Last weekend I was invited to compete in the IHGF Professional World Championships at Loon Mtn. in NH. I have never been to NH so this is a new state for me to knock of my list. I think the only one I am missing now out of New England is Vermont.
View from hotel balcony
The trip was great. I am still a bit tired so this is not going to be as exciting as it could be. This area of New Hampshire is beautiful. I always enjoy being in the mountains since it is such a drastic change of scenery from Louisiana. Also any time I can escape and get to basque in cool fall weather early I take it. The weather stayed between 40-70 the whole time. There is no better throwing weather than sunny and 65 with a slight breeze.
My flights up were pretty standard nothing really new entertaining happened. I did luck out and get a row by myself on the tiny plane to Charlotte and again on the flight to Boston. This extra room and the ability to raise the arm rest so that I can spread my awfulness across numerous seats is always a plus. I watched a couple movies on the way up, "Attack the Block" and "Hanna". Both of these were pretty good. Check them out or don't it is you life. I wonder if I find movies that I watch on planes or in my truck better than I should under other circumstances? Perhaps cause they are free and entertaining me through an otherwise mundane day I enjoy them more.
My fresh whip....and chins
After arriving in Boston I waited for my car service to pick me up. (balling son!) So my Driver picked Scott Rider(thrower from England, also bobsledder for in olympics) and myself in a leather decked out Expedition. Really comfortable ride and I am sure that since this is my first Pro Games I am now spoiled. It is about a 2.5hr ride to the mountains from Boston.
The hotel we are at is a mountain resort at the bottom of a ski area. Really nice however kinda dated on amenities, things like old TV and no WIFI in the rooms. (not having wifi was weird, I could get wifi in the lobby but who the hell wants to hang out in the lobby?) Any way the hot tub and pool were excellent for recovery. Doing contrast and stretching everyday really made a big difference in my day to day recovery to throw well.
The contest happened. I got 2nd. Pretty pumped on this however it will get its own write up.
sitting on the slopes... smart!
We ate at all the local ski town stuff. Gypsy Cafe where I had delicious lamb chops and mashed potatoes. They also had some killer nachos for appetizers covered in steak and cheese. Everything here was really good but pricey. Something also a problem people in NH hate Air Conditioning. This is total bullshit, I am heavy and fat and need cool air and preferably moving cool air blowing on me at all times other wise the never ending battle with swamp ass will be a devastating defeat. There were a couple of pizza and sandwich shops that were OK. However there sandwiches are pretty turbo due to hot pepper relish, all places in america should have this. It takes normal sandwiches and makes them BADASS, like other sandwiches would totally have to hold it pocket and tie its shirt up in a knot exposing it's tender mid drift section while they paraded around the yard. Even Subway has this and now I know there is something I am missing while I force subway down my throat 10 times a week. UGH.
Appearance of my sagging chin... face like Rocky Dennis.
After the contest we went and ate Thai food. This place was totally sweet, good food and big servings. Also getting to listen to Rusty tell a story about how he almost killed a legend in our sport with therapeutic bee stings was amazing. Post dinner all stuffed to the gills we went to party and celebrate. The club was amazing it was perfect lighting, hot chicks, and good drinks. And by all those things I mean we went and got ice cream down the street at 7:30pm then went to bed. The ice cream place has a challenge and so I decided to throw down the $18.00 for it and watch Rusty attack it. He failed.... so sad was the day. Ryan Vierra could have plowed through this 5pound container of ice cream and topping no problem. I decided to call it and crash since I had an early pick up to go to the airport.
Coming home I was picked up by my town car(straight balling again.....)at 2:45am with one of the Maters Competitors and legend Mike Baab. We laid back in the cut enjoying the leather and discussed all things training and sport. This was better than sleeping I can do that when I am dead or most nights at 9:30 pm which ever comes first. The flights home were rough from Boston to Houston 4hrs sucks being jammed against a window by another large human sitting in the middle. This guy wasn't some circus fat monster just a normal sized guy and that amount of space just doesn't cut it. So I watched "Sexy Beast", "FAST FIVE" and "Red State" I'm sure you can all guess which of these was a steaming pile. "Red State" is by far the best of the movies I watched this weekend. It is an amazing film by Kevin Smith and the acting is excellent all the way through also brings up some interesting stuff.
