Niagara Falls (on its face! haha!)

Posted on August 15, 2008 by Zach

I’m pretty awesome at keeping my word. Every time I say “NEXT: blah blah blah” at the end of a post, I always deliver in the next post. If anyone cares to make me a trophy, perhaps saying “Internets Teaser Satisfying Champion” or “2008 Promised Topic Delivery Leader” or something, I’m pretty sure it would rival Stephanie’s leg wrestling trophy. (And if it’s better, then I get to make myself a “Best Trophy” trophy. Sweet.)

Anyway, as promised, here is a post about Niagara Falls (and can’t get up! haha!).

We looked all around both the American side (great!) and the Canadian side (better!), and even managed to get JH back into the US. Yay paperwork!

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

: The view immediately after entering Canada. It’s already better eh?

: Fast-moving water behind a slow-moving dude.

: Still Zach vs. rapid rapids: a study in contrast.

: The same shot, in landscape. Or portrait. I can’t tell right now.

: The shot of Niagara Falls (over!) that everyone takes.

: Little pilgrims, little pilgrims!

: Surf’s down!

: Ready to Board the Maid!

: Starting our Maiden voyage…

: Power. Tumultous Power. The Power of Nature.

: Those rocks are being eroded and they don’t even knowd it.

: Water: always nice.

: Friend, on observation deck.

: For all your Butt needs.

: View from Rainbow Bridge.

: That’s what water is for — taking pictures of.

: One can well imagine Zeus and his compatriots making soup.

: Jong Hun in front of a realistic painting we found.

: Yes, Rumiko, I know you are envious.

: View from Canada of Rainbow Bridge, the view that no one shoots!

: Lo, it’s the Maid — the Maid of the Mist.

: No, Rumiko, I’m not looking at all the other Asian girls…

: The edge is the best, where it’s clear for a bit.

: Friggin’ delicious Indian food. I’m so hungry every time I look at this picture.

I would like to make this an awesome collection of bad Niagara Falls (head over heels! haha!) puns similar to the ones in this post. If you can think of one, please post it below. Thanks.

NEXT: another awesome post where I deliver on this promise.

Buffalo, NY

Posted on August 12, 2008 by Zach

I promised you something exciting, and I’m about to deliver.

Buffalo! Amazingly, the origin of the name of this city is unclear — there are a number of contesting theories, with no clear winner. Also interesting is that the fictional Gotham City was modeled after Buffalo, with its abundance of Gothic architecture.

The drive to Buffalo from Pittsburgh was beautiful. It was a wonderful day and the scenery did not disappoint.

I even passed some Amish dudes driving their carriages but didn’t get a picture. Instead we waved to each other. I did manage to get a picture of one of the signs warning drivers to watch out for them though (a bad picture at that).

Next thing we knew, we were coming up on Buffalo (we didn’t know anything for several hours evidently).

The first thing we did is hang out with a Couchsurfer I’d met for lunch in Omaha on one of his stops, a flight attendant by the name of John Crandall. John is a cool dude and gave us the grand tour of his area; we walked all around, ate some nice burritos from a great place called ETS in the park, and had generally great times.

John was also helpful in finding a host and people to record. Unfortunately the dude who I’d planned on recording in the evening lost his keys while biking somewhere and had to spend the remainder of his evening hunting for his keys in the dark. Not fun.

So instead I met a girl who likes donuts!!

This picture was taken the morning after hanging out with her and our host Justin and several other awesome peeps (including another Couchsurfer who was also staying there that night) late into the night around an outdoor fire.

We stayed up late chatting and somehow she got on the subject of donuts, and we realized that it was important that we wake up early in order to eat some donuts. So we did.

As an aside, I’m suddenly curious if the “bon” in “bonfire” means “good.”

“I was curious about that too!” interjects Attractive Girl. “So I looked it up on the Online Eymological Dictionary! It says:”

1556, from M.E. banefire (1483), originally a fire in which bones were burned. Johnson mistakenly derived it from Fr. bon “good.”

Thanks, Attractive. So the answer to my question is no. But at least I can put the blame for my erroneous guess on Johnson. Darn that Johnson.

And, that was that. No one got recorded in Buffalo, sadly, but we did have a great time, eat some good donuts, and… see Niagara Falls.

NEXT: Niagara Falls. Don’t stay on the edge of your seat though, it’s not good for your posture. Also don’t bate your breath, just breathe normally. You’ll feel better that way.

