Exploring San Francisco

It’s sad to say but our glorious road trip is almost finished. We’ve made the bold turn north and will be back in Washington by Sunday. That isn’t to say that the trip is over though. Far from it in fact.

We rolled into San Francisco last night after cruising along the highway 101. Today we rode the San Fran bandwagon of cheap and free. Turns out there’s a grab bag of fun things to do in San Francisco for little to no money.

We started our day by checking out the “Painted Ladies” all around Alamo Square. Not only is the view incredible, but Tawny has a strange and passionate obsession with Full House. So much so that we even tracked down the actual fake house that the Tanner’s lived in.

The house that the Tanner family called home

San Francisco is a veritable open air art gallery. We stopped into the mural district to see the art. All along Balmy ally in the Mission district you’ll find art started in the 1980′s as a way to express outrage against human rights. It’s a rolling canvass that continues to change throughout the years.

Mural along Balmy Ally

We lingered longer than we expected.

Balmy Ally

Tawny living the dream

Afterward we explored Chinatown. By far my favorite part of San Francisco so far. It might be that it reminds me of being in Korea, or that I love being able to buy a full meal for under $5, but it might also be that I have a deep unexplored love for fortune cookies. We stopped into the fortune cookie factory and got an intimate look at how these little gems are made.

I didn’t know that they were still made by hand until today. I have to say, I have a massive amount of respect for those little cookies now and the group of women that spend their days folding them in half. Getting to see the fortunes going into the cookies was like looking behind the curtain in Oz.

Visiting the Fortune Cookie Factory

Tonight we’re reuniting with our old buddy the Traveling Philosopher, Spencer Spellman, as we hit up the wild party for Broke-ass Stewart. We’ll be dressed to the nines, looking like we’re living the high-life… but broke… as always.

Ah, the life of a travel blogger. Stay tuned, tomorrow we hope to be rolling out content on the last week.

Until then, feel free to comment below on your favorite thing to do in San Francisco.

This coming week we’ll have full write ups on both Sunbuggy Fun Rentals and Vegas Indoor Skydiving. We will also have videos on both! Not to mention I’ll be dishing up the low down on Uncork’d.

Driving North up 101

For now though we’re hanging out in the sleepy little coastal town of Santa Maria. Today has been a coma in the run on sentence of this wild road ride across the west coast. Santa Maria has ample charm, abundant hills, and so very little to distract you. Our highlights today involved disc golf on the green, legendary BBQ, and a drive-in movie. I think the last time I went to a drive-in movie I had to sit in a booster seat.

There is some magical rhythm to this town that keeps it from blowing away into the fasted paced thrill of the rest of the world. No wonder they filmed Sideways here. Tomorrow we’ll be back out on the road, hot on the trail to San Francisco. Today though it was nice to find a little town whose tourism industry lies not in its attractions as much as it’s style.

If I were to come to a place to take a true vacation, not the roller coaster ride of adrenaline that is my normal vacation, it would be here.

Where is the slowest paced place you’ve been too lately? Let us know below.

———————————————————————————————-

Also, check out what Expedia’s up to these days.

“

Inventory:

Behold, in front of you lies the treasure trove of tokens that Chris carries with him at all times.  We have…

One compass
One sundial
One headlamp
One telescope
Two nine volt batteries
One extra camera battery
One carabiner
One knife sharpener
One RODE external microphone
Extra rubber bands for RODE external microphone
One boatswain’s pipe “whistle”
One fine point ink pen
One fine point gold embellished pen
One ballpoint pen
Three flash drives
One extra memory card
One Travalo cologne canister (with Jean Paul Gaultier “Le Male”)
One travel sized Advil
One Buddhist prayer bracelet
One RODE microphone adapter
Fifty feet of extra-strength cord
One chapstick
One moleskine
Keys
One lens cloth
One Tibetan prayer flag
One Bahraini peace silk
Business cards
Silver business card case
One compass/thermometer key chain

Yup, that’s all.  You better believe that we’re pretty much prepared for anything.  Don’t even get me started on what he keeps in his pockets.

