PA love. The first go-round!

Alright! September 15th we left Illinois, had dinner at the Chicago Diner in Boystown, drove around downtown to try and see some sights like Millennium Park, but alas- we ditched out! We drove until we passed out at some rest stop. Trying to avoid Interstate Turnpike fees, we used the GPS to take some smaller highways. It worked, mostly. It was a beautiful drive into PGH the next morning! Rainy and warm, we stopped for some bagels and coffee and kept driving.

Carroll St. Many dudes live here.

Upon arrival at the Carroll St. House, we talked for a while, and Jon Ahn and Garrett Cassidy took us up to Mt. Washington for some Pittsburgh views. More bridges than Portland, that's for sure!

I love these dudes. Note: Jon is wearing Brum's hoodie. STOLEN goods!

After checking out some sights, we went to the beer store, yes, the beer store and bought a case of Yueng Ling lager, the oldest brewery in the country. I liked it juuust fine. At the beer store in PA, you can only buy cases. But, at the bar, you can purchase take away beers, i.e. six packs. I didn't think laws got more specific than the OLLC nonsense we have in Portland, OR. Anyway, after a few, we walked to the RockRoom for some fifteen cent pierogi and dollar Iron City beers! It was great fun.

Awesome screenprinted flyer on Cassidy's fridge.

His house was really great.

We walked to Kiva Hahn with Cassidy as our tour guide one day. This church look familiar? It's from Dogma. RIP George Carlin.

Large and lovely wheat paste.

This guy....

What a great guide. Urban hiking. We were warned about our GPS and these little alleyways and staircases that wind through the hills in PGH. Many have been led astray by their global devices telling them to turn right down a staircase alley.

Bloomfield is pretty.

Rath on the porch.

Cat Benatar

We spent one of our days helping to get some shirts screened for our dear friends, the best band in the world, Edhochuli. We also ate delicious Indian Food this day.

HANG REAL HARD. ANSWER TO NO ONE.

Mama Ros' Sandwich shop. Bloomfield, 4613 Liberty Ave. PGH, PA.

The following two photos are stolen from Yula's blog, because they better illustrate the beauty of this man. He and his wife own the diner. She cooks up a storm, he serves up sweetness and sarcasm. Hippies own the place, crust punks hang out and work there. Totally awesome.

[Oh, yeah! We met up with Matt & Mike on their roadtrip for a few minutes! They were on to Philadelphia, but it was great to see them. Check out that link to see some a better example of a more comprehensive travel blog. hehe.]

He "carries his utopia around with him."

Not pictured: We had an epic day after breakfast at the diner. Rath had just been back paid in food stamp money, so we ran to Whole Foods for some produce and yummy fake beef to make Stew! It was SO damn good. We just hung in the kitchen at Carroll St, drank whiskey & beers, listened to The Color and the Shape, talked shit, and then we feasted like kings! Jon and Dave make some daaaaamn good vegan stew. Enough to feed an army, on the cheap.

We had stew time then walked in the rain to a punk show at this house across town. I filled my coffee cup with whisky and ginger, loading my backpack with reserves. Once arriving at the show, we hung outside, drank, rocked out a while, and ran into Shae from Oakland! Go figure. Between one of the sets, this guy walked up to Ben, threw his arm around him, and began to sort of stroke his beard and hair.

Fast forward:::: show's over. We walked to a house party at Cassidy's girlfriend's house where we'd screened shirts the day before, stopping a few times so we could all pee behind one building or another. Party was silly and fun. The cops showed up and made everyone leave. This was funny. We walked home with Jon and Ben Johnson from Outclassed. Jon eventually made a slightly drunken debating detour with an ex, so Ben offered to walk us all the way back to Carroll St. since we didn't know the way. On the way- the guy who'd been stroking ben's quaff is standing in the middle if the sidewalk holding a huge rock. He proceeds to ramble about how he's locked himself out of his apartment, and he was going to throw the rock through the window but if we could help get him in, he's give us that rock. We're semi-interested, but Ben Johnson is quite handy and helpful. SO, he pulls out a credit card and bobby pin or something and opens this guy's door for him. There's a barking dog, and Ben loudly asks, "This is your apartment right? I'm not helping you break into someone else's place, right!?" Turns out alright, and off we continued to the house. Ben, with huge round rock in hand. I'm told he still has it, a year later.

Pittsburgh was good to us because the dudes were good to us. We are lucky. Rath let us sleep in his bed. We got to eat well, drink well, watch Edhochuli band practice, see a show, run around, laze a bit, and just hang. On our way out of town, Garret Mount gave us some great breakfast discount at Kiva Hahn and we were headed for Vermont to see Urris. The plan: Rochester, Niagara Falls on the way to VT then Montreal! Yes. Yes. Yes!!

Wonder Lake hang time.

