“They’re Only Noodles Michael”

Just back from my travels of the good old United States and Canada. I’m pretty surprised I didn’t blog hardly at all, but it was a rarity I had a moment to put the feet up to be honest! So, what were the highlights of my trip??

The Haight Ashbury Street Fair was a spectacle with bands at both ends of the street that’s known as the centre of the hippie movement and watching Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in Washington Square Park at dusk, also in San Francisco was a great memory. Oh and Chinatown is fantastic, I could spend all day there- I picked up fortune cookies, chinese health balls and some tasty chow mein so I now know chop-stick-fu! Scoring some free Alcatraz tickets was pretty awesome too. You really feel cut off out there on the island and you can see how torturous it was for the inmates to be able to see the freedom of San Francisco infront of them, but never be able to reach it.

Seeing the Grand Canyon was amazing- it looks unreal, like a painting. That’s the only way I can describe it to you, that and you just feel very, very insignificant when you stare at millions of years worth of layered rock below you. The Chicago Cubs game in glorious sun-drenched Wrigley Field was a blast- “Swiiing batta-batta-swin-batta!”

What else totally rocked… Oh, Meeting Penn and Teller after their show at the Rio Hotel Vegas was a dream come true (Teller is actually my height, I always thought he was tiny but Penn is a giant!!) After telling Penn Jillette I loved his now defunct radio show, he told me he’s got something else big coming up soon, keep an eye on Crackle’s Penn Says for more info.

What else…oh Whistler in Vancouver is just so fantastic, I need to get back there for a winter snowboarding holiday. The village has everything you would ever need without the huge prices of most ski resorts. They’re preparing for the 2010 Winter Olympics and apparantly are on schedule. I did the ‘eagle’ ziptrek ecotour down the mountain, which I would highly recommend. We were in a group with a few saps though, who didn’t avail of the option to go backwards and upside down on the last freestyle zipline. My ass coming every-which-way down that mountain was epic. Grouse Mountain was cool too, there were grizzly bears in the alpine that had just come out of hiberation and grey wolves in the valley. Their lumberjack show was great entertainment too.

Driving through California up the Pacific Coast Highway (”The 1″) was breathtaking. The best drive of my life, right on the cliff-edge at times. Then seeing the home of 80s vampire horror/comedy The Lost Boys, the old Santa Cruz Boardwalk was great fun, if a bit nausating after the 5th ride (image above of the bridge they hang off, boardwalk in distance). I recommend the Giant Dipper rollercoaster which starts off by unexpectingly plunging you into darkness! They have bands on the beach starting this month, I’d suggest checking out the free Blue Oyster Cult gig on July 25th. Watch out for all the damn vampires!