Now I'm home and getting to hang out with my wife and start attacking work and the off season.I got to order some new toys for my training this off season so I am looking forward to getting my new lifting shoes and my Powerfactor.
This past weekend I made a couple flights and headed north to MN to compete in the Amateur World Championships. I know some of you will read this and say "wait I thought you already did that?" The answer is yes. However, there are multiple Amateur World Championships. This one I did this weekend has been around for a number of years and has a field mostly of the top Americans with some Canadians and a young Scottish lad thrown in to boot. I did this games last year and had a great time. When I was invited back I knew this was going to be possibly my last shot to get to throw against the top American Amateurs. I have not seen many of these guys since throwing with them in January in FL. It was a great time getting to talk shit and laugh with this group, is as good as it gets.
I flew out of our shit airport in Baton Rouge. This thing is small and has nothing to offer, but it is much closer than New Orleans and less people in it so that is a plus. Air travel is something I typically try and avoid at all costs. I hate it. I hate everything about it. I hate crowds of people, standing in line, touching strangers, dealing with the heard of mutants that they hire to be security, and most of all I hate being uncomfortable. So I am never very excited about it. This is why I drive everywhere I can. After leaving the Baton Rouge airport in a shit tiny plane with very little AC. I made it to Memphis.
This guy designed the airport... probably an asshole.
Memphis airport sucks donkeys. With its shitty beige brick walls and stupid music inlays in the floor it makes me want to fight the architects and bite my fingers.There are cheap shitty reproduction restaurants of some of my favorites in Memphis. Interstate BBQ is one example and is possibly my favorite BBQ ever. The airport version sucks. After eating a really lousy cheese burger from back yard burger. I made my way to my gate. This flight however totally redeemed the day. I had a full row in the back of the plane to myself. During travel this go round I watched two movies. "Limitless" I thought was good Ill give it a ranking of cool as finding a dollar in the pocket of pants you haven't worn in months. The other movie was something a bit different "44 Inch Chest" This english joint (that's what spike lee says so I'm going with it.) about cheating wife and revenge. Turned out to be a bit more artsy than I expected. I give it early morning bangers and mash after one to many pints.
shitty burger and fries thanks memphis airport...
This is the way A BOSS would sit on jets... well this or 1st class
(side note: I sometimes wonder about things. One of those things is what age or maturity will I eventually reach that if the option, to lay across three seats like a savage is available, will I decided to sit in my chair next to fat strangers. I hope never.)
Just totaled elite for SHW.. pictured while at parallel for SPF.
Finally arriving in MN the weather is good and things maintained a pretty normal schedule. Stop by the field, head to the hotel, get food, and then lay around watching TV passing in and out of naps. I did to eat pizza that day and take home every ones leftovers and plow through them the rest of the day working on sweet carb comas. There was a badass picture on the wall there of this monster fat guy. It didn't have any info so I figured I could do my own commentary.
CONTEST:
For whatever reason my head never felt really in the game. Warm-ups felt really mechanical and sloppy. At least I hopefully got this out of the way since next week I will need everything to be firing like a machine. Well a chubby machine built to throw moderately heavy things slightly above avg distances.
things went well I won 6 of 8 events and managed a new world record in the 56lbs Weight for Height. I threw 17'10" which is a Personal Record by 10". This came out of no where, but I'm not complaining and Ill take it.
So moving forward I have one major game remaining in my season. IHGF Professional World Championships at Loon Mountain in New Hampshire. This is my first official Pro games so why not start with one of the biggest most competitive ones there are. This will 13 total athletes from various countries all over the world. I am very excited about this opportunity to throw with these guys and it is going to be a shoot out all day long. My goal for it is to finish in the top 5.
Preparation:
My sweet gear box.. still the consummate gear whore.
