Days 44-52: Midwest Mini Tour (Chicago, Philadelphia, Indiana, Ohio, and more!)

After just taking a 6 week long trip around the entire country, doing an 8 day trip with my cousin Steve to the Midwest feels merely like a ten minute drive to the mall to me. However, this is the first time my cousin and I have done a trip like this together before, so I was more excited about sharing the experiences of the next week with him more than I was excited to see several new places along the way. Our first stop was to a city I have been to a handful of times but never truly had a great experience at or really appreciated at all: Philadelphia. The city of brotherly love has always left an impression on me quite the opposite of its nickname, and I visit it frequently since my brother lives only an hour away near Reading, Pennsylvania. Almost all of the major cities in the northeast (with the exception of Boston), seem to usually have a negative tone and aura to me, but I am always willing to give things another chance, so I was happy to see Philly with more optimistic eyes on this trip. On the drive there, we sadly had to drive through New Jersey, but as soon as we crossed the Delaware River into PA, we arrived into a town called New Hope, which proved to be a symbolic name for the town since we were introduced to massive amounts of “new hope” after happily leaving the “garden” state (one of the biggest misnomers I’ve ever heard). Anyways…back to topic…New Hope was a very impressive town with a “true” main street (something you don’t see too often in many towns anymore), and I definitely want to come back sometime in the near future to explore the shops, restaurants, parks, and people of this wonderful little town.

We arrived into Philly around 7 PM, and from the highway we saw some of the worst projects and ghettos our eyes have ever laid upon. A smokestack in one neighborhood had “nice town” or “nice ville” written on it, and for about 20 seconds I thought that was the most preposterous thing I’ve ever heard, but then I saw the surrounding neighborhoods nearby, which made the awful looking “nice town” look like Beverly Hills. We then got off the highway and instantly were brought back about 300 years in time. Directly in front of us were the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Seeing these two landmarks right next to each other definitely makes you appreciate the heritage and history that the former capitol of our country possesses. Just a week before this trip, I was in Philly with my nephew and took him to the Chesnut Hill area of Philly, which is very pretty, as well as the famous Mutter Museum, which has a lot of anomalous things, such as skeletons with abnormalities, and so on, which was one of the most amazing museums I have ever been to. Philly is famous for its cheese steaks, so we went to the two most famous places in the city to get them: Geno's and Pats. The two are completely opposite in appearance; Geno's looks like something that belongs on the Vegas strip or in Times Square, and Pats looks like someone’s house, but they both serve generally the same thing and are both right across the street from each other, constantly staring at each other face to face. After tasting both of them, Geno's won the taste test even though the place was too gaudy for my taste and the people who work there were pretty ignorant and rude (they have signs that say “speak English or leave” right on their window). We then washed down our food with some brews at the Darkhorse Bar (that’s right, I have a bar named after me in Philly!), and took a stroll down South Street before retiring for the night. Going to Philadelphia for the night definitely made me realize that I have a love / hate relationship with the city, it’s a place I don’t particularly enjoy that much, but something about it…maybe the history…maybe the cobblestone streets…or maybe the asshole-ish “I don’t give a shit attitude the people there possess…keeps bringing me back there time and time again.

The next day we stopped in Gettysburg, PA, which was a place I have never been to but have always wanted to check out. Now that I have checked it out, I never have a need to go back there again. It’s basically just a bunch of fields with cannons and statues, something that is probably important to see once in your life to pay your dues there, but no one should ever go there more than once in a lifetime. We then drove through western Maryland and made our way to Morgantown, West Virginia, where UWV is. It was truly a beautiful college town and university, and we went to a couple bars there and walked around the campus. I was truly impressed with the area, because even though I have been to West Virginia before, it was mainly just to drive through it and I never really stopped there to do anything, so I am glad that I finally did now and can’t wait to explore more of the state again soon.

