So for all of you waiting for posts….we’re getting back on track with the timeline so this post comes to you from our drive south from Utah to Scottdale, AZ (suburb of Phoenix)…This is the video that kinda goes along with my previous post, “What are the poor people doing?”…
For all you readers, be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page and check out the “Next” and “Previous” pages and stuff..there’s a lot of older content to get you caught up with us on this trip.
So just a little background to get you all warmed up and back in the spirit of things:
We got hit with a huge blizzard in Salt Lake City that closed all the roads to Park City (so poor SammyB couldn’t try out his new board and gear)…We were freezing our asses off in over 6 inches of snow and just plain miserable. We decided to push on towards our next stop in Arizona where my friend Jessica had agreed to host us….
Not a bad way to go…so the pools are heated saltwater (no chlorine)…amazing! hah hah!
On another excellent note, we have a finally recieved our t-shirts from our sponsors at Bulla Clothing! (thanks, Kirk)….Be sure to check out the link on the right.
What this means for all your people out there is that we have great “I’m with Sam” t-shirts to give away….so if you feel like hosting us for a night or just donating a few bucks…we’d be more than happy to throw you a cool one-of-a-kind shirt….
Sorry for the delays in posting..we’re getting back on track soon..but here’s a little jump ahead…we just visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium today and I just had to post some footage…it’s awesome!
We’ll keep updating this week and we should have you all caught up by the weekend….hopefully….keep checking back!
OK, this is the only time I can say this but screw you Sam and Sam! I’m in Costa Rica right now enjoying the breezy temperature, white sandy beaches, and beautiful waves while sipping on ice cold cervezas. Yes, I’m finally doing something other than maintaining this website as your bucket boy while you two are out cruising on route 66 and having the times of your lives. Screw you!
Oh, and there’s a new poll out there for all you loyal readers.
Previously, on the imwithsam roadtrip, you may have noticed Shanghai’s unruly hair causing problems, not only with the high winds of Amarillo and New Mexico, but also with the ladies (although, the hair may not be the only problem). In this weeks episode, watch as Shanghai Sam finally bows to the pressure and gets his hair trimmed at a barbershop in Scottsdale, AZ. This will be his first haircut in more than 3 months…..
Last night, we were hosted by my friend Jessica in Scottsdale, AZ at the amazing Westin Kierland Resort. After 11 days on the road staying in Super 8’s, hostels, and other “budget” hotels, we were ready for something different.
We almost missed the hotel driving by in the dark, until SammyB pointed out the ridiculous looking complex set way back from the road down a palm tree-lined drive…and there it was…the Westin Kierland Resort & Spa…it was a 5 minute walk just to get from the public parking lot to the main entrance….then into a giant two-level lobby with library overlooking a fire-pit outside which sat on the edge of the TPC golf course….
Jess is on a project in Scottsdale, so she’s there Mon.-Thurs. She was a great host…took us to dinner at The Greene House:
2 Johnny Black and sodas before dinner
Steamed Mussels in a savory broth for appetizer
Braised Short Ribs with a veg. puree
Amazing food!
SammyB had the organic pork chops with stone fruit glaze
Jess had the Angus Ribeye with mashed potatoes and red cabbage
After dinner we went back to the hotel and met up with Jess’ coworker Mike for drinks outside by the ginormous fire-pit overlooking the golf course…more Johnny Black along with Kir Royale’s for the ladies (which includes Mike “I’ll have what Jess is having” Turon)…apparently Jess had been a little drunky the night before at the fire-pit and had gained some notoriety with the other guests (she was recognized by more than one guest by name, but she didn’t recall any of them)…..hmmm…drunky Jess is apparently fun Jess!!
Had a great night in a room overlooking the golf course and woke up to a beautiful 70 degree Thursday with a clear blue sky and the hotel’s heated saltwater pools waiting….ummm….make that 2 heated saltwater pools AND a fully-functioning lazy river and waterslide….with full poolside service….what are the poor people doing?!!
Less then two days after below-zero ass-freezing in Salt Lake City and driving through a blizzard, I got sunburned in Scottsdale courtesy of the wonderfully generous Jess!!! Awesome! Video is on the way…keep checking back!