What do you always carry with you when you travel?  We’d love to know in the comment section below.

Chris is the exact opposite.  He’s the first one to pull over as soon as something catches his eye.  Last year on our trip across the U.S. with Best of the Road, he had us stop all along Route 66.  We saw the huge rocking chair, drank “route beer”, and even stopped in Metropolis to see the giant Superman.  I would huff and puff as soon as he pulled over, reminding him that we were on a schedule.  He would quite literally force me out of the car, or leave me there to wallow in my own grumpiness.  Without fail, I would eventually pull myself out of the car.  The thing is, our stop would always end the same.  I’d end up really enjoying myself and not want to leave.  These stops ended up being some of my fondest memories from the trip.

On this road trip I’ve been trying to make an effort to slow down and really take in my surroundings.  This is our road trip.  We are in charge of where we go, when we go, and how we want to get there.  I still find myself in the habit of trying to get to our destination quickly.  Today we were driving through the lonely California desert when we saw a cluster of rock formations.  Chris swerved over to the side of the road, and this time I was ready.  We were able to get some great shots and enjoy the beautiful (and extremely hot) surroundings.

Here’s to taking time to enjoy every aspect of our road trip, and many more stops like this along the way.

………

Have you heard?  We’ve been nominated as Tripfilms Filmmaker of the Year.  We’d love any votes that you can throw our way.  If you’re not already a Tripfilms member, registration is fast and easy.  Plus, you’ll get the insider scoop on travel related festivities.  Click HERE to donate a vote to Captain and Clark.  We truly appreciate your support.

The Uncork'd Grand Tasting Red Carpet

More food than we could imagine

Gordon Ramsay

Uncork'd at Caesar's Palace

Riding the ridge in the Sunbuggy

Chasing the lead car at Sunbugy

Also, we’d LOVE any support you could lend us on our quest to become Tripfilms Filmmakers of the Year.  It’ll only take a couple of clicks and we’ll be forever in your debt.

You can check it out HERE, and vote for us HERE. We’d really appreciate the vote. We’re up for:

1.) Filmmaker of the Year (the big kahuna)

2.) LOL Award

3.) Destination Profile.

You can vote for all three, if you so choose.  Unicorns feed off of your support… and well, so do we.

Waking Up in Weed

This is what we woke up to this morning. For whatever reason I didn’t know that Weed was nestled in the shadow of Mt. Shasta. I also was ignorant of the fact that Mt. Shasta is the second largest volcano in the Cascade range, weighing in at 14,180 ft. That’s just behind our pride and glory Rainier, 14,409ft. These are all things I learned this morning.

I also learned that Weed is cold. Nobody ever warns your about that in high school health class.

The Joy of Road Tripping

We hit the road at about 9:30 and savored the joy of driving to Virginia city. We cruised along 395 through Northern California and took in the sun, the elevation, and the fragrant junipers. We had the windows down and it smelled like we were bathing in gin. Somewhat reminiscent of college.

The Shoe Tree

A ways further down 395 we came across this little gem. At the time I thought the gin air was getting to me but once we pulled over to check, it was confirmed.  In the middle of nowhere, 25 miles or so north of Reno there is a tree full of shoes. Somewhere between a breakfast club homage and the creepy tree from 300, this rubber laden tree is apparently a popular phenomena on California’s 395 highway. From what we learned there is more than one and no one seems to agree of why they exist. The best story we found was this:

Once, a married couple on their way to a honeymoon destination got in a fight. The argument got so heated that the groom pulls over and yells at his new bride. She is so wounded by the out burst that she gets of the car and begins to walk away. The groom, now in full pursuit yells at her to get back in the car. She refuses so he tackles her, removes her shoes and throws them into the only thing nearby, the tree. Thus preventing her from walking away.

