Week #7

Hello Journey fans! I hope you had a great week! I know I did! Lots of stuff to cover this week! It was my first week back in Arizona from being in New Jersey for the summer and am excited to move into my new house and start work next week! This week we have some travel sites (big and small), a game review, a manga review, a show review, a movie review, AND an album review! Lots of stuff to cover so here....we....go!....

Cesar Chavez Park in Laveen Arizona is kinda a hidden gem. It's not only the park with barbeque stations, a stage, green space, a playground, and a lake to walk around; but it's right next to a Library and the Aquila Gold Course which makes it sort of a destination in the Laveen area. There isn't much to do in Laveen so when I move in that direction, be sure for more pictures of that place!

Tempe Town Lake + "A Mountain"  is in the heart of Tempe, which is becoming one of my favorite cities. It's a college town that has become much more than that. The city surrounds "A Mountain" which has a giant A on it

And comes right up to the Salt River which is where the Tempe Town Lake is. The salt river is dammed off creating an almost lake effect. Usually it's a calm place in comparison to Mill Avenue which is where the party scene is. With the Pokemon Go craze happening, it's was a little crowded but still a great place to sit and enjoy the outdoors after the heat of the day has past. 

Kiwanis Park is also in Tempe but on the other side and out of the city area. This also has a man made lake with a walking trail around it and right next to the canal. This is one of my favorite parks to walk in because there are so many nooks and crannies and different kinds of birds. There are ducks, loons, blue herons, and geese. In a desert city, it's refreshing to be by the water even if it's man made.

Horseshoe Bend is the big trip this week. It was about a 4 hour drive from Phoenix but it was an amazing drive. In those 4 hours the landscape changed so many times. There was Phoenix, the Sonoran Desert, the plains north of the desert, the pine forests of Flagstaff, the mountains and volcanoes of Flagstaff, more plains, Red Rock, and then this weird mounds that looked like we were driving through Mars, and finally the light orange rocks of Page, AZ. When we were almost to Page, there was a small parking lot off the side of the road which was how to get to Horseshoe Bend. This was odd to me, this is one of the main attractions of the state of Arizona and there was no visiting center, no restrooms, no place for people to buy their souvenirs. But this was super refreshing to see a natural landmark of the American Southwest being a beacon of pure entertainment. No one has tried to capitalize on it, it was just there for everyone to enjoy. It was a longer walk than I thought, we heard someone say 2.5 miles out and then another 2.5 back. But it was worth it! I have pictures but it truly does not do it justice. The river curving around the rocks in a horseshoe shape hundreds of feet below, the erosion scene on the cliff faces and where we were walking, and of course the backdrop of the red mountains in the background.

It was a phenomenal experience and worth the drive. My favorite things about this place to realize how big of a destination it really is by hearing so many different languages being spoken while were there. I head French, Polish, Mandarin, and Japanese. Most of the people there were not speaking English there and it made me realize how important this place is. Another favorite thing was the landscape on which we were walking. I couldn't believe the rock formations found on the flat ground and on the side of the rocks. It seemed like something from another world!

There are so many words to describe every tiny section of the rock there but I'll let the picture do the talking. Anyways, a storm was blowing in from over the mountains to the south and as we were walking back up the hill, we were seeing lightning strikes, the rain moving at a quick pace and thunder in the distance. That was another surreal experience! It did cut our trip short. We did go up to Lake Powell dam which was cool but not as magical as Horseshoe Bend, and on the way back we were going to go to the Navajo Bridge but didn't think it would be wise to walk on a metal bridge when a thunderstorm was passing by so we saved that for next time! We drove back to Phoenix going through the different landscapes of Arizona looking the opposite way making it a successful trip!

That's it for the travel section! I hope you enjoyed! Now onto the reviews!

Games: Pokemon Alpha Sapphire- It's a remake of the classic games which are now 13 years old; but they added so much into it seems like a completely different game! The team this time around was Swampert, Gardevoir, Cacturne (new favorite), Ninjask, Torkoal, and Hariyama. It was a very well balanced team and I was very proud of it! Anyways these games look great, feel great, and are the newest in the Pokemon main game series. Alpha Sapphire gets 6 out of 7

Books: Akira Vol. 1- Akira is one of the most influential Manga of all time. It is well written, with a great plot, and has phenomenal artwork. I am usually not a Manga fan, it seems so quick paced to me and doesn't grasp the intensity of the story sometimes but this one was different. It felt like watching a movie and I wanted to take my time through this because the artwork was so stunning it was more of an experience than a book or comic and I can't wait to get the next volume! Akira gets a 7 out of 7

