15 Cities in 30 Days

NOLA

2009-10-03T12:40:00.000-07:00

We arrived in New Orleans on Thursday evening and got a cab to the place we were staying. We stayed with Laura Buenger, whom I went to high school with (and actually had not spoken to since high school, but we rekindled our friendship quickly). We went to Johnny and Franky's for some Po' Boys, had some wine and some beers, and went out. We went to Ms. Mae's, the self proclaimed "cheapest bar in America." It was indeed the cheapest bar in America. We hung out there for a bit and then went home for bed.

Yesterday morning, we woke up, got a bagel and hopped on the streetcar to the French Quarter. First we went to Bourbon Street, where we drank Hurricanes and Hand Grenades while we walked along the sidewalk. Then we walked down to and along the Missisipi. We went the world famous Cafe Du Monde where we got Beignets. Beignets are very similar to funnel cakes, and equally delicious. Then we wandered the French Market, which has a great flea market and farmers market. Next we explored the New Orleans Mint, and saw some old money making machinery.

Last night, we went to the birthday party of one of our hosts, partied in a few different bars, and went to bed. Now we are back in JFK, awaiting our connection to DC. More photos and updates to come!

For all photos click here!

Chicago and New Hampshire/Syracuse

2009-10-01T10:24:00.001-07:00

We got into Chicago in the afternoon and were met at the airport by Ben Nethercut. We walked around Wicker Park and then went over to a mutual friend's apartment, the Nethercut's. They live across the street from water tower place and have beautiful views of Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline. We had a lovely birthday dinner for Emi Nethercut (my mom attended as well!). Then we back to my sister Emily's apartment, where we stayed. We went out in the Wicker Park area for a couple drinks, then went home. In the morning we ate at the new Lincoln Park location of the world famous Sarkis Cafe. Next we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo, which is free! We spent most of the afternoon looking at animals at the zoo. Then we explored millennium park and got to the Art Institute only to find that they close at five o'clock.

We went home and ordered some Lou Malnati's Chicago Style Pizza. After dinner, we had some beers and went out to the bars with Emily, Breida Martin and Heidi "the hammer" Hemmesch. In the morning, Biff and I parted ways for the first time on our trip. I went to New Hampshire and Biff returned to Syracuse.

In New Hampshire, I stayed with old friends from Montana, Christie and Stephanie Gosselin. We had delicious homecooked meals both days, picked apples and looked at the autumn country side, went bowling and partied at Applebees. All in all, it was a grand old time. Biff will have to post what happened in Syracuse. We have just rendezvoused, and we are off to New Orleans in 10 minutes. More photos and updates to come!

Virginia

2009-09-27T10:36:00.000-07:00

Richmond turned out to be the city that would break our streak of beautiful weather. However the overcast and rainy skies would not hinder our adventures in the historical city. We took a cab from the airport to our host, Matt Austin’s house in what is apparently known as the “Fan” area. Given that we had just taken a red eye flight directly from the Great American Beer Festival, we immediately crashed for several hours. After recharging our batteries we decided to explore the area on foot while we waited for Matt Austin to get home from work, or the “slave cage” as he calls it. Luckily we were able to stumble upon the Science Museum of Virginia and because there was a very nice lady working and it was closing within the hour, we were allowed in for free. After our speedy educational experience we met up with our host and drove to neighboring Charlottesville to spend the evening with Austin’s brother Stuart “Red light” Smith. Stuart has an apartment with a great rooftop lounge area that we spent the beginning of the night meeting friends and enjoying some delicious Pabst Blue Ribbon. After an entertaining night and fully absorbing the Charlottesville nightlife we spent the next day touring the Monticello estate of Thomas Jefferson. Here Stuart sponsored us allowing us to take a guided tour of Thomas Jefferson’s house and grounds surrounding. Once we had acquired the wisdom of Thomas Jefferson, Stuart drove us back to Matt Austin’s house in Richmond where we met up with Matt Hancock who was in town on business, adding yet another Bay View comrade to the group. Matt, Matt, Stuart, and several local friends then guided us through the rainy streets to a local bar where we were able to rub shoulders with the Virginia Tech community and have a great time with good friends. Although we weren’t able to try any local micro-brew beers we were able to try some locally made hot apple cider in the Monticello area. As I write this we are back in JFK terminal 5 awaiting our connecting flight to Chicago where our eager co-host Ben Neithercut is waiting with a calculated plan of exciting things to do during our stay.