This week is going to be all recovery work. I have Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to get everything dialed in. Everyday I will do a full warm-up and stretch along with mobility stuff. I may take a couple throws on Tuesday but that will be it. I will attend to any nagging injuries and address them the best I can. There is no reason to kill myself this week training. If it hasn't been done strength or technique wise by now it isn't going to happen. With all that said I can already tell my head is thinking differently about this contest. Not necessarily nervousness but a focused anxiousness. I know what I am capable of and that is what I need to go and do across the board in all the events. I can't afford to drop the ball at all and neither can anyone else. I have always been better in big competitions than compared to training or smaller ones where nothing is on the line.
I CAN'T WAIT...
Other pics....
I hate signs with shitty puns on them...dummies
Perfect I was hoping to talk to doug about video games and yoga... Just give me my pumkin late hero...
Ground control to Major Tom?
I did come home to my wife kicking the shit out of some naps and a book she picked up for me. I do love david bowie. As I have been called by Bert Sorin (name dropper) the GlamAteur.. or the David Bowie of highland games. That guy looked bad ass in Labyrinth and was effing Nicoli Tesla.
In my 14 years of training I have been through a lot of coaches; some better than others.Almost all of them had something valuable that I learned and continue to use today.Having the opportunity to learn hands on from different athletes, coaches, and experts is something that I do not take for granted.The majority of people never leave their training group and rarely get any outside influence.One thing that I have never understood is an athlete’s decision to stick with a training program that is not working for them or showing any progress.
There are some basic elements to training that have been successful for me since I started training. These basic philosophies will never change for me, and this was what I decided would be the most important lifts for me as well as what I was going to use as my indicators for improvement.Other than this, I believe there is no one training style that will work for everyone.After taking your basic principles of what you want to accomplish, everything else can be manipulated.Adjustments can help you dial in what works the best for you to achieve your goals.There will be times that your workout will have to change due to any number of things: time constraints, season, etc.
In stark contrast, I have witnessed athletes who have been relentlessly doing the exact same program for years without any gains.I tend to notice this more with powerlifters than I do with strongman or throwing.Part of this is due to strongman and throwing having such a variety of events which you need to be prepared.Powerlifting only has three main events.I know that there are now federations that do not have a squat and replace that with a curl in some cases.This, however, is stupid and will not be given any consideration.If you are competing under the guise of this, then you are doing it wrong anyway.I have never understood the hardheaded approach to training wherein, “after a year of training a certain way did not get me the results that I was hoping to accomplish, why on earth I would continue down that path to further failure?”With this type of a problem, an honest look at your training and weaknesses needs to be done.Once these weaknesses are determined, addressing them is the next step. For example, if you are strong but have trouble hitting depth squatting due to mobility issues, then your flexibility needs to be addressed.As often as you see that scenario, you also see the other, where guys go to the gym and change the program they are doing every two weeks.These same fellows will complain that it didn’t work for them.Well, of course it didn’t dummy.Anytime that something new gets added to training you need at least six weeks of dedication to determine if that is working for you.
Get on a basic plan…whatever it is.One of the basic programs I started with after college was the “west side for skinny bastard” program, which helped me build all of the basic fundamentals that I needed. Since then, I have experimented with variations of “5/3/1” and “Block Periodization”.Through all of this, I have maintained my basic principles of what I hoped to accomplish.I know for throwing I need strong legs, back, hips, shoulders, and arms, no matter what program. If these things are not being addressed then I will not get the results that I want.Now, I had to examine my own lifting experience to determine what variables worked best for me.Deciding how much conditioning, what volume of lifting, what percentages, volume of throwing, stretching, mobility, and bounding work combined together to achieve my goals the most efficiently has been where my main focus.
I still adhere to the basics (squat, bench, deadlift, and press) every week.I need mobility and conditioning of some type every day.Occasionally, I need to stop and look back to make sure I have not veered far from these basic plans.
In conclusion, spend some time to determine what works best for you and stick with it only making micro adjustments to see if you can make improvements.There is no such thing as a perfect program, but figuring out what is the most effective training method for you at that given time is crucial.Lift hard and often.With consistent training, comes (usually) bountiful gains. Poetic, ain’t it!?