TV Show: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt- This show had me since the first episode and never let go. The characters were very well fleshed out for a quirky comedy and there were so many quotes. I loved the plot and the execution of it. It seemed to resolve the problem with the bunker and the reverend but the problem was there in the second season and it was evolving into something more. Diffidently a great watch, and I can't wait for season 3! Kimmy Schmidt gets a 6 out 7

Movie: Finding Dory- This diffidently a sequel to Find Nemo and a sequel that actually makes sense. It covers every part of Dory up until the point of her meeting Marlin which really connects the dots of what happened and makes more of a tacked on sequel like I thought it would be and more of a sequel that needed to happen. I have a favorite part and a least favorite part. My favorite part was the supporting characters! They were so well written and fleshed out which I was worried they would just be gimmicky. My favorite being Hank the septapus. He was such an interesting character and is the one that moves the story forward the most other than Dory. My least favorite part was a specific joke. The whole movie is about overcoming your disabilities and moving on, so why make fun of another characters disability? It just seemed very distasteful. With all of that being said... Finding Dory gets 4 out of 7 stars

Music: The Dirty Head by The Dirty Heads- This album did not grab me on the first listen. I am a huge Dirty Heads fan. I love the groove and attitude of the first album. The concept behind the second album and more mature sound of the second album. The third album wasn't my favorite but there was an idea behind it and I did enjoy some songs on it. Now this album seems like a combination of all of those albums combined but something is missing. To me, it doesn't seem like they love it anymore. It seems almost bored with this style of music which may be true. There are some exceptions to that though like "That's all I need", "Moon Tower" and "Doesn't Make you Right" which makes me believe that they do still have some fire left in them. The way the band is set up, it doesn't really call for much change and they have tried on the third album to change their sound with not as much success. But after listening to this album over again, I enjoyed it more. The Dirty Heads gets 3 out of 7 stars

Big week! But a lot of good stuff! please follow us on Twitter and Instagram for more updates throughout the week and like us on Facebook! If you like something let us know! If you don't...let us know! Any criticism will help make this better and more enjoyable for everyone!

               All the Best, Ross

Week 5: Another Philly Trip?!

So again with Philadelphia. It was a day off from work and a few of us wanted go off site, see some cool stuff, get some good food, and of course play some Pokémon Go. Even though the trip was essentially based on where we could go to catch Pokémon, the game took us to pretty amazing places. Every pokestop is of some significance or a historical site and gives you some information about the site. So as you're walking around the city and stopping at places for items, you are getting more information about the places around you. It is a really interesting part of the game that I was not expecting. Here are some of the places we were drawn to in Philadelphia...

Washington Square: A small park just off of Independence Mall is an amazing quiet place away from the main touristy area. It is where the tomb of the unknown soldier from the American Revolution and is dedicated to George Washington. This place had so much to offer and was so peaceful and serene due to the solemnness of the tomb.

Independence Mall: If you want my thoughts on this place please look back on previous weeks!

Old City: An interesting place in Philly. It combines the history of Philadelphia with the modern look of the new apartments and shops. A very interesting place with lots of cool restaurants and shops. One of those shops being....

Rocket Fizz: An awesome shops located in between the Betsy Ross House and Ben Franklin's gravesite; this amazing little shop has so much to offer. Candy, collectables, and of course lots of soda. Four coolers filled with countless types of soda with all sorts of insane flavors. Flavors tried were Red Velvet Cake, Rice candy, Martian Poop, and my personal favorite Grass flavored. It was an interesting stop to our next destination...

Reading Terminal Market: Is the perfect place to eat if you have no idea what kind of food you want. The options are endless. Eat in indian food, soul food, cheesesteaks, Chinese, or crêpes. Take on the go some ice cream, soft pretzels, or candy. Get your meat or fish for dinner that night. Since we were eating in; I had to go with a Dinic's roast pork with provolone and broccoli rabe. A Philly favorite!

Rittenhouse Square: Another great spot in Philly was my final destination before I had part ways from the group. Rittenhouse is sort of like Washington Square but more artsy and less solemn. There was more going on there but it was also later in the day. There were people everywhere (90% playing Pokémon Go as we were) but everyone was conversing, chatting, walking, moving, and being more human I've seen humans be human in years. It was a refreshing change of pace from the city in a little park with statues and fountains scattered throughout.