After leaving there, we briefly went through Wheeling, West Virginia, which was a nice little town right on the Ohio border and we finally ended up in Columbus, Ohio at night time. Columbus is a little known city that I’ve been eager to explore for a long time, so I wasted no time and went right out on the town. We first checked out an area called Short North, which is a street lined with restaurants and bars. After barhopping there for an hour or so, we went to the Brewery District to barhop some more, and then stumbled on over to the German Village, which was a very nice, older part of town, with brick streets and beautiful older homes. Early the next morning, we walked around the campus of THE Ohio State University, which is the biggest college in the country. I was truly impressed with this area near the campus, as well as the entire city as a whole, and I’m glad we decided to make this city a pit stop on our trip.

After leaving Ohio, we were on our way to Chicago, the one big city in America that I have yet to investigate. My first impressions of the Windy City were very good; the night we got there, we walked around the Navy Pier, which is an area right on Lake Michigan that is very similar to Coney Island or Santa Monica, California. Usually I avoid tourist traps as much as possible when I go places, but since this was my first time in Chicago, I wanted to do and see the things here you’re “supposed” to see and do, just as a first timer in NYC would have to see the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, and Times Square. So, we decided to go the original Pizzeria Uno’s for some famous deep dish pizza for lunch, which was amazing, and then we went to Wrigley Field to catch a Cubs game, because I’ve always wanted to see their stadium. It is truly a beautiful and historic stadium and I was in awe to see it in person, and was shocked that it is practically in a neighborhood surrounded by apartments and bars. It was a hot day outside, so my cousin and I pounded down 6 beers a piece at the game, which probably cost over 100 bucks, and then went to a bar after the game to celebrate the Cubs 4-2 victory over the Pirates. At the bar, a random couple started talking to us and bought us drinks and shots, which of course we accepted, and when we told them we were from Connecticut, the girl had no idea where our home state even was, which was funny yet sad at the same time. After talking to them for about an hour, we all stumbled out of the bar and said goodbye to our new friends. At this moment, my cousin and I both got extremely sick and puked out our approximately 200 dollars worth of alcohol we had consumed in the past few hours. I passed out under someone’s staircase to the front of their apartment on a street, and my cousin passed out in an alley way nearby. We blacked out for about 3 hours before picking ourselves up off the ground and finding a random sketchy motel to randomly pass out in for the night. I was extremely thankful that the citizens of Wrigleyville just let us rest there in our own regret in peace, and we weren’t taken away in an ambulance or cop car instead. Of course, there was only one bed that we had to share at the motel, but it was still one of the most comfortable night’s sleeps I’ve ever had since I was so happy to be in a bed after a sloppy, embarrassing moment such as that. The next day we tried to get rid of our massive hangovers by walking along a couple beaches and Millennium Park and getting some fresh air. We capped off our time in Chicago by going to the Sky Deck of the Sears Tower (which is now called the Willis Tower), which is the tallest building in the country. The view from the top of the tower was breathtaking, and we watched the sunset 103 stories up from the ground, as well as walked on the glass floor where you can look straight down to the city streets, which was a great ending to a very interesting time in the city.

After leaving Chicago, we went to Indiana for 2 days, which is one of my favorite states in the entire country. We first went to West Lafayette to check out Purdue University, and then went to Indianapolis and walked around for a couple hours, which was a city I have never been to and was really impressed with. Lastly, we went to Bloomington, which is a town I fell in love with last year on my summer tour in 2008. I performed a show there the first night in town, at the same place I performed last year, and then we went to a couple of my favorite bars in town for an after party with some of my friends from the town, because apparently we hadn’t learned our lesson about booze in Chicago just a couple days earlier. The next day we walked around the campus of Indiana University, which is a place I might consider going to for my masters in Creative Writing / Poetry in the future, because I love the town and campus so much. We then spent the night with more friends at the local bars and restaurants that I wish I had the opportunity to go to every week instead of just once a year. Sadly the next morning, we left Bloomington and headed up to South Bend to check out the University of Notre Dame, which was a very beautiful campus that reminded me of an Ivy League school somewhat, and then spent the night in Grand Rapids, Michigan to visit a long time friend. Unfortunately, it rained out while we were there, so we couldn’t go check out my favorite beaches along the lake, but I did have time to visit the Meijer Sculpture Gardens in Grand Rapids, which is pretty much an outdoor art museum in a park, and it was very beautiful. We made our way to Cleveland, Ohio at night to watch an Indians game versus my favorite team, the Angels, which was fun since my cousin is a Tribe fan. We had great seats right behind the Halo’s dugout and I caught a foul ball, but sadly the Angels lost 11-3. Not to worry though, because my team is still in first place and his is in last place, so I didn’t mind that he got to enjoy a rare Indians win. That game concluded our trip, because we decided to just drive the 9 hours straight home instead of getting a hotel for the night, so we arrived back in Connecticut around 8 AM.