So I got my head straight and decided to do my training. I did not feel like it today or yesterday for that matter but, it needs to be done. So after taking my pre-workout shake and loading some new music to the ipod it was time to do the little bit of lifting and throwing I have Rx'd.
Todays workout music is the newest LIL' WAYNE ALBUM, THE CARTER IV.... this album so far is super good but I do love me some WEEZY. I'm straight hood. "Real G's move in silence like Lasagna." that shit don't even make sense.....and it doesn't have to. "It gets the people going!"...Will Ferrell.
Anyways, sorry training was nothing spectacular tonight it went like this.
Warm-up: x 3
jump rope x 100 ( I want to be able to do rocky shit currently I jump rope like a stuffed bag of shit.)
pvc roll- back, quads, hip flexors, glute
stretch
jav stretch
Lifting: Axl Press:
bar x 10 x 3
135 x 5 x 3
225 x 3 x 3
265 x 2 x 3
Throwing:(all done on concrete in throwing shoes) Ostone: used 16lbs shot
standing throws x 5 best of 51'
fulls x 15 best of 58' (10 over 55') LWFD:
fulls x 15 best of 86' (10 over 80')
All in all things are right where I want them to be. I am going to take my last shot at breaking the Amateur Open Stone Record 60'3". I have thrown 59'10" this year. I am hoping everything feels right and I can make this happen. Other than that I just want to have a solid performance across the board. I can't afford to bail on an event next week at worlds so might as well get ready for it.
I am looking forward to sharing the field again and possibly for the last time, at least for a min, with some of the other top AM's. This game was a lot of fun last year and super competitive, it actually came down to a three way tie for 1st with Wes Kiser, John O'neil, and myself heading into WOB. I managed to pull it out and threw a PR of 16'7". Needless to say I am very excited.
So we started the day like any other competition day for me. I don't really have much of a pregame ritual but there are certain things that usually help he get my head right. In college I thought I needed way more prep time that I really do I guess this comes with maturity.
After getting up at about 5:30am (my sleep cycle never really switched to west coast time) I took a shower, dominated a deuce, and did some simple stretching. After Ash got up we went down for breakfast. This was a slightly better than typical hotel breakfast buffet. I threw eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes, and veggies on to a plate and tried to reassemble a scramble. A scramble is the breakfast at the small restaurant that we ate at while in Enumclaw, WA. I feel like I'm chasing the dragon with this one. After paying an outrageous $30+ bucks for this breakfast the wife and I pound some more coffee and follow some of the pro guys out to the field. We managed to talk our way into free parking in the lot closest to the competition field. I also found out this was a 2 day contest, this is something that I failed to pay attention to before. OOPS.
We get on the field in time to check, stretch a bit, get gear on, and start warming up. The weather is great somewhere in the high 60*s with a bit of sun. I am feeling pretty good but my head is a bit off, for whatever reason. 4 warm-up throws and it is go time.
What an amazing looking group of people.
1st event: Open Stone 17.6lbs 54'2" 1st place
This stone never during warm ups, but what the hell now is the time to throw less thinking more balls. 1st attempt is a foul out the left side of the trig. I am not getting over the left like I had been in practice so I am driving to far left. 2nd throw is 54' 2" this is enough to put me out front but with John Davis in the crowd I know I will probably need more than that. 3rd is also a foul. I lucked out on this one as well, John did not hit one right either. After the finish John and I talked a bit about what I need to do to throw it over them mountains. Thanks John for the insight.
2nd event: HWFD 56lbs 44'1" 1st place
I am starting to try and get in a bit of a competition rhythm. We start our warm-ups for this one I take about three of these. This implement has an odd shaped handle, so I have to use my thumb condom to throw with. Fat handles kick the shit out of my thumb. 1st throw fouled this throw as well. I have not had this many fouls in a long time. 2nd attempt was around 41' I figured this would be a solid throw but Robin Knebel is capable of throwing better than this. So I was going to have to attack the last one. 3rd was nearly a foul but I managed to save it and then get the chance to restart. I think I came back and got a solid throw to about 42'+. I took one extra throw and finally got it together 44'+. I was missing the low point in the back of the ring and having something to drive against. If I don't do this I will travel to far with the weight to the left side and eventually no be able to finish the throw over the left side like I need.