And that is where I ended my trip. I walked back to the 8th and Market station and headed on home back to the dirty Jersey. The blog is not done however, I still have one more adventure for you!


Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway was one of the first pieces of literature I read on my own when I was younger. I was at the beach, it was a short book so I decided to read it. I read it when I was little and enjoyed it. The simple prose, the information about the sea, and the character of the old man himself was intriguing to me. When I read it again this year it was all of that and so much more. It was cryptic and symbolic without forcing you to realize it. The references to Christ are subtle but there and it doesn't feel like he's forcing it, it just happens naturally. Even though the prose was simple, it never felt watered down or dumb. It just felt natural within the context of the story and character and conflict between man and the sea. Old Man and the Sea gets 6 out 7 stars.


And that's Week 7! Good stuff? Maybe! I don't know you but I know I had a lot of fun reading and exploring. If you have any questions, comments, or rude remarks please feel free to comment! Or you can contact us on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter pages! I would like to hear feedback of any sorts!

                             All the Best, Ross

Week #1- In the Beginning!

Hello my fellow adventurers! This is week #1 of All About the Journey! With this being our first week; I have a little bit of everyting so you get an idea of what kind of journeys I go on. However every week will not have something from every category. I don't have THAT much time on my hands. With that being said, let's get rocking!

Trips:
     Corson's Inlet- I was at my house in Sea Isle City, NJ. I was all by myself and had no work that day so I was free to do whatever I wished to do. Well, I wished to take a little bike ride. I'm on the Townsend's Inlet side of the island, but there are some walking trails in the marsh at Corson's inlet which is at the other end on the island and across the bridge in Ocean City, NJ. So I packed my bag with sunscreen, a towel, shoes, water, and my wallet; turned on my favorite podcast (Weekly Planet) and hopped on my bike for my journey!
      The ride was simple through the beach town and was through relatively empty streets and a boardwalk. I had to go through some construction on the one lane road into Strathmere. So I made it down to the inlet and parked my bike and walked onto the beach. It was low tide so I had a little ways to walk through the sand. On the jersey shore you can see all up and down the coast. So on that beach I was looking all the way from Ocean City to the casinos of Atlantic City in the distance. Here's the view I had...

      So I decided to not go over the bridge to the actual trails. The beach was enough for me. So I relaxed for a bit and stood in the cool bay water and then headed back. The ride back was pretty much the same only more wind so needless to say I was tired by the time I returned home. The whole trip took 1 hour and 35 minutes and was just over 13 miles. 

     Later that evening I decided to go to the other end of the island which is Townsend's Inlet. I grabbed my cruiser board and headed off! The skate took about 15 minutes and I was into the greenery of the dunes. A new wooden path led me through the dunes and to the beach with another glorious view of the bay (this time with a perfect South Jersey sunset). Thus ending my end to end island journey.

Books: Due to the boring nature of my summer job, I have been reading a bunch! I have read 3 books this summer so far and I want to do a little review as each poses a new adventure. I will also start a rating system for books, shows, movies, and music reviews and my favorite show is Dragon Ball Z; so the scores will be from 1 to 7 dragon balls. Hope you enjoy week 1 of book reviews!

       Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace was an interesting book to say the least. It had my attention for me to read it all the way through but I would not say I enjoyed it. There were to quirks on how the novel was assembled. The main one being the end notes. I understand he wanted it to simulate a tennis match and make the reader be an active one. But a whole chapter as an end note and then that chapter having it's own end notes was a little much. I really want to meet someone who thoroughly enjoyed this book so they can tell me what I missed; but I could not understand the importance of this book in contemporary literature. Infinite Jest receives 2 out of 7 dragon balls.

       The Blood of the Fold by Terry Goodkind is book three out of the Sword of Truth series. I enjoyed this book a lot, it picked up the slack I felt occurred in the second book (Stone of Tears) and brought it back to form with a great change in tone. This was more of a political book even though there was plenty of action. I enjoyed it though, I felt that even though politics usually are boring it changed the perspective you had on the main character and put the whole world in a new light. The Blood of the Fold receives 5 out 7 dragon balls.

       A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson is a novel about the author and his own journey down (or up) the Appalachian Trail. It had an interesting cast of characters, lots of good facts about the history, wildlife, foliage, and geography of the trail but also kept the story going. The novel is split into two parts and I liked part one much more than I did part 2. Sometimes while reading I would get inspired to hike all of the trail and other times it made me never want to set foot on it. To show both sides of the coin like that takes a lot of talent as writer and so... A Walk in the Woods receives 4 out of 7 dragon balls.