Total Flying Time: 40 Hours 15 minutes.

If you donate more than $20, we will do anything that you want us to do in any city, and take a picture of it for you (within reason). More updates and photos to come!

Denver

2009-09-25T04:03:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Denver midday on Wednesday. It was one of the quicker cities (less than 36 hours), but it was certainly exciting. The weather was crappy, and we met fellow travelers Chris Minoletti and Sam Anderson and went to Matt and Nicole's apartment and took a much needed mid-trip two hour nap. After that, we went our for some delicious Indian food. Then we picked up a few local beers, went back to the apartment and had a nice relaxing night. This was a much needed low key evening, and it the weather was perfect for it. On Thursday, we woke up, had coffee and dropped off our suitcases at Patrick (my brother)'s office, and then met Chelsea Iacino and her boyfriend Chris for lunch at Tokyo Joe's. After that we drove to Red Rocks Ampitheater and national park. We explored Red Rocks for a while, absorbing the beautiful surroundings and the pictures and artifacts of so many incredible musicians who had played there in the past.

After Red Rocks, we went home, took showers and made pretzel necklaces. We were unaware until that day, but everyone makes a pretzel necklace for the Great American Beer Festival, in order to sustain some level of sobriety in the unbelievably large ocean of beer that is GABF. These proved to be very helpful later on. Then we got a taxi to the Colorado Convention Center and got in line with 10,000 other people. When the doors opened, beer began flowing quickly.

Each pour is just 1 ounce, which seems like a very small amount, but it allows people to try many beers. Also, after 4 and a half hours, the 1 oz glasses begin to add up. We lost count of the beers that we tried, but of the 500 breweries represented and 2100 beers on tap, it is safe to say that we at least put a dent into it. Every brewery that we have visited on our trip so far was there, so we visited some friends we had made in previous cities. Overall, it was probably the most overwhelming experience of our lives, with more beers on tap than there have ever been in one room at the same time in the history of the world.

After the Beer Festival, we got picked up by Patrick (which was very kind of him), and we went straight to Denver International Airport, where we caught a redeye flight. We just landed at JFK, and got great views of the sunrise during our landing. We are now awaiting our connection to Richmond, and it is 7:22 AM.

Best beer in Denver: Ska Brewing, Modus Hoperandi IPA

Total Flying Time: 37 hours 15 minutes

For all photos click here!

We have recieved over $300 in donations to our paypal account, many thanks to all who have decided to give their hard earned money to two kids on a hellbent mission to conquer the US in 30 days! Also, our new offer is this: If you donate more than $20, we will do anything that you want us to do in any city, and take a picture of it for you (within reason). More updates and photos to come!

NYC

2009-09-23T11:00:00.000-07:00

We arrived in New York City on Monday at 3 pm. I lived there for 4 months last year, so I am fairly familiar with the city, but Biff had never been, so we decided to just move quickly and see as much as possible. We got on the subway and went straight to Manhattan for a slice of pizza. Then we began lugging our luggage through the booming metropolis. We looked at the World Trade Center, which was very amazing and somewhat emotional. Next we took a brief walking tour of the area and went down to the water to look at the Statue Of Liberty and Ellis Island. At that point it was time to head to Jersey City for our welcome barbecue at Ian Stewart's beautiful brownstone apartment. There were about 15 people at this backyard barbecue (in the photo), and it consisted of a wide variety of delicious food and beer.

Eventually, we went out to the local Jersey City watering hole, deciding that we had a full day and night in Manhattan and Brooklyn coming up, so we didn't need to make the trek that evening. The owner of the bar happened to be sitting at the bar drinking, and was so inspired by our journey that he demanded we not pay for any alcohol. We couldn't argue too much, and before we knew it we had had more shots than we needed, and went home. We folded our laundry and went to bed.

The next morning we woke up, had breakfast and headed to the city. We went into Williamsburg (in Brooklyn) first, to drop off our luggage at our temporary home for night 2. Next we walked through Williamsburg, the hipster capital of the world. We got back on the Subway and went to Union Square. From there we did a walking tour of the city, going to Washington Square, the East Village, Noho, NYU, and Greenwich Village. Then we took the subway to Central Park, took a brief tour and got back on the subway. We went to Rockafeller Center and Times Square, then we walked west to the Colbert Report studio, where we had VIP tickets for the taping.