Even though this trip was really short compared to my previous one, we still managed to do and see a lot in a short period of time. I saw a lot of new places that I enjoyed and want to explore again soon, and if nothing else, it was a great bonding experience with someone who is both a family member and one of my best friends. Even though we literally managed to be both in the clouds and hit rock bottom within a 24 hour span in Chicago, they are experiences we will be able to look back on, laugh about, cherish, and tell our kids someday. With the conclusion of this trip though, comes the realization that my summer tour has also come to an end now, and my travel bug will have to be tamed for awhile until the open road calls my name again.

Days 39-43: A Week Back in New England (there’s no place like home...or is there?)

I have a disease. That disease is called the travel bug. It’s been affecting me my entire life, but now it is controlling me full force. And the best part is, there are no signs of a cure anytime soon, and even if there was, I would want nothing to do with the remedy.

I finally arrived back to Connecticut after traveling around the country for 6 weeks, and before I even had time to do my laundry or check my mail, I was preparing to go back on the road again. However, this time, I was going to stay in my home area of New England, to see more of the area I grew up in, and attempt to gain a higher appreciation of my roots. The night of my first full day back in CT, a handful of my close friends and I met up in New Haven for a “welcome back home” gathering to go barhopping and people watching, two of our most favorite things to do. Before going on my trip to the west coast, I used to pride myself on being from the New Haven area, and was always excited to inform people of the true beauty, diversity, cleanliness, and nightlife of the city. However, after coming back “home”, it simply did not feel like home anymore…something was different to me…New Haven felt just like another city and not like a place I still belonged in; it’s special charm that used to light my eyes with excitement…now gone. Perhaps that bulb had burnt out because I have just recently discovered better, perhaps I have overstayed my welcome; perhaps this was a calling for me to pack my bags and find a new home. I have spent so much time in New Haven that I could close my eyes and name every restaurant, store, bar, and club on every street and probably even know a person or two in each place without seeing them. This is not the type of place I wish to still live in; I yearn for a bigger city where I can get lost and then try to find my way back home, while discovering new things and places along the way. So although New Haven did not feel the same to me after seeing the entire country, I was still happy to see familiar places with familiar faces for the time being. Before meeting up with my friends, my cousin Steve and I walked around the Yale campus and admired the beauty of the buildings, which never fail to amaze me no matter how many times I see them. We then grabbed some hamburgers at the world famous Louis Lunch, where the hamburger was claimed to be invented. The night was perfectly finished by washing our dinner down with some half yards of Molson at Richter’s Bar near the city’s green while sharing stories of my travels amongst my comrades, and then parading over to an Irish pub called The Playwright to have some more brews for dessert.