3rd event: 16lbs hammer 131' 1st place
As of right now this is my weak spot. If I am hoping to compete where I want to as pro I need to be consistent over 135' and over 140' pretty regular. So I have some stuff to work on for sure. 1st attempt, felt solid I think was 120'+ I don't remember exactly. 2nd attempt was a bit better around 128'. 3rd was my best at 131'. There are some major things that I am doing wrong with this throw and some things that I need to be doing but I am not yet.
4th event: caber tiny thing 17' >100lbs ( I think) 4th
There is not much to say about this stick. It was really small and kinda a crap shoot as far as placing goes. I turned it 3 times and with a best of 11:45. I think almost everyone turned it and with the track being off camber and really hard it is as much luck as skill to what is going to happen when it goes over.
5th event: WOB standing only knock off bar. 1st
The contest started at 12' I think I waited till 13' to come in. Typically I would wait till 15' to come in but with the slope of the ground and a knock off bar I wanted to try and get a rhythm of where I wanted to be. I managed to win and go 16'. This has been an avg throw for me. I took a couple of shots at 17 and slammed the bar a couple times, nothing was really close to going over.
This brought about the end of day 1. Ash and I headed back to the hotel to clean up. I went and got in the pool and tried to do some stretching and recovery work. The water was nice and cool not quite like an ice bath but since I am a little lady when it comes to ice baths, this was good enough. Now that we are dressed we went to get some dinner at Outback. Nothing like some good Australian food (Hopefully I can channel Matt Sandford and use some OZ power.) to get me right and put my heavy ass to sleep. I ate 4 lbs of cheese fries, steak, and a potato. I was a sleep by 9:00pm yeah I fucking party.
DAY2:
Same start as the day before up early, shower, then to food and coffee. We decided to skip the expensive disappointment in the lobby. Seriously they didn't even have a waffle machine what is this the 1800's. We picked up some things for the day at target. Breakfast was brought to you by Starbucks and there delicious oatmeal. We got a blanket to lay around on, napping in the shade in CA is one of the greatest thing I remember about throwing on the west coast during college. Then came warm-ups and stretching and on to 1st event.
1st event: Breamar 26lbs 39'1" 1st place new field record
This stone is a monster, it is like throwing a rough heavy bowling ball. after spending sometime trying to make sure I can find a hand on it we get started. 1st throw, 37'+ . 2nd I tried to get down to a lower starting point but I am not strong enough to pull it off with this stone. 3rd was 38'4" so a couple inches off the field record. This field record was set in 1982 so 29 years it has held firm. I took all three extras and on my last one I hit a 39'1" throw to break the record. I hope my record stands just as long but, I seriously doubt it. The upcoming talent is solid.
2nd event: LWFD 28lbs 85'10" 1st place new field record
I have been throwing the 28 really well lately so I expected some good stuff. This implement was a tough one. It has a fat handle and feel really dead in the hand. Warm-ups never felt good or far. 1st felt bad and hung in the hand, it still went 82'+ to my surprise. Other throws never really felt much better. In extras I got one together the best I could and threw 85'10 on my last throw. I broke a two year old record from Chad Gustin. (I know his throw was definitely sexier though)
3rd event: 22lbs hammer 107'6" 1st place PR
I am still trying to figure this one out. My throws with the light hammer are not translating yet to the heavy. Normally you can expect about a 20' drop in distance between the two, I have a 30'. I started using a more dynamic start (ripped of Eric Frasure thanks buddy) and it felt good so I figured why not go for it. My series went 103', 104', 107' I am happy with this a PR is a PR. I am hopping that my big throw of about 115' will happen in two weeks.
This finished up the regular competition, I won 7 of the 8 events. This games was a lot of fun and the group of A's competing were great to throw with. I will miss tossing with these dudes. We now broke for lunch and headed back for two championship events the caber and wob again.