Howdy boys and girls…just a quick update while we are taking a break in sunny Phoenix… We’ll likely be in Lake Tahoe the weekend of March 16th in case any of you want to meet us out there.
So we spent the past two days in Salt Lake City…pretty decent city though the diversity there seemed to be a bit lacking, and I don’t think that’s by pure chance. The city isn’t obviously overrun with Mormons though it is obvious the church has significant influence over the city and the state, with their many large buildings interspersed with government buildings. It’s a big city with a small town feel. Most everything in the city is within easy driving distance of downtown and many places have spectacular views of the surrounding mountains and the state capitol area. One of the highlights was a burger joint called Hires Big H. I had one of their tasty, signature Big H burgers with onion rings and their own specially brewed rootbeer float. Mmm, mmm, mmm… Highly recommended if you’re ever in the area!
It snowed pretty hard on our drive into town. Big, fat flakes seem to be the norm in Utah…perfect for skiing but not so much for driving, as Shanghai described. The first day we spent in SLC turned out to be really nice. We thought it would snow again that night and clear up during the day so we stayed another night and planned to hit Park Springs yesterday. I was pretty pumped to test out my new gear for the first time but it wasn’t meant to be. A nasty winter storm blew in from the west and never let up. While I was removing several inches of snow from my car yesterday morning, a guy drove up, saw me in my snowboarding clothes, and told me the highway to Park City was closed. C’est la vie…
We decided to cut our losses and escape to Arizona. But the drive was a harrowing one to say the least. It was almost total white-out conditions during most of the drive through Utah. One minivan driver in particular nearly ran me off the road twice with his/her crazy driving. And there was one steep downhill grade where my car started sliding even though I was moving at a snail’s pace. But we somehow made it down to Arizona unscathed and even opted to drive through the alternate scenic route near the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately, the northern road to Grand Canyon National Park was closed for the winter so we made our way to Flagstaff. We checked out the Historic Downtown section last night…well, the bars at least. The bars were very collegey — lots of random, poorly mixed party songs, bad karaoke, and sex-on-the-floor style dancing. We’ll check out the daytime stuff today and hit the southern access to the Grand Canyon. Tonight we’ll hit Phoenix where we are eating dinner and staying with Shanghai’s friend, Jessica.
For those of you tracking where we’ll be, we’ll probably hit an Indian reservation and Lake Havasu after Phoenix. Then it’s off to San Diego and Tijuana before working our way up the Pacific Coast. Looking forward to seeing all of our Cali friends next week! BTW, I update the Flickr photos on a fairly regular basis so check em out. More updates later…
The Sam boys are moving too fast through Arizona so I thought we should do a poll for the whole state instead of one city. The Sams will be going to San Diego eventually so help think of some interesting things for them to do.
February 27, 2007 at 12:35 am · Filed under SHANGHAI DAILY
Before I get into the hazards we encountered yesterday driving into Salt Lake City, I just want to do a quick overview of Denver….
SammyB did a great job with the restaurants in Denver…hats off to him for his two Japanese picks:
Domo - Traditional Japanese Country Cookin’ at it’s best…I had a big bowl of chicken, beef, and pork cooked together in a savory, spicy soyu broth with vegetables and glass noodles…amazing with rice! Thin slices of beef and pork, meltingly tender and juicy and larger pieces of chicken all just a little bit spicy and delicious on rice.
The main course came with 8 different little appetizer dishes including marinated and pickled vegetables, slow cooked meatballs, stewed beef with potatoes, sauteed peppers…etc…
The restaurant is also a fully functioning dojo for aikido with a museum and a beautiful rock garden. Definitely a must-eat if you’re ever in Denver.
Oshima Ramen - a Hole-in-the-Wall Japanese ramen restaurant…Amazing yet so simple! The restaurant is just a narrow bar with counter seating and a few small tables. The menu really only has 5 choices and then variations on those (more meat, different soup base, with our without a side of pan-fried gyoza). The best seller is probably their main ramen: perfectly cooked ramen noodles with Japanese char-shu (bbq) pork, a whole egg, and veggies in a light soyu broth with bits of slow cooked ground pork and onions. The side of pan-fried gyoza is a must. 5 gyoza lightly pan-fried and served with a mustard-vinegar sauce. Deee-licious!
