Jeb Update 11-22

Hi everyone. I’m not sure if anyone still comes to the site but I figured I’d get on and give an update.

Mike and I have been actively seeking jobs in NYC. I have applied at McKinsey and Company along with some other consulting firms. I know New York wasn’t our top city or our favorite region but after the trip ended we realized a few things.

First, I love the seasons. There is nothing better than fall. Also, NY has a romantic quality to in the winter.

Second, NYC is the place where the jobs are at. Recently, the financial sector has been hurting big time. I figured I have better odds to score an interview there than anywhere else.

Third, it’s close to home. NY is only 6 hours away from Johnstown. Moving there wouldn’t be too much of a hassle and visits home are only a short train ride away. Also, it would be nearly impossible to interview at places like Austin and California and get a job by graduation.

Thanks to all of you that have been to our site and read what we had to write. The hit count was one of the only things that motivated us to continue to write on the road. Who knows... Maybe there will be a new blog to come. “The Map of US: New York City”

Superlatives!

This is a list of our favorites and least favorites. This will be updated here and there when we think of new things to add.

Favorite fast food:

Jeb- Taco Bell. It is cheap and never got old. We would go on a taco binge for days at a time. I would always order two Fresco tacos and a cheesy bean and rice burrito with a side of sour cream. I have never been so full for $3.

Mike- Taco Bell was definitely the best. But Arby's was a close second. 5 for $5.95 is pretty sweet. We couldn't pass up a TB though.

Worst fast food:

Jeb- McDonalds. The food is super cheap and you can get a $1 large drink. However, you feel terrible after every meal. Just watch “Supersize Me”... it says it all.

Mike- I got nauseas just reading Jeb's response..

Best roads:

Jeb- If it didn’t cost a fortune to ride on their roads, it would be Florida. But surprisingly, I liked the Jersey roads. I had no problems there.

Worst roads:

Jeb- Pennsylvania has absolutely terrible roads and there is always construction. However, they do have people that know how to hold signs. The construction in Wyoming was the worst. We would wait for 15 minutes at a time while they trimmed a bush.

Best city:

Jeb- Austin

Mike- Austin. eventually Savannah .

Worst city:

Jeb- Phoenix

Mike- Philadelphia

Coolest sight:

Jeb- The geysers of Yellowstone

Mike - The bats in Austin.

Best Public Restroom:

Mike- When you need to go, and I mean go, find a Starbucks. There are always a million people in there so nobody notices, the bathrooms are private and clean, and they always have toilet seat covers. I prefer them to my bathroom at my house at school.

Worst Public Restroom:

Mike- I don't remember where it was, I think I blocked it from my memory, but at one gas station was the most disgusting bathroom I have ever seen. The flusher had been broke for weeks it seemed and every thing you can imagine added up. I mean it was everywhere, the seat, garbage can, the sink.. gross.

Chicago 2.

Our last day in Chicago, Jeb and I searched for Lincoln Park. We made a complete circle on our trip. We started in New York City getting on Subways the wrong direction and we did it in our last city too. We asked a man, who had just given other tourists the same news, and he told us to get off and head the other direction. 10 weeks, 30 cities, and we still were getting lost on the Subway, haha.

We finally made it to Lincoln Park. It is where the band Linkin Park got its name. That's a lie. But it would have made Lincoln Park a lot more interesting. We walked around the park and the little part of the city it was in. We had one last nice, relaxing day in a city other than Johnstown.

We met Taryn for sushi when she got out of work. She said she saw us with Dob walking down the street and he looked like our dad. Hahaha. I do get carded at R rated movies. Sushi was a lot less dramatic this time. Instead of gagging at every piece I put into my mouth, it was like every third piece. Jeb was already a sushi pro, so I couldn't seem like too much of a rookie. He got Unagi. It made me laugh every time I thought about it because of the Friend's episode where Ross thinks he has Unagi, and Rachel and Phoebe say "fresh water eel?" Watch it if you never saw it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpOTNKHvISM

Chicago is amazing. We both could definitely live there for a while. Taryn did scare us when she told us about the winters, though. She said it's windy, freezing cold, and kind of miserable. But there was an apartment open in their building that had us tempted..

Johnstown Magazine.

You know you've hit it big when you're in the Johnstown Magazine, haha. Check us out in the September issue, in stores now. Or pretty soon. Don't feel shy to ask for an autograph.. we might even do it for you. Haha, just kidding, but seriously go buy it.