Early the next morning I was back in the car again and off to Maine. Believe it or not, I have not been to Maine in about 11 years or so, even though it is only roughly 4 hours from my home, ergo, I was excited to finally be able to go back to “vacationland” to see it through adult eyes for the first time. Luckily, on my huge trip out west, I only saw rain for one night in a 6 week span, but on this mini trip around New England, Mother Nature was not so kind to me. I briefly walked around Old Orchard beach, which I can vaguely remember going to as a kid, and then arrived in Portland, where I had a show that night at the North Star Café. Before going to my show, I walked around the town in the pouring rain and had some clam chowder for dinner to warm me up, which New England, and especially Maine, is known for having the best of in the country. With soaked shoes, shirt, and all, I arrived at the venue for my show, and it actually turned out to be one of the best of my entire tour thus far; the crowd was pretty big and supportive, and I met some very interesting and kind people there, including a fellow poet all the way from Nicaragua. The next day I had really amazing Lobster Rolls (or Lobsta as we say it up in the northeast) at the famous Red’s Eats in Wicasset. I actually heard about this place originally because it is one of Andrew Zimmern’s most favorite places to eat in Maine, and of course I had to go there since I’m one of his biggest fans. I’m usually not a huge fan of lobster, but I guess that’s because I’ve never had lobster in Maine until now….wow was it amazing! The highlight of my time in Maine was still to come though, with the arrival to Bar Harbor to visit Acadia National Park. I have been to about a half dozen national parks this summer around the country, including Grand Canyon, the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Carlsbad Caverns, and Petrified Forrest, and although Acadia may not have matched up to some of those other parks in the “awe and admiration” factor, it did possess some other attributes and characteristics that the other parks may have lacked a bit; a scenic drive along a beautiful ocean for one, beaches, and an breathtaking view on top of one of the highest points on the entire east coast. It is actually said that if you are on top of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park during the sunrise, you will be one of the first people in the entire country to see the sun’s first rays in the morning…now isn’t that something neat? Unfortunately, I couldn’t be one of those lucky people since it was raining out again the next morning, but I was able to enjoy some sunlight both the evening before while on top of Cadillac Mountain, and later on the next day while driving along the coastline, going to the beach, and hiking on some of the trails in the park. After being in Maine for only 3 days, I cannot understand why it took me over a decade to come back here after my initial visit, but I can assure one thing…It will definitely be much sooner than that until I come back here again.

Subsequently, I made my way over to New Hampshire, where I had lunch in the scenic seaport town of Portsmouth, and then drove up to Mount Washington. I was really looking forward to being able to see the spectacular views from atop the summit, but once again, Mother Nature decided to punish me. I still decided to make the drive up since I came all the way there, and I’m glad I chose to do so. Even though I could not see more than 50 feet in front of me at any given time, the 8 mile drive up the mountain was still something very exciting to do. When I finally reached the summit over 6,000 feet from the Earth’s surface, I truly felt one with the clouds and gained a greater appreciation for the natural elements surrounding me. The cold rain beating down on my face and the angry wind pushing me back in my tracks was refreshing to me after almost melting alive in the deserts of southern Arizona just a couple weeks earlier. As I stood next to the “Mount Washington summit” sign and a red fox crossed my path only several feet away from me, I realized why New England is home sweet home to me, and how I love the fact that I can still be able to wear a jacket and freeze my balls off in July. Even though my reasons may sound crazy to some, I guess it’s one of those things that only Natives of the area would appreciate and enjoy. So although I was not able to see the views from atop the pinnacle, I was able to enjoy and appreciate the mountain in other aspects, and will definitely return to it again sometime during Autumn to see the views I missed this time.

Lastly, I drove down to Cape Cod, which, believe it or not, was one place I have never been to. On the way there, I quickly passed through Boston, which brought a smile to my face, because I plan on moving there in September for roughly 8 months or so, and it was the first time I have seen my future home since March. On the way down the cape, it was pouring again, but I guess my prayers to the rain Gods were finally answered, because the sun finally started to peek out from behind the stratus clouds once I arrived in Provincetown. I was very excited to finally be able to visit P-Town, because as I stated earlier, I love people watching, and what better place to do it than one of the largest homosexual communities in the country? I just got back from San Francisco, so I figured this would be a similar scene except in a smaller scale, but I must say, to my surprise, the people of Provincetown are a lot more open even than the people of San Fran. Both cities have the gay pride flags swinging off of every lamppost and street sign in the city, but I saw things in abundance in Cape Cod that was almost unapparent in the Bay Area, such as drag queens walking the streets and advertising shows they were putting on later that night, over flamboyant individuals eager to spark spontaneous conversations with unexpected (and possibly homophobic) tourists, and hundreds of couples holding hands and making out with no regards for PDA. Coming to places like this always makes me happy and gives me some faith in the world, because it’s great to see that cities such as Provincetown exist where people of any orientation or background can come and be accepted with no discrimination. It’s a shame more places like this couldn’t exist…but hey…when extreme right wing conservative jerks run and reside in the majority of the country, what else do you expect? So after my observations, Cape Cod was more enjoyable for people watching than San Francisco, because of the fact that P-Town is more condensed and "in your face" since it's a much smaller area, even though San Fran by far is my top choice for favorite city, because the beaches and scenery and personalities and lifestyles of the people of the west coast are on a completely different plateau than on the east coast…sorry New England, the truth hurts sometimes : )