*e-mail us for directions to these wonderfully delicious restaurants
okay…so them two Sam boys got themselves into some fun on the drive from Denver to Salt Lake City…
We were heading out of Fruita (right on the CO/UT border) and got some advice from a local boy to head down local highway 6 instead of Interstate 70 to get to the state border….so I’m driving down this little two lane highway (and by two-lane I mean one lane in each direction) and it’s starting to get dark…kinda that dusky light where you can’t really see that well and your headlights are still kinda useless…when suddenly there’s a brown cow staring at me down the road!
It took me a second to realize that there was a COW on the road before I hollered at SammyB and slammed on the brakes! For the next few minutes we did about 5 mph through a herd of cows in the middle of nowhere Colorado…mind you, there are no other cars on this road and by now it’s barely even paved…so really, we can only do about 40mph without shaking the car apart.
We finally get past the cows and drive right past the connecting road that will take us back to the interstate….I pull a u-turn in front of a lone farmhouse and the car is suddenly attacked by two dogs (one mottled white and one black as night)…they’re barking their heads off and running alongside and in front of the car…i’m doing 2 mph trying not to hit these dogs or run over their feet….the big black monster is barking right at my window as it runs alongside my left front tire…I’m freakin’ out and laughing at the same time and trying not to hurt these dogs….SammyB is screaming at me to watch out for the white dog as I’m trying not to kill the black dog…we were so freaked out we forgot to film (probably too dark anyways)…HOLY COW!!!
Finally, we’re getting close to Salt Lake City when the snowstorm hits…I’ve never driven a car in a snowstorm…the snows flying at the windshield like we’re in Warp or something….all this on curvey mountain roads….awesome! When we finally get to SLC, the roads are all covered in ice and snow and I’m hydro-planing all over the place! I don’t respond well to the brakes not working when I step on them…really trippy….you step on the brakes and the car keeps going and then you kinda steer the glide away from other cars….scary fun..but we arrived in one piece and everything….guess you can’t keep those Sam boys down!
We’re on the road again making our way through some big fat Utah snowflakes and will be in Salt Lake City by the time you read this. This past weekend in Denver was a blast. It reminded me how much I liked living there. I took Shanghai to two of my favorite Japanese restaurants, Domo and Oshima Ramen. We met up with several friends including locals Joy, Tony, Christina, Noah and crew. And by some strange stroke of luck, our friends from Chicago, Iris and Brian, just happened to be in town that weekend. We also made an excursion to Fort Collins, home to Colorado State University and many breweries. I don’t know how the college students there get anything done. We hit the New Belgium Brewing Co, makers of the Colorado favorite, Fat Tire. It’s like Shiner is to Texas. But the highlight of my weekend was a stop at the Singletrack Factory, a small mountain biking and snowboarding shop in Denver, where I bought my first snowboard package! Here’s my setup:
Those of you who know me, know that I research anything and everything to death before I buy it. I seriously considered going all Burton (Custom X board, CO2 bindings and Ion boots) but think I will be really happy with the GNU. It has won many awards and people who have ridden it swear by the Magne-Traction cuts along the side that allow it to handle ice and other poor surfaces well. Thirty-two is a lesser known brand (outside the snowboarding and skating communities) but their boots feel almost like a regular shoe, at least on my feet. I also bought the store’s only remaining snowboard bag, an orangish-red plaid (Burton calls it “Industrial Average Distressed Plaid”) Burton Gig Bag. It definitely stands out but I kinda like it. Burton also makes matching clothes but I think the bag’s enough for me. I can’t wait to put the new gear to use!! We didn’t go up while we were in Denver but there are several opportunites ahead. Park City, Tahoe, Mount Hood, Whistler, Jackson Hole, Big Sky, Stowe, etc.
After leaving the Denver area we stopped in Fruita, Colorado, home to some world-class singletrack mountain bike trails. It was an interesting small town. As I explore more and more places, I see myself leaning toward a medium-sized town or a large city next to a ski mountain and/or ocean (snowboarding and/or surfing). I don’t think I want to live in a pure resort town though because I appreciate the diversity of people in places that subsist on more than just one industry. But we’ll see…I’m still keeping my mind open to anything.
-SammyB
Justin (my salesperson) and I installing my new bindings!