And if you don't know by now, I'm talkin' about Chi town

Mike and I slept in our car for the last time somewhere in Nebraska. We drove all day and stopped at a rest stop around 2 am for some shut eye. Sadly, I can not say that our last sleep in our mystery machine was a good one. The sun came up at six and made our car into a hot box. We hit the road and headed for Chicago. The affect of 9 weeks of traveling was obviously taking its tool. We both were chronically tired and looked like zombies.

We got to Chicago around noon the next day. Our friend Taryn from high school lives there with her boyfriend, Dobber. They could not have a better location for an apartment. They are only two blocks from the legendary Wrigley Field and close to both the red and brown train lines. We got there and raided the freezer. We got something that we had been missing all trip. Both of us are Polish and come from an area with a lot of Slavic influence, so pierogi have been a major part of our diet since we were born. We ate the whole box (Thanks Taryn and Dob!) Making ourselves at home in strange places is no longer a problem for us.

We explored the area around Wrigley Field, aka Wrigleyville, until our host returned from work. We pretty much just hung out and watched the Olympics that night. Dobber made us a nice pork-chop dinner and we all caught up. Mike was super excited to hear that Dob is an accountant and actually enjoys his job. We caught Taryn up with the local scoop and then all went to bed.

The next day we took the red line to downtown Chicago. The transit system is pretty amazing there. It is no NYC but it comes damn close. We got off near Michigan Ave. We headed first to the Navy Pier. It is Taryn’s favorite place. There are restaurants, boats and a Ferris wheel. Head to http://www.navypier.com/ to learn a little more about this place.

We then headed to the nearest place to get a Chicago style hot dog. I got a hot dog and Mike got cheese sticks or something. The dogs are topped with mustard, onion, sweet pickle relish (usually neon green), a dill pickle spear, tomato slices or wedges, sport peppers, and a dash of celery salt. However, it never has my favorite condiment, ketchup. Strange. But the hot dog was great. Hands down the best that I ever had.

We walked down and back Michigan Avenue, aka The Magnificent Mile. For any readers out there that love to shop, this is the place for you! There is store after store. The girls all look pretty and are dressed in high fashion. The buildings are attractive and we crossed the Michigan Avenue Bridge, which was gorgeous.

We then headed to Millennium Park and took in the sights. The park is filled with art. There are many sculptures and striking architecture. There were tons of little kids enjoying the gigantic fountains. We stayed there for a little while until it was time to meet with our host for some Chicago pizza.

We met a Gino’s East of Chicago. This place was packed! We ordered a large supreme pizza and that was enough to fill the four of us and leave some left-overs. There was some confusion when we ordered however. We had the option of getting crumpled sausage or one large piece of sausage that covers the middle of the pizza. I wanted the crumpled but Mike was dead set on the other option. He rationalized, “Why wouldn’t we want sauce all over the middle of the pizza?” We looked like total tourists. Lol Well it could have been that or all of the pictures we were taking of the pizza.

Come back to hear a little more from Chi town and get our final thoughts on the city.

Denver, CO.

Ryan, our host from Denver, had easily more energy than anyone we have stayed with. So it was no surprise to us when he was yelling down the stairs, "wake up girls!" early Saturday morning. He had a whole day planned for us already.

His energy could be due to the fact that he bikes like 100 miles a day. There are a lot of outdoor activities in Denver. It seemed like everybody had a bike rack on the top of their vehicles. Other than bikers, we saw runners, mountain climbers, roller bladders, and even roller skaters. It’s a very athletic looking city during the day.

Our first mission was to tackle the highest paved road in America. Jeb went into a little restaurant and stole me napkins in case I got an inevitable nose bleed at the top. Luckily, I didn’t have to use any of them, haha. It was insane driving up there and the view was so sick. The most amazing thing about it was that people were actually biking up the side of the mountain. I think I’d rather jump off the top than ever attempt to bike it. At the top the temperature dipped the whole way down to 44 degrees. [This is the reason I am wearing Ryan’s Chandler Bing vest in the pictures.]

After we left the mountain, we went to explore downtown. Ryan had tickets for us to go to the Rockies game at Coors Stadium. We had time to kill and went on an adventure. And I truly mean an adventure. We went on one of the most trippy things we’ve experienced so far… the Denver bus. I’m not exaggerating when I say that at least half of the women didn’t believe in shaving. At one point a group of 4 fully dressed, in costume elves walked onto the bus. Ryan tried getting us to flirt with 3 of the strangest girls I had ever seen. It was a bad foreshadowing to the night ahead, haha.