After watching a hilarious episode of the Colbert Report, we caught the subway down to St. Marks Place. We walked around there a bit, and ate dinner at a small Venezuelan restaurant. Then we walked over to Mcsorley's, the oldest remaining bar in New York City, and had the beer that they brew in-house. Then we went back to Brooklyn, had a beer with my former British roommate, Richard Robinson, checked out the skyline from the rooftop and went to bed.

This morning, we got up at 5:30 and got on the subway headed for the airport. We were very unlucky with our subway connections, and did not arrive at JFK until 7:32, for our 7:55 flight. We rushed through security and ran through the terminal, boarding the plane 60 seconds before the doors closed. Here we are in Denver, for the Great American Beer Festival.

Best beer in NYC: Brooklyn Lager

Total Flying Time: 33 Hours 45 Minutes

For all photos click here!

We have recieved over $300 in donations to our paypal account, many thanks to all who have decided to give their hard earned money to two kids on a hellbent mission to conquer the US in 30 days! Also, our new offer is this: If you donate more than $20, we will do anything that you want us to do in any city, and take a picture of it for you (within reason). More updates and photos to come!

Bienvenido a Miami

2009-09-21T05:11:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we woke up, ate breakfast and went straight to South Beach. Although in that brief sentence it sounded like this was a swift process, that was not the case. We were slightly slowed down after the previous night. When we got to South Beach it was raining, so we did what we do in every city when we need to kill time: found a brewery. Microbreweries are not especially easy to come across in Miami, but with the help of one of our hosts, Whitney Roux, we were able to track down the Abbey Brewing Co. Although they are more of a brewpub than a brewery, they make their own beer so it was going to have to suffice. We each had a pint of their IPA, and rated it as meeeaaahh (that's a technical term for so-so).

By the time we were done with our beer, the rain had subsided and it was a beautiful beach day. We got there, set up our towels and spent the next few hours swimming and relaxing in the sun. For dinner we went to Five Guys Burgers and Fries, which was fantastic. The best part about it is that all condiments are free on burgers there, including sauteed mushrooms. Also they have free peanuts.
From there we went straight to the Standard Hotel, where Sunday Night Erotic Bingo takes place, which was a blast. The Bingo announcer has many clever ways of calling out the numbers that were picked, here are a couple of the less risque examples:
B-13: In order to date Micheal Jackson, you have to B-13
N-54: N-Filthy Whore
During the game there is a server handing our free shots constantly. I won the first game, and got two free drinks. Being the crafty guy that I am, I got double whiskey gingers for myself and Biff, essentially doubling the free alcohol. A few rounds later, Whitney got bingo, but she had tied with someone else. If there is a tie in Erotic Bingo, the decision maker is a dance-off, obviously. Because we had come straight from the beach and were all wearing swimsuits, and Whitney was ecstatic to have won bingo for her first time ever, she took off her shirt in the dance-off (only revealing her swimsuit, but still).

Aside from the stripping aspect, she busted out some incredible moves, and the crowd did not hesitate to crown her victor. Her prize was 2 day passes to the hotel's spa, an hour long massage and a $25 bar tab at the bar next door, called Purdy's. So we went to Purdy's, which has board games, a live DJ and a drink special called Happy Meals (A shot of Jager and a beer for $6). We played Jenga and Candyland, drank some happy meals, had a stranger buy us more happy meals and took a picture of a girl dressed like Britney Spears caressing a blowup doll. Then we went home and went to bed. Today we go to New York City. We have tickets to The Colbert Report tomorrow, but no plans besides that. Many thanks to Amanda Rouse and Whitney Roux for hosting us in Miami.

Best Beer in Miami: Dos Equis?

Total Flying Time: 25 Hours 45 Minutes

For all photos, click here!

We have recieved over $300 in donations to our paypal account, many thanks to all who have decided to give their hard earned money to two kids on a hellbent mission to conquer the US in 30 days! Also, our new offer is this: If you donate more than $20, we will do anything that you want us to do in any city, and take a picture of it for you (within reason). More updates and photos to come!

Day 2 in Austin, Day 1 in Miami

2009-09-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

After a crazy Thursday night in Austin, we all woke up with a mutual need for swimming. We had been advised by people we met at the bar to go to Hamilton Pool, so that was where we decided to go. After we found out that it was closed we decided to go to Barton Springs, which is a large man pool with water from a natural cold spring. Tyler cooked breakfast for us and we went to the pool. We were there for the better part of the day, finally having a period of relaxation after 10 days of constant movement.
For dinner we went to a local barbecue stand and had huge plates of beef brisket, beans, potato salad and bread for 6 dollars.

