KAA: The Pacific Northwest + Nearby States

One of the few certain things about Kanan Across America is that I was always going to stop in Seattle, so that's where I headed first.  I've driven through Oregon before and like in the past, I really enjoyed it, mountains, hills, forests, and lots of winding roads! :)

I did make two major stops there, stopped in Eugene, home of the University of Oregon, and Salem the capital.  Eugene is great, the quintessential college town I suppose, but what I really wanted to see was Autzen stadium, didn't get in, but I did get to see the wacky practice field, made to look just like the one inside the stadium.  Salem, on the other hand, SUCKS, seriously, nobody has ever needed to go to Salem, EVER! I like Oregon, a lot actually, despite its rampant liberalism, it really strikes me as one of those states that has its shit together. Too bad their capitol building is, like Brian put it, a mausoleum, where architecture goes to die.

Oregon State Capitol - Where Architecture Goes to Die

Seattle was all about catching up with friends!  Its not really that I miss Seattle as much as it is that I miss my friends, but alas I do have a very strict policy of keeping friends at least 500 miles away...  A fun weekend of good food, great beer, and HOT weather, Apparently I arrived just in time to experience record highs.  Its not hot Seattle, its just me!

 

Visited the new Xbox campus, take me back, PRETTY PLEASE! I'll be good! 0:-)

Next stop, Boise, ID, home of the famous blue turf!  Boise is a very low key town, I got there around 10pm and everything was dark and closed.  Sadly they're not as into potatoes as they lead you to believe.  Seriously, you know how in Atlanta everything is 'Peach this' and 'Peach that'?  Not so much for Boise an its potatoes, WTF?!  Apparently Boise has a thriving Basque community, my grandpa was Basque, so I was a bit curious, but I wasn't about to go off on some tangent to learn about my heritage, I knew it was Smurf Turf o NADA!


The stadium was, unfortunately, closed, however my determination was stronger than ever, I maneuvered around the practice fields managing to sneak in.  There I was, sideline in the blue field, it was awesome... and then one of the maintenance guys saw me and kicked me out.  I've always said, anybody that humiliates ou is a friend of mine, love BSU for that!



Utah was my next destination, however I had no idea what I could see or do there.  To be honest the only 2 things I knew about Salt Lake were: Mormons and Utah Jazz.  So I kept an open mind.  SLC is quite nice figuratively and literally, a very clean city.  Stopped by the obligatory state capitol and also the University of Utah, both of which, again, are nice.  Probably spent most of the time there downtown checking out the Temple.  The architecture is quite impressive, unfortunately its hard to get a good shot of it from nearby, its really BIG, also that's what she said.  I did spend time talking to one of the Mormon sisters, mostly b/c she was very cute, ultimately I'm always very respectful in these situations.  Now I can say I know more about Mormons other than just from South Park! :)

Kanan @ the Great Salt Lake, mmmm, salty!

Your American Hero,
-AK