Chicago, IL

Posted on August 2, 2008 by Zach

We spent four busy and fun days in the windy city. I’ve been behind on posting due to having so many pictures from Chicago and so much to report, so I might be a tad terse. Forgive me.

July 26th

The first night we met up with my old friend Stephanie Axne:

We had a good time chilling with her and her friend and her brother.

Then we called it a night.

July 27th

The next day we ate some breakfast at a really cool breakfast joint, the name of which I have forgotten. (Steph – if you read this, totally say the name of the place in the comments OK?) Besides the delicious eats, one of the highlights was this picture in the bathroom.

All the other pictures were roosters.

After breakfast, Steph put down some nice vocals for one of my songs, and then we were off to Gino’s East to introduce JH to Chicago-style pizza.

You have no idea how I’ve been craving Chicago-style pizza. The only place I could find it in Korea was at a Pizzeria Uno in CoEX mall, which had “Chicago style pizza” as a single menu item! Omaha doesn’t even have it. Not even at Old Chicago!! Seriously. Needless to say, the pizza was a huge highlight for me.

“What’s so special about Chicago-style pizza?” asks Attractive Girl attractively.

Actually, the fact that you don’t know decreases your attractiveness.

“Really. Did you know,” she asks coquettishly, “that I want to discover everything about the world, including Chicago-style pizza? Also, I value correct spelling and grammar.”

Okay, you’re still pretty attractive then. But I can’t answer your question.

“Why not?” Blink blink.

Chicago-style pizza must be tasted, not explained.

“But-”

No. That is my final word. You just have to go eat some. I would totally take you out on a date to eat some but you are only a narrative device. Too bad for you.

“Sigh… I wish I were real.”

We all do, believe me. But getting back to this post… after dinner we headed out to meet our next host, a happening dude by the name of Matt Lederhosen. We had some milkshakes, went to his house, chilled with him and our laptops, went to sleep. (INTERESTING FACT: that is not actually his last name, but it does start with L.)

July 28th

The next day we were off to see the city. We drove to the south side (where I had a session later),

hopped on the train toward the city,

got off said train once we were in the city,

and proceeded to take random pictures of stuff:

Not pictured: I had a good time taking JH to Ed Debevic’s, where the serving staff is rude to you. It was quite a change from polite Korea.

Then we were back to the south side to record my old friend from WU, Rob Leveridge. Rob and I used to make music together back in the day, when he had long hair and we were rock stars. Rob now has short hair, but he’s still a rock star. In addition to being a rock star, he works for Chicago Theological Seminary. We recorded in his office:

Rob had brought all kinds of fun toys, like a wave drum (never heard of it before), a frog (kind of like a guiro), and of course his guitar. He layed down a nice assortment of tracks for a few songs.

After that, I went downstairs to record this absolutely nasty-sounding old Steinway I had seen down there. The room wasn’t climate-controlled, and I believe the piano hadn’t been tuned. Ever.

There was also a chapel in one of the older sections of the building which sounded amazing. I wanted to record the Pakistani drum that Rob had brought with him in there. Unfortunately, there weren’t any power outlets nearby, so we weren’t able to record. Here is a nice bittersweet view of the space:

Finally, it was off to our next host, an extraordinarily helpful fellow named Taylor Brennan. We shot a few holes in the breeze there before going to sleep.

July 29th

Taylor is a singer (with a broadcasting degree… how cool is that?), and he broadcasted some nice vocals for several songs.

We took a break for food with Taylor and his girlfriend Kim and their other roommate Nicole.

After lunch, Kim joined in to do some group vocals with Taylor!

Then, it was back into the city for some more sightseeing!

Seriously, friends, we walked a lot. My feet and legs were already killing me from the day before, and then we walked several more miles seeing the city again. We walked all the way up the Magnificent Mile too. And, we were really hungry. Would you believe there are no restaurants on the Magnificent Mile?! It’s pretty much true. Finally, near the John Hancock building, we ate at the food court in Macy’s, at California Pizza Kitchen.

Then, we hopped in the John Hancock building up to the 96th floor for what is considered the best view of the city (for people without airplanes).

We came outside as a storm was busy beginning. We got rained on pretty hard as we ran for the subway station, where we discovered that the northbound train we needed was rerouted due to construction, and we had to go to a different station. Another run in the rain. Then a ride on a train. Then we walked back to Taylor’s place, passing closer to Wrigley Field this time.