Caber: I got lucky and pulled out the win on this one. We went with a bigger caber, 18' 119lbs. I "turned" the stick and went 9:00, 85*, and a fifer. It was good enough to win that day and make some cash $40. Straight turning sticks cashing checks....
WOB: This was almost a repeat of the day before. I did come a bit closer to hitting 17' but no dice. So another event win and another $40. LIKE A BOSS....
All in all it was a great time. It was very well run and I hope that I get the chance to come back and throw there again next year. Here is the Video of the contest. Enjoy. Also notice my Bad Ass pink tights.
Today I am a bit stiff still from the trip and competition. However since there is only a small number of training days left before worlds I have to take advantage. Also today it seems that Ash managed to fit the Bay Area's weather in her bag and brought it home with us. So with the hi today in the low 80's I decided I would be doing myself and my training a disservice if I just sat on my ass all day. Here's how it went.
Warm up- x 5
jump rope x 100
pvc roll
philly ball roll
eblow rehab
band good mornings
stretch
Training:
squat:
bar x 10 x 3
135 x 5 x 2
225 x 3 x 2
315 x 2 x 4
Throwing:
22 hammer x 2 (on the second throw the head shot off before the throw I think it was about to go almost 200' My Fat like reflexes saved me from going down though.)
16 hammer x 12 best of 133' (felt solid I like the dynamic start. I am going to keep playing with it.)
I figured while the ground is soft following whatever this Lee storm was supposed to be, I will throw some hammers. These are my weakest event that I can train. (Caber is way worse but I don't have one and probably wont have one in the next two weeks.) So may as well strike while I can and try to make some improvements so I don't get to embarrassed at worlds.
So Ash and I got home last night around 8:00 pm. I am still pretty tired and my low back feels like mashed up assholes. We boarded our 1st flight in Sacramento at 9:25 and stayed on the same plane through stops in LA, and Denver finally getting to New Orleans at 6:45pm. However the flights were pretty uneventful and we were able to spend most of the time in the bulkhead seats with the just the two of us on our row. This makes for a huge difference in travel since I have room to stand up and stretch when I want to. None of this is new to those of you who also travel regularly, so on to the trip.
Day 1: Travel and being failed by friends bad choices in restaurants
I married up... part of my code
We got up and rolled out heading to New Orleans to catch our leaving flight at 10:00. No big deal there. My wife looks infinity more attractive than I do anyways and especially on days that I am setting up for long travel. Personally I cant bring myself to wear anything but sweatpants/shorts and light t-shirts. I am trying to fight the non stop war on swamp ass all day. The two of us have not had the chance to travel together other than our honeymoon since we drove up the east coast two years ago. She was a great travel companion, one of the best parts is that she goes about it the same as I do with minimal expectations and takes it as it comes.
SAN DIEGO--rough translation "A whales Vagina"
We arrived in Sacramento at near 4:00pm after a short layover in Whales Vagina (San Diego). We sat and had an older latin couple tell us about there travels and what we needed to do while in San Francisco. Old people are Honey Baddgers they just don't give a shit if you have headphones in and are not listening. They will keep talking and eventually awkward you into the conversations. So out the airport, get bags, and onward to pick up the whip. This trip we have the luxury of navigating the bay area in a Nissan Versa. This car is the cheapest option and feel just like that. However it is easy to park and help all of our shit.
Driving into San Francisco from Sacramento takes about 1hr and 30mins so we stopped and grabbed IN-N-OUT like fucking bosses and made our way into town. We were fortunate that our GPS (Shelia- this is the name of our cunt GPS voice) rerouted us away from traffic and sent us over the Golden Gate Bridge. This was fun and now after being in CA for an 1hr we have now checked out the Golden Gate Bridge and smashed some double doubles. Pretty solid so far. Arriving at our hotel (the Metro) in downtown SF was easy enough then parking was another thing. Our room was quaint with a tv the size of my head, but who needs it. We showered and cleaned up to meet some friends for dinner.
little of the old IN-OUT, IN-OUT
having some Double Vodkas and bangers and mash... you betcha.