It must have worked, because years later their children come to throw their own shoes into the tree to celebrate their parent’s love.

The Symbol of Love

Personally I’ve never seen children celebrate their parent’s love. Then again… it is California. Stranger things have happened.

When we finally made it to Virginia city I was blown away. I didn’t know before we arrived that Virginia City was at 6200 ft. My only experience with the place up until now was watching episodes of Bonanza with my grandpa. Yeah, for everyone else born after 1985 here’s the Wikipedia link below.

Source

Bonanza for Beginners

Virginia City is pretty much the coolest place we’ve been too in a long time. Virginia City is the kid that shows up to a Halloween party in a full tailored outfit made of period appropriate materials, stitched by hand. In the world of theme towns, the one that has buildings from the 1800′s is king. Since it’s heyday in the late 19th century this mining town has kept it architecture and it’s charm. It looks and feels like a true western town, because it is.

We had the opportunity to tour the town by trolly, visit the novelty candy shop, take a tour of a mine shaft, and walk the boardwalk. Watch out for the videos we’ll be producing for this town. They’re going to be some of our best.

In the mean time we’re going to give you a taste of the town in pictures.

Yes, bacon flavored soda

Our new favorite saloon

There are so many incredible places to stay while you’re in town, including the charming Assay House on the end of B Street, it’s hard to choose. We were fortunate enough to get the opportunity to stay at the stunning B Street house B&B. The videos for each will be up soon.

The B Street B&B

Tomorrow, we ride at dawn. We have a long way to go to Las Vegas to make it in time for the Uncork’d event. As for Virginia City, you can bet your last silver dollar that we’ll be back and we’ll be writing more on this town soon.  In less than 24 hours this frontier town has branded our hearts. Tawny and I are already setting a course back here. The people here have made us feel like old friends in just a day.

———————————————

We encourage you to tell us any stories about Bonanza or Virginia City below in the comment section. We also want to announce the exciting news! We were just nominated as TripFilms film makers of the year for the annual Trippy’s awards.

You can check it out HERE, and vote for us HERE. We’d really appreciate the vote. We’re up for:

1.) Filmmaker of the Year

2.) LOL Award

3.) Destination Profile.

You can (and should feel free to) vote for all three.  We really appreciate all of your support.

Join us tomorrow for the harrowing ride south to Vegas!

That’s right, we’re currently shacking it up in the lovely town of Weed, California.  We covered about 350 miles of road today and it was pretty glorious.  We’re pretty beat from the driving and the sun (we don’t get a lot of it in Washington), so we’re going to keep this post short and sweet.  Here’s a wee wrap up of the last 12 hours.

We left Portland in good spirits after having ourselves a delicious breakfast at Piroshki and a Pickle.  Chris and I split a beef and potato piroshki, and also shared a cherry piroshki for dessert.  They were fantastic.  We were also able to get our coffee fix.  I ordered a “Mocococo”- a coconut mocha, while Chris indulged in a “Russian Mafia” aka an Irish creme latte.

After breakfast we set out for Cave Junction, a good 5 hour drive away.  The main reason why we wanted to visit the tiny town of Cave Junction was so that we could get a look at THIS…

A tree house!  Who doesn’t love a good ol’ fashioned tree house?  Vertical Horizons Resort offers three of these incredible tree forts.  We were able to give ourselves a little tour and get enough footage to make a sweet video of the place.  Give us a little time and we’ll have a blog post revealing all of the awesome details.  We cannot wait to go back and sleep in the trees (à la Katniss Everdeen).

After our little jaunt in the woods we headed back out on the open road.  We had no concrete plans as to where we were going to stay the night.  We consulted our road atlas (thank you Rand McNally) and decided that the town of Weed would be the perfect place to make camp.  We’re going to blog, upload, and edit a little before we pass out.  Tomorrow we’re heading to Virginia City where a stagecoach ride awaits us.  Until then, let’s drink in the gorgeous California sunset we had today.