After dinner we drank a bottle of Malbec and some Lonestar (Lonestar is the local equivalent of Busch light). Then we went out for a second night of tearing up Austin. This time it consisted of whiskey shots and tall boys. There were no roommate on roommate fist fights. When we got home, we made tacos and went to bed.

Yesterday we woke up and went straight to the airport, and had a direct flight to Miami, where we are right now. We got in at 3 o'clock yesterday and spent the rest of the day watching football. Our host, Amanda Rouse, cooked us dinner and then we played a long yet intense game of Uno. We then went to the bars for some drinking, dancing and other nonsense. When we got home, we went for a swim in Amanda's pool and went to bed. Miami pictures are on the way.

Best Beer in Austin: (512) One Belgian Strong

Total Flying time: 25 hours 45 minutes

Leaving Boston, Arriving in Austin

2009-09-18T09:12:00.000-07:00

On our second day in Boston, we first visited Pine Manor, where my mom went to school a couple years ago. With us were Jake Anderson and Martha Datlen. It was interesting to see the grounds where my mom had been living and learning long before myself or my siblings existed. After that, we got lost in a gated suburb, but finally found our way to the Sam Adam's Brewery. This was a much more formal brewery tour than any we had been on before, lasting almost an hour. We learned all about Reinheitsgebot, the German purity law stating that the only ingredients in the production of beer can be barley, hops and water. This law has since been repealed, but many breweries (including Sam Adams), still hold to its rules. The only exception is post-brew flavor ingredients such as spices or citrus rinds.

After our tour and tasting, we headed to Harvard. We watched the Harvard Crew team practicing on the Charles River, and we visited John Harvard's statue on campus. We found a local shop with 4 dollar pitchers of Pabst Blue Ribbon, and were unable to pass that up. After a quick pitcher and slice of pizza, we went back to Jake's house for another home cooked family dinner, this time a delicious stew. We had some Chardonnay with dinner that Jake bought in Australia 4 years ago. After dinner Jake made us lattes, then we went to a Boston College watering hole. Due to bar prices, we were stuck drinking Coors Light for the evening, with the exception of a shot of Jameson.

Yesterday we woke up at 6 to head to the airport. We landed in Austin at 10:45 AM, and went straight to Dan's Burgers. Our hosts here are Will Gardner, Tyler Krowsoski, and Max Van Wagner, all of whom are friends from the University of Montana. I warned Biff that my friends in Austin were characters. I am not sure if I gave him enough warning. First we went up Mount Bonnell, the highest point in Austin. We hung out up there for an hour or so, enjoying the beautiful views of Austin. I nearly killed Tyler when I overthrew a beer to him as he was standing on a cliff. Luckily, he had a picture perfect catch with one foot on the edge of the cliff and his body leaning over the edge at full extension.

After that, we went to Trophy's on Congress for a bit, while we waited for our appointment at the 512 Brewery. 512 Brewery is a very small operation that has only been in business for about a year. It was the least formal brewery tour that we have had so far, but it was very informative. We stood next to the taps in this one room brewery, and talked to the owner about all aspects of his brewery while we tried his beers. He discussed the challenges of being a new brewery trying to establish a name, and he talked about developing new beers with limited time, people and resources. At this point, he is having trouble brewing enough beer to keep up with demand. He wants to grow organically, only investing his profits without taking out loans or receiving investments, so for now he is just trying to sustain business rather than expanding. We let him know that we would see him in Denver for the Great American Beer Festival.

After the brewery, we went to downtown Austin and had some fish tacos at Wahoo's. Then we went down to the bridge for the #1 free tourist activity in Austin, watching the bats fly out from under the bridge at sunset. The pictures didn't come out because it was dark, but we saw thousands of bats fly out from underneath us, and it was mildly exciting. Then we went home, drank some Tecate then went downtown. Within 3 minutes of being in the downtown area, Max and Will, who had been arguing about nonsensical things for the past hour, got into a fist fight with each other. Somewhere between beating each other up on the sidewalk and begging the cops not to arrest them while they both were bleeding, their differences were settled and they were friends again.

6th street in Austin is crazier than Mardi Gras. The streets are blocked off for 6 blocks and every single door is a bar. There were thousands of people stumbling up and down the middle of the street. We spent most of our time at Shakespeare Pub, where they have $4.00 pitchers of whiskey and coke. After drinking whiskey pitchers and mingling with the locals, Biff and I sat on a a balcony across the street and had a beer while watching the drunken people below. After that, or designated driver took us to the house where our hosts used to live, so that Will could jump in the pool. Will and Max got in another fight there, and the girl they were fighting over lost her shoe. Max and Tyler walked home, and we got a ride. When we got home, we made some taquitos and went to bed. Austin is crazy.

