Me and Nolan

I went over to Katie's parents house for a Memorial Day BBQ on Sunday afternoon. I got to meet Nolan, her nephew, along with the rest of her extended family. It was a lot of great food and they all made me feel like part of the family. Katie's grandmother really doesn't like my beard, though. Oh well!

The Wrens

This is a photo I took of the Wrens at Bowery Ballroom way back in October 2003. I'm going to see the same band at the same venue tonight. One of the reasons I've always wanted to live in New York City is because of all of the amazing live music venues and the depth of great bands coming through town. So far, on my very limited budget, I have had a chance to see Spoon, The Good Life, Built To Spill, The Faint, Bright Eyes, Portastatic and Rilo Kiley. If you know my musical taste, you know that those are some of my very favorite bands and that I am very happy to see the Wrens tonight at my favorite venue.

Rooftop Carne

I took a day off from job hunting to join Nathan on the roof of his apartment building in Williamsburg while he cooked Carne Asada for his roommate John and I. That's the Manhattan skyline in the background (of course).

5th Avenue Street Fair - Park Slope, Brooklyn NY - 5/16/05

The 5th Avenue Street fair in Brooklyn started just two blocks from Katie's apartment on Sunday. We walked the whole thing and ate some good food and drank some beer and sangria.

My first week in Brooklyn...

Downtown Brooklyn: a view from in front of my new favorite sandwich shop where I have eaten 3 times in the first week.

I went to meet Katie after work one day last week. This is her building- The World Financial Center.

This boat is waiting for the right time to set the Transatlantic single-handed sailing record. This is the little harbor behind the World Financial Center.

Katie and I ate at this great BBQ joint, Biscuit, which is a five minute walk from her apartment in Park Slope, Brookyln. Sooooooo good.

I think I'll pass on the Mexican food here for a while.

I had a five-dollar lemonade at Whole Foods in Union Square before seeing a free Spoon concert at the Virgin Megastore. It was a really good lemonade though.

Spoon played a free in-store on the day their new record was released. This stuff just doesn't happen in San Diego.

Katie and I went for a nice walk in Prospect Park on Saturday. Here she is in front of the Audubon Center.

A gentle (not gentile) moment at Prospect Park Lake.

We Made It!

Scroll down to where the pictures start to see our progress from the beginning, then work your way back up.

It was a great trip, everything went very smoothly and we had a lot of fun along the way. Once we made it to NYC, we got to celebrate our good friend Nathan's 30th birthday with some friends that flew out from San Diego and elsewhere. Now that everyone has gone back home it finally feels like the trip is over and I'm ready to start my new life here. Thank you so much to everyone who has offered such kind words and support, I am very lucky to have such great friends and family. I'll keep updating this site with photos and words, in case anyone is curious about what I'm up to (or just bored).

Thank you,

Chad

Day 8 - New York City!

Jeffy Hooks joined us for the final push from Philly to NYC.

We made it!

Ryan makes it to the final show of the tour on time.

Ryan rocks the Sin-e in Manhattan.

The encore featured Mikey, Jeffy and Nathan on hand-claps.

Happy 30th Birthday Nathan Jr.

The NYC entourage

Ryan and Katie do the Roger Rabbit at the afterparty.

Three Amigos

Day 7 - Philadelphia

The view from Jeffy's rooftop patio in Philly.

Jeffy lives at the very end of super-hip South Street.

There's a big broken bell in Philly that everyone makes a big deal about.

Ryan joins the tour group.

The Real World House. No Landon sightings, though.

This guy was hanging out at the Betsy Ross house.

North Star Bar, the club where Ryan performed in Philadelphia.

Our Philadelphia entourage... Jordan, Jeffy, Maria, Karen and Ryan.

Afterparty!

3am cheesesteak run. Mmmmmm.

Day 6 - From South Carolina to Philadelphia

Gaffney, South Carolina - Peach Country. Starting out our 650 mile day to Philadelphia.

Richmond, Virginia. Big wow.

This overturned trailer cost us about 45 minutes. But since that was the only major accident or delay on our trip, we'll take it.

Tunnelling through Maryland. We finally arrived in Philadelphia around 11pm.

Day 5 - Atlanta

Pulling into Atlanta on Tuesday evening.

The 10 High Club in Atlanta.

Outside the 10 High Club, our "bus" compared to the headliner's.

Ryan rocks the 10 High Club. We take off right after the show, making it to Greenville, South Carolina. This way we can arrive in Philadelphia a day early.

Day 4 - From Austin to Gulfport, Mississippi

After a really great night in Austin, Texas, we had breakfast with with Jodi, our most gracious host. She took us to Barton Springs, where I went for a swim. That night we met up with The Good Life and Consafos. Way too much fun this night makes for long Day 4 drive.

Doing some work on the laptop after breakfast on Day 4... ready to drive to Gulfport, Mississippi? C'mon, it's only 650 miles!

Moooooo...

We drove 650 miles on Day 4. We crossed Louisiana and ended the day in Gulfport, Mississippi. We ate Arby's at midnight.