After much debate, we decided that it would be better if we drove ourselves from Seattle to Vegas.  We’ll be able to save a ton of money (we drive a hybrid.  Woot woot), film more destinations for our show on RVNN, get hotel videos for Tripflims, and we’ll get to see and experience WAY more than if we fly.

Did I mention that we’re planning to hit up Palm Springs and San Francisco on the way back up to Washington?… ‘Cause we are!  I am desperately in need of some sun and relaxation and neither Chris nor I have been to Palm Springs.  It’s going to be glorious!

All packed up and ready to go.

Our itinerary thus far looks a little something like this:

Tuesday, May 8th:

Leave Bremerton, WA for Portland, OR.  Stay overnight with one of our close friends and get some rest.

Wednesday, May 9th:

Indulge ourselves in some Voodoo Donuts and Big Ass sandwiches (personally recommended to us by Adam Richman) before we leave Portland for Cave Junction.  Once we make it to Cave Junction, we plan on exploring and filming around town.  We’re crossing our fingers that we can get a stay at Vertical Horizons, a bed and breakfast retreat that is home to TREE HOUSES.  Yes, tree houses.

Thursday, May 10th:

Leave Cave Junction for Virginia City, Nevada.  We are so excited for this leg of the trip.  Thanks to Patrick from Virginia City’s CVB, we’ll be riding around in style (read: stagecoach) and staying at the incredibly cute B Street House Bed and Breakfast.  There’s a lot of filming to be done in this Victorian-era town.  Word has it, there are also camel races.  If that doesn’t peak your intrigue, I don’t know what will.

Friday, May 11th/ Saturday, May 12th.

Leave Virginia City and make our way to Las Vegas.  We’ll be shacking up at the Paris hotel (Oh là là) and wining and dining at the Uncork’d event later in the evening.  We’ll also be hanging out with Sandi and RIck from Midlife Road Trip.  So excited!  We’re also hoping to do some indoor skydiving, dune buggying, and tapas eating (thanks for the recommendations, Pause the Moment)!

Sunday, May 13th/ Monday 14th. 

Drive ourselves from Vegas to Palm Springs.  We’re hoping to stay at the lovely ACE hotel and maybe the Saguaro Palm Springs.  We have NO idea what we’ll be doing in Palm Springs but are definitely open to all suggestions that you can throw at us!

Tuesday, May 15th/ Wednesday, May 16th/ Thursday, May 17th. 

Drive to sunny San Francisco.  We plan on eating, drinking, and being merry!  Again, we’re definitely open to suggestions.  Hey Traveling Philosopher- we’re looking at you!

Friday, May 18th/ Saturday, May 19th.

Make our way to Ashland where we’ll be white water rafting!  Chris has never, EVER been. It should be a lot of fun.

Sunday, May 20th.

Head home.

So there you have it.  A quick rundown of where we’re planning to be over the next week and a half.  These plans are extremely tentative, but we couldn’t be more excited to see where we end up!

Let’s start by talking about the progress that we’ve made.  We’ve come leaps and bounds from where we were when we left Korea a year ago.  We started phase one of the expedition.  We made it down to the Galapagos islands and retrieved 22 letters addressed to strangers all across the globe!

Getting to the post barrel on Floreana island was a feat in and of itself.  We’re so grateful that the donations we received from our IndieGoGo campaign helped sponsor our Galapagos Odyssey cruise to and from the island.  We weren’t aware that the only way for us to get to the post barrel was by cruise ship.  We thought we could take a ferry or hire our own boat.  Cruises in the Galapagos are very expensive, and we were very fortunate to have gotten one for such a great price.

We’re also not sure how we want to shoot it.  Planning before filming is not something that we’re necessarily good at.  We have a guerrilla style of shooting.  We normally take all the shots we want, and then somehow piece it together.  The Maverick Expedition is something that needs to be carefully thought out if we want to do it right.

