Bonjour de Montreal!

Since we haven't blogged since Chicago (seems like that was a month ago!), I thought I'd give a quick update before I crash out here at the hostel I'm staying at in Montreal. All is well; missing my family and friends but having the time of my life!!

Chicago was awesome. When we got there it was about 100 degrees outside with about 100% humidity but I was stoked to see the town so I grabbed my nalgene and went for about a 10 mile trek through the city all day. People were really nice, and although it seemed a little corporate-San Diego-ish in the downtown, it still had that soul of an old city with a lot of history. Doc, Melissa, and I tried to make it to the Occupy Southside Chicago General Assembly, but there was nobody there except for a couple University of Chicago students that were trying to see what was going on as well. After waiting for awhile we decided to split and went to get some grub. Fun fact: you can bring your own beer for free to lots of restaurants in Chicago! Unfortunately we weren't prepared for that, and alas I will have to wait until next time to eat my calzone with some good beer.  Chicago is definitely a cool city and on my list of place to go back to and explore more.

From Chicago, we drove east to visit my grandparents in small town Wooster, Ohio along with a new travel companion, our host Jackie from Chicago who decided to travel with us on our adventure that would end at the Occupy National Gathering in Philadelphia (more to come on that). Wooster is where my whole dad's side of the family is from, starting with my great grandfather who emigrated there from Russia at the beginning of World War 1 and is where my dad was born and raised. It was great to see my grandparents and learn even more about my family and my roots (not to mention showers after being in car for 5 hours drenching in our sweat and being a little too close for that many fart touches). We weren't able to stay long since the Occupy National Gathering had already started and we left at about midnight for Philly (we have become a rugged team of night drivers).

Philadelphia was a whole experience in it's own...one that I think deserves it's own post. Such an amazing experience coming together with like-minded people from around the country and around the world to talk about how we are going to fix the problems in our world. We didn't always agree (as is the case often in Occupy) but there was a level of respect that was rare and we developed a tight-knit community in the 4 days that we were there. Also, I got to play a new song that I wrote (along with a couple others) for WPEB 88.1 FM Philadelphia. So much to talk about, so that's all I'll put for now (I'm tired :P)

We drove from Philly to NYC where I got to hang out with my cousin Adam and his girlfriend Stephanie at their place in Brooklyn. I was planning on staying there for a few days but Doc and Melissa wanted to take a trip up to New England and go back to NYC and offered me a ride to Plattsburgh, NY which was only a short bus ride to Montreal, which was on my list of places I had to go to on this trip so I jumped on the opportunity and here I am!

I'll be in Montreal all day tomorrow and will be leaving sometime on Monday. I came at the perfect time! I just got back from the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal which was awesome and had all kinds of different types of music and artists. There must have been 200,000 people out there on the streets tonight. I met some really cool dudes at the hostel who were from Paris but live here in Montreal and cruised around with them to check out the festival. Just got back home now and I think I might finally get a full night's sleep :)

I'll hopefully be able to post again soon. We love seeing comments on here and knowing that people are reading these :) Much love. 


-David