When deciding to take a trip around New England after just being around the rest of the country, I honestly had no idea what to expect, and now after arriving back to Connecticut, I’m still not quite sure how to process what I just saw. Did I just drive around my home area, or was it just another place on the map? Sure…New England allows me to relive the years of my youth and appreciate the area I grew up in…but at 22, do I really want to be rekindling the old flames of my past…or starting the new fires of my future? At this point in my life, I obviously have more questions than answers, and I think that many of these will never find a true answer until my final moments on this planet, but in a way, that’s the beauty of life, and these very questions are what keep me on the open road, searching for new places, for new homes, and for new pieces of myself. In just a couple weeks, I will be off to the Midwest to explore Chicago for the first time, as well as go back to Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, but until then (even though I’m not quite sure in the validity of my next statement), I will attempt my best impression of Dorothy from the “Wizard of Oz” and whisper to myself that “there is no place like home”.

Days 26-38: Albuquerque, Denver, South Dakota…and the journey back home

California was the most amazing place I have ever been to, and it felt like home to me, but sadly, I had to leave there and return back to my home (for now) in Connecticut. After wiping the tears from my eyes from the thought of leaving the great Golden State, I started to slowly make my way back to the east coast. This started with a 7 day stop in Albuquerque New Mexico. My aunt and uncle live right in the city, so it was great to spend quality time with them during the 4^th of July holiday and have them show me around the area. I also got to meet my two adorable little cousins Sierra and Sydney for the first time, and we all watched the fireworks together on July 4^th, which was a great family experience. I also sampled a lot of traditional New Mexican food, including green chili, and some not so traditional items to the area, such as whole baby octopuses and amazing sashimi. I was quite surprised with the beautiful scenery of the area also, and every morning I would wake up to the breathtaking views of the mountains behind their back yard, and at night, downtown Albuquerque sparkled like a huge open treasure chest box full of diamonds and gemstones. I can’t wait to go back there in the near future to see the city and my relatives again.

After leaving New Mexico, I spent one night in Denver, Colorado, because I had a featured performance there. I was truly impressed with the beauty and cleanliness of the mile high city, but I personally didn’t feel like I was a mile above sea level, and even though I have asthma, I had no problems breathing there and felt no lack of oxygen. I left early the next morning and drove through Wyoming, where I stopped in Cheyenne for lunch. This was another city that I was impressed with, although it was a lot smaller and more desolate than Denver. I then made my way through western Nebraska, and truly felt in the middle of nowhere there, but the scenery there was also breathtaking, and I loved the feeling of driving on the open road with no one around. The mountains in Nebraska were also very beautiful and unique looking, which I definitely wasn't expecting to see while driving through the state. I finally made my way to South Dakota later that night, where I stopped at Mt. Rushmore to watch the lighting of the monument, which was a very nice presentation. I went to Mt. Rushmore again early the next day to explore it some more and hike on some of the nearby trails. I am usually not a fan of man made monuments and parks, and usually prefer the natural better, but there was something about Mt. Rushmore that was so breathtaking in its beauty, and the elements of the natural and man made are so perfectly intertwined in that area, plus you can’t help but feel extremely patriotic while those four amazing presidents are staring back at you. After leaving there and driving through the Black Hills region, I made my way to Badlands National Park, which was a truly amazing area and reminded me a lot of the petrified forest national park in northern Arizona. I drove through the various mountains and hills there for about an hour while mountains goats and rams were right alongside my car, and then I made my way about 4 hours east to the town of Mitchell, where a very famous Americana attraction is, known as the corn palace. Basically, I don’t understand the point at all about this place, but I’ve seen it on the travel channel before so I figured I would check it out. It’s basically just a large building partially made out of corn and inside the building is a gift shop with tacky souvenirs. After leaving there, I spent the night in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where I watched a very interesting laser light show on the river which had a narration about the town’s history.