It should be noted: I love Ben's family. All of them. They have welcomed me into their homes, lives, hearts and arms in the best ways: midwestern weddings, mountain time family reunions and more. So, when the opportunity arose to visit Brian and Camden in Illinois, I knew we'd have a great time.

We drove through Wisconsin and stopped in Madison for lunch and coffee. I really wanted to stop in Milwaukee to purchase a hokey Miller High Life beach towel (or something of the like) but we didn't have/make the time. ONWARD!

They live, technically, in a village. Wonder Lake is one of many little lake towns in this area of Illinois, just south of the Wisconsin border. The lake is private, for the residents, and everyone has a boat.

We arrived in Wonder Lake, just after dark, to Camden and some friends around the kitchen table. She'd prepared the fixin's for veggie burgers and once Brian got home- we ate and had a fire and beers in the back yard. Coors, naturally.

Wonder Lake house. So sweet.

One of the sweeeetest pups. Sylvia. We met Sylvia for the first time a few yeas prior in CO.

We went to the farmers Market in the next town over. What Ben and Sylvia are so excited about is that this little town holds some of the sites from Groundhog Day! The gazebo, the B&B, the bowling alley, and even the "doosie!" Though, the doosie is filled in. We walked through the gazebo. We didn't dance. One of the great laments of my life. "Put that anywhere pal."

[We did buy some delicious garlic parmesan bread though.]

Cousins. Brian lived with Ben for a short time when he was a tween in CA.

[Brian worked as a skier at Marine World!]

They had an opportunity to go skate together. I lounged by the lake and read.

We had a family dinner night with the kids, Ben's other cousin Christen, (Whose wedding we attended on my birthday in Wisconsin a few years back. SUCH a fun trip.) and Camden's parents.

Pictured: Camden's daughter CiCi and Lola Grace! The new(ish) mini cousin.

Lola getting an elephant ride from grampa!

The kid is cute. All smiles.

Family table gone dark.

One of my favorite shots from the whole trip. This great lamp hangs in the basement where Ben and I had our own room!

Arrival in Minneapolis.

I thought I had more photos of the fun we had in Minneapolis. This must be a testament to all that fun! Devon & Jess were great hosts. We met them in Portland through friends and they welcomed us into their new home in the midwest. They cooked for us, had a little bed for us, and we even had culturally interesting things to do while visiting! Jess took us to an art show, a music video premiere at a bar and performance. We enjoyed some local brews: I really liked the Bender by Surly Brewing. The night after, we went to see Efterklang at a really lovely museum auditorium space. The show was nice. Buke & Gass opened with handmade instruments and fun percussive songs. Our first live show of the trip!

Devon was on summer break and interviewing for Fall jobs, so we were fortunate enought to have him as a guide while Jess was working at school or the studio. Ben got a chance to consign some of his band's cd's to Extreme Noise, one of the local punk and metal record stores, a really awesome place. We found a copy of the BIG KIDS record, which made me feel all warm and fuzzy. One of our last days, we had breakfast with Hallee & Justen, friends from Oakland, that was also full of warm and fuzzy. Midwestern fuzz.

Ben & Devon preparing breakfast juevos. The dogs pay no mind.

One of many correspondence sessions we held to write to our loved ones. Sometimes this felt tedious- knocking out love notes by the dozen, but really, I enjoyed it. Can't wait for the next time I get to do this. (From a travelin' space that is...)

Car shot of N. Minneapolis... I think.

Scout, in Jess' lap on the way to the dog park!

Scout had a little scratch on her eye from a scuffle with Walter the cat. She was bummed. Ben is writing to his brother right now, I think.

D & J were dog-sitting for Jess' parents. Ginger was a sweet girl.

Breakfast with Hallee & Justen! We left town right after this and were excited to see Brian, Camden, and co in Illinois.

It must be noted: Jess is a really amazing artist working toward her MFA in Sculpture.

Here is (one of) her sites!

Sept 9th, the longest day.

The approaching view of Bear Lodge, aka Devil's Tower National Monument.

It really is in the middle of nowhere.

We sat here a while, watching climbers, being silent, arm in arm in awe, for about an hour.

Prairie dogs used to own the land.

We drove around Mt. Rushmore. Yes, it is impressive, but we didn't pay to park or stop. We did however, get led on a while turkey chase by the GPS, otherwise known to us on the trip as The Bitch.

We nearly drove through this storm, but it passed right over the highway.

From Mt. Rushmore, we pushed across S. Dakota to Wall! We talked about stopping, but the signs every 150 feet sealed the deal. We goofed for a couple hours and tried to head out before dark. We didn't make time for Badlands, alas. Another trip.

Lots and lots of this. It was SO windy. I swear we were getting at least five miles less to the gallon. We stopped twice across S. Dakota to fill up. Also- frogs. Lots and lots of frogs trying to cross 90. Real-life frogger

We rolled into Minneapolis at about 5AM, Devon and Jess had a bed all set up for us!