And, of course, there’s the money.  Since we want to deliver the letters in one go, we’re basically planning (and saving) for a RTW trip.  Since we’re freelance videographers, we have no idea when we’ll be booking jobs and what kind of money we can expect to get in.  We’re definitely not complaining about the path we chose, just rethinking of how to make this work.

We are forever grateful to those of you that have followed our journey from the start, and those that are joining us now.  We cannot wait to see how this story ends and we look forward to this adventure of a lifetime.

When the time came to take Ares, our 13 lb. mountain lion-infused Korean persian home to America, I felt prepared.  At 3 am I loaded all my worldly possessions into a bus bound for Seoul, 6 hours away.  In my hand I had Ares, neatly packed into his airline approved hard carrier.  I was calm.  I stowed my luggage under the bus and thanked the bus driver in flawless Korean.  I was a legend.  Tawny would be following along a couple weeks later. Tonight I was alone, just me and the cat.  I was poised.  I mounted the steps to the bus with an air of confidence.  That was, until the bus driver told me to put Ares under the bus.

I lost my s!%#.

After 10 minutes of explaining to the driver that there was a snowball’s chance in hell that I was going to stick my cat under the bus for 6 hours, he finally let me on.  I had to sit in the seat reserved for children and the elderly with my hyperventilating cat on my lap.  This is how our 20 hour journey began.

I love my cat.  And Sour Patch kids.  Mostly my cat.

If you’re a traveler, you will more than likely find yourself in a position to travel with your pet. According to National Geographic, “Six out of ten American households have a pet… More than half of all pet owners (60 percent) bought a dog or a cat on a trip in 2010.” As it turns out, Tawny and I are no exception to that statement. While teaching abroad in South Korea we fell in love.  His name is Ares.  You can watch Tawny swoon for the first time below.

However, after the initial courting period, the cold truth came to dawn upon us.  We were going to have to get this lynx sized, saber clawed, baby home.  This was the first time we had to ask, “how do you transport a cat on Delta?”  What do you need to do? Are there shots? Can he fly with you? Will he be safe under the plane?

Ares attempts to package himself didn’t seem like enough.  We had some research to do.

This is what we found.

Things you need to do to take your pet home to the US

1. Make sure they have their rabies shot and the paper work to confirm the vaccination.
2. Get a health check-up with a local veterinarian and a signed note saying that they are OK to travel.
3. Buy an airline approved hard carrier for your pet if they are going to fly under the plane in the designated (and pressurized) pet compartment.
4. Buy a soft carrier if your pet can fit under your seat. They will be designated as a carry on.
5. Line the pet carrier with wet pads for accidents.
6. The night before you fly, freeze their water in the pet carrier’s dish. This way it will defrost as you travel and give your pet water to drink without spilling in transit.
7. Bring your paperwork to the airport customs office before you depart. They will have an office specifically for pets. Show them the paperwork to prove that they have a clean bill of health and a rabies shot.
8. Drink. Take that edge off.

If you want to take your cat or dog home from South Korea (and many other countries) to the US, there is a narrow window for their shots. You will need to get their rabies shots at least two months before your flight. We almost missed the deadline. Also, call ahead to make sure that your airline carrier allows pet to come on-board.  Ares was too big to put under my seat so I let him ride in the pressurized pet compartment below the plane. The stewardess brought him fresh water every hour as we flew from Japan to Seattle.  I was drinking the whole time.  I don’t do well with animal related stress.  Normally I just carry my dog around, I’ve never had to trust animal transport to a third party before.

I have to say though, I was really impressed with Delta. When I touched down to transfer flights in Japan they were very calm and assured me that Ares was doing well. When we arrived in Seattle they personally hand delivered him to me with the utmost care.  When I kept asking for scotch on the flight over the stewardess got wise and told me that she would check on Ares herself.

If you have any questions about how to take your pet on a plane internationally or how to drink scotch, leave them in the comments section below. We’d love to hear your stories!