For all photos click here.

Best Beer in Boston: Boston Beerworks Mom and Pop's wet hop crop ale.

Total flying time: 22 hours and 45 minutes

New sponsors! Elizabeth Ringold

Thanks for the support!

Boston

2009-09-16T08:52:00.000-07:00

After arriving in Boston, we found ourselves following one of the underlying themes of this trip, eating burritos. Our host, Jake Anderson, was unaware of the fact that we ate an absurd amount of burritos while staying in the Mission in San Francisco, so he took us straight to Anna's Taqueria. The burrito was very delicious nonetheless. Next we dropped off our bags and headed downtown for the walking tour. We walked part of the Freedom Trail, but blazed our own path through much of the city. We visited Long Wharf (we have been on a wharf in 75% of the cities we have visited). Then we saw the the Old North Church, a statue of Paul Revere, and two parks (Boston Common and Public Gardens).

After two hours of walking, we were felt that we deserved a flagon of ale. Being the tourists that we are, we chose the Cheers bar. We tried the Harpoon IPA and Sam Adams Pumpkinfest. Next we got back on the T train and went back to Jake's house for home cooked lasagna casserole and grilled salmon, complimented with red wine. After dinner we went right back to the city, this time to the Fenway Park area. We went to a bar called Flagon and Cask, and then to Boston Beer Works. Boston Beer Works brews all of their own beer (fifteen of them right now). They don't bottle any beer, so it can only be enjoyed in the restaurant. We tried the Mom + Pop Wet Hop Crop Ale, Grand Cru, Boston Garden Golden, Landsdowne Lager, Buckeye Oatmeal Stout, and Beantown Nut Brown. All were very good, but the jury is still out on the best beer in Boston.

Then we took the T train back to Newton, made the twenty minute walk to Jake's house, took some shots of bourbon, drank a night-cap Sam Adams Summer Ale and called it a night. This morning we went for a 2.3 mile run, along the Heartbreak Hill portion of the Boston Marathon route, and then we had breakfast and coffee. We plan on visiting a brewery today, and are not entirely sure what else is in store for us. More photos and updates to come!

For all of our photos click here!

Leaving Syracuse

2009-09-15T08:33:00.000-07:00

After 52 hours of the college life in Syracuse, we are now back to JFK on the way to Boston. We saw an outdoor Girltalk concert, played Long Island Ice Tea flipcup in an empty bar on a Sunday night, toured the campus, had free samples of beer at the local Middle Ages Brewing Company, and had an evening of Scategories and Taboo. Overall, Syracuse was a blast. Our only unfulfilled goal was to running, which we just couldn't bring ourselves to do after the crazy day/night that we had on Sunday. As I am writing this, we are sitting in JFK airport 15 minutes before our plane was scheduled to land. We have been on seven Jetblue flights so far this week, and every single one has been at least fifteen minutes early, further proving that Jetblue is the greatest airline to ever grace our skies. We will be in Boston this afternoon, with no clue as to what is in store for us there, expect photos and updates!

For all Photos click here!

Best Local Beer in Syracuse: Syracuse Pale Ale (Middle Ages Brewing Co.)

Yesterday we got one more donation! Here the list of our proud sponsors:

Jonathan Smith

Cassandra Simmmering

James Tuck

Martha Huntenburg

Thanks for the support! If you would like to see your name on this list, click DONATE on the right-hand side of the screen.

Total Flying Time: 18 Hours and 45 minutes

Official Sponsors!

2009-09-14T09:17:00.000-07:00

We have received multiple Paypal donations, so we are now officially sponsored on our trip. Here is our list of proud sponsors:

Jonathan Smith
Cassandra Simmering
James Tuck

If you would like to see your name on this list, click the donate button on the right hand side of this screen!

Syracuse

2009-09-14T07:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday and today are the only time during our trip that we have two consecutive days without any flights. This is much needed for us after a very long day yesterday. For most of the day we were at the GirlTalk concert, pictured here. This was very crazy time, set in the beautiful wooded hills of upstate New York. After that we had dinner and a nap, and made our way to the bar for three dollar Long Island Ice Teas. Today we are going to explore the campus and surrounding area, go jogging, attend Kailin's group meeting at school, visit the local brewery and eat dinner at the famous Dinosaur Barbecue. After that we are going to have a game night consisting of Taboo and Scategories. More photos later!