Dinner was originally planned for Tiernan's Irish Pub,(here is the YELP page for it. Yelp is good if you are new to traveling and have never used the internet before.) this place is down by Fisherman's Warf and my buddies Duncan and Jonathan have gone every year for awhile. (no self-respecting Ultra-marine would eat or drink here.) Well while still respecting my friends opinion on things, Ash and I arrive before them by about an hour. This place is tourist central and currently has a mutant running/singing awful karaoke. There are laser lights and shitty "Fridays" fake memorabilia stapled to all of the walls. Now that both my wife and I are pissed and can't get drinks from the Pikey wait staff fast enough to combat the onslaught of awful on our senses. We text our friends tell them them we hate them and we are heading somewhere better. After about 15 seconds on my phone we found a much better destination called The Irish Bank, and it is awesome. Great atmosphere (dark and outdoorsy) and waitresses that are trying to make a living. After finally leaving here and catching another cab back to the hotel we finally pass out kinda drunk, thank you vodka.
Day 2: San Francisco Day
Coffee- CHECK
We woke up with a bit of a headache from all of the excitement the night before, then promptly made our way to get coffee and breakfast rations. There is a small place up the road that my wife wanted to go to. It is nothing special but the coffee was good and the food was aces. This place is kinda a locals joint called Eddie's Cafe. This place uses random coffee mugs as their mugs. I got a sweet giants one while Ash's was hearts like cartoon boxers. After filling our tanks with black gold we set out to explore the city.(also I got a parking ticket for not having my wheels turned to the curb on a hill better than 3% grade. WTF!!! $50 great stupid local law bullshit.)
That bee next level pollinator... mother nature thanks you.
Since where we were staying was right next to Golden Gate Park we started there. This place was beautiful and holds some different gardens. Our first stop was the Botanical Garden, this place was super cool. The exhibition that was on display was "Wicked Plants" (this is referring to that the plants sting or kill things, not that they are Bruin, Sox, or Celtic fans.) Not much to say about it but plenty pictures.
Venus Fly Trap doing work...
These are cactus....BOOM!!!
I fight back.....
it's the beach dummy.
SUP DOODS!!!!
I eat a lot of carbs I mean Crabs . Well we know truth.
After that we headed over to the beach and gave it a good looking at. The sand in CA sucks compared to FL and the water is cold. But I guess it is the reason that San Francisco feels like the AC is always on and Home feels like the inner circle of hell. There were a couple of sweet ass crabs on the beach, as well as rocks and what not. We loaded back in the Versa and stopped for more coffee. unbeknownst to us the restaurant we stopped at over looks the ruins of the Sutro Baths. This was a giant ocean water filled bath house where dudes and chicks wearing dumb swimsuits could use water slides and swim laps. Pretty sweet, so we gave further inspection finding a cave.
Ruins of bath House
used to be this... worst MTV spring break ever.
that's my boo.. I can see her aura.
I snuck around the barrier.... FUCKING REBEL
When we finished all of the wandering around the coasts we determined that we were hungry again and in fact it was time to find Mexican food. We made our way to our previously decided lunch destination of Taco Shop at Underdogs. This place has by far and way the best fucking fish tacos I have ever had, that mixed with a pint of Anchor Steam made for a fantastic lunch. This place was great, good service, cold beer, delicious food, and good music playing.
Full table of TACOs....SMART
The Armory-Where dreams and girls with daddy issues go.
Now powered by the best tacos ever we made our way to Haight St. There are a ton of vintage shops and other bullshit over there. Lots of people and no clothes that fit fat people like me. Ash found some stuff she wanted so that was cool. Very touristy area, next time we come there will be no reason to stop here. OH I forgot on the way we made a swing by The Armory in downtown. This place has been used for all types of shit, but now currently is owned and operated by Kink.com and they can make a great fuck picture.
After exhausting ourselves walking around at such great altitudes we decided it was time to head to Pleasanton and check in to the Hotel. We ate some giant ass noodle bowls for dinner at a place completely getting ripped off the apple logo.
Get day one of competition in part 2. Stay tuned it's a cliff hanger.