The next day was a long day in the car, driving through states such as Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. I spent the weekend in western Michigan with a long time friend, and we went to a few of the beach towns right along the Lake Michigan shore. I honestly was very impressed with that area of the state, and it truly felt like you were at an ocean and not just a lake. The scenery was very pretty and the shore towns reminded me of ones I would frequently see back home or in other New England states. The next day I briefly stopped at Kent State University in Ohio to see the memorial of the 4 students who were killed there during the famous shootings and protests, and then I spent the night in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The following day, unfortunately, I saw the “welcome to Connecticut” sign for the first time in over 5 weeks, and even though I made it back to my home for now, I am really hoping and planning that this will not be my home for much longer, because as you can probably guess, I am a true vagabond and don’t enjoy spending too much time in the same place, ergo, 22 years in the same town in the same state is long enough for me. Where will I move next…Boston? San Francisco? Another country? Who knows….but until then, my travels will soon continue with a small tour up to Maine, New Hampshire, and Cape Cod next week. Good night…and travel well my friends.

Days 15 through 25- California Dreamin’ Becomes Reality

What makes a place good enough to be labeled “perfect”; is it the scenery, the people, the cities, the nightlife, the location, all of the above? Well, there is no such thing as “perfect”, but the closest thing to it is California. I have only dreamed of going to California since I was a kid, and finally at 22 years old, my dreams became true. I briefly spent two days in Las Vegas, Nevada before arriving to the Golden State, but I am not even going to talk much about my time in the Sin City, because I found it very over rated and, for lack of a better word, tacky. I live an hour from Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods so I felt no need to gamble in Vegas, and frankly, I like the Connecticut casinos better than the ones in Nevada. The only bright spots of my time there was seeing the comedian Carrot Top perform, and he was hilarious, eating lunch at the 5 star restaurant at the top of the stratosphere tower with its amazing view, and meeting up with a long time friend there one night, who later joined me to go to some beaches in the Los Angeles area later on in the week.

Ok, now back to my amazing time in California. My first four days were spent in San Francisco and the Bay area. The night I arrived there, I had a featured performance at a coffeehouse on the famous Haight Street, which was the hippie Mecca in the 60s and 70s. I was happy to finally be able to perform in California, because I have a huge fan base out there, plus it was always a dream of mine to perform my famous poem “California Clone” in the state it was written about. The show was a huge success, and the people I met there were some of the most down to Earth individuals that I have ever encountered (not to mention most of them were smoking weed right in the coffee shop!). Also during my time there, I explored the beaches and parks near the Golden Gate Bridge, met up with some long time friends in Berkley, visited Alcatraz, and enjoyed driving on some of the windiest and steepest roads in the world. I also went to Golden Gate Park (which is San Fran’s version of Central Park, except better), and saw Gavin Rossdale (the leader singer of Bush) perform for free, and during that concert, I noticed how chill and carefree all the residents of that area were, and how well I fit in around them. The second I stepped foot in SF I fell in love with it; the feeling I get in that city cannot be explained with words, but it felt like home there to me, and I am seriously planning on moving there in the near future.

