Wanderlust: Bali

This video makes me want to go to Bali so badddd. Even more than EPL did. Also love love love the videography by Wade Koch. For more of their adventure check out the post on 100 Layer Cake. 

AirPnP Needs to Be a Thing

There's nothing worse than the sudden onset of "I have to go to the bathroom, and I have to go now." Especially when you know finding a toilet is going to be BASICALLY impossible.

WHICH IS WHY I need this app to become a reality.
Like yesterday.

It's a (hilarious) pun on the vacation rental website AirBnB. But like way more useful because THE BATHROOM STRUGGLE IS TOO REAL. Mardi Gras is upon us and there's no way in hell I'm using the Burger King port-o-potties ever again. NEVER. AGAIN.

Sign up to be alerted when the app launches!

And I'm going to pretend like the official iPhone graphic is because iPhone graphics are ubiquitous/easier to find/universally understandable. Not because AirPnP is only for iPhones. Because that would just send my iPhone hate right over the edge.

ONE DAY I WILL GO TO BURNING MAN

Stunning, ephemeral, angelic. It's been on my bucket list for like 5 years. One day, I will be a part of it.

The Must Have App For Any World Traveler

Ladies and Gentlemen, the future:

Word Lens is basically a real time translator. Hold up your phone to the foreign language sign you can't understand and VOILA, translated to your native language. 

I'm really tripping out because this real time, translating and converting is some really advanced technology at work!

Get it for your phone:

    

Hidden America

Last weekend I went on a road trip to no man's land (read: Southern Illinois). I call it no man's land because there is nothing interesting about Illinois outside of Chicago. There are corn fields, corn fields, corn fields, the occasional John Deere outlet store, and more corn fields.

Well this weekend I learned that there's actually a portion of Illinois that is kind of breath-takingly beautiful and NOT corn field. The area along the Mississippi River is absolutely stunning. It's very reminiscent of those coastal highways in California. Winding roads going through surprisingly large bluffs...(I know, I didn't know there were mountains in Illinois either).

And it's really cool because it's not the crazy busy commercial Mississippi River I'm used to. People actually take their yachts and jet ski's onto the river and have a grand ole' time. Here are the obligatory photography pictures I took on my trip:

First I went to a little park on a bluff like.....100 feet above the ground. It was high. These were the stairs to the park. And a cobblestone road! Very New England/San Francisco.

Lots of textures, and aged things. I was in black and white heaven.

Anyway, here's an unremarkable photo of the stunning view. You can see the road below. I was feeling uninspired because the sky was so ugly I guess, so I only have this photo of the view... At any rate, you can see the St. Louis skyline from this spot...though not in this picture.

AFTER THE PARK, I went to ANOTHER park...but this one is on the ground and it gives access to the water. There was this lonely little bridge thing on it. I guess people can go stand on top of it because the stairs weren't blocked off. I didn't for fear of my life.

Besides, the things under the bridge were much cooler....LIKE GRAFFITI. Here's a hoodlum caught in the act. JK, it's just my little cousin modeling for me.

And safety takes a backseat at this park. There are no barriers to the water...So I mean, false step and you roll down this hill into the Mississippi River where the butch undercurrents probably sweep you away...like Huckelberry Finn.


And finally, I took a trip down River Road. And it was STUNNING. Does this even LOOK LIKE Illinois?!


Caught this SKETCH ferry from like....Maine or 1800 across the river. It was really weird.






Don't let the ferry sink because spiders took over the life vest containers. 4 of about 30.




CHECK OUT THIS GQMF LENSFLARE. JJ ABRAMS would be so proud of me.




Here's a little bar from this small town on the river. It is "Biker Friendly". And there were TONS of bikers on this road. Not surprising. Who wouldn't want to cruise down through this scenery on a bike?

Tiny tim

Minnies is this Chicago restaurant serves only mini food. Their concept basically: portion control=healthy eating. Personally, I think it's kind of steep though. I mean, 3 mini sandwaches for $8.75?$?! I'd rather go Mickey D's get me a Big Mac combo for half the price. But.... it would be fun just eating tiny foods. You can mouse over each item on their online menu to preview it! They even serve mini beers and mini champagnessss. Ahh!! Soooooo cute!!