We exited the bus and went to the capital building. It was really pretty but we didn’t get to go inside. We also got to see City Hall. We walked down a strip with more interesting characters. I spotted a Starbucks and had to go in, but not for the coffee, you will see what I’m talking about when you read all of our final thoughts.

After exploring, it was time to go to the game. Nothing beats a baseball game in the summer. Coors Stadium was packed with excited fans. We still think Pittsburgh has the most beautiful stadium, but it was nice to see a lot of support for the team, which is usually lacking for the Pirates. Jeb got to drink a Coors at Coors Stadium and we made new friends with the Grandma sitting next to him. After nine weeks, we needed to have fun with a grandma.

When the game was over, we decided to go explore the nightlife. It became a very interesting night. We were told that Denver was the “number one place for singles.” I don’t know if we went out on an off night but it was excruciatingly hard to even find one attractive girl. (The girls in the pic were the best looking ones in the bar... yikes) Ryan taught us all his old moves from college and tried hooking us up with every girl that walked by. In Southern California this would have been greatly appreciated, but not here tonight. We had more luck during the day with the attractive, athletic girls.

Denver was a really cool city and Ryan was one of our favorite hosts. I don’t think Denver was for me, but we could both see a lot of our friends loving it. If you love biking in the summer and skiing in the winter, and are a hippie at heart, you found your perfect city, courtesy of The Map of US.

Golden, CO

As Mike wrote before, it took us 13 hours to get to Denver when it was only supposed to take 10. When you start with the mind set that you will be traveling for a certain amount of time and it ends up being longer, even 3 extra hours can feel like a lifetime.

We finally did arrive at Ryan’s house just outside of the city. We had never met before. He could see that we were in no mood for the standard, “I don’t know you and you don’t know me so let’s talk for a few hours so I don’t think that you will murder me in my sleep” convo that we go through at every stranger's house. He was going strictly off of a reference from our good friends Jeanne and Howie Tompkins from Atlanta. We set up camp in the basement and hit the sack.

Ryan had to go to work early, early in the morning so he let us sleep in. On the counter in the morning were a hand-drawn map and a list of things to do. It is amazing how trusting people can be. We must have made one hell of a good impression on the Tompkins.

I quickly realized that we were only about 15 minutes from Golden, Colorado. We went there and to our surprise there was a brewery there. I don’t know if you have heard of it... It’s called Coors. And since we were by such a prominent land mark, we figured we had to check it out. For Blog’s sake.

This day happened to be the busiest day in Coors’ history. We just managed to beat the rush. Just before we were about to get into our little shuttle to go to the factory, the line doubled in size and stretched far beyond the designated standing area.

We got to the factory and began our FREE tour. It was pretty amazing. I learned a lot about the company and a lot about the beer making process itself. We got to sample some Coors that has never left the factory and also got the opportunity to grab 3 FREE 16 ounce beers at the end. The line was ridiculous so we decided that one was plenty. We joked and said that it would be a great place to pre-game. Later that evening we told Ryan we went there and he said that many college students at the Colorado School of Mines actually do pre-game there. We aren’t the only geniuses I guess.

We explored Golden for awhile after the tour and actually liked the town. However, from what Ryan told us, it is quite pricey to live there. We went hiking up “look-out” point to get a good view of Golden and then went to Buffalo Bill’s burial ground. It is featured i

n the book “1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die” and only God knows why. When we got to the museum it was closed. Well it was actually about 20 minutes before close but what can ya do? Rhetorical question but Anonymous says: Maybe you should spend less time drinking beer at Coors and then you could actually get to the museums on time.

Really the only thing that the man at the desk could tell us about Buffalo Bill Cody was that he was a glorified circus star. He started the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. This made the site a little less exciting. I wish we would have done research about the man before we headed up there. Apparently the man was a true pioneer of the west and quite the hero in his day. Learn more about this at http://www.buffalobill.org/.

That night we went to Boulder with Ryan. We had a blast! There is a lot to write about but this post is already way too long. All I have to say is Stamps and Hippies. Come back soon to read

about day two with Ryan as we take on the highest paved road in the US as well as Denver itself.

Coming Soon..

• Denver
• Chicago
• Final Thoughts.

Lia Show Update.

We've been notified that we are scheduled to air on The Lia Show tomorrow, Thursday, night. Make sure you check it out and try to find a station close to you that airs the show. We know that Froggy airs it in Johnstown. Check out Lia's website at www.radiolia.com.

Atlantic Beach, FL

Here is a little something that we found on the camera that we thought was long gone.