I then drove along the Pacific Coast all the way down to Los Angeles, and the scenery of the coast along the way was unbelievable, in such towns as Big Sur and San Luis Obispo. I have never seen beaches and coasts with such amazing cliffs and rocks and sand dunes before, and it was truly breathtaking. When I finally arrived in LA, I explored most of the SoCal beaches, including Newport, Laguna, Hermosa, Venice, Malibu, Santa Monica, and Long Beach. Venice beach was amazing for people watching and I have never been to a place with both such eclectic people, yet beautiful scenery together as one.

Anyone that knows me knows that I am a huge baseball fan, and that I HATE WITH A PASSION the east coast teams that play near where I live. I have been a diehard Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim fan for the past 10 years, and I have always dreamed of going to a home game. Well, that dream became true this week also. I was literally in tears when I walked into Angel Stadium for the first time, because firstly, I was in awe of finally being there in person, but also because of the memorial to their pitcher Nick Adenhart in the front of the stadium who died in a car accident in April after being hit by a drunk driver. The memorial was a very touching sight to see, filled with Angel’s caps, rally monkeys, RIP signs, pictures of him, and other items. I paused there for a moment of silence before entering the stadium and going to my seats, which were right on the field directly behind the Angel’s dugout. I sat next to a really awesome guy from California who shared stories with me the entire time, and it was so surreal cheering on with a stadium of fans routing for the same team, because I am definitely not used to that when I go to Angels games in New York and Boston! When Vladimir Guerrero and Bobby Abreu hit home runs, the fireworks went off behind the center field wall as I was slapping high fives with everyone around me, truly an amazing experience I will never forget. The Angels beat the Rockies 11-3 that night, and I was happy to see my team get a win.

Sadly, while I was in LA, Michael Jackson had passed away, and the news was all over the place since I was right in the area. Now, regardless of what you think of his personal life, you cannot deny the fact that he was the king of pop and is one of the most amazing singers and performers of all time. He is truly an inspiration to many musicians and performers, including myself, and will be greatly missed. I stood in line for an hour to visit his star on the walk of fame in Hollywood to pay my respects, and then briefly visited the street his house is on in Beverly Hills, but the cops had it blocked off. I was truly impressed with how utopia like Beverly Hills seemed, everything about it was picture perfect, and I ended my time in Hollywood by taking my picture in front of the Hollywood sign in the hills. My final stop in California was San Diego, which I was also impressed with, while dining outside in the Gaslamp district and walking along the beach with the Mexico border in my sight.

Being a performer and traveling the country definitely has it perks, because I get to see the world while doing what I truly love, but it also has it cons too, because when you finally find a place that you could call home and could spend your entire life in, it is time to leave and go on to the next city and state. With that being said, I am extremely sad to leave the best state I have ever been to, but I will be back soon, and hopefully next time I am back, it will be to move here instead of just visiting. A very interesting thing happened to me while I was coming into California from Nevada; the state sign was missing so there was no official “Welcome to California” sign when I arrived! Obviously, this made me upset at first because my goal is to get my picture next to all 50 state signs, but California would have to wait till the day I actually left the state. But then I thought of the symbolism behind this; I will be seeing “welcome to California” the moment I am actually leaving the state, which to me shows that even though I am leaving for now, I am truly welcome back there whenever I wish, and that I never have to really say “goodbye” to the Golden State, because California will soon be my proud new home.

The beaches, the mountains, the forest, the hills, the big cities, the little towns, the food, the climate, the location…all these things make California amazing…but especially the people, their personalities and laid back attitudes, is what truly makes this state as close to perfect as one will ever find. I’ve been an East coast resident my entire life, and even though I have been on the west coast for only a little over a week, the Atlantic has nothing on the Pacific; the west coast is where it’s truly at, and it’s going to be hard to come back home and have it truly feel like home there anymore. California, I will be back soon, but until then, I’ll miss you and you’ll be in my dreams until I can make you become a reality again.