TV Shows: I've been watching one show since the beginning of March and finally finished it earlier this week. It's been a show I've hear lots about (good and bad) from both its American and British counterparts. The Office (U.S.) was phenomenal! I started the first season and hated it, but because it was so short of a season, I kept at it. The show only got better from there with characters become more fleshed out, the show figuring out it's style of humor, and an ever changing cast of characters revolving around 2 central characters. My favorite is Creed for his complete incoherence to the outside world and the humor he would bring with it. Jim and Pam's relationship was such a huge journey from the beginning with Pam and Roy to the end with Athlead (or leap?) But all in all a solid show with a beautiful and perfect ending giving The Office (U.S.) 6 out of 7 dragon balls

Albums: 

The Red Hot Chili Pepper's 11th studio album titled "The Getaway" was a great journey for me. While in the car one day driving to meet some friends Radio 104.5 had on the Red Hot Chili Pepper's album release show. It was a great idea! They played a few songs (some off the new album) and then answered some questions. This process went on for an hour and then BAM! the new album released. I listened to it the next day and on my first listen was a little disappointed. The first song on the album "The Getaway" was over produced. I thought that because of their new producer Danger Mouse but the rest of the album was not that way at all. Although I did have a problem with it... I had one full listen through and there wasn't a heavy rock song in the album. The closest thing to it was "This Ticonderoga" but it still didn't feel the same. But then I remembered... it was their 11th studio album. They've been recording music for over 30 years. They were growing as musicians; they were maturing. The more I listened to it songs like "Sick Love" and "Go Robot" really jumped out to me as a more mature take on their signature sound. They were growing as artists in their writing style, sound, and studio production. Their music is a journey that is still evolving and growing with every performance and album and is continuing with The Getaway; which will be receiving 5 out 7 dragon balls!

Culinary:  Alright last section of Week #1,  I know it's a long one! This week my sister's boyfriend brought in some sea bass from Long Beach Island and my dad found a recipe for scallops that we could sub out for the sea bass. The dish had the sea bass over a bed of spinach, chick peas, onions, corn, and roasted red peppers. It was delicious and diffidently sent my taste buds on a journey! Hoping next time for scallops which are my favorite but the sea bass will do for now!

Well I hope you enjoyed all of the adventures of week #1 it was a big one for reading with a tiny adventure thrown in there for good measure. I feel like the tables will turn for next week! Lots of traveling in store! So please stay in touch with us and follow us on the twitter and share us with a friend!

 https://twitter.com/A_A_t_Journey?lang=en 

There will be more adventures to come!

                                                 All the best, Ross

Hello Fellow Adventurers!

     When someone says adventure, what does you think of? Do you think of a vacation to exotic places? A long journey with an end destination in mind? Or a genre of movie? In my mind adventures can be a lot of different things.
       It can mean a trip or journey to some exotic or important destination. Or a trip with no endpoint in sight or mind. It can be found in a book where the main character goes through a fictional world and becomes the hero he was destined to become. It could be a sonic journey while listening to an album by your favorite band or artist. A TV show where the guy finally gets the girl through thick or thin. It could be in the latest comic book movie where the hero defeats the villain in an epic action sequence. It can be experienced through a character in your favorite video game, or a culinary experience where your taste buds explode with flavor.
      Adventure is within all of these activities and all have a story to tell. Whether you're listening to another person's adventure, reading about a fictional characters adventure, or creating your own adventure; they all have a story to tell.
      Every week I go on an adventure. I travel from time to time, whether it be a big or small trip. I read a lot and play video games. I'm a musician so listening to other people's art is an adventure. And I love trying new food or drinks which is always adventures. Some adventures are amazing and fascinating; others are boring and annoying but there is always a story to tell.
     I have taken pictures and shown my friends and family; but I never get to sit and write about the experiences I have or the opinions. Sometimes they are favorable like my trip from New Jersey to Arizona last year. Others are unfavorable such as my read through of Infinite Jest.
       So every Tuesday from now until forever or the world floods. I will write about my adventures, big and small, and let you experience what I experience every week. Just to be clear this is not a travel journal; this is a week to week explanation of the adventures I go on every week.
        I hope you enjoy my posts about various adventures I go on and hopefully reading these will take you on an adventure and inspire you to create your own.

                                                                  All the best, Ross