to sit up and store your pack. They had a hammock too, which was cool and made me look into camping hammocks where I found the Hennesy Backpacker Hammock. With a mesh top and even a rainfly, who needs a tent? It can actually be set up as a tent with two hiking poles though if trees aren’t available for hanging from. Plus, since you’re off the ground there’s also no need for a Thermarest, and you can just sit in your hammock so no need for a chair either. Having a hammock would save so much weight. It might be my next purchase instead of the new tent.
Miami
Well Miami turned out to be not that interesting because it was a quick trip where I worked late every night and wasn’t feeling well the whole time. I did get to go to a nice Argentinian restaurant though, although I’m totally blanking on the name right now. Maybe it’ll come to me later.
North Jersey
North Jersey doesn’t sound too exciting but since I had just been gone for a month and had barely any chance to ride my new bike, I decided to take it with me to North Jersey for the two weeks I was there. I got in a lot of solo riding time, in addition to longer distance riding, and I feel much more capable on the bike. Not all my riding was solo though since a friend of mine who rides lives near where I was staying so I got a chance to ride with her a couple nights too. I mainly spent my time riding to state parks since they’re generally a free destination and are usually surrounded by nice roads. I managed to get to Hopatcong, Washington Crossing, Round Valley, and Spruce Run. I passed 1,000 miles on the bike while I was up there too which made me pretty happy.
Appel Farm
I went to the 20th year of Appel Farm’s Arts and Music Festival. My family has been going for 18 of those years and we always get our tickets ahead of time so we were definitely attending, despite the 103 degree temperature. We set up canopies so we weren’t right in the sun but it was brutal. Great musicians but we ended up leaving early and missing both stages’ headliners because it was just so damn hot.
Scranton
What’s interesting in Scranton? Cliff jumping near a big dam and some waterfalls. You have to walk along some railroad tracks and then go down a trail to get there so I think we were technically trespassing but it was a great spot. Obviously well used by the locals so it’s not like we were going to get in trouble for being there. I didn’t do more than a 12 foot jump because I’m a baby but there were some people I was with doing maybe 30? I’m awful at guessing heights. Some locals who came and sat at the top of the dam getting stoned for an hour then proceeded to jump from the very top. I felt like I was about to watch someone die but they made it. I guess they’re used to the place. We brought goggles to check below the surface for any rocks or whatever before jumping but they just went right in. It was a gorgeous spot though and I plan on going back.