Total flying time: 17 hours 35 minutes

GirlTalk

2009-09-13T19:15:00.000-07:00

Syracuse

2009-09-13T10:58:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Syracuse around midnight last night and got picked up by Kailin Vandevelde. We were quick to absorb this town's college culture with shots of tequila and rum chased with beer at Kailin's, and then an hour or so at the bars before they closed. Today Biff cooked us breakfast, and we are about to head out for an outdoor GirlTalk concert on campus. Photos and updates later!

Click here for all of our photos so far!

Total Flying Time: 17 hours 35 minutes

Leaving San Fran

2009-09-12T09:42:00.000-07:00

After a full day in San Francisco yesterday, we are getting ready to make the coast-to-coast trek again, this time eastbound. Yesterday we started off the day with a hike to Burnel Heights (pictured above). In the photo we are with three of our hosts here in San Francisco: Ariel, Andy and David Bowie. Burnel heights is a huge hill rising above the mission area of San Francisco, with beautiful 360 degree views of the Bay Area. We had previously noticed that this is a very dog-friendly city, but it was not until we came to this hill that we realized the extent. We saw over one hundred dogs during our 45 minute hike.

We then managed to find an American style deli in our neighborhood, a great relief from the delicious yet repetitive Mexican food. Next we rekindled our bus system expertise and ended up on a trolley that was originally a train car in Milan. Although we got on the wrong transportation system let alone route, we managed to make it in the right direction and found ourselves back in the massive Golden Gate Park. After wandering much deeper into the park than we had the day before, we set up camp in a field for some jogging/exercise. We feel that exercise will be one of the few ways for us to retain a morsel of sanity in this state of constant travel.
Next we got on a bus that took us up the west coast, all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge, which we walked on but did not have time to walk across. We made our way through fisherman's wharf and back down to our temporary home where we showered and headed back out.

We rode the train to San Mateo where my Aunt Sally and Uncle Jim live, and Biff got to take a ride on a very interesting vessel. It was a Laser with a shallow water engine mounted on its rear. After Biff and Jim returned, it was too dark for me to go out, but now 50% of our goal to go on a boat is completed. We then had a fantastic homecooked spaghetti dinner, consisting of sauce made from Aunt Sally's homegrown tomatoes, with garlic bread and homegrown green beans on the side. In addition, we had some Mexican beers (Dos Equis Amber and Tecate) and red wine.
After our fantastic dinner we went back to the city and met up with another friend, Lulu Ford. She took us around her neighborhood, the Castro. Being the most homosexual neighborhood in San Francisco, it was an interesting scene. Next we went to yet another Mexican establishment, and had a beer. Then we headed home, content that we had absorbed all that is San Francisco culture in 48 hours.
Although we knew San Francisco was a laid back, liberal town, we were absolutely blown away by how laid back it was. We did not expect to see pot growing in window sills and being smoked in public like it was Woodstock. We also were very amazed by the relaxed attitude of everyone, with seemingly no rush to do anything. It truly seemed as though nobody has a job or any obligations. We both felt that it was an amazingly cool culture, but neither of us were sure if we could survive it long term.

Best local beer in San Francisco: Big Daddy IPA

Morning in San Francisco

2009-09-11T09:24:00.000-07:00

Our hosts warned us that many previous visitors had suffered sleepless nights on the misshapen pullout couch that we would be sharing, but we both awoke feeling like we slept on a bed of clouds with angels massaging our backs throughout the evening. Now that we feel as though we have mastered the absurdly confusing San Francisco public transportation system, we intend to conquer the rest of this deceivingly massive city today. Rather than jogging in our densely populated neighborhood, we chose to return to Golden Gate Park (which seems to be giving Central Park a hell of a run for it's money). We have no other specific plans for the day, but have no doubt that we will find something to keep us busy. Post a comment if you have any suggestions!

We will from now on be selecting a favorite local beer in each city, and for Portland, Maine the winner was Shipyard Pumpkinhead. The jury is still out on the best local beer in San Fran.

We are glad to be on the ground on September 11th, but we also feel that the ability for us to take this airport hopping vacation is a tiny example of the unwavering strength of the United States, displaying the perseverance of our technologies and luxuries that people attempted to rob from us 8 years ago. We will be flying in and out of JFK many times in the next few weeks, and will always notice and never forget the altered skyline of Manhattan.

