Week 4

Art is an amazing thing. It's something some of the first humans felt the need to do. They felt the need to find water, food, sleep, draw, and play music. Being one of the oldest and arguable a basic need of the human spirit; the world we live in sometimes doesn't lend itself to expressing art. The place I am in does all of that and creates a tiny community of artists surrounded by swamps and farms.

Everything about Appel Farm in Elmer, NJ allows that basic human need to thrive and flourish. Old arts like singing songs from around the world, dance, percussion, drawing, painting, acting, writing, and ceramics. And newer arts like video, photography, recording arts, rock band, and comics. All of these things mesh into one amazing community that supports all types of kids and adults to bring out their creativity.

The art is all beautiful; but the surrounding area is a rural beauty. It's right outside of a town called Elmer which is unique itself. The town is your generic rural town next to a lake but the beacon in the center of the town is the abandoned mill. It's a unique centerpiece to the typical rural town.

It's not a physical journey with an end destination and finding new places on the outside. It's an internal journey with broadening your artistic horizons by listening and experiencing all types of art. Hearing someone pour their hearts onto the stage through poem or song, use every ounce of physical and emotional energy into a dance, or seeing something through someone else's eyes through their art or photography.

It's an amazing place where art is alive and thriving, everyone accepts everyone for who they are, and everyone supports all of the art happening at the camp. Inspired by this art; I'm hoping to branch out and try some new and different things and think differently about the trips and journeys in the future. Art is all around us all of the time; at Appel Farm it comes to the surface of your consciousness and you embrace it.

For my birthday I received some new types of beer. Each one has unique flavor and character. I'm not going to rate each beer, just give a little blurb about the character of each one. Let's see how it goes.

Crabbies Ginger Beer- A zesty and sharp hard ginger ale.
Crabbies Orange Ginger Beer- A beer non-beer fans will enjoy.
Holy Grail Ale- A boring ale with an entertaining bottle.
Delirium Nocturnum- A frothy drink with an extraordinary bottle.
Weihenstephaner- The oldest brewery in the world has the most classic tasting beer in the world.

Please let me know what you think of these beers, or if you liked or hated this section! Just trying new things and new journeys of taste!

Album Review Time!

California- Blink-182 Don't get me wrong, I think Tom Delonge has one of the most unique voices in rock history. Without his voice in Blink-182's music I thought it would feel off and disorienting. I was sorely mistaken. Matt Skiba (Alkaline Trio) has been doing great things with the band's sound, passion and new character. It still has that same boyish charm but has a more mature sound as well. Songs that really step out are "Bored to Death", "Los Angeles", and "California". They just stick out to me as the tracks that define the album. My personal favorites however are the interludes/outros. They just add a little character and humor to the album that Blink-182 is known for. And of course Travis Barker's drumming is the driving force behind the album and gives it the energy it needs behind Mark Hoppus's voice. California gets 4 out of 7 stars.

The last section of this week will be on my initial thoughts to the mobile game phenomenon Pokemon Go! As you know, Pokemon is my favorite game franchise of all time. The dream of every Pokemon trainer is to have Pokemon in this world. This game makes that dream a reality in an interesting, and different ways. The mechanics of the game (evolution, leveling up, moves, and gyms) are different but the core values of the game are still there. Exploring the world, catching new types of Pokemon, and trading with others all stay the same. Even though the game is still glitchy they just now have figured out how to support the masses of trainers catching pokemon. With all that being said, I cannot wait to have some time to go out into the world and go on journeys centered around this particular game; adding a whole new dimension onto how I travel and explore.


Well that's the week! No traveling this week just new music, tastes, games, and artistic exploration. I hope I didn't disappoint and if I did, please let me know! Constructive criticism is always positive unless you're mean about it. So don't be mean about it. Anyways follow us on Twitter @A_A_t_Journey Instagram @a_a_t_journey and like our Facebook Page "All About the Journey for more pictures, information, and other fun things! Also if you enjoy this blog you're friends and family probably will too! So please share with it! Let's build a community and share stories about each other's journeys. Maybe we can start a friend's journey section! Let's see what we can do with this! It's a big blue sky, lets see where it can take us.

                                    All the Best, Ross