Days 10 through 14- The National Parks of New Mexico and Arizona

Dry…Hot…Silence…Serenity…Unworldly…Perfection. What I have experienced in the past few days in the deserts and mountains of the southwestern parts of the United States are beyond words, yet here I am writing a blog about it. Whatever is written in this blog will do my experiences no justice, because even a published poet and writer such as myself cannot describe the beautiful mix of tranquility and madness, the perfect blend of calm and chaos, the equilibrium of ugly and utopia, that I encountered in New Mexico and Arizona. In a nutshell, one must experience what I have for themselves in order to fully appreciate it, but I can only hope that these words and pictures will offer enough evidence to prove to you that some of the most amazing natural places in the entire world can be found in these two states.

After leaving my 3 night stay in Texas, I arrived into Carlsbad, New Mexico, where I spent several hours exploring the Carlsbad Caverns, which are the biggest caverns in the entire country. I opted to take the natural entrance into the cave rather than take the elevator down, so my journey began with a 45 minute walk through a zigzag maze all down a very steep 80 story decent to the bottom of the cave, which was very hard on the knees, but thankfully I’m doing this trip at 22 years old instead of 62. I have been to several caves throughout the eastern part of the US before, but the Carlsbad Caverns are unlike any other. Taking the natural entrance into the cave allows you to truly appreciate and comprehend the massive size of the cave, and the natural beauty of the various stalactites and stalagmites left me speechless. Spending several hours down there makes you forget what planet you are even on, because I have never seen anything else on planet Earth so surreal, yet magnificent at the same time that looks like the things I saw in the cave.


After leaving New Mexico, I was off to Arizona. First I briefly went to Montezuma’s Castle, where you can gaze through the windows of the past into one of the best preserved cliff dwellings in North America. This 20 room high-rise apartment, nestled into a towering limestone cliff, tells a 1,000 year-old story of ingenuity and survival in an unforgiving desert landscape. Marveling at this enduring legacy of the Sinagua culture reveals a people surprisingly similar to ourselves.

I then visited Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. With one of the world's largest and most colorful concentrations of petrified wood, multi-hued badlands of the Painted Desert, historic structures, archeological sites, and displays of over 200-million-year-old fossils, this is a surprising land of scenic wonders and fascinating science. This place is called “the painted desert” for a reason; the hills look like someone took a paintbrush and went over them with various shades of reds, oranges, blues, and grays. I said to myself that this was the most beautiful place I have ever been to, and that was true until I drove a little up north to the Grand Canyon.






When I walked to the cliff’s edge and saw the canyon spread out before my eyes for the first time, my jaw literally drop and I shook my head in disbelief as a tear of joy fell from my eye, because nothing this beautiful should even exist on this planet, it’s simply just not fair. Honestly, the Grand Canyon is probably just as big as or maybe even bigger than my entire home state of Connecticut, so I wish I had more than just a couple hours to see more of the canyon. But what I did see of it was the most beautiful thing my eyes have ever laid upon, and I will definitely be coming back in the near future to explore more of it for several days, including hiking down to the base of the canyon and whitewater rafting on the Colorado River. But for my first time there, I was quite content with just sitting on the cliff’s edge and taking it all in.


I was amazed and how drastically different the climate, scenery, and landscape alters in Arizona by just driving a little over an hour up north. In southern and central Arizona, there are many cactuses and sand covered mountains, yet up north, in Flagstaff and above, I felt like I was right back at home in New England or upstate New York, because of all the pine trees, greenery, snow covered mountains (yes, in June), and quaint little mountain towns. The beauty and diversity of Arizona impressed me a lot and I can definitely see why many people come here to live after they retire. Hell, I may have to retire extra early and move down here soon myself, because I fell in love with the state and didn’t want to leave.



Like I said before, there’s not much else I can say about my experiences at these 4 national parks, because words would not suffice the experiences. I can only try and let the pictures do some of the talking, but my only advice is to get out and explore these places for yourself, because you will then feel the way I feel and be enlightened, inspired, and awakened like I have to the true beauty and tranquility of the desert and mountains of the southwest. Out here, I was able to clear my head, but it was only filled with more questions about the origins of the planet, because I do not think that things this beautiful were made my accident over time; I think that some sort of God out there must be an amazing artist, and He used the southwest as His canvas.