I wanna hold my breath and make a wish in this tunnel.

Via Wooster Collective

I wanna go swimming in this pool

I woke up this morning and found an open window, left for me from my brother, on my computer. It was of these pictures of the world's deepest pool, which resides in Brussels, Belgium. The deepest part of the pool is 33 meters/108 feet deep. Whoever owns this pool, can you please throw diving scavenger hunt parties in it? And please invite me. K thanks.

Life Post: Memorial

This weekend, in my never-ending effort to take be an amazing photographer, I visited the Holocaust Memorial on Miami Beach. Now, now, don't jump to conclusions. Memorials don't sound exciting at all, but the Holocaust Memorial on Miami Beach is the MOST INTRIGUING memorial...hell it's the most intriguing ANYTHING I've ever seen. Judge for yourself.

Yeah....it's hard to drive past that....100 foot hand coming out of the ground. Oh but it gets better. It's hard to see in this picture, but all of that texture on the arm.....HUMAN BODIES. The most morbid sculpture I've ever seen......and I feel awkward for thinking so but it's also absolutely beautiful and stunning.

There's this beautiful blue pond around the hand. The water is so still it reflects the hand like a mirror. There's also a walkway that goes around the hand with a marble wall with people's names carved into (standard procedure for a memorial I feel like). But the experience is just breathtaking. There are flowering trees all around the pond. And the petals just fall right into the water and just float there....it's like a scene straight out of a movie.


SO STUNNING I CAN'T EVEN STAND IT.

Anyway, from first glance it looks like the hand is sitting in the middle of the pond and there's no way for people to go up to the hand. As seen in the first picture...there's a huge wall around the hand as well. But as I'm walking around (through the walkway above) I realize there's a door that lets people go to the hand...up close and personal. And I knew there were bodies carved into the hand...but I was not prepared for the EXTENT of the bodies.

This is the pathway that leads you to the hand. The cuts in the walls create a beautiful light and shadow pattern.

Through the cuts you could catch little glimpses of the pond and walkway with all of the trees. Once again absolutely stunning (stunning is my new word) and ingenious. You feel kind of like a prisoner in this hallway where you only get a small view of the beauty that is outside the walls. Likely a reference to the way prisoners must have felt in the camps.

And on these walls there are the names of all the concentration camps (also standard procedure for a Holocaust memorial I believe). There are speakers built into the wall and there are children singing Jewish songs through the speakers....It was a little it unnerving....especially with that little statue in front of the arm. And I mean, I was here BY MYSELF....it was a little bit uncomfortable.

The mix of the song and this statue and being alone made it a little tough for me to take pictures.

So once I get over the emotional trauma of this hallway, I make my way to the hand. Oh dear God, when I say I was NOT PREPARED FOR IT...I WAS NOT PREPARED FOR IT.

The sculptur of this project has guts. And they are an absolute genius. I walked out to see the arm and I was terrified. I can only imagine that's the way you are supposed to feel. It took me a good 5 minutes to be able to walk around because I was so scared. I even had to call my mom. Not ONLY were the bodies on the arm, but also ON THE GROUND. ON MY EYE LEVEL. They are so real it feels like they will start moving around at any moment. It was seriously, TERRIFYING. And those children were STILL singing in the background.

Seriously, the designers of this memorial were absolutely ON POINT in everything. I'm pretty emotionally detached from...everything...but OMG.....this was too much for ME.

At any rate, once I was able to calm down a little bit I could get closer to the sculpture and photograph it. But it was hard. The statues were literally life sized. It was an awful feeling.

Here's the view up the arm. Absolutely STUNNING.

Anyway, I took lots of pictures. And I left a different person. Well not really, but the memorial is ACTUALLY one of my favorite buildings on this planet now. It's so simple, but so genius. And if you're ever in Miami then I would definitely visit it. But go on a sunny day because it is absolutely BREATH TAKING and STUNNING.