Jim Travels The World

1. No smoking on the plane. But here's a place to put out your cigarette. I'm confused   2. There’s absolutely no doubt this is packers country. Anything here not green and yellow is probably a dog or the sky.   3. If I see two little girls at the end of this hallway and an elevator full of blood, I might opt to stay in a different hotel. Maybe.   4. The humidity is ridiculous Perhaps I'm quite a bit spoiled living in Denver where the air is beautifully dry. Everywhere else feels like a sauna to me. 5. The accents make me feel like I'm trapped inside Making a Murderer. Sore-ey, but I have to goh to the barrrr with Toh-ney. (no offense, 'Sconsin. I love ya) 6. Of all the Wisconsin technical colleges, the northeast one is my favorite   7. They still allow smoking in the casino attached to the hotel, so it’s like walking through an ashtray. Trying to eat at the food court inside a smoking-positive casino? Delicious experience.   8....

1.Shaka is a real thing, bruh 2.The Hawaiian people have an unabashed love of crazy-long words and apostrophes. Sometimes, apostrophes at the beginning of a word. What's it doing there at the beginning? I have no idea. Hawaiian spelling bees are cutthroat affairs 3.Disproportionate number of blonde people (*Not pictured, because I didn't want to be a creeper. Just take my word for it.) 4.While LOST tours aren't really a thing anymore, we found a few filming locations (the show was filmed almost entirely on Oahu) Byodo-In Temple, Kahaluu. Where Jin and Sun were married. #LostNerdgasm 5.Fire twirling is serious business 6.There is a bit of hang-loose island time, but it's still 'Murrica, so not quite as island timey as some places. 7.You hear a lot of passive-aggressive comments about  haoles (Caucasian foreigners) and there's a subtle undercurrent of resistance against tourism and white invasion. Homemad...

Continuing my hard-hitting journalism series of Michigan travel listicles, I recently travelled back to the mitten to gain new knowledge. Having fully immersed myself in Michiganity for 9 straight days, I'm prepared to announce that I have learned all there is to know about it, and I now present to you, 8 more things to know about Michigan: Lots of different meals come in casserole form Nothing but humongous trees exist between towns. In Michigan, if it's not towns, it's trees. Or, sometimes, it's lakes. Everyone tailgates - merging is high stakes and everyone is out to kill you. Excessive morning dew means people don't do much lawn watering DO NOT crush cans before recycling them You're just as likely to encounter a Packers fan as a Lions fan Doesn't matter if you know the difference between effect and affect . If you don't have any friends, buy a cottage at the lake

Catch up on the first part of the adventure  here . 5.21.14 Drive through windy roads for what feels like forever, stuck behind a houseboat clogging the road. Beautiful views of green valleys and peaks, but taking twisty turns on tiny mountain roads behind  A FRIGGIN HOUSEBOAT is kinda stressful. Finally made it through dirty and disappointing Eureka (the tv show grossly lied to us) to coastal redwoods and beaches. Drive to Kalamath cliff overlook at crashing waves against rock. it's just like that scene in that one movie. You know the one I'm talking about. Then drive to ladybird Johnson meadow, a forest walk though a bunch of redwoods. The late afternoon light is perfect. you didn't believe me. I'm hurt. Saw a bear sprint across the road, first non-human non-deer animal we've seen. Bummer that I've never witnessed a bear in Colorado, but have seen them every time I come to California. Where y'at, bears? 5.22.14 Continenta...

Builders in New Mexico use adobe like it grows on trees. The eye of Sauron watches over this window grate If the blue meth made its way up from Albuquerque, it's not in Taos. At least not in any of the convenience stores I went into. Everything here is "historic," which is code for janky. I took a historic poop, because I'm a patriot The skies are cloudless and gigantic Lake Williams, near Taos Valley Ski Area On every street corner is a coffee shop, and each is filled with anti-Monsanto bumper stickers and quinoa no-bake cookies The ratio of people to dogs rivals Telluride, the most doggiest city in America* At least thrice per day, a fire truck or ambulance went screaming down the street. Taos is a tiny little tourist town, I can't imagine what all the fuss is about. Rest...

Faygo is a real thing, and not just Juggalos drink it. Dee licious Most houses in neighborhoods have no fences around them. It's like some giant urban planner took a handful of dwellings and tossed them across a field. Also, many of these houses have plastic mailboxes with front and back hatches. Because who has time to walk all the way around to the front of a mailbox? This is America . I want my mail now . These neighborhoods do not have sidewalks The Michigan definition of "condo" is different than the rest of the civilized world. Apparently, a one story house is a condo. The lakes up north have real beaches. I had to see to believe And on these lakes, there are some wicked awesome sunsets Also there are boats and fishermen and stuff.  In Grand Haven, there's a surf shop called the Wet Mitten  (I know, right?), so apparently people surf on these lakes. I did not witness this. Around the lakes, there's 99% humidity, ...

On the second night of Badlands, at about 10 pm, a windstorm so fierce came through the campsite that the family across from us packed up and left. A single woman in a tent had to sleep in her car after wrestling with her tent for a half hour as her rain fly became an umba-rella whipping in the wind. Never heard wind so violent in my life. Fortunately for us, we had the foresight to forego the tent and pack my Element for camping. Roughin it, bitches. The car rocked back and forth a little bit, but nothing so serious as destroyed tents In morning packed up left Badlands. On our way up north, we had to stop through Wall, South Dakota to visit the famous Wall Drug . It's sorta impossible not  to visit Wall, since as soon as you enter SD, every ten feet there's a billboard enticing you to visit with signs like "free ice water!". How can you turn down free ice water? Wall Drug is basically a mini-mall, themed like a wild west saloon. it's c...

Rapid City, South Dakota! does that name make you as excited as if you had just stepped in a pile of what seems like dog crap that turns out to be a pile of fluffy kittens instead? Did that sentence make any sense? Maybe not as exciting as you might think. But, this was our first stop along our Badlands trip, so there's going to be some pictures, whether you like or not. So, shut up and enjoy. We stayed at the hotel Alex Johnson , which pretty much fits in with the South Dakota theme of having tons of Native American stuff everywhere. You're practically tripping over dream catchers and head dresses and crap around here. Okay, those do look like swastikas on the hotel chandelier in the lobby. Apparently it's some kind of Sioux thing representing the four corners of blah blah blah. Or, maybe that's just what they want  you to believe. Outside the hotel, the alleyway is completely tagged with graffiti. Made us nostalgic for Melbourne . The poster...