Friday, August 1, 2008

Parting shots

Hello everyone, Scott here. I've been back in the ATL since Monday. I finally sat down and pasted together some panorama shots I took on the trip. Click on them for bigger versions. Enjoy:

New Mexico



Some hole in Arizona:




Atop the Art Institute in San Francisco:




Everybody's favorite bridge:

Friday, July 25, 2008

San Francisco part 3: The Final Showdown

So I went to San Francisco for probably the last time today. It's been fun, but I think I'm ready to head back ( cue "Oh, Atlanta"). Nevertheless, I wanted to grab a couple more shots. Here they are:








One last Music Trivia Photo Quiz. No prize this time, except maybe bragging rights to whoever gets it first : Here I am sitting on something, with the San Francisco Bay in the background. What 60's song does this reference? Hint: The writer was from Georgia.


Thursday, July 24, 2008

Misc. ramblings

Nothing special happening today, just "hanging out in California" ( cue the Cruzados song. How's that for an obscure reference?). I have, however, discovered my favorite west coast fast food restaurant so far: In-N-Out Burger! Here's a pic of their menu. Their whole menu:

That's right 4 food choices! I love it!

Another totally random observation: I saw a "Andre The Giant Has A Posse" sticker in Haight Ashbury the other day. You can't have a bohemian city area without one!

I love California lawns. most houses here in Sunnyvale have a patch of grass (or some sort of greenery) of about 3 square yards for a lawn. They look like they'd take 5 minutes to cut. It's almost my dream of an astro turf lawn.

That's all or now. Peace out...

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

San Francisco part two

I (Scott) went back to San Francisco today. Being the stubborn, surly type, I decided to travel (once I got there) by foot. Bad mistake. Note to self: buy nice running shoes when I go on a trip again. I ended up walking all the way up to Japan town, taking in a movie at a theater recommended by my friend Brett (good call), then trudging all the way to Haight Ashbury, just to discover what I figured to be true: It's just like Little 5 Points, just bigger. I'm glad I went though. Next time, I'll study the subway and bus lines. Anyway, here's some pics:





Monday, July 21, 2008

My Ole San Francisco


So San Fran is a pretty awesome place. And Driving through the city with a manual transmission is not for the faint of heart... or for folks who easily get car sick.

My favorite thing is that we happened upon my old san fran digs. Well, its not like I lived here but I stayed with a friend Bryan back in 1993 when I was auditioning for the San Francisco Art Institute. One of the things I remembered so fondly was standing on the roof of the school with a beautiful view of Alcatraz and the city and playing a piano that someone had placed outside. It was like I was playing to the whole city. So, we went back to revisit my childhood ;) I was a high school senior then. The piano was gone (it has been FIFTEEN years after all) but the view was still amazing.

I decided not to go to the SFAI for two reasons: 1) everyone was doing lots of drugs there and 2) people in san fran look worn and old. I knew that both of these things would not be a good influence at 18 years at an art school. So I did not go in the end but my time there (where I was able to take some classes as an unofficial student) were still very influential.

Then I say again that was 15 years ago!!! holy crap I am getting old! Above is a photo of me on the roof of the school.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

San Francisco Day

Today, We went to San Francisco! If anybody knows me, they know I'm very fond of the number 19(as is Andy, we were both born on the 19th). Whatta you know, the very first cable car I see is:




Anyone who knows me, also knows I'm a car nut, And a movie fan. These next few pictures show hallowed ground: Filbert street, where part of the greatest car chase ever was filmed: Bullitt!








Check this out! Take a close look at the rear view mirror:



That's right, a 68 green Mustang! Awesome!

Here's a picture of a corner market frequented by my friend John back in the day. It's also in Bullitt (Steve McQueen buys a number of frozen dinners there).


This is McQueen's apartment in the movie. It's across the street from the market.


Here's a few random shots:






Lost in the Winchester House

Andy and I went to the Winchester Mystery House Yesterday, in nearby San Jose. What a trip! 160 rooms (at least they think it has 160 rooms, they're not sure!), nearly all of them bizarre! Sarah Winchester, heir to the Winchester rifle fortune, was told by a medium that the spirits of all the people killed by her late husband's weapon were angry, and the only way to appease them was to constantly build on her house. This went on 365 days a year, 24/7 for 38 years!
Enjoy the photos!




















































































Saturday, July 19, 2008

Home sweet sunyvale

So my apartment is nicer than I expected. And how can one complain when you show up and all the furniture is set up, you have a washer/dryer, over 700 sq feet in the bay area and a flat screen tv.... oh yeah and you are not paying for any of this. But even with all that the community is cool the people are nice and the weather is to die for. 74 degrees today was the high. OMG. I could live in this weather forever.

So below are photos of the new place. Let it be known (especially to Ed ;) that we came in and just put all our stuff wherever it may lay. I am putting away items now and hopefully with have the place clutter free tomorow. I even have a dining room table and a nice chair to match the couch. Its more stuff than I am used to and the closets are big!

Anyway here are photos. I am sleeping and need to get to bed but I am sure this is not the last post. We will let you know more about things around here as we find them out. Plus Scott is here for another week.






Andy's Take on the PCH

So the Pacific Coast Highway was AMAZING. Yes, some of the most beautiful landscape I have ever seen. It was super unreal. Lots of fun to drive. The people who drive this highway either live there (which there are a few) or they want to drive this particular winding road with plummiting cliffs and crashing waves. there is really no way to describe it.... maybe a poet could do it justice. If you like to drive and you like a nature just the slightest -- you should put this on the bucket list ;)

As Scott mentioned -- we saw the coolest colony of Elephant Seals. Now if you have not seen an elephant seals they are massive. They actually look and sound like baby bostons where their arms are pretty much useless and they have to move aroun by throwing them selves in one direction on their belly. You can hear one making a sound about half way through this. It is a really loud sound where you are there. These look a little like regular seals but are about 3x larger and more scary sounding.

Can you imagine if your job each day was sunbathing on the pacific coast? Nice.

Here is a video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NCzhGgOvmY

Friday, July 18, 2008

PCH

So I'm looking through the pics of the drive up the Pacific Coast Highway, and I can't find any that come close to showing the beauty of the place. Driving the day before, on route 58 in the interior of California, I felt like I was in a car commercial, driving through fields of gold (cue the Sting song). But even that was inferior to the PCH. Quite simply, I may never see landscape this beautiful again in my lifetime. I'm not sure more beautiful scenery exists on this planet. Every turn (and there were a lot of them) brought out a new gasp. Here's some shots, almost all from our car while driving:





We saw some other stuff on the way, but Andy will be better at describing it than I will. Here's a teaser:



One last thing for now: Way back at the beginning of all this, I stated I wanted to stand in the desert, on a road that extends into the distance, and have a tumbleweed roll by. Well, no tumbleweed was seen, but I took this shot outside of Barstow, Ca.:




It'll do..