For more of our photos visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/fifteen30/sets/
Total Flying Time: 10 Hours 45 Minutes

San Francisco

2009-09-10T22:07:00.000-07:00

After our late night swim in the North Atlantic Ocean, we got a few hours of sleep then went to the airport. After 7 hours of flying time and a one hour layover, we arrived at San Francisco Airport at 11:04 AM. We hopped on the Bay Area Rapid Transit and found our way to the house where we are staying on Lucky Street. Although we did not actually know any of the people we were staying with, they have been more than hospitable and helped us with our first task at hand - jumping in the Pacific Ocean. We took a streetcar to Aquatic Beach and went for a swim, achieving our goal of jumping in the Atlantic and the Pacific in the same day. We stayed to watch sailboat races, seals and a thick fog rolling over the bridge. We then bussed and walked around town, including a walk through Golden Gate Park and a quick visit to Haight and Ashbury. The house where we are staying is in a predominantly Mexican neighborhood, so we happened to have had Mexican food for lunch and dinner today. More San Francisco stories tomorrow.
Total Flying Time: 10 Hours 45 Minutes

Portland pt. 2

2009-09-10T04:42:00.000-07:00

It is 7:45 AM, and we just got back to JFK to get our connecting flight to San Francisco. Our day in Portland was success with the exception of our failed goal of going sailing. We did jog along the ocean into town, where we wandered the cobblestone streets and saw the lobster boats returning to port. After seeing the entire downtown area and walking home, we headed to Shipyard Brewery for a tour. We arrived late, so we only got to see the last three minutes of the tour, but we were just in time for the free tastings. We sampled 7 or 8 different shipyard beers and let them know that we would be supporting them in Denver in two weeks at the Great American Beer Festival.

We then returned to the wharfs, where we bought 4 lobsters that had just been brought in on a lobster boat. After a very Maine-esque lobster feast and another great sunset, we kicked off the evening with shotgunned pbrs. We then explored the bars of Portland, finding jello shots, buckets of jungle juice and gigantic versions of Jenga and Connect Four. On the way home we jumped into the Atlantic ocean, because we knew that we would have a chance to jump in the pacific before sundown on the same day. For all of the pictures from Portland, click this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fifteen30/

Portland

2009-09-09T06:17:00.001-07:00

This morning we find ourselves in Portland, Maine. Yesterday we met up at JFK airport after Biff got to see Joe Namath throwing a football in the terminal (video below). We then boarded our flight to Portland, and had some great views of the rocky coast as we landed. When we had this photo taken by a Jetblue employee named Mary, she began asking about our trip and was very excited to have met her first real All-You-Can-Jetters. After catching the tail end of this incredible Maine sunset, we promptly purchased some beer and spent the evening getting to know the friends of our host, Jason Olmested. In addition to his human friends, his social circle includes multiple fish, two cats and an infant hermanns tortoise, all of whom were happy to meet us. Photos of late-night homemade pizza will be up soon.

As for now, we plan to go for a morning run along the eastern seaboard, followed by an exploration of Portland and hopefully an afternoon sail. We both have confidence in our sailboat hitchhiking/sweet-talking abilities, so with any luck we will be braving the Atlantic ocean in just a few hours.

1 Day down, 29 remain. Total time spent in the sky: Three Hours, fifty one minutes.

First layover JFK

2009-09-08T12:56:00.000-07:00

Shortly after landing and wandering the food court at JFK scoping out the options, I ran into a NY Jets press conference and ended up standing right next to Hall of Famer Joe Namath and former Running back Curtis Martin as they proceeded to throw a football back and fourth in the airport terminal. Apparently Jet Blue is now the official carrier of the New York Jets, and the players (and cheerleaders!) were there for the media spectacle.

Day 1

2009-09-08T07:39:00.000-07:00

Today we are beginning our journey. Biff and I will be leaving from Fort Meyers and O'hare respectively, and meeting at JFK in New York, for our flight to Portland, Maine. We have all of our bags packed, cameras and computers ready, and we will hopefully have some interesting stories and photos from our travels. Expect many updates on this blog, at least every other day. Bon Voyage!

2 Days left!

2009-09-06T14:46:00.000-07:00

We are in the final 48 hours before our travels begin. We don't have much other news, besides that our itinerary is temporarily finalized and we have lined up our stays in nearly every city. Expect this blog to become far more interesting in the near future.

Updated Map

2009-09-02T14:52:00.000-07:00

Here is the map of our travels. 5 days until departure!

All flights booked! (yet subject to change)

2009-09-01T08:41:00.000-07:00

Today we changed some of our flights around, and booked a few more, leaving us with a semi-official 15 city itinerary, which goes in this order:
September 8-10: Portland, ME
September 10-12: San Francisco, CA
September 12-15: Syracuse, NY
September 15-17: Boston, MA
September 17-19: Austin, TX
September 19-21: Miami, FL
September 21-23: New York, NY
September 23-25: Denver, CO
September 25-27: Richmond, VA
September 27-29: Chicago, IL
September 29-October 1: Washington, DC
October 1-3: San Diego, CA
October 3-5: Scott(Biff) will be doing Syracuse pt. 2 and Austin will be in Manchester, NH. This will be our only time apart on the entire journey.)
October 5-7: Seattle, WA
October 7: Las Vegas, NV
October 8: HOME!

Any locations and dates may change at anytime, but we have seats reserved on each of the flights listed above. All for $599. We may change them around for no reason besides that we have the all-you-can-jet pass,so we can. We will have an updated map on the site by tomorrow, and aside from that our only remaining task is to figure out what to bring with us.

2009-08-27T09:53:00.000-07:00

This is a map of our first 12 cities, as they are currently planned. We will likely make changes later, but we have flights booked for each of these cities. Austin put in his two weeks notice, so as of September 8th we will be two unemployed recent college graduates avoiding and ignoring a recession by living in airports.

Additions

2009-08-26T08:25:00.000-07:00

When I woke up this morning, I had a sudden urge to book some cross-country flights. Due to the Jetblue All-You-Can-Jet pass, this was a very satisfiable urge for me. We are now planning on leaving Denver at 12:59 AM (just a couple hours after the close of the Great American Beer Festival), and we will wake up in Richmond the following morning. From Richmond we go to Chicago, then DC and then San Fransisco. These are some exciting additions for us, and they lead up to October 1st, leaving us with just one week of unscheduled mayhem. Although the first decision we made was to close out the trip with a one night stay in Vegas.

We aren't begging, but we take donations!

2009-08-25T11:03:00.000-07:00

If you are so inspired by our trip that you would like to help us along the way, there are a few ways to do this. First off, if we are coming to your city, we would love nothing more than a home cooked meal and a bottle of wine (malbec?). Even just a loaf of bread and some pb+j would leave us very grateful, although we will not be able to make it through airport security with the latter ingredients. If we are not coming to your hometown, or you just don't want to encounter us amidst this traveling debacle, we have a Paypal account, and you can click DONATE on the right hand side of this page, and donate as much of your hard earned money as you can bear passing along to a couple of degenerates on a hellbent journey through the United States. Any support that you give us (even just $1.53) will of course be rewarded with a shout out on our blog, and maybe even a picture of you feeding us! Thanks!

More flights booked! (all are subject to change at anytime)

2009-08-25T10:46:00.000-07:00

As of yesterday we have added several cities to our adventure. After Syracuse, New York, we will visit Boston, Austin, Fort Lauderdale (Miami), NYC and then Denver. Of course, these will all be 2 day visits in each city. We will be staying with old friends in all of these cities, and our only concrete plans beyond that are attending the Daily Show with Jon Stewart in NYC and attending the Great American Beer Festival in Denver (http://www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com). We will keep you posted as any changes or additions occur.

15 Cities in 30 Days

2009-08-21T18:50:00.000-07:00

Scott Whaley and myself, Austin Smith plan to fly to 15 cities in thirty days on the Jetblue all-you-can-jet Pass. We refuse to stay in any hotels, and intend to spend very little money on food in order to afford the copious amounts of beer that will be required on a journey such as this. And we will be blogging (as well as 'phlogging')the whole way through.

Welcome to said blog. Thus far, we have booked our flights for 2 night stays in Portland Maine, Seattle Washington and Syracuse New York. We are visiting friends who are in college in Syracuse and Portland, and a former college roommate of Austin's in Seattle. We have many other cities picked out but have not yet made any schedule beyond the first three. We are open to suggestions for any city that you think we should visit. Feel free to follow us along our travels, and if you find that we are coming to a town near you, please do not hesitate to offer us food, shelter or most importantly beer! This picture is our celebratory shots of Crown Royal after we committed to this trip. Austin is